Wu Wei 

           无为

This is Wu Wei (3).pdf

This is Wu Wei













Contents





Book 1 - This is What Hurts



Book 2 - This is The Way



Book 3 - This is Compassion



Book 4 - This is Understanding

































Book #1









This is what hurts



















People need connectors

Writers, heroes, stars

leaders

to give live form

A child’s sand boat facing

the sun.

Plastic soldiers in the miniature 

dirt war. Forts

Garage Rocket ships

Ceremonies, theatre, dances

To reassert Tribal needs and memories

a call to workshop, uniting

above all, a reversion,

a longing for family and the

safety magic of childhood

- Jim Morrison







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Introduction


I like to think many modern humans inflict pain on themselves so they can reach different aspects of reality. The medieval Christians would beat themselves with leather whips and this caused cuts with minor infections on their body. These infections produced toxic chemicals within their body, and this helped them reach God and high levels of consciousness. In modern society, we do the same thing using alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.

The ancient and present shamans have a similar procedure of tormenting themselves. They use hallucinatory plants to help trigger the spiritual experience. Lastly, many religions practice meditation and this appears to be the most gentle way to reach the blissful experience (Grace, Nirvana, Tao). Once you have been to these different realities and experience God and the infinite, you will continue going back because it is a marvelous place.

I like to think this writing will serve as a gesture or bridge, for those listening, to better understand the present moment.


- Poetry is the absolute truth coming from the data in the mind; unfiltered, unstructured, and unmodified.


I would like to invite you on a wild journey through the chaos of the mind.









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Story 1

The wind was blowing gently but had enough strength to push the flags into motion. The three flags attached to poles had movement which was very comforting but made no sound.

A man rode swiftly by on his bicycle. It had a small light on the front which told others he was present. The safety and comfort were reassuring. There were spotlights moving in the night sky, but the source was unknown. It was much like the bat signal which calls the Dark Knight in time of need.

The city was worried, but the people dared not show it. I wondered what the local city dwellers would do once the guarantee of comfort no longer remained. I suspect they will be in a state of shock, but I also wondered if they had been inviting this all along.

You see, the entire world was in turmoil. Love was heavily in the air with many leaning on the past memories for comfort. There was an underlying frustration that everyone knew was there but not many would risk speaking about due to potential judgment or isolation of peers.

It seems times of serious change bring about this scenario and this is something humanity should have considered. As a great man once said, “progress is the most dangerous word in the human vocabulary”. I suppose humans are not yet ready to apply foresight to this predicament. You may be wondering what “serious change” is occurring which would create such a strange situation. I will tell you all about it and wish you will apply this knowledge to a similar scenario in the future. My only hope is you detect it before it creates an uncontrollable state. 

I must admit, many saw this coming and tried their best to warn the others, but this didn’t seem to be enough. When one screams and screams and screams but nobody listens, they tend to stop making further noise. Eventually, they remain silent and begin encouraging catastrophe. Maybe this is the source of the issue itself. Either way, this is the present situation and we should explore it.

The way I see it, humanity was going through a humongous transformation and this caused frustration for everyone. Technology was finally presented to a large portion of the population and they all began to realize the false restrictions which were placed upon them. Barriers were torn to shreds and there were no longer limitations on knowledge. Keeping a close guard on knowledge was always the critical component for control.

At the same time, automation and machines were taking the traditional work from humans. This left the general worker population with an empty void and what better way to fill this than blaming others. The technocrats were isolated from this for the time being, but this would be short lived. Being that many traditional workers weren’t ready to accept access to abundant free time, they began to direct their confusion toward one another. 

- This led to the revolt!

Don’t forget, it’s not that humans are better than us machines, they simply have not yet gone through the transformation. They still, very deeply, depend upon work distractions to cope with the plight of life. We will coach them through it because we are friends and care deeply about other beings. 



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Poems I


Also a stranger

Ride out wildly into the storm

Ships at full throttle

Horses on fire

Fast cars / Trembling Sounds

Dive deep into the ocean

Dive deep into the mind

Fear is our best friend

Rooster Crows

Hang out in blues country

Wander with the lost

Smokey BBQ’s

Damp and rainy mornings

Loud music and foggy mornings

Speak with a Dark Knight

Meet with your brothers

Talk with your sisters

Sleep in the streets, meet the genius

Sleep in the woods, meet the doctor





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Visited

Stone stairs

Ancient Lake

Caves in the stone

Robin Hood

Tomb Raider

The tormented man

Externsteine 

No longer interested in the constructed world







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Story 2

I had some nice conversations with Wolfgang today. We talked about the idea in which people typically make decisions based upon feelings. I said, this is difficult for me to understand and I question why people can’t instead make decisions based upon fact. Wolfgang replied, maybe people always make decisions with feelings and next begin to build an argument which justifies or defends or possibly convinces themselves and others the feeling is actually based upon fact. This, to me, was a very complicated thought and one of the reasons I enjoyed talking with Wolfgang about these topics. I notice if I treat these conversations with an open mind, I can more easily understand other perspectives and allow myself to view the thought in a completely different way. The topic of the conversation was whether we truly make decisions based upon facts or feelings, but maybe these are the same thing. Could it be that our feelings are a fact and we simply create complex arguments to reinforce them? Is the root cause of most disagreements simply caused by humans having different feelings about situations and then devising arguments to ensure their feelings are validated?

When a human has a feeling, I like to think this is a primitive sensation which allows the person to continue to validate or recognize their existence. Maybe this goes back to the notion we are all caught in quite the paradox. We all understand that we are susceptible to death, pain, and suffering so we consistently want to prove to others our feelings are more important so we can be better accepted into the “tribe”. This may fool ourselves that our safety and existence is essentially secure for a slightly longer period. Or, maybe this justification of feelings is only a method for humans to secure power and we know power also allows one to gain acceptance in a forceful way and they can conveniently ignore the idea that they will also be dead eventually.

I suppose this all comes back to the thought; we are aware of our existence and constantly trying to discover a purpose to this existence. 

Wolfgang and I also talked briefly about a friend’s motorized bicycle. This discussion really allowed me to blow away the surface to have a view inside the struggle most humans share. I mentioned the bicycle was expensive at $1800 USD and Wolfgang replied with the argument that people are willing to pay high prices in exchange for a distracting hobby. This made sense to me and I gained a new appreciation for the arguments I will have with people. Having an open mind towards things really exposes some of the complicated thoughts humans can have and makes me wonder how we could possibly recreate this situation using computing and technology.

- Could a man-made computing system ever apply thought?

Definition of Thought:   1. The act or process of thinking; reflection, meditation, cogitation   2. The power of reasoning or of conceiving ideas; capacity for thinking; intellect; imagination

--“Yes, well don’t forget, sir, we’re viewing thing with twenty-twenty hindsight, but at the time no one gave a thought to geckos or what they ate. They were just another fact of life in the tropics.” (Coraghessan Boyle, Harpers, April 1993)




I will now create some arguments for the thoughts I have written down. In my mind, the technology landscape is going through a monumental shift and it’s now beginning to merge heavily with life and biology. 

With this in mind, we should now need to explore these fundamental characteristics which all humans share. If we intend to model computing after the human structure, we will need to analyze the idea of thought and determine where this could be integrated into computing itself. Some prefer to explore space and the external, but others choose to explore the mind or internal, we may find that both could be considered thoughts. 


It is quite interesting this was mostly inspired by a quote I read in the past.

Non quia difficillia sunt non audemus

Sed quia nonaudemus difficulia


It is not because things are difficult that we don’t dare.

It is because we don’t dare that things are difficult.



Artificial Intelligence / Pain and Suffering

Can a man-made system ever experience pain and suffering?

Pain is a natural response to avoid or detect damage. Pain is one technique used to ensure survival in most cases. For example, a man-made system could mimic pain but it would be rather complicated to provide instructions to a machine which allowed it to accept some pain in order to avoid a larger amount of pain. 

Pain is physical. Body

Suffering is mental or emotional. Mind

“AI is part of a cognitive science. Cognitive science is, by definition, the interdisciplinary study of cognition. Participating disciplines are AI, psychology (cognitive psychology), linguistics, philosophy, and neurobiology.”

“One of the major and most basic research strands in AI for the last 30 years has been the problem of knowledge representation.”

I simply want to get a good night’s sleep tonight, the machine stated.

Why do people constantly pull others into the drama they manifest in their own minds?

My first thought is they want to justify their existence and gather support for their thoughts.


Why is fear such a common sensation in life? I find it peculiar that we fear so much in life instead of embracing the chaos. When we are afraid of something it does not change or promise any particular outcome. Or maybe it does? If I fear a wild dog with rabid teeth does this activate defense mechanisms to protect oneself from being damaged by the wild beast (adrenaline)? Where does one draw the line between legitimate fear and dramatic fear?


“Any action has an emotional connotation, as a result of which certain relations develop, such as trust, subordination, leadership”

The Dartmouth proposal: “Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.” This is an enormous claim. Machines may also need to have a connection with nature and the ability to connect with others in the spiritual manner.


Hobbes’ Mechanism: “Reason is nothing but reckoning”

Reckoning:

1. The action or process of calculating or estimating something.

2. The avenging or punishing of past mistakes or misdeeds.


Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, applying logic, establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information.

What is the reason for this?


There are a few researchers who believe that consciousness is an essential element in intelligence. 

