Andrew Furst's Blog, page 46

Another 5 Star Review of Clouds Tell Us

For those of you not usually interested in poetry, but thinking about getting the book, consider this review from John Intorcio

Clouds Tell Us is a collection of poetry exploring the intersection of nature and our humanity. What does it mean to be awake? What is it like to actually be alive? Could anything be more important than being awake for life? Nothing brings us back to it more than spending time in nature. This book hopes to inspire you to rediscover your connection with nature and to rekindle your humanity.

Of course the best way to get my books, artwork, and other goodies is to support my work on Patreon

where you can make small monthly micro-contributions that help support my work.

If Patreon doesn't work for you, then drop me a one time contribution at PayPal.me

 

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It’s The Community – Say What?

Say What?  is an ongoing series of laconic exchanges on Buddhism in the format of a comic strip. 

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Update: Should It Make Sense To You To Be True?

Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)

Question:   Is it true that Buddhism doesn’t require you to believe anything that doesn’t make sense to you?

Response: No. Here’s why…

I received some great comments to my original post about how confusing the diagram was.  I think my effort to tie in Buddhism got me started at the wrong place.  In this new diagram, I come to the same conclusion but I pull in the Buddhist context later. Hopefully this, well, makes more sense.

 

First of all, what makes sense to us:

 

The Usual Suspects

Belief, logic, and knowledge are always suspect.  Knowledge less so, but nonetheless human knowledge is only true in that it is less wrong than the last thing.

So…

Does Buddhism mean I get to choose what's right? Update
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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

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Winston Churchill on Courage – Quotes

Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.

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Winston Churchill on Courage

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Quabbin Shores – A One Minute Meditation

There is a silence

waiting for you

Find it and let it

heal you

Quabbin Shores

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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.

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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.

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Post Card Art Project – Not Like The Others

Here’s the next installment of the Post Card Art Project. Not Like The Others.

The artist (and let me know if there are mistakes) are shown below in the same position as their card:

 

 

 

The Post Card Art Series

This is the one of several posts I will be offering titled the Post Card Art Series. Its a collaborative art project done on post cards. 

Using an image divided into four sections, I created four post cards.  I printed 200, pre-stamped them, and mailed them out to patreon supporters, friends, and blog readers who expressed an interest. They applied the art, mailed the cards back.  Now I'm assembling them.

The results are fun and unique.

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Nagasaki Days by Allen Ginsberg – Compass Songs

I — A Pleasant Afternoon

for Michael Brownstein and Dick Gallup

One day 3 poets and 60 ears sat under a green-striped Chau-

tauqua tent in Aurora

listening to Black spirituals, tapping their feet, appreciating

words singing by in mountain winds

on a pleasant sunny day of rest — the wild wind blew thru

blue Heavens

filled with fluffy clouds stretched from Central City to Rocky

Flats, Plutonium sizzled in its secret bed,

hot dogs sizzled in the Lion’s Club lunchwagon microwave

mouth, orangeade bubbled over in waxen cups

Traffic moved along Colefax, meditators silent in the Diamond

Castle shrine-room at Boulder followed the breath going

out of their nostrils,

Nobody could remember anything, spirits flew out of mouths

& noses, out of the sky, across Colorado plains & the

tent flapped happily open spacious & didn’t fall down.

June 18, 1978

II — Peace Protest

Cumulus clouds float across blue sky

over the white-walled Rockwell Corporation factory

— am I going to stop that?

*

Rocky Mountains rising behind us

Denver shining in morning light

— Led away from the crowd by police and photographers

*

Middleaged Ginsberg and Ellsberg taken down the road

to the greyhaired Sheriff’s van —

But what about Einstein? What about Einstein? Hey, Einstein

Come back!

III — Golden Courthouse

Waiting for the Judge, breathing silent

Prisoners, witnesses, Police —

the stenographer yawns into her palms.

August 9, 1978

IV — Everybody’s Fantasy

I walked outside & the bomb’d

dropped lots of plutonium

all over the Lower East Side

There weren’t any buildings left just

iron skeletons

groceries burned, potholes open to

stinking sewer waters

There were people starving and crawling

across the desert

the Martian UFOs with blue

Light destroyer rays

passed over and dried up all the

waters

Charred Amazon palmtrees for

hundreds of miles on both sides

of the river

August 10, 1978

V — Waiting Room at the Rocky Flats Plutonium Plant

“Give us the weapons we need to protect ourselves!”

the bareheaded guard lifts his flyswatter above the desk

— whap!

*

A green-letter’d shield on the pressboard wall!

“Life is fragile. Handle with care” —

My Goodness! here’s where they make the nuclear bomb

triggers.

August 17, 1978

VI — Numbers in Red Notebook

2,000,000 killed in Vietnam

13,000,000 refugees in Indochina 1972

200,000,000 years for the Galaxy to revolve on its core

24,000 the Babylonian Great Year

24,000 half life of plutonium

2,000 the most I ever got for a poetry reading

80,000 dolphins killed in the dragnet

4,000,000,000 years earth been born

Summer 1978

 

 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.

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What’s Happening?

A lot – here’s the highlights

Waterfall hiking\Meditation retreat – I’m collecting feedback on a retreat in October. Help me gauge interest by filling out a few survey questions.
Clouds Tell Us – Getting the word out and collecting reviews for my most recent book “Clouds Tell Us” – If you’ve read your copy, please head over to Amazon and give it a review.
I’m still working on proofs of my next book – “Say What?” a compilation of my cartoons. I’ll probably release it before Christmas
I’m starting to compile content for another book which combines my love for quotes and flow charts. You have to remember I’m a geek.
My latest Post Card Art Project is underway, if you haven’t signed up to participate in this art collaboration project, go do it now. It’s fun, it’s free, and it’s an excuse to do art.

So thanks to all my Patreon Supporters for helping me keep the lights on.

If you’re new to my work, follow one of the links and get involved.  Pledging on Patreon is the best way to do that.  You automatically reap the rewards of everything I do.

where you can make small monthly micro-contributions that help support my work.

If Patreon doesn't work for you, then drop me a one time contribution at PayPal.me

 

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Meditation In A Nutshell – Dialectic Two Step

 

This is meditation in a nutshell

This is living in a nutshell

The difference is the pace and the volume! Meditation is practice for life.

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

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Dreams? – Quotes

Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.

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Dreams? – Jesse Jackson

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