lifes lessons

There are no lessons, only life!

Illusion as Entertainment

Today, the name of this blog changed to Illusion as Entertainment.  I thought the previous Blog title might offend some people so I have mellowed out the name.  The illusion refers to my perception of reality and the entertainment is what I get from writing and hopefully on occasion you get from reading.

Everything we believe is,... wait,... let me own this and not project it on you.  Everything that I believe is true is based on my experience of all prior moments through the retaining and processing of that information and then applying it to the present moment.  My experience of prior moments is based on the perception of that experience filtered through a brain that has been formed by prior experiences, ad infinitum back to my birth (some might think to previous lifetimes).

When humans perceive something in the senses (nerves get stimulated by an outside influence), the nerve signal is sent to the brain.  The neurons, in the most complicated computer know to us, processes that information and somehow projects a concept on the screen of our awareness and our mind says "aha, a cat, or a crisis, or rain".   Emotion, reaction, response or filing for later recall (memory) ensues.   All of these processes in the brain are effected by prior memories, beliefs, reactions and experiences. How a brain puts together actual sense perceptions into recognizable forms (light, sound, feeling into objects, words and known sensations) also depends on how a brain has developed and how well it is functioning at the moment.

So, everything that I think is true about this world has been influenced by my parents, siblings, teachers, spiritual influencers, education, friends, weather, neighborhoods, that guy/gal next door, illnesses, jobs, emotional reactions, and probably the emotional reactions and global consciousness of those around me at previous times and present times

What does any of this have to do with the absolute reality of the moment now?  Absolutely nothing.  The filters or rose colored glasses that the structure of my brain provides, creates the illusion of this present experience.  I "think" this is reality.  Or perhaps it is absolutely everything - perhaps this is "my" reality.

Another human being standing right next to me, may perceive a situation completely differently, due to their filters of life, hence a different reality.  I wonder if these are the infinite realities of the present theoretical physics quandaries.   But I digress. 

Is there a true reality unadulterated by my mind/brain?  I suspect that there is and that it can only be known when the egoic, reactive, neo-cortical mind slows down enough for awareness to shine through and simple "be" in the moment.  I miss the moment, when I live in the constant thought waterfall of the mind.  I experience reality more purely with an awakened mind.  But "being in the moment" is a subjective bit of popular lingo from the latest pop culture dictionary.  What does it really mean?

How did we as a species (I am projecting this on all of you now) get into this illusory way of experiencing the world?  Does it need to be different?  What is "being in the moment"?  What is an awakened mind?  What is an awakened brain?  Is mindfulness all it's hyped up to be?  I will ponder these and more questions as we go along.

Remember:  Don't believe anything you read.
                     Don't believe anything you think!
lisa

Here is a great panel discussion on Yoga and injuries.  William Broad wrote the controversial book The Science of Yoga.  Here he is with the widely known teachers of Forest Yoga, VinniYoga and Ashtanga Yoga.  An excellent discussion on yoga injury, teaching yoga and how it is perceived.

Yoga Shouldn't/Doesn't Hurt

How to Use a Paper Towel

Saw this great short video on TED, don't have the link sorry.  But it taught me how to use less paper.  I have always been a 3 paper towel person at the sink.  Wasteful I know, but want my hands dry.  so  now I am a 1/2 paper towel person and still happy.

Instructions for drying hands:
1.  after done washing,   Shake the water off 12 times. (12 is a magic number)
2. take a 1/2 towel if you can and fold it in half. 
3.  dry

It is simply amazing that this works.  i will probably save several trees in my lifetime now.
Try it.

The True Job Creators are Middle Class Consumers. Tax the Rich. It's Smart

TED video you weren't supposed to see

Summary,
1.  Rich people do not create jobs Nor do businesses large and small.  They are created by a circle of life feedback loop between business and consumer.
2.  Hiring more people is a course of last resort for businesses.  Business do not create jobs unless there is a demand for their product, not because they have extra $$ in their coffers.  $$ does not spur investment in jobs unless there is demand.
3.  Who creates the demand??  People with  $$ to spend.
4.  When lowest tax rates and biggest tax breaks go to rich, the only thing that happens is that the rich get richer. 
5.  Since 1980, top 1% income has tripled (where do you think that money is coming from?) and their tax rate has dropped 50%.  If it were true that tax breaks for the rich increaased jobs, we would be drowning in jobs.
6. Language:  it's a small jump from  "job creator" to "creator".  The rich are making a claim on status and special privileges they deserve.
7.  35% top marginal rate on working income vs. the 15% rate on capitalist's carried interest, capital gains and dividends is kind of hard to justify without a kind of deification.
8. When the middle class thrives, businesses grown and hire, and owners profit.
9.  That's why taxing the rich paying for investments that benefits all is such a great  idea.

Beware the Wheat Belly

Wheat begets wheat.  Beware the wheat-belly.  It's addicting, it's bloating, it puts on weight.  We are all better off without today's high yield wheat.  But it is so yummy :-(

Wachusett 1

Had a day climbing our favorite mountain.  It was hot.  Not too hot.  Did not eat lunch before we left and ate trail mix and sweet potato chips at the top.  The uneasiness that ensued followed me throughout the walk down and through the day.  Eating a late dinner and low blood sugar makes me eat things I shouldn't and I still feel spaced and ungrounded.  Perception is so based on a healthy body and clear head.  I can barely think clearly after an ice coffee and too much junk food - Legals onion strings are delicious.  Awareness is not even near the surface when the cloud fills my head.  I just want to lie down and fall asleep reading a book, but it sounds as though there is a minor crisis brewing in the other room.  Must love family.

Dream just leads to dream.  There is no end to illusion.
                ..... character Leonard Prince on Fairly Legal

RISD New Materials Fashion Show

Fashion, music and saving the planet through recycling.  Here at her fashion show at RISD is IM's first design using recylced materials.  I probably played that skirt, I mean music, on the piano 25 years ago, and the albums that form the blouse, (term used lightly) filled my ears in the 70s.  Now they are a creative idea, a final product in a new materials class in fashion design.  Congratulations.   .....  Things we least expect.