Tales and Threads
New Essay: 5 January 2023
Respect Animal Nature: Learn from Their Behaviors
With the returning salmon struggling to find a resting place for their eggs, the stream is shallow because of drought, and the fish display their sunburnt skin. Dead fish lie on the rocky shore. Flies eat from their carcasses. The water flows down the steep slope and the fish struggle to make it upstream. One charging upward into the potent force of gravity. Though the fish struggle and perish, their eggs will rest. They will deposit their eggs into the shallow water and mud. The fish will accomplish their journey. Witnessing a recurring cycle of life—birth and death—takes energy thought and every intuition back to a beginning, whether it is the beginning of the universe or the beginning of one’s life, all life returns to an origin.
Nature exists before any human life ever approaches the expanse of diversity and evolving creatures. The standards and expectations of survival shape the individual who wanders through the landscapes. Nature has control over its inhabitants. But every individual has the freedom to gain consciousness of what nature offers in the way of learning and putting knowledge to use. Nature is a source of knowledge because it is the source of any knowledge to be developed. Any person can walk through a forest and can breathe clean air, finding themselves with a sense of curiosity, and imagination to open their heart and inspiration toward a pathway of discovery. A reflection of an experience in solitude offers a learner to discover values and belonging with their intentions to gain knowledge. Their ideas carry their intuitions to more depths of information, branching from one idea leading to thousands of branches, full of limbs, covered with leaves, needles, and cones.
To learn from nature, you must respect nature. All nature provides endless opportunities to gain information. Let nature take its course of eternal changes. Be with nature to benefit all, the universe and its inhabitants. Though there is no teacher or professor when someone is in solitude and—there is a mind working to develop thoughts, ideas, and beliefs, all originating with an introduction to life. Just as an article, ‘the’ introduces a statement, a subject, or an idea, a place of nature allows someone to discover the origin of their thoughts. Introducing a thought is identical to introduce a subject in a conversation. To be born into this world, you had to be introduced—‘the person has arrived . . . carry-on’.
For everyone to benefit from exposure to nature, the potential to expand knowledge poses more challenges than building a city or an empire. People do not need more tools for convenience. Rather, they need to look at how they use nature. For example, if people suffer from difficulties involving relationships with stones, ‘ ask how people can form more purposeful relationships with stones?’ instead of killing the forest, identify proven methods of interacting with the forest. People deny themselves life when they act on destructive thinking; nature's devastations have often resulted in human catastrophes. Opening the mind and paying attention to introductions of how to enter nature will let a person act on ideas. Rather than senseless thinking and reckless fates, understanding when and where to be in nature imports a deep yearning to achieve higher learning.
Observations in nature let people take into consideration the passing of life. Everyone knows forests will not stand in permanence, they will fall in the same manner. But to see and realize the potential of a forest growing to thousands of feet and living for thousands of years impresses the consciousness of possibility. And to realize the possibility, people visualize the actual future growth of forests in life— all through observation. A simple way to learn is to sit and watch. Breathing and seeing suffice to improve consciousness. Yet people hold more potential. They can gather information, use rewards, and introduce ideas. Following the laws and rules of nature allows a person to gain knowledge out of interest. The respect helps them pass through more annals of information without facing denied entry.
Cultivation promotes the inclusion of all lights and—refines and improves conditions for which interdependence can provide sustenance and progression on behalf of each other. Enlightenment is a key to success in cultivation. Further knowledge of life and all life will receive benefits. Taking science from nature will promote thinking and binding ways into the culture. To gather ideas for the results of my studies and cultivation, I decided to observe and interact with animals and their habitats. Everyone knows animals stand alone as symbols. People respect the symbols to understand how nature is relative to all actions. People display their pride in believing and relating to eagles as independent animals, free from any authority, void of any bias, and egalitarian to provide displays of freedom. People strive to achieve the meaning of the symbol shown by animals in nature.
For most cultivation, animals provide the most signs to learn from. However, the force of water and nature is essential to study. And water shows how life manifests because of external forces, despite the power of the human mind and its control over nature. People lose control over nature and they need to understand how. Devastation such as fire wipes out entire forests for many years, an example of a subject to refine and understand more is affected by water, wind, Earth, and other forces. Developing interpretations of symbols meliorate any information precluding discoveries and losing arguments. To help another way stand in concurrence allows for progression that continuation. The momentum of enlightenment needs a few past and present motions. Defining nature will change to respect language, yet any invention of people separates the natural world into the material world.
