Considering what Rob said

 Dearest friend, Robertson Work, quoted Rumi as follows:

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. We came whirling out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust . . . The stars made a circle, and in the middle, we dance."

Robertson writes on Substack. He is one of the most intelligent people I've ever known, or studied.

Here it is: https://robertsonwork.substack.com/p/being-and-doing-in-mystery-and-ecstacy

I'm pretty awestruck to find my name among those he mentioned as being part of his circles of those who affirmed and enabled his work. I admit to being a friend and neighbor, as well  as agreeing with much of what he says. He is the influencer, not me!

I'm particularly struck in this essay by his use of "reframing" to bring negative feelings into more positive possibilities.

I hope you get a chance to go glance at this relatively short paper (substack.)

Our computer lives

 There’s an old joke that goes like this: A bunch of scientists created a huge machine capable of complex calculations and called it UNIVAC. Eager to test their invention, they asked it, “Is there a God?”The vacuum tubes hummed and the tape spools spun for several minutes. Finally, the machine spit out a little card, on which was written, “THERE IS NOW.” On March 31 in 1951, the Remington Rand Corporation signed a contract to deliver the first UNIVAC computer to the U.S. Census Bureau. UNIVAC I (which stands for Universal Automatic Computer) took up 350 square feet of floor space — about the size of a one-car garage — and was the first American commercial computer. It was designed for the rapid and relatively simple arithmetic calculation of numbers needed by businesses, rather than the complex calculations required of the sciences. It was intended to compete against IBM’s punch card-reading computers, but UNIVAC read magnetic tapes, not punch cards, so a special “card to tape converter” had to be designed.

Though the government contract was signed, and a ceremony held, on March 31, the computer wasn’t actually delivered until the following December; this was because there was only one UNIVAC I, and Remington Rand wanted to use it for demonstration purposes. So they asked for and received time to build a second computer.

The government was the first big customer of the UNIVACs, with subsequent models going to the Air Force, the Army Map Service, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Navy. The first commercial sale was to General Electric, for their Appliance Division, followed soon after by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in 1954. There were 46 UNIVAC I’s built and delivered, in all.

The computer first came to the notice of the general public in 1952, when CBS used one to predict the outcome of the presidential election. UNIVAC correctly picked Eisenhower and predicted his electoral count within 1 percent, but the network didn’t release the results until after the election was called, so as not to affect the outcome. 

Thanks Writer's Almanac

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My ex-husband was one of the first insurance employees writing code for computers, at Traveler's Insurance in 1964. He was first a Computer Programmer then called a System's Analyst most of his career. That was just 14 years after that first big ole computer was developed and went into use. 

Time has certainly squeezed along at a faster pace since then. I borrowed a word processor from him in the 1980s when I was in grad school. He had some of the first Apple computers in his home, and as he upgraded, sometimes I could receive the older models. Thus I had an Apple IIe for a while, but never had some of the other models, which went to our sons.

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Today I put energy into writing blogs (and replying to comments) when I have all this precious time as a retiree. And I give myself a daily mantra, "I use the screens, they don't own me."

 So many of us (me included) spend each moment gazing at our phones, games, TV's and computers. But they are just tools. I am so grateful to have all of these, but also need to remind myself of the wonders of nature! Yes, even if I don't go barefoot these days, yesterday I walked across a large grassy area, and was so happy to feel the earth as it had different softness and angles with each footstep.

Black Mountain Golf course Nov. 10, 2013. My photo.

Life is all meditation

 First, state of mind this morning is contemplative. 

So the body follows. Or perhaps as its housing, it provides the ground upon which the meditation might arise.

Each step as I go to the kitchen to prepare the espresso and Americano which follows. The heel hits the floor, then foot rolls forward onto ball of the foot, finally bending the toes as it lifts to move my weight forward. Turning is no longer on my toes as it once was. Now I purposefully turn heelward, keeping my balance more easily. Fall prevention that wasn’t taught, but arrived organically, much as this wonderful opportunity to be aware.

The sip of coffee surprises me just now, a different taste from the first cup which was flavored artificially with French vanilla creamer. Now it’s just got honey to sweeten the caffeine. I like how honey remains in my mouth after I swallow…a taste that makes me salivate.

Do you ever have moments like these, of tiny awarenesses of life? For me to stop and know like this is rare, and to capture these feelings, observations, even rarer still.

The room is mostly dark. The photo makes it look like daylight, but it’s actually pre-dawn. There is a new device on the floor by my bed, the blue buddy of an oxygen generating machine. It gave me my first night on O2 which was pretty good. I didn’t feel all that different when I woke, except a bit light headed…my feet felt further from my head kind of. But I move slowly so knew I was ok.

Feeling much appreciation for bloggers today. I’ve read a few of my familiar friend’s statements from last night and early morning. There are all these interesting people, mostly without names or faces, who share their lives with strangers. And those then comment about their doings. That’s it for most of them. I and just a few will read those comments and make a reply to them…thus a very short conversation.

But these conversations, 2 statements on some subject or another, then provide interest beyond the original paragraphs…which next readers can then also comment upon. And this has created a new conversation. A small community of friendly people.

I do love this new creation which happens independently, with input from such diverse people. From all over the US, England, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Canada (oh yes, several folks there!) and sometimes further away. I may read others, and sometimes comment, but there are few that have the time or inclination to push for the conversations. That’s ok. It’s still social media. And somehow nobody slams other’s ideas!

Of course this community of blog-friends all seem liberal minded and of similar political persuasions, and maybe even mostly of similar spiritual beliefs (or at least tolerant of others!) No MAGA are welcome here. And we support each other in confirming our strengths and frailties. After all that’s what friendship is all about.

