The most important blog you'll ever read!

What are you feeling? Excitement that I’m about to tell you the meaning of the universe, life and everything? Or cynicism – you’ve heard it all before? Just to clarify something early, this likely isn’t the most important blog you’ll ever read. In fact, nothing you ever read will be of much importance compared to the things that you do. Yet here you are reading this! In fact, you’re not likely to hear anything new, especially if you’ve been reading for a while.

So how do you feel now?

Angry? Touch in with the anger and take its temperature.

Thinking of what you’ll click on next? Touch in with that feeling and give up the clickety-ghost.

Still reading persistently? Go use that energy to touch in with your own vital creativity.

Restless, don’t know what to do? Feel it really, then make the choice to let the monkey go.

Are you enlightened yet? Thought not. Feel that special unenlightened feeling. When you’re enlightened, you’ll never get to feel it again.

Blissed out and feeling high as a mountain? Wow, my blog really did that to you? Punches the air. But don’t get complacent. Keep practicing.

And remember, don’t forget to breathe… 

With your whole body.

Just as you can tense a muscle and let it go to fully relax it, so you can do the same with your mind. Really touch in with your emotions, even the negative ones, and get to know their energies. Thank them when they arise, for they are your teachers. When the energy is stripped to its essence, only wisdom remains.

There’s only one thing you can’t touch into, and that’s inertia. If the visit is unwelcome, then like in-laws your only defence is to prepare yourself (...leave the house, lol) before the moment of arrival. Become aware of the approach signals, and move your body and move your mind, deploying your imaginative resources to harness your strengths and be your best – yourself.

Peace out! A wonderful thanksgiving to you all!

–okei, naturally not celebrating… except in spirit. :^) Thanks for reading!

Source: This is actually based on a Buddhist talk I went to, but I thought I'd leave out the technicalities, spice it up and give it a thanksgiving theme.

This was originally posted to Buddhist Travellers in 2010.

Staking out New Ground (I Ching, 3 — zhun)

3. zhun — water/thunder
XIX/XXI

DIFFICULTY-HESITATION-HOARDING-SPROUTING-GARRISON

The original meaning of zhun is of a sprouting seedling, but it is also associated with gathering, either of grain or of men. Its earliest meaning might be military - an army encampment or garrison. For more, see here.
http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/hex_1-16/03-04.htm

Difficulty. The risks are high, but the omens are good. Do not act. You do not have a direction. Appoint noble princes.

   1.    Stone pillars. Favourable sign for a dwelling. Appoint noble princes.

   2.    As if stuck, as if blocked, if chariots and horses come teeming like bandits trying to steal a marriage match, let them hear the female fortune: she will not marry, for ten years she will not bear children.

    3.    If you stalk deer without vigilance, you end up straying into the centre of the forest. The noble person is subtle. He returns home, not letting on that he is lost. Going on will bring bad luck.

    4.    If chariots and horses come teeming, seeking a marriage match, then auspicious that you should go. Nothing unfavourable will come of it.

    5.    Saving the deer fat, if there is little, the omens are good; but hoarding much, the omens are bad.

    6.    If chariots and horses come teeming, shedding floods of tears, then the blood of the relatives has flowed.

Commentary: Staking out new territory, it is often better not to have a pre-conceived purpose because you are not in a position to have one, just as a plant sends out roots in all directions. When French settlers colonized America, they came with big projects, the British with none. The French settlements quickly collapsed, the British thrived, adapting better to the conditions around them. The meaning of this hexagram is perseverance in non-action while staking out new territory.

Both translation and commentary are my interpretation from various sources, and probably my last post on the I Ching. I wish you all good luck in your new encampments!

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

—Rainer Maria Rilke

Painting: by Adèle Aldridge from ichingmeditations.com
Video: 'Any Road' by George Harrison. Lyrics here.

Enthusiasm, Excess, Happiness (I Ching, 16 — yù)

 16. yù — thunder/earth
XXI/XXX

 ENTHUSIASM-EXCESS-HAPPINESS


When we are enthused, when we are happy, when we have a surplus, it is worthwhile to get organized, appoint helpers and venture out on worthwhile projects. 