Taking nature as a sign is primary, receiving enlightenment is the yield of nature. The benefits of respecting nature outweigh any doubts about the power of nature. People succeed with respect. Their attitudes accept learning. They promote cultivation by accentuating the importance of using the most resourceful form of knowledge.
New Essay: 3 January 2023
Precepts Add Up: 1 and 4 Make 5
Crime and conviction are obvious offenses of injustice. Affecting communities with irreparable destruction, sins committed are determinants of fate. The demise of an individual, either as a victim or as an identity of a person affected by deviance. Victims can maintain their upstanding adherence to precepts, all people who commit sins of the most serious offenses can control the vulnerable. Unfortunate circumstances of crimes, whether deceit, thievery, or murder, leave people as groups and families in despair for many years. The people who commit heinous crimes against culture and communities care less about others, and they only appear to have an unrealistic portrayal of any crimes they may have committed.
One thing leads to another. Cause and effect. Day and night. One obvious and builds momentum, just as rocks tumbled down the hillside leading to a mudslide or avalanche. When wheels are in motion, they maintain their momentum. Concerning sins, a person will find they have made no progress, and they have caused more damage and destruction to their cause. Therefore, they see poor results. The most necessary action to repair any damage caused by sinning is to seek forgiveness. Realizing one’s wrongdoing, a person can repair the problems they have caused. If they were to realize their troubles, their actions could reflect the most serious consequences, not just for one person, but for all who interact and relate with the person.
The ideas of maintaining awareness, reconciling mistakes, and making amends are to help people resolve conflicts and overcome negative Karma. It is never too late to pray for forgiveness. Some relationships suffer from irreparable harm, whether they are with individuals or groups. But trying to correct any problems from recurring is appropriate. Some actions are so heinous that people need to remain apart. For the victim, it is best to maintain precepts, just as one will realize positive results. There's no need for vindication. People can repair the damages caused. But for those considered irreparable, praying for strength to overcome will carry people to more positive outcomes. While criminals respect the same action to receive the result, we recognize their ways of life as wrong.
It makes sense to see people who uphold values and maintain standards achieve better results. Despite those who are suffering because of being victims of crimes. Better results occur only with acts of justice. Those who commit crimes only result in worse conditions. They only show prominence by material wealth. But their conditions worsen with sentiment and separation from the community. The person cannot realize any act of purpose or justification concerning their sins. They could continue committing the same or similar sin, not knowing of their ultimate fate, regarding Karma and a destination. Their motions and momentum need correction. Yet there may be no one to correct them for the sake of associations.
The habits of repetitive action or both positive and negative. Most positive actions occurring more and more represent proficiency. Being capable of performing a skill or knowledge builds on practice and progress toward mastery. Yet sins of repetitive nature amount to worse intentions and worse consequences. Someone who repeats the same sinful action, whether it is deceit or intoxication, worsens health and associations. No one who continues to take intoxicants without repair or refusal can ever improve their state. Rather, their health suffers worse results and they cannot achieve happiness with their lessened standards. They have to remove themself from all associations caused by their sins and find solace in the same act.
Just as nature changes ecosystems with starvation, turbulence, and devastation—broken precepts cause harm to individuals and communities. Their consequences represent wrongdoing, injustices, and deviance. Yet maintenance and respect for those precepts cause outstanding achievements, propelling groups into creative ideas. Practices don't require many tools or devices—natural objects suffice for most practices. Though a tool to show safe technology leads people to help others. All the inventions and ideas based on precepts, adherence to the laws, and respect for rules promote foundations for learning. Communications for higher understanding rely on cooperation from people. To cooperate, people need to represent practices of help by others. The community and the individual hold shared values and beliefs. Each person can share their ideologies with another community member.
Though each person holds the ability to break the main precepts. They are broken by a lack of consciousness regarding inattentive practice. Whether someone practices openly or remains autonomous, all people have obligations to defend their right to practice. People need to practice their beliefs to adhere to obligations. Responsibility and duty or the efforts of strong, earnest will. The results of practicing maintenance of precepts prove attentiveness and accomplishment. Acts of goodwill result in the consistent achievement of the destination. One and four make five . . . Om mani padme hum.
