I haven't written in a while, it's true. Perhaps you'll find it in your heart to forgive me. Or, if not, then just look at the cute baby pictured here until you start giggling. It may be that I didn't have much that I wanted to write over the last few months, but also I probably forgot how useful this blog has been for keeping in touch with the multitude of great people I meet in life.
OK. Perhaps for a come-back post I might just write a little bit about what has been going on for me. I went on another meditation retreat last August at the North Fork Vipassana Center, and I'm headed to Occidental in a couple weeks for the 10-day Christmas course in the Goenka tradition.
I haven't been practicing the Goenka technique so much, however. I had a great conversation with Daniel Ingram, author of "Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha," and I guess I'd say I'm practicing meditation now in a way most similar to his particular teachings. Of course, he isn't so specific on what he recommends, he places more of an emphasis on the basic understanding (the three characteristics of anicca, anatta, and dukkha) and doing whatever one knows best to give 100% attention to these characteristics from moment-to-moment in each moment again and again. Well, that's my paraphrasing anyway. If you want to know more, you can read his (hardcore) Dharma book.
Other than meditation, I have been devoting a great deal of effort to the practice of Actualism - a technique which has as its specific goal: happiness, harmlessness, peace on Earth, and the end of delusion. These are the questions which stay at or near the forefront of my mind: In short, how to live with the sensibility to live peacefully and happily with my fellow humans.
I've also been taking classes at a local community college with the intent to build a new career. Many of the topics I've been studying have been directly relevant to life as well. I finally took General Psychology, which is funny since I've already learned so much about psychology indirectly anyway. As a side note, I find it fascinating how new this science is. Many of the discoveries of psychology have come only in the last century or two, and it's clear that there are still many errors in the current mainstream of psychological thought. If I had more of a disposition toward academia and research, I might try my hand at contributing to this developing field.
As for this physical world of trees, cars, people, clouds and such, I have continued to explore and discover: I just made it through a wild once-in-a-decade windstorm here in California. I discovered a Japanese mini-mall in my extended neighborhood. I heard the dribbling trickling sound of waves rolling across pebbles at Wilder Ranch State Park. I watched one heat of the O'Niells Cold Water Classic surf contest. And, of course I can't just be an observer, so I jumped in the cold ocean of Santa Cruz a few times too.
I think I will try to write more here. Things have changed a lot for me (as things tend to do) but part of the fun of blogging must be to see the evolution of thoughts and events through time.