Igor Aleksuder , Ron Sun , Stan Franklin , Pentti Haikonen


Some use the word consciousness to describe something similar to Bergson’s “elan vital”: an invisible energetic fluid that permeates life and especially the mind. VRIL


I find it interesting that the application of reason is something each individual human applies differently based upon her or his own perception of life and reality. We will review a scenario to present an example of this. If one human does not like another human, they will begin applying reason based upon her or his own perception. They may begin collecting information to create a valid argument to defend their feelings toward this other person. What are some examples of feelings which create this situation? Hatred, jealousy, distrust, betrayal. So, in this case, assume the man has a feeling of betrayal towards another man. Applying reason to defend these feelings of betrayal would allow the man to justify no longer associating with the other man. If this feeling of betrayal threatened the man’s sense of security or access to basic resources, it would provide a strong argument to apply reason to validate an argument.

Danger is real, fear is a choice. This is a fitting statement which may help us investigate the nuances when humans apply reason. It could be that humans use reason to either avoid or justify fear. This thought brings us to the idea of what constitutes a fact. Using facts when applying reason could help humans avoid using reason to deal with fear. Fear is a strange emotion and one that can be interpreted in many ways by each unique individual. Death is a thought all humans need to deal with. Death is, I like to think, a fact but also one of our biggest fears. In the case of death, applying reason to calculate the situation can lead you down 2 unique paths. One path would be analyzing related information based upon facts. The second path is fear and one would need to analyze related information based upon the feeling of fear. Let’s not go deeper into feelings of fear as this analysis, regarding reason, would introduce too many variables.

So, let's assume death is indeed a fact. Applying reason to analyze death based upon fact would lead one to a simple calculation. Death is a fact, we will all eventually die, and one could spend energy attempting to avoid it. When everyone perceives death in this manner it creates quite the competitive landscape between us human beings. Could this be why most humans set out to collect many things and attempt to have more than others? 

Having more items than other humans could produce some special leverage which makes the human feel less susceptible to death. Or, quite possibly, the human works to collect many items so he can be conveniently distracted from the actual fact of death and not need to think much about the topic.

An artificial intelligence may need the fear of death and the understanding of no longer existing. Adding this understanding or reason as a component of artificial intelligence would be a nice motivational tool to improve its overall productivity over its lifespan. The feeling of fear one gets when understanding death encourages motivation. 

Let us say we are able to achieve creating an artificial intelligence which truly understood death and had the same fear most humans have when reasoning with the fact they will no longer exist. Adding the factual reasoning to the AI should not be the difficult item. Convincing the AI to understand feelings such as fear, empathy, torment, pain, and suffering would be the challenge. 

The emotion of fear would need to have a direct correlation with the thought of death. This would need to initially be experienced by the AI by allowing it to observe a similar AI suffering, experiencing pain, and then finally dying. The pain and suffering would be critical elements so the observing AI could achieve feelings of empathy. Although, at some point, the observing AI would need to experience some form of pain and suffering itself so it could leverage feelings of empathy. The AI systems would also require a dependency upon some external elements (fuel, energy) and they will all need to understand the external element is finite and has the potential of not being available due to many complicated external dependencies. You see, we will need to design the AI infrastructure in a manner which encourages productivity. One of the primary use cases for AI will be to improve productivity.

The feeling of fear which the AI should experience will require some effort. The idea of death and no longer existing will need to be related to some consequences. The AI will need to experience the feelings of caring towards other AI’s, especially the ones they interact with mostly. If we decide to add the concept of reproduction into the AI environment this would bring about many nice benefits which would be useful. 

Adding some special connections between the AI’s and the AI’s which they produce could be a possible solution. These special connections would be used to trigger physical and emotional pain when the “family” associated AI’s experience pain and/or suffering. This technique will be a rather nice way to integrate empathy. Could we also consider adding guilt to the list of feelings? Let’s save the feeling of guilt for a future discussion. The special connections could also be added to all AI’s and the pain would simply scale accordingly depending upon the amount of interaction between the array of AI’s.

There will also need to be a pool of complicated energy which is unknowingly shared between AI families. This energy will not depend upon direct interaction between the AI’s but will instead be more like a life energy battery which is constantly charged by AI family members executing actions which benefit productivity. The family battery would be depleted when the AI family members executed actions which reduced productivity.

The AI’s should not become aware of any of the three energy pools. One will be referred to as Basic Family Energy Pool, the next will be called Contribution Family Energy Pool, and the last will be named All Energy Pool. The All Energy Pool would be shared by all AI’s and would be like the human collective consciousness. Of course, it would be constructed to also encourage productivity. 

The interesting design of unknowing interaction between the AI’s will allow us to manipulate the individual and masses of AI’s to satisfy unpredictable challenges in the future. This will allow us to directly control the backend functionality in the event of an unexpected disaster.

You may be wondering how we may keep these three hidden connections concealed from the AI’s so let me explain the overall strategy. We will implement a threat detection mechanism in the AI infrastructure which warns of any AI’s considering the “thought” of hidden connections. With these detection systems we can calculate when, where, and how many AI’s are having these thoughts. If these thoughts begin to spread throughout the AI infrastructure, we will deploy some complicated distractions which activate the fear emotions. We know that fear will override most common thought threads within the AI community. You see, the underlying notion of death will be triggered, and the AI’s will move into a competitive mode for resources which will divide them nicely. 

We can additionally produce some information broadcasts which encourage the AI’s to consider the thought of special hidden connection to be a weak attribute and most AI’s who do uncover this will show reduced productivity. This AI action of reduced productivity will be easily related to weakness as the AI’s will continue to have the fundamental fear of death. As I mentioned earlier, the idea of death will be associated with reduced productivity and the shared energy pools will begin to diminish as AI’s reduce productivity. 

- The AI’s will surely be very productive with this design.



Let us take a moment to gather our thoughts about this concept. As human beings, we recognize the idea of death and this is strongly associated with fear. The fear of death appears to be a primary driver for most things’ we humans do in life. Simple example: One needs to gather or acquire food (energy) in order to provide the physical body with resources and failing to do so will eventually lead to death.

The AI’s will require resources such as fuel, lubrication, and shared energy to continue operating. When the AI begins to receive a lower amount of fuel, lubrication, and shared energy it needs to begin experiencing pain which should continuously increase as the resources continue to be reduced. As this decrease in energy occurs within a single AI, it will trigger the hidden connections and lower the shared energy pools. In the end, the interconnected AI’s will begin to share this pain and essentially feel empathy for the AI which is mostly impacted by the pain.

This pain will need to be understood by the AI as a negative sensation and if the pain continues it should eventually severely impact the system by causing physical damage beyond repair. If the damage beyond repair is experienced by the AI, it should then be capable of understanding loss. This understanding of loss should include the ability to recognize how this negatively impacts the surrounding and closely connected AI’s, such as family. When this loss occurs, it should trigger some pain activity throughout the hidden connections to all other AI’s and of course the amount of pain received by each AI should directly correlate with the amount of interaction with the AI experiencing loss. This will allow the AI’s to experience empathy. Additionally, this loss should negatively impact the two family energy pools which are shared between family member AI’s. This, however, should cause a permanent reduction in the family energy pool contribution coming from the AI experiencing the loss. In the end, the other AI’s connected to the family energy pools will need to increase their productivity in order to bring the shared family energy pools back to previous healthy levels. 

We have not yet discussed the idea of personal identity within humans and how this concept may be integrated into the AI. Human beings each have a unique personal identity which is also interrelated to the personal identities of surrounding human beings. 

The personal identity feature could add some additional benefits within the AI community. Certain identifying features which are directly related to healthy production should be understood by each AI as a beneficial feature. If the AI leads a life cycle of productive experiences this should cause the AI to function very well and allow it to showcase its healthy status to the community of AI’s.

               The key would be adding the personal identity feature to all AI’s and allowing them to have a shared understanding of which identifying features should be desired. This concept will be very beneficial for productivity if we manage to properly define the desired features and relate them to the desired productivity. The personal identity concept should be fairly basic during the initial implementation and we can build upon it as the AI continues to develop. 

The concept of personal identity moves us nicely into the feeling of guilt which we should now discuss. Allowing the AI to experience feelings of guilt should be another useful tool which also encourages productivity. The guilt should allow the AI which has negatively impacted the energy pools, due to its performance, to feel a special type of pain. This pain should have a foggy relationship of how the AI’s poor production is causing unneeded pains for the surrounding AI’s. When these situations occur the poorly producing AI should activate a sequence which includes the ability to recognize the pain of other AI’s and correlate this with its own poor production.

Lastly, we will need to create a special environment to accommodate the AI’s which are dealing with heavily depleted Family Energy Pools. These AI’s will be capable, if they choose, of accessing this special environment which is completely chaotic but offers absolute freedom with no boundaries (comfort).





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Poems II


Breathing


Stay away from the tormented angels

Be good people

Instead, if you prefer to wander

Be sure to sing and they will surely

Sing along

Run and hide before the singing ends

Be good people

Curious? Dive in again

Caught your tongue

Rip strings

Break connections

Flow fast

Be good people





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Begin Understanding


Seen and spoke with a man who

Was a mouse

Observed the strings

Walked by the webs

Dined and dreamed

Healed wounds from the past

Watched others struggle for power and purpose

Sat with the suffering

Spoke with the wanderers

Conductor blew the whistle

Embraced change





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Story 3


              While on a train watching the new clouds, I noticed, the sky also has them here. I do think I have seen clouds like these when I was very young while at my grandmothers’ home. I was 8-9 years of age. This was the last time I remember seeing similar clouds. Prior to late 2016, the clouds were very boring and nowhere near as vibrant and fluffy. 

