Mundus Alter et Idem

[vesalius86-blog]

https://thinkprogress.org/u-s-leaves-the-u-n-human-rights-council-2bf690606819/ Ok I've been pulling an ostrich lately, because I just can't America right now, but the US just PULLED OUT OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL. The only other country to leave in the council's history was Libya, but they were kicked out; no nation has ever bailed before. I think our republic has a massive problem, and it isn't just Trump (though he's worse than the Civil War when it comes to American prosperity, and no I don't have sources, because I made it up, so cite me or sue me). The real problem is that within a short time we have seen the destruction of an immensely successful health care coverage bill, one that not only functioned fiscally but more importantly instantly improved and potentially saved the lives of millions of Americans. Then we got a new president. We had in place an at least reasonably progressive tax code, federally, rather than one that nakedly catered to corporate interest and the obscenely wealthy. Then we got a new president. We had protections in place to ensure that access to the internet, without censorship or limitation, by classifying internet access as a public utility (as, any argument claiming that net access is not a modern necessity would be absurd and ultimately futile). Then we got a new president. He appointed Ajit Pai FCC Chair, and bam! No more Net Neutrality. We had critical intelligence-sharing networks with our global allies that were necessary in proven cases to provide real national security. Then we got a new president. Sensing a pattern? Trump is, in my opinion, dismantling much of what was still good and functioning in the American federal government, but in reality he is also revealing an inherent flaw that exists within the very foundations of our governmental system. I don't know the answers, but a rebalancing of the three branch checks and balances would go a long way. Also, it'd probably be good if the Electoral College did its one and only job, ensuring that an unfit individual with questionable ties to hostile foreign powers not take office. If I, a guy who studied poetry, can see this, why don't the people in places of power?

[thebuddhistmind]

“Without your possessions, success, fame—who are you? You don’t know. You are your name, you are your fame, you are your prestige, your power. But other than these who are you? So this whole possessiveness becomes your identity. It gives you a false sense of being. That’s the ego.”

— Osho (via thebuddhistmind)

[vesalius86-blog]

We are in a constant state of "becoming." We have the choice, each moment to choose what we become, and each of us must, for the good of the other.

[vesalius86-blog]

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[vesalius86-blog]

I will never be as excited about anything as these men are about noodles. This fact has caused me to reevaluate my life's work. #noodleknowledge #wisemenramenzen #iwanttoliveliketheseloversoflinguini #noodsfordudes

[vesalius86-blog]

It took a couple decades, but Y2K finally became the disaster we were promised!

It’s no secret that I love cyber punk, and this artist’s depiction of the year change from 2017 to 2018 is not only conceptually original; it’s also extremely well done. Hope you enjoy!

Artist: Heri Shinato

[vesalius86-blog]

This is an actual PSA that the city of, Flint, Michigan, posted to the city website in 2015. For those unaware, in 2014 the city's leadership decided to tap into the Flint River rather than the Detroit water supply, all in an effort to save money. This discount infrastructure project released incalculable amounts of lead particles into the city's water supply, leaving residents with unsafe drinking water, water for bathing, and even water for hospitals and other critical services necessary for the city's day-to-day operations. Thousands of children in the city continue to show dangerous levels of lead contamination, a fact revealed by blood tests performed by an independent research organization (lead exposure in children can lead to any number of developmental issues, including reduced cognitive abilities, permanent brain damage, and reduced IQ); the city did not inform its citizens of the water contamination until these blood tests received media attention, yet still the city's officials made efforts to downplay the situation's severity, occasionally even resorting to a concerted effort to tamper with evidence of the pollution's existence. To this day, nearly five years later, despite the city's eventual, begrudging switch to the Detroit water supply, the Flint water supply still contains unhealthy levels of contaminants. In an age of 24-hour news cycles, many Americans have forgotten the people of Flint and the inhumane conditions that they must contend with, despite their living in the wealthiest nation on the planet. This post is meant to be a reminder: don't forget the people of Flint. Recent news update for those curious: http://www.newsweek.com/flint-bottled-water-michigan-lead-flint-water-crisis-844547 #flintmichigan #rememberflint #saveflint #everyonedeservescleandrinkingwater

[vesalius86-blog]

First photo ever taken of me (back in my day, we used a media called "film" to capture still images; for my younger followers, film is a kind of magical black ribbon that, through the dark arts, imprinted the likeness of what you saw onto a special piece of paper [also using magic, presumably]; you can learn all about it on wikipedia). I'm the one on the right in the top image for clarification. It was a difficult birth. On a more serious note, I find it amazing that this image can be digitized and shared with the globe, which is good for everyone, because I was one sexy baby. #yesistillhavethepacifier #noyoucannotborrowit

[thecalminside]

“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

[vesalius86-blog]

I've always considered Thich Nhat Han the very embodiment of compassion, but quotes like these are a kind reminder that he is, too, a source of lovingly stern wisdom.

