Category: Meditations
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I Remember
I remember a dream of an airplane, falling sharply through the sky. I remember carts barrelling down the aisles and the floor falling sharply beneath me. I remember the screaming. It was the night of 10 September 2001. The following night, I understood what the dream meant. I remember the phone call from a friend…
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The Unnatural World
The modern world is unnatural. Edifices of stone and steel and glass and concrete surround us. Electricity comes with the flick of a switch, water at the turn of a tap. Food is superabundant, and the only predators we need fear are human. Everywhere safety is engineered into every facet of daily living. Life is…
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Notes On Navigating An Overwhelming World
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Stand Tall, Speak the Truth, Never Let Your Enemies Drag You Down
To endure is to win. To endure is to be patient. To endure is to shelter. To endure is to cultivate. That which endures, survive. The inner spirit is untouchable and unbreakable. -Ivan Throne, The Nine Laws Last week my fiancee wanted to write a post about her struggles with eczema. But she was afraid.…
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The Way of Non-Attachment
In my last post I discussed how hedonism leads to emptiness and suffering. Hedonism is a self-destructive mindset born from attachment to sensory pleasure. The antidote is the cultivation of non-attachment. In Buddhist thought, craving (tanha) creates attachment (upadana) whose fruit is suffering (dukkha). If you fail to achieve what you desire, you experience suffering.…
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You Are Not Your Weaknesses
It’s never been easier to define yourself as a disabled minority. Autism, PTSD, agoraphobia, rape survivor, any and all of a long litany of modern-day maladies. You don’t even need an actual medical diagnosis; just slap the label on yourself, proclaim it to all and sundry as loudly and as often as you can, and…