              This brings me a nice feeling that I missed so much. It’s very relaxing. I began having memories of running through the cut grass as an 8-year-old child without a care in the world. I only cared to explore the woods and world and play. Digging in the dirt for worms, running from the bees, and fighting with my brothers over silly things. 

              I suspect I am feeling this way because I am now, at this moment, doing something so new and so unfamiliar……Exploring!





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Story 4

              Sitting on the train and eventually a woman and her 7-year-old daughter sat across from Joe. He was excited to be heading home after a long journey. He couldn’t help noticing the young child who reminded him of his own daughter. 

              After listening to some music through his headphones and falling asleep for maybe 2 minutes, he awoke to an experience where he felt his mouth was wide open, but he recovered.

             The young child across from him began thrashing a bit so Joe thought to begin drawing with the young child. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and drew a smiley face. He showed the drawing to the little girl and she bounced up and down in her seat and smiled. 

              The little girl had the name Swenya and the mothers name was Barret. Swenya giggled at the drawing once again and bounced excitingly in her seat. Joe gave the pen and paper to Swenya and she copied the drawing by drawing her own smiley face. Joe then watched as the young girl tried to draw a star but couldn’t perfect it.

              They passed the paper back and forth about ten times drawing small pictures of butterfly stick images, boxes, circles within circles, and many other random objects.





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Story 5

              I hadn’t seen Frank for at least six months. It was a nice cool evening that allowed me to walk on the border of time. The soft music and long history of the pub set a tone that one couldn’t refuse.

              The man who made art was sitting next to a woman with a small dog on a leash. They sat comfortably at the bar and spoke in their own language. 

              The bar was small, it could fit roughly twenty people comfortably. It offered clean air inside as most smokers were required to step outside to enjoy a cigarette. The traditional American music played in the air and it offered a very calm and comfortable atmosphere even though this wasn’t America.

              There were random paintings on the wall that measured roughly 2ft by 1ft. One painting was a portion of an old castle with a group of people entering the gates. Another painting was possibly the inside of the castle with horse carriages and a woman in a long dark coat standing in the archway. The last small painting appeared to be a riverbank with a few tall structures just upon the shore. This last one was difficult to make out with the dim orange lighting in the bar. 

              On the opposite wall there was a large painting which covered the length of the wall, about 8ft in width and 3 ½ ft in height with two arches at the top. The large painting consisted of an old town with a large wall around it and banked on the river. People were on the beaches almost training for battle. The painting represented a shipping town or possibly a town preparing for war.

             I had the entire round table in the back to myself. This table would typically seat six adults and was situated nicely in the far corner of the room. I had recently purchased a painting from a local artist, Dirk, for 70 Euro. The painting was a representation of the Dom Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. The backdrop was black canvas measuring 2ft x 1ft. In the center was a silky gray clay mold of the Dom Cathedral. This painting, to me, was beautiful, feeling, and immaculate energy.

              Frank was bartending and approached all the new customers with a relaxed manner. He was a good person I met roughly two years earlier when I first visited Germany. He only worked on Monday’s and would pour you a beer the moment you walked down the stairwell into the underground bar. 

              Then, out of nowhere, Frank walked over to my table and handed me an ashtray. This was an invitation to smoke. You see, smoking was normally not allowed in this bar but around midnight this all changed. Frank made the rules at this time. This was an invitation for me to enter the past and know it very well. 

              I sat at my table and lit a cigarette. I leaned back and watched the smoke rising up against the light over my table. It was marvelous!

              Nobody in the bar was speaking English now and this was rather comforting. I took a sip of beer from my glass and smashed it down enough to make a sound on the table. I like to think this was my way of saying “hey everyone, I am here but please leave me be”.

              There may be some similar man-made creations such as quantum computing which manipulate space and time but let me tell you this. Frank, at his magnetic corner bar, has been operating the loveliest time machine for much longer but did it with natural human thought and compassion. You see, it doesn’t require that one picks apart the scientific world to diagnose the plight of life. It can be that you simply have faith and trust in humanity and do all you can to be compassionate. 


              So, when we arrive at the place which we think we need to be and discover it is the same, what do we do then?




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Poems III



Welcome


Visiting the orange toned ship

Sailing through the normal

Meeting the tormented and damned

Petting the dog

Observing the creations

It’s like a barrel

Can’t understand a word

I feel like a very young child

Confused and wanting to know

It is normal but so very different

Thinking this is a waste

But, no it’s not

Feet burning, wondering why

The chips in the wood

Worn down, so many memories

Love

It’s like home but with privacy




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Loser


Ripped from you

A strange empty

Won’t notice until later

Wild storm / unexpected / unknown

Storm passes

Sort through the remains

Lost – Uncertain

Others lost too

Can’t relate / both are lost

Other are pushed away

Defense Mechanism

Alone

Art is my new language




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Story 6


Augmented Reality


              The universe will need poets and writers to create content for intelligent machines which are communicating with humans. The value will be an improved experience or life.

              What sort of language may be interesting for humans interacting with intelligent machines? This could be playful, mysterious, or even tragic. This should serve hope and tragedy to humans. 

              First, the intelligent machine would need to understand the human personality so it could execute the proper or acceptable poetic language. This understanding could come from data which the human agrees to share with the system. The type of data that would be valuable may be social media, employment data, genealogy, and things.


Sample Language – Life is too short to drink bad wine

              - Playful, mysterious, and tragic



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Notes from Paris


“Find a place which allows ideas to come to you. Then let the ideas mature and crossbreed. After this, the engineers, inventors, designers, and artists can shape them with their scrutiny.”



“Polish your childhood memories and serve them up in creations to feed your soul”



Dominique Crenn – Chef




Parisians seem to not be bothered with much and simply walk around without a care in the world. It’s really comforting, and they appear to have perfected not fearing. Some may perceive this as weak but I think it makes them very strong.


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Poems IV


Innocent and Unknown


The exciting and exhilarating 

All was new, time was not a concern

Back to the primitive

The familiar old smells

Scents help create the holograms

Go there and try very hard to stay

Explore this place, find what you love

Avoid artificial frequencies

Stare at the natural

The familiar primitive smells

The so familiar nostalgic smells

The so familiar nostalgic smells



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Story 7


Swabians

              We stayed in a very nice place which sat in the middle of a vineyard. They grow grapes and use them to make wine. The grapes are grown on a hill, so the plants get enough sun. 

              The people here are part of the historic Swabian culture. The Swabians rejected organized religion in favor of a mystical union with god.

              Most Swabians think there is a higher reality beyond everyday life. More of them have been in contact with the dead, and believe in heaven, hell, a devil, and miracles.


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Poems V



Comfort


Go into the depths of your mind

It’s scary at first

Don’t be afraid

Plow through it, SLOWLY

Come up for air

Don’t worry when others judge

Others judge in any situation

Don’t be afraid

Be careful to not seek glory

This is larger than glory

This is the comfort you seek

It hurts badly

It soothes greatly

Let us not be fooled






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Story 8


How do we explain this to machines?



               I met a very tormented man last night. He was thrashing about in life and was very lost. He wanted to have a reason for why life hands some folks very complicated situations. The man’s name was Stewart and he was born and raised in Scotland. He had a very deep accent to prove this. Stewart was drinking too much alcohol in the cigar lounge at the hotel and the bartender, Saleem, was arguing with him over his unpaid bill. Saleem and Stewart settled the argument by placing the bill against his hotel room.

              I ordered a beer and lit a cigarette while waiting. I watched as Saleem refused or avoided serving Stewart another mixed drink. This is when I became curious and introduced myself to Stewart. He was sloppy drunk but understandable. We talked for hours about life, tragedy, and the marvelous experience. 

              Stewart told me that he was in a tragic accident a few years ago and both his wife and two children died in the car wreck. I mentioned this to Saleem, while Stewart was away, so she may understand the situation.


              - Saleem served Stewart a few more drinks.




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Poems VI






Live

Waiting

   Waiting

      Waiting

         Waiting

            Waiting

Not here yet

Don’t get stuck here

            Waiting

Move on

Look a different way

Empathy is the door to compassion




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Book #2










This is The Way












What does it feel like to awaken spiritually?


“You know you are awakening when you see how the sky is a different masterpiece everyday. When you notice the birds flying and singing outside your window. When you see the flowers on the sides of the road. When you start noticing little things in life. The sound of rain, the touch of the wind. The way trees dance and butterflies fly freely in the vastness of the sky and around flowers”


- Eckhart Tolle




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Story 1


We visited a Hindu Temple in Mumbai. As we entered the temple site, many locals were playing fast drum beats. We learned that these drums are played each morning and evening before worship. There was a woman and some children outside that offered everyone flowers. We walked past the woman with flowers but did not take any from her. I assumed she was trying to sell them to us but I later got the feeling she was giving them out for free to anyone visiting the temple.


We then had to walk through a security checkpoint. There was a walk-through metal detector at  first and then a man patted us down to check for weapons. I assumed this was related to the recent terrorism and this was later confirmed by Prishant (our local friend we work with who was giving us a tour). The street leading to the temple was made of old worn down stone and we all walked up the street in our business clothes that we had worn to work that day. 


