Wayfarer64

Smirked is a great word, and one in which there is some pain. But it is also very funny!!! Time to meditate No time to dilly-dally Breath deeply and stretch

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Hey mYTHTERmAKER, I've seen lots of urinals like tht in Europe... & I'm sure no one dirtied themselves in any piss tainted H2O... I am not one to appologize for what I laugh at- and I am not very PC in my targeting of humorous subject matter, stoics are funny & slackers are funny, blondes, (as a steriotypical model of silliness), are endlessly funny, lawyers are never funny but there is a tacitly understood " open season" on them as they are never funny in real life... Does that make them Taoist Masters -I think not! And i still say we need a TOAST master! What about a joke premis that begins ' Something beautiful happened when three Taoist Masters walked into a bar... The first one asked for some water the second asked for some water the third asked for a shot of Tequilla The bartender brought the shot and the waters and started to read the paper... The first Master said "Good water." The second master said "Yes good water." The third Master said " I wouldn't know, I was drinking..." The bartender interupted and said , "Why aren't you two guys drinking?" They replied together , "We thought we were drinking." No one was laughing so it was ok. I just made that up only to be amusing, where is the pain? Was it even funny? Who is to say if it would be or not be funny to a Taoist Master, are 6 out of 8 Taoist Masters...? I don't know if I will laugh or cry... is that the crux? That middleway to leave it be...? I am too involved with life not to laugh at/with it ... And yes I know that you TaoMeow are fun and funny and have humor as I've read it here... AND!_ I now have a most concrete reason to find a true Taoist Master -just to see if I can make him laugh...

Is eternal Tao Heard as a roar or mewling I hear some laughter Hi there Taomeow - I hope you enjoy a hearty smile... nah -laughter still works for me...but my love for you in undeminished by the soundless smile ... If I show you my funny bone , do you promise not to laugh?

Hi there TaoMeow- I also like you very much, in a cyberific may of course... But I am not sorry for you, I said it made me sad to think of a humorless state as it pertains to yr state of well-being...and I indeed have read many humorous things in yr entries here... I just don't get the idea that all humor stems from a denial of pain, that is too much like the Buddhist "all (attachment to)... life is suffering - idea... It just does not ring true in my experiences... Also, when I read that Taoist masters never laugh I had a vision of a Taoist Master laughing his ass off at that comment...I will assume we have some wiggle-room here vis-a-vis one's funny bone...it was a metaphorical "never laugh" not an actual - never laugh - as policy... to maintain one's Masterhood etc... But if you are so damn sure about this thing, I'll never quip again... (just kidding)- ... In fact I thought you enjoyed that old chestnut about the hot-dog vendor...no?

TaoMeow -Yr rememberance of being subjected to "humorous" bullying is one of the saddest things I've come across of late - and there have been some doozies! I am much less amazed that you have such a dark view of comedy... But it does make me sad... and I find no humor in the story, but if I do, later on, I shall share it with ya in hopes of lightening the perspective...It may be that then we can grok the real meaning of the pain being released by laughter... I've heard that sneezing is the closest thing to (male) orgasm, perhaps laughter is another sort of release of tension and relaxation of breath control that leads to light-headed giddyness. - or even groking it as variable and enabled, (liberated?)... by many criteria... I'll keep quiping in the meantime (is that mean of me?)

Stop, correct yourself Stop, I will arrive noon, Wed. Stop, don't take a bath...

That may be -but I don't grok it... If so, then why even have a sense of humor-is this just to respond to pain? Not all laughter stems from disguised pain, as there are more ways to laugh than Inuets have names for snow... We even have several seperate smiley faces...to depict our several forms of amusement... I'm not buying this all or none depiction of laughter, some is derived from pain some from lighter insights. I sense that the appreciation of foibles is not really very painful after all...

"You had to be there" That says it all... The shared experience of trials & tribulations, - that we can then laugh at in hindsight, the empathy inherent in "getting it"... These are each examples of how the knowledge of shared existence is lifting us out from our troubles...It is part of life, with indurance- we can get through it... it may not be funny now -but in time we will laugh at this... The laughter/crying thing seems to hold up too... Why do comics say "I killed 'em", or - "I knocked 'em dead.." Are they out to get us! So turn that frown Upside down - Apparently it is an "energy saver" too as only one set of muscles is involved... This can be some sort of muscle-memory inducement to good humor, as a prelude to better days ahead...

