I have become the face
You see in the mirror
I have become the body
That you feel its weight
I have become the self
You carry;
the thoughts, the memories.
I have become
Through experience, resilience and endurance.
I sense the present
I’m about to forget the yore
I’m about to forget the future
I have become the one child of now
I’m not becoming, I am being!
Yes, I exist!
There are things that make us sad
There are things that make us sneeze
And there are sounds that make us nostalgic
And those that move our hips
And those that move our lips;
Singing, holding hands, remembering…
A self, like a carriage, pulled by memories
The shallow pond of now,
The clarity of current,
Is what I see, what I believe
What I hear
The vibrating strings of a lute
The evoked memories
Never making their ways to the present
Never joining the ocean of An experiencing self
Connected to the stillness of now
In between these lines
I exist!
That which the traveler in his journey experiences will eventually shape his identity. So, here are the events as they unfold ....... © copyright by firstcomet
2/27/10
brownie moment
Today I got a moment to reflect upon a cup of jasmine tea and some thought provoking brownies (what else could it be?). I realized that a life viewed as a struggle is a life of misery, a life fixated on consequences is a life of disappointment!
Risking oversimplification, it is now my conviction that problems of every day life ought to be viewed as puzzles that are nutritional foods for our curious minds!
Life goes one and it may be a lonely road, but I will cherish the wisdom of your brownie moment!
Risking oversimplification, it is now my conviction that problems of every day life ought to be viewed as puzzles that are nutritional foods for our curious minds!
Life goes one and it may be a lonely road, but I will cherish the wisdom of your brownie moment!
2/22/10
To know!
What a relief it is
That piece of knowledge
That you didn’t matter
As much as you thought
Now you can go
And live your life
Drink your evenings
And dance your nights!
That piece of knowledge
That you didn’t matter
As much as you thought
Now you can go
And live your life
Drink your evenings
And dance your nights!
2/6/10
funometer!
How funtastic it is when you turn on your funometer and it shows a high fun level. I wonder if her funometer is recording higher levels than mine?! That would definitely be a kill-joy! Meanwhile, turn me on baby and show me a good time; fly me to the no-man’s land, where the barbecue stands are preparing funny lambs!
1/25/10
In Flight (by Jennifer K. Sweeney)
The Himalayan legend says
there are beautiful white birds
that live completely in flight.
They are born in the air,
must learn to fly before falling
and die also in their flying.
Maybe you have been born
into such a life
with the bottom dropping out.
Maybe gravity is claiming you
and you feel ghost-scripted.
For the one who lives inside the fall,
the sky beneath the sky of all.
there are beautiful white birds
that live completely in flight.
They are born in the air,
must learn to fly before falling
and die also in their flying.
Maybe you have been born
into such a life
with the bottom dropping out.
Maybe gravity is claiming you
and you feel ghost-scripted.
For the one who lives inside the fall,
the sky beneath the sky of all.
1/23/10
In the streets of everyday life!
What a treat it is!
To watch a blind man finding his way
Down those steep steps
Round the blocked sidewalks
Just to make it on time
To knock his cane
On the closing doors of a shuttle
That comes by only once in while
What a treat it is
To see the door open
To watch him finding his way home!
What a treat it is
To see a 300 pound woman
Wearing a small backpack
Full of grocery items
And the spinach
Sticking its head out
Yelling atcha:
Say no to the plastic bags!
What a treat it is
To see a dog finding its object of desire
Near the roots of an old tree
Ignored by generations of passerbys
Even for a moment,
A fleeting sojourn
Made all the difference!
What a treat it is
To get hurt
That feeling in the stomach
That crawls up your chest
Making you feel something
Gasping for air
A few drops of rain
You've become human again!
What a treat it is
To dance the whole night
Just to miss you in the crowd
Not even the last song
brings the magical moment of encounter
Just to find you putting on your raincoat
Just to hear the DJ announcing the encore
What a treat it is
To have your number
At the end of that last dance!
To watch a blind man finding his way
Down those steep steps
Round the blocked sidewalks
Just to make it on time
To knock his cane
On the closing doors of a shuttle
That comes by only once in while
What a treat it is
To see the door open
To watch him finding his way home!
What a treat it is
To see a 300 pound woman
Wearing a small backpack
Full of grocery items
And the spinach
Sticking its head out
Yelling atcha:
Say no to the plastic bags!
What a treat it is
To see a dog finding its object of desire
Near the roots of an old tree
Ignored by generations of passerbys
Even for a moment,
A fleeting sojourn
Made all the difference!
