Chapter 83 - The Stillness Before Time (Compendium)


LXXXIII

The trick is to have at least a scrap of paper nearby.
These synapses don’t always click as well anymore.

* * * *
Back into time.
You created all this every moment.
You are witness to a virtual reality par excellence.

* * * *
Get a grip on yourself.
Deal with it.
It’s not easy for anyone.

* * * *
Don’t expect a prophet not to have his context
As a central focus of the day-to-day survival
Just the same as anyone or anything else.

* * * *
Can one be completely free of desire?
Needs research.

* * * *
How can you be wrong about this?

* * * *
To voluntarily put oneself in harm’s way
Is an inexplicable mystery unto itself.

* * * *
Yes, you are indeed immortal,
But, alas, you must die nonetheless
At least one more time.

* * * *
Have broken every golden rule but one, and the day’s not done.

* * * *
Military strategy and tactics are well-documented for every known technology.
Expansive as they may be, generalizations of the ancients hold true.
The physics of any given battlefield do not change.

* * * *
A drop is not a wave, nor a wave an ocean,
But greatness begins with elemental steps.

* * * *
These words are for those few whose destiny it is to see.

* * * *
To taste one is to taste all.

* * * *
Science only sees what it can measure,
Which kind of gets a bit stuck in the big picture.

* * * *
Some are followers, some are leaders
Some abstain from either.

* * * *
A bloke gets what he pays for,
Acquires what he works for,
And takes what life offers
For as long as he wills.

* * * *
You smash the mosquito, letting its body lie
In a crumpled heap, long forgotten.
Is your fate truly any more?

* * * *
So easy to condemn what you don’t understand.

* * * *
We tend to value less that in which we have no investment.

* * * *
Shut up and go hoe some weeds.

* * * *
Why do you insist that it can be any different?
Why do you cling to such false idealism
In the face of so much horror?

* * * *
Sanjaya is Arjuna is Krishna.

* * * *
What you do, the roles you take on,
Color your view and the many predispositions
Toward the drama in which you participate.

* * * *
We seek someone who will reflect back
Friendship, care, concern, health and well-being.
What each finds often proves disappointing
If one’s expectations are too high.

* * * *
The sage becomes very still
To fathom the depths of creation.

* * * *
The bodhivista patiently slogs
Through the mire of the world
To bring the message home.

* * * *
All passion is fleeting.

* * * *
You are the senses functioning.
Your identity is your many attachments
To the collation of data they collect.

* * * *
Peace is far too simple
For most to reside eternally.
Nirvana is sought by a chosen few.
Most people just want to open their eyes
And seek out another cup of coffee
Or some other quiet pleasure.

* * * *
How quickly do you perceive a change?
How attached are you to the past?
How quickly do you adapt?
How efficient is your adaptation?

* * * *
Heaven or hell,
All the same, all the same.

* * * *
Whether the glass is half empty or half full,
The thirsty sage drinks heartily of either.

* * * *
Romantic love is a matter of convenience and pleasure.

* * * *
Pray tell, what is the point?

* * * *
Do you hold your breath
In the play of desire and fear
Or calmly breathe through them?

* * * *
Same old tired headlines, absurdity infinitum.

* * * *
Pundits say so much in such a variety of ways
Of that which no words can define.
Paradox without end.

* * * *
You cannot help but be impacted, molded,
Shaped by the world in which you dwell.
But can you transcend it, can you step outside
Your individual mind into that which see all as one?

* * * *
Some philosophers like to spell everything out.
Others leave only riddles and questions.
What a ruse consciousness.

* * * *
What makes you imagine Jesus,
Siddhartha, Lao Tzu or anyone else
Ever needed anyone to believe in them?

* * * *
Martyrdom is the plague of time.

* * * *
Vanity is not a trait bound by any category.

* * * *
A salesman has no hesitation
Imbibing a passion for money.

* * * *
Most in this world die quite anonymous.
Even most of the famous are quickly forgotten
As the sand of time cover their memory.

* * * *
There you go again looking for a new hat,
But never finding one that suits you for long.

* * * *
What treaty has ever held in any court
Once one party changes their mind?

* * * *
You are eternity’s means to every end
From this very moment’s creation
To its inevitable termination.
A string of assumptions flowing
From the tourney kick off
To its final whistle.

* * * *
A river runs through it.