The guy who created Howard the Duck died!!! It makes me very sad that there won't be any more of Howard -I recently found the smarmy bastid the best thing in a blighted mag/rag (PlayBoy)...That was once (in the late 50's to mid-60's)...an instrument of liberation... Hey Buddy maybe you've been channeling him, the lost spirit of Howard the Duck? Such new-age/sci-fi - concepts as channeling a fictional character (figment of another's imagination) amuse me I mean nothing by it ... But, who am I if I am channeling Howard the Duck? Have you asked yrself that Buddy? Have any of us? Today is the day to ask this one because- The guy who created Howard the Duck died!!!

my heart swims to you. whoops! should have been speedier! Tarzan dives from vines

The same someone who gazes at stars seeks within... Is there any different intent then wonder and awe's power to have their own quest to be satisfied? (Answers are sought through mist and foggy Questions, even when those questions carry wieght, the power of wonder and awe - as it were - is a seminal force... is that jing? The power of expectant life, held within and nurtured?) - sorry I digress - Where does our love go, when our jing is stored within ourselves?

Salmon swim upstream Spawn and die, good plan! Against the current

I grow a liana Bridging tree-tops is my life Seeking sun light's warmth Hey liane is the plural of liana

I thought THIS WAS comedy central?! Where am I? & What the heck was/am I Laughing at? That is great!!! A new way to look at things - The real question being -(When you are not laughing)... Why am i Not laughing!? Or perhaps more to the point... Why aren't I happy just to be me... right now?

I guess that means you've run aground or perhaps astray? Or at least feel as if you have... If you realize it, then you've already given yrself a knock- a wake-up call as it were - to start a new path or maybe regain ground on one you've not set foot on for a while... Meditation is the start -(IMHO), just relax into a deep reassessment of yr direction as if it didn't really matter, just a casual perusal of yr self... That is how the best steps I've taken - always began... If yr just down and grumpy/glum... -May the Farce be with you ! - Because, laughter is the best medicine!

I just finished an Abby Style ale that was very satisfying...I like the word scrumptious today-a good friend of mine's 5 year old girl described her new-born ( cesarian twins on the 15th)... (7lb 6 oz.) baby brothers (6lb 10 oz) as "scrumptious" at first sight... The joy of this shared existance filled with love and grace and more joy, is worth any suffering we go through. Making it through the changes -both good and not so ... generation after generation...That is the magic and power of being human,(duration)... just that we keep at it and stay gentle and appreciative of one another...through the angst and acknowledged brevity... we keep at it ! That is the same old thing as well... and somethings are just fine the way they are ...Dragging our asses off to work or flying a kite, we are alive, and that is everything! I say, make no mistake - alive is better than dead. Why do I know this? Why do you doubt it? Who am I? Should I commit suicide? (just to find out what it is about)... Of course it is easy in the abstract...But my recent past tells me that some folks dispair of this existance and dwell in realms of terrible anguish, unable to lift themselves up and out of their own dulldrums and terrors... Still, I still know that this life is the best gift I was ever given... It is when I (we as one ) can change and grow as spirits in a material world...If we are on a path that leads to enlightenment (of the load born don'tchaknow...) then just maybe it is our chance to shine! The potential of two new lives born into a loving family drives out any silly philosophical posers from my mind... They are two seperate lives that will often be seen as one entity (being twins)...They may have a good head-start on being one with all when the other that is so close to the self can be both one and the other -as it were...confirming in a way- that we are all and each joined through our deepest selves anyway...twins or not it is just a matter of degree. Now I will go and enjoy being drunk...

