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Post #43: Self and Self-Importance (A Tribute to Adler and Freud)
7 July 2023. A text far too personal for comfort, but anything less would not be worthy of these two Viennese heroes of mine.
Postscript to #43: The French Connection
7 July 2023. A master class on the vagaries of the writerly ego, not by me (who am I), but by BHL and Michel Houellebecq.
Post #44: Skillful Means and Taking Refuge in a Psalm
8 July 2023. If you don't think that skillful means are a problem for you, then good luck on your journey. You'll need it.
Post #45: Balmy Buddhism (Pain Revisited)
8 July 2023. Not to be too hard on my balmy buddies, but there is such a thing as being too sunny.
Post #46: Failure and the Writing Life
9 July 2023. Orwell is the undisputed authority here: “Failure, failure, failure—failure behind me, failure ahead of me…”
Post #47: Work and Its Fruits (Gandhi vs. Trollope)
10 July 2023. Just another four-letter word, isn’t it?
Post #48: Behold, a Pale Horse
11 July 2023. Yeah, /that/ pale horse. Sorry. I'm not happy with it either, but we are all in it together, one way or another.
Post #49: The Weeds along the Path
15 July 2023. "Weeds" come in many forms. Some make for good feed or fertilizer on the Path, others not. Judge for yourself, but wisely.
Post #50: Noble Listening
16 July 2023. Never mind which is greater, noble speech or noble listening. Either one gets you a gold medal in the great Dhamma Olympics.
Post #51: What Now?
20 July 2023. 50 posts and 500 visitors into the journey: unique, sure, but also counted only once. It's not a writer's world.
Post #52: Lucky Streaks
25 July 2023. Lucky streaks are a blessing: enjoy them whenever you get the chance. Just don't expect them to last. Ever.
Post #53: Surfing the Waves of Life
29 July 2023. Surfin’ Bird, Italian-style...
Post #54: Not Calm Enough to Meditate?
5 Aug. 2023. If being calm enough were a precondition of the Path, not its fruit, then who would ever start meditating?
Post #55: Love
11 Aug. 2023. But the greatest of these is Love...
Post #56: Heaven and Hell
21 Aug. 2023. A tribute to Aldous Huxley, undisputed hero of my younger years, after thirty years of striving to catch up with him.
Post #57: Joyfulness
25 Aug. 2023. Things may not always work out quite so smoothly, but the authorities are clear: the Path is meant to be walked joyfully.
Post #58: Fifty Days and Counting (Benefits of Meditation)
27 Aug. 2023. Yet another streak that did not last, needless to say; but it was nice while it did.
Post #59: Meditedium or Dhamma Dullness
28 Aug. 2023. Or plain boredom with the practice, to put it bluntly. That too happens and must be accepted with a smile.
Post #60: Goethe’s Higher Beings
28 Aug. 2023. German speakers will easily recognize the iconic Goethe and his famous poem; others may discover something new in it, or not.
Post #61: The Perils of Going on Vacation
5 Sept. 2023. On the delights of discovering that you would seem to need another break to recover from your vacation…
Post #62: What Makes a Buddhist?
16 Sept. 2023. Our old friend the First Noble Truth makes another appearance, and not the last one either...
Post #63: The Golden Rule
20 Sept. 2023. Make others feel important. So easy to see how important that is in life; so hard to remember it in the heat of the moment.
Post #64: My “Sermon” on Higher Learning
25 Sept. 2023. In desperate times, go preach to the fish if necessary…
Post #65: Ha-ha or Ta-ta
27 Sept. 2023. Laugh or leave the scene. Granted, it’s not quite so simple, but there is still much to it.