But the First Noble Truth suggest that we should stay and acknowledge our suffering. If we don’t understand suffering, we can’t understand happiness. p. 28 From Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh Previously… Found in my electronic chapbook.

We can very well make friends with our suffering as part of our effort to transform it. If we recognize it and call it by its true name, then we can make peace with it and not suffer as much. When we see the pain in the world caused by all the suffering, we want [...]

We see ourselves everywhere because every moment we produce thoughts, speech and actions that continue us in the world. p. 25 From Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh Previously… Found in my electronic chapbook.

Carlinisms…* Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle? From my dad, of course… *I associate this kind of word play with the brilliant comedy of George Carlin…

As I approach the mid-point of my 57th year on Planet Earth, I have lamented my lost years, those times in which I did not do great deeds, when, upon reflection of the previous 12 months, I found myself wanting them back so that I might do what I had intended to do at their [...]

I think that every aspiring journalist should read and heed the advice offered to Mrs. Harris by Kurt Vonnegut. Much of what I think is wrong with Journalism today comes from college educations; not in matters of the world such as science, the arts, social studies or maths, but rather in Journalism. There is nothing [...]

I remember my freshman English teacher — Miss Mary (Granny) Baker — attempting to get a rise out my lethargic class by having us read the bedroom scene from Romeo and Juliet and beating us over the head with the revelatory information that first, the lovers were rousing from a night of sex and that [...]

I’ve been a practitioner of various forms of meditation — beginning with Transcendental Meditation at 17 which evolved into a Buddhist practice in my 20s, a Jewdhist approach in my 30s and 40s and now back to Buddhist in my 50s — for most of my life and while I never fell for the full-blown [...]

Good morning all, I’ve taken a few weeks off from publishing here, but not from reading, thinking and writing, and one of my accomplishments during this time has been to read the correspondence of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. as published in Kurt Vonnegut: Letters, edited by Dan Wakefield. As has long been my practice, I copied [...]

Rule No. 14 – Eat Only Foods That Will Eventually Rot. Rule No. 15 – Eat Foods Made From Ingredients That You Can Picture in Their Raw State or Growing in Nature. Rule No. 16 – Go Food Shopping Every Week. Rule No. 17 – Buy Your Snacks At The Farmers’ Market. Rule No. 18 [...]

If someone asks you, “What happens when I die?’ you may help that person by asking, “What is happening to you in the here and now?” If we know what happens to us in the here and now, we can answer the other question very easily. We are undergoing birth and death right now. Rebirth [...]

Rule No. 1: Eat Food. From Food Rules, an eater’s manual by Michael Pollan I re-read Pollan’s book yesterday, selecting this time the new edition with illustrations by Maira Kalman and additional rules (there are 83 in this edition, up from 64 in the original) from readers since the book was first published in 2009. [...]

We need to abolish poverty and social injustice, and to deal with the problems of global warming and economic recession. But we need to begin with the painful feelings we carry inside us. We have to deal with these things first. If they’re not dealt with, we may inadvertently cause more suffering when we’re trying [...]

The politician might only be talking about the symptoms of suffering, not the roots. p. 20 From Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh Previously… Found in my electronic chapbook.

Instead of trying to escape into metaphysical questions such as, “Who created the world?” and “What is the purpose of life?” the Buddha began with the truth he saw around him. This is the first ethical guideline: We have to observe deeply what is happening around us before we can understand its causes and hope [...]

1135: Share your bookself

The First Noble Truth is ill-being. The Second Noble Truth is the causes of ill-being, the thoughts and actions that put us on the path leading to ill-being. The Third Noble Truth is well-being, the cessation of ill-being. The Fourth Noble Truth is the path leading to well-being, the Noble Eightfold Path. p. 11 From [...]

[Raymond] Chandler had his own system for turning out The Big Sleep and other classic detective stories: “Me, I wait for inspiration,” he said, but he did it methodically every morning. He believed that a professional writer needed to set aside at least four hours a day for his job: “He doesn’t have to write, [...]

The four truths inter-are. p. 11 From Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh Previously… Found in my electronic chapbook.

So, when it comes to food, never say never. When the dessert cart arrives don’t gaze longingly at forbidden treats. Vow that you will eat all of them sooner or later, but not tonight. In the spirit of Scarlett O’Hara, tell yourself: Tomorrow is another taste. p. 237 From Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength [...]