What I've Learned...

“Present moment awareness is allowing the flow of attention, the flow of consciousness, the flow of universal intelligence, the flow of nature, to move spontaneously and effortlessly through our physiologies.” [I believe that Deepak said that]

So where were we? Yes.

I have learned that we have a capacity for putting up with things that are not optimal, or even healthy. But we do it anyway. It's something that I've heard spoken about by a lot of people. Our capacity for grinning and bearing it so to speak, rather than just moving on, or creating change. I look back now on certain situations in my life. and I see it. places where i was that didn't feel so good but I stayed in them anyway. we get kind of frozen there... I would hope that as we get older we get better at recognizing these circumstances and better at jumping out and into something better.

I have learned that the two party system in America is a scam, perpetrated by intelligent people to get not so intelligent people to make choices that they don't want to and shouldn’t have to make in a civilized society; much like if someone was to ask you at the drive through at McDonalds what you would like as a side order. French fries or nothing. Take your pick. There really isn't two parties per se; there are many; and there shouldn’t be ideologically speaking any parties at all. Again its like the French fries at McDonalds. They can ask you what you want on the side, but you don't really have a choice. They only have French fries. And everyone knows it. so everyone just orders fries and doesn’t think about it. But lets face it; French fries fucking suck as a food. They're greasy, they're almost tasteless except for the pound of salt that they pour all over them, they have no nutritive value, they make you fat and ugly if you eat them, and by this time they are fucking boring as hell. But people shove them down their throats anyway because they don't think they have any choice in it.

Its like all those people who complain that Nader lost gore the presidency, which he probably did. Nader’s heart is in the right place; he just lost his mind somewhere down the road. And now the whole world has gone to shit right before our eyes since the puppet and his masters snuck in there through the back door. but in the long run I think it is important that more parties run than just the established two that have the collective mind of America brainwashed into making bad decisions no matter which way they vote. I have learned that trying to understand the left versus the right paradigm in politics is a waste of time because it is as confusing and convoluted as a girl who says no and means yes or a man who tells you he loves you but doesn’t call you for three days. it’s a game we play with ourselves that never has any winners.

The only reason that so many smart people lean more towards the democrat side now is because the people labeling themselves as conservatives aren't really too conservative any more. true republicanism, Jeffersonian republicanism as it once was hasn’t been around in decades; maybe it never was at all.

I have learned that opera is important
That Edward de vere is important
That port and cognac are important
Manners can be important
Although only on certain occasions.
There is nothing more offensive to certain people than good manners
Beethoven and Oscar Wilde seem to be quite important
Music is certainly important
If music is God then rock and roll is Jesus
Painting was once important
Although film now seems to be more important
Vacations are important
Eating vegetables has an air of importance
Beauty seems terribly important

I have learned to always carry a pen and paper no matter where you go and that a good shoe shine has a remarkable ability to seem miraculously life affirming at certain times, much like a massage, a clay mask or a facial, a manicure, a night of debauched drunkenness, or a good careless romp in the hay with someone you’ve never met before and pray you'll never meet again. 

I have learned that people die. Everyday people are dying. It is the curse of being born. Our family members die. One by one they leave us never to return again. it is a tragedy that befalls all of us lucky enough to be born into a family and it is the saddest thing I can think of. I have learned that as much as my grandparents are truly dead, for I watched them both take their last breath, it is still something I cannot talk my conscious mind into believing. I still think of them as being alive. I still think of them as often as I ever did. Perhaps more even than when they were indeed alive.

I have learned that we will all eventually die, and what's worse, we will be forgotten entirely one day. if we are fortunate enough to have children all of us will eventually become ‘ancestors’ to people we will never know, people we cannot even form a conception of during our own lifetimes. This is the nature of being an ancestor. There is more respectability in being an ancestor. But I take more delight in being a descendent myself. Whenever one has to choose between being alive or being respected...

I have learned that studying ones heritage and genealogy is an important and very satisfying endeavor. Our limbs and leaves are how other people see and understand us. But our roots are how we come to see and understand ourselves.

I have learned that there is for some unknown reason a simple pleasure in peeing outdoors, especially when it isn't actually necessary but only for the mere unadulterated joy of it.

I seem to possess no sense of time or understanding of the importance of punctuality; in myself or in others. I could care less if people are late or even if they show up at all. In fact oftentimes I find myself relieved when my appointments are unexpectedly cancelled. And in return have no problem doing so myself at the drop of a hat. I don’t know if this is a weakness in my character or a sign of my advanced evolvement. But it does seem to upset many people, particularly people who appear to be overworked or undersexed.

Ps—I went to the opera tonight James Bond style. I had three seats reserved so I could have plenty of room to spread out and catch up on some much needed sleep. Because it is after all Valentines Day, Romeo and Juliet it was. I have decided that I do not like French opera. I found it boring and predictable and completely without melody; I left before the famous closing deathbed scene. Romeo and Juliet the opera is confusing anyway. A story that takes place in Italy, written by an English man, about Italian families, or are these just English families living in Italy... but performed in French. It just makes no sense.