 

1. Trumpeting out our enthusiasm does no good. It wastes the energy that should be reserved for action.

2. Our certainty is as solid as a rock, but by the end of the day, we are spent. This bodes well! Just observe the rising of negative thoughts, and cut them at the root.

3. If we depend on others to reinforce our enthusiasm, and for self-verification, then we will regret it. Any delay will bring regret. Do good without thought, quickly! For if you are slow, doubt will overcome you.

4. Become acquainted with the well-spring of your enthusiasm. If it is great, then it will bring fortune and success. Have no doubt that if you persist in your truth, friends will stand by you as in a hairpin to assist in your venture.

5. Know the sources of enthusiasm that bode ill and will cause you suffering. Ultimately, they will not kill you, but be sure to learn from them. Observing your feelings with a friendly detachment, you allow life to become your teacher. As you grow out of the shell of your conditioning, you begin to write your own destiny.

6. If enthusiasm arises from dark motives, then you may succeed at first, but it will be a pyrrhic victory. That’s life! Change course to what is balanced and correct to align with your inner truth. This will always serve you best in the long run.
 

 
Image Explanation by Margaret Pearson: Thunder over Earth. Early Chinese envisaged earthquakes as thunder breaking out of the earth. Having excess is likened to such an upheaval. This image reminds us that having much can be dangerous if it is not shared in appropriate ways. With increased wealth or power come responsibilities too great for one person to control alone. Having too much can end up being upsetting as earthquakes upset the earth. New forms must be created to delegate, to recognize the good in others and to celebrate in sacred rites and song the joy that comes from abundance. Some of the excess must be sacrificed to the Highest Power, and then shared among those whom we can trust to take care of our community. Only in this way can we be worthy of those who have contributed to the fortune of our present situation. (based on "The Original I Ching", Margaret Pearson)

The version in green is my own, from various sources.

Another good link:
http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/learn/gua/hexagrams/hexagram16.php


Paintings: by Adèle Aldridge from ichingmeditations.com
Photo: by Diana Paola from dianapaola8.tumblr.com

Ghost in the Shell (Kôkaku Kidôtai; Japan, 1995)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Animation

Six years before the Matrix, there was the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell which inspired it. Set in Hong Kong in the year 2029, old parts of the city are flooded, the sky is a dirty orange, humans have invented cynoptic camouflage, weapons and armoured protection are more powerful than ever, and most importantly, everything is digitized. Technology has entered into the human body, to the extent that whilst most humans are still only slightly modified, the elite units are mostly cyborg with the exception of brain matter, enabling them with capabilities of enhanced metabolism, sensory perception, speed, memory, processing capacity, communication and of course toughness. The cost of such progress is the need for occasional maintenance, as well as a gnawing unease at the insignificance of the self beneath all these government-loaned enhancements. There is also the fear that the organic brain might wither away or else be hacked into and controlled, and how would one ever know?

Among these elite forces is Major Kusanagi, a female crime-fighter of the highest calibre. Along with her cyborg-friend Bateau, who is equipped with enhanced vision, and her crime-fighting partner ex-police officer Togusa, she is on the hunt for the infamous Puppet Master, about whom almost nothing is known except for the numerous high-level crimes he has perpetrated through mind-control. All memory is just data, so how could a potential victim of mind-control distinguish reality from fantasy? When one starts to question what you put your trust in, who certifies someone as trustworthy, and who certifies them, The line of questioning never ends. We are only human, which makes all the more disquieting the news of the Puppet Master’s hacking of human brains, their contents having been wiped and replaced with his criminal commands. And who’s to say that the Puppet Master is not himself a puppet?

As well as having an excellent plot, and brilliant animation, with the exception of walking (cyborgs don’t seem to be able to walk properly), the most memorable aspect of the movie is the great central character of the Major herself. All other characters mirror her in a glass darkly, her strong will, toughness and cool reserve. The atmosphere of the film is haunting, a little film-noir in its tone, the palette very grey and sombre, the music ghostly and futuristic.

Another great strength of the movie, already touched on, is the realism of the philosophical issues raised. What does it mean to be human in this world of ever-advancing technology. What happens when a robot claims personhood? How can we prove that while we are life-forms, a robot isn’t? Scientifically, we cannot do it, but one way we are unlike robots is that instead of making copies of ourselves, we die and reproduce. We merge our differences with another, thus protecting ourselves against a single virus that could wipe us all out. When the mostly-human Togusa asks the Major why she chose him to be her crime-fighting partner, it is the difference she saw in him that she gives as the reason for her choice. But when the Major asks the same question of another at the end of the movie, she gets a different answer, one of similarity. Though the story is told from the point of view of Section 9, the nefarious rivals in Section 6 are not so different except in the methods they use.

This review would not be complete without mention of the arguably gratuitous displays of nudity and violence, especially in the opening sequences. Designed no doubt to get the attention of adolescent audiences as “adult" manga, it acts as a superficial cover for the film’s deeper ideas. Cyborgs are not self-conscious of their nudity because they do not identify with it. A cyborg’s body is just a matter of taste, not biology, and for robot shells this extends to a certain ambiguity of gender.

We identify ourselves with our memories. But the real self is not even that. It is the ghost in the shell of a titanium skull. It is the whisper of female intuition. It is the seat of emotions that makes the Major love to go diving despite the dangers. The fear, anxiety, loneliness, darkness… even Hope, that she experiences in the depths, are what makes her feel human. When the red lasers of death caress her in the closing sequences, merging in her forehead, they represent the forces of love also, which in the form of Bateau’s replaceable arm and subsequent care, ultimately save her in a kind of enlightened union with all, as she becomes one with the ether yet in physical form. In words reminiscent of the character Jane, in Orson Scott Card’s “Speaker for the Dead” (and subsequent novels), the movie concludes with Major Kusanagi transformed and full of promise, “the net is vast and limitless”. 

The film is begging for a sequel. In 2004, after three years of gruelling work, director Mamoru Oshii released “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence”. This is a tremendously impressive display of anime artistry with more vibrant colour than the original, and not short of philosophical bite either, the focus shifting to robots being used as household dolls and the ethical implications. However, without Major Kusanagi as the central driving character, it couldn’t live up to the simple charm of the original.

Touring the Future

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/display/39wf/taketour.htm

What do you think the future will look like in 20 years. The link was the industrial/commercial vision from 1939 America. I found it very interesting. What now?

140 Characters: Double-Haikus

• The tube is a train
  Packed with people like smarties
  Wrapped in bright paper
  
  The chairs are a show
  A symbol of politeness
  Just waiting to go
  
    
• Like summer kisses,
  We melted in the star light
  Of our racing hearts
  
  On the sunbathed roof
  It seemed like a good idea
  Until the wasp came.
  
    
• The first time they met
  So fresh was the morning dew
  So red the rosebush.
  
  In the beginning
  She had the same name as all
  But he renamed her.
  
    
• I did not come here
  Just to skirt my fingertips
  Around your desire.
  
  Trees cloaked in moonlight
  Yawn in the April umbra
  Of my longing heart.
    
    
• Life’s a question mark
  You are the dot in suspense
  And the answer’s Love
  
  O Breath ephemeral
  Brave nymph of Eternity
  What makes you mindful?

—okei

The Leaving

Once upon a time there was a boy whose skin it was said had a greenish hue. His friends used to tease him that he looked like a tree. One day their English teacher announced a story competition. A list of titles was given to choose from. One of the titles was "The Leaving". "You should write about how you turned into a tree!" one of his friend's joked to him. "Hey, cool idea," he replied laughing, "I think I will". And he did! A few days after all the boys had handed in their stories, he saw his English teacher in the school corridor. "I really liked your story," she told him. "Are you joking with me," he replied. "No, seriously," she reassured him, "it was excellent." Usually English homeworks always took him a long time, but he'd written this one really quickly. He was baffled when he later heard he'd won the prize, and also very pleased. They never teased him for looking like a tree after that.

The Leaving

(Feb. 1996)

The curtains billowed in the wind, the curtain rings rubbing against the rails with a discordant screeching sound. I shut the open window. The noise died down to a murmur. The crisp brown leaves rustled along the hard stone cobbles. It was not late, but it was already dark outside. The trees were not yet bare of leaves, their outlines visible against the clear and purple sky overlooking everything. In the daytime, hundreds had picnics under the wonderful display of yellow-brown leaves, short-lived, sparks of brilliance and wonder. Then nothing would be left behind.

The wind grew stronger now, the windows shaking in their wooden panes. I decided to leave the warmth of the house and take a short walk outside wrapped up in my anorak to feel the cool wind upon my face, the sweet night air. I moved almost effortlessly, the wind continually driving me forward on a blanket of air. The few lights that were still on were now disappearing into darkness. Then all the houses were black, bowing down in obedience to the night. The noise of my shoes upon the ground seemed to carry along the whole length of the tree-lined avenue, like a tunnel, the trees bending over my head on either side. The wind echoed and the leaves scraped against the hard surface, making a crunching noise as they were trodden on.

"Time to go back before the wind gets too strong," I thought to myself. I turned my back to come face to face with the merciless force of the rising wind. I put on my hood, but it was little use. I turned round and began to walk backwards. I kept on looking round, but despite this, the slight changes in direction of the wind left me knocking into flower pots, walking into parked cars and on one occasion stumbling on an empty Coke can in someone's front garden.

Suddenly I felt an abrupt pain from the back of my head. I seemed to be encircled, surrounded. I could no longer move, trapped in my position. I tried to free my arms, but all I heard was the crunching of leaves and the noise of the wind, tearing at my face. I was surrounded by leaves. They grew higher and higher. I tried to lift myself out, but to no avail. I did not have my portable telephone so I could not call for help. I was drowning in a flood of leaves. They poured all over me like waves in the sea over a drowning man. I could not swim in leaves and my body was numb from cold. I breathed heavily and after one final attempt managed to climb on to the leaves. I started to crawl over them, a wave of relief now passing over my body. The trees seemed closer to me now, still bending, but this time lower, swaying downwards, staring thoughtlessly, staring mindlessly, as if about to grab me. All I could see in the sky was a mass of black, a thunderstorm of leaves, no longer beautiful, but menacing. They were falling around me, swallowing me up. "Where am I going?" I thought to myself.

Houses trapped me on either side. My only path was forward. Then suddenly the leaves seemed to give way, leaving no escape route. There was a loud crunch as I fell through the leaves and more leaves fell on top. I was buried. I held my breath for what seemed an age, struggling furiously. Suddenly, it was light. I saw myself through the leaves lying still, motionless. The image became smaller and smaller and then completely disappeared into a vivid white.

I had left the Earth far behind and all my neighbours, a sudden departure, a vivid farewell and then there is a blankness in my memory. I was nowhere and yet I remember once drinking from a well. I was in a queue waiting to get my share of water. My two next door neighbours were behind me. They must have died in that same thunderstorm of leaves.

The picture grew larger, I saw a tree and I entered that tree, became innate with it. My arms were turning into branches, my fingers into leaves. I turned my head to see my old neighbours on that same avenue, their actions identical to mine. Then my head sprouted leaves and I became a tree. We were the homes of the new birds and since we died in autumn when the leaves died, we became creators of leaves ourselves and servants of the spring. This was the leaving of my former self and the leaving of my body.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	A girl and a dragon looking for fortune

Advantages: spellbinding creativity, intricately woven subplots, beautiful illustrations
Disadvantages: narrative quality in sections

The little girl Minli, inspired by the stories of her father and despite the exasperation of her mother at the foolishness of such stories, yearns to find the Old Man of the Moon who alone knows the answer to all her questions: how can the people of her village escape from poverty?, how can the barren Fruitless Mountain be made to bear fruit?, how can she change her family's fortune? This is no small problem. The people of her village work tirelessly from dawn till dusk to grow rice, and then they eat the rice they grow. This frugal existence seems to have no hope of improving for the better. The only light is the humanity with which life is lived, characterised by the telling of stories.

