Kenneth's notes

An idea is protected at the expense of another.

DAMN! that's good.

Kenneth Folk wrote: It's OK. I love you.

When experiencing particularly painful, self-blaming self-talk, I went with "It's OK, I love you anyway." Brought me to spontaneous joy and laughter.

Leaves were raked by a body and a rake. A recursive thought-loop conventionally designated "Kenneth" claimed responsibility.

How can a thought-loop claim responsibility?

Jake Yeager wrote: How can a thought-loop claim responsibility?

It seems that a thought-loop is the only thing that can claim responsiblity. Without a thought that says "I" (and recursively refers back to itself to remind itself that it exists), the question of responsibility does not arise. Bodies and rakes and leaves move, with no one at the helm.

Thanks for the clarification. I was a bit confused by the anthropomorphizing of "thought-loop" as something that takes responsibility. To say "I am doing X" is a thought, but the thought itself does not claim responsibility for an action. Instead, the content of the thought is that of claiming responsibility. __/\__

Jake Yeager wrote: ...the thought itself does not claim responsibility for an action.

Imagine for a moment that it does, and that there isn't any thinker preceding or owning the thought. Let this lens sink in a bit. While not perfect, it is a powerful antidote to (and much more accurate than) the habitually unexamined assumption that the human body/mind is an agent capable of deliberately having thoughts.

Having thumbed across the country, the hitchhiker congratulates himself on his driving prowess.

I'm with you there. i think i may be being a bit picky with semantics. IME, a thought cannot claim responsibility. A thought can't do anything. A thought just arises and passes away in awareness.

Nothing can claim responsibility for anything. For there is no thinker/doer as you point out. __/\__

Jake Yeager wrote: I'm with you there. i think i may be being a bit picky with semantics. IME, a thought cannot claim responsibility. A thought can't do anything. A thought just arises and passes away in awareness.

Nothing can claim responsibility for anything. For there is no thinker/doer as you point out. __/\__

Let's slow down a bit. In order for this to be anything more than the repackaging of existing spiritual memes, something must be seen in real time. A good first step is to assume that you don't yet understand what is being pointed to. Does that feel all right?

Crushed by uncertainty.

Buoyed by ignorance.

Arrested by stillness.

Kenneth Folk wrote: Let's slow down a bit. In order for this to be anything more than the repackaging of existing spiritual memes, something must be seen in real time. A good first step is to assume that you don't yet understand what is being pointed to. Does that feel all right?

Yeah, that's fine. What is the next step?

Jake Yeager wrote: Yeah, that's fine. What is the next step?

There is no next step.

Dizang said, "Where are you going?"
Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage."
Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Fayan said: "I don't know."
Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate."

Case 20 from The Book of Serenity, trans. Cleary

There is love, but there is no lover.

You are loved.

Of this, there is no doubt.

Gott machte die beiden großen Lichter, das größere, das über den Tag herrscht, das kleinere, das über die Nacht herrscht, auch die Sterne.

Genesis is such a beautiful story. So poetic, in any language.

The language of music too (along with English in this case):

Kenneth Folk wrote: Having thumbed across the country, the hitchhiker congratulates himself on his driving prowess.

Watching the sun rise in the east and move across the sky to the west, the watcher congratulates himself on his power to make the sun move according to his desire.

Kenneth Folk wrote: Arrested by stillness.

Buoyed by uncertainty.
Crushed by ignorance.
Defined by stillness.

I am not the watcher.

I am not the one who knows.
I am not the witness.
I am not awareness.
I am not what is known.