Emergnce from Re-insertion into the Matrix

Nemo's Notes has a new home: Nemosnotes.org

 All new content (2022 onward) is now hosted there

 This is a sample of what you will find there:

Roughly mid-2010 my seeking was abandoned and I willfully re-inserted myself into the Matrix. Well, probably it was a few years earlier when I pissed away what progress and awareness I had accrued, and neglected to quiet the mind to make it permanent. But I continued a few years until mid-2010.

12 years later, Monday November 7th, while mercilessly castigating myself once again for not making a lasagna perfectly, the complete absurdity of casting  shame, blame and guilt on myself one more time popped me out of the Matrix. Seeking began again stronger than before. There was new, more mature quality to it.

On Friday Nov 10th, I started earnestly practicing breaking the thought stream and quieting my mind by focusing attention on the itchy, electric feel of aliveness that surrounds my hands and forearms. After a few days this worked to break the thought stream.

Once it was broken what followed was the solving of a conceptual puzzle and with that a reversal of foreground and background and a major personality shift. Then the apparent letting go of a false self.

Saturday November 19, 2022, meditation started on I and Who Am I per Ramana Maharshi.

On Wednesday night, November 23, 2022 (23 !) seeking came to an abrupt end.

See the Nemo’s Notes Posts for day to day journal.

A few words about the pictures at the top.

The first one is an image that came to me on a tough “death march” Project. I  clearly saw me – the rabbit  – pulling itself out of its own hat. Nice symbolic metaphor for the practice as well.

The second one needs no explanation.

The last one is an image that came to me years ago.

I would also direct you to M. C. Escher’s Print Galley for an excellent woodcut of the Painter in the Picture.

Where would I and this be without music?

The first two stanzas from John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High. Apologies for the minor changes John, I trust you understand.

He was born in the fall of his 63rd year, coming home to a place he’d never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door
When he first came to the mountains, his life was far away on the road and hanging by a song
But the string’s already broken and he doesn’t really care
It keeps changing fast, and it don’t last for long

 

Coronavirus Updates

Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance: What the Next 18 Months Can Look Like, if Leaders Buy Us Time - Why are we taking such extreme measures?


Dr. Emily Landon at the Illinois Governor's COVID-19 Press Conference:

Peak Prosperity - The coronavirus marks the end of the long era of growth and the new era of deglobalisation, supply disruption, international balkanisation and state interventionism. We are now entering that era.


Hell is Coming: Here is the Mathematical Proof

Why is the Trump administration scaring the people with gross exaggerations and moving us into government control? The Co-Vid-19 infection rate is around .002% and four out of five of those get well (better numbers than the original SARS).  - Have gratitude for swift measures saving your sorry ass.

Total confirmed cases of COVID-19 - see the graph of the world at once

How to Handle The Virus Crisis

If possible try and (re)establish existing routines - for example - I do yoga in the morning, then meditate then exercise. Lunch and dