Anyone
can see beauty
in the flawless.
Artists
can see beauty
in the flawed.
Sages
can see beauty
in chaos.
Aesthete Levels [Free Verse]
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Tag Archives: Philosophy of Life
PROMPT: Tattoo
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
I have no interest in tattoos. I’m with the Buddhists on “all is impermanence” and the idea that there is some message that would be poignant for the rest of my days seems silly and unlikely.
Plus I’ve seen so many bad ones: faces that look demented, Chinese characters that make no sense (and/or are upside-down or sideways.) So, no thanks.
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PROMPT: Negative Feelings
A practice of feeling gratitude is extremely beneficial in that regard. Simple meditative practices help one become aware of thoughts and feelings more quickly, before they are fed through rumination, making the down-spiral cycle easier to disrupt.
And, sometimes, I rant. This usually veers quickly into comedic territory and I’m reminded of the ridiculousness of taking human life too seriously, given the absurdity of being primates in pants who love shiny things. (It would be unimaginable if human life weren’t absurd.)
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PROMPT: Learned
Heavy Indian Club movement patterns and the core tenets of Perennial Philosophy.
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“The Builders” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]
All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time,
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.
Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.
For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.
Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.
In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.
Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.
Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.
Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall tomorrow find its place.
Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.
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PROMPT: Objects / Can’t Live Without
I’ll need some sort of container capable of holding water, some variety of pointy stick, and something sharp like knapped flint or a length of hard metal.
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PROMPT: Ban
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
I would ban the word ban because banning is not a thing that should exist. It is not an impulse one should have.
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PROMPT: Advice
Eat more veggies, mind your joints, beauty is everywhere, all is impermanence, and very few things in life actually matter (see item 4.)
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PROMPT: Boredom
What bores you?
I believe boredom is the product of a weak mind.
There’s always something noteworthy happening. It just sometimes takes more mental energy and broadened interests to experience it.
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PROMPT: Shoes
Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.
Well, they were Timberland hiking boots, a pair that was comfortable and had served me well on a number of hikes in various parts of the world. Then, on the Goechala Pass Trek in Sikkim, I learned that they were only held together by some planned-obsolescent glue.
I had to hike six days with one of the soles strapped to my foot for one of the boots, and five days for the other. Yes, after so many miles of hiking in various environments, they fell apart within one day of each other. I guess the glue has a finite number of puddle steps in it, and I hit that number one day earlier with one boot than the other. That’s when I realized there’s nothing special about a shoe. It’s just a bunch of the lowest cost materials stuck together in the lowest cost assembly method and designed so you’ll have to buy a new pair every few months to years, depending upon the type of shoe, its use, and its price point. If there were a monopoly on shoe production, no pair would last more than a week. It’s only competition that allows for some halfway decent pairs to exist. I’m happy with any shoe that protects my feet, and — once it doesn’t — it’s dead to me.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 