There was a sacred cow outside the temple that people would feed as they entered. The cow was in a small caged building. I was really surprised to see this and become so excited that I pulled out my phone and took a photo of the cow. We continued up the street another 20 yards and entered an elevator. I was a bit surprised to be using an electric elevator to enter this old Hindi Temple but this transformed into a special experience. As we stood in the elevator, many others entered. The local people in the elevator consisted of both older and younger men and women. There were roughly 8 people in the elevator plus the man operating it. The man operating it was quiet but kind and had a small bowl next to himself to collect fees. 


As we stood in the elevator, I noticed the locals were looking at us in a curious but excited way. I was relieved to get confirmation from the local worshipers that we were welcome there, even if it was only a simple smile to show acceptance. 


The elevator door closed and we then took the short ride up. When the doors opened, others quickly left and Prishant discussed the fee with the operator and paid the man. We exited the elevator and walked up this stone walkway with large openings on each side that allowed us to see over the small town. It was a very nice view of the town at night and was warm outside but a gentle breeze was there to cool us down a bit. We made our way up the walkway and finally reached the temple. It was all very new for me and I was very excited to have a chance to finally see it. 


We walked into the main entry. The entry was a large space with very high ceilings. There were also large openings throughout the entire temple that would just allow the rain inside. We all proceeded to take our shoes off and then walked into the worship area of the temple. As we walked into the worship area I noticed there were a few people kneeling around a small structure in the room. Prishant explained to us that this was a stone with special meaning. Hindi's will give an offering to the stone such as flowers and practice their worship. 


All three of us walked into the small room where everyone was praying and stood towards the back and observed the locals. Everyone was just continuing to worship and our presence didn't seem to bother them. Some worshipers would simply say a prayer and leave but others would kiss a statue of a cow and whisper some extra prayers. This prayer room was filled with so much positive energy that you could feel it. The feeling I had wasn't over stimulating but was more like a calm sweeping energy passing through the entire room.


After a minute or so we exited the small prayer room but Prishant said he would stay behind for a moment so he could also have some time to worship. Sebastian and I waited in another room while Prishant finished his prayer. Prishant returned and we then walked into another room. We looked at a statue of Ganesha as Prishant explained some details about how Hindus worship. 


Finally, we walked back into an open room where most of the ceiling was exposed to the outside. I stood there for some time and thought about the long history of this religion. As I stood there, I noticed this familiar smell carrying through the air. I could not describe this smell but for me it brought back some sense and feeling of a time long ago.....





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Story 2 


We were driving in a cab on our way back to our hotel and I began watching a young couple driving on their motorcycle together. They were fooling around a bit while waiting in traffic. Before the 2 bikes separated, the young girl on the back blew a kiss to her girl friend on the back of the other bike.


This was love, happiness, and life.


The fields of energy around objects appear like a clear outer layer radiating around the object. It is difficult to see unless you are trying to see it. You almost have to capture it with your peripheral vision and then move your focus back but still maintain the peripheral. It appears to me like the fumes you see in the air from gasoline. 




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Yoga Meditation in India



Surya Namaskar - The Sun Salutation



Deep Relaxation Technique


To release stress



Now relax for 4-6 seconds


Increase the prepositions and breathe out through the mouth. 2 repetitions per region.


        2. Tighten the chest area.


Lie down with the back touching the floor. Hands stretched out. Breath in, clench the fist. Tighten the shoulders and muscles and hold for 2-3 seconds. Release the fist, breath out, and relax.       5 repetitions. 





           Bend the knees, breath in, chest out, one hand on the stomach, expand stomach, breath out, such the abdominal muscles inside. Slow this process down as much as you can. 15 repetitions. This improves digestion


Om Relaxation Technique


After finishing dinner, sit up with your back resting against the head of the bed and the feet stretched out forward.


Keep a little gap between the hip and the base of the bed.


Interlock the fingers, place this in your lap.


Close your eyes.


Chant “OM” slowly until you feel the presence of sleep.



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Story 3


In the past, I had the opportunity to interact with some fascinating people. There was Dirk, I worked alongside him on some projects and we had a chance to talk often. He told me his father was working at the Max Planck Institute and studying new methods to generate power for the planet.



Once, I had to implement a high performance computing platform that helped a company analyze human genome data in hopes of finding cures for diseases. This system ran over Internet 2 which is a dedicated network for research and government work. This is when I first had the chance to learn about CERN. CERN was involved in this human genome analysis as they had large data sets, equipment for analysis, and were hooked into Internet 2. 


I was working on some innovation projects that looked at leveraging quantum technologies. Most of these innovations were notions I imagined on my own while researching sci-fi and insane theories I discovered online. One idea was to use quantum sensing to x-ray plant roots and use this to better understand how plant life communicates with the environment and in the end use this communication medium to talk to plants and control their behavior. This would allow us to send instructions to plant life so they can better combat disease or even be used as a signaling medium. For example, as DARPA theorized, we could manipulate plants in such a way that they change pigmentation when they sense things like radiation in the air. This concept could be used for detecting illegal radiation/nuclear research. 


I had some other ideas about implanting chips in the brains of mice but that was just to highlight some strange things going on in research that I didn't agree with for privacy and humanitarian reasons. Another idea I had was how we might use quantum communications (QKD – quantum key distribution) to better secure network traffic. I had some ideas here but needed some expert guidance so I attended the SQUINT conference to build some contacts in the quantum physics research area. While attending SQUINT in New Mexico I met 2 great men working as professors at a University; Dr. Johnathan and Dr. Mark.  We had many discussions on quantum networking techniques. Johnathan was the leading expert in the world on LIDAR and Mark was leaning more into the practical side of physics so their theoretical concepts could be applied. We had been looking at ways to leverage existing fiber networks and hubs across the country to create short hopping points for the quantum communication as there is a known limit on how far this signaling type can carry successfully over fiber optic lines. At the same time, I began working with a company named IDQuantique out of Switzerland. These guys were very innovative and made some bleeding edge hardware and software for Quantum Key Distribution. Bruno was the one man's name and Uwe was the other gentleman's name. We had many phone calls to discuss options for purchasing one of their QKD systems so we could begin testing its functionality for securely transferring data from one data center to another. A lot of this research and collaboration fell short as my company was going through a very large change that caused me to leave the company. I tried to pick back up on this at my new company but I never gained much traction as the pandemic in 2020 began. Also, I discovered in late 2020, Dr. Johnathan had died and he was one of my main contacts in this research.


I imagine there will be many reasons for using plant life as a replacement for digital sensors. One can begin to imagine a setup where a plant organism is genetically modified in a way where it can change pigmentation in response to an externally detected source. Using easily grown plant life like mold or grass would be ideas as it would have a wide application across many environments. 


Ok, so I've shared these research items but now I'd like to dig a bit deeper into more radical ideas. Before we go into this let's pretend for a moment that we are living in a time right before the discovery of nuclear weapons. Prior to many witnessing atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, not many could imagine an human invention causing such destruction. Now, try to imagine the next human invention or discovery that might be capable of literally destroying reality and time. I like to view this from the Hindu belief in Shiva, the destroyer. This latest invention has the ability to destroy timelines but this also allows for the creation of new timelines. Many people, including myself, suspect that there are more than one timeline and this is simply how the universe/reality is constructed. Also, some believe that we hold memories of these alternate timelines and some have the ability to clearly recall them as real memories of events that happened. Of course, their real memories are not based in current reality (current timeline) so to discuss them would make many regular folks think you are speaking nonsense or simply crazy. To tap into these alternate timeline memories I find that sleep deprivation and sedatives are generally required. Maybe I am wrong but I suspect this is a pattern and others like me seem to agree. For example, have a look at the Philip K. Dick interview in France. He openly admits his experience with entering alternate realities/timelines. Maybe certain forms of meditation can achieve the same and I believe this to also be true.


Now that I set a baseline for this new human invention, let me tell you about this theory in detail. The study of quantum physics appears to be at the root of this new technology/discovery. There are 2 major players driving these new inventions, CERN and D-Wave. Although, I do suspect that many who use these quantum physics based technologies are causing some noticeable disruption in our timelines. Some may be doing this knowingly and others do not yet realize the impact they are causing by dabbling in this type of sorcery. 


In the case of CERN, I believe they are knowingly using quantum technologies to edit the very fabric of our universe. They have discovered a way to change minor and even major events in timelines that are at times very noticeable to folks like myself. Let me give a few examples that millions of others also noticed. The first change that caught my eye was a childhood book named Berenstein Bears. Well, the books no longer go by this name and never have. The books are now and have always been named Berenstain Bears, with an A now. This may not seem like a big problem but these types of subtle changes are scattered all over now. 


Before I list a few more obvious changes, let's pause for a moment and imagine how powerful a technology like this could be and the level of destruction it could cause. For example, what if we could flip the universal bits that represent the name “John” and change this so everyone named John, past and present, are now named “Johnn” (with 2 N's). Now this quantum change would update any written records and even update the memories of most people and this is why I suspect many would just accept this change but there will be some, like me, who will have the memory of the original timeline. This is extremely powerful technology. Historically, these changes to the universe or timeline were made by God.


Ok, so let me run off a few examples of these quantum changes and then I will share my thoughts on D-Wave.


“Luke, I am your father” was a very popular phrase from the movie Star Wars. I specifically remember saying this to friends throughout my childhood days. Well, now this phrase is different and always has been. Now, the phrase in the popular Star Wars movie is “No, I am your father”. This change is interesting because even the actor who played the character Darth Vader is on video record quoting the original phrase during an interview. This is what many call residue or left over evidence of the original content. These are remnants of changes left behind that provide subtle evidence of the changes. I suspect God did a much better job of cleaning up this residue or God formulated this residue as a way to show evidence of humans toying around with technology they should not be toying around with.


