Nocturnal Celestial Emissions from The SeaGoose Nebula

Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron

(Our minds create our experience by interpreting the objects we perceive. How we interpret something determines how we experience it. Although we generally assume we accurately perceive what is “out there,” our experiences are in fact colored by our interpretations and projections.

For example, when two people meet Joe, one likes him while the other doesn’t. One see Joe as considerate Joe as considerate and intelligent, someone with a good sense of humor. The other perceives Joe as a person who makes fun of others and is competitive and insensitive to their feelings. Both assume they perceive Joe as he is. However, if that were true, they would perceive him the same way, and they clearly don’t.

Both people hear the same words and voice when Joe speaks, yet they interpret what is said differently. Their minds move very quickly from perception- the sounds and sights they perceive through their senses- to conclusion- the meaning placed on the sense data.

Thus, one person experiences Joe’s jokes as humorous and good-natured and thinks, “Joe is a nice person. I enjoy being with him.” Thereafter, whenever he meets Joe, he sees a friend and expects to have a good time. The other interprets Joe’s words as sarcastic and thinks, “Joe is egotistical. I don’t like him.” Later, when she meets him, she sees a disagreeable person and feels aversion.

Both people assume their perception of Joe is correct. But in fact, both relate to Joe through the veils of their own preconceptions. Joe’s qualities of being friendly or obnoxious are created by the projections of the people perceiving him. In an of himself, Joe is neither.

How we interpret our environment and the people in it depends on the purity of our minds. Just as the image reflected in a dirty mirror is unattractive and obscured, so too is the appearance of an object to a mind sullied by afflictions and negative karmic imprints. The same object reflected in a spotless mirror is clear and beautiful. Likewise, whatever is perceived by a pure mind is lovely.)

—-This is a very important principle in Buddhism to me it is one I wrestle with. Not because of lack of understanding but in application. In the way that the author illustrated his example, it is best most ratable explanation of the principle of the Buddhist believes of mind as creator of experience I have seen. How hard is it to see someone as they truly are? I think it almost impossible there is fear on both sides, it takes a lot of risk to show another who you are, and it takes a lot commitment to try and want to see, what if you don’t relate? Another problem I come to in my mind is that in the past a person has been told certain things about themselves by others: let me stick to the example and try and explain “wow Joe you are funny”, and so from past events where others have thought specific trains of Joe’s thoughts where funny when verbalized them; Joe would not want to take the risk again stick to what he knows that others in the past have liked. But then I come to, is that Joe being himself or going with what he beliefs will make him more ratable? This thought in my mind has always made me questions people more. I tend to not make judgments, but that becomes hard as you think you start knowing another person more and more. So my struggle with this principle is like most in Buddhism what is the middle path in knowing another? Is it complete trust that they are being honest with you? Is it not caring whether you know it or not? I have problem with this when it comes to love. I tend to think that we the potential to love, accept and know another fully, with our perceptions getting in the way. How do we drop our perceptions? I think a good start is to understand why we believe what we believe.

But remember this in knowing that you don’t know a person who you think you know but that you only know them through your preconceptions allows us to forgive people fully, right? .

Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind. Peace.

brothershine@gmail.com

Hello everyone, another Sunday.

“The fact was I had the vision… I think everyone has… what we lack is the method.” – Jack Kerouac

“We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

I would like show share these videos I have been watching whenever I have had the time. They are talks during the TED conference. “TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.” According to the site . I highly recommend you go and check out some videos.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks

The ones I have watched so far are:

Emily Levine: A trickster’s theory of everything

Garrett Lisi: A beautiful new theory of everything

Clifford Stoll: 18 minutes with an agile mind

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

Vilayanur Ramachandran: A journey to the center of your mind

Aubrey de Grey: Why we age and how we can avoid it

Steven Pinker: The stuff of thought

Bob Thurman: Becoming Buddha — on the Web

Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice

These are the ones that during first passing caught my eye. I recommend, you just go to the talks page and see ones that seem like they would interest the most. to each their own.

Some more interesting information for you today comes from “The Last Hope” conference. Hope stands for Hackers On Planet Earth. The conference is or was help by a group called 2600, the group is going strong but the conference is sadly come to an end.  I can try to explain what I know, but I feel and respect them to much to not let them do it themselves here is their site: http://www.2600.com/. These are good people just trying to use their minds and spread  information, explore the site and if you are into it listen to the radio shows they that are up, I really enjoy them. But I wanted to share something that they did from The Last Hope conference, all of the talks given are put up and shared for listening enjoyment. I recommend going through the list and seeing which ones catch your eye, but for me it was most of them.

http://www.thelasthope.org/talks.html

If you found those interesting i would recommend going to back to the http://www.2600.com/ and checking out some of the other Hope conference talks. Also the magazine they release is awesome, I have been a subscriber for five years now and have read every issue front to back, they contain a lot of information.

I like this, and support and enjoy the idea.

