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Daily writing practice

2021/10/7 #poetry Well, it might look that way, but it's not just a book. Not to me. Not to most people who read it. This book is magic. Well, maybe it is just a book, the magic being in what it says, but wouldn't you call a box full of miraculous magical powder a magic box? The words are most important, not by themselves of course, it's their particular arrangement, but the whole presentation is also very helpful in creating and delivering that enchantment. There's really no denying that it has more of an impact than could ever be expected from what, I'll concede, looks just like any ordinary book. I don't want to spoil it for you, since you clearly haven't read it, but there's no way to forget it, you'll be forever changed. You'll carry its ideas, it's language and it's phrasing, because they're so amazing, until you're in your grave. The flowing of its phonemes, yes its rhythm and its cadence, help it to be remembered, are so much fun to say. This is the sort of writing, which over many decades, is repeated just so often, that it becomes cliche. I won't loan you my copy, to me it's just too precious, but while you're here peruse it, enjoy it while you can. I suggest you read it, as if it is a story, start from the beginning, the sequence has been planned. Once you get into it, I'm sure you'll want to own it, to read it and to share it, to have it in your hand. Who wouldn't want to own something magic?

2021/10/6 #poetry The Benches The benches are placed all around so people don't have to sit on the ground. Is it comfort or simply fashion the cultural thrust of this seating ration? The scarcity of this design makes many people change their mind about sticking around for any time when they are unable to find a seat or a chair or a bench

Shade is a special type of shadow. Shadow is a special type of darkness. Darkness, as you see, can be very complex.

2021/10/5 #poetry The image for the day was a field of endless wheat. A three second video of the wind sweeping over it can seem beautiful, but when you're in it it is hell. Just a short visit might be ok, if you don't have any allergies yet, but living there, spending hundreds of hours there in a completely unchanging landscape is crazy making. This is just conjecture. I haven't myself done it. Why would I? Seems so obviously insane. I've been in places where there was no indication that I was moving before, or that I was making progress even when movement was evident. That's bad enough. And I was traveling, so I knew things would change. Remove that, realize that even when you get out of this repetitive sameness you'll be back the next day, I wouldn't last too long, I wouldn't be back.

2021/10/4 I've been mulling over the concept of technology and I'm not sure there's a line that can be drawn between what is and is not technology. Language is certainly technology as it is devised and used by us for our aims and is not relevant to any other type of living thing. When you use a tree for shade though, then the knowledge of the use of the tree for shade is also technology. Technology is knowledge as well as the actualization of that knowledge, such as how to make a knife, the knife itself, and how to use it. Perhaps it must also be considered to be objective knowledge. If you can't share it then it might be called something else. The use of a special ability that you can't teach probably wouldn't be considered technology. But if you can share it, like walking or washing your hands, then it probably is technology.

Try to imagine if you didn't know how to use a knife. If the concept of 'sharp' was not something you'd encountered. Hard to do but at least you can probably imagine how it would be to discover this concept. If you'd been biting through any rope or fabric that you wanted to change and you found out that this edge of rock could be used to quickly sever the rope it'd seem like magic. You'd probably cut yourself too, maybe even loose a finger or worse. Seems that we burn ourselves on every new technology that comes around.

2021/10/3 #poetry You might tell me, you might say, or perhaps gesticulate everywhichway, or you might storm off, without a goodbye, thinking explaining's just not worth the try, but you might change your mind, though you might need convincing, figuring that we could clean this up with a rinsing, even if you stay and you try to make good, we'll remember this day and we'll laugh, as we should.

