Category Archives: Truth and Perception

Cameron Peak Fire, Colorado, Dogs, Exercise, Fear, Psychology, Science, Space, Trail Running, Truth and Perception, Wildfire

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 28TH, AUGUST 2020

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“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” Frank Herbert, Dune

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spectacular galaxy NGC 2442. This galaxy was host to a supernova explosion, known as SN2015F, that was created by a white dwarf star. The white dwarf was part of a binary star system and pulled mass from its companion, eventually becoming too greedy and taking on more than it could handle. This unbalanced the star and triggered a runaway nuclear fusion that eventually led to an intensely violent supernova explosion.  SN2015F was spotted in March 2015 in the galaxy named NGC 2442, nicknamed the Meat hook Galaxy owing to its extremely asymmetrical and irregular shape. The supernova shone brightly for quite some time and was easily visible from Earth through even a small telescope until later that summer. Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency). Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Smartt et al. If you want to learn more and see a full resolution from ESA Hubble site visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-hooks-a-supernova-host-galaxy

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato

It does not seem to matter if your earth side or in orbit, there is always housekeeping chores… Lol. This is a picture from August 14th, 2020 of Astronaut Chris Cassidy collecting the trash on the ISS (Internal Space Station). Image credit: NASA. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/astronaut-chris-cassidy-does-housekeeping-in-space

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Curie

How cool is that!? A high resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this avalanche falling down a 1640 foot tall (500 meters) cliff on May 29th, 2019. This image was taken at Mar’s north pole area. Image Credit: NASA/JPL – Caltech/University of Arizona. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/capturing-an-avalanche-on-mars

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Joseph Campbell

The barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 4907 shows its best side from 270 million light-years away to anyone who can see it from the northern hemisphere. This is a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy, displaying its beautiful spiral arms, wound loosely around its central bright bar of stars. Shining brightly below the galaxy is a star that is actually within our own Milky Way galaxy. This star appears much brighter than the many millions of stars in NGC 4907 as it is 100,000 times closer, residing only 2500 light-years away. NGC 4907 is also part of the Coma Cluster, a group of over 1000 galaxies, some of which can be seen around NGC 4907  in this image. This massive cluster of galaxies lies within the constellation of Coma Berenices, which is named for the locks of Queen Berenice II of Egypt: the only constellation named after a historical person. Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency). Image credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA, M. Gregg. If you want to see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/hubble-sees-near-and-far

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

This is a picture of NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover. It has been on the red planet for 8 years now. Since landing, the rover has traveled more than 14 miles (23 kilometres), drilling 26 rock samples and scooping six soil samples. The mission was to study whether Mars had the water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources that may have supported microbial life billions of years ago. It will soon be joined by another rover – Perseverance. It was launched on July 30th, 2020. The rover’s selfie was taken June 15th, 2018 Earth time. Image Credit : NASA/JPL – Caltech. To see a bigger version of this picture visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/curiosity-celebrates-8-years-on-the-red-planet

“Once we overcome our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe that utterly dwarfs – in time, in space, and in potential – the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.” Carl Sagan

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid -19. And so have I!! That is a very good thing for both of us!! Therefore life is good and I cannot complain too much at the moment. Looking at the numbers during the first week of August, the good old USA was adding 40 to almost 50 thousand new cases each day. With Texas, Florida, and California leading the way . Texas was just under 8 thousand deaths as was Florida. Total US deaths were just breaking 160,000.

By the time of publishing, the numbers for total deaths – was just under 185,000. Texas was right at 12,500 deaths and Florida was at 11,000. Unreal when you think about it. Let me pause and say this again, 25,000 added deaths in the last month and 55,000 in the last two months?! To put in comparison, in the Vietnam War, US casualties were estimated at 47,434. Wow! I guess we are over achievers. Are we winning yet??

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I decided to include an assortment of pictures from my trail running this summer with Marvin on the Blue Lake Trail in the Rawah Wilderness. What is the old saying, “You Really Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone.” This applies to anything in your life. For me, in the month of August, it is the destruction of this beautiful area due to wildfire. The Cameron Peak fire ignited on August 13th, 2020. As I write this, August 28th, the fire is at approximately 23,000 acres in size and has zero containment as of yet. It is hard to think that a lot of the landscape I photographed and ran through with Marvin this summer, is now gone or potentially will be. Forever changed. I know that at some point it will come back but it will be 100 years at best. Long after I am gone. It really does feel unbelievable.

