mahna mahna .net

“Give yourself the space to be who you are. Give others the space to be what they are. And if others do not give you the space to be who you are … give them the space to not give you the space to be who you are, and give yourself the space to be who you are.”

— Tenshin Reb Anderson

[thanks to Adam-roshi for posting this on his Facebook a few weeks back (while we were both in India!)]

I learned many-many things from “The Unfinished,” a piece by D.T. Max about the late David Foster Wallace in this week’s New Yorker, but I want to focus on one. I learned that Wallace in fact knew something about true happiness. He was writing about it. It was the subject of his incomplete novel. Quoting:

A typed note that Wallace left in his papers laid out the novel’s idea: “Bliss—a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious—lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom.”

(Wanna … read full post »

“Harry, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just … let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or … two cups of good, hot, black coffee.”

— FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper

It doesn’t get much better than when one of your favorite musicians gives you a sudden and unexpected dose of the spiritual truths you hold dear:

And she spoke unto me, saying:
‘Fear not the movement of the heavens above
Or the earth below
For change is what we are, my child!
Righteous are those who look up and sway with the wind,
Who look down and dance with the shifting of the soil,
Who swim with the movement of the tides,
Who seek the truth around them and discover,
We are and have always been in paradise —
The reflections of heaven on earth! Amen!’

And she spoke again, saying:
‘Know, my child, that there is no devil
Seeking to cause guilt nor harm to men.
No evil save blind faith, ignorance,
And the desire for the unprepared to blame others
For the devastation left in the wake of … read full post »

I read Jeffrey Zeldman’s blog for the tech, but today there was a happy diversion. On the occasion of his daughter’s first day of preschool, Zeldman noted:

Nothing says Buddhism like raising a child. To cherish what has already changed as you look upon it. To hold most tightly what you must most let go.

How wonderful! I can’t wait for the day I experience it myself. But in the meantime, I note that parenting is practice (“practice” in the Buddhist sense), because everything is practice: waking up is practice, cooking an egg is practice, your morning commute is practice, taking out the trash is practice, sitting is practice, walking is practice, breathing is practice. I had to go to Kaiser this morning to have blood drawn: practice.

Everything you experience, every action you undertake can be a gentle reminder of the Middle Way. Babies have the Buddha’s … read full post »

It feels good to give.

(It feels good because it does your soul/spirit/whatever good.)

(When was the last time you surprised someone with a simple gift? Do you remember how you felt when their face lit up?)

I love it when this happens. A team of psychologists at U.C. Riverside took a look at happiness and the things that go along with it. As the Guardian puts it:

The findings suggest that happiness is not a “feelgood” luxury, but is essential to people’s wellbeing. What is more, happiness can also extend across an entire nation, with people in “happy” nations being more likely to have pro-democratic attitudes and a keenness to help others.

You don’t say. But wait, there’s more:

“Almost always it has been assumed that things that correlate with happiness are the causes of happiness, but it could be just the opposite—that those things tend to be caused by happiness,” said Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois, another author on the paper.

Now this is interesting. I read a Zen book a while back that stressed the point that, in any causal … read full post »

…but there will be new wisdom posts. And other sorts of posts as well. Yes, new posts here. Sometimes blogs stall, as this one has. I have some ideas about why, but those will be the subject of another post, perhaps, assuming I can get this thing cranked up again. Right now, though, Jon Carroll has some things to say about wisdom.

Leon Russell sang to me tonight the words of prophet George:

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of Maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While Weeping Atlas Cedars
They just want to grow
Beware of darkness

[more on Maya]