* * * *
How can you measure flame but through smoke?

* * * *
Does anyone ever really hear or see you?

* * * *
How can the persona survive
Without the body and the many
Experiences which formed it?

* * * *
God must not be a lover of personality,
Else all would not so easily reach an end.

* * * *
Why fear god?
Your are its dream.

* * * *
Fear, guilt, shame, remorse, hesitation.
What wasteful way to spend one’s life.

* * * *
Do what you do first of all for yourself,
And let what others make of it what they will.

* * * *
Just say no to propaganda.

* * * *
Freedom isn’t free.

* * * *
God is reflected on the frontal lobe screen.

* * * *
We are all actors acting for each other.

* * * *
Reality is for those who lack imagination.

* * * *
Praise death for it is the maker of time.

* * * *
Absurdity permeates the human drama,
Yet all carry on in all its trivial glory.

* * * *
The many faces of the other will always be happy
To expound upon the indelible truths
Of their transitory beliefs.

* * * *
The riddler is the riddle,
Question from, answer to.

* * * *
There’s nothing like pain to bring one back
To the immediacy of this ephemeral reality.

* * * *
Thank god you remember very little.

* * * *
“The Stillness Before Time”
“The Silliness of Time”.
What shall it be?

* * * *
Interesting how a few curves and textures
Can mesmerize one’s attention.

* * * *
Some would say the best death
Will be the one you don’t see.
Others seek to face it directly.

* * * *
Work can be fun if its your play.

* * * *
Who really cares what you think?

* * * *
The peace of godness is your original fabric.

* * * *
Say much, say little, do much, do little.
All the same, all the same.

* * * *
Stretch the knots.

* * * *
Interesting how you allow the universe
You have imagined to judge you.

* * * *
Even if it means giving up everything,
How can you resist?

* * * *
In the midst of a harsh winter,
So much flesh fashionably chilled.

* * * *
Why date yourself?

* * * *
Why depend on happiness from anything out there?

* * * *
So many seek the spring, sip from it,
Yet never realize it is really they.

* * * *
Why depend on happiness from anything out there?

* * * *
Predictability lulls one into surprises.

* * * *
Why date yourself?

* * * *
Only ignorance defines.

* * * *
Meditation is the pause button.

* * * *
View history through every witness imaginable.

* * * *
Sometimes you are so full of bullshit.

* * * *
Hard to detach when you really don’t want to.

* * * *
How often, unable to help yourself,
The pattern once again casts you
Into the predictability of your time.

* * * *
Martyrdom is the playground of egocentricity.

* * * *
By its very nature, science must ever lag behind,
Willfully dragging the ever-increasing weight
Of its insatiable quest for knowledge.

* * * *
Doubt, again and again raises its stilted head.

* * * *
Apply these reflections to yourself and your world.
See both the macro and the micro of existence.

* * * *
Those concerned about another side
Only find this the other side of that other side.
Greener pastures only pursue the rancor of duality.

* * * *
A wise leader should always have a devil’s advocate by his side,
One who is unafraid to stand alone and question every assumption.

* * * *
Infinity must limit itself to intuit its infinity.

* * * *
What a magnet the other.
No wonder such confusion.

* * * *
Education expands outlook,
And perhaps even inlook.

* * * *
The nice thing about dying in a plane crash
Is that you might be drinking champagne.

* * * *
Regarding love, most cater more to the word than its meaning.

* * * *
Leave yourself as many options as possible.
Only burn a bridge if absolutely necessary.

* * * *
Do you even see how much attention
You give what others think of you?

* * **
Are human cities really that much different
Than any other creature’s instinctual grouping?

* * * *
Insects are far superior
In their capacity for cooperation,
But what price conformity?

* * * *
The misfortune of a first rate memory
Is recalling what you would rather not.

* * * *
How amazing we have survived this long
For all our violence and just plain ignorance.

* * * *
Logical conclusions follow irrational delusions.

* * * *
Suicide can be considered a scientific experiment.

* * * *
Though these random reflections may seem unbound by time,
They do emerge from the cauldron of the moment’s draw.
Nothing is held back for convention or approval.

* * * *
Would you long for heart if not for her body?

* * * *
What do others want from you?
What do you want from them?


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The Stillness Before Time (Compendium)
© Michael J. Holshouser 2009
World Rights Reserved