This picture was taken June 29th, 2020 looking West at Clark Peak. Here I am standing on Blue Lake Pass.
This picture was taken July 14th, 2020 on the Blue Lake trail. Here Marvin is enjoying a little sun and space in a meadow.
This picture was taken July 21st, 2020 on the Blue Lake trail. I am looking up at Blue Lake Pass. If you look closely you can see a whole pocket of blue Columbines. The Colorado State Flower.
This picture was also taken on July 21st, 2020. Here I am standing on Blue Lake Pass at 11,000 feet. I am looking North West into the Rawah Wilderness.
This picture was taken July 29th, 2020 just before you get to Blue Lake. Still an abundance of wild flowers.
This picture was taken on August 4th, 2020. It is a picture of Marvin standing on the shore of Blue Lake.
This picture was taken August 10th, 2020 looking South toward the Blue Lake trail head. It is 5.5 miles back down the trail. This was the last trail run in the area before the start of the wildfire. How was I to know that this would be my last run here for the foreseeable future?!
This picture was taken August 21st, 2020 looking West. The area the smoke and flames are coming from is the same area where I took the above photos this summer. Image credit: Wellington Crew.

MARVIN’S GATE

Have you ever had an experience in which something you know or think you know becomes fully crystal clear, an Aha Moment? Or to put it another way, a deeper understanding of an existing condition or mental thought? Well if you have then you will know what I mean, but if you haven’t let me explain. Over the years I have read and listened to my fair share of self-help books. And I felt that I had a pretty good handle on what they were trying to get across. Especially on the ones that dealt with fear. My first book to read on this was one by the late Susan Jeffers, “Feel the Fear and DO IT ANYWAY. I had read her book or listened to it several times and felt that I had gotten a lot out of it. But knowing something and “full realization” are two different things. And sometimes the “full realization” pops into place when you least expect it.

Earlier this month, I was in the process of putting up firewood for the coming winter. This usually entails getting a couple of cords of wood dumped in the driveway and then me filling up wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and rolling it to the backyard to be stacked. A somewhat long and boring process in my opinion.

Marvin the dog, I am sure thinks the same thing. Due to his size and exuberance, he is not allowed off lead in the front yard, so he waits patiently by the “gate” that separates front from back. He is not an aggressive dog, but he can get very excited when other dogs and people walk by. So I load a wheelbarrow, move the gate, come through, put the gate back, roll said wheelbarrow into the backyard, Marvin follows, I throw a dog toy or ball, wrestle with him for a few moments, etc.. and then stack wood. Repeat process, over and over, again and again.

Now the interesting part that became an “Aha Moment” for me occurred when my wife Janet was watching the process as she unloaded groceries from the car and was amazed that Marvin just stood there by this unsecured and flimsy gate, just waiting…. “He is such a big dog and that gate is so small, why doesn’t he just knock it down or jump over it or run through it, she asked?” I stopped and looked, really looked. Here was this massive dog, stymied by a small gate. Her statement and Marvin’s appearance at the gate stopped me in my tracks.

Of course we both knew the superficial answer, he is afraid, but a dawning deeper realization started to jell in my mind. Let me explain. Marvin had a traumatic experience at 6 months of age when a gate of this same size and design fell on him while he was sleeping. The gate in question is a typical child gate, very light weight, made of wood and somewhat flimsy. But it scared him and he has had a fear of these child gates ever since. At the time of the incident he was a small dog in comparison to the gate, now fast forward and this is not the case anymore. He is a large, powerful LSG (Livestock Guardian) dog, but still hindered by a tiny gate. With this understanding, the light bulb in my mind popped on! Lol.

The Aha Moment is not the fact that he is afraid, it is the fact that Marvin’s fear IS ALL IN HIS HEAD. The fear is not real, except in his mind. The only place that it can exist is in his thoughts. The gate is not dangerous to him. It’s danger is a product of his imagination, causing him to fear the gate falling on him again. Whether Marvin has the cognitive ability to understand this or not is irrelevant. He is telling himself a story, just like humans do when we are afraid of something. Marvin may not have a choice to change his story of the gate but humans with our higher brain functioning have this ability. As hard as this may be, as ugly and messy as it may get, we can do it. Whether something is dangerous or not is a real concern, but fear is a choice and we can change our story.

Reflecting on this over the last couple of weeks, I have had to ask myself what are my Marvin gates? What have I not allowed myself to do because of misconceived fear? Can I change my story and continue to change my story as needed? All good questions and for me a life long endeavor. Good food for thought.

