Looking in the mirror, he noticed the wrinkles around his eyes, reminding him of a river journey with a friend, laughing for days and seeing white wrinkles amid the tan lines. Today, my face is tan and rounded somewhat, perhaps from the beard, going gray around the edges. There is that combination of youth and age that defies our usual indication of time in a body. A smile is often present and there is something about brown eyes that can tighten into a focus when speaking directly to someone. My niece was at a family reunion that I did not attend and she told me my grandmother’s last name meant bent willow, which I find interesting. There is a northern European look about me, heavy set and I think short, or stout might fit. Am I pleasant to look at? Only when I am fun to be around. But my portrait is not that, it is in my song: I’m a child of the desert, hot burning sand And a friend to the buzzard circling the bleaching bones of a man I spent my contemplation under a pinyon tree And a nut fell down and hit me and that’s what [...]
It is night here. I had a dream that I was listening to music at a concert and the music finished. It had been instrumental music with drums and percussion and other sounds that I can’t remember. A musician spoke, saying the concert was over and that he had not said much with words because the music spoke for them. It has been over an hour since that experience and I am awake, still. My mind is overactive, running through a range of thoughts that I can usually avoid in daylight. i think about being unemployed until I can “officially” retire. I think about my part in what we have done to our environment and our world. I think of the worry and fear that permeates our existence, and how much of that is our own doing, our own actions, that we followed so easily. I think of the anger and rage that I see in so many places in the different media, and how easy it is to step into that state of mind. I think that Loving Kindness is a means to overcome all that I find to be negative in my world. In my dreams, I have [...]
I spent the long weekend with people that were enjoying themselves. Many of us were happy most of the time. It is fun to be with a lot of people having a wonderful time, being able to trust others, talk to people I never saw before or may never see again, and have that be correct behavior.
I sense that liberty is usually within a political framework, but I think of internal freedom to be something else.
I felt happy and free over the long weekend. I indulged in music, friendship, fine food, and was given a snowstorm this morning as we took down tents and drove home
I think the Tao teaches that governments may control our liberty, but the control of my internal freedom is my own limitation. My happiness is my own, as well.
The most interesting thing to me is that I concerned myself with many of the things you wrote about while I enjoyed my experience. I think it is a mistake to equate internal states with external circumstances. I think of people talking about liberty and freedom, but would be terrified if they were to be set free. Part of being free is to know limitations, Maybe part of liberty is to refuse to be a slave, but most of us would reject that because being a slave negates responsibility, and many don’t accept the responsibility for their own plight. If we don’t take responsibility, we may not be free, and I will continue to think about that.
I felt happy, being in the mountains, listening to music, and I felt free.
Hey bouzouki;
Welcome back and glad you had an enriching experience of the spiritual kind