Canyon Lands National Park Travel Scene (June 2014) — Image by kenne
Archive for the ‘Philosophizing’ Category
Existence is surely a debate. 2 comments
Canyon Lands National Park Travel Scene 1 comment
Being in the right place at the right time
Dry Wildflowers Leave a comment
Dry Wildflowers — Computer Painting by kenne
My eyes allow me to see,
my experience allows me to look.
— kenne
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Relaxing By The Bay 3 comments
Computer Painting by kenne
Spiritual enlightenment can be reached
through relaxing in a thought bubble
causing a comfortable feeling with
being a completely ordinary person
becoming vulnerable to the world.
— kenne
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Monuments, For Good Or Bad Leave a comment
Image by kenne taken at an I-10 rest area in New Mexico (September 8, 2017)
For good or bad . . .
“the things that remain
to remind us of what we were
before we were without that
which prompts us to remember”
— from Monuments by Bryce Milligan
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Star-flowered Solomon’s Seal with Brain Droppings Growing Into Thoughts Leave a comment
Star-flowered Solomon’s Seal Wildflower on Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
BRAIN DROPPINGS GROWING INTO THOUGHTS
Seeds waiting for gentle rain
Wildflowers rising out of time
Looking for the god of rain, Tlaloc
Hiking on a rainy afternoon
Trails temporarily becoming streams
Ferns moving in joyful motion
Standing still in the breeze
A poem with silent words
Being in rhythm with nature
Moving on toward oblivion
Eyes looking out of the darkness
Things of the spirit left behind
Words strange to my lips
Kika and the tree lizards
Happiness is a tiny white flower
Writing memories on the trails of time
Taking the ordinary to a new level
Looking for a poem outside the words
Living in knowledge without knowing
Scoring love by the number of sunsets shared
— kenne
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Wine Grapes 2 comments
Wine Grapes — Image by kenne
The more we are connected,
the more we are isolated.
If life is not paradoxical,
it’s not true!
— kenne
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Desert Rosemallow Leave a comment
Desert Rosemallow — Image by kenne
There is no such thing as a weird human being,
it’s just that some people require more understanding than others.
— Tom Robbins
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Break the Chains of Your Thought Leave a comment
Sea Gull (Lake Charles, LA, May 2017) — Image by kenne
“Your whole body… is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see.
Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too…”
— Richard Bach
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Springtime In Catalina State Park Leave a comment
Catalina State Park — Image by kenne
Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
— from The Honest Man’s Fortune by John Fletcher
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Knowing and Not-Knowing 1 comment
Somewhere in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Continuing the Process of Becoming
I may not know where the trail leads,
which is what inspires me to take it.
Knowing and Not-Knowing
We are all concerned with our competence and the competence of others. Most people are interested in being more competent and surrounding themselves with competent people. The key to our level of competence is our level of knowledge.
In Zen practice, knowledge involves the interplay between knowing and not-knowing. However, it is crucial not to conclude that not-knowing means you don’t know. On the contrary, not-knowing means not being limited to what you know.
Maybe things are this way, but perhaps they are not. (Philosophically, it can be important to help people realize what they do not know is a necessary part of knowledge. But such a paradoxical thought, from a learning and teaching point of view, is confronted with the inarticulate expertise of not knowing that you know is a dead end. Thus, we are left with the only position for developing competence being that of knowing what you know.)
Accessing information can help us cultivate our interplay between knowing and not-knowing. As an information seeker and frequent Internet search person, I know we can find information on all things thinkable. Today we have access to more information than ever before, but not all information is reliable.
I shared some thoughts on “Teaching in the Age of Google in an earlier blog entry.” So, if you have a question, want to know how to do something; like to learn how something works; or research a topic, well, just “Google It!” But, how do we determine who are the reliable authorities?
— kenne
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We Look For Answers Leave a comment
Image by kenne
I stare at shadows,
looking for answers
in deep caverns
of my soul,
only to see them
blurred by others
as water
in the stream
of life
rushes by.