Well that is going to be about it for me on this Blog post. Again, I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. If you want to learn more please visit the web site: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

I promise to have a few more book reviews on the next post. So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds and physical distancing. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous.., leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey

Colorado, Exercise, Existentialism, Fort Collins, Life and Meaning, Meditations, Psychology, Quad Rock 50, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 5TH, MAY 2019

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“Relax enough, and your body becomes so familiar with the cradle rocking rhythm that you almost forget you’re moving. And once you break through to that soft, half levitating flow, that’s when the mooonlight and champagne show up.” Ann Trason (From the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall)

“I thought, man, if you could run 100 miles, you’d be in this Zen state. You’d be the f**king Buddha. Bringing peace and a smile to the world. In my case, it didn’t work. I’m the same old punk ass as ever. But there’s always this hope that it’ll turn you into the person you want to be. You know, like a better, more peaceful person. And when I’m out on a long run, the only thing in life that matters is finishing the run. For once, my brain isn’t going ‘bleh bleh bleh bleh.’ Everything just quiets down, and the only thing going on is the pure flow.” Jenn Shelton

“But the longer and further I ran, the more I realized that what I was often chasing was a state of mind – a place where worries that seemed monumental melted away, where the beauty and timelessness of the universe, of the present moment, came into sharp focus.” Scott Jurek

Wow another great two weeks. Marvin is getting a lot bigger!! When we first got him at 8 weeks he was 19lbs. This past Wednesday he was around 30.4lbs. We figured that he would grow but dang, always amazed at how fast it occurs. The socialization is continuing. He has probably surpassed the magical number of 100 different humans that he has met and countless numbers of other dogs. So I am hoping that this really pays off in the long run. It is interesting in that the fear factor seems to ebb and flow. One day he is fearful of the trash truck, or the Geese. Then the next day, they are not a problem. And vise versa? If Janet and I are both out walking him things are a little better. Not sure what that is about?

This photo was taken on Wednesday 1st, May 2019. Now 11 weeks old and 30.4lbs. I think that he has the sitting thing down for the moment. Lol. They say repetition and consistency are the key!

Finishing up some training ,in preparation for the Quad Rock 50. If I can do this it will be earliest in the year that I have run a 50 miler and that would be pretty cool. The last couple of weeks have been a slow taper so that I am fully rested and ready to go on May 11th. I have been fortunate to experience some wonderful afternoon weather the last 2 weeks. Just beautiful. Of course each week is different and it is Spring time in Colorado, so you still have to throw a little snow into the mix. Lol

This picture was taken Thursday 25th, April 2019. What an afternoon. Warm but not too warm. Clean air from a little bit of wind. Beautiful!

Watching the news over the last couple of weeks. There were two events that got me to thinking about the meaninglessness of life in general. One involved a person going to work on his motorcycle, just the average guy on his way to work, enjoying the beautiful morning, and bam, hit by a car and killed. Game over. The second one involved a wreck down by Denver on I-70 eastbound, coming out of the mountains. Guy driving a semi loses his breaks and plows into multi other cars, killing four people. Again, these were people on their way home, from work, from the store, from whatever. But again, bam! Game over. Both events awful. No meaning, no redeeming quality what so ever. A senseless loss of life in every respect.

This picture was also taken Thursday 25th, April 2019. It is looking West at the Prospect Ponds open space in Fort Collins.

At first I got depressed just thinking about them. And while this would not be unusual for anybody to feel this way. I started to obsesses about them a little bit. I think it had to do with the fact that both of these hit close to home for me. I have been that guy on the motorcycle, riding to work, enjoying the morning, but did not get hit by the car. And I have been that guy driving down I-70, coming back from a wonderful day of skiing, looking and seeing the semi’s in the rear view mirror and wondering if their breaks would hold? And they did.

This picture was taken Friday 26th, April 2019. It is from an open space called Pineridge. It is just west of town but still in town. I think that it gives a beautiful view of Fort Collins.

I know that there are those that would say it was some “supreme beings will” that it was not my time to go. But I don’t believe that. I believe it really is just a matter of chance and luck. A quote that sticks in my head from when I first moved to Colorado and took my first Avalanche class was by the director at the time, Knox Williams. And it goes something like this. “Remember the mountains are full of dead experts. You read about it all the time, he or she was an expert skier, hiker, biker, snowshoer, etc… and they are all dead. The mountain does not care.” To extrapolate this further. I would say that the “Universe does not care.”

