Memento Mori:No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know

photo by marguerita

Mettā meditation is considered a good way to calm down a distraught mind by people who consider it to be an antidote to anger.

According to them, someone who has cultivated mettā will not be

easily angered and can quickly subdue anger that arises, being more

caring, more loving, and more likely to love unconditionally.

Recent neurological studies have shown that compassion meditation

can increase one's capabilities for empathy by changing activity in

brain areas such as the temporal parietal juncture and the insula, and

increase the subject's ability to understand the mental and emotional

states of others^[8] as well as deal more effectively with external

stressors.^[9]

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word 禅 Chán to Japanese. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskritdhyāna, which means "meditation" (see Etymology below).

Zen emphasizes experiential prajñā, particularly as realized in the form of meditation, in the attainment of enlightenment.

As such, it de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge in favor of direct, experiential realization through meditation and dharma practice.

The establishment of Zen is traditionally credited to be in China, the Shaolin Temple, by the South Indian Pallava prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma, who came to China to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures"

which "did not stand upon words". The emergence of Zen as a distinct

school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century AD. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahāyāna Buddhist thought—among them the Yogācāra and Mādhyamaka philosophies and the Prajñāpāramitā literature—and of local traditions in China, particularly Taoism and Huáyán Buddhism. From China Zen subsequently spread south to Vietnam, and east to Korea and Japan.

1 Etymology 2 Mythology 2.1 The Flower Sermon 2.2 Bodhidharma 3 Early history 4 The Five Houses of Zen 5 Zen teachings and practices 5.1 Basis 5.2 Zen meditation 5.2.1 Zazen 5.2.2 Sesshin 5.3 The Zen teacher 5.4 Koan practice 5.5 Chanting and liturgy 5.6 Other techniques 6 Chán in China 7 Zen in Japan 8 Thiền in Vietnam 9 Seon in Korea 10 Zen in the Western world 10.1 Zen and Western culture 10.2 Western Zen lineages 10.2.1 Derived from Japan 10.2.2 Non-Japanese derived 10.2.3 Pan-lineage organizations 11 See also 12 References 13 External links

Obama Aimstrong : I SEE a Wonderful Glimmer......

drawing collage by marguerita           ("lueurs d'espoir")

I see trees of green (read glimmer)


red roses too....(in the white house)

I see em bloom..... for me and for you

And I think to myself....

what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days...
.dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are also on the faces....

.of people .

.going by

I see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you do Theyre really sayin......i love you.
I hear babies cry......
I watch them grow (hope they do not turn into bankers???!!!) Theyll learn much more.....than Ill never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world
(instrumental break)
The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by I see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you do Theyre really sayin...*spoken*(I ....love....you). I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow *spoken*(you know their gonna learn A whole lot more than Ill never know) And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world Yes I think to myself .......what a wonderful world

Main Entry:

¹glim·mer

Pronunciation:

\ˈgli-mər\

Function:

intransitive verb

Inflected Form(s):

glim·mered; glim·mer·ing \ˈglim-riŋ, ˈgli-mə-\

Etymology:

Middle English glimeren; akin to Old English glǣm gleam

Date:

15th century

1 a: to shine faintly or unsteadily b: to give off a subdued unsteady reflection2: to appear indistinctly with a faintly luminous quality

Apropos Chaos

drawing by marguerita
Chaos theory

Mathematically, chaos means an aperiodic deterministic behavior which is very sensitive to its initial conditions, i.e., infinitesimal perturbations of initial conditions for a chaotic dynamic system lead to large variations of the orbit in the phase space.

Chaotic systems are systems that look random but aren't. They are actually deterministic systems (predictable if you have enough information) governed by physical laws, that are very difficult to predict accurately (a commonly used example is weather forecasting).

Furthermore, the word gas is probably an alteration of chaos. Particles in gases exhibit chaotic motion, although this was unknown to Jan Baptist van Helmont, the inventor of the term. He is instead believed to have been influenced by the concept of chaos in the occult theories of Paracelsus.

Davos,Schmavos and Abracadabra

drawing by marguerita

they are pragmatic about the need for new thinking, without conceding that past gatherings may have had some responsibility for inflating the bubble that has just burst.

So, in the newly emergent world of government intervention and its panoply of regulatory interference, is Davos Man, like the dinosaur, headed for extinction?

Or can he evolve to survive?

Niso Abuaf, a University of Chicago-trained economist and former investment banker who now teaches at New York University. “Government is intervening. It’s a crisis.”

He draws the analogy of a young child with a very high fever. Much of the medical literature says that giving that crying child an analgesic like Tylenol will only increase the recovery time. But it would be a stern parent who would not do it to mitigate the child’s suffering.

Still, Abuaf argues, the collapse of the free market model has not made the Davos conclave any less relevant, or necessary. The global economy that it championed may be broken, but that is all the more reason for this year’s annual meeting - a place for seasoned players to sift the debris, jettison the rubble and start the process of pinning together the remnants into new structures.“I wouldn’t advocate that just because we’re going through a period of crisis you should pull your horns in and not look for creative solutions,” he said.

“The critics do ask if those who have been part of the problem can be part of the solution”

Schneider noted, before providing his answer: “Yes, that’s the only way to find the solution because these are the leaders and important actors.'Davos Man' Loses His Swagger - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

Kant: Critique of Practical Reason- a study II

collages by marguerita
The heart is freed and lightened of a burden that always secretly presses on it, when instances of pure moral resolutions reveal to the man an inner faculty of which otherwise he has no right knowledge, the inward freedom to release himself from the boisterous importunity of inclinations, to such a degree that none of them, not even the dearest, shall have any influence on a resolution, for which we are now to employ our reason.
In these criticisms persons who are passing judgment on others often reveal their own character.