A Basic Bliss

Great grief

2008-08-03T19:57:00.001-06:00

To be beneficial we must develop all 4 of the foundations to compassion. clipped from www.ncf.netUnbearable CompassionVen. Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

Whitaker's Autopoiesis and Enactment

2008-08-03T17:49:00.001-06:00

see also his page on Francisco Varela: http://www.enolagaia.com/Varela.html clipped from www.enolagaia.com The Biology of Cognition Autopoietic Theory Enactive Cognitive Science The Theories of Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela THE OBSERVER WEB: Autopoiesis and Enactionrought to You By: Dr. Randall

Good intentions?!

2007-12-11T00:21:00.001-07:00

*reprise* Good intentions ... stuff with which to pave the road to hell. Imagine for a moment that the notion of impartial, unbiased, objective, "scientific" inquiry is not entirely empty. Now imagine: if we have this attitude on one hand, what do we have on the other? My point is simply this: our adversarial, materialistic, reductionist legalism appears to moot all consideration of intention

Too simple to understand (a thought in the moment)

2007-10-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

It comes down to this: not only what we do, but how we do it. Ultimately, "why" becomes the point. (Which is another way of saying that in the end our actual motive manifests ... it comes to be ... it creates karma.) The number of "errancy modes" is beyond estimation. Either our motive is some variation of "for the good of all sentient beings" or it's in error. Necessarily. Inexorably. Like

hfx_ben: Actual mysticism - 1 of a continuing series

2007-03-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

hfx_ben: Actual mysticism - 1 of a continuing series I finally had my say: Okay fine, I'll say it: the 1 thing I've been witholding from everyone, everywhere, everybody, all this time, is just that I've been training to be a shaman since I had my vision at age 5.That's why the unconventional life-style and personal history ... from having a scholarship to Banff School of Fine Arts to dropping

"Compliance in the face of threats" - CBC Radio | The Current

2007-02-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

In the February 21 episode of CBC Radio's "The Current" there was an item about harassment of opinions that were anything other than hard-line, the persecution of whatever might be painted as "liberal". One spokesperson who in effect defended thugism by minimizing it and rationalizing it had a lot to say about "respect" and the need for "speaking softly". It's the classic bully-boy tactic. "If

Theory Pages: Shared Subjective Experience Theory

2006-08-09T19:10:00.001-06:00

Theory Pages: Shared Subjective Experience Theory I just posted a comment to this blog: I wish I could give this the time I'd like to; my only connectivity is from a scavenged WiFi link and it's down more time than it's up."The need to apparently share subjective experience is a driving force in human beings."This morning I heard Cory Doctorow (of boing.boing fame) on radio. He said something

Lame excuses VS working hypotheses

2006-06-26T11:45:00.000-06:00

Pondering how Ted Honderich is arguable the world's premiere philosopher of determinism, I wondered on how sophistry ("excuses") so frequently has a sour, caustic, bitter tone to it. Perhaps because the individual is a) dreading being exposed as a coward, and b) in denial concerning having actually and really made a choice. We can produce explanations. We can, otherwise, produce rationalizations

2003-09-01T14:30:00.000-06:00

On the subject of The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions and its "Declaration of the Religions for a Global Ethic." Hans Kung; Explanatory Remarks Concerning a "Declaration of the Religions for a Global Ethic" Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions "Towards A Global Ethic" ... "Urban Dharma" has a document by that name There are excerpts here, and this is a

2003-08-30T12:26:00.000-06:00

Updated information on the Open Retreat with The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche Dzogchen and Egolessness: Gaining Confidence in Liberation. December 1-7, 2003 Santa Sabina Retreat Center, San Rafael, CA Please join The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche for a week of engaging talks, powerful meditation instruction, and songs of enlightenment from the Kagyu and Dzogchen traditions. This year, Rinpoche

2003-08-27T21:15:00.000-06:00

"May all beings be empowered to discover their unique path to ending suffering. May all being discover that path through serving others."