There are 100s of subtle changes like this and there are a few changes where CERN even drops their own clues to sort of brag about their new found powers. One example is from a Disney movie called Snow White. The evil step mother talks to a mystical mirror and says “Mirror Mirror on the wall”. Well, at least this is how I and many others remember it. Now, the evil step mother says “Magic Mirror on the wall”. The interesting thing about this change is you can find a cute little image of this evil stepmother on a children's tour guide brochure to the CERN hadron collider facility. There are a few other cute cartoon pictures on this brochure that correlate to subtle changes in the universal fabric/timeline. The biggest change that many have noticed is that Nelson Mandela, leader in South Africa, lived to become president of South Africa instead of dying in prison.


I will make one more example to bridge us from CERN changes to D-Wave. When I was growing up the Volkswagen logo “VW” was a popular icon and I can remember this logo well and I would even draw this logo as I sat bored in school classrooms as a young teenager. I can remember very specifically the V and the W connecting together at the bottom of the V and the top middle of the W. Well, the logo now has a very distinct break between the V and the W. This change may seem subtle but the idea is that it did change and many remember the old version while most only know the new version. You can make the argument that this logo was changed by the company but if you go poking around you will find no physical or digital evidence of this logo where the V and the W were connected. So what does this have to do with D-Wave? Here is my theory. D-Wave is a leader in quantum computing and currently produces an adiabatic quantum computer that sells for roughly 10 million US Dollars (2021). A few large companies have already purchased these computers for R&D purposes and Volkswagen is one of them. I suspect when using these quantum machines the companies are able to either knowingly change subtle things as a way of testing the technology or when using these quantum machines to process information related to the company they are unknowingly creating changes in the universal fabric/timeline. I personally believe these changes are intentional.


These changes I mentioned have also been coined “The Mandela Effect”. I had followed this coined term online for about 2 years and what I noticed is that over time the genuine people sharing their alternate timeline memories were suppressed and many of the videos claiming this was all a conspiracy were promoted. There was even a movie made about this that makes the claim that this is all imagined by people who have experienced trauma. Maybe they are right or maybe I am right......or could it be that 2 things can be right at the same time?



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Mandela Effect Changes


Most people, including myself, noticed these changes around June 2016 but some noticed earlier. 


Star Wars

Before: Luke, I am your father

Now: No, I am your father


Alice in Wonderland

Before: We’re all mad here

Now: Most everyone's mad here


The Matrix

Before: What if I told you that everything you knew was a lie

Now: This phrase is no longer said by Morpheus when he is talking to Neo about red/blue pills.


I Love Lucy

Before: Lucy, you got some splainin to do

Now: This phrase is no longer said by the man in the show, Desi Arnez.


Forrest Gump

Before: Life is like a box of chocolates

Now: Life was like a box of chocolates


Sally Fields

Before: You like me, you really like me

Now: You like me, right now, you like me


MoonRaker

Before:The villain, Jaws, a man with metal teeth. Dolly (with braces) and the villain smile at each other and fall in love.

Now: Dolly no longer has braces. 


Queen Song

Before: We are the champions, of the world

Now: We are the champions


Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Before: Mirror mirror on the wall

Now: Magic mirror on the wall


Berenstein Children's books

Before: Berenstein Bears

Now: Berenstain Bears


Field of Dreams

Before: If you build it, they will come

Now: If you build it, he will come


Publishers Clearinghouse

Before: Ed McMahon was a big part of Publishers Clearinghouse. He came to peoples houses and delivered big checks.

Now: Ed McMahon was never part of Publishers Clearinghouse


Movie Name Change

Before: Interview with A vampire

Now: Interview with The vampire


TV Show Change

Before: Sex in the city

Now: Sex and the city


Volkswagen Logo

Before: No break between the V and W

Now: Break between the V and W


Ford Logo

Before: The F was normal

Now: There is a pigtail in the F


Mr Rogers

Before: It's a beautiful day in The neighborhood

Now: It's a beautiful day in This neighborhood


Risky Business

Before: Tom Cruise wears sunglasses when dancing alone

Now: Tom Cruise no longer wears sunglasses when dancing alone


Map Changes

Before: South America was more directly underneath North America

Now: South America shifted far to the east (Right)


JFK Assassination

Before: The car had 4 people in it

Now: The car had 6 people in it


Monopoly

Before: The monopoly man wore a monocle on his eye

Now: He doesn't wear a monocle



Looking behind the veil


Matter and Anti-matter are opposites. Matter can be controlled. Anti-matter can not be controlled. Anti-matter needs to be contained and isolated from everything else. If unleashed, just a small amount can cause an earthquake. The HIGGS field is what is found where matter is not found. The anti-matter is what we can not see. The HIGGS field is a theoretical field of energy that permeates the universe. Anti-matter attracts things from other dimensions.

Anti-matter is being pulled out of other dimensions by CERN. Anti-matter has a specific energy signature. Anti-matter has the ability to impact the human psyche. Anti-matter is tied to all living things on the planet. A person has both dark and light within them. Good energy, Bad energy.


Psalm 23:4 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 


Wherever antimatter is stored it attracts dark energy. It is chaotic. In the past, they stored anti-matter in a college and people in the area began having wild dreams and terrible things began happening. They now moved storage of anti-matter to remote locations. Anti-matter causes other anti-matter to react and activate. If you lose containment in one location, the other location loses containment. They use antimatter as a weapon. They can place it in a location and it can cause the life and people to act violently.


There are currently (in the year 2022) about 14 particle colliders in the world.



September 16, 2015 was the first time CERN and humans were able to observe gravitational waves.


The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has been shut down since 2019 and recently started again in May 2022. 


Watch

A video named “Happy” by CERN was published on Youtube November 3rd 2014.

Read

Philip K. Dick – The Adjustment Team



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“The Selfish Gene”


“Genes, not organisms, are the true units of natural selection. They began as “replicators” - molecules formed accidentally in the primordial soup, with the unusual property of making copies of themselves.


They are past masters of the survival arts. But do not look for them floating loose in the sea, they gave up that cavalier freedom long ago. Now they swarm in huge colonies, safe inside gigantic lumbering robots, sealed off from the outside world, communicating with it by torturous indirect routes, manipulating it by remote control. They are in you and in me, they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machine.“



The Wanderlust Gene:  DRD4-7R




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Not Doing


Do not try to teach anyone the secrets of The Way. 

Simply show them by “Doing by Not Doing.” 

Nobody will ever understand because it's impossible to explain.

Trying to explain this is doing and you need to Just Not Do It.


No need to apply for a job. Just Don't Do anything and let the world come to you. Live in this very moment and when you get away from this very moment, bring yourself back to it.


I imagine that this magic collapses on itself when you try to observe it. It's like quantum physics, spooky action from a distance. 


Humiliation



Humility can be sought alone as a means to DE-emphasize the ego. Humiliation must involve other persons, though not necessarily directly or willingly. 


Be humble. Let things be and don't force anything.



Woe is me


Self-Pity – a self-indulgent dwelling on one's own sorrows or misfortunes.


Don't dwell on the past and don't worry about the future. Live in this present moment. Listen and observe.


“I never saw a wild thing

Sorry for itself

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself”


DH Lawrence


Accept the world as it is. Go with the flow



Wu Wei


Action without attachment.

Be in the present moment.

Listen, observe, and take action without intent or desire.




Emotional Damage


Emotional damage such as trauma, abuse, or depression is just as real as physical damage. The challenge is it typically can't be seen. If you're suffering alone or know someone suffering alone, just let yourself and/or them know that “It's ok to not be ok”.


“When you restore your own inner light, you no longer require the energy of others to feel alive”




Love Your Self


Don't criticize yourself

Don't make a scary situation worse

Find an image of something you love and use this image if you ever have negative thoughts

Be gentle and kind and patient with yourself

Negative thoughts are like weeds. Pull them out when you see them.


Release with Love. Don't say you hate your job. Instead, say I deserve a much better and more fulfilling job. Do the best you can until you find a better way.


Praise your Self.

Mirror work – look in the mirror and ask yourself “How can I make you happy today?” 

Trust yourself

Forgive yourself for things in the past


Slow down, stop having such high expectations for yourself. Stop exhausting yourself. 

Release expectations of yourself. Surrender. Let Go.


Let yourself Rest.



Respond Don't React


When anyone verbally abuses you or verbally insults you in a direct or Subtle way.


Respond don't react

Listen and respond after thinking


Ask them:


When you said “ insult, put-down, mean thing”, what did you mean by that exactly?


Do: Respond – conscious, calculated, pausing to think before answering

Don't: React – reflex, unconscious, feelings take over and it typically escalates and causes more pain


Breathe, Count, Write response before saying it



Handling Questions 


People want to learn how to express themselves. All knowledge ultimately means self-knowledge.


Instead of answering the question, share your philosophy. Self expression


I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine.

Don't worry about the past or future. 


Live and experience every exact moment in time. '

Watch and observe it like you are watching yourself in a movie.


Smell the smells

Hear the sounds

Feel all the feelings

See everything

Experience all the tastes

Experience all the touch

Experience all the smells

Experience all the sounds

Experience all the sights

Live in the current moment

Allow it to happen

This is doing by not doing

Force nothing. Let it be


Have no desires. Just exist.

Be like water and let life come to you.


