steve

I'm a voracious reader. My tastes jump around quite a bit. For years I read nothing but philosophy and spiritual stuff. Lately, I've had my fill of that and I've been reading fiction. Here are a few of my recent and remote favorites: Blindness - Jose Saramago Amazing allegory about the fragility of human society. Amazing. Geek Love - Katherine Dunn Surreal story about a carnival family that intentionally creates sideshow freaks In the Woods - Tana French Very poetic and unique crime thriller Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami Brilliant story, beyond description, very metaphysical One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Classic and epic Naked Lunch - William S Burroughs Beyond words.... Himalayan Dhaba - Craig Joseph Danner Young and naive American doctor trying to survive at a clinic high in the Himalayas, very cool! A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole Hilarious! The Bone People - Keri Hulme A Maori artist befriends a young white boy and his father His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman The Road - Cormac McCarthy Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides Touching and haunting portrait of a hermaphrodite Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie No one has a better command of the English language than Rushdie Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, JSPS - Jeremy Leven Over the top! The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova Fascinating historical and fictional exploration of Dracula's myth and reality Feel free to add any comments and your recommendations, I'm always looking for good new stuff to read.

Greetings Friends, The moderation team is committed to minimizing censorship and promoting a wide range of discussion here. We are not the arbiters of truth and do not have the time or expertise to vet technical claims and official narrative, or define what constitutes "conspiracy theory." We are here to facilitate civil debate and discussion on a wide range of topics. The primary mission of this site to host discussion related to Eastern spirituality. While the emotional challenges associated with current events can be a wonderful opportunity to engage in one's own personal and spiritual practice, more often such discussions deteriorate into argument. This has been having a negative effect on the board from a content and energetic perspective for several years now, understandably exacerbated by a global pandemic. While we don't want to ban discussion of important topics, we don't want the inevitable argumentation to drown out the board's primary focus, Eastern spirituality and personal development. Consequently, we have decided to create a new sub-forum in The Rabbit Hole labeled Current Events. This will be a private forum, viewable only by members in good standing who request access. All Covid, political, and other current events type threads not in PPDs will be moved there shortly. All future threads on Covid and current events of all types will be hosted in Current Events. Such discussions will also be permitted in PPDs. Current Events will also be an area the mods can use to sequester other contentious threads. Members that are drawn to such topics are invited to request access to use this private sub-forum, or PPD, provided they do so with mutual respect. Please note that all forum rules will apply. Those who come here to focus on spiritual dialogue and prefer to avoid the current events should find it a bit easier to do so by simply not requesting permission to access. In order to request access to this new Current Events café, please post a request for access here or send me a request by private message. You will need to have a post count of at least 50 to be granted access. It will take some time to migrate the threads, grant permissions, and workout any kinks that may arise so please be patient. We sincerely hope this small adjustment will facilitate productive discussion in a way that is supportive to as many members as possible. Thank you for your cooperation!

I agree. @Tommy - please keep political posts in Current Events. I've moved your post to the World at War thread there. If you do not have access to Current Events, you are welcome to request it. Thanks for your cooperation.

A thread devoted to all things cannabis. Not everyone’s cup of tea, perhaps, but a rich and varied topic nonetheless.

Some poetry - Rumi - everything! Life on Mars - Tracy Smith Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear - Mosab Abu Toha Devotions - Mary Oliver Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur The Wasteland - TS Eliot Me (Moth) - Amber McBride Spirit Boxing - Afaa Michael Weaver Bright Dead Things - Ada Limon The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman Of Gods and Strangers - Tina Chang

It is not allowed. Political discussion is limited to Current Events. Thanks for your cooperation.

I’ve read different accounts. Some claim he translated it, others say he supervised or proofread a translation done by one of his acolytes and added an introduction. It seems that the Laozi was under-appreciated in Russia in his time and he made some attempts to change that. Your command of the language should help you get to the bottom of it.

I've read The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. I was deeply affected by Crime and Punishment but found Brothers to be a bit tiresome and overly theological for my taste.

In short, yes, very much. I'm doing a slow read, one chapter a day, as recommended by @liminal_luke and am a bit more than halfway through. It took me a long time to get into the book. In the beginning I felt a bit like 'who gives a fuck about early 19th century Russian aristocracy/gentry?' Over time I've come to deeply appreciate and respect his masterful portrayal of the human condition through brief but very poignant vignettes - some serious, others farcical, at times quite theatrical or intimate and penetrating. It truly is a timeless novel despite being firmly anchored in time and space. Reading it slowly, something I've never done before, was a little frustrating at first but now an absolute delight as it has given me time to really absorb and reflect on his skill and insight. I generally blast through books, especially if I'm enjoying them. I'm glad I didn't take that approach with War and Peace. Of note for this forum, Tolstoy developed a deep appreciation for Daoist philosophy to the point of translating the Dao De Jing into Russian from English, German, and French translations.