2003-08-27T19:21:00.000-06:00

"The koan arises naturally, in daily life." I have apparently been alone in wanting my daily life to have the quality of life that one finds in a monastic setting. At least, alone recently, since this notion comes to me not from speculation but, rather, from experience: once through Roman Catholicism (in a "formation house", where individuals considering the priesthood lived together in

2003-08-26T18:33:00.000-06:00

Why is 30 years more potent than 25? A couple of weeks ago I had a profound insight into my PTSD, but didn't get it quite right: it turns out that I taint moments of success /not/ because I have come to believe myself unworthy, but rather (and, friends, incredible as it might seem, this next detail explains away my writer's block!), because that "success" was actually negative ... retrograde ...

2003-03-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

"Nasiriyah Turns Into 'Nightmare' for Marines (washingtonpost.com)" In the land of the ark, in the desert, one might even learn the meaning of such basics as food, and water. In war, we learn death. Or we do not learn, and so pass that lesson on to generations not yet born. May we learn from this day's dead children.

2003-03-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

washingtonpost.com - News Front Duality of Wrath; Complexity and the Collapsing Monolith- Wet sheep on a foggy hillside after the hail storm, fresh out of the mud, accompanied by a cell-phone in a plastic bag and whoever was on the other end of the line. http://mozdawg.blogspot.com/

2003-03-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

I've been entirely pre-occupied with correspondence and blogging at "Beyond Greed". It's about democracy, which has precious little to do with benevolent tyranny or "might makes right".

2003-02-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Full Stop Due to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (read: the Dell LatitudeXPi 166MHz laptop I got from my last contract 5 years ago gave up the ghost when I tried to re-install Win95 *sigh*) I no longer have connectivity ... raw deal after 3 decades of CMC (read: no box and no connection = no development). But being on disability sucks in any number of ways, and this isn't the worst

2003-02-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

A step into the past brought me to a scratch document I created three years ago, during the A16 WB/IMF protests in Washington DC. Yet another step brought me to 1995 with my "Green Futures Foundation" project. In another direction, and I find myslef looking at Society for the Study of Process Philosophies (and Anne Pomeroy's paper on Process Ontology and The Critique of Capitalism), and Richard K

2003-02-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

I should write something for each of these, but I'm low energy right now (if I get any more depressed I'm going to be in deep trouble) * openDemocracy and Democratic Underground * News for a Synergic Earth, in association with Community of Minds and Future Positive * These seems to be by a group of friends: "Working Together"; Sustainable CommUnity | WinWin Wolrd | Creating Learning

2003-02-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Squaring the Circle: justice and "rules" Discussing strategy and tactic with an eye to the World Summit on Sustainable Development this past August in Johannesburg, my correspondent pinned me with a one line message, and I tried to say something about the role of community at large: "I'm afraid I'm still back with Thrasymachus and Plato, and wondering in what sense we can say that justice

2003-02-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

A friend just pointed me to this, from Channel 4 - "Between Iraq and a Hard Place" ... it aired last month but is now online. "If you were to spend 26 million dollars every day since the birth of Christ, you'd have spent less than the Americans have spent on "defence" since the end of the Second World War.

2003-01-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

I was feeling very ragged yesterday, and happened to encounter an amazing artist, by which I mean not just someone who happens to "do" art, but also someone who happens to "be" whatever that is. Via's homepage is brilliant, as is the catalog of her gallery.

2003-01-01T03:22:00.000-07:00

... with Dylan on FM; must be New Year's AM. Listen to Roy's Oldies on CBC Radio. And maybe peek my NewCiv log while you're at it. Portland Pattern Wiki RecentChanges ... Jay on AWPD writes, "Most people get up in the morning and live their lives on a mostly unconscious level. They act as they have been taught to act, without ever questioning their indoctrination. I call this "living in

2002-12-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Some folks are talking my language! Nearly 30 years ago I realized my cohort in uniform didn't really give two hoots about the fact that Pinochet and his neo-fascists were overthrowing the elected government of Chile with our help ... we "special breed of cats" had the secure delusion of fighting to make the world safe for democracy, but part of that comfort was the impunity of not looking at

2002-12-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Work vs. Holding a job; becoming courtiers to psychopaths Over a decade ago I finished my last big job: one of the products was a MIL-SPEC quality document set for a system that would land aircraft in a white-out blizzard if need be; three volumes ... one of them 750 pages ... hundreds of illustrations and figures, many hundreds of complex tables. What I'm proud of is the fact that the project