Agathodaimonion ~ 31 January 2013

Finally, we are getting somewhere. I don't ever consciously play games in my speech acts, unless it is facetious teasing of someone I like. However, I tend towards brutal honesty which confuses people at times. I feel neither powerless nor powerful nor wish to view or believe this reality I observe is guided by power. The only power I've come to understand and believe in is the size of an atomic ion, therefore insensible to our perceptions. I grant it that size but truly it has no physical reality, it is simply and purely spirit, daimonion, or agathodaimonion (look it up in Wikipedia). Socrates had a daimonion that guided him in his life to make certain ethical choices over others. I believe that in this life, there have been so many moments that things could have turned out differently, & I would either be dead or severely injured. I've been extremely lucky, fortunate, in some respects, and just the opposite in others. Like everyone else in this world, I didn't choose my body, my mind or my persona, but the choices I've made in the past, either consciously or unconsciously, have shaped all three aspects of my being. My heart is both a physical object and a metaphorical/symbolic one. Obviously, to be open-hearted does not occur solely on the operating table. This is a goal in my life, for I know that I'm far too cerebral for others to see my true nature. Probably a defense mechanism learned in childhood to cope with the unspoken dysfunctional behaviors in my family as I grew up. So, though I've read many books on Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, I see myself as a 'bad buddhist' though I disavow myself of all religions to appreciate others, and distance myself from what I see as hypocrisy and beliefs that tend to view the world in terms of power & the struggle for power (Mein Kampf, an under-read book, owned by multitudes, but not known for the hatred and virulent anti-semitism within, written by one Adolf Hitler). Religion, to me, is the root cause for all the wars we see in the newspapers, that and nationalism or chauvinism or tribal animosities. They all boil down to a misunderstanding about power and that violence is an assertion of power, which is simply misguided. The spirit that guides my life is imperceptible to the senses, but I intuit a presence that is inexplicable and choose to create an answer, a mythology, of an agent that is not anthropomorphic in any way, this I call daimonion, after my encounter with Czeslaw Milosz, the Polish Nobel Laureate poet who told me this is what inspires him, daimonion. I didn't understand at the time but nearly 20 years later, I realize the meaning of his one work answer to my question, "what inspires you?" and the seeming smirk on his face as he walked away after signing my book. Perhaps he is the key for me to comprehending this reality now as I turn 44 this year. All I know is my daimonion is a power within me and outside of me, a guiding force that opens doors only when I'm ready, and creates difficulties and painful sorrows for me to overcome. Some call this God, I don't believe in that word in any way, shape or form. But you speak of power & believing in our powerfulness instead of our powerlessness. My daimonion is much like the Tao, a force that is incomprehensible other than by mystics and poets and spiritual seers. It may not exist at all and is a fancy of my imagination, that I will grant. But still, something brought me all the way from India, to the US to experience and learn and meet all that I have, instead of growing up in the country of my birth. This something is not just my parents, the surface expanation, to why I am here and survived all these years. The explanation of depth, a metaphysical one, for me is daimonion, the guiding spirit, force and yes, power in my life. At this point, this is the one thing that I believe in, a myth passed down and bequeathed by someone far more intelligent and eloquent than myself. It is a gift I hope to appreciate the rest of my days. This is the big picture for me. A puzzle that I've struggled with until it all clicked just before New Year's Eve this last year. I hope this helps you see where I'm coming from, much walking allows me to think in solitude, a peripatetic philosophy.

Bloodstream Sermon ~ Bodhidharma

Bloodstream Sermon ~ Bodhidharma ~ Translated by Red Pine

Everything that appears in the three realms comes from the mind. Hence buddhas of the past and future teach mind to mind without bothering about definitions.

But if they don't define it, what do they mean by mind? 

You ask. That's your mind. I answer. That's my mind. If I had no mind, how could I answer? If you had no mind, how could you ask? That which asks is your mind. Through endless kalpas without beginning, whatever you do, wherever you are, that's your real mind, that's your real buddha. This mind is the buddha says the same thing. Beyond this mind you'll never find another buddha. To search for enlightenment or nirvana beyond this mind is impossible. The reality of your own self-nature, the absence of cause and effect, is what's meant by mind. Your mind is nirvana. You might think you can find a buddha or enlightenment somewhere beyond the mind, but such a place doesn't exist.

