Emptiness

This article makes me feel only a little better but when I fell "empty" I equate it with "sad." It discusses emptiness as "an infinitely open space that allows for anything to appear, change, disappear, and reappear. The basic meaning of emptiness, in other words, is openness, or potential." and for the most part, that makes me feel sad. Alzheimer's does that! It helps you focus on the negative rather than the positive. I have been working on changing that for a long time now. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.

 Shambhala Publications

THE MEANING OF EMPTINESS

—Tsoknyi Rinpoche, from The Best Buddhist Writing 2013 http://www.shambhala.com/the-best-buddhist-writing-2015.html

“Emptiness” is a rough translation of the Sanskrit term shunyata and the Tibetan term tongpa-nyi. The basic meaning of the Sanskrit word shunya is “zero,” while the Tibetan word tongpa means “empty”—not in the sense of a vacuum or a void, but rather in the sense that the basis of experience is beyond our ability to perceive with our senses and or to capture in a nice, tidy concept. Maybe a better understanding of the deep sense of the word may be “inconceivable” or “unnameable.”

So when Buddhists talk about emptiness as the basis of our being, we don’t mean that who or what we are is nothing, a zero, a point of view that can give way to a kind of cynicism. The actual teachings on emptiness imply an infinitely open space that allows for anything to appear, change, disappear, and reappear. The basic meaning of emptiness, in other words, is openness, or potential. At the basic level of our being, we are “empty” of definable characteristics.
 

Noah's Ark

Got this inspirational e-mail from a friend and while their intention was good, it rubbed me the wrong way. So last night I went in and "red line" commented. All negative. This morning I realized that and went back in to "green line" and to try to see the positive. What do you think?

• • • • •

I am not afraid of tomorrow for I have seen yesterday and I love  am having a hard time with today. But today is really all we have and it is what we do with it!

Noah's Ark :  Everyting I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark. I doubt it. We learn from many places and people and experiences. 

ONE: Don't miss the boat. It’s got nothing to do with being on the boat. It has to do with making good decisions, being a caring person, love.

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat! Not true, we each have our separate problems to deal with and our own successes. While we all come from the same source how we live our lives can be different as night and day.

THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. Sometimes there is no way to guess what might be needed in the future. So just live one day at a time and do the best you can.

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. A shame if you waited until you were 60 to do something really big. Hopefully your life will be filled with many big things over time, especially if you know how to look for them.

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. This is somewhat true although sometimes the critics are right. Most important however, is to listen to yourself, to your heart.

SIX: Build your future on high ground. No matter how high the ground you might still drown. Or you might know how much is enough and live purely and simply.

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs. Sometimes the pairs work and other times you need to leave the other behind. Actually LOVE is all you have.

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.  Sometimes delayed actions miss the opportunity. Traveling is the point not how slowly or quickly.

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile. Or drown. Or have a good cry, meditate, count what you are grateful for and the stress will dissipate. 

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. And they both caused a lots of deaths. Either way we all die and what counts is how we spent our life and how we loved.

ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting. If God exists and while there might be a rainbow waiting it usually disappears with the sun. God is within, trust yourself, know what matters, LOVE!

You'll Know

You'll know that things are not going well when you find many posts here. It is a way for me to process and put to rest, at least for a brief while before the next one, the injuries sustained by the most recent explosion.

Perhaps I should try to write about the good things that happen.

Like Gregory just having brought me half a pear (the other half for his lunch) sliced and beautifully arranged on a plate.

Or the fact that this time when folding the underwear, he got his size and my size correctly into different piles. In the past I have found myself unwittingly trying to fit myself into his underpants which were neatly folded into my drawer. Not a pretty sight if you know how slender he is and how ample I am.

Or how he tells me every night before we drift off to sleep how much he loves me.

For these things I am grateful.