Dream as if you'll live forever.

what-is-zen: Letting Go: Who Are You? Caterpillar: Who… are…...

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:19:27 -0400

Letting Go: Who Are You?

Caterpillar: Who… are… you?
Alice: Why, I hardly know, sir. I’ve changed so much since this morning, you see…
Caterpillar: No, I do not C, explain yourself.
Alice: I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, you see, because I’m not myself, you know.
Caterpillar: I do not know.
Alice: I can’t put it any more clearly, sir, because it isn’t clear to me.
from Alice in Wonderland

At ten years old I regularly sat cross legged in the woods, closed my eyes and asked myself “Who am I?” About my classmates, too, I asked “Who are they?” I’m not sure where I got the idea.

In any case, when ‘seeking’ my Self my body ‘dropped off’ and ‘I rose’ into my head. When looking at a friend, mentally erasing what I ‘knew’, their faces changed. They didn’t morph. It was like a changing perception of an optical illusion. The examples here are informative. I stopped when I had a terrifying feeling of disappearing. Recently I restarted my quest for Self. Here’s what I’ve discovered.

There is no stable, unchanging ‘me’. Who “I am” seems coherent because of a mental monologue; repeated, edited, censored, interpreted and embellished. At any time, this picture in the mind is simply a screenshot of one point in life. From these images we choose a set to define ourselves, depending on our mood and purpose.

We’re a projector, with different sets of slides at our disposal. Complicating things further, our interpretation of our various slide-shows is subjective. Bottom line; we do not have an unchanging identity. We are more a process than a thing.

Buckminster Fuller wrote;

“I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing—a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process—an integral function of the universe.”

Rather than “I am”, it seems “I amming”. So, what of this foolish talk?

The first bottle Alice encounters in Wonderland says “Drink me”. No description - not ‘what it is’; an action - what Alice ‘should do’. We, too, can actualize our ‘ammingness’. A previous post, here, touches on ‘living it’. Another post on this is due soon.

Basically, quiet the mind. Drop assumptions. Let go of the past and ‘fall in’, ‘give birth’ to every moment anew. To the extent we do this, we call our action “enlightened’.

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Mon, 07 May 2012 23:17:57 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia: Eyvind Earle. Eyvind Earle (1916-2000)...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:20:40 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia:

Eyvind Earle.

Eyvind Earle (1916-2000) painted more than 800 Christmas card designs during the 1940s. In the following decade he was hired by Disney, and his stylized background illustrations appeared in such animated films as Sleeping Beauty. More of his paintings can be seen here.

This is beautiful. I wish I had this kind of artistic talent.

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Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:55:04 -0400

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Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:53:53 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia: Dennis Scholl. Für Immer Faltung Im...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:52:43 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia:

Dennis Scholl. Für Immer Faltung Im Zimmer Der Traenen.

http://www.dennisscholl.com/

darksilenceinsuburbia: Louise McNaught. Cross my Heart and...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:51:43 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia:

Louise McNaught. Cross my Heart and Hope to Die, 2012. Ink, pencil and graphite-tint on wallpaper on canvas, 60 x 90 x 2cm.

I’m going to re-draw this.

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:50:26 -0400

I’m going to re-draw this.

I hope I can be in love like this one day, Too bad people...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:44:55 -0400

I hope I can be in love like this one day, Too bad people won’t ever let me be happily in love without interfering.

I wish I had something like this.

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:38:33 -0400

I wish I had something like this.

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Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:53:47 -0400

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Sun, 09 Oct 2011 14:18:12 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia: Nathan Ota. Something’s...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:41:51 -0400

darksilenceinsuburbia:

Nathan Ota. Something’s Happening.

www.nathanota.com

Everything like music by Tolagunestro on Flickr.

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:50:33 -0400

Everything like music by Tolagunestro on Flickr.

artchipel: Charles E. William - Shades of Silence. Oil on...

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:15:59 -0400

artchipel:

Charles E. William - Shades of Silence. Oil on canvas, 8”x24” (2008)

This is beautiful art.

This is so unique and fucking sick as hellllll.

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:00:26 -0400

This is so unique and fucking sick as hellllll.

"In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way...."

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:28:00 -0400

“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm! <3”

- Woody Allen

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Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:23:52 -0400

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Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:10:14 -0400

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Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:08:32 -0400