I know I tend to be a bit bass heavy, but to say that there is to much bass, is like saying there is too much soul and man you can never have too much soul . So here are some videos, today is a bit of a feature of Christian McBride so I hope you enjoy his style, it is surely unique and his talent is something that makes me drool and weep, he does his thing ,great bass player. Check him out.

A video that I liked, I respect the mans music so much and a fellow Buddhist Sunny Rollins.

Have a great Sunday and take it easy, and not so fast. Peace and Love.

Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind. Peace.

brothershine@gmail.com

‘All that is gold does not glitter’

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Abraham de Moivre correctly predicted the date of his own death.
He noted that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each day and surmised that he would die on the day he slept for 24 hours. That date, he calculated, would be Nov. 27, 1754. He was right.

“Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.”
-Timothy Leary
“You’re only as young as the last time you changed your mind.”
-Timothy Leary
“Science is all metaphor.”
-Timothy Leary
“Learning how to operate a soul figures to take time.”
-Timothy Leary

Oscar Wilde was an interesting person and I like the way he think, here are some the better quotes of his I like.

-”A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.”
-”A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.”
-”An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”
-”Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”
-”Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
-”If you meet at dinner a man who has spent his life in educating himself you rise from the table richer, and conscious that a high ideal has for a moment touched and sanctified your days.”
-”Illusion is the first of all pleasures.”
-”Life is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his ultimate destination.”
-”Life is too important to be taken seriously.”
-”Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
-”The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Know All Things To Be Like This

Know all things to be like this:
A mirage, a cloud castle,
A dream, an apparition,
Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen.

Know all things to be like this:
As the moon in a bright sky
In some clear lake reflected,
Though to that lake the moon has never moved.

Know all things to be like this:
As an echo that derives
From music, sounds and weeping,
Yet in that echo is no melody.

Know all things to be like this:
As a magician makes illusions
Of horses, oxen, cats and other things,
Nothing is as it appears.
-Buddha

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” – Albert Einstein

Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind. Peace.

Today is another glorious Sunday, it is sunny outside but still cold. The sun came up again today, well actually a better way to say that I was enlightened to recently is the sun made it around again today, cause it does never set.  I have some good thoughts today for you guys and some good images. So sorry for not giving you the people who said them (I hate not giving credit where it is due but, i will say the first few are from Einstein, but not all of them are so I hope that helps ha ha.)

“The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

“Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

“Remember that the best relationship is  one in which your love for each other exceeds  your need for each other.”

“It takes half your life to learn who your friends are and the other half to keep them. ”

“Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”

“Love is to think about someone else more times in a day than you think about yourself.”

“Philosophy is asking questions that come neutrally to children and using methods that are neutral to lawyers.”

“Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people”

Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind.

Well I hope everyone had a good Sunday, and that the up coming week brings something good.

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Nietzsche

“The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper.” Nietzsche

“He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.” Nietzsche

“The ancient masters
didn’t try to educate the people
but kindly taught them to not-know

when they think that they know the answers
people are difficult to guide
when they know that they don’t know
people can find their own way

if you want to learn how to govern
avoid being clever or rich
the simplest pattern is the clearest
content with an ordinary life
you can show all people the way
back to their own true nature”

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” Malcolm X

Thank you very much for you time… This has been BrotherShine coming to you from the limitless void in the back of your mind.

“Marijuana is self-punishing. It makes you acutely sensitive, and in this world, what worse punishment could there be?” -P.J. O’Rourke
“Just hit the blunt one time and see if it don’t change your perception on whats important in your life.” -Kat Williams
“Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage.” -Ray Bradbury
“Sanity is basically an act. Insanity, is dropping the act.” -Nana Lee
“GP: Maybe you are just crazy.
M2: Indeed! But do not reject these teachings as false because I am crazy. The reason that I am crazy is because they are true.” -Principia Discordia

“In women, courage is often mistaken for insanity.” Doctor in Iron Jawed Angels

“To clear the mind of its noise then to lose the mind altogether. This is meditation. (Of course some would call this insanity.)” -Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D.

“One long-past innocent day, in my prefolly youth, I came upon a statement in an undistinguished textbook on psychiatry that, as when Kant read Hume, woke me forever from my garden-of-eden slumber. “The psychotic does not merely think he sees four blue bivalves with floppy wings wandering up the wall; he does see them. An hallucination is not, strictly speaking, manufactured in the brain; it is received by the brain, like any ‘real’ sense datum, and the patient act in response to this to-him-very-real perception of reality in as logical a way as we do to our sense data. In any way to suppose he only ‘thinks he sees it’ is to misunderstand totally the experience of psychosis.” -Philip K. Dick

the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” – Plato

“Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.” – Schweitzer

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” – Rumi

“If you want to know the past, look at your present life. If you want to know the future, look at your present.” – Buddha

Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

That is born will die,
What has been gathered will be dispersed,
What has been accumulated will be exhausted,
What has been built up will collapse,
And what has been high will be brought low.

The Buddha
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(Click To Enlarge)

http://www.jamesjean.com/ this is the creator of the above picture I recommend checking his site out for some other amazing work he is a bad man, and has some more amazing art.