Colors of Fall 1

The Tao Stills The Monkey Mind

I woke this morning and the monkey-mind was doing a dance inside my head.

I made it a point to take a few minutes this morning and meditate on the here and the now, a few minutes to try and still the monkey mind and be where I was, not where I was not.

I opened an email from a list I subscribe to and one section of it contained a quote from the Tao.

It resonated with me as I attempted to still the monkey mind.

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself you reconcile all beings in the world.”

– Lao Tzu (Chapter 67, Tao Te Ching)

Elusive Thoughts

There are times when I sit down to write where the thoughts remain elusive. It is as if the thoughts themselves are not yet differentiated among themselves. They are there, they are moving about in their orbits, but they remain half glimpsed under the waters of a vast and still lake, currents, whose existence is only revealed in a drifting leaf on an otherwise undisturbed surface.

I think this evening is an evening similar to one of those still pools. I am enjoying it, sitting here, just watching that stillness. It is cool outside, nearing cold. The apartment is filled with small noises. Sometimes the rush of the heater fills the air with a soft white noise. When the heater falls quiet I can hear the small sounds. The ticking of the clock in the kitchen. The slight noises the freezer makes. The miscellaneous sounds from outside.

Well, I don't want to push the metaphor to far. It has been a nice quiet night that I have wandered through, reading, watching Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles on the DVR, in conversation with a dear friend, eating ham and bean soup, chasing it down with Neopolitan ice cream and a tall glass of water.

Not a bad night for elusive thoughts.

Perhaps a night crafted specifically for elusive thoughts.

Dreams of Identity

I woke this morning with a dreamt fragment. The dream was of a woman
whose husband had passed away. She had always believed him to be a
survivor of the death camps. However, after his death she, by chance,
saw a photograph that appeared to be him, except he was wearing the
uniform of a camp guard. The next fragment was of a bitter young man
who lived in seclusion in the English countryside. The reason for his
bitterness and seclusion was that he bore an almost complete
resemblence to an infamous criminal. Both dream fragments seemed to
hinge around questions of identity.

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The Art of Alfonse Mucha

Are you familiar with the art of Alfonse Mucha? My friends Pierre and Helen had a coffee table book of his work that they had received for Christmas, so a small portion of my day yesterday was spent gazing at it. I was very much enthralled with this particular piece, called Les Saissons (The Seasons). I thought I would share...

Three Stones Set On Flickr

I updated my Flickr site with a set I call "Three Stones" - I had posted one of them here a little earlier.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roderckdhu/sets/72157612061260495/

Carol Alt Stole My Friends Wife...

Okay, I had one of those weird dreams on Saturday morning that made me wake up laughing. In the dream, my friend Pierre's wife Helen was four months pregnant and Pierre had called me to commisserate - because his pregnant wife had run away with the supermodel Carol Alt!

I told Pierre and Helen about the dream at dinner last night and we all got a good laugh out of it. I have no idea why I dreamt she ran away with Carol Alt. I hadn't even thought of Carol Alt consciously, but of course, in our media saturated society it is entirely possible that I had seen or passed by her image or heard her name in the context of some half heard news blurb.

The Course of an Ordinary Saturday

Today was a very good day.

The focus of the day was largely external.

After lingering in the morning over coffee and toast with cream cheese
and strawberries I spent a little time writing I went over to help
some friends rearrange their garage.

I should learn to be careful of the things I volunteer for!
Rearranging the garage mostly consisted of climbing up and down a
ladder about a hundred times.

I am sore now so I am definitely going to feel it in the morning! I
will be limping and walking slow. Tonight's plan is a hot soaking bath
before curling up to read.

After the garage we had dinner at Chevy's (chicken tamales, rice,
refried beans, sweet corn tomatillo and a chiquita sundae), we watched
the movie "Forbidden Kingdom". It is a modern cheesy Chinese sword
movie - with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. It was enjoyable in the company
of friends.

I drove home and passed or was passed by three CHP cars, so they were
definitely out in force. I was hoping to talk with a dear friend
tonight but I am afraid the cruel math of time zones means they are
snug and sleeping a country away.

Time zones can be vexing.

My plan tomorrow is breakfast, mass, laundry and maybe a matinée, then
some quiet time writing and working on my new years resolutions.

Tonight though it is time for a very hot bath and a good book (I am
finishing Dean Koontz's "Your Heart Belongs To Me" . Unfortunately it
is no Odd Thomas. It is enjoyable but not his best.)

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Dream Upon Waking From A Nap Today

Dreamt I was at the old ranch south of St. Francis and it was a dark
night and we were fighting off the alien invaders. Then, in the second
part of the dream I was here in California and my nephew was an air
crewman and was getting ready to go off to fight the aliens (hints of
a generational war). There were towering black thunderclouds rolling
overhead and high in the sky you could see gold pinpoints of light
swooping in and out of the thunderstorms and I told him "look up,
tonight you can see the gods battling for heaven and earth". An FA-18
swept overhead low enough to read the printing in the side and to
rattle the entire apartment.

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The First Day

If the first step into the new year sets the tone for the remainder of
the year than I like this year already. I started the day with the
visual feast that is the Rose Bowl parade. I had a nice breakfast at
Holdens. I ran a handful of incidental errands on a gray but pleasant
day. I talked with a couple of friends. I took a long nap. I had a
great conversation on the phone. I ate a big bowl of chicken soup. I
watched a little television and now I a curling up in bed with a good
book and planning to read myself to sleep. I am planning to sleep
tomorrow until I am done. A very auspicious start to the new year.
Happy New Year and welcome to 2009.

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