One day, through an act of generosity to a talking goldfish, she receives a lead in her quest, and, acting on it, she runs away from her beloved parents to fulfil the dream of bringing them a better life. She saves a dragon who can't fly from its lake of tears who then joins her, and together they meet many others along the way.

Everything has a purpose. Everything is alive. Each person or animal has a story. The stories are incredibly creative, inspired by elements of traditional Chinese folklore, and elaborately and intricately woven to make a fine tapestry of a book. This is the book's strength and it is beautiful how the author succeeds in tying up all the disparate strands of plot in the end. Together with the beauty of the author's own full-page colour illustrations, including the cover, the quality of the printing and the hardcover binding, this makes for a very beautiful book and a lovely gift to any child or any lover of folktales.

The only drawback I would say is a slight dip in the quality of the narrative in places and the sometimes tired manner of building suspense. But then, this is not a masterpiece of literature, but a tale intended for children which adults will thoroughly enjoy.

Finally, the book has been compared by some to "The Wizard of Oz". Both are heartwarming fantasies involving a girl on a quest for a mysterious saviour, but this is no Chinese re-make of a western classic. The underlying structure and themes and message are all different. It reminded me more of "Monkey" by Wu Ch'eng-en, but without the testosterone. Unlike "The Wizard of the Oz", the story has a multiplicity, shifting regularly for example to the parents awaiting their daughter's return, and these episodes are used with varying success to build suspense and convey new information. While, the Wizard of Oz turns out to be a fraud, the same is not true of the Old Man of the Moon, and there isn't quite the same sense of disappointment. But in both books, many of the answers the characters were looking for are found within themselves. Yet also in both, the journey was necessary. While in "The Wizard of Oz", courage and fear are discovered to be two sides of the same coin, in "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon", the underlying focus is rather on gratitude and generosity. But if this were merely a moral tale of acceptance and gratitude, it would be self-defeating because had it not been for dissatisfaction and the desire for something greater, then Minli would never have set out on her quest. Rather, everything has a reason. And do not underestimate the little dreamer! For, however impossible things may seem, they will often find a way.

Summary: A heartwarming fantasy, and a perfect gift for the child or the child-at-heart.

Stay Awake Silly!

Ingredients:

We could all do with some tips to stay awake sometimes, when we haven't slept the previous night, when we're in a boring lecture we can't understand, when we've eaten too much for lunch or for whatever reason the eyes just keep drooping shut and we can't concentrate. Caffeine is the usual remedy. Did you know that green tea contains caffeine? And it's good for you also... how cool is that! The smell of peppermint is said to be reviving also, as is brushing your teeth, splashing your face with cold water, eating an apple, staring out the window, opening the window, jumping out the window (no, please don't do that!), taking a breath of fresh air, turning on the tunes, and if all else fails and you can't just let yourself surrender to a delicious little nap on your desk, then here are some exercises for you. This is a re-post from taogirl, now "no more taogirl", who in turn got it from here:
http://deepsm25.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/office-exercises

Directions:

Below is the routine that I recommend each and everyone of you to preach and practice and follow it every step of the way at work.

As a warm up, let’s do some Tai Chi..



Follow like this to ease your
neck & shoulder pain



Wa..wa.. aaa





Move to the right
and then to the left




After that, move to the left
and then to the right





Just follow. Don’t force yourself to do 360 degrees, 180 degrees will do. Bend down a bit like you gonna faint. Repeat a few times till you’re bored





Grab anything on your desk and smash your head hard. If you are still sleepy smash harder






After that move your feet and swing your body a bit like this. Do it like it’s nobody’s business and remember to smile.






Move your feet and body just a bit like this….
Do it like there’s no problem at all…





And now more aggressive!
Don’t bother about what others say





Let go of all your stress…



If your boss ask what you are doing, move your head slowly like this and tell them you’re dying in the office.