--

The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma 

Translated by Red Pine 

North Point Press 

Farrar, Straus and Giroux 

New York 

Copyright © 1987 by Red Pine 

All rights reserved

F.R.O.G. (Family Recovery Orientation Group)

F.R.O.G. = Family Recovery Orientation Group

An off-shoot group for family members (of Adult Children of Alcoholics) who want to understand what goes on in ACA 12-Step Recovery Programs but do not fit "The Characteristics" of someone who attends ACA meetings (i.e. someone invested in spiritual recovery for themselves and their fellow ACA meeting members).

Whisky Advocate Buying Guide ~ Summer 2014 ~ V23/2

Rating Scheme: 95-100 & 90-94

Scotland

~ Speyside Single Malt

• 90 BenRiach Septendecim 17 year old, 46%, $80

^ Focus on Mortlach

• 93 Mortlach 18 year old, 43.4%, £180/500 ml

• 90 Mortlach Rare Old, 43.4%, £55/500 ml

• 90 Mortlach Special Strength, 49%, £75/500 ml

~ Campbeltown Single Malt

• 90 Springbank 21 year old 2014 release, 46%, £182

~ Single Malt

^ Focus on Classic Malts Triple Matured

• 93 Cragganmore Triple Matured Edition, 48%, £80

~ Highland Single Malt

• 94 Brora 40 year old Single Cask 1972 Vintage, 59.1%, £7,000

• 90 Glenmorangie Companta, 46%, $99

^ Focus on Glen Deveron

• 90 Glen Deveron 30 year old, 40%, £250/700 ml

~ Blended Whisky

• 95 Compass Box The Peat Monster 10th Anniversary Special Cask Strength Bottling, 54.7%, $120

• 95 The Last Drop 50 year old, 50.9%, $4,000

• 94 The John Walker, 40%, $3,500

~ Blended Malt Whisky

• 93 Johnnie Walker Odyssey, 40%, $1,100

!!!Editor's Choice

• 96 Booker's 25th Anniversary Bourbon Batch No. 2014-1, 65.4%, $100

***Value Pick 

• 93 Evan Williams Single Barrel (Barrel No. 1) 2004, 43.3%, $27***

United States

~ Bourbon

• 90 High West A Midwinter Night's Dram (Act 1), 49.3%, $80

^ Focus on Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection

• 91 Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection Rye 115, 45%, $47/375 ml

• 91 Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection Rye 125, 45%, $47/375 ml

^ Focus on Orphan Barrel Whiskeys

• 90 Barterhouse 20 year old, 45.1%, $75

~ Rye

• 90 Redemption Barrel Proof Rye Batch 3, 61%, $70

^ Focus on 100% Ryes

• 91 Lock Stock & Barrel 13 year old, 50.65%, $100

• 90 WhistlePig The Boss Hog 12 year old, 67%, $150

Canada

• 92 Crown Royal XO, 40%, $45***

Ireland

~ Single Pot Still

• 91 Green Spot, 40%, $50***

~ Single Malt

• 90 Bushmills Rum Cask #10623, 43%, $125

Flavored Whisky

• 92 Orangerie, 40%, $45***

Beer***

• 91 Allagash Saison, 6.1%, $11/4-pack

• 91 Harviestoun Ola Dubh 16, 8%, $9/11.2 oz

---

***$50 or less, Rating Scheme 80-89

Scotland

~ Blended Whisky

• 86 Grand Macnish 12 year old, 40%, $25

• 82 Grand Macnish Sherry Cask 15 year old, 40%, $35

~ Single Grain Whisky

• 85 Signatory (distilled at Cameronbridge) 1995, 43%, £26

United States

~ Bourbon

• 89 Jim Beam Single Barrel, 47.5%, $35

• 88 Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Commemorative Edition, 46.5%, $35

