Seventies Scandinavian Childhood

“Practice is about opening ourselves so that this little “I” that wants and wants and wants and wants and wants – that wants the whole world to be its parents, really- grows up.” Charlotte Joko Beck (quoted in Essential Zen, edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Tensho David Schneider) photo credit: premasagar

Starved Tiger

“Staring around like a starved tiger: no mistakes here.” Hexagram 27, I Ching photo credit: barytonneuse

Sweet Nothing

“Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.” William Blake, from ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell‘ photo credit: h.koppdelaney

Spiritual Killing

“From now on a nameless traveller; winter’s first rain.” Matsuo Basho (more here) photo credit: LunaDiRimmel

Second Arrow

“Never have a second arrow. If you rely on a second arrow you will be careless with the first. Every time you must be convinced that you have only one chance and that you must hit your target with your one and only arrow.” Kenko Khosi, from ‘Notes to Relieve Tedium‘

The Bubble Burst

I’ve been hearing a lot about the Stock Market bubble bursting, or the financial bubble has burst or whatever, but what it really seems to be is that the whole bubble of our culture is about to burst. And why? For the same reason that these big financial institutions are in trouble: when something gets […]

Make My Day

This may sound kind of trite but I think if you can find one or two things that ‘make your day’ every day, then you will have an enjoyable life. For example some people left comments on a post I made on another blog and it just left me with a feeling of being noticed, […]

Thoughts on Herzog’s ‘Heart of Glass’

I just saw this film yesterday and it totally blew me away. Someone had said I should see it but I couldn’t remember why, I watched the whole thing with this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that there was something very odd about it. After it was over I looked it up […]

Living in a World Without Trends

I’ve just realised something that may have been obvious to everyone else for ages: that now the vice-like grip of major label record labels has been loosened, the music business has more or less reached the end of trends. (more…)