silent thunder

A reminder of the inherent limitations of modeling in scientific and social analysis, or human perception... and that the map is not the meal no matter how much we conflate or project it to be so, in this recent article on phys.org Naive Realism it seems, in spite of being one of the longest refuted, continues to remain one of the most persistent perspectives around. Assumption, projection, interpretation... "Welcome to the desert... of the real" Morpheus says to Neo upon revealing the nature of simulation, simulacra and the appearance of reality in the movie The Matrix. The entire storyline of the films relied heavily upon the Parable by Borges and its expanded exploration by Bouillard in Simulacra and Simulation. Regarding Borges fable in which the cartographers of the Empire draw up a map so detailed that it ends up covering the territory exactly, tree for tree, insect for insect. A potent revelation in that short short story. How to address the inherent fallacies in the models used for the study and projection analysis of complex structures of human interaction and natural phenomena? Seems another open question without a pat answer. Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard was required reading for the cast of The Matrix series. A brief excerpt from opening pages. How to proceed to investigate complex scenarios when modeling is fraught with such projection and assumption.

The Power of Connection and Yakuza Noodles. Upon their release from prison, these friends form a path that alters the direction of their life, away from crime and imprisonment and toward connection with society. They open an Udon Shop. While the change of the individual it seems must be a drive from within in order 'to stick', yet the help or hindrance of society overall seems a mighty influence. How where and when are felons allowed to be redeemed and reenter society as full accepted members? How to integrate again into society after prison? Most avenues of business close to a released felon, including the ability to vote, which seems to be a conversation that's currently being broached again recently. When is it time to let go? My line of work is one where felons are not dismissed outright, as a result my industry employs quite a few. Each day I work, I work with convicted felons, former gang members, etc. In twenty five years of working with convicted felons, I've witnessed two fights, (both by non felons ironically). Among the most aware I encounter of the consequences of violent actions are those who perpetrated them and were able to self observe and shift from that path... and those who suffered them and cannot imagine ever inflicting similar on others. If you can perform consistently and get along with folks, there is work with us. But hearing from folks who genuinely seek to shift their lives and how challenging that is, I'm reminded of the abiding resonance of stigma over past actions. When is it time to let go? For those who served their time as deemed by our system. When to fully reintegrate?

speaking of daily process changing over time... found this piece interesting, about a group of Yakuza who upon getting out of prison, opened an udon shop.

"The most dangerous delusion of all is that there is only one reality." - Paul Watzlawick How Real is Real? Confusion. Disinformation. Communication (New York: Vintage Books, 1977), p. xi.

synchronicity... the very next piece I begin reading after posting this... The following is the first line that sets the tone for a translation of the Nei Ye shared by ZYD in another thread. "The most dangerous delusion of all is that there is only one reality." - Paul Watzlawick How Real is Real? Confusion. Disinformation. Communication (New York: Vintage Books, 1977), p. xi.

wait... is it still going...?

I find I can break the laws of man all day long day in and out... and I may or may not get caught, and even then, I may or may not be prosecuted, and even then, I may or may not be penalized. I cannot however break the laws of nature, on those, it's me that breaks.

I'd say inalienable is the perfect term, given how variable those rights are within the various strata of society, how they shift over the decades and how often andin what circumstances they are enforced, upheld, ignored and altered by those with 'influence within the oligarchy/system'.

What a great question. It's one I consider to be an open question, as it has never had one firm answer for me and may never have... I was simultaneously surprised and not surprised when years ago I followed the urge to explore this and reasearched some of the various 'inalienable rights' of various cultures. The comparisons are vastly ranging. Surprising and yet, not surprising at all. It's up there with 'what is normal?' for me in open questions.

Having no answer to either, I arrive in the event and it turns out my son is there... so i ask him. me: who's we? him: yes me: what are we celebrating:? him: also yes

Yea, ceremony is a great word for it. His presence and motions seem so harmonized with where he's at. He seems utterly comfortable in his kitchen and his kitchen seems to be wherever he is in the forest. really draws me in. I first clicked on it due to the amazing picture of what he was making and a new recipe. Within a few minutes though, I was drawn in to the flow of his process and now I watch to witness whatever he's doing. His motions, how he approaches and handles the food, his knife, the pots. He exudes comfortable mastery and sung to me. You nailed it with the ceremony reference.

Yea, seems currently, there is no mountain.