When I had money to spend on such things, It was Macadamia butter and Mango jam on organic multi-grain If I ever meet a true master that is what he/she will offer to me as an inducement to study with them... Sharing the knowledge of a proper balance between a delighted palate and healthy living ... Or in other words how to live on many(any) levels and realms of existance.... How to stay happy and safely healthy without limiting my activities to some namby-pamby pie in the sky...Nor mere power mongering for my deepest inner being... ( once i am realized as living as such)... Thats it... a nice sandwich and perhaps a few well chosen words of advice, perhaps a knock to my noggin if I've run astray or aground by then... I think the point made is that it will be up to the master to recognize me as worthy, before I will grow to realize him as a master...Because what is obvious to him is not yet obvious to me...

In a Sushi Roll Tingle of Wasabi Bite Brine is our mother

I think that faith is a vivid hope or fear, and the origin of folly. A wise person goes by knowledge not hope or fear. I need no faith in outside forces, beliefs or structures, the whole of life's realm may be found within ourselves -if we make the effort to investigate ourselves with an open mind and open heart. All may be revealed to each of us if we are ready to accept the deep pains and exquisite joys of becoming realized... I have some faith in the sound/feel of truth being revealed to my ears and eyes, which may be confused with knowledge, that is my current stumbling block. Those who would deceive me tell me truths to beguile and lead me off my own true path; where the blossoming of my own (well) being through internal searching and meditative quietude has always been expanded... I have had reason to keep faith as if it were knowledge, in my inner resolve to master myself... even as I know it is only the unraveling of illusions... So for me faith is merely something to spur investigation, until shown/ revealed as truth (or not) - as the case may be...

Glow little glow worm Is your light from within you Or sunlight made new...

What we need around here is a Toast Master I see this as a duel role, First as EmCee and second as the preparer of breakfast breads...

Thanks for the feed-back gang... I am still a wee bit shook by the experience. Some of our mutual friends have said thanks to me and seem to think I was somehow "heroic" in my keeping him from finishing the job... I guess it was just a mysterious happenstance or devine will or somesuch (dumb luck)...that had me able to deal with the event- many folks may not know to leave any foriegn object in a person until taken to a hospital... I think it true, that if he really wanted to die he would have just waited awhile or pulled the knife before coming down the stairs with it in his freaking chest!!! He seemed only to want to shock (cry for help) and rely on me to pull him through... But he did keep saying he wanted to die, and he clearly stated that he had stabbed himself and not fallen on the blade- (which also finally convinced the cops that I didn't stab him, along with the neighbor's statement that my self-destructive pal came to the door-pre-stabbed...) their first impulse was to see a victim/perp situation when confronted by a guy with a big knife in his chest, and someone else hunkered over the stabee & holding his arms to restrain his movement... So he was careful in a way... it seems he didn't want to harm anyone else in his attempt on his own life... So, I do feel/believe that I did the right thing... Only this thread started me wondering about the whole event in a different light as it were... I do attribute my calmness to whatever inner peace I have achieved in my meditation/kungfu practices, I remained sort of aware and yet a bit detached as the event unfolded, I put my own repulsion aside and acted as swiftly as I could. I just hope he lives to become a MUCH happier fella! It will not be easy for him now and he will need a lot of care and compassion.

We search and we strive and we come across new ideas and ways of looking at our world and our place in it...So then, what is left out of the Tao? Is anything? New or old age, wisdom or folly, can't we speak to each of our many conditions in life and offer some insights into "the way" from many perspectives? We westerners are a brash and quixotic lot, our seeking takes many forms. But for me they are each and every one under the umbrella of nature's way, and can't be distinguished from "strict" or perhaps ancient Taoist teachings... anymore than wet can be extracted from water... Being in the flow of natural rythms does not preclude wondering and wandering through various texts or sipping water from a spring, why do new age elements of these testings of our world views not fit into Taoism? I in fact understand yr question and just wish to express a wider view of the problem, many here are reaching out to grasp a fuller understanding of Taoism and can't exclude other ideas from our myriad inputs that seem "taoist" in nature... This is a "sounding" board in part, and ideas will just flow like water -willy-nilly to gather where they may...The new growth here has created a flood of ideas and many smaller streams of consciousness have sprung up from this Taoist center... The lack of purity is an amalgamation that is healthy for the growth in these (ever) changing times, like a mixed breed has a better chance of survival than an in-bred liniage in nature, so I trust we who would study Taoism may lend an ear to many ideas...