What a treat it is
To get hurt
That feeling in the stomach
That crawls up your chest
Making you feel something
Gasping for air
A few drops of rain
You've become human again!
What a treat it is
To dance the whole night
Just to miss you in the crowd
Not even the last song
brings the magical moment of encounter
Just to find you putting on your raincoat
Just to hear the DJ announcing the encore
What a treat it is
To have your number
At the end of that last dance!
1/20/10
A simple rule for cooperation
"What a man hears he may doubt, what he sees he may possibly doubt, but what he does himself he cannot doubt."
1/16/10
Relax
Gain control over your "Reactions"
Withhold your "Judgments"
Give people space to have their "Glory Time"
Excel at your "Game"
Have a "Smile" on your face!
Do not underestimate people's history! Make them comfortable and let them narrate their version of their personal history. With knowing comes understanding and with understanding comes control of reactions, since reactions are a result of not meeting ones expectations and predictions ... a shortcoming of the internal representations and models.
Withhold your "Judgments"
Give people space to have their "Glory Time"
Excel at your "Game"
Have a "Smile" on your face!
Do not underestimate people's history! Make them comfortable and let them narrate their version of their personal history. With knowing comes understanding and with understanding comes control of reactions, since reactions are a result of not meeting ones expectations and predictions ... a shortcoming of the internal representations and models.
1/15/10
Nudges
iNcentives
Understanding mappings
Defaults
Give feedback
Expect error
Structure complex choices
Choice architects can improve the outcomes for their Human users!
Understanding mappings
Defaults
Give feedback
Expect error
Structure complex choices
Choice architects can improve the outcomes for their Human users!
1/3/10
Loving you!
I Love you, in its purest carnal forms
A desire of some primordial sorts
A guileless byproduct of flesh and bones,
I just named it for you,
For your convenience
For your pleasure!
Nevertheless, it has no names
Just a feeling of some kind,
A vision of paradise seen by a blind!
A desire of some primordial sorts
A guileless byproduct of flesh and bones,
I just named it for you,
For your convenience
For your pleasure!
Nevertheless, it has no names
Just a feeling of some kind,
A vision of paradise seen by a blind!
To be
Heartaches, pains of painful images
Sorrow, moments of absence
Suspension and no clear view
To be is to be present in the moment
Of your wants fulfillment
Simple melodies that flow
From one day to the next
An eternal calmness, calling you:
What do you want?
I want all I have, but yesterday
Or maybe last year, or even better
the decade before,
So that today,
I would be a decade from now
But, it is the present, and the images
Of your past that I most abhor
Since, you lived a life,
And I lived a life,
Another life, my life:
Devoid of your image,
Devoid of excitement
There is nothing magical here
Only sequence of events
Passing me by
Some carrying fragments of my dreams
Some carrying figments of my thoughts
But, it’ll be an act of dishonesty
To call what occurs to me dreams
But events, just events
Unfolding, flowing, occurring
I need to have a dream
And a story that connects me
To my dreams
Tomorrow or a decade from now
A dream that is not devoured by
A grandiose dream
A dream, containable within a frame
Or two
Hinting that my spirit is still alive
Kicking, prevailing, existing; that is to be!
Sorrow, moments of absence
Suspension and no clear view
To be is to be present in the moment
Of your wants fulfillment
Simple melodies that flow
From one day to the next
An eternal calmness, calling you:
What do you want?
I want all I have, but yesterday
Or maybe last year, or even better
the decade before,
So that today,
I would be a decade from now
But, it is the present, and the images
Of your past that I most abhor
Since, you lived a life,
And I lived a life,
Another life, my life:
Devoid of your image,
Devoid of excitement
There is nothing magical here
Only sequence of events
Passing me by
Some carrying fragments of my dreams
Some carrying figments of my thoughts
But, it’ll be an act of dishonesty
To call what occurs to me dreams
But events, just events
Unfolding, flowing, occurring
I need to have a dream
And a story that connects me
To my dreams
Tomorrow or a decade from now
A dream that is not devoured by
A grandiose dream
A dream, containable within a frame
Or two
Hinting that my spirit is still alive
Kicking, prevailing, existing; that is to be!
12/29/09
impressionable! (by firstcomet)
I think with confidence
I can say that I’m nobody.
I’m just blessed to be able
to be impressed by some “special others”!
And I’m blessed to have met
those who have impressed me.
and thus I have changed
to be even more impressionable!
To cherish the best that
a person has to offer:
having been impressed persistently
by the conditions of their own lives!
Experiences that reach deep down
to places not so often touched!
And to become that “special other”,
is to be touched in those places!