This picture was taken on Tuesday 30th, April 2019. Hate to use an old cliche’ but dang, “What a difference a day makes!”

Some might find this really depressing, and I did for a very short period of time. But it soon gave way to a kind of liberation. To realize that all our worrying, our anxieties, our fretting in whatever we are doing to get all the “details” just right. Does not really matter in the end. You could have been the model employee for the corporation, the faultless parent, the ultimate spouse, the quintessential neighbor, etc…. And bam! Game over. None of it mattered, your dead. Wow! That does sound depressing, but is it?

This picture was also taken Tuesday 30th, April 2019, but in the afternoon. And that is what I love about Colorado. Most of the snow had moved out. The bike trail was clear and it was another beautiful Colorado afternoon.

I for one don’t think that it is. I put forth that it is liberating. There is no deity, no person, no organization that you are beholding to. No provisos, no dogma, no limitations that are written in stone. You are free to determine your own destiny. For good or bad there is no “big eye” in the sky watching you. At least not a made up “magical one.” At some point technology will allow this to occur but that discussion is for another story. Of course what I am describing here is Existentialism. And some may say that I am having an “Existential Crisis.” Lol. And I guess that could be the case. But I don’t believe so. I think last weeks events were just a reminder of how I have felt for a long time, down deep. This coming May I will have been in the health care field for 40 years with the majority of that time spent in Emergency Medicine. And it has shaped my perspective on life to say the least. I truly believe that there is no meaning to life. It is just a jumble of random events that happen to us. If you want meaning you have to bring it. You have to create your own story. Not the other way around. And with this comes freedom but at the same time a considerable responsibility. Some can handle this responsibility and some can’t.

This picture was taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019. What a beautiful evening. Had no idea that the sun and clouds were going to give such a beautiful sunset. This picture was taken from the Powerline Trail in Fort Collins and usually does not have such fantastic views. Being in the right place at the right time can make all the difference.

Finding our own meaning takes some significant digging. It is not for the faint of heart. The first step is taking the time to find out “who you are” and this takes a lot of inner work. But one place to start this process is with meditation. I know, I know. I can hear it now. “I am not going to do that new age bulls**t.” But in reality, this tool, and that is all it is, goes back 1000s and 1000s of years. You don’t have to become Buddhist, or sit for hours chanting “OM”. You can start the process in as little as 5 minutes per day and build up from there. I keep track of my time spent meditating with a phone app. Somedays it is a long one, depending on the time I have available and others it is just 5 minutes. Meditation helps to open a door or window into who your “real self” might be. And that my friends is powerful.

This picture was also taken Wednesday 1st, May 2019, but just a few minutes later from the one above. Unreal that the colors could change so dramatically.

Well I think that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. Time to move forward off of the soapbox and on to other things. Existentialism Crisis solved?! Lololololol. No, I don’t think so and that is part of the “struggle” in being human. Let me know if you have had these same feelings? And what your solutions might have been. I would love to hear from you.

I hope everyone has had a great two weeks and I am looking forward to the next two. I will let you know how the Quad Rock goes. Take care and I hope to see you out there! Where ever “out there” may be. Adios amigos!!

This picture and the one below was taken on Friday 3rd, May 2019. What a beautiful afternoon here in Colorado. A good breeze in the right direction so the air was clean. This picture was taken looking southeast from Horsetooth Mountain Park.
Again, same day as the one above, but looking West towards Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Beautiful!!

Book Review, Exercise, Life and Meaning, Skiing, Space, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH, 2018

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“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturing’s, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”  – Carl Sagan

 

Damn what can I say…  It has been a really good week!!  Ski season has started and life is good!!  Got a chance to go up to Loveland Ski area on Thursday, November 1st and the snow was great.  I am hoping this winter will deliver a ton of snow.  The last couple of years have been on the wimpier side or I have just gotten used to a more abundant snowfall when my kids were little.  Not really sure.  I have not had a chance to really look at the records myself, but I do know that the “water guys” that keep track of this said that the last couple of years were not good for moisture in the mountains.  So maybe we are due?  That would be fantastic.  I used to get upset if we did not get our usual 50 inches of snow here in Fort Collins, but after living here for 30 plus years I am OK with it not snowing!  I guess I have gotten old!?  What is that about?  Where does the time go?  Lol.  Anyways – all kidding aside, if it would just dump in the mountains so to speak, then most of the state’s water woes would take care of themselves.

