silent thunder

mmm. paradox for breakfast... again.

exactly

hmm... are whirlpools made of water?

yummy paradoxicals water constant in everchanging... unchangingly changeable afternoon mate!

deeply appreciating contradictions lately. reveling, dancing through paradox. sublime it seems grateful when perceptual projections do not reconcile readily so: if change is constant... as it seems in localized mind constancy is changability? if change is constant.. what is it that changes? and if change is constant... this is unchanging change? where does change occur? in reality what never changes? does it, can it register in awareness? is awareness unchanging? seems all things change, and this is a constant. so: seems my concept of constant is... somehow suddenly suspect.

even if i never went hungry or thirsty even if my wife and son and all my (remaining) friends outlive me even if my investments grow vast and my house never crumbles in earthquake or fire even if i never lose another cherished bauble of memory even i remain able bodied as i age this body will grow age, this body will cease and there will be discomfort this body, born from the molten remnants of a bursting star every story ends the same... the star of the movie dies in the end. such treasure as life to have had the chance to even share words and ideas let alone a lifetime of hardships and victories with friends and foes alike such treasure. unimaginable bliss that there should be something instead of nothing

Hear you on the harsh aspects. It can be relentless. Reminds me of this. But I sense the folks 'lost' in phones now, would be no less disconnected, without the phone to focus on... They'd be just as checked out from connecting locally by looking at a magazine, reading a book, obsessing over some thought of their own devising, or something someone said, or what they wanted to buy, or pissed about what they wanted to buy but couldn't afford... instead, they are obsessing not about a thought of their own devising, but they are consuming other's thoughts through their phones, instead of magazines, books, newspapers. Phones are the magazine/movie theater/television/radio/newspaper/telephone all in one. But seem a symptom, not the source. Remember when we used to connect on the subway or the bus? Ugh, not me mate... I've always been a loner in most public settings, though very gregarious in private. As someone who used to draw much unwanted attention, I cultivated invisibility for years, before achieving some deeply relieving success. Rode the bus to University in Minnesota, and used the Subway for seven years in Brooklyn. I didn't leave the brownstone without a book and a walkman to keep folks at bay... (lol walkman!). The only thing they weren't good at distracting awareness from, was smells... dear god the smells in NYC in the summer. walking around lately feels a lot like this me. and I connect with a few folks now, whether shopping or wandering. but it's rare. true, undistracted presence is a rare gift indeed. i cherish it and return it in kind when i encounter it. I find folks who encounter me in this blissed out state and notice me, regularly avoid me, it's cute. My son says between my very slow gate, penchant for squatting and staring at seemingly mundane things for long periods and the blissed out grin that I come across as a very stoned viking who's wandered in from another century. It was my son who taught me that the only thing he ever craved of me as a toddler, was my attention and presence. The toys, stories were secondary. He craved connection. He knew what is real.

patterns recognized in local awareness... my storyteller always has a story ready it seems. thinking in english... tends to require mind to associate an assumption with reality... that verbs arise from nouns that create them. the whirlpool swirls. the girl plays. a man sings... which for me, seems like a list of all verbs... verbs verbing verbs are there any nouns? nouns are verbs are they not? patterns comprised of patterns within patterns ever shifting, changing, adapting among co-arising conditions is Self shifting? what abides that never changes?

does a whirlpool exist? is it a thing? or a happening?

Good stuff mate. I find such windows in my house. They are open briefly, but the view is earth shatteringly potent. There particularly seems a choicelessness in this state, a pure connected mindlessness as I recall my experiences, where though mind has gone utterly quiet, awareness is never more vibrant. Full presence. Where pure, authentic relevant action arises spontaneously without thought and flows without any perceived effort. Action, utterly pertinent to the exact conditions co-arising, as no story gets in the way, the storyteller is quiet, mind is blank, open and simply reflecting all. Clarity. Appropriate action arises naturally, action flows without tension or resistance of any kind. Pure action. In recall the words 'touches tao' seem to fit. Only after the window closes and identified mind returns, does the storytelling restart and the anaysis of what occured transpires. Time particularly reveals its seemingly fluid, subjective nature when experienced through such windows. And to specify, not mindless with the slightly pejorative western connotation of dumb and unconnected. Mindless in the eastern sense of vibrantly unobstructed, wholly present and aware without judgemental storyteller present. The kind of raw awareness where false notions we tend to identify with in daily sleeping life, evaporate in awake presence. Reminds me of Kali who, tongue drooling blood, dances on the reclining form of Shiva. Holding the severed head of 'identification with form' in one of her hands, severed by the sword of enlightened true seeing held in another. She also bears many gifts in her myriad other arms, for those capable of severing the head of mis-identification of absolute truth and self to receive. She typifies to my identified mind the truth I've experienced in moments returning to tao... of pure action/presence. And that is... when experiencing god, tao, awen... one transcends identified mind, forms, and notions of concepts. Like returning to the state of a child. Raw. Pure unobstructed presence. Beingness.

fascinating. don't recall considering it quite so simply... but it seems nothing really is permanent, isn't it? nothing being no thing, does not change, thus... seems permanent.

this. looped... until further notice. eta: so much yes. lyrics if interested: Album

in trying to share what is experiential it seems mind must intellectualize it aaaaand it's gone. when intellectualized... what was being conveyed... no longer present cannot be conveyed words will never suffice it seems the word water will not slake thirst though mind knows that word represents... an aspect of reality. and yet the thought is wholly unreal? mind is mind mind directs finger finger points to moon finger directs mind moon is moon who points at whom?

This is akin to how it feels when my awareness is co=opted utterly by the presence of some magnificent trees. I gasp audibly, sometimes stunning and alerting folks I'm walking with not accustomed to me. It's not a passive thing... it's visceral. active. and soooo deeply appreciated.

ok

nothing was taken negatively only answering of a question then some explaining of said answer and how it arose in localized awareness why do you think the world is so messed up? i don't think the world is so messed up. there may be discomfort there may be pain this does not mean there must, or will be suffering. suffering is a crisis of perception a product of the storyteller

Missing @Zen Pig. Good belly laughs and keen insights.

You're not too late. You're right on time! Almost unbelievable... this event still on as I type!

If it's truly of all times... then Chuang Tzu

speaking written from localized awareness' experience. the words chosen convey only what was intended. how interpreted, or received is in each other localized awareness and how they respond to stimulus. the question... 'why do YOU think the world is messed so up?" was answered. no authority implied, claimed, nor inferred as to the authority of the answer on other localized awareness and how they experience, interpret and thus potentially answer. no kinship was offered in the answer, nor was sought an agreeability factor, as nothing is being sold, only shared. peace

I don't... There may be pain. There may be discomfort. This does not mean there is suffering. Suffering is a crisis of perception. A product of the storyteller.

Dog who shits in same spot daily, must soon seek new spot. As old spot inevitably overrun by flowers...