Monday Evening
Last week I wrote this on Twitter (((How to receive Twitter updates))):
Choices result in taste. Taste defines a style. Style creates a narrative. The narrative defines the self, which is nevertheless empty.
These thoughts are nothing new and no doubt Nagarjuna expressed them better anno 150-250 CE.
I was checking out a high-end furniture/design store in Soho when saw a couple leaving, which triggered these thoughts about how we define ourselves by our choices. Those choices are based on our upbringing, education, financial situation and experience. Some of these choices are probably triggered by our individual genetic configuration, others are social/cultural-based and then we add Karma to that mix… Sometimes we are very proud of our excellent choices, our exquisite taste in material stuff, our understanding of immaterial stuff (((e.g. philosophy, Weltanschauung, &c))). But when we strip away all of those choices, what is left? Who are we? (((Zen people love to ask questions like that. Nagarjuna’s answer: Emptiness)))
Maybe we are not our choices, but we are nevertheless defined by them and remembered through them. The personal narrative that is rooted in our choices, is like a pair of colored glasses through which we perceive the world (((and the world perceives us))). So, what does that mean? For me it means to do things with conviction, but lightly. And, therein lies, of course, the difficulty: how to do something with all your might, but lightly… I can do conviction very well, it’s the lightly that I am only learning slowly. Getting older helps.
(Via the music of sound)
I am feeling better today. Had a lot of rest. Still not up to speed. Practiced guitar and worked on Samsara 2.0, my new slideshow for solo performances. I am trying something different this time. Samsara 1.0 was interesting because it was projected at random and was different every night. Samsara 2.0 will be organized, and the reason I am doing it this way is because I want to add video. It’s amazing how shocking it is to have a bunch of photos followed by an image that seems to be still, but suddenly starts moving… While the slideshow will be the same every night, I will continue to play without a set list, which means that the juxtaposition of images and music will still be random in a sense.
This week’s WEEKLY WORDS OF WISDOM chosen by Lama Surya Das:
Absolute perfection is here and now, not in some future, near or far.
The secret is in action – here and now.
It is your behavior that blinds you to yourself.
Disregard whatever you think yourself to be and act as if you were absolutely perfect
– whatever your idea of perfection may be.
All you need is courage.
– Indian sage Nisargadatta Maharaj
Feast on THIS!!
And now for something completely different:
Truffle (fungi) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The record price paid for a single white truffle was set in December 2007, when Macau casino owner Stanley Ho paid US$330,000 for a specimen weighing 3.3 lb, discovered by Luciano Savini and his dog Rocco. One of the largest truffles found in decades, it was unearthed near Pisa and sold at an auction held simultaneously in Macau, Hong Kong and Florence.