We’re wired for novelty, rejoicing …
being amazed, with big wondering eyes,
seeing THAT we have never seen before,
updating the universe inside our skulls!
That’s who we are, that’s what we do!
And so those who open a new window
to a new breeze, take our breath away,
refilling us with the fresh breath of their presence!
Seeing the world in the light of their realities,
seeing it in a new light every time we chance upon them,
and yet e'er eager for that next encounter!
That is to be impressionable, that is to be nobody!
I can say that I’m nobody.
I’m just blessed to be able
to be impressed by some “special others”!
And I’m blessed to have met
those who have impressed me.
and thus I have changed
to be even more impressionable!
To cherish the best that
a person has to offer:
having been impressed persistently
by the conditions of their own lives!
Experiences that reach deep down
to places not so often touched!
And to become that “special other”,
is to be touched in those places!
We’re wired for novelty, rejoicing …
being amazed, with big wondering eyes,
seeing THAT we have never seen before,
updating the universe inside our skulls!
That’s who we are, that’s what we do!
And so those who open a new window
to a new breeze, take our breath away,
refilling us with the fresh breath of their presence!
Seeing the world in the light of their realities,
seeing it in a new light every time we chance upon them,
and yet e'er eager for that next encounter!
That is to be impressionable, that is to be nobody!
12/25/09
The Blue Raincoat (by firstcomet)
She came late,
stayed over,
and left around the noon.
A glass of water half less full,
A litmus paper moisten red,
A few ectopic beats,
liberation from homeostasis,
and a blue raincoat,
leaning against my guitar-stand,
all that is left from that impulse.
stayed over,
and left around the noon.
A glass of water half less full,
A litmus paper moisten red,
A few ectopic beats,
liberation from homeostasis,
and a blue raincoat,
leaning against my guitar-stand,
all that is left from that impulse.
12/21/09
12/17/09
Destination (by firstcomet)
We are all waiting to die!
To die is to silence a voice
A voice that is pounding from within
Within our senile souls,
Heading towards an unknown,
The voice in us in a monologue
That expands the years of our lives!
And after all being said,
After all the rants and frets,
All that you regret,
All that you forget,
There remains a lone voice
Trapped within a self
A frozen self floating in isolation
A few mirage Islands on the way
Casting away, casting away!
A few rain drops, a few rays,
And the sunshine
That comes to deliver a self
Dissolving in the ocean of life
Just to arrive, just to arrive!
To die is to silence a voice
A voice that is pounding from within
Within our senile souls,
Heading towards an unknown,
The voice in us in a monologue
That expands the years of our lives!
And after all being said,
After all the rants and frets,
All that you regret,
All that you forget,
There remains a lone voice
Trapped within a self
A frozen self floating in isolation
A few mirage Islands on the way
Casting away, casting away!
A few rain drops, a few rays,
And the sunshine
That comes to deliver a self
Dissolving in the ocean of life
Just to arrive, just to arrive!
12/6/09
The Algebra of Everyday Life!
The R-Algebra:
There’re things that add up, constituting the ordinary processes. There’re things that don’t add up, and those that do add up with the sum being greater than its parts; together defining the universe of mystery, serendipity, and ecstasy!
If Søren Kierkegaard was right when he said: "Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved," then the R-Algebra becomes only an algebra of living, not an algebra of solving.
However, Søren Kierkegaard proceeds to propose that "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards". Then the R-Algebra defines a framework to study life events only backwards, while providing them with a universe to be realized in a life that is lived forwardly.
To Milan Kundera, only an attitude of lightness towards life may assist us to coup with the heaviness of emotions that surround any drama. Therefore, accepting the “lightness of being” is to believe in no ultimate meaning in life at all. To a mind that seeks happiness or fulfillment such lightness- although maybe philosophically sound- is “unbearable”. Thus, the universe of Kundera is a universe that does not yield itself to either forward or backward analysis.
In the words of Abraham Heschel: "Life lived as an event is a drama. Life reduced to a process becomes vegetation. The awareness of life as a drama comes about as a result of knowing that one has a part to play, of realizing that the self is unprecedented and of refusing to regard existence as a waste.”
The drama is thus at its zenith when a self that is “unprecedented” encounters the “unbearable lightness of being”, the experience of vertigo is then to follow! But, if this is in fact the common, inescapable, and recurrent experience of every being then existence becomes a waste, and simultaneously contradicting the unprecedentedness of the self! Thus, the R-Algebra is the algebra of those who refuse “to regard existence as a waste”, conceiving and thus realizing a framework to at least understand life backwards.