2021/10/2 Around the corner there is a bush. Can you see it? Can you picture the bush that you can not see because it is around the corner? I bet you can and I bet you can't not. Even though you should not. In this box is a ruby ring in a black velvet bag. Can you see the bag and the glint of the ring. Feel the soft fabric? Why can you even see though the box as you think of it? Why does your mind like to have everything laid out at once? The literal scene is not what you experience. Even when you are at your home. When you open a drawer you've already looked inside it with your mind. You don't live in a world of sight. You live in a world of imagination. Everything is illustrated by your mind. Both things with labels and things with mere forms. They paint the picture of your world. Many sense memories are used as symbols for things in your world without having a name. Sometimes things with names or labels also have unnamed attributes that are more primary in mind. The particular feel of the softness of a particular shirt may be what you associate the sight of that shirt with but you may not have given it a name. If your attention is called to it you would easily give it a name such as 'Soft flowing brown shirt' but the name isn't necessary to have the symbol in your mind. You don't need a label to think about things. The way you do any procedural task such as brush your teeth or button a cuff won't necessarily have labels but there are associated memories that you rely on to guide you through it. Some people talk about how we can't see past our labels, that all we ever see are our labels but we can see past them and not everything is a label. It is true that once an association is created it can be hard to get rid of it whether that's a label or a feeling or physical reaction. And it is true that those associations are triggered whenever you encounter the object, sensation, or situation that it was formed from, unless something prevents the triggering such as a psychedelic drug or context or priming. But you can, and often do, have more than one association for any trigger. It's how the neural network is built. You hardly ever just see one thing, one label, there's a whole flood of information. Most of that is filtered away so you can focus on whatever you might be doing, so the flood doesn't breach the threshold of conscious thought. Many of our salient associations are related to our intention or use for a thing. The glass of water will be drunk to satisfy thirst. The primary thoughts are not “I am going to pour water from the glass into my mouth then swallow it down my throat” but the sensation of thirst and the symbolic sensation of the effect from drinking the water and the feelings associated with it that you remember will subdue the thirst. Labels may be pushed aside. The linguistic parts of the brain take a lot of energy.

2021/10/1 #poetry Sometimes, before the sky transitions into dusk, the shadows lay down long, as if getting ready to go to sleep. Sometimes, before the moon comes into view, as the stars begin to appear, there is a moment where the day has been washed away and the night seems to just be waiting, ready to begin. Sometimes, before I must return, while in the quiet stillness, I let the world just be, just what it is.

2021/9/30 Interrogate, don't just question. Autointerrogation, a more aggressive form of introspection. To extract an answer, whether it's forthcoming or not. The obvious will be uncovered quickly, and it is important to cover, but once that's out of the way the real work begins. It really will feel like work. The hardest work that you've ever done, in fact. If it doesn't then you're probably rationalizing or making excuses or avoiding or diverting. After all, if it were easy to uncover the truth about oneself than everyone would do it. Since this is hard work you must be in a well rested and capable state to preform it. Don't take preparation lightly. Sometimes it means restructuring your life to eliminate stress, taking on a meditation practice for a few years, getting rid of negative influences, both relationships and addictions.

2021/9/29 #poetry This was it, the Sun. He was diving in. Heat & gravity shields had finally become advanced enough to allow the trip. Virtual recreations from probe collected data had not been enough. He wanted to take the actual plunge. Without the ship's filtering there was simply too much for his senses to take in. All light, as much heat as he could take, and as much heaviness as he could bear. He nudged the passthrough to let more accost the ship. It was blissful.

He'd had time, during the journey over, to contemplate why this particular objective had been so compelling for him. Enter the center of everything. That's how he thought of it, but that wasn't why. It literally pulled him in, along with the rest of the solar system, perhaps it was that simple, responding to the call.

2021/9/28 #poetry Have I found my way out of delusion? I recently stated in writing that I had. The prompt inquired: What’s something you’re really proud to have done? I demurred: I think pride is an ego distortion but I'm very grateful to have found my way out of delusion. Apparently I think I'm quite clever; but am I clever enough to see through false concepts? Do I have an edge that differentiates my existence? Hard won or otherwise? Perhaps I'm just clever enough to trick myself. Perhaps starting two sentences in a row with that word flows off the tongue nicely and gives an impression of depth and thoughtfulness. Perhaps spotting patterns in language is just a gimmick because perhaps true understanding of the world is irrespective of language and logic. Perhaps those tools are simply and utterly meaningless when all differentiation and separation are stripped away. So no, nothing differentiates my existence and I have no edges whatsoever. I don't know if that also means I'm not clever. Perhaps.