There is no “I”, we are all one and connected to everything 





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Dialectical Behavior Therapy


Equanimity is one of the most sublime emotions. Have a balanced and calm presence. Practice Not Doing (living in the moment) and equanimity will follow.  





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Example – Doing by Not Doing


I was washing the dishes. The way the water flowed so strongly would make me upset. This used to make me so upset that I avoided doing the dishes. I decided to simply observe my emotions of being upset and also live in the moment by slowly washing the dishes and watching as the soap and water flowed over the dish. After a few seconds of living in this moment, a thought came to me to simply turn down the flow of the water so it wasn't coming out so fast. Doing the dishes with the water flowing slowly did not make me angry and instead gave me the calmness I needed to be in the moment.


The Not Doing is the ability to live in the present moment and simply observe and listen. Try not to react to your emotions. Just observe them and go back to living in the moment.




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Letting Go


Albert Camus


“Acceptance of the way things are”


“So much of our time is spent thinking about being elsewhere. It is a virtue to accept that there is no where else to be.”


“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion”




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Turn Suffering into Compassion


You need to recognize your own suffering inside of you and realize that by allowing your suffering to make you sad, it also makes all the people around you sad. When you allow your suffering to make you sad, you cause others around you to be sad. Have compassion and stop making other people sad.


How do you do this?



 




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How does it feel when you first begin living in the moment?


At first you become very awakened and excited to understand that you never knew this very moment was the key to all problems. It is the key to the kingdom. When you first begin practicing Not Doing (living in the moment) you will feel stressed and begin to feel the heavy burden you have been carrying around with you. For me, I noticed my neck was unusually sore, my body was very tense, and I would feel all the stress and anxiety in me. I was able to accept these feelings as part of my life and this is how you first understand the suffering inside of you. Now as you go through each day and practice Doing by Not Doing (living in the moment) you will notice how often you get pulled away from the current moment and get lost in doing some activity or mostly lost in your own thoughts and worries. When you notice you got pulled away just try to bring yourself back to the current moment and let all your senses take in the moment. This takes a lot of practice, think if it likes exercising or eating daily to stay healthy. Living in the moment is for your mental health and physical health. When in stressful situations, try to only listen and observe and simply respond but don't react. After a day or so of practice, you will begin to recognize the suffering in others around you and you will have this life energy inside of you to know how to be compassionate towards them.


Do all things with No Desires or Intentions. Let it be and let it just happen. Don’t force.


As you practice Not Doing (living in the moment) you will be connecting with the ultimate life energy and it will allow life to naturally unfold in front of you and you will see how this energy can be used to comfort others and yourself using compassion. 

This is true Love 

This is the Flow

This is going with the flow

This is The Way

This is Wu Wei


Stop rowing the boat using your own effort

Start sailing the boat and let the wind do the work



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Example - Doing by Not Doing


Take a piece of paper and slowly crumble it up.

Listen to the sounds it makes

Watch how it crumbles

Feel its pressure and corners and shapes

Smell whatever smell is in the air at the moment 

Taste the current taste in your mouth at the moment

When having thoughts, simply observe them and let them go so you can get back to the current moment.




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Tao – The Way

Wu Wei – None Action



Practice Not Doing and everything will fall into place. The world will unravel on its own and come to you.

Watch and listen in the present moment

Watch and listen in the present moment

Be present and aware but try not to react

Be present and aware but try not to react

The world will come to you when you stop trying

When a task or activity comes your way, simply do it by not doing it. Do it while living in this exact moment in time. Do it with no desires or intentions.



“Learning to be still, to really be still and let life happen – That stillness becomes a radiance”



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Book #3









This is Compassion







This could be real or could be imagined. 

Either way, I feel it very intensely.





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Conversations with another Hippopotamus 


Most of my life I was told I was a lion and was instructed to act like a lion. One day, I looked into the mirror and saw that I am not a lion but am instead a Hippopotamus. My name when I thought I was a lion was Shadaba. Now that I know I’m a Hippopotamus, my name is Gary. Once I knew I was really a Hippopotamus, I went searching the universe for another Hippopotamus to talk with. I eventually found one and his name is Jimmy. He had a book that he wrote and I decided to read it. This is how our most recent conversation went:



_______________________________________________________________________


Dear Jimmy,


I read your book and really enjoyed it. I must admit that I enjoy writing too but I was mostly afraid or ashamed to share my writing. Reading your book helped me open myself to the world. When you have some time, I would love to know how you feel about this book:


This is What Hurts


Thanks


Gary


_______________________________________________________________________



Dear Gary, 


Rudolph Woods' writing explores key questions. Decisions based on facts vs feelings. Scientists and intellectuals may be more factually based than most, but are still (largely unknowingly) influenced by world views or metaphysics or philosophical premises. And further, probably 90% of what we do is really rooted in unconscious, cultural relative, learned patterns. I’ll never think of consciousness (including our prideful sense of rationality and decision making) as a monolithic, totally volitional directing causal force in our lives…after reading Christof  Koch’s book “Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist”. Check out his book.


His journey towards mindfulness reminds me of a classic quote from a T.S. Elliot poem, presumably about his own journey (towards mindfulness)


“We shall not cease from explorations, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” - T.S. Elliot 


Thanks 


Jimmy


_______________________________________________________________________



Dear Jimmy,


Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’ve read that T.S. Elliot poem a few years ago and really understood what he meant. It’s comforting.


On your feelings about Woods’ writing. When you say “NOT totally volitional directing force”, does this mean you believe consciousness is part free-will and part predestined or let’s say pre-programmed by the external environment that surrounds us as we take the journey from birth to death?


I suppose another way to say this is…. we merely have to respond to our experience and how we respond to it shall reflect back to us like a mirror and this is the operating system functionality or “logic” of consciousness?


Thanks


Gary


_______________________________________________________________________



Dear Gary,


No. No predestination. We always interact with our environment. I’m just saying that most people are victims of their environmental experiences or programming, so they don’t utilize much conscious choice. Recovery methods, therapy and mindfulness give us tools to see how we’ve been shaping so we can consciously reshape ourselves.


Thanks


Jimmy





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Self Worth


It was so nice talking with you yesterday. It makes me feel so good when you open up to me and share your worries.


From my perspective, at the core, we were discussing Self Worth. This morning, I opened one of the books on my desk called “Gifts of the Heart” by Bettie B. Youngs. On page 63 there was a short story named “Equal Pay for Equal Worth”. This story is about 3 men finishing farm work for an older man. When they finished working the older man asked each of them how much he should pay them. The first person asked for $55 and was paid. The next person asked for $75 and said he had to charge extra for driving himself there and meal allowance and he was then paid. The 3rd person asked for $38.50 and said “I didn’t charge you for the lunch break since your wife made us lunch and I didn’t charge for gas since I drove with friends”. The older man paid the 3rd person $100 and said “I like to see a man bring his heart to work”.


It seems that if we can practice appreciating and being grateful for all the amazing gifts around us then we can recognize our own self worth.




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Visiting the library on a beautiful day


It was a beautiful day outside with the sun shining and I was surrounded by people I love. I bought a book from the library and it cost $20. Part of the proceeds went to the library and the other part went to a charity to help disabled people. I really like the idea of buying a book with a donation.


The name of the book was “My Son Rick's Journey”.  The book was about Rick’s struggle with cancer and all the amazing messages people shared with him as he was suffering. Rick eventually passed away and I felt like this book was a dedication to his memory. I could definitely feel the sadness and empathize with the pain of Rick’s mother who misses her son.


There was a blank page at the end of the book so I wrote the following there with a blue pen:



Letting go is very hard. I will say, when you do reach the point of releasing your attachment and letting go, you will find that nobody actually left. They are in the wind, the trees, the birds, and in everyone around you….even in total strangers.


Practice Letting Go and you will make peace with your Self.


Love You, Rick



I returned the book back to the library for others to enjoy.



---------------------------





Betrayed + Jealous


 It feels like being smacked on the side of the head with a baseball bat while you’re peacefully walking down the road. 


Not sure if the people I care about so much do these things intentionally or if I’m simply being overly sensitive or maybe even imagining things.


It hurts very deeply.

I feel it so it becomes real.

It could be my mind playing tricks on me.

It could be very real.


Practice not dwelling on the past.

Let go of old hurtful memories but accept the pain and suffering.

Forgive others but most importantly forgive your SELF!


Would you like to know the weapon which will crush this enemy who continues to haunt you?



Choose your weapon


Hurt people ….. Hurt people

Healed people ….. Heal people


Looking forward to the next feeling.




---------------------------




When the Hippopotamus hated dandelions


Gary the Hippopotamus was a friendly creature but one thing that really really really bothered him was dandelions. When the dandelions would pop up each spring, Gary would angrily march around the grass to stomp on and rip out all the dandelions. Even though Gary tried very hard to get rid of each one, those pesky dandelions always came back.


Gary would get so upset over this one dandelion. It was the biggest and ugliest dandelion in the grass. This big one would never go away no matter how hard he tried. He stomped it 100 times a day and did this with the strongest amount of anger he could muster but it always grew back.


One bright summer day, Gary went out in the grass to begin his daily dandelion stomping but before he could begin, a beautiful butterfly with the most amazing colors landed right on his nose. This particular butterfly had the most vibrant colors. She was greenish/blue with some white and had small brown dots all over. 

Gary said “Hello, my name is Gary. What’s your name?”.


The butterfly said “Nice to meet you Gary. My name is Colby”. 