[vesalius86-blog]

I'm not a patriot. There I said it, so find your best stoning stone and meet me in the town square. I think nationalism of any and every kind serves to separate people from each other; cause endless strife; and essentially make us all forget that we're hurtling through a vast, lonely void on a little rock-- but we're doing it together. That said, this post isn't about my personal views on a one-world government or the virtues and pitfalls of globalization; this post is about the handsome young man beside me (yes, the OTHER handsome guy), and it's about his lovely wife whom I adore more than I could ever articulate here. This post is about how proud an older brother can be of his sibling. This post is about missing someone dearly but knowing they've found their way in life, and it's about thanking whichever god you like that I can sleep easier knowing he's ok. Taylor, my brother, my blood, my best friend, the only person I will ever be able to feel "gets" me, I am one lucky son of a bitch to share a past with you, even if it wasn't always so bright. This post is about how I can never say enough how proud of you I am and how very, very much I love you. I might miss you terribly, but I think we both know that no distance will ever separate us. To you my brother, for all the days I've not said it, and those in the future I might forget: I love you, and I am so damn proud of the man you've become. tldr; my brother is a boss

[thebuddhistmind]

“Memory exists only after the ego has come into existence, because memory needs a center on which to hang. If you are not, where will the memory hang?”

— Osho

[vesalius86-blog]

Osho constantly supplies us with not only revelations but also with reveries. What Osho writes and, more importantly how he writes, blurs the line between the plainly apparent and the esoteric. Reading his wisdom is like rediscovering a logic that held once in a dream, so apparent and clear until one rises to make coffee and begin the morning commute. There's one thing I've learned studying Zen: every truth is both simple and profound, and that's what we find in these words.

[vesalius86-blog]

While this phrase/concept/notion is incredibly simple, perhaps even obvious, at its face, I encourage you to spend a few minutes deeply, sincerely, consumingly considering its profundity. Your beating heart is one with and utterly inseparable from a star that is collapsing inward or busting outward right now, as you read these words, and the matter that it contains or is ejecting will form or spread (among others) the element iron, the element coursing through your body with every beat of your indivisible heart. Of course Carl Sagan's famous quote about our being made up of "star stuff" refers to this fact specifically, but compare any two things: a shoe and a blade of grass; the moon's reflected light and a record player; a strand of hair and the ocean. All things are one, because all things exist together, in the same place, the same time, in this moment, the present (the only time we are ever able to experience). Remember all of this when you walk past a stranger on the street, one who looks maybe a bit different from you, and know that you are not two. You are One. *Disclaimer: Sorry for the poetically waxing block of text, but seriously, be kind dammit, and know that you and the universe are singular.*

[vesalius86-blog]

[thebuddhistmind]

“In the ultimate sense, all desires are the same, because desire means you are not contented with yourself as you are. Desire is a discontent. Desire means a hope in the future—that somewhere there must be a place where everything will fall in tune with you.”

— Osho

[vesalius86-blog]

Of the many Buddhist hindrances to wisdom, desire and attachment in some forms are, to me, most difficult to overcome. I often unknowingly hold then in a tight grasp-- I strive each day to slowly open my palms.

[vesalius86-blog]

#Repost @spiritual_park ・・・ I have found this notion to be more and more true as time goes by: if you accept yourself as one thing, you have denied yourself all other possibility, but if you accept yourself as nothing, you are free to be anything. You are free to choose one of your innumerable selves each day just as simply as you choose an outfit, and again each day shed a self and don one anew. The original poster's commentary can be found below: "The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward." @spiritual_park

[vesalius86-blog]

What is too easily forgotten. #sunyatta

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I often need a reminder. #theglassisalreadybroken #zen