New Essay: 25 November 2022
Leaving the castle: to find nature
The pile of stones, the mass of rubble, the result of stones heaved into the air and fallen into an uneven plane, sheltering people without reason, lacking purpose, and separating the commune. For those stones of imprisonment, confinement, and isolation, I leave, the castle to fall into rubble, with no one to rebuild nor repair, but for those people nature awaits. I left the castle behind. I chose not to build at the request of peers, colleagues, and authoritarians. Nature provides a sanctuary, to learn, commune, and grow. The luxuries of the castle offer comfort, it is a material, temporary cushion for people trying to escape labor inclusive of all people and things, all of which belong to nature.
Despite the offerings of monetary compensation, status in society, and the privileged to oversee a lesser group, I choose to join the natural world for it allows freedom. To explain and to discover. To be independent of exploiting and owning others' works. No matter the price of a gem or the height of a watchtower, the power in each is absent of value to hearts and minds. The rubble of a castle, a demise of malicious conduct, and reckless governance, all to leave behind. The sanctuary of nature ends nowhere. The beaches, valleys, forests, and ocean show a pathway of Discovery more valuable to anyone seeking enlightenment or awakening. The confines of a stonewall reflect on an empty, weight shield against any other shade or color, and how deep within the mind; perhaps for eternity, echoing no voice, no prize, no screams, just empty, mindless absentia.
How people do not see other shades or colors when they are impoverished and imprisoned behind a rock pile - they receive no offers, no guidance, no challenge to their position. Abandonment into self-isolation, void of communication, misplaced utilities. The tools used to create such a mess of stone, throughout history have been people. Held captive, enslaved, tortured, and abused – ever considered property of the rulers who impose their desires and hopeless aspirations. What is left of the castles they have built, by the time people discover nature, nothing more than a pile of stones that fall to ruins because no one can continue to uphold a structure without values.
Tyranny is a term used to inspire rebellion. Revolution is a belief in change through action. Understanding the separation of individuals from tyranny requires a person to escape authority. Leaving the falsehoods of control by rulers, to discover freedom in nature. Once discoveries are made, a revolution happens with the communication of more discoveries. People take the discoveries and use them for their benefit. Less reliance on the authorities promotes independence. An escape and a rebellion open doors to revolution, discoveries continue the revolution. Because a few elitist individuals cannot move stones out of their way into nature doesn't give them the ability to hold and detain all other people from discovering freedom or independence.
I left the castle because I needed to achieve what is needed. Rather the desires of the captors or the authoritarians didn't meet the needs of others. People achieve what is needed for each other by working on behalf of each other. What is needed to us wins over the ideals of any individual. What is not needed for us is an opening for defeatism. Nothing is gained by working solely on behalf of oneself. The other material possession sometimes represents the falsehood of wealth and power. Finding peace and solitude has more power than dictating to the masses through a hole in the wall. A castle made of sand is known to collapse when the tide changes and the waves roll in to crush the shoreline. A pile made of stone is no different, the boulders will fall off the cliff face.
Everything that I had imagined after leaving the castle happened. I lived on the beach, my first paid job was as a kayak tour guide, then worked as a housekeeper in a wine district. My path continued toward realizing my full and complete separation from the stonework. My fate was to discover self-reliance. But with the exception of working for no money and receiving in-kind donations of food and board. That was ideal. I released all of my desire to gain any material possessions unless they were in the interest of my community members. What garnered more respect for each other was acts of peace and kindness. If there were forbidden acts in any community it was violence. Things continue in the same manner. Respect for nature values culture.
Occupations respectful of nature demand a person to use gentle motions. Intentions of deep-hearted, well-constructed arguments promote cooperation yielding peace and safety for all individuals. Leaving a castle means using stones in an appropriate way. Careful to lay tools to rest in the correct place, not damaging nature, and allowing expressions of creativity to flourish —all require thought and consideration. Nature allows for true intention to develop. Relationships of employment evolve into providing needs for each other. Rather the material possessions are based on communal needs and values. The most beneficial acts are to help the community survive. Selfless acts are natural when something is needed.
Happiness is found in nature. Any freedom to walk without an end in sight is a chance to discover. A way to discover a way to express creativity. Not everyone will take the same path. Not everyone will eat the same food. Everyone will leave the castle. The pile of stones may appear as an arid desert once covered by ice and water. Though the cliffs overlooking the massive body of water do not confine the substance similar to a castle, the stone walls crumble to the bottom. Water shapes stone more than any force. With respect for nature, everyone can leave the moat of filth and corruption, find the natural spring and rejoice in the wonders and beauty of a natural, free world.
