Monthly Archives: June 2009

Teachings

Teaching Moments

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Recently….

Morning. You do look well!

Yes, and I still find it difficult…daily life. You know.

Yah. It comes, it goes.

Oh, I really want to thank you Reverend Mugo, for saying what you said to me, way back.

Yah?

Tally Ho, and full steam ahead.

Oh… Yes!

And some years ago I said to somebody else: Fear is the egg and bread crumbs of karma!

And the chap reminds me of this almost every time we meet. He derived meaning from it. Especially when he learned to cook and saw how egg and bread crumbs bind and hold in place, whatever they are wrapped around.

The main point here is it is not the truth or falsity (or off the wall nature) of the teachers words that matters to the going on, it’s the sincerity of the student.

Daily Life, Information

Are Animals Conscious Of Their Behaviour?

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Apparently animals are conscious of their behaviour and can exhibit regret. Just like us!

He (Eugene Linden) tells of a young tiger that, after tearing up all the newly planted trees at a California animal park, covered his eyes with his paws when the zoo-keeper arrived. And there were the female chimpanzees at the Tulsa Zoo that took advantage of a renovation project to steal the painters’ supplies, don gloves and paint their babies solid white. When confronted by their furious keeper, the mothers scurried away, then returned with peace offerings and paint-free babies.

Read more….
Looks like there may be a case to be made for humans being wired to regret. Just like the animals!

Thanks to Jack for the link.

Thankfully we humans do not require shows of regret in order to express remorse. And it is a sad sad world that sometimes DOES require a show of regret…

Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Not Nothing

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I just published the following in the comment section in response to a woman speaking about her father, who is recovering from a stroke. Seeing myself reflecting on the site and how people might derive benefit from it I thought it worth publishing as an actual post. Because? Because it is an opportunity for me to draw attention to what I believe is the merit of writing and reading this blog. Could be wrong.

So sorry to hear about your father. I hope you have a Transfer of Merit notice up at Throssel – if not let me know his name and I’ll get one posted.

Glad you find this site of help. A source of comfort and insight? – I think this comes through you and your practice and reading here simply resonates with ‘that which is’ within you. This is probably how people derive something from coming here, and keeps them/you returning.

There is nothing of real value to be gained from reading the stuff I publish. However if there is benefit, on the simple information level perhaps, that’s good. The real gain is being reminded that one has not lost anything and what one has, is priceless. (This last sentence has been added after the comment was published.

Thanks for leaving this comment.

The other reason to publish is to offer merit in the direction of a very unfortunate situation unfolding in a distant country. No details possible here however the reader will find comfort in knowing there is a circle of well wishers gathered. Spiritual merit is not nothing, it’s related to the resonance spoken of in my comment published above.

Teachings, This and That

All In The Mind

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Consciousness, believe it or believe it not?
Thanks to Renegade Buddha – glad you are back at it again.

This will not be last time we take a look at consciousness. In the mean time…just sit!

Falls Between the Cracks, Information

Celebrity – Notoriety

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I’ve been encountering a lot of Travellers (See also Gypsies and Romini people) on the road and encamped on every available (and unavailable) spot beside the roads! They are on their way to the Appleby Horse Fair which customarily starts on the first Thursday in June and ends on the second Wednesday in June. When I passed through on Monday morning Alston had ponies tied to lamp posts, their rear ends stuck out into the road. Two officers of the law were walking purposefully towards the clutch of caravans, trucks, lorries loaded with painted caravans and sundry other vehicles. They were all crammed onto a tiny spot of land beside the road on the edge of the town. I must say I delighted in the general mill of activity, and the basic anarchy that emanates from Travellers activity. I think the police are fairly tolerant of them unless there is out and out crime going on. Just outside of Alston more encampments, ponies turned out into farmers fields, permission or no as I understand the situation. Is it a crime to feed ponies that have been trotting for 20 miles, they need their grass? (Paraphrased from the local newspaper reporting on the Travellers excesses or more to the point the farmers indignation.) Then descending Hartside Pass in the brilliant summer sunshine two carts – one a ‘rag and bone’ painted beautifully the other a simple pony cart. The ponies swinging along at a brisk trot, full of the joy of the open road, wind under the tail and feathery legs flying. What a sight! There’s that welling up of emotion out of seeming nowhere again. I’ll have to get to the bottom of that.

And now to what I intended to write about. Celebrity and notoriety. Yes, celebrity and how a swift turn of events, combined with human frailty, can transform over night into notoriety. This is the stuff of entertainment. The rise and fall of celebrity. We love the rags to riches stories, the Cinders WILL go to the ball stories. Now we have the story of Susan Boyle. It will, no doubt, be an ongoing one. Where will we be in that story? What of our own story?