— kenne
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HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2017! 3 comments
Image by kenne
On this New Year’s day, taking notes from D. H. Lawrence.’s Fantasia of the Unconscious, I penned the following, with apologies to Lawrence:
New Year’s day,
Sunday at home
a light winter rain
refreshes the desert,
I ponder my mind,
psyche and soul,
whose trinity form
the powers of my
whole being
together speaking
in one voice, which
I can never deny.
When at last,
in all life’s storms,
my whole self speaks,
only to pause,
collecting itself into
pure silence and isolation –
perhaps after much pain,
the mind suspends
its knowledge, and waits.
It is then the psyche becomes
strangely still,
and after a pause,
there is a fresh beginning,
a new life adjustment
pushing a deep sigh
through every pore
fading into a mist —
a sense of mystery.
— kenne
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Thought — First Posted December 4, 2005 Leave a comment
“Thought” — Computer Art by kenne (December 2005)
Don’t give up your power to think!
You may care not to admit it, but we all spend time thinking about our relationship to the universe, and all things that are connected with that. However, because of divergent forces inside each of us, you may spend time running from yourself.
Some of the ways you run from yourself are becoming focused on vicarious experiences, such as reading a mystery novel or playing computer games. You might also join a religion or political movement.
These acts involve little to no risk since there is little chance of your connections with others becoming an objectification of who you really are. There is much evidence to show that running from self-behavior is the result of an attitude managed by the dominant side of your brain.
You’re probably beginning to think, “. . . now we are going to get some of this right brain/left brain b— s—!” Don’t worry, no brain theory this time.
However, call it what you may (left brain/right brain, head/heart, male/female sides, yin/yang, intellect/intuition), we all have exhibited behavior based on attitudes of self-associated with the “head” — analytical, systematic, logical, objective, or intellectual. In our culture, organized groups (institutions) reinforce this behavior. You are told how “smart” you are; how “orderly” you are; how “logical” you are. You are considered well grounded — what better for group identity!
On the other hand, if your behavior is considered coming from the “heart” — impulsive, artistic, romantic, creative, daring or intuitive — your behavior is looked upon as being unrealistic, unreliable, unstable and unfocused. “She’s not a responsible child, but she’s happy and a lot of fun,” people would say.
The point is that an enormous number of forces exist inside of you between the head and the heart, which are struggling for control of yourself. These forces can cause you to take the path of least resistance — allowing one side to win over the other. For instance, the dominate side will choose between opposites in a two-dimensional relationship. One can represent harmony, the other conflict; the two basic forms of human interaction. Selecting between these two opposites results in zero communication and the desolation of self.
On the other hand, you can take the path least traveled — pushing the head and heart together, not allowing one side to win. The result of pushing harmony and conflict together is the creation of a third dimension, which represents autonomous and creative communication among others and the true development of self. By allowing one side to win over the other, you draw a line between “what you think” and the “power to think.” The power to think only exists in this third dimension.
kenne
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Left Brain, Right Brain Magic:
While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, while doing this, draw the number “6” in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Why? It’s a mystery!
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Sounded Like The Truth Leave a comment
Computer Painting by kenne
It Seemed the Better Way
Seemed the better way
When first I heard him speak
Now it’s much to late
To turn the other cheek
Sounded like the truth
Seemed the better way
Sounded like the truth
But it’s not the truth today
I wonder what it was
I wonder what it meant
First he touched on love
Then he touched on death
Sounded like the truth
Seemed the better way
Sounded like the truth
But it’s not the truth today
I better hold my tongue
I better take my place
Lift this glass of blood
Try to say the grace
Seemed the better way
When first I heard him speak
But now it’s much to late
To turn the other cheek
Sounded like the truth
Seemed the better way
Sounded like the truth
But it’s not the truth today
I better hold my tongue
I better take my place
Lift this glass of blood
Try to say the grace
— Leonard Cohen
“The whole content of my being shrieks
in contradiction against itself . . .
Existence is surely a debate.”
— Kierkegaard
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