Sunday, August 28, 2011

TODAY I talked to 12 other human beings in person.


"There are no medals for achievement
along the bodhisattva path.

Each stage, even enlightenment itself,
is like the different stages
in the growth of a tree.

The first bhumi ["level"]
is an extremely spectacular experience,
a sudden explosion of joy,
realizing that you could be generous,
you could open,

but beyond that the other bhumis
are less spectacular.

One bhumi develops to a peak point,
and then gradually the next bhumi
suggests itself and you cross the border
very gently and arrive at the beginning
of the next bhumi.

It is frivolous to ask what bhumi you are in
or to develop courses aiming at achieving
the various levels.

It is a very gentle, very gradual process."

-Chogyam Trungpa, The Myth of Freedom


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Monday, August 22, 2011

Blocked on Facebook!


I got blocked by a person on Facebook.
I sent them a friend request and in return
they blocked me!

Meaning they disappeared from my Facebook, as I
disappeared from their Facebook.

Well!

The feeling was strange, briefly maddening, as if
I'd been terribly insulted, even slandered, accused
of some shameful wrong, with no appeal.

However, once I thought about it, I'm pretty sure I know
why this has happened.

This is a person I interacted
with a number of years ago on a couple writers' sites.

As you may know, all e-sites result in relationships,
cliques, spats, blow-ups among allies & foes, and
just general cyber-entanglements that have their own
special emotional insanity that reflects real-life in
some ways and in others is crazily unique to e-reality.

This person & I, far as I can remember, had no bad
blood personally, but the last time I interacted on
a website where we both visited, I left in order to
avoid interaction with two other people who were
involved with each other, one of whom was once married
to one of the few people on the internet I remain friends
with since I got on in 1998.

I know: Cy. Ber. Mad. Ness.

I meant to write only to the friend/admin of the site
but accidentally posted to the whole board, individually,
to everyone's private message accounts, announcing my leaving
the site. (Or was it an accident?) Fortunately, I didn't
bad-mouth anybody in the mass PM, but it happened far
more publicly & dramatically than (I think) I'd intended,
(although my subconscious does have a will of its own).

The person who disappeared me was friend with the couple.
He/she simply didn't want me intermixing with his or her
friends, and, apparently, didn't think ignoring my friend
request was sufficient, and felt strongly enough about
the past situation to want me to know they didn't want nothin'
to do with me, thanks.

So, it was a strange sensation, small but troubling,
to go check to see why they hadn't accepted my friending,
and find that they had erased me from their Facebookworld!

But it's OK. I understand. I'm all right now. Thank you
for listening.

Of course, I might be blocked by many people who
don't care for me for one reason or another, or who
simply don't care to be my "friend." I haven't blocked
anybody, but I've certainly hidden people's messages for
simply expressing some screwball political or social
garbage that I didn't feel like reading, so I got no room
to talk, but I did anyway, didn't I.

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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Flannery O'Connor & Thomas Merton in their own Voices.


If you would care to hear Thomas Merton speaking at
length on the proper use of towels, God's Will vs. Fate, etc.,
click here:

Thomas Merton speaking

...and if you would like to hear Flannery O'Connor
reading her entire story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find,"
click here:

Flannery O'Connor reading

I was happily surprised how hardy & blue-collar Thomas Merton sounds.
Flannery I expected to hear a stronger accent from what
folks had written, and the more I listened the clearer she got for me.

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