Korean Buddhist Monk Jeongkwan is featured in Season 3 episode 1 of Chef's Table on Netflix. They address her intense calling to shun traditional marriage and join the monastic life at an early age. She talks openly of her trouble adapting to monastic life and almost giving up and going back home in the early years. Then they follow her through her garden and her kitchen, which are maintained as openly and authentically as the food she prepares with presence for the Temple. Such simplicity shines. Highly recommend that episode in particular, but the whole series is done well in my opinion.

Do you think your own thoughts? Or those offered by others? Between any two thoughts there is a magical place. A pregnant pause. The next thought could be any thought. There is no limit here. Predispositions perhaps, but no limit. The next thought could be any thought... even none. Awareness returns to this lately, so I chew it and share it here in case it intrigues. These are open questions, requiring and perhaps having no firm answers. Do you think your own thoughts? How many of your thoughts arise from within? How many arrive from without? From where do thoughts come? Does it matter? How many of them are repeats? Do you choose what you eat? Do you know from where you eat comes? How much of your food do you grow? And how much is brought to you by others? Awareness returning repeatedly to the parallels between what I eat to maintain health and vitality and what I allow my mind to eat and its effect on my inner world and experience of reality. If what I experience is my effective reality. Then thoughts are a major portion of this reality. Buddha speaks to it. What will I allow my mind to ruminate on... what will I feed it? Where will I go for and what will I do with, the thoughts that arise today?

I'll stop with this one for now... one of his rare vegetarian meals.

I just... um... the way he cools the potatoes...! the tree... all of it. oh my.

On the tangibility of thoughts... was sharing with my son on the way to school. Hey, isn't it interesting that at one point, this truck was just an idea. A thought passing through mind. Now we sit inside and drive to school listening to music in what was once, just a thought.

I'm always drawn to read other's descriptions of such, yet whenever I'm looking for words to describe it myself, it feels like I'm trying to gather clouds with spider webs. Oh well... as with the universe... better something than nothing so here goes... No longer experience it as a body of any sort. No longer distinguish an energetic body of itself, as a thing that is in any way separate from any other. It's an ever sinking, expanding, unfolding experience. No matter where I seek, it reveals itself there. Just as we develop scientific instruments to help us peer beyond the range of 'normal' vision, to look at the nature of reality of the very tiny, or the very far away. My relationship to the energetic body unfolds ever revealing itself no matter which direction I peer, or with what sense i experience. For just as in science, wherever we aim a tool to observe, however deep or expanded we focus, there is always something to observe.... as that is what we do. It is this way with the 'energetic body'. Wherever I go, there i am. So this 'energy body' is not 'a body' any longer. It expresses as a unified multi-faceted flowing inter-permeative process... all interconnecting with and through all else. The experience accomodates all senses physical and 'etheric' and seems fluid at some levels, diaphenous and vaporous at others, electrical, magnetic, layered inter-related, inter-flowing process of ever unfoldingness ever inter-relatability. Certain aspects of it seem to rise to awareness and gain prominence when there are intense shifts in either capacitance, resistance, permeability, permeativity... inertia. Or when there is a rapid shift in focus from the galactic to the myopic, or vice versa, this shift dominates and hyper focuses conscious awareness for a time and I used to say 'i've just had an experience of my energy body'. Now it's all energy... inter/intra-relational flows, emptiness-clarity-bouyancy of varying densities, or varying levels of perception of simply what is, all interconnected/related. unfoldingness in one word, unfoldingness no matter what level i engage with the process, this unfoldingness word arises wave moves through water. water and wave seems all one wave made of water? Wave is not water. A wave moves through the water. Water is waving. Ocean waves are not made of water. The wave is not 'a thing', but a process. Wave equals observation of motion through water. A whirlpool in a river. Is this 'a thing'? Arising and holding an observable pattern for a time. A relationship of varying currents and flows, that arises then dissipates. Energy may be perceived. Is energy then the perception? where does the break between one and another arise and fall away. and here i am again... utterly unsatisfied with words, fun though they may be... that's the latest attempt. as I said... clouds with spiderwebs.

Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn. Don't know why you should feel that there's something to learn... It's just a game that you play. Al Stewart: Time Passages

What I appear to be, seems dependent on how myopic the view is of the tool perceiving. At the level of the human eye... a human hand. at 40x magnification eta: which one is real? both same time it would seem

Whether it's hearing the ethers, or just deep familiarity... After 30 years together... even the inner hearing goes it seems. Me: What hon? I didn't hear you. Her: I didn't say anything. Me: ... did you think something real loud?

edit to add: This album cover... such an impact it had on me. lol