It’s a neighborhood on the internet.

On the concept of peace

Dougald Hine starts (and doesn't finish) talking about:

  a talk that Ivan Illich gave at the start of the 1980s in Japan about the culturally specific flavours of “peace” and how historians have preferred to dwell on the violence of the past than on its forms of peace. He brings in a distinction from Ishida Takeshi between the peace of the centre (“peace-keeping”, “peace-making”) and the peace of the margin, where people’s hope is to be “left in peace”. And he offers this thought about what we are usually talking about nowadays when we use the language of peace:

Paradoxically, peace was turned into an academic subject just when it had been reduced to a balance between sovereign, economic powers acting under the assumption of scarcity. Thus study is restricted to research on the least violent truce between competitors locked into a zero sum game. Like searchlights, the concepts of this research focus on scarcities. And they permit the discovery of unequal distributions of scarcity. But in the process of such research, the peaceful enjoyment of that which is not scarce, people’s peace, is left in a zone of deep shadow.

It is hard to bring into view what Illich is trying to speak of when he says that the past includes “the peaceful enjoyment of that which is not scarce”. We’re so saturated in a story of original scarcity, there’s something here that doesn’t compute.

Then Hine quotes an hour discussion with a student of Illich's which is difficult for me to understand...but I will try again later.

I like being pushed to understand more about peace.

Inner peace has been so much the focus in my life, due to the incredible disruptions in our world these days. It's a survival technique I'm sure.

Just wanted to share this, as these are thoughts of a stream of ongoing considerations.

The life-raft

 Some thoughts, starting with waking.

We're all in life rafts.

What if there's a leak in my/our raft?

OK, deal with the feeling, go back to the image.

Patch is needed. Much as all my medical issues - some of which have patches, some just lead to bailing the water, so I don't drown. With lungs my primary week link I think drowning is likely as a legitimate worry.

Then I realize my skin represents my raft...somewhat impervious to the environment, it allows me to float along in this sea of life.

Mmmm, I'm my own life raft.

My nebulizer each day is a saline solution, which is like the salt in the ocean, in our blood. It helps clear out mucous, and my sinuses benefit first...along with coughing which is good in this case. The air in my small apartment is then saturated for about half an hour. I have a couple of medicines which I can also inhale. They don't seem to change my ability to breathe, so I just do them and wonder if they are really helping. (I'll check with my pulmonologist again in a week.) I now have an air-purifier which has different colored lights indicating when the saline and other chemicals have been cleared from the air.

I'm also looking forward to that doctor's visit to obtain his opinion of the CT scan I had last week of my lungs. The Bronchiectasis leaves damage, as well as pneumonia which I had last year in September. I want to see what my lung-status is now before I can consider some major changes in my life.

 sometimes this is the feeling I have

The feeling I want to have

Listening to stars

 

 “In The Lost World of the Kalahari, Laurens van der Post writes about living among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert and describes how shocked they were that he couldn’t hear the stars.

At first they thought he must be joking or lying. When they realized he really couldn’t hear the stars, they concluded he must be very ill and expressed great sorrow. For the Bushmen knew anyone who can’t hear nature must have the gravest sickness of all"

Have you watched "The Gods Must be Crazy" lately. I think I'm going to look for it now. I need to see this perspective on life again.

Considering my Online Life

Some interesting things to consider, thanks to  "Online Rhythms" Slowing Down the Quick-Step of Social Media, by Eline Kieft's Substack newsletter, which she announced she's dropping for now.

Reflections for Living Well with Digital Time

When you are online…

1. Before you open an app or your inbox, take a moment to tune in what you are actually looking for in that moment. Distraction is fine, but usually not so nourishing…

2. What happens in your body while you are scrolling, reading or replying? Check your breath, jaw, shoulders, eyes, chest and your emotions.

3. Do you stop when you have had enough, or do you keep going out of habit, fear of missing something, or because you’re engrossed without realising?

4. Afterwards, does it feel like you found what you were looking for? More spacious, alive and connected, or… more drained, frustrated or fearful?

Applying the Archetypes

1. What kind of content inspires and nourishes you? Call on the distinguishing energy of The Warrior, who protects what is sacred. Say no to what you don’t want. Only invite what feels live-giving.

2. What happens if you let unread posts or messages accumulate without turning that into a story about failure or lack of discipline? Call on The Healer if you need to re-weave a story.

3. Whose rhythms are you really living inside, and what kind of rhythm would feel more truthful for you right now? Call on the Mystic, who bridges times and worlds, and who knows all is connected, also when you aren’t online!

4. If you were choosing your online life for nourishment rather than visibility, productivity or consumption, what would you do differently this week? Call on the energy of the Mother for nurturing creation.

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My comments as I copied this, wanting to consider it further...

I have to concentrate beforehand to find the thing I want to accomplish...to add something, to find something, to express something. 

I often do become aware of my body when reading on line...usually to protect my eyes from sunlight on the side which triggers migraines. Today I became aware of how I hold my mouth.

I'm definitely engrossed, and enjoying reading here. Blogs provide not only windows into others' lives, but sometimes they comment on my blog, and then I can reply if there's something interesting said. This has allowed it to become social media for me.

On the other hand, I read Facebook for more news stories, videos, and keeping track of several interests...like the Buddhist Monks Walk for Peace. There I am much more careful what I read.

Most of the time I do feel more connected, inspired, and educated when I move away from the internet.

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I'll consider the Archetypes in the future.