Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away". 

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Hong Kong/China let whistleblower Ed Snowden fly away to a Russian airport, Putin has refused to send him to the USA, so the story goes. Ecuador is rumored to be Ed's destination, and a US senator has said Ecuador risks losing trade status if he is granted asylum there. Government spokesman Fernando Alvarado said at a news conference.today: "Ecuador gives up, unilaterally and irrevocably, the said customs benefits."  Ecuador is said to have offered the USA $23 million (about the same amount as they benefited from the trade agreement) to finance human rights training in the USA. The funding would help "avoid violations of privacy, torture and other actions that are denigrating to humanity," Alvarado said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/27/us-usa-security-ecuador-idUSBRE95Q0L820130627

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/26/us-usa-security-snowden-congress-idUSBRE95P1DR20130626


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Meanwhile, on the home front, the birds are singing, pre-dawn until after sunset. They always sound so gol-darned happy.

Illusions

I really like illusions. This is one of my fav cuz it reminds me to be aware that illusions should not become delusions, also reminds me that the mind likes to play.

The different ways people perceive the Müller-Lyer illusion likely reflects lifetimes spent in different physical environments. American children, for the most part, grow up in box-shaped rooms of varying dimensions. Surrounded by carpentered corners, visual perception adapts to this strange new environment (strange and new in terms of human history, that is) by learning to perceive converging lines in three dimensions.

When unconsciously translated in three dimensions, the line with the outward-feathered ends (C) appears farther away and the brain therefore judges it to be longer. The more time one spends in natural environments, where there are no carpentered corners, the less one sees the illusion.

The above is one of the few posts from a former blog site that i wanted to save, and lookity what i found about an hour and a half later (click 'explores' for full article): David Weisman explores how Buddhism gets the brain right: Neuroscience tells us the thing we take as our unified mind is an illusion, that our mind is not unified and can barely be said to “exist” at all. Our feeling of unity and control is a post-hoc confabulation and is easily fractured into separate parts. As revealed by scientific inquiry, what we call a mind (or a self, or a soul) is actually something that changes so much and is so uncertain that our pre-scientific language struggles to find meaning. Buddhists say pretty much the same thing. They believe in an impermanent and illusory self made of shifting parts. They’ve even come up with language to address the problem between perception and belief. Their word for self is anatta, which is usually translated as ‘non self.’  One might try to refer to the self, but the word cleverly reminds one’s self that there is no such thing.

Summer Daze

sun-dappled blue pool
weightlessly i float and see
wispy cirrus clouds



jacuzzi bubbles
a happy fizzies party
relaxed and dreamy

Wild Strawberries

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

- Pink Floyd, Brain Damage







A few days ago i was reading Sam Harris' blog where he answered tweeted questions, one of which was about the best meditation guide for beginners. In his answer he left a link to: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-meditate.

A few searches later: http://www.wildmind.org/walking/introduction. Yes, i do want a balance between outer and inner; yes, i do want a mind that is calm, content and quiet. Awareness and patience are needed for these wants, and that should help to lengthen the time i seem to so easily fall into a state of meditation, and then get too easily distracted.

I suddenly got the urge to get up and move, but felt lazy, then felt hunger pangs, but nothing sounded good, besides i had an upset tummy. Wild strawberries popped into my mind. A few weeks ago i noticed a large patch beside a back road while on a bike ride, had found a few ripe ones last Saturday, that got me out of my comfy chair, and pedaling to a tall grass and daisy field where the pickings were good. As i was stooped down peeking under leaves to find those sweet little berries, a pricker vine grabbed hold of my shirt. I jerked away in some irritation that turned into a smile as i discovered it was a raspberry vine, with more treats to come:]




At the end of this back road is a busy street with a strip mall including a Hispanic grocery that recently opened. I luv small local businesses; one of the things  i bought was a black candle with Santa Muerte on it. When i first saw it, it was turned so all i could see was 'santa', and wondered what Santa (Claus) was doing amidst all the religious icons on the other candles. I mentioned that to the young woman at the register, and she asked if i knew what the candle was for. Almost sure it was to burn if someone in your family died. She seemed surprised, and asked if i were religious, no; did i believe in g0d? No. What a strange conversation with a looney Americano, i'm sure she thought. I did not tell her that Death was my companion.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte  There were two colors of the Santa Muerte candles. Found this after i came home: Red is for love and passion. It can also signal emotional stability. Black, which i choose, represents total protection against black magic or sorcery, or conversely negative magic or force directed against rivals and enemies.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen

Link to remind self to read sometime soon, although i think that i know i need more do and be than think. This has been on my mind for some time, and it just popped in again, the person i most admire is HH the Dalai Lama. Whenever i see pics of him, he _always_ appears so happy and at peace. He is living proof that the possibility exists for any human to be happy and peaceful.

Time Waves

Reminiscing about

two suns    
fording river rocks
slip in the current
past and future
merge in the present
simple ordinary things
driving my ol' jeep
warmly dressed in mink
dig out of snowbank
down the lane
fireflies are star wars
in amazing fields
hear maize creak
dappled forest river
crossed on a tree 
greet brother bear
on trail above the falls
stood on mountaintop
contemplating suicide
dancehall dances
pinball tilts
lazy days at the beach
six foot waves break
some moments speak

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