Marvin Huey

My father in Zen died yesterday at the age of 86. Master Craftsman Marvin Huey. At our first encounter I was 25 and Marvin was 31. When he was 84 Marvin bought a Mercedes convertible because "It's a Chick-Magnet".

Planes of Existence

At the human level of life there are two planes of existence: the Electric, and (for lack of a better word) the Ethereal. The Electric is a world of protons, neutrons and electrons: a world of loaves and fishes. The Etherial is a world of field phenomena: a seething world of resonances in the alleged emptiness of space. These aspects are omnipresent; they fully interpenetrate and are in no way antagonistic. But in terms of everyday human existence their relationship to each other is rather like that of a one-way mirror. If our awareness is confined to the Electric the Etherial is invisible: the Electric sees only its reflection. If our awareness is awake in the Etherial the Electric is visible in great subtile detail.

One Way or Another

It seems to me inconceivable that anyone could understand the true nature of the human circumstance without a firm understanding of Emptiness and Suchness (Sunyata and Tathata), and this understanding must be wrought in the forge of Samadhi and tempered in the well of silence.

Unless these conditions are met, existence will inevitably be viewed through the lens of ones humanity. Seen as if in a carnival mirror.

and Life goes on

one way

or another

Ergo Sum

 I have a young acquaintance who suspects that we are living in a simulation. Well, in a way this is most certainly true. All that we know concerning reality are representations assembled by the brain from stimulation of sensory extensions. Our eyes, our ears, our fingertips, are antennae, and the body itself is simply an extremely sophisticated support system for a nodule of Awareness.

However it "is", is the way it has always been, and while knowing how "it is" doesn't change "how it is" our surmises do influence our behavior.

And this behavior in regard to "reality" is rather like a fish in a goldfish bowl. We have liberties of imagination. Imaginings will influence our scurryings but as for the bowl: as "it" was in the beginning, "it"is now and "it"ever shall be.

Sum, Ergo Cogito

Tulku

 For all the the years that I've jotted down these notes to my Self I have intentionally avoided subjects that were (in my view) subject to speculation. But it's been 20 years now and I see a valid reason to address subjects that might be subject to incredulity.

If you are not familiar with the term "Tulku" look it up. Consciousness is electrical and tissue dependent. Awareness is a field phenomenon and is conspicuously unregarded in psychological speculations. Well, the whole issue of transmigration sums up to "is the field phenomenon of Awareness capable of surviving the extinguishment of the tissue it has inhabited". Once Awareness is recognized as a field phenomenon this is not a great stretch, and if we understand what the Tulku club is about then we are in a position to realize that such beings are not confined to doctrinal affiliations and that all about us exists an ecosystem that transcends and infuses the molecular realm.

Once awake the Awareness enters an unexpected realm of subtle realities, which, though heralded in various religious lore, is not without its ecology and its economy.  

Credulity is the enemy of Self discovery.