eyes see so much - they want a break and non-events, nothing-new for the mind to digest sometimes. Low-impression, low-key chilling is a good change in this internet-driven time of vision. Sometimes we need to take a break from seeing and sensing new sights and impressions. Sink in and re-think. presence is fuller than seeing with eyes. Whoever's eyes.

The number three - 3- represents the ideal in Japanese !!

三拍子    さんびょうし       

(sanbyohshi)

(fig.) all-round; ideal

let it come, eyes and mind open

suck in and learn from the new unexpected
develop and use intution

there are difficult moments

try enjoy the way

A samurai wife on living in constant fighting and politicking of 16th century Japan:

   If our life is just one long attempt to flee difficulties,
    we will always be afraid to be happy now,
    fearing that our happiness will crumble.

according to Miura, Ayako. 1975, 2004 (transl.).
Lady Gracia - a samurai wife’s love, strife and faith.
Tokyo, IBC Publishing. P.325

People on the train in Tokyo are often asleep, working early-late. What happens in their spare time?

Simply this: experience happiness when you are listening and living to music, letting the melody rush and lift you. Receive its waves of energy. That energy inspires my best moments, outlasting the moment of listening sometimes for a whole day. When i walk around with a tune in my head, sometimes lasting days or weeks, i can feel others feeling it and i feel connected to the universe.

Sorry for being so lame on gaia - i forgot to post and update some of these thoughts last month!

Fascinatingly sad how we humans are torn into camps, mentally divided by politics and culture. Looking back to my last blog on an ideal more united We, this take on a We is fed by recent readings of comments to western journalists' blogs (BBC and NPR in Sichuan area). Reports are of human suffering in the aftermath of natural disaster, the 12 May earthquake in Sichuan province China. Yet most of the discussions in comments to blogs are of political nature. in these times high-strung emotions are pouring out gut-reaction comments, dividing chinese and western observers, in the region and on the internet.
(Quote from a NPR blog comment hyperlinked above:)

"That is typical Western cynical, self-righteous, self-important, anti-Chinese, nothing-you-do-is-ever-good-enough-for-me, no-matter-what-I-am-better-than-you attitudes towards not only the Chinese government, but also the Chinese people and the Chinese culture. How utterly ugly it is to know that some Westerners reflect the whole devotion to rescue work as a "show"?!

As if it isn't in Chinese values and Chinese human natures to put priority on saving lives! As if whatever Chinese people and Chinese government do are for the purpose of pleasing Westerners?! How self-important that is! No wonder the Chinese netizens don't have good responses to the Westerners and the Western media.

Some Westerners need to get over their sense of superiority and the fact that they don't own cultural hegemony around the globe. They need to learn how to look at the rest of the world as equal human beings and apply absolutely the SAME standards when judging themselves and others."

Sent by Lucas Li | 5:03 PM ET | 05-16-2008

Why do we unquestioningly assume we (the I, me) are better at doing such-and-such than someone else? are we really such good models for others? Why don't we for once flip this around and start assuming Others to be right and better, not ourselves... in the same breath if everybody is holding similar assumptions...well? here we come to a grinding halt clashing with Others, on a large national scale and in our daily world. Recently in a quick chat with a friend he got very upset at me for making a personal comment about him. Instantly the discussion turned to Judgement and trying to stay clear of judging.  i see the Other saying writing or doing something that is not Me. And then i jump to anti-Me or anti-We suspicions. Hey but wait a second: who came up with that suspicion? oh, me? .... . i made a quick assessment = mental judgement of the situation. My friend spoke it out loud and then walked away.

So we have a choice. We can decide to give good or bad meaning to this saying writing or doing  (again, this goes both ways, eg anti-Chinese and anti-American perceptions). How is it that, instead of gift-ing the benefit of the doubt, divisive who-do-you-think-you-are comes to my mind first so often? and that the mind tells this impulsively in actions or heated comments soon after...

How do we get away with thinking of ourselves as good and better at something, than our neighbours and partners? And why don't we go for the preventive benefit of the doubt, (yes, with a little more work to be done), rather than the reactive explosions of the ego? what is this - a law of nature?

NB. And who am I, to write here like this? How can i step outside the box when facing outrage or personally offensive behaviour? hmmm, i'll keep trying  ;-)

"(the fact is) WE need YOU" Jill Scott song

Be more like music, less mind construct, and we could BE us and we. Breathe as One. More flowing and connecting, less resisting getting stuck on judgements of others.

To be in the self means to draw a boundary line around you. To be in the self means to make a distinction between 'this I am' and 'that I am not'. The definition, the boundary, between "I" and "not I" is what the self is--the self isolates. And it makes you frozen--you are no longer flowing. If you are flowing the self cannot exist.  (Osho Zen: The Path of Paradox, Volume 1 Chapter 5)

But unfortunately, as long as politicians create national boundaries in our minds, us-them cultures will be encouraged to exist.

a remix by the Chemical Brothers of Japanese artists Shinichi Osawa




Hope you enjoy

Should we be trying to save this planet or the whole universe? and who are we?

What is the way to get lost? ‘All the fish needs is to get lost in the water. All man needs is to get lost in Tao.' Chuang Tsu (as per Gaia quote)

How can a person survive short on resources? if your income is far below average.

It's a tough question for a relativist...no one size fits all.... Spiritually, materially, environmentally - all depends on where your level of needs is set at, immediate impact/personal, collective, longer-term impact/within ‘our' reach/, etc.

But whatever the most important question, No to thought colonising. I'll give my vote to an inclusive and tolerant of other's religions and backgrounds.