Krassimir reports from Eastern Europe:
Our Far-flung Correspondents
January 17th, 2010The Future Of Meditation
January 14th, 2010
A Poem With A Mutant Snow Flake
January 13th, 2010
Colleen sends a poem and a do-it-yourself mutant snowflake.
Ode To Snow…
Pristine white there is no sun
No golden photon to emblazen
Absolute all color pure reflection
It blinds my every rod and cone
Blue cup clutched I step into that light
Crunched beneath the waver of my boot
Leaving broken edges no less bright
Behind me
Rustling snow from every branch
Hardly waiting for my retreat
The brave ones take the chance
Cardinal red splashed
Black grey junco
Cluster at the feeder
Shards of yellow bill
Eagerly pecked between snowflakes
I stand, breath white on white
As
Seed hulls scatter at my feet
I ponder thus:
St. Francis never had a plastic cup
Nor plastic sack of seed
Nor heated room to venture forth from
Still – when I fill the feeder
No less wonder makes my moment
Free from that disgust
That drains the living not connected
By the bridge of life
To Life
L’Chaim
More Conventional Meditation
January 7th, 2010
Asshole Meditation
January 4th, 2010
For more on the Vonnegut angle see Eric Spitznagel’s blog.
You can meditate on your asshole, though I didn’t know that’s what I was doing at the time.
I was walking across campus and my asshole started itching like crazy. But for some reason, the Great Chain of Being had broken down, and it is that very Chain that ordains that an itch must be scratched. Instead, I got interested in it. “What is an itch?” I questioned it closely. I wasn’t after the biology — what is the irritant, is there something special about itch nerve cells, what does this activate in the brain — I was interested in the experience. What is the experience? How well located is it? It’s located in my mind (wherever that is!) and I could easily guide my finger to it, but experientially, I don’t think it’s located in such high definition. It’s aversive. Is it hot? sharp? pointy? jagged? What it is this thing? I suppose the sheer irritation of it, when diverted from action to thought gives the thought itself the quality of urgency.
And then I got it. Or you could say I copped out. I was able to name it: “Sensation”.
This gave me mental resolution. In the scheme of academic philosophy, it’s hardly a new idea. But I felt my mind had taken a new stance.
Angie: Did you finally scratch it?
Rev: I don’t remember.
Horace’s New Year Word Contest
January 1st, 2010
Inspired by his long meditative practice (called Scrabble), Horace has created a new word for a New Year. Let’s see, that’s J-8, A-1, well, you figure it out. But what does it mean?
So, that’s our contest. What does it mean? Don’t forget etymology and pithy phrases. Even better, can you draw it? Wonderful and mysterious prizes, yet to be determined.
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Colleen contributes this rare portrait. Recent scholarship suggests it is none other than Benny Goodduck.
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It is a special pleasure to welcome Special Guest Artist Helen Gaims. Helen, take it away:
“It’s A Starrett.”
December 26th, 2009
I had — and still have — an ancient pair of wirecutters. This thing goes through piano wire as if it were butter. In an act of world-class blasphemy, I sometimes use it to clip my toenails. It’s a Starrett.
We used to go to Kaufman Industrial Supply in East Cambridge. You went there when you needed something really good like a 24 gauge wood screw — that’d be the one that holds the cast-iron plate in the piano — or a Soss hinge. And so off to Kaufman’s I went when I decided that ancient tool deserved a new set of jaws.
Walked in, dropped it on the counter. “It needs new jaws.” He picked it up, turned it over doubtfully. Hesitantly, “I don’t know…” This simply wasn’t acceptable. “It’s a Starrett.” I spat it out. “Oh,” very quietly. A minute later, he re-emerged, shiny new parts in hand.
A Gift For Baby Jesus
December 25th, 2009
And that’s why they’re called wise men!
So take a tip from Helen: May we use the word “merry” more than for just f*!&ing Christmas.
Signe Sends Solstice Greetings
December 21st, 2009
Special guest artist Signe Baumane sends Winter Solstice Greetings. Visit her at http://www.signebaumane.com/
Copenhagen
December 21st, 2009
Guess who won.
Okay. Chuck likes the line version. Lucky likes the color version. I was pretty finely balanced between the two, so here is the other version. As some other cartoonist once said, “Indecision is a terrible thing.”
