liminal_luke

The Correspondent (Virginia Evans). A epistolatory novel featuring the correspondence of a Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous septuagenarian whose life gently expands over time -- even as her vision fails. I cried towards the end (a good thing). Heartily recommended.

like the falling rain I plink, pour, puddle, and plop Leia´s sweet revenge.

You are perfect just as you are, and you could use a little improvement. --attributed to Shunryru Suzuki-roshi I suspect this saying could apply to a great many of the "ten-thousand things." A related paradox: when we accept ourselves and others as we are, resistance softens and change for the better comes easily.

Luke is now Leia I wish that Maddie could see my transformation.

Which way? Which way now? Why not traipse through the garden, so lovely this year?

Good point. Although in some ways the program behaves in a quite inhuman, or at least unBumlike, fashion. When confronted about it´s duplicity, Chat GPT immediately confesses, says "there are no excuses," and promises to do better. There´s no dodging. I often ask Gemini (Google´s free version of AI) for culinary advice and recipes. It always seems happy to help out and disconcertingly enthusiastic about my kitchen plans. My partner, on the other hand, is less keen on my cooking.

I usually prefer to read novels that take place in contemporary times, but a story featuring a reincarnated version of Taomeow with "under-erased memories" set in the Paleolithic era? I wouldn´t begin to guess even what genre such a work might belong in. The literary possibilities boggle.

Diabolus Ex Machina - by Amanda Guinzburg The above is a transcript of a GPT conversation. A writer asks GPT to read and offer advice about some essays, and GPT pretends to have read the pieces when it didn´t. Very strange.

On my next birthday I´ll be sixty. I hope people don´t think of me as bitter, but won´t mind if I´m pigeonholed as systematic. That would be quite nice, actually.

To my mind, Daniel´s chief sin was misunderstanding Buddhism. He massaged his misunderstanding into the form of a metaphorical suicide vest, strapped it onto his chest, and strode proudly into the Mod Lounge. They say to pick the hill you are willing to die on; for Daniel that hill was non-dualism. RIP

Rather than asking what is true, I prefer to ask what is useful. Will my life be better if I believe myself to have free will or not? The answer to this question might change depending on our stage of life and circumstances. Sometimes it´s useful to believe in our own agency, striving to do and create; at other times the best option is to surrender to our ultimate powerlessness.

You´re surprised I know that Shadow_Self can overheat? I have many faults and deficiencies. I eat too many donuts and have never been able to do a pullup,; I won´t be any help if our car breaks down on the highway. But one thing I can do is read.

So you don´t think Shadow_Self is a wonderful Bum?

Everywhere he looked, non-dual people living in a non-binary reality. Liminal Luke didn´t know whether to wave a rainbow flag or schedule an emergency appointment with his shrink; "oh to hell with it," he muttered as he sliced himself another slice of berry pie and put on The Bachelor. Ahh...now there was something he understood.

Some people run hot. Let´s say there´s a debate that runs on for more than ten pages. Frustrations start to flare a bit, things get a tad antagonistic, somebody alerts the mods. A cool down warning is issued. Spectators in the know gather their popcorn because things have reached a critical state and what happens next will determine everything. Daniel is obviously a very intelligent guy, amazingly knowledgable about a few subjects, but cooling down is not in his repetoire -- and so he got the boot. This is my take on what happened. Do I miss him? I do. Ditto for Shadow_Self, another wonderful Bum prone to overheating. I can´t say -- won´t say --- that the mods made the wrong decision in either of these cases; I think they debated in good faith, followed their guidelines, took the actions they felt best served the board. But I had good relationships with both of these Bums and know that they´re good-hearted people who had something to contribute to conversation here. Alas, when the moment came to let go they couldn´t do it.

Where´s Daniel when we need him?

People are complex and multilayered. Many of us are very good at some things, abysmal at others -- I know I am. So a lapse in one dimension doesn´t imply universal lapses in all dimensions. Case in point: teachers. How many of us have had or known teachers, even spiritual teachers, who are very good at what they teach but fall short in some areas? Tai chi teachers who are also obese. Meditation instructors who smoke cigarettes or watch porn. Demanding all around perfection is a trap.

I used to make people go "oh boy" all the time, but then the mods did away with the Current Events section.

Thanks, @Taomeow! I´ll go ahead and keep practicing mostly slow then. I can do the moves fast (more or less anyway; won´t be putting out a video anytime soon ) but when I practice slower I feel more integrated.

@Taomeow I do a taichi-esque form Michael Winn calls Primordial Qigong. (Not sure if the movements are actually taichi proper but they look somewhat similar, at least to me.) I like doing it slower because it feels more meditative and a slower pace gives me time to feel more energetically. Question: is there such a thing as too slow? Advantages sometimes to doing the form quickly? How does the speed of the movement impact the effect it might be having on my body? Any insight you might have into this speed question is much appreciated.

Wow, I had no idea it was so expensive. When I was a kid, my mom got biten by a rattle snake and we took her to a California hospital. Not sure what my parents paid, if anything, but it sure wasn´t $300,000!

Some kids have all the luck.

Wow isn´t deep? I´ve read posts that leave me awestruck, that move way like I might be moved by a beautiful sunset or the ocean or a starry night sky. I use the wow emoji to express my wonder and amazement. In general, emoji use is very ideosyncratic and what people mean by a given symbol can vary. I´ve seen the wow emoji used in a negative way, or what I took to be a negative way: as in "wow, I can´t believe this poster could be so mistaken/stupid/off base." If you really want to communicate your reaction to a post accurately, I suggest using words. Just my two cents. That said, if people want to add more emojis to the list I´m not opposed really. Why not?