I have been watching a course called “The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know” and I have to say it is pretty amazing.  I did not know that the first serious science proposals of what might be out there in the rest of the Universe started in the 1940s.  I was thinking that it was much more recent.  But it truly started in the 1940s – at that time the technology of astrometry became good enough to detect planets.  Astrometry is the measurement of the position of a star on the sky, and if the star has planets, its position will wobble back and forth.  Because the technology was crude in today terms, there was conflicting evidence reported back then, so it did not get a lot of attention.  Fast forward to the late 1980s and early nineties, add in a few more techniques for detection and things start to get really serious.  In 1995 and on, the discover of exoplanets began to grow exponentially, and scientist from around the world were able to corroborate each other’s results.  This made a huge difference with the acceptance and birth of “Exoplanetary Science.”  What was once Science Fiction has now become accepted scientific fact.  It is well worth the money for the course.  It is about 12 hours of lecture divided up into 24 mini-lectures.  You can find it at the Great Courses:  https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-search-for-exoplanets-what-astronomers-know.html and you can find used editions on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Search-Exoplanets-What-Astronomers-Know/dp/1629972037/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541360656&sr=8-4&keywords=the+search+for+exoplanets+what+astronomers+know, you can do this course as a audio book or as DVD or Online streaming.

I wanted to post the above quote by Carl Sagan.  I think it really hit home with me after finishing the course.  We truly are just a speck of dust in a sunbeam.  And my guess, is that as we look for more exoplanets, we will find that we are not that special or unique.  Very, very sobering indeed.

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. Over 2000 exoplanets have been discovered since 1988. Specifically, 2098 planets in 1342 planetary systems including 509 multiple planetary systems as of 24 March 2016.

Well that is about it for me on this post.  I think that the Ultra season for me this year has come to an end.  Even though I did not successfully finish the Run Rabbit Run 100.  I still feel pretty good, after all it was 50 miles when I timed out and as someone much wiser than I am at times said, 50 miles is still 50 miles.  So, time to get ski season on and enjoy the snow while it is there.  I do plan on racing some shorter runs for the remainder of the year and the start of next year, mainly to work on speed.  I will let you know how it goes!

A late evening Fall afternoon in Fort Collins.

Take care my friends and maybe I will see you out there on the trails or at the ski slope!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art, Book Review, Colorado, Meditations, Psychology, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR MONDAY 8TH, OCTOBER 2018

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“Buddhism does not advocate faith in the sense of believing something because it is written in a book, attributed to a prophet, or taught to you by some authority figure.  The meaning of faith here is closer to confidence.  It is knowing that something is true because you have seen it work, because you have observed that very thing within yourself.  In the same way, morality is not a ritualistic obedience to a code of behavior imposed by an external authority.  It is rather a healthy habit pattern that you have consciously and voluntarily chosen to impose upon yourself because you recognize its superiority to your present behavior.” 

– Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Gunaratana

FALL 2018 – LEAVES ARE CHANGING IN FORT COLLINS!!

Well it has been a good week.  Again, I really cannot complain.  Life is good.  It is not perfect, but what is?  Everything is changing and nothing is static for long.  Change is the only constant.

LAST CORD OF A 4 CORD TOTAL!!

I have continued this week to put up firewood for the winter.  Four cords total.  Good to get it done early and to be ready when the snow and cold temperatures come.

JULY 26TH

AUGUST 13TH

SEPTEMBER 3RD

OCTOBER 5TH

Finished the deck above the garage, but still working on the structure above the garage deck.  This has taken me some time.  As you can see by the dates and the above photos.  But when it is done I think it will be worth the effort.  I will show some photos when it is finally finished.  Trying to get it done before Thanksgiving. Lol.

I have started to reread a book this year called:  MINDFULNESS in PLAIN ENGLISH, by Bhante Gunaratana.  This will be the fourth time I have read it.  It is an excellent book on Meditation and Mindfulness.  This is one of those books that rereading it at least once a year is something you want to make a habit of.  It is that good.  Truly if you want to be able to enjoy life more, no matter what your circumstances are or what is going on in the world, this could be the single most important book you could read this year.  The book is a very readable down to earth look at what meditation is and is not.  A nuts and bolts book that “Westerners” can understand.

The book itself is about 196 pages not counting the Index.  Every time I have read this book I come across something new or more likely, “understand” better what the author is talking about.  I am not a religious or spiritual person.  In fact, I am an Atheist.  And that is what drew me to Buddhism.  I know that might sound funny to some but I see Buddhism as a form of philosophy that has been tried and tested over millennia with no “Divine Authority Needed.”  The purpose of meditation is personal transformation.  The person that goes into “meditation” so to speak is not the same person that comes out.  You can use these same techniques in meditation no matter what religion you are.  Or you don’t even have to have a religion like me.  It will work for anyone if they give it thoughtful consideration.  Just to be clear I am talking about vipassana meditation.

