Finding bliss in blight
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 by John Zen |
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I was in a Taco Bell drive thru two days ago and ordered a chicken/steak quesidilia with a soft taco and baja blast to drink.
I asked for a steak quesidilia instead of chicken.
I awaited until i was on a long open stretch of highway to eat my food as i was driving a manual transmission.
I ate the soft taco first, and had a drink of my baja blast.
I then proceeded to eat my quesidilia, i bit into it and immediately realized it was chicken instead of steak.
I'm not one to complain, and i'm a Zen Buddhist so i shouldn't've.
But i wont lie, the thought arose and i became slightly irritated as i chewed the chicken.
Then, something amazing happened.
From this single simple event, so small and insignificant seeming.
I arrived at an insight into life and took yet another step on my journey to enlightenment.
I suddenly had this wave of happiness spread over me.
I realized that although it was a mistake, it was one that changed my day.
I enjoyed the chicken quesidilia and how it tasted.
I realized that i received a wonderful surprise from a mistake.
The insight i received from this is:
Do not look at failures, mistakes, and problems as things that which you should become so upset over and
disregard as things to move past or out of. Instead, look to them, and see what diversity and joy they can bring by teaching us things.
Try to see with acceptance that a problem is not always a hindrance but in most cases can be the vessel by which you arrive at the solution, and in doing so you have gained a certain knowledge from it.
I asked for a steak quesidilia instead of chicken.
I awaited until i was on a long open stretch of highway to eat my food as i was driving a manual transmission.
I ate the soft taco first, and had a drink of my baja blast.
I then proceeded to eat my quesidilia, i bit into it and immediately realized it was chicken instead of steak.
I'm not one to complain, and i'm a Zen Buddhist so i shouldn't've.
But i wont lie, the thought arose and i became slightly irritated as i chewed the chicken.
Then, something amazing happened.
From this single simple event, so small and insignificant seeming.
I arrived at an insight into life and took yet another step on my journey to enlightenment.
I suddenly had this wave of happiness spread over me.
I realized that although it was a mistake, it was one that changed my day.
I enjoyed the chicken quesidilia and how it tasted.
I realized that i received a wonderful surprise from a mistake.
The insight i received from this is:
Do not look at failures, mistakes, and problems as things that which you should become so upset over and
disregard as things to move past or out of. Instead, look to them, and see what diversity and joy they can bring by teaching us things.
Try to see with acceptance that a problem is not always a hindrance but in most cases can be the vessel by which you arrive at the solution, and in doing so you have gained a certain knowledge from it.
~MementoMori
My Meditation Technique
by John Zen |
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This is the technique i use when meditating.
Preparation:
I envision the sky from eye level (as if you were to be sitting on a cloud) and i see the clouds in the sky as thoughts.
The cloud I am sitting on is small, a simple thought of meditation. I envision it being just before sunrise.
I begin slowing my breathing, calming my body. Then once i can clearly hear my heartbeat, and it comes to a monotonous rhythm.
I envision each of my breathes in as bringing the sun to rise, slowly climbing over the horizon. While i also envision my breathes out as a great wind, blowing the clouds away, across the horizon. Once the Sun has reached it's rise and sits on top of the horizon and the sky is clear, i know i'm ready for some serious meditation.
Meditation:
I then see the sun as my subconscious with it's light being blinding thoughts. I also envision it's rays that stretch out as conduits, that reach into, and through me. The rays channel the light/subconscious thoughts threw me. I do not try to meditate on all the thoughts, but choose one each time to meditate on.
~MementoMori
My thoughts on Honesty and the act of creating lies:
by John Zen |
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I will not begin this entry by stating i have never lied, or even that i do not lie anymore for when i am not watching my tongue things escape that should not. Instead, i will tell you that you can ask me anything and no matter what the answer may entail i will certainly try my best to give the most honest and direct answer i can. Honesty is by definition: not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent. So to lie by definition is: a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement, especially with the intention to deceive others; tell an untruth; pretend with intent to deceive.
Now that we have looked at the definitions of honesty and the act of creating a lie lets look to why one should always try ones best to tell the truth, for none of us are perfect and lies will always find cracks in our memories and try to fill them. When one lies to others, they create a false record and impression of what was asked or is being stated. That false record can be harmful to others because if they take your lie as a truth and a fact, then they will expect that lie to hold up in most all situations it occurs. So if man states that he went by a known dangerous dog in a neighborhood and lied that he pet it and it didn't attack him when in truth he fled the area because the dog did indeed try to attack him. Say that a young boy were to hear the statement, and he believes the man, that child would then think he had a better chance of not being attacked by that dog and would attempt to pet it. The metaphor is that a lie told is almost always a lie lived for someone, and most times it can be harmful for loved ones or detrimental in their day to day lives.