There’re things that add up, constituting the ordinary processes. There’re things that don’t add up, and those that do add up with the sum being greater than its parts; together defining the universe of mystery, serendipity, and ecstasy!
If Søren Kierkegaard was right when he said: "Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved," then the R-Algebra becomes only an algebra of living, not an algebra of solving.
However, Søren Kierkegaard proceeds to propose that "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards". Then the R-Algebra defines a framework to study life events only backwards, while providing them with a universe to be realized in a life that is lived forwardly.
To Milan Kundera, only an attitude of lightness towards life may assist us to coup with the heaviness of emotions that surround any drama. Therefore, accepting the “lightness of being” is to believe in no ultimate meaning in life at all. To a mind that seeks happiness or fulfillment such lightness- although maybe philosophically sound- is “unbearable”. Thus, the universe of Kundera is a universe that does not yield itself to either forward or backward analysis.
In the words of Abraham Heschel: "Life lived as an event is a drama. Life reduced to a process becomes vegetation. The awareness of life as a drama comes about as a result of knowing that one has a part to play, of realizing that the self is unprecedented and of refusing to regard existence as a waste.”
The drama is thus at its zenith when a self that is “unprecedented” encounters the “unbearable lightness of being”, the experience of vertigo is then to follow! But, if this is in fact the common, inescapable, and recurrent experience of every being then existence becomes a waste, and simultaneously contradicting the unprecedentedness of the self! Thus, the R-Algebra is the algebra of those who refuse “to regard existence as a waste”, conceiving and thus realizing a framework to at least understand life backwards.
12/1/09
The way to return (by firstcomet)
Is it yet after midnight on your time?
Should I say something? Anything?
Or should I just take them for a walk;
the transparent crystals
beneath those exaggerated lines!
When did it start, when did it end?
How did it go, what did it say?
Was it sweet, gentle, or was it …
the transparent crystals
beneath those exaggerated lines?
Was it a summer night or a fall’s eve;
when the nether moon winked at the thieves?
Oh, I do remember that I did forget ….
And now I’m left with nothing, naught!
Not a single memory or a grain of thought!
I’m too transparent to miss,
You don’t believe me? Remember the kiss?
Maybe it was too much, do you agree?
Torrid are the roots of this ash tree;
that's why, "it's hard to tell", hard to see!
Could you show me the way to return?
Is it the Passion road where I turn?
Crossing the random alley of encounter,
to the spring or the summer before when
the transparent crystals strayed to yearn!
Should I say something? Anything?
Or should I just take them for a walk;
the transparent crystals
beneath those exaggerated lines!
When did it start, when did it end?
How did it go, what did it say?
Was it sweet, gentle, or was it …
the transparent crystals
beneath those exaggerated lines?
Was it a summer night or a fall’s eve;
when the nether moon winked at the thieves?
Oh, I do remember that I did forget ….
And now I’m left with nothing, naught!
Not a single memory or a grain of thought!
I’m too transparent to miss,
You don’t believe me? Remember the kiss?
Maybe it was too much, do you agree?
Torrid are the roots of this ash tree;
that's why, "it's hard to tell", hard to see!
Could you show me the way to return?
Is it the Passion road where I turn?
Crossing the random alley of encounter,
to the spring or the summer before when
the transparent crystals strayed to yearn!
11/25/09
In Progress!
Terry and Janet said: “Okay, we’re pretending that we didn’t hear this!”
Steve said: “I’m pretending I didn’t hear this!”
Steve said: “I liked it!”
Steve said: “You’ve been extended!”
George said: “That’s interesting!”
Riccardo said: “That’s great!”
Riccardo said: “Let’s apply together!”
Math said: “Looking forward!”
I said: “Life goes on!”
Steve said: “I’m pretending I didn’t hear this!”
Steve said: “I liked it!”
Steve said: “You’ve been extended!”
George said: “That’s interesting!”
Riccardo said: “That’s great!”
Riccardo said: “Let’s apply together!”
Math said: “Looking forward!”
I said: “Life goes on!”
Beyond common sense!
Is it really that hard to trust somebody? Is it really that hard to accept your mental model for somebody was wrong and moving on? Is it really that hard to get over hurt?
How easy is it to become a cynic? How many disappointments tips you over that “razor’s edge”? What do you lose and how much do you gain while trying to protect yourself from hurt and disappointments?
Within these lines are hidden hundreds of years of suffering and hundreds of years of moral evolution.
How easy is it to become a cynic? How many disappointments tips you over that “razor’s edge”? What do you lose and how much do you gain while trying to protect yourself from hurt and disappointments?
Within these lines are hidden hundreds of years of suffering and hundreds of years of moral evolution.
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