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Mindless

I am a computer programmer by day and philosopher by night. I post once or twice a week. I aim to prevent blogging from taking to much time, while allowing time to develop each idea before posting it. Each has some reference to human, universal, or societal truths, while presented in an organized, understandable & consise way -- this is the plan anyway. Results may very as what rings true for one may seem false to another. Also becuase sometimes I get things wrong.

Friday, September 30, 2005

How will you choose?

I found this story on another blog (http://soclosethatibelieve.blogspot.com/). Not sure where the story originated. I very much liked it and thought others might as well... Here goes:

Michael was the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" I asked Michael once, "How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Mike you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. when you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood. The bottom line is this: It's your choice how you life your life."

Several years later Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods in his back. I see Michael about six months after the accident.

When I ask him how he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined but did ask what went through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter." "Then. as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

When they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes", I replied. The Doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them that I am choosing to live and they should operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Required Reading

"The Cookie Thief" by Valerie Cox
http://www.storybin.com/sponsor/sponsor109.shtml

I hope that you will read this if you haven't already. I think you'll enjoy it. I'll insert the text if it disappears from that site. Let me know if this happens.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Introducing RSS!

RSS is a way of automatically detecting updates to web sites and other Internet content with the use of an RSS client. You can subscribe to my blog (web log) in a way similar to signing up for an email list; you will receive a message each time I add a new post.

Here is a more detailed explanation of RSS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)

I use Mozilla Thunderbird as my RSS client. It is an email program which is also an RSS client. An RSS client is often called an "aggregator."

This site lists a few aggregators:
http://blogspace.com/rss/readers (I found it easily enough by doing a Google search for "RSS client").

The RSS 'feed' URL for my web log is http://-mindless.blogspot.com/atom.xml Your client will ask you for this URL. The RSS Feed URL is also listed on the links to your right.

Please comment here if you have trouble setting this up. I will try to help, but I have not used other aggregators so the aid I give may be limited.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Thich Nhat Hanh: Buddhist Monk, Author

A lot of people have been asking me about the lecture I went to given by Thich Nhat Hanh. I've given a number of tidbits to a number of people, but to most I haven't given what I would call a full explanation. I expect this message will meet more eyes then one that I would give in person.

The title of the lecture was "Refreshing Our Hearts: Understanding True Love." Love in the human compassion sense not the romantic sense. I think the romans had it right to have three different words for love. The lecture was held at the Boston Opera House. The place is HUGE and it was nearly full! I bought tickets on the way in and I was about half way up the balcony. I would say there was in the area of 2,000 people in attendance.

Most of you will probably know who Thich Nhat Hanh is, but I'll give a 30 second biography for those who have not heard of him:

Born in Vietnam in 1926. He became a Buddhist monk. He traveled to the United States in order to speak out about the war against his country. He was not allowed to return to Vietnam by that country's government and moved to France. He lived in a Buddhist community in France called Plum Village. He is the author of several books including: Living Buddha, Living Christ, Peace is Every Step, Old Path White Clouds & Being Peace.

On to the lecture itself:

It was a pretty neat experience. I would say that it was a recap of the ideas of Buddhism, but connected a lot of unconnected dots. The lecture was given in a very clear, simple & understandable way.

Here are the ideas which he talked about:

- in life there is suffering [1]

- in true love we ease the suffering of others

- in order to accomplish this we must be living in the moment.

- we must understand the (sources of) suffering of the other by first understanding (the sources of) our own suffering

- Some imagine heaven to be a place where there is no suffering - only happiness and love. He does not believe this can be true, because without pain we lack the opportunity to develop understanding and thus love would not be possible. (This is a new idea and I am still considering it a month later!)

- mindful loving listening can be very effective in easing suffering.

- there are 3 complexes w/regard to listening.

complex 1: to feel that you are superior to the speaker.

complex 2: to feel that you are inferior to the speaker.

complex 3: to feel that you are equal to the speaker.

- in true love there is no distinction between the one who speaks and the one who listens. There is no greater, lesser or equal because all distinction melts away.

- there is no room for resentment or guilt - he uses the examples of his left and right hand in order to demonstrate this.

- he provides many reasons why of past, present and future - the present is important and the others much less so.

- by mindfulness he refers to living in the present, which ironically is the Taoist notion of no-mind. So being mindful and mindless is really the same thing! :) [2]

There was singing and meditation before he began to speak and more singing after he had finished. He had a group of men in monk's robes on his left and women in monk's robes with hoods on his right. There were drums and a guitar used as well.

I was trying hard to hear everything he said, but my mind drifted off a few times and I missed some of it. This writing does not do anything like justice to the lecture, but I hope it has given you a sense of what it was about and if it would be something you would consider when he returns to the area.

Links:

Event Schedules & Plum Village web site


Event schedules


More information on Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh


---------- Foot notes ----------


[1] This is the first of the four Noble Truths of Buddhism. They are in order:
1. Suffering exists in life (true suffering)
2. Suffering has a cause, we are the cause of our own suffering
(true sources of suffering)
3. Suffering can end.
4. There are ways to reduce or eliminate suffering. Since we
are the cause; we can also be the cure.

[2] I was having a hard time coming up with a name for my blog and used this silly, highly inside joke as the name.