PROMPT: Most Happy

Daily writing prompt
When are you most happy?

In moments of recognition of the world’s absurdity that suggest that any response other than amusement or bemusement is purely a waste of mental energy.

PROMPT: Cities

Daily writing prompt
What cities do you want to visit?

As many of the ones that aren’t war-torn or underwater as I possibly can.

PROMPT: Less of

Daily writing prompt
What could you do less of?

Contemplating the unknowable.

PROMPT: Positive Events

Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

Positive? Negative? Who’s to say? Like the Taoist farmer, I’ll withhold judgement.

PROMPT: Favorite Place

Daily writing prompt
Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?

Every place that I visit, while I am visiting it, is my favorite place.

PROMPT: Change

Daily writing prompt
What is one thing you would change about yourself?

I think about this in yogic terms. In the niyama of yoga there are two guiding ideas that – at first – seem contradictory. Santosha is contentment. Tapas is discipline. So, on one hand, Patanjali was suggesting one needs to accept what one is (santosha,) but, on the other hand, he was suggesting that one needs to keep the fire of self-development burning (tapas.) [Note: I realize there are different readings of these two concepts, these are the versions that have resonated with me.]

These two ideas did seem at odds until I realized that they answer different questions. Contentment is the answer to “Am I enough?” Tapas is the answer to “Can I be better?”

Long story short, I see wishes such as the desire to be six inches taller or to be a celebrity as a waste of time and mental energy. However, I see the need to be a healthier and more equanimous version of myself as an ever-present driver.

FIVE WISE LINES [December 2025]

William Blake painting of Urizen praying to the world he created, an illustration from "Song of Los."
William Blake:
Urizen prays to the world he created (1795)
Song of Los

I must create a system
or be enslaved by another man’s…

william blake; Jerusalem: The emanation of the great albion

Saying Yoga exists to make one more flexible
is like saying that it exists to wring farts out of one’s body,
both will happen — neither is the primary objective.

Me

He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her…

JESUS; John 8:7

The best government is that which governs least.

Henry david thoreau, Civil Disobedience

Gods always behave like the people who make them…

zora neale hurston; Tell my horse

PROMPT: Eating Meat

Daily writing prompt
What are your feelings about eating meat?

I have no strong feelings. Everything that lives becomes food, so I don’t see a sound moral argument against meat. There is certainly a nutritional argument against eating excessive quantities of meat (which I would grant many meat-eaters do) but this is not an argument for dropping meat altogether. I accept that there is a reasonable environmental argument, but — counterpoint — it’s delicious.

I see no argument at all against choosing to eat vegetarian or vegan, so I certainly wouldn’t try to talk anyone out of their decision to do so. (i.e. The “you can’t get enough protein” argument is bullshit.)

PROMPT: Wear

Daily writing prompt
What are your two favorite things to wear?

A Jetpack and Rollerblades.