tao1776

The big guy has taken his last tumble and America feels (?) Balance has been very difficult for me. For longer than I wish to admit to. I find it most difficult to see our world deteriorate into a world of sheep and blind mice. I have been attempting to improve myself and only act as actions would dictate. In other words, I have not committed myself as a peace activist or to some endeavor that I'm not equipped for. I'm just trying to quietly find my place and prepare myself for any call to action or non-action that may arise. Like what, you may ask? I do not know. I just don't want to be counted among those that do nothing if and when the call to do something should arise. But I am as equally prepared to do nothing. In moving with the Tao, something of which I have been far too self occupied to find the rhythm of such, there is a time to push forward, to pull back, or be still. I have been something of a gyrating, spasmodic; This Being Human... There wasn't any link b...

Page 133 of the This Being Human... handbook states, "The entire universe is in perfect order. One must act in accordance with how things are, not how one wants things to be." Huh? "My doctrine is to think the thought that is unthinkable, to practise the deed that is not-doing, to speak the speech that is inexpressible, and to be trained in the discipline that is beyond discipline. Those who understand this are near, those who are confused are far. The Way is beyond words and expressions, is bound by nothing earthly. ...Buddha Okay, but....yeah, I knew this intuitively. That is until I lost my job. All the bullshit associated with such a loss had me asking questions and this meant that there had to be answers. Concrete answers and concrete solutions. Thinking.....not being... This Being Human... You take the good, you take the bad,you take them both and there you have ..The facts of life, the facts of life. Alan Thicke Thanks, Al! Upon meeting a Zen master at a soc...

Without the benefit of streetlights and the often endless rows of houses, the disoriented driver found it near impossible to discern roadway from embankment. Once off the roadway, only the tracks that led to this point were visible and they were fading fast. One of the first inferiors to present itself was the voice of regret. If only he had; or had not. Not an entirely useless thought; regret. If used constructively one can learn from mistakes. If the moment is appropriate for regret, that is. Sometimes, what is done is done. As they say, no use in crying over spilt milk. The second inferior to present itself, front and center and always at rigid attention, was fear. Fear brings with it a vacuum. A vacuum, that sucks out all available oxygen until thinking is slowed, the body tires and the desire to lie down becomes fear's cheering section. The third to show itself was anger. Although fear of fear was an ever present oxymoron, anger was his greatest opponent. Regret could be rati...

Sometimes you discover a smile and notice the warmth as it moves slowly across your face. The universe has ways of gently shaking you awake making attempts to nestle you away from being so damned serious. It is only life, after all. My spinal pain and spasms were so great that it took ten minutes to concoct a method that would allow me to sit and put my socks on. When settled into place, I lifted my foot and pulled the sock's opening into place. With the socks elastic opening pulled open for maximum expansion, my toes at attention and waiting for the warmth of a durable hiking sock, my sock slipped from off my fingertips like a paperclip during high school detention and landed over ten feet away. Or when... while shaving my head one morning in the shower, I dropped my razor hand to my side while examining my shaving progress with the other. I noticed the water flowing the length of the shower floor taking on a dark hue. In my second notice, I saw that the blood was flowing down t...

You know, this new beta blogger is quite simple...it's me. Over time, my blog has turned into a mess and I appear to be too feeble minded to fix it. I tried to place my profile and the links section to the right of the blog being posted. I tried to place an interesting wall paper. I tried this and that. Now look. Blah. Blah, Wahhhhh! I quit. This is what you get. All part of This Being Human.....? No. Just me. Burnt!

Between December 16, and December 19, 1944, my father was one of the many captured American prisoners during the famous "Battle of the Bulge." Wading through the two foot snow and below zero temperatures, they were crowded upon cattle cars and transported to Stalag 1X-B at Bad Orb, Germany. As stated by another POW...December 17Th, Captured. - Walked all night December 18Th walked all day- 1/3 Loaf bread cheese, marmalade December 19Th in PW cage December 20Th walked all day December 21st walked all day December 22nd walked all day December 23rd Boarded train no food December 24th on train no food no water December 25th on train no food little waterDecember 26th 1/6 loaf, little meat 0100 on train December 26th left train at 0900 Bad orb Stallager (IXB) In April of 1945, the 44th Infantry Division pushed through German territory to liberate the POWs. This is what they had to say: Stalag IX-B is usually regarded as the worst of the German camps that held American POWs. Inc...

The unseasonably warm winter has created a vibration in the homeostasis sought by the New England season. The timing is off. The rhythm and poetry of musicians and poets is forced into a conglomerate of colors, one bending into the other until one cannot tell where red lets off and orange begins; the collection fading to black. This also is the state of This Being Human..... Is there one who is constant and whom you can entirely rely on? I have, in discovering the light and the dark, the visible and the shadow of This Being Human..... that everyone, in the right environment, is capable of anything. This awareness leads to compassion for others. In seeking a compassionate hand and an understanding friend, to accept, love and forgive even my darkest shadow self, I have come to know, once again, that it all starts with me.

