On the surface, people tend to think the benefit of yoga is increased flexibility and balance. As I see it, this is just icing on the cake. Yoga more that anything else I do helps me get to know myself. This, in turn, helps me ‘to my own self be true’ (”To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man” - William Shakespeare).
Although, it is not actually the doing of yoga that helps me know myself. I only find this when I seek this (”Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” - Jesus). In other words, action is action and nothing more. The value we find lies in how we approach action - any action.… Continue reading ‘Cease Treading Water and Just Sink’
In my son Kyle’s world, all poems have to rhyme. When I go to write it just comes out that way.
The other night I had total insomnia. It happens from time to time. I took pen to paper and filled some of my wakeful night with this…
RESTLESS
I find a pillow to lay my head
And glide into the sleepless bed
Roving pillars in the winding mind
Won’t stand still or drift in kind
The restless state holds me to a mast
Taking me through a play miscast
The dark night is an endless day
Respite fails me, awake to stay
Let this mind and body recoil
Rest it deep into the soil
Revive me at the morning light
To live the day with no left spite
There is really no ‘moment’ per se. I create a sense of moment by trying to get or achieve something; my desires creates the illusion of moment. When I’m able to switch from ‘getting’ and ‘trying’ to ‘giving’ and ’surrender’, the moment fades and merges with a continuum, space-time-like. The past, the present, the future all begin to blend into one another. Mysterious sameness is a nice way to describe it. I reckon this is what death ‘feels’ like, and so when the time comes, how sweet that will be. Naturally though, ‘I’ won’t be here to experience it, and yet…
Only once, did I push the boundaries of my stomach, which was at the buffet at the classy Chaminade. I wasn’t sure how much the bill would be, so I tried out almost every single thing there. (just a little bit of each, but it added up) Other than that, I’m usually always able to stop eating before I get full.
(Well, that’s one way to put it.) Emotion clear-cuts the natural diversity of original, unfiltered perception. Certainly, this tendency to blindside ourselves is a built-in survival adaptation. I imagine anything ‘aware’ would need such a way to filter out extraneous sensory data. Extraneous meaning that which has no immediate bearing on survival. Even given our extremely narrow sensory ranges, there’s still an infinite amount of stimuli out there to arouse the nervous system.
So far so good. Now, consider the filtering effects of language on perception. Words and names allow our brain to filter out extraneous sensory data to a fault! These preconceptions (along with emotion) ensue vast pre clear-cut landscapes of consciousness. Oh my, too much of a good thing, eh?… Continue reading ‘Emotion Clear-cuts Perception’
I’m proud of this video of the JamShop on many levels. On the surface, it’s because I filmed and edited it all myself, and I’m real happy with how it turned out.
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