The Advantage of Acceptance

“Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now. Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity — which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real. Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.

“I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.”

— Eckhart Tolle

As Gary Denton said, “Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet." -- Roger Miller (though often misattributed to Bob Marley).”

Guard the Unendurable Laughter

A sense of humor is sanity’s steam valve.

Shaftesbury, in his Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humor, said humor is the only real test of gravity because “a subject which would not bear raillery was suspicious.”

Put another way, it’s just that cartoonists realize that sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.

In fact, speech that offends someone is the only speech worth defending. Inoffensive speech is necessarily meaningless, and is never censored.

And why keep the stiletto of ridicule always handy up your sleeve? Because, as Euripides observed, “The laughter of one’s enemies is unendurable.”

Visiting an Art Guru

Releasing the Attachment to Suffering

Anatta is the Buddhist doctrine of  “no-self,” meaning there is no permanent, unchanging soul or essence in any living being or phenomenon. 

Instead, the self is a constantly changing composite of physical and mental processes called the five aggregates. 

The individual is seen as a collection of five constantly changing components: form, feeling, perception, mental formations (volitions) and consciousness.

The concept of anatta is one of the three characteristics of existence, along with impermanence (anicca) and suffering (dukkha). Understanding anatta is considered crucial for ending suffering by releasing the attachment that arises from believing in a fixed self. 

 (Ai summary)

The River Knows

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them -- that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

— Lao Tzu

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Right Idea

"Ahimsa means 'non-violence' or 'non-harming,' and it is a core principle in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It extends beyond physical violence to encompass harm through thoughts, words, and intentions, promoting compassion, kindness, and respect for all living beings. Practicing ahimsa involves being mindful of one's actions, speech, and even internal thoughts, as they can all cause harm."

Real Luxury in a World Opposed to It