Journey Man

A blog about the many things I love, like languages, travel, good music, soccer, art, yoga, history, philosophy. Practicing daily to be still, kind & grateful. Father of two perfect children.

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“The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when ‘our’ side commits it. Even if one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows that it is exactly the same crime as one has condemned in some other case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified – still one cannot feel that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity ceases to function.” - George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism

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The Narcissism of the Angry Young Men

What to do about the deadly misfits among us? First, recognize the problem.

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Depeche Mode - Ghosts Again (Official Video)

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‎Ideas: Atlantis and the Apocalypse: The World of Pseudo-Archaeology on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Ideas, Ep Atlantis and the Apocalypse: The World of Pseudo-Archaeology - Feb 7, 2023

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‎Making Sense with Sam Harris: #307 — Twitter, Elon, & Free Speech on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Making Sense with Sam Harris, Ep #307 — Twitter, Elon, & Free Speech - Dec 30, 2022

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Enabling Act of 1933 - Wikipedia

Enabling Act of 1933 - Wikipedia

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Germany and Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler dies aged 85

German football legend Uwe Seeler has died at the age of 85.Seeler played in the 1966 World Cup final against England and scored 43 goals in

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Hitler And The Study Of History

Why do popular misperceptions of history persist? In part, it's bad teaching.

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The Racist, Exploitative History of ‘Laziness’

Historically, the people who are most excluded and are also the most likely to be branded ‘lazy’

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[dk-thrive]

Fernweh

Lately, I’ve learned the German word ‘Fernweh’ (literally ‘distance pain’), which describes the feeling of wanting to be somewhere else, like a reverse homesickness (‘Heimweh’), a longing for a place that isn’t where you are.

— Amy Liptrot, The Instant (Canongate Books, March 3, 2022) 

[the-evil-clergyman]

Illustrations from Dante’s Divine Comedy by Donn P. Crane 

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Die Dummheit geht oft Hand in Hand mit Bosheit.

Stupidity often goes hand in hand with malice.

Heinrich Heine (1797 – 1856), German poet, writer, and journalist

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Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid

It’s not just a phase.

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Another concert highlight of my life. Such a great gig, in the old Wembley stadium. Björk and Stereo MCs as support. I can’t hear Dancing Queen without thinking of this show.

[panatmansam]

Suffering

by  Saṃsāran

The Pali word dukkha is generally translated into English as “suffering”. We tend to associate suffering with fear, pain and loss. Indeed these things are included in the definition of dukkha but there is more. The word comes from the ancient Aryan word for the “hole in a wheel where the axle fits”. If such a hole is not placed in the exact center then the ride is unstable and bumpy. This is one of the many references to the “wheel of the dharma”. 

The overlay of the word Dukkha is “dissatisfaction”. We may suffer pain, fear or loss but the suffering of the Buddha is not these things but the feeling of dissatisfaction which arises from them. The Buddha grew old. He suffered tragic losses. He suffered from a painful back condition right up until the day he died. 

We will not ever be without pain. We will never be entirely without fear. We will all suffer the loss of loved ones as well as the loss of our beauty, youth, health and, eventually, our lives. The path of the Buddha cannot prevent these things from occurring. In fact, we need these things to strengthen us and to refine our consciousness. 

We can endure them without this dissatisfaction. We can endure them with stoic acceptance. We can detach ourselves from this suffering. Attachment or “upādāna” in Pali means literally “fuel” as in a pile of firewood. Attachment is the fuel upon which the fire of suffering burns. Without the fuel we need not experience dukkha. 

Attachment comes in four forms:

Craving sensual pleasures

Clinging to the view that the self is eternal or that the self is extinguished upon death: 

rites-and-rituals clinging to the idea that prayer and meditation alone can bring enlightenment.

self-doctrine clinging to things which are imperfect and transient.

Once we have come to understand the nature of attachment we can overcome it and in overcoming it cease to suffer.