Andrew Furst's Blog, page 114
August 15, 2015
Is There Such A Thing As Time Travel? – Say What?
Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... it's dirty. - Mitch Hedberg
Is There Such A Thing As Time Travel?
A Few Words On Time Travel
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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
The post Is There Such A Thing As Time Travel? – Say What? appeared on Andrew Furst.
Little Walks – Tiny Drops
Tiny Drops is an ongoing iPhoneographic series. The images represent moments of noticing on my part. For you, they are an offer to pause, observe, and take that noticing into your life. All photos are mine unless noted otherwise.
These works by Andrew Furst are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Little Walks
These are photos taken on short little walks near home and work.
airport geometry 3
sporophytes
Under the MOS BridgeLittle Walks
Get Each Week's Tiny Drops in your email box
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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
FIVE LIMITLESS THOUGHTS
May all living beings have happiness and its causes
May all be free from unhappiness and its causes
May all dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion
May all quickly find the great happiness that lies beyond all misery
May all enjoy inner and outer peace now and forever
NAMO AMITOFO
The post Little Walks – Tiny Drops appeared on Andrew Furst.
August 14, 2015
Quote – Shinran on True Entrusting
True Entrusting
The post Quote – Shinran on True Entrusting appeared on Andrew Furst.
How Do We Start Learning About Buddhism? – Dialectic Two Step
Dialectic Two-Step is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.
Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio
How Do We Start Learning About Buddhism?
Learning about Buddhism all starts with a problem. If there is no problem to solve, then there is no need to look for a solution. We start learning by noticing our dissatisfaction with life. This can range from frustration with other people, to a sense that life is unfair, all the way to reckoning with our mortality.
People tend to come to religion in a few ways. The most benign include habit – it’s what they and their family have always done. The more radical conversions arise out of a significant life crisis. The latter tend to produce strongly held religious convictions.
If you are fortunate to be exposed to Buddhism while you’re wrestling with these existential questions, then you may be inclined to hear out the message and method the Buddha offered to deal with them. If you discover an efficacious way to resolve your problems, you become motivated to learn more. The same story likely applies to conversions to other religions .
The Buddha made some very clear and insightful observations about the sources of our dissatisfaction. He also helped delineate between suffering that we can address and suffering that we have no control over. Knowing what’s out of our control can be a relief. We can give up worrying about those things. Knowing that you can address others gives you hope that you can reduce your suffering.
In the latter category, the Buddha observed that the causes and solutions can be found within. Once we’ve internalized this message we become enthusiastically engaged with examining our personal habits, convictions, and relationships. We adjust where we can, and we let go where we can’t.
Once you’ve crossed the threshold of this basic understanding of right view, you can be well on your way to learning about Buddhism.
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First Name:
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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
The post How Do We Start Learning About Buddhism? – Dialectic Two Step appeared on Andrew Furst.
August 13, 2015
One Minute Meditation – Washing Rock
One Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
Washing Rock
Another in a series of lovely shots I was able to get at the Cascades in Melrose.
These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world. They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass. Getting out into the world - touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.
What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines. We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos. We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday's borders and boundaries.
But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity. These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you're in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture, and regain some depth in your breath. Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.
Most of these are best viewed in full screen
Get Each Week's One Minute Meditation in your email box
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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
If You Watched The One Minute Meditation, How Do You Feel? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
The post One Minute Meditation – Washing Rock appeared on Andrew Furst.
August 12, 2015
Lethal Rainstorms – A Two Dimensional Video Poem
Verse Us - Poems I write: haiku, senryu, mesostics, free verse, random word constructions, I might even use rhyme or meter once and a while.
Lethal Rainstorms – A Two Dimensional Video PoemThis is best viewed in full screen
These two dimensional poems are constructed using the following procedure:
I generate a list of 12 random wordsI generate a single random word for a themeand a single random word for the titleI construct a poem using the 12 words (some or all – depending. The two dimensional poems in this video format require fairly short poems)I then deconstruct the first poem and produce a second poem from the parts of the first. This often includes a little adjusting so that the poems are satisfactory in my mind.Lethal RainstormsLethal
At an ordinary station (in life)
Known – wielding the word as a boundary
Impotent against rainstorms and ghosts
Striped like a tiger,
or someone bearing the scars of a lashing.
You choose, sadness is only a clue
Rainstorms
a clue wielding a tiger.
Striped, only as a boundary in life is.
The word and station
choose a bearing of the scars known.
Lashing at you, lethal like an
ordinary ghost or someone impotent against sadness
The post Lethal Rainstorms – A Two Dimensional Video Poem appeared on Andrew Furst.
Wooden Two – Tiny Drops
Tiny Drops is an ongoing iPhoneographic series. The images represent moments of noticing on my part. For you, they are an offer to pause, observe, and take that noticing into your life. All photos are mine unless noted otherwise.
These works by Andrew Furst are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Wooden
ghosts
vine
woodpecker holeWooden
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In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
FIVE LIMITLESS THOUGHTS
May all living beings have happiness and its causes
May all be free from unhappiness and its causes
May all dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion
May all quickly find the great happiness that lies beyond all misery
May all enjoy inner and outer peace now and forever
NAMO AMITOFOThe post Wooden Two – Tiny Drops appeared on Andrew Furst.
August 11, 2015
Are Buddhists Spiritual? – Say What?
Say What? is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip.
This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... it's dirty. - Mitch Hedberg
Are Buddhists Spiritual?
A Few Words On Spiritual?
Get Each Week's Say What? in your email box
First Name:
Last Name:
Email address:
In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
The post Are Buddhists Spiritual? – Say What? appeared on Andrew Furst.
Compass Songs – Get Drunk
Compass Songs is an ongoing series of works by poets that I enjoy. Poetry, as the Zen Masters have said, is like a finger pointing to the moon. It speaks the unspeakable.
Get DrunkOne should always be drunk. That’s all that matters;
that’s our one imperative need. So as not to feel Time’s
horrible burden one which breaks your shoulders and bows
you down, you must get drunk without cease.
But with what?
With wine, poetry, or virtue
as you choose.
But get drunk.
And if, at some time, on steps of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the bleak solitude of your room,
you are waking and the drunkenness has already abated,
ask the wind, the wave, the stars, the clock,
all that which flees,
all that which groans,
all that which rolls,
all that which sings,
all that which speaks,
ask them, what time it is;
and the wind, the wave, the stars, the birds, and the clock,
they will all reply:
“It is time to get drunk!
So that you may not be the martyred slaves of Time,
get drunk, get drunk,
and never pause for rest!
With wine, poetry, or virtue,
as you choose!”
First Name:
Last Name:
Email address:
In addition to a monthly email you can also subscribe to the following weekly series:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)
Say What?
Quotes
Verse Us (Poems I Write)
The post Compass Songs – Get Drunk appeared on Andrew Furst.