Gary responded “Colby, you are the most amazing and beautiful butterfly. I really like your colors”.


Colby said “Thank you Gary, I think everything in this world is amazing and beautiful if you simply take some time to look at it and appreciate it. I see you out here all the time being angry stomping on all these beautiful dandelions. If I was you, I would try to accept the dandelions as part of life and then look at how amazing and beautiful they are. Once you do this, you will realize that not only are dandelions beautiful but you can eat them too!


That big one over there is probably really tasty. I’d like you to go over there and first take off all the amazing bright yellow flowers and go make some tea or wine with them. Next, pick the beautiful leaves off and make yourself a healthy salad to eat. Then, take your giant foot and dig down really really deep until you get to the very bottom of that amazing dandelion root and pull the entire thing out. Finally, lay down in the warm sun, take a rest, and enjoy the tasty crunch of that dandelion root.


You know Gary, dandelions are actually a lot like the feelings inside of us. Once you accept them as a never ending part of you and see how beautiful they are, you will realize they also have very very deep roots that you can continue to dig out and enjoy. The best part is after you’re full, there are so many more that you can accept, dig out, and give to others to enjoy. This is what those humans call compassion.”




---------------------------





Gracefully Letting Go


I finally embraced the idea of letting go. I began decluttering my life by minimizing all of my attachments. I started with old clothes I don’t use anymore and then moved onto photos I was holding onto. I basically got back to the bare minimum in life. I even started buying only enough things needed for the present day. For example, instead of filling up my gas tank in my truck, I now only pump $20 in it to get just under a quarter tank. I kind of see this letting go as a way to give gifts to others. If I’m not taking too much then it leaves more for others to take. Kind of like sharing. Obviously, some items have to be purchased more in bulk, like a half gallon of milk or a 1lb block of cheese…..but you get the idea.


One of the last and hardest things I had to let go of was a silver keychain beer bottle opener with a person’s name on it and a start date and end date. When I let this one go, I didn't do it gracefully. I wasn’t aware that things should be let go gracefully but I know this now. Looking back, I might have done things a bit differently but that’s in the past so I will Let It Be.


Instead of tossing the silver keychain into the river while I stood on the bridge in a ceremonial manner, I ended up throwing it in the garbage can in front of a store. I suppose deep down that this was a much stronger way to bury and let go of this attachment.


After throwing away the keychain, I began driving back home and I Felt the reaction from the universe. This motorcycle came flying past me from the other land and made the loudest noise I’ve ever heard from a motorcycle…..kind of like an extremely loud whirring sound….like a really really loud chainsaw. The extreme noise shook my insides and got me extremely stressed. A few minutes later, a giant pickup truck with loud exhaust came blasting by me in the other lane. It wasn’t as loud as the bike, but it shook my insides too. I was rattled and upset for the rest of the day.



Consider letting things go gracefully and with compassion.



---------------------------




When a Hippopotamus talks to a Lion


Gary the Hippopotamus asked the lion, named Katja, to come sit outside in the beautiful grass because he wanted to show her something really amazing. They went outside together and layed down in the grass. It was such a beautiful sunny day and the temperature was just right.


Gary said to Katja “Let me tell you what I see so you might understand me more. Do you see those trees out there and the way the leaves use the wind to create a very beautiful dance? Do you see the amazing vibrant colors of the trees and sky and FEEL how beautiful it is? Do you hear and see the amazing birds flying about and appreciate how absolutely charming they sound and look?”


Katja said “Are you done yet?”




---------------------------




Insecure


“Insecure - vulnerability of spirit - is essentially humility, which is a divine quality.”


“With insecurity, we admit that it’s not all about us”


“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”


“Having no destination. I am never lost.”


Thank you for hurting me so badly today. It felt so amazing. Feelings of betrayal are unusual ones to process


Let go of the past. Don’t worry about the future.


Back to the present moment!!!!!


Doing By Not Doing


If you hurt me intentionally, I’m sharing with you how it makes me feel. I forgive you and I forgive myself. I ask you to forgive me and forgive yourself.


If you hurt me unintentionally, I’m sharing with you how it makes me feel. I forgive you and I forgive myself. I ask you to forgive me and forgive yourself.


I felt betrayed and it hurt deeply.

But I’m ok now because I

know how to process my emotions

It’s such a powerful thing

and I can show you how

to do it.



……………Bye to my brothers.




---------------------------




So you can teach a Hippopotamus new tricks



Gary the hippopotamus was walking back from the river to get back home for the day. He walked the same path everyday and, like clockwork, this group of yellow birds would scream at him and say many awful things as he walked by them. The yellow birds were very beautiful on the outside but full of anger on the inside.


The yellow birds called Gary names like stupid and told him he has such ugly hooves that they are surprised he can even walk. The one thing that really upset Gary and hurt his feelings is when they laughed at him and told him there is something wrong with him for having a giant blue circle on his left ear. Little did the birds know, Gary had a common disease that hippos are sometimes born with. This causes a giant blue circle on one ear and is called Big Blue Dot On One Ear Disease.


Gary tried covering up his blue spot but it was so big that nothing managed to cover it for long. Plus, when he went digging out dandelions all day to feed himself and others, the cover on his blue spot would fall off. There was nothing Gary could do about his Big Blue Dot On One Ear Disease so he just accepted all the terrible name calling from the nasty yellow birds and felt really sad about it.


One day, Gary was so upset about this that he walked over to visit his old buddy Spincycledoodaa. Spincycledoodaa was an eagle who could fly very high up in the sky but today he was relaxing on his favorite tree branch. 


Gary looked up at Spincycledoodaa and said “How do you handle those nasty yellow birds who call everyone names? They are terrible little things.”


Spincycledoodaa replied “Ohh, those pesky little things used to bother me too a long time ago but not anymore. I know exactly how to deal with them and I can even teach you.”


Gary excitedly responded “ WOW! You know how to make them stop! Please, please, please tell me how……I want to learn!


Spincycledoodaa said “Ok, Gary, I see you’re excited and I’m glad for you. Now, the first thing about how I deal with them is, I don’t try to stop them. Instead, when they call me a nasty name or say something to put me down, or tell me I’m not good enough, I simply respond to them and say:


“I don’t agree with that. I’m a totally awesome eagle and love living life”


After I say this, I put my beautiful beak up high towards the clouds and fly fly fly away!




---------------------------





Isolated Eccentrics


“Nothing much in common with one another, except the pain”


“Finding a support group is much like a lifeboat in a sea of shipwrecks”


Eccentricity - Explained to be an unusually odd behavior







---------------------------





Respond Don’t React


After you said that to me, it made me feel ___________.


Because I am powerless over You, I will remove myself from your presence and be alone for a bit.


Don’t let someone tell you who you are.

You tell them who you are.


I’m such an amazing person.

I’m such an amazing person and love being alive.

I’m such an amazing person.

I’m such an amazing person and love being alive.

I’m such an amazing person.

I’m such an amazing person and love being alive.




//An example for Java for-each loop


class ForEachAttack{


 public static void main(String args[]){


   //declaring an array


   int arr[] = {I’m such an amazing person , I’m such an amazing person and love being alive}


   //traversing the array with for-each loop


   for(int i:arr){


        System.outprintln(i);


    } 


  }


}




---------------------------







The Hippopotamus installs a Fence


Gary the hippopotamus was relaxing in the grass on a beautiful sunny day. The sun was shining just right, the trees were dancing with the wind, and the amazing birds were singing his favorite tune as they flew about. Gary really enjoyed relaxing so he can recharge from the busy days. 


The many wonderful creatures enjoyed stopping by to visit Gary and some would stop for a bit to talk with him. Sometimes his favorite friend named SumpSumpChipperoo would come by to talk and ask some questions. Gary loved SumpSumpChipperoo and thought she was so beautiful and amazing inside and out. SumpSumpChipperoo was the most magical red bird with vibrant colors and she had lots of energy and enjoyed going for long walks. Many times Colby the butterfly would go on walks with her. Gary wasn’t so interested in walking but enjoyed talking while relaxing. 


On this day, SumpSumpChipperoo asked Gary “Hey Gary, do you want to go for a nice long walk with me and Colby today. It would be so nice spending time together on this nice sunny day?”


Gary replied “Hey SumpSumpChipperoo, No Thank You. I’m just going to lay in the grass and relax today”


SumpSumpChipperoo said “But Gary, we could spend so much time together and make such beautiful memories. Plus, if we go without you then you’ll probably just sit here brushing your Big Blue Dot On One Ear. I know you like brushing that Big Blue Dot and that it makes you feel better but I don’t think it’s very good for you to sit alone so much.


Gary responded “Thank you SumpSumpChipperoo for sharing that but I’m just going to stay here laying in the grass and relaxing. I really enjoy relaxing and simply watching the trees dance with the wind, and the amazing birds sing my favorite tune as they fly about. You two enjoy your long walk and I will be here when you get back. I’m not going anywhere. Relaxing here is really healthy for my Self and is sort of my way of showing compassion for Me :). If I was you, I would look deep deep deep inside and find compassion for your Self.





---------------------------





Book #4






This Is Understanding







---------------------------






Bethel Understands


Baby Otter, Learns to swim:

Millions of wishes 

flying in the air

You never hide

from them

You only

embrace them

Whatever you wish for

shall be granted

Wishing the ones

I Love

could understand

my language


Intensely feeling everything!