To tell the truth is to earn a standard of trustworthiness and acceptance that you will supply truthful honest knowledge when any knowledge is divulged from you. It is widely accepted that one is judged more by what one does wrong than what he/she does right. So to fill your life and relationships with lies will indeed get you noticed and maybe even help you to reach a point in business, but the lie is fake, false, a bottomless cup that will hold no water so when the people in your life and events in it begin to fill your cup, it will most certainly fall straight through. But yet honesty is backed by fact and hard knowledge that forms a rigid yet strong base to everything, to your cup, and will most certainly hold up when your cup is being filled. It is easier to become a liar, but it takes time and effort to and time again to become an honest man, the first is a faulty, fools way of sliding along the path of life, not taking up responsibility to fill his/her shoes and take true steps along the path. The second, honesty, is a wise mans walking-staff for he can always rely on the truth to hold him up in the most trying of times, and the strongest tempests. Some can see it as this: Lies are empty and so are black and deceitful, to fill ones day to day to year life with the darkness and deceitfulness of lies is to corrupt ones self.
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. ~Mark Twain
A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. Mohn
The truth brings with it a great measure of absolution, always. ~R.D. Laing
Lies make for a sweeter rememberance, but honesty makes for a more filling memory. ~ Johnpaul C Niswonger~Mementomori
For me it's about opening your eyes...
by John Zen |
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to the world and taking it in for ALL it is and not just what it has to offer. It's about being thankful for the gift of life and never taking anything in life for granted, nor ever forgetting that there are so many out there that do make it past today, and if you do to not waste such a amazing gift, but to make sure you experience it in it's fullest contrast. Enlightenment for me is to look at ones self, past, present, experiences, failures, accomplishments, and dreams from an open mind and outside of ones opinions to understand what meaning ones life has for his/her self. Enlightenment is not a separation of anything but yet it is to open the eyes and see more than you have ever saw before.
It's not escaping away from anything about this physical world, but escaping such a controlled and blind way of life and finding a new one in the same physical world, and that new life you find is what's transcendental of the old one.
~MementoMori
It's not escaping away from anything about this physical world, but escaping such a controlled and blind way of life and finding a new one in the same physical world, and that new life you find is what's transcendental of the old one.
~MementoMori
My thought's on arguments and the act of arguing:
by John Zen |
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I have been in many arguments, being from an authoritarian family with such an open mind and tough spirit i have much experience. I am very skilled at intelligent debating and arguing. But I find it very detrimental to ones health to actually fight and scream and yell in an argument. For one it takes the argument to an entirely new level that is extremely stressful. That stress can impact, and does impact many parts of your life. This for me includes dreaming. I find that the more I'm stressed the less i dream and if i do dream i never gain lucidity in them if the stress is still there when i fall asleep.
I also find that arguing for the sake of trying to hurt the other only ends up making yourself feel like an ass afterward if you care for that person at all because you eventually will find that the reason you were arguing never overshadows how you care for that person (in most cases). So one shouldAlways breathe deep and slow in an argument and keep a level head. One should go into any argument with a set goal created before they enter the argument but most importantly before they give any thought to the emotions that arise at the beginning of the argument. Keep this goal in mind the entire time, and always remember who you are arguing with. Sometimes we argue with all the assholes we've been faced with that day or, even worse, that week.
When arguing, no matter what never carry that argument with you, nor any emotions or ideas or visualizations that arise during it. These will embed themselves into your subconscious and over time become who you are, and most of the time they are angry ideas and mad thoughts. This is especially detrimental to your relationship with loved ones if this occurs in an argument with one of them.
No matter what never - never, ever let yourself become so upset that you lower to the point where you start cursing and calling the other person names. The first reason this is harmful to oneself is that you may be expressing your current anger at that person and not your true impression of them, yet they will take it for your impression of themselves on you. Most of the time after the argument you will find that that persons opinions do not change your relationship with them or how you feel for that loved one, or at least it should not. Because to want someone to share your exact same beliefs and opinions is to ignore what it is to be human living amongst other humans. Two minds thinking alike sharing the same interests, same beliefs, and the same opinions never can think "outside" the box to better their enlightenment in life and their life in general. This can be proven simply by the renaissance. Two dissimilar minds that can debate in a professional and enlightened way can compare and contrast thoughts and ideas, and build on each others perceptions of those ideas and thoughts, but when one disagrees with the other, to ruin such a beneficial debate by allowing foolish anger to cloud ones mind can hinder that persons progression in business, love, and life.
~MementoMori
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