When your boss walked off, get your colleague to join you and move your body like this. The more the merrier …



Finally, dance like this.



Still Sleepy ??



GO HOME !!
Pssssst: Hopefully you are still employed!

Motorway Across the Universe

 
"Here is a problem for you," Nafurti said, producing the above picture of the universe. "On the left, you have the Earth, then the motorway that runs across the universe and on the right the planetary objects and the Sun. As you can see the motorway goes almost completely across the universe and the gap is too small for the planets to pass through. So the problem is how to move the planets across and settle them on the Earth, allowing for making the Earth smaller in the process."

I realize immediately that being allowed to make the Earth smaller means we can convert some of the mass of the Earth into energy and use that energy to perform the feat.

"How about moving the planets across the motorway?" I suggested.

But this is a two-dimensional model of the universe... so to take something "over" would involve taking it out of the universe, she explained.

"How about populating the Earth with humans," I suggest next, "The destructive power of humans will blow apart the motorway and the way will then be clear!"

At this, she was most displeased. Frowning, she explained "That will create debris all over the place which will be even harder to avoid and will make your problem much more difficult."

And then I had a third idea... "Complete the motorway, and then with tremendous force like a rocket taking off from its launch site, the left side of the universe must take off from the right, separating itself from it, and then double itself back and re-join itself to the right side."

"That's very good!" she said. "So how are you going to do the first of those two in practice, the splitting?"

I have no idea actually... and then I wake up.


And then there's still the second problem of doubling back and re-connecting...

I'll have to figure all that out in due course, but in the meantime I'll concentrate on completing that motorway. It might be a motorway of foolishness http://jamintoo.multiply.com/video/item/107/107 from which one might take off with complete freedom and nothing to lose, but in order to take it, in order to "let go" of something, a subjective attachment of any kind whatever it might be that holds us back, requires first for that thing to complete itself.

Don't you think?

Sizzle and Burn - Jayne Ann Krentz

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Tagline:	Very Entertaining Paranormal Romance Thriller

Raine is looking through her late Aunt Vella's house that has been left to her when immediately she makes an unpleasant discovery. She soon finds herself the target of a psychopath and simultaneously gets caught up in a feud between two rival secret organisations, the mysterious J&J and the ruthless and deadly Nightshade, when the über-confident investigator Zack Jones of the former comes knocking at her door.

Raine and Zack share one goal – to find out who really was behind Aunt Vella's death because neither believe she died of a heart attack as supposed. There's immediately a sexual chemistry between the two as they embark on their quest, but their motives are different and J&J's operatives have betrayed her family in the past, so Raine is wary of history repeating itself.

So far, so good – a romance thriller which keeps the reader in suspense as we take a fun, but predictable if a little jerky ride to an inevitable triumph of good over evil. But there is another ingredient here that permeates every fibre of the novel and gives it life, and gives it fire! And that is the paranormal... Raine is sensitive to emotions left behind in objects – they create voices in her head; Zack too, but instead he has visions. Zack also has a rare mirror talent that allows him to anticipate an attack and avoid it, and conversely crowds will part to let him through.

But the enemies have talents too. With talents comes the inner need to use them, with special powers come special responsibilities, and power can easily go to the head. "Burn witch burn," cries the Bonfire Killer, but love triumphs over hate, danger is averted and the history of humanity is re-written. But was it all but a strange dream, entrancing but forgettable? Ooops, the lady Raine heard that as she sits back in the middle of her sofa, arms outstretched, a cat on either side and she gives her characteristic "screw-you" smile. Err... well despite that, it was a fun read, and I think it would make a great movie.

How to avoid the problem of soggy cereal...

Inspired by a question of Maple, an answer by Lexie and by Fire who loves crazy ideas and wanted me to draw something. :^)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;ylv=3?qid=20090223144724AAUA7YH

I present to you the Duchess Cereal Bowl:

I'll be taking a bit of a break for a week or two, so I might be quiet for a little while.