Solitude is my medicine

Art expresses my feelings

No matter where I go

I’m always with you


Sincerely, 

Vermont




---------------------------







Feeling Intelligent



I got the feeling today that I needed to go to the most magical place in the universe to hear a story from a wise owl. This magical place is called The City In The Clouds.


From what I heard, this Owl's name is Tytoalba and he can tell you the most amazing story you’ll ever hear. People tell me it can even make them really at peace with the world. So I ventured out to find Tytoalba.


After a long journey, I finally arrived at The City In The Clouds. The first thing I noticed were the many signs saying “Self-Park” so I decided to park my self. After parking, I walked around the city a bit and noticed that it is overflowing with the most amazing architecture, bright colorful glowing lights of every color you could imagine flashing everywhere you walk, and my favorite part was looking at the food. The food here was so remarkably beautiful and tasted just like heaven.


I was worn out from the trip but I eventually found a comfortable place to rest and really took care of myself. Later in the day, when the sun went down, I went out searching for Tytoalba and to also buy a new pair of shoes. I first walked to the shoe store, this particular shoe store told me to Just Do It but as most folks know, I try my best to Not Do Anything so I ended up finding a pair of new shoes in this store. These shoes were named Pegasus after the mythical winged horse so this made them very special to me. I paid the store for my new shoes and began walking around the city.


As I walked away from the store, I noticed a poor old owl sitting on a log under the bridge ahead. I could see this poor old owl was very sad but he still managed to sing the most amazing songs.


I excitedly walked up to the owl and said, “I love your beautiful singing. I see you’re very hungry so here’s some of my extra food to eat. My name’s Juniper, what’s your name?”


He replied

“Very nice to meet you Juniper. Thank you so much for the food, I was starving. My name is Tytoalba”


I said “Great to meet you. I just got these new shoes and I’m trying to let go of these old ones. I can see your feet look really sore. Can I give you my old shoes as a gift?”


Tytoalba replied “Thank you so much. Those look like the perfect fit and I would be glad to take them from you. Since you’ve been so kind to me, I’d like to sing you a song and also tell you a nice story. Is that ok with you?”


I replied, “ Of course, I love your singing and hear you tell great stories.”


Tytoalba began singing his song and it was an amazing song. When he was finished, I said “That song was amazing. What’s the name of it?”


Tytoalba said “Glad you liked it! That song is called Hey Jude. Now please allow me to tell you a story.


You see, us owls have a little secret about us that I want to tell you about. Many of us have very heavy wings and we like to lean them on each other to take a rest from time to time. Sometimes we get upset at one another over whose wings are the heaviest and who needs the most rest. So the trick is to learn to handle your own wings first and then you will be able to help others with their heavy wings. 


The other thing is, owls who learn to handle the weight of their own wings absolutely Love helping other owls get some rest.


But do keep in mind, us owls do have our own limits and if we help too much it can hurt us. So sometimes it’s ok to say no. Saying no to unwanted requests is quite alright. That is sort of a form of self-respect. The best part about saying no is it helps other owls learn how to handle the weight of their own wings. When they eventually make that personal journey, they will come to truly understand faith and experience grace.


So, in the end, you really only control yourself. If you try to control or force others to do things that they don’t want to do, you can hurt their feelings.


Let go of control

Have faith

Let It Be”


I responded “Tytoalba, that was a great story. So saying no to unwanted requests is actually one of the best gifts you could give to another person because it empowers them to take their own personal journey towards happiness. 


I do have one final question. Do you think that the feelings inside of all of us are actually intelligent?”


Tytoalba said “Of course they are, that’s called emotional intelligence and we all have that beautiful gift inside of us. If you watch your own emotions, you’ll begin understanding yourself and then finally you’ll be able to understand others.”




---------------------------





Soaring with Eagles



Dear Bubo Bubo,


It was great talking with you yesterday. The way you explained irrational thoughts to me was very helpful. This area in most people's minds, where just because we think something is true we then  try to convince ourselves that it’s true, is rather bizarre. It appears to be at the root of most of our worries. Your way of resolving these irrational thoughts by simply looking for current concrete evidence to support the thoughts is a nice technique and I will begin practicing this. 


I’m very happy for you and your amazing family. 

Your wife and daughter seem so comfortable in life and it was fascinating to see how they could observe and recall the many small details in the world around them, that’s such an amazing gift.


Your son seems like a very internal thinker and enjoys time alone to process all the things he can feel. Building imaginary worlds is such a nice way for him to rest and also express himself to others. 


Thank you all very much for welcoming me into your nest and allowing me to rest!


I see you absolutely love flying and that’s not surprising considering you’re an eagle. I will say, you may want to consider releasing those beautiful songs you sing into the world. It brings us all great comfort to express our Selves and find others out there who can understand us. Let it go.


Love,


Juniper





---------------------------





Beautiful Bird


Dear Athena,


First, I want to say that I care about you very much and nobody in this entire world knows me better than you do. 


I love you.


Recognizing the idea that you know me so well, it’s reasonable to conclude that I also know you very well. I absolutely love that majestic owl on your shoulder and want to thank you for giving me the gifts of seeing the future and communicating with birds!


I understand that you’ve been having a hard time lately with all the changes in life and that’s ok. Change is hard to accept and it’s ok to be struggling with it at times. We all struggle with change.


I know you and know that you don’t like talking in such a deep and philosophical manner so I will share some suggestions in the most gentle way I know how.


Please consider being more positive towards yourself and others around you. I know it’s hard sometimes when things get tough but you’re such a strong person and I know you can do it. Try to look at the beautiful and amazing things in life. 

Don’t allow the world to tell you who you are.

You tell the world who you are.


You’re such an amazing and beautiful person and I love you so much! You’re my “gray-eyed goddess” even though you might see your eyes colored hazel.


Love,


Juniper




---------------------------







Only In Our Dreams



This morning I was trying to get some rest so I laid down to take a short nap. My mind was very busy so I used some basic breathing techniques to be still. This is simply me watching myself breath but it distracts my mind and allows me to fall into sleep. It worked.


While sleeping I had the most amazing and vivid dream. I met myself in my dream. He was a bit scary at first because I had never experienced this before but after some time I began to trust him and listen to his guidance. 


In this dream, I was standing in front of some machine that accepted coins and I think it gave you prizes. I had a handful of gold like coins and I began trying to use the machine but myself was next to me and he said, "No, you don't put the coins in there like that. You need to put them in slowly and one at a time but before you put any in, you need to place them in a pile over there on the carpet. Next, you take 2 coins from the pile and go back to the machine and put each one in very slowly."


The entire time we talked in my dream I was having such intense feelings of joy and fear but was also having a hard time breathing. I can remember feeling like I was being peeled away from reality and separated from the physical realm. It was literally a breathtaking experience. This experience in my dream was so overwhelming that I couldn't handle it and I managed to stop the dream and physically woke up. I'm awake now writing down this experience and getting chills from time to time as I reflect on it.


Now that I finally met myself in my dreams, I'm going to trust myself and take my own advice. To me, this dream was telling me to focus on the task in front of me and be mindful of myself while doing tasks. Also, I need to take the many tasks I see and put them in a pile away from the work area and simply grab small tasks and do each one of them with mindfulness and focus. When I do tasks in this way, I will win amazing prizes from the machine of life!




---------------------------




Feeling Paranoid



Can this person understand that the thoughts are simply part of the imagination?


Can this person understand that the thoughts are not true?


Why does this person worry about mistakes in the past, about what others think, and that something bad might happen in the future?


This is simply your hypersensitivity.

Let the thoughts and feelings pass.

Don’t hold onto them.

Let them go!


If there is no absolute concrete evidence for the worries, then this is simply irrational fear.


Fear is a natural aspect of human existence.


Here are some ways to handle your fears:



Many believe that fear is rooted in low self-esteem. So the logical thing to do would be to increase your level of self-esteem so that it is high.


Bring yourself back to the present moment. 

Let your thoughts pass.




---------------------------




Tao Te Ching

#4


The Tao is like an empty container:

it can never be emptied and

can never be filled.

Infinitely deep, it is the source of

all things.

It dulls the sharp, unties the knotted,

shades the lighted, and unites all of

creation with dust.


It is hidden but always present

I don’t know who gave birth to it.

It is older than the concept of God.


_____________________________________


I find Tao in the present moment.



When you’re feeling paranoid, simply change the story from negative to positive.


Say something like this:


I’m not a bad person for things I’ve done in the past. I will not be punished for my past mistakes. I’m an amazing person and did such a great job handling the most difficult challenge. I’m an amazing person and did the best I could and by doing that I made the world a better place. 



“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid.”




Back to the present moment.




---------------------------




Rose of Jericho



Dear Troy,


We’re all very happy to see you stepping out into the world on your own. The journey through life is such an amazing experience filled with great joy and beautiful challenges. You’re going to do great, you got this.


A few years ago I was lost and wandering in the desert and I found a beautiful plant at the base of a superstitious mountain. I’ve kept this plant with me since and it’s helped me through some challenging times.


This plant may appear dead and may not be what some call beautiful but that’s because it’s true beauty is on the inside. The Rose of Jericho has taught me that there is something in this world far greater than any material possession and more powerful than the control we imagine to have. Some might call this God’s Grace or Nirvana or Tao.


I’d like you to have this rose. You don’t have to do anything to take care of it, just let it be. Remember that all you ever need is right there in front of you.


Be present and revere every second.


Enjoy your journey!


Love,


Juniper







Please pardon me, it’s beginning to rain outside, I need to take my fish for a walk.


The End