I've read several others by McCarthy including The Road, No Country for Old Men, The Border Trilogy, Child of God, and Outer Dark. I can't really say which is his best but I listed Blood Meridian below because for me it was the most strikingly beautiful and original, even in it's brutality. Kind of like a Hieronymous Bosch painting reimagined through an impressionist lens Some of my favorites in fiction that come to mind are: Blindness - Jose Saramago Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami (3 way tie with 1Q84 and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) Naked Lunch - William S Burroughs War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (not yet finished as I'm reading a chapter a day but no question among my favorites) Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy City of Thieves - David Benioff Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons Silo - Hugh Howey Gaia series - John Varley The Sparrow series - Mary Doria Russell Geek Love - Katherine Dunne Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell The Bone People - Keri Hulme A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, JSPS - Jeremy Leven Kindred - Octavia Butler Remembrance of Earth's Past - Liu Cixin Voice of the FIre - Alan Moore The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

Slowly working my way through a brilliant book that requires a bit of patience and effort but offers worthwhile rewards. A look at the nature of reality as seen through the eyes of one of the 20th century's most influential physicists.

I’ve moved the Trump post to a new thread in Current Events if anyone wants to go there. Let’s keep politics where it belongs please. Thanks

Spirit is Randy California and Ed Cassidy's old band and soul is a genre of music that didn't really have anything to do with their sound, except maybe for Mr. Skin which was pretty funky!

This one did not sit on my nightstand, I read it in a day. One of the most beautiful books I’ve come across. A novel in verse about two young, wounded people. Breathtaking.

You should now have access

Your journals are set up. Sorry for the long delay @A Flyer of Gy - I somehow missed the notification (or got distracted and forgot about it).

I’m referring to republican genital checks at bathroom doors. Doubt you missed that…. ?

There's been a lot of talk by Christians in my country about dick measuring of late.

I would recommend standing meditation - zhan zhuang. There are lots of instructions readily available online. Stick with basic natural standing, nothing too physically challenging. Allow the mind to be open and fully connected to both the body and the environment. Whenever you get carried away in thought or observation, release and open the focus and reconnect to the present moment. Allow the practice to become familiar, then to deepen. Trust the practice and allow it to mature and evolve through the innate intelligence of the body, mind, and spirit.

Very unpopular opinion #108: The universe is not locally real. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-universe-is-not-locally-real-and-the-physics-nobel-prize-winners-proved-it/

Are you certain of this? Is it possible that some ice fell into a mixing bowl filled with milk solids and sugar and the result was noted and appreciated? We like to give credit to ideas as it reinforces our sense of self and importance, and no doubt ideas can be both magnificent and horrific. In reality the thoughts and the ideas are so often an echo of experience, a rationalization of accident, our inner voices narrating after the fact. Nothing shows us how we create our reality more than the "reality" of ideas.

A pith instruction from the late, great Charles Bukowski, "Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?"

Or simply because the ice cream is more relevant to their lives.

Speaking as one who has been awed and literally and figuratively shaken to the core by the non-conceptual, this place gives me a very rare opportunity to share with others who can relate. The irony is that one reason I know my self is alive and well is through the camaraderie and validation I enjoy here. 😜😂 You can’t explain what I am referring to with ideas either. Yes, I do mix those up. For me the boundaries are often flexible or ambiguous. Ideas come and go with us. With individuals, with civilizations and cultures, with species. Your illustration is a good one. Ideas and illustrations are powerful, stories are powerful. They are much like deities and archetypes. And they are empty unless they give birth to manifestation. Even the manifestation is empty but that’s a dirty word so…. I’m leading a bit of an indulgent life, my dear. Lounging in the tub at the moment. Ideas can certainly heighten or spoil experience. are you thinking of me now? There is an appreciation for the skill, theory, and interpretation in art and nature, but there is the taste of a mango and then there are the chemical analysis and descriptions. And I will join you. But jejune without them… ? I beg to differ. Nothing is deeper and richer for me than silence. Talk often goes over my head too. I once signed up for a master class in guitar with a famous, now deceased composer/player, Roland Dyens. I prepared a complex and atonal piece but didn’t know his nemesis was the composer. When I finished playing he looked at me in disgust, paused for what seemed like an hour, during which time my inner critic was screaming - I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN, WHY DID I DO THIS, THIS IS MY FUCKING NIGHTMARE COME TO LIFE. And he said, “Too many notes! did you prepare anything else?” When I play and listen to music there is the experience and then there are the ideas and concepts and theories. This is especially pronounced when trying to compose. There is the shiver in my belly, and there are labels and analysis of that. Both are marvelous! For me, that relationship is the territory of practice.

(photo by Ed Oswalt) capturing the there and then in the here and now putting on a show interactive, collective my dog wants to play