Essay: 19 November 2022
Cultivation yields a pathway: overcoming the pitfalls of hell
Seeing the world change by meeting new people, going to different places, and realizing people hope for a better future led me to pursue a belief in cultivation. As a teenager, I suffered from substance abuse, domestic abuse, poor academic performance, and several mishaps with the law and vigilantes. My life was in such hell, I asked for change— a different environment, a different group of people, a different way of life. It didn't just come to me, I had to look for it, in everything and everywhere. When I searched, I suffered. From being expelled from high school, getting arrested for alcohol-related problems, and trying to separate from an alcoholic family. I needed help. And I knew it wouldn't come right away.
After several instances of using hallucinogens, I began to look beyond the writings of the mystical shamans, psychedelic gurus, and partiers and more into knowledge and wisdom from ancient traditions. Fortunate for my social well-being, jazz musicians offered enough of a book list to give me more information than I could absorb and interpret. It was a moment of transcendence. The literature spoke to me as if I could maintain a conversation of meaningful exchange rather than the incoherent, nonsensical chatter of drunkenness with former friends and family. When I saw the books, I saw the start of my pathway out of hell. No matter how long it will take. As I read more and more I question the same. A stance of my identity arose with evidence and an audience to support it.
Difficult times call for ingenious actions. Wisdom and enlightenment of teachers of the past and present offer anyone the lessons to overcome the possibilities of death. Without using traditional knowledge, I would have succumbed to a demise. Less fortunate people have the opportunity to use the text in their library. Through all the literature in a library, nothing points more toward the benefit of learning more than philosophy, mythology, and religion. It doesn't matter if they are from many thousands of years ago or contemporary–they all have common importance – learning and teaching.
Thus the belief of cultivation stands out as the unifying term to define learning and teaching. Many teachers will use cultivation as the primary and sole purpose of defining politics and government. Education in itself is a form of cultivation. But with politics and education often conflicting with ideas and ways, for their definitions, cultivation includes nature with an education. Nature allows for the freeing of the mind, a place for discovery, and the exploration for one belonging. The endless rivers mountains and oceans, with mountains to climb, trails to walk, and sites to gaze into– let the people be free. Interactions with nature represent communal values, set aside competitiveness, and allow a higher understanding of the potential to live together with peace and acceptance.
Finding cultivation as the sole purpose in any role associated with politics and governance, I devoted my attention to focusing on the subject as a life pursuit. Hence, I progressed in my studies, continue to research Buddhism and other traditions, and finished my higher education with a bachelor's, master’s, and part of a doctorate. I found the genuine invaluable experience working with agriculture and learning in a community. Therefore, I've devoted and continue to pursue cultivation for the remainder of my life. Despite to letdowns and struggles I have faced, the belief in cultivation kept my hopes and dreams in sight. They were the results of my practice, my interest, and my vision. If there ever was a time when I thought I might fail, or return to the pit of hell I was trying to escape.
No education system in the world allows a student to fail at every level. There has to be some level of competency achieved. Otherwise, the education system is proven to be incompetent. At my level of intelligence, I could fail. And I did. I disagreed with this system; the system would rather dismiss me as a failure. Not until I was allowed to act cooperatively without an authoritarian command telling me what to believe was I released and engaged in learning out of a conscious decision to take my command over what I would learn. To say that an education system is based on needs rather than beliefs is false. Education is a way to sort through falsehoods. If falsehoods remain, the education system fails.
To suggest the pitfalls of hell can be overcome by ‘all’ is false. Not every student will benefit for the purpose of achieving a better life, either of moral servitude or conscientious employment, they can be in school to earn money or build bridges in their careers. Those actions and objectives have the possibility of creating more help for anyone. Some people find information and they use it the right way. If they don't have the information, their conditions never improve. So the education systems keep information to help ease their suffering. Cultivation is more than information. It is learning in practice. They both concur at every level. If there is no practice, there is no learning. If there is no learning, all employment fails.
Why choose cultivation as a belief? It offers a way out of hell– whether it is a difficult education experience or a difficult employment experience. Skill sets and work experience offer a contingency for someone struggling. I have learned skills and I have applied them on a job. So I continue to gain skills and experience in a field that I have studied and practiced. Despite leaving my doctorate, I have traveled to communities where they focused on learning and working in cooperation with other communities. I learned and worked. I focused on nature and I found my way out of hell by understanding the community. My past education is something I am grateful for. I still teach, though not in the castles and watchtowers of universities.