From the book: “In vipassana meditation we cultivate this special way of seeing life.  We train ourselves to see reality exactly as it is, and we call this special mode of perception mindfulness.  This process of mindfulness is really quite different from what we usually do.  We usually do not look into what is actually there in front of us.  We see life through a screen of thoughts and concepts, and we mistake those mental objects for reality.  We get so caught up in this endless thought-stream that reality flows by unnoticed.  We spend our time engrossed in activity, caught up in eternal pursuit of pleasure and gratification and eternal flight from pain and unpleasantness.  We spend all of our energies trying to make ourselves feel better, trying to bury our fears, endlessly seeking security.  Meanwhile, the world of real experience flows by untouched and untasted.  In vipassana meditation we train ourselves to ignore the constant impulses to be more comfortable, and we dive into reality instead.  The irony of it is that real peace comes only when you stop chasing it.”

I think of the above as “turning in” to what is happening around you.  Not to try and run from unpleasant situations or thoughts but turning in towards them.  This is not a doctrine you need to drill into yourself, but an observable reality that with practice you can see for yourself.  The idea is to make the “mindfulness” so common place that you do it without really thinking about it, no matter the situation.  This part of mindfulness that has taken me a long time to master and I am still working on it.  The idea of: “Don’t confuse Training Conditions with Real World Situations/Actions.”  When the proverbial “Shit hits the fan” conditions occur in my life – I still fall back into old habit patterns and forget all about mindfulness practice.

From the Book: “One of the most difficult things to learn is that mindfulness is not dependent on any emotional or mental state.  We have certain images of meditation.  Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly.  Those are training conditions.  They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the skill of mindfulness.  Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should.  You don’t need to move at a snail’s pace to be mindful.  You don’t even need to be calm.  You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus.  You can be mindful in the middle of a football scrimmage.  You can even be mindful in the midst of a raging fury.  Mental and physical activities are no bar to mindfulness.  If you find your mind extremely active, then simply observe the nature and degree of that activity.  It is just a part of the passing show within.” 

You can download the book as PDF off the web.  Yes, it is free. (my first time to read it) I found that it was so good, I went ahead and bought a copy from Amazon.  https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-Revised-Expanded/dp/0861713214/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0/145-7252461-2444901?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=68396RBSG0293KGXVV6C

Well that is about it for me this week.  But one last thing.  The most recent heart picture is coming along.  Slowly but surely.

SEPTEMBER 20TH

OCTOBER 5TH

Take care my friends and I hope see you out there on the trails!!

 

Colorado, Exercise, Meditations, Psychology, Thankfulness, Truth and Perception

MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY 30TH, SEPTEMBER 2018

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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.  So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don’t.” – Melody Beattie

Well it has been a good week.  Getting back into running a little bit this week and still doing some bike riding.  The weather has been beautiful.  We do need rain but at the same time and I have to say it again, the weather has just been fantastic for getting out doors.  Truly beautiful.  Warm afternoons, with cool mornings.  The sunsets have been stunning the past two weeks.  And I really cannot complain.   All the pictures below were taken in Fort Collins in the late afternoon/ early evening Monday though Thursday.   I am fortunate to live where I do.

Lake Sherwood in Fort Collins looking West on Monday evening.

Spring Creek Trail in Fort Collins looking West on Tuesday evening.

Powerline Trail in Fort Collins looking South on Wednesday evening.

Poudre River Trail in Fort Collins looking West on Thursday evening.

It is that time of year again and I am starting the process of putting up firewood.  Had two cords of pallet wood delivered this week.  I have to say this stuff burns great.  The trick to making it a lot less of a hassle to stack is to build your wood racks so that you don’t have to stack it.  You can just throw the various pieces in the rack not caring how they land.  Took me a few years to figure this out.  Lol.  This process makes it a lot easier to put it up.