This Being Human..... is not about presenting myself as one that has experienced enlightenment...or as someone who is pretty or full of wisdom. I hope to transcend the frailties of This Being Human.... and I have learned that we are complex...and yet so simple.... Entering my dining area, full of green, we only eat there at the holidays or when we have a large gathering. A prism collects and distributes light across the room while marking the window shade with the colors of the rainbow. To work and to love....strength and passion...so complex...and yet so simple. Change....

My mind / my stomach is acting like a cat in a bag scratching for release. Received a call mid evening Sunday night and as is the custom I let the machine pick it up. It was a brief call, broken and halted from my brother in law in New York. My younger sister (48) had a stroke. Out of four children, not the one you would think of first when considering any one of us as being a candidate for a stroke. My first thought was of how this could be an inconvenience . My second, what a selfish lout I am. My third, what a pain in the ass my siblings are. I find it (??) in that after my mother died.... My oldest sister was pissed at the younger because she grabbed everything that she wanted from the house before returning home. My oldest sister was pissed (at me) because I would not back her up in her plan to take the executor of the estate position from my older brother and shift it to her fiance' (a lawyer) Needless to say, she was pissed at my older brother for not giving it up. My old...

I have been fortunate in that I have met and supped with people of diverse backgrounds. My summer 4th O' July parties were the best based on this fact. It is my favorite thing to do. I love people. I love the diversity. I have met some that I love to listen to. I have met some that have me enjoying a lengthy discussion while some have me relish in keeping it short. In blogging...I have met some fascinating people. I wish that I could fly out and meet them all. It would be problematic in that, according to today's culture and mores, I couldn't make love to some of the woman that have grown so dear to me. The world creates such pearls of men and woman and I bask in their company. Imagine...throwing a week long B B Q for all of your blog friends... I would love to "sit" with James & Mark. I would love to hang with Rubik for a day. I couldn't ask for better female company than Cape & Kim. There are so many others...What a B B Q it would be. I raise a glass...

On a completely different note, we had "The Dingo" (sitting at the table) for the night on Wednesday and then we had her for the entire next day. At two, she is talking more and more each day. Her Uncle taught her to say "three fiddy" (from South Park) but that's another story. She has a great sense of humor, loves to wrestle and always wants to "read a book". She is my oldest daughter's daughter and I am feel more close to her out of all the grandkids. I know that it is due to being present at her birth. I have fed and diapered her. I have rocked and sung her to sleep. When I am with her, I feel more like a dad than a "Pepe"....which is what I am called (another story). Then there is my "Meatstick" (in the chair). She is my oldest son's second daughter. (the first was adopted- another long, long story) She is hard to describe. So much fun. So much three years old. She should be here with us now. (this weekend) We have her e...

You might come to the conclusion - that I am concluding this brief line of thought regarding vehicles with a determination that Freemasonry is in some way conclusive. I am not. The line that I am trying to trace is one of an experience that has often been clouded by This Being Human.... where I would too often see greed and passions veiling high ideals and professions of morality and enlightenment. In this, I am included. Freemasonry has been historically, a kind of cease fire. In the building of that grand structure that we have come to know as the Church, beginning with the Church of Rome, it is clear that the Church must dominate and become the center of all. This is true of modern Christianity as well. The separation of Church and State is not in the mind of the church. It is taught that any thought that asserts itself against the current teachings of the church are Antichrist. Questioning authority is discouraged. If you are at all familiar with the reformation and the inquisition...

To quote a respected Freemason at http://www.myspace.com/freemasonry Freemasonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory, illustrated by symbols. Our Order is NOT a religion, but religious in character. It is a philosophy of ethical conduct, which imparts moral and social virtues and fosters Brotherly love. Its tenets have endured since man turned the first pages of civilization. They embody the understanding by which man can transcend ordinary experience and build "a house not made with hands" in harmony, with the Great Architect Of The Universe. The Great Architect of the Universe.....call it God; call it Tao; call it what you will. In the mind's eye, it conjures up a visual, an understanding, a concept that is as vague as describing snow to a blind man in the mountains of Ecuador. I have become sick of the stink of religion; no matter what form it takes. Although I have been schooled in Christianity, healed in Taoism and awakened in Buddhism, I am in need of a vehi...

Thank the heavens for the pain relief of alcohol. I really don't mean it; but I do. I have been crutches material for about a week. It started with an infected toe. The Dr. used a laser to clean, purge and cauterize. Then I worked a day in the woods pulling out a half cord of fire wood in six foot pieces. I was reminded of the bread and fishes as the more I cut what I brought home, the pile seemed the same. Maybe I have a full cord. The local Mason lodge let me pull out as much as my pick up would hold for $10. The wood is such a blessing. My feet are now in spasm. The nerve from my spine, down into the big toe is inflamed. Since I work so hard at keeping my spine as limber as possible, the back injury manifests in other ways. Nerve damage gone awry. The truth is, I need to loose 25Lbs. I am 214 and 5'11"". Not what one would regard as fat, mind you. But for me, my fighting weight is light heavy weight. 178 to 185 Lbs. But that was when I was young. 186 - 190 would be...