• 87 BeanBall Bourbon, 50%, $45

• 80 J.R. Ewing Private Reserve 4 year old, 40%, $35

~ Rye

• 85 Redemption White Rye, 46%, $20

• 81 Jack Daniel's Rested Tennessee Rye, 40%, $50

^ Focus on 100% Ryes

• 85 Jefferson's 10 year old Batch 18, 47%, $40

~ Craft Whiskey

• 87 Coppersea Raw Rye, 45%, $50

• 84 McKenzie Rye, 45.5%, $40

• 83 John Myer Rye, 45%, $45

• 83 Thistle Finch Rye, 40%, $32

• 82 Catoctin Creek Mosby's Spirit, 40%, $38

• 80 John Myer Wheat, 45%, $45

Flavored Whisky

• 83 Sapling Vermont Maple Rye Whiskey, 35%, $40

• 82 Celtic Honey Liqueur, 30%, $22

• 82 The Knot, 50%, $24

***$50 or less, Rating Scheme 90-94

~ Duplicated from Above ~

***Value Pick 

• 93 Evan Williams Single Barrel (Barrel No. 1) 2004, 43.3%, $27***

Canada

• 92 Crown Royal XO, 40%, $45***

Ireland

~ Single Pot Still

• 91 Green Spot, 40%, $50***

Flavored Whisky

• 92 Orangerie, 40%, $45***

Beer***

• 91 Allagash Saison, 6.1%, $11/4-pack

• 91 Harviestoun Ola Dubh 16, 8%, $9/11.2 oz

2 The Cow

6. As for those who deny,
it is all the same if you warn them or not,
they will not believe.
7. God has sealed their hearts and ears,
and veiled their eyes.
For them is great deprivation.

South Asian Spices Recipe - 1.1.13

--
Garam masala
Turmeric
Coriander
Cumin
Ginger
Garlic
Salt
Black pepper
Cayenne / Paprika
--
Mix spices, a pinch of each spice
--
Mustard seeds
Olive oil
--
Heat pot on low heat
Add oil
Add mustard seeds & cover w/lid
Wait for seeds to stop popping
Add spices & 2 cloves fresh garlic minced
Remove from heat
--
Spinach
Red potatoes
White/Yellow Onion
Eggs
--
Slice potatoes
Mix seasonings in pan w/oil
Add potatoes
Mix potatoes until covered
Add more oil if necessary
Pop in pre-heated oven at 350 *F
After 30 min., turn potatoes
Add 1/2 sliced onion
Mix w/potatoes
Cover potatoes w/sliced tomatoes
Back in oven for 15 min.
After 15 minutes is over, cover w/fresh spinach
Back in oven for 15 minutes
Cook eggs in the meantime
After 15 min., add paneer
Mix and serve
--

WHO IS WITH ME ON THIS???

12.31.12 – To all my friends! I wish you a Happy New Year! May 2013 bring peace and prosperity to a world in recession and embroiled in foreign conflicts in which we have no place intervening with weapons of violence and devastation. We are the American peoples of these United States and we know better than to be deceived by politicians and corporate-backed media conglomerates. (Remember that today’s Chevron Corporation helped to broadcast the Texaco Star Theatre on the radio from 1938-1949 and to telecast on television from 1948-1956). We can change the world for the better if we learn to consider (by following a politics of consideration) that we have no enemies that we ourselves don’t create; no one is a stranger unless we allow them to be; and that the spirit that guides each and every one of us in our hearts and minds is open to hear our grievances as long as we open ourselves in our hearts, bodies and minds to hear the voice of the spirit in the words others speak to us that may sometimes sound strange and harsh but is a wake-up call, a clarion call, to arms against violent oppressors; against those who choose to ostracize the downtrodden (like the homeless in our nation’s major cities) and castigate those with mental disabilities. This country is in a world of pain and trauma from the wanton violence in 2012. We need to unite against the madness of the mental health systems in this beautiful land of ours and make peace a priority for all of the peoples of the world in 2013. We need the senators and representatives of our legislature to talk openly about creating greater funding for mental health services in America, to battle the demons that guide the unfortunate perpetrators who choose to harm others instead of having the strength and fortitude of a clear mind with an open heart to heal a nation from its own idiocy and blindness. This issue is not gun-control my friends. The issue is funding mental health services so that the mentally ill don’t self-medicate on street drugs and lose it on the innocent citizens of our glorious nation. This may sound like rhetoric to you, but our schools, our movie theaters, our universities, our subways and other public places need to be protected from mentally deranged killers. And the only way to do that is to fight big government and make them realize that arguments over gun-control may help them win a battle and earn their salaries off the backs of honest tax-paying citizens, but it won’t save the children of America. May we have peace in 2013! May the spirit of your heart guide you in the next year to speak out against gun-violence and hate crimes, and to beg the government to better regulate the mental health systems in America. To all my friends! I love you all! Peace! I’m out of here!!!