Well on a different note, even though I have everything that I need and really want, there are days that I wake up thinking that I need something more, something different, something new, more money, a different car, a different bike, different running shoes, more this, more that, more, more and more.  If you let it, the “More Virus” as I call it,  will continue without end.  A vicious cycle.  Always promising happiness, but never delivering.  Never delivering a lasting happiness anyways.  This was one of those weeks were I was infected so to speak.  First it was thinking that I needed new running shoes, then it was a different bike, next the “monkey mind” wandered on to a different RV (yes, I own an RV), and of course with all these new things, the next logical step was I needed more money, so then you need to work more, etc.…  And I won’t bore you with the rest, needless to say this cycle went around and around in my mind for most of the week until about midway through I started to look at the above pictures.  As I said before, I collected these over the last week during a run or bike ride and realized that the “More Virus” could jeopardize future moments like this.  And that is all it took to comprehend, I was really, really happy this week.  It was a very good week and nothing in the “material world” could have added to it.  And that inoculated me from the “More Virus” for the week.  For next week…Lol….

Well that is about it for me.  Have a great week and I hope to see you out there on the trails!!  Adios amigos!!

 

Life and Meaning, Meditations, Psychology, Sociology, Truth and Perception

MUSING FOR FRIDAY 17TH, AUGUST 2018

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“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life.  It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.”   Joseph Campbell
“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.”   Nisargadatta
“The fear of letting go prevents you from letting go of the fear of letting go.”    John Burdett, Novelist

Damn it has been a good week.  I just have to say, “Life is good and I really cannot complain too much.”  Yep, I know, there is still death and destruction in the world, that is the nature of our species and our existence since time immortal but there is hope too.  Nothing stays the same, everything changes, and there is hope that as the human species evolves that we will change in a way for the better….  And for some that is really hard to accept.  THE IDEA THAT THINGS CHANGE?!  Religion changes, science changes, societal norms change, all of life changes.  To believe there are things written in stone.  Too funny.  Someone that believes that, I mean truly believes that…. Well I think that they do not know their history all that well.  The one constant through all of antiquity, is change.  Nothing is permanent.  Absolutely nothing except “change” itself.

RIVER BEND PONDS OPEN SPACE

RIVER BEND PONDS OPEN SPACE

Thinking about change and how it is always happening can leave you feeling rudderless.  Like a boat on the water going in circles, or at the whims of the current.  How do you steer, what’s the goal, what’s the reason for life?  And if you find a reason how do you get there?  Some find a rudder in religion, some find a rudder with a specific cause, some never find the rudder and are the happier for it.  Joseph Campbell said it best.

“Life has no meaning.  Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life.  It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.”

POUDRE RIVER FROM LEMAY BRIDGE LOOKING EAST

NORTH END OF THE POWERLINE TRAIL LOOKING SOUTH, POSSIBLE JUVENILE OSPREY?

Or maybe it is something from the Indian Guru of nondualism, Nisargadatta.  Maybe he had the right idea about the meaning of life??

“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.”

 

I could just go on and on, quotes by Mooji, Osho, Buddha, Mohammad, Jesus, etc.…  They are all trying to tell you how to get to a metaphorical Disney Land.  The question I have, were they ever there themselves?  Did they actually make the trip so to speak or was it just pretending and made-up?  I don’t really believe that anyone has ever had a full explanation for how to get there AND what it actually means to be “there.”  What is that?  What works for one person and culture, may not work for another.  As soon as you think that you know “what is the “RIGHT” way – then you might as well be lost.  We each have to find our own way and defiantly not expect others to follow the same path.  What hubris.

TRAIL APPLES ON THE POWERLINE TRAIL – GETTING RIPE!!

My path took a turn for the better back in 2008.  I did not see it as such but looking back now I realize how important that year was because of what I started doing.  The only thing that I wish I could do differently is go back in time, way, way back in time and start what I call the “practice” much sooner.  In 2008 I started to do “meditation” and now looking back I cannot believe that it has been 10 years!  Unreal.   The practice started slowly but has gradually built over time to the point that I try and do meditation each and every day.  Some days it is only 5 minutes and some I get close to an hour.  I believe that I am a much more relaxed and focused because of the meditation.  It has opened me up to new thoughts and ideas, exposed some of my more hubris inspired ideas and I like to believe made me a much more caring and compassionate person.  I really like reading about Buddhism but I do not consider myself Buddhist.  I look at it as a philosophy that has lasted the test of time.  And it does not require you to believe in “magical beings.”  This has been my path for the last 10 years and for me it has been a good path.   But at the same time, I realize it is just a tool, like a boat, to get across a metaphorical river and once you are across, then you may not need it anymore.  And that is OK too.

SUNSET FROM THE POWERLINE TRAIL

I have just been rambling on and on and on.  But I guess that happens sometimes.  Oh well, one last thing before going.  I have learned and am still learning the benefit of “letting go” and how hard it can be to do this sort of thing.  Especially letting go of the control.  Letting go of the anger, letting go of fear, letting go of old hurts, letting go of anything that is not really a benefit anymore, mental or material.  So hard to do.  I came across a quote by the Novelist John Burdett that speaks to this very well.

“The fear of letting go prevents you from letting go of the fear of letting go.”

Let that sink in for a bit.  And if you are like me, it really hits home.  I started to laugh after pondering this quote for a while – so true of us all.  And in a roundabout way a good reminder that “Nothing is Permanent”, all things CHANGE.

Well until next time.  Have a great weekend and hopefully I will see you out there!!

 

 

 

Truth and Perception

FRIDAY 15TH, MAY 2015

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“THERE ARE THINGS KNOWN AND THERE ARE THINGS UNKNOWN, AND IN BETWEEN ARE THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION”
– Aldous Huxley

 

“PERCEPTION IS REALITY UNTIL IT IS CHANGED”

 

“THE FOOLISH REJECT WHAT THEY SEE, NOT WHAT THEY THINK. THE WISE REJECT WHAT THEY THINK, NOT WHAT THEY SEE” – Huang Po

 

Perception, perception and perception – it is all about “conceived perception.” In the last year I have come to believe that what we experience, what we feel, what we like or dislike, etc… are all related to our imagined perceptions. And if we can change our perceptions of what we think, feel or experience then we can change our thinking and in turn our world. It is all up to us. I came to this current conclusion partly by journaling almost every day for the last 4 years. It brought me to the deduction that most of what we think of as “truth” is just made up. It is our perceptions and the perceptions of others that we come to live by. Those conceived perceptions are just made up in the mind and are subject to all the same mistakes, errors, faults and blunders that humans make every day. This is not to say that if you keep a very positive outlook on life that nothing will happen to you that is bad. Terrible, awful things happen in life, and on the flip side wonderful, incredibly beautiful and joyous things happen too. Those events happen and there is nothing we can do about it, except to remember that perception is the means we use for the interpretation of those events. Good or bad. It is a relative truth. The day to day things and events that we talk about, gossip about, Facebook about, sell, buy, etc…those things are all conceptual. Just made up and always in a state of change from person to person, culture to culture, year to year – ephemeral as a Mojave Desert steam in summer.

Ultimate Truth – the “direct and immediate experience” of an event – this is something different. It is perception but not “conceived perception” which is cluttered by all the day to day matters in your life. Instead this is direct experience, direct perception. You cannot hold this type of perception in your mind – you can only experience it, as it is happening, right then, right now, right in the moment. The pain or joy that I feel in doing an Ultramarathon is a way for me to experience that direct perception. When I am lucky enough and can clear my mind having no other thoughts in place except on breathing or the discomfort in my legs, I experience what is known as an ultimate truth. No preconceived notions, no worries about yesterday or tomorrow, no concerns about work, family or friends, just experiencing the moment as it unfolds, good or bad, makes no difference. It can be a way to experience nirvana.

Some people might call this Buddhism, I just call it two kinds of perception. Conceived perception (Relative Truth) and direct perception (Ultimate Truth). They are neither good nor bad – they just are and both are needed to survive in the world. As humans we all have the tendency to ignore what we see in favor of what we would like to imagine. The challenge is to realize this. To examine the world around you in a clear and cautious fashion, testing all ideas, all concepts and all agendas. Remembering that nothing is sacred. That everything is suspect. To comprehend what is real and what is just made up but seems real.

Wow not sure where that all came from, but these are my opinions and I am sticking to them at the moment. Of course all is suspect and might change by next week!

Well on a different note, it has been very wet on the Front Range of Colorado for the last 7 to 10 days. But this past Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful spring day in the Fort Collins area. The high only reached about 60 degree with very light winds. A perfect day for running or biking. Since my middle daughter was in town for a visit and wanted to go running and hiking that is what I did. The above two pictures were taken in Horsetooth Mountain Park. The top one is looking west towards Longs Peak. Still looks like there is a lot of snow in the high country. The next one is looking south towards Loveland. It was taken while running on Tower’s Road trail. The bottom two pictures were from Wednesday. Of course what a difference a day makes. Clouds, mist and the chance of rain back in the forecast. The second from bottom picture is looking north from the Shore Line Trail at Horsetooth Reservoir. The very bottom picture is also taken from the Shore Line Trail but looking south.

Well that is it for me this week – take care and see you out there!!