johnprice

Then that simple but huge question returns. Why was there ever anything? There was the initial Who am I? Where did I come from? -- matters of significance to all budding philosophers who care from adolescence or about who and what they are.

Important things to consider are inertia and entropy. Put these in a spherical container of energy. In fact, make the inside of the container solid mirror. Put yourself inside it and ------- look -------. What do you see? Add continuous ambient sound, like waves or a cackling fire. Look at it from the inside, all mirrors, mirroring ------- what -------? Then step outside and look at it as an object. From inside, eternity and energy. From the outside, a crystal ball emanating more data than the mind could discern. This is all pure fantasy, but it evolves into a visual metaphor for the inside-out universe we have. The harmonics, light, and heat patterns are the various theoretical dimensions. Imagine this whole set of concepts playing out in every atom of your body, every cell, your thought processes. Words fall short, but the picture here is pretty vividly dramatic and instructive.

Because everything is happening at once, all definitions, speculations, predictions, exist in the kind of sphere just described. So, if one point of view is the inside of the sphere and one is from a looker at the sphere. Where is the looker?

Then, let it all fade into meditation. But the let it fade is not an implication that this will be easy. Throw yourself into the lap of the universe with trust, and you will not be treated kindly. You will assaulted, challenged on every level, as you seek to get right. If the Way of the Cross is a metaphor, and in the origins of every world spiritual tradition such a metaphor exists, it is the story of our acquiring, living with, and strengthening ourselves with the dedication to understanding and living in true harmony with all things that drives this thing.

In the Zen poem, Song of Zazen, Master Hakuin, says, Even he who has practiced meditation for just one sitting will see all his twisted Karma erased. That's a comforting thought, and true in many ways, but to sustain your clear and wakened life, it takes commitment. Of course, this commitment is not uniform for all people.

So, we try very hard to make it count. Pity the people who move through their lives without considering what really matters. The daily hum-drum of this and that takes up the bulk of time for those oblivious to their condition. On one level, perhaps they're better off, trifling their way along. But do they not see the beauty of the mountains, the clouds moving across the sky, the incredible intelligence of an ant colony? This sentience, this self-awareness, a curse from the standpoint of knowing our own death will come, though many are as oblivious to this as they are to the grand nature of existence. This ability to see oneself in a context presents many curses of pain, the worry that comes in the terrors of the dark night when we cannot sleep. But then there is the morning, offering us diamonds, not hardened by time and pressure, but presented on the platter of timeless wonder. Let us thank goodness for the sense of wonder, especially if it pervades well into old age. Can there be a better gift?

Kabhir-John Price (book in progress)

It's quite interesting that so many "anomalies" appear and are apparently photographed. What strikes me here is the explanation, offered by Russia, that it's a human-made visual, a missile gone awry. Yet others wonder if that is indeed true, and even if it is, what the implications are.

Since I live near a place called Dogtown in east-central Wisconsin, I am particularly interested in the topic, and the author is erudite.

I was a child when this happened. I do remember it. Despite my father being a Republican, I always liked Adlai Stevenson. What a time. It could have been the end of "modern society."

Do we have free will?

Johnprice: Here's a question, and I beg to mostly move away from the purely esoteric, despite the poetic: What about the concept of "white holes," continuously interacting, eating, digesting, passing, on and on, the black hole? Eating Infinity, the menu?

Kabhir-John Price (Esoterica Ellipses)

Suffer the man who has a deep and broad conscience but lacks the will to act upon his inner voice.

Kabhir-John Price (treatise on Truth)

Buddhist Adviser: Dark Buddha: Where is the fear? E-mail

A visitor to my Internet writing site recently-----

[The latest in paper.]

scenenewspaper.com/green-choices/32-green-choices/66-buddhist-adviser [scenenewspaper.com/green-choices/32-green-choices/66-buddhist-adviser] .

Just "discovered" this local fellow. I taught in the schools where he went. Good stuff. He's not shy.