Mark Foote

fly with twenty arms eight elbows, three heads- two crows talk strange sights they've seen

freed movements of mind the horse before the cart shifts and leans toward home

caught in the middle no net, just hung out to dry what's this- something moved!

ok, so I watched a few minutes of one of the clips from 'Full Metal Jacket'- the clip didn't just play, Warner Bros. has messed with it. Don't think the clip I saw had to do with double-binds, unfortunately! Reread Drew's piece about his master's and all, and I agree with him that Western science is strong on communicable descriptions of relationships, and with the right vocabulary might serve as a vehicle for people to set up the experiences described in the Eastern teachings. While it may be that the frontiers of Western science provide a ready-made vehicle, I tend toward simple anatomy and kinesthesiology, and the insights of the alternative Western hands-on healers (Feldenkrais, Rolfe, and Upledger, to name a few). I made a description of shikantaza this year, it went like this: Now to my mind, each thing we feel entering into the sense of place, and the sense of place generating the ability to feel, is my fractal nature unfolding in real time. As to how I find real time, it's not really up to me, it's waking up and falling asleep which is always just beyond me: Because waking up and falling asleep is just beyond me, finding real time is a double-bind; we are in real time, we cannot find real time. Good morning, where am I! Where am I, good night!

no invite needed drop by, any time- I'm here sit a spell and talk

So if you don't talk to people, you will not (have fun). But if you do talk to people, you will not (have fun). Hmmmm... sounds like that one about the guy hanging from a vine with a tiger above and a 1000-foot drop below, but he discovers it's a strawberry vine and there's a strawberry he can reach...

Hey ralis, "visual thinking"? I've read that animals think in pictures. Also read that the followers of Gautama, the monks, were admired for being just like wild animals. A quick read of the Wikipedia article on Korzybski reveals nothing about "visual thinking". Lately I am cognizant of the feeling of mind, of thought. I sit and I sometimes relax into the activity of the posture, and toward the end of the sitting especially there's a definite feel to the edge of the stretch I find myself in. Sometimes I notice there's a feel to the edge of the thoughts I find myself in, I'm not too good at calming myself down but maybe the visual thinking is like that (and the wild kingdom)?

Make me laugh, Steve, thanks! Can we hear Chuang Tzu's story? I had a long discussion with a friend over the weekend about why I don't sit more zazen, and why he finds it hard to sit more zazen. I guess it boils down to what I can do without doubt, which is not the same as certainty. I don't usually like to speak in negatives; with my friend, I described staying with the sense of place in air, inside my body, falling and letting action arise from my sense of place. Can't dance to this at all, but I'm listening to Trevor Gordon Hall play " " on YouTube. I LOVE that description of Don Juan's lines and points!- when action arises from a sense of place, and my sleeping or waking carries on in the midst of things, there is a sense of reality in time- not that reality has changed or shifted but that there is something real happening that is everything at once, and nothing. From the butterfly to the tornado. Anybody that can wear heels on a dance floor and drink, my hat is off!

dream, so mares aren't scared to be where I am, how's that sometimes a horse pie

not now my head hurts like two bull goats, colliding dream, so mares aren't scared

Chaos theory, Marblehead? Yeah, the fractal nature: the witness enters into the sense of place, a recursion. The beautiful patterns, on the boundaries? Taomeow, thanks for tales of complacency and terror, and crazy people. Yes the crazy person I knew up close had a striking presence, but a profound inability to take care of himself, from time to time. I tend to stick to beer, mostly, and I think that helps keep me upright on the floor; I'm a lucky man, that the local bar has people of all stripes that like to dance, even just to records. It's easier on me than the lotus, and sometimes I have a hard time relaxing in the subtle motion of that posture, though I think it's definitely worth the effort. But I like to dance, and to be relaxed. Lucky I'm not an addictive personality, too!

which one should I choose the heart knows, the chi follows dream so horses aren't scared

(thanks, Harmonious!) tin cans on a cord peonies in the warm sun echo down the line

universe to here not exactly long distance tin cans on a cord

Nice picture, Witch! Did you see the Ken Burns special on prohibition- the prohibition amendment got passed because there was a single-issue part of the electorate, the issue being prohibition, and their 10% vote was sufficient to swing elections. The Republicans now take "no new taxes" as their single issue, and the Koch money and that of other corporate sponsors is put to good use to prevent the filabuster and paralyze the government, in an attempt to crush environmental regulation and women's rights. In the end, prohibition was a huge mistake, and a training ground for the organized crime that has continued ever since in this country. How do we correct this flaw in democracy, or even in a parliamentary system! Thanks for the history, Taomeow; maybe the amygdala stores the early blessings of the mother, and can respond to the curse outside the rational mind. Great post!

a foul witches brew like, and dislike; ride the ox, looking for the ox

Says it will be so here in the seeds, in the ground credit emptiness

footfalls... following or rock faces, echoing still one with many

be gone till morning wandering tall hills, dream-like on a moon-lit trail

released ample chi didn't do a thing- postcard from the last standing

to lower Dan Tian goes the mind, nothing left out place acts, feels, wind blows

life is much too important to take seriously. -Shunryu Suzuki

won't you look my way won't you dance with me, this dance falling down romance

wait, no, they are not the droids you're looking for- just bad poet riff-raff

Vague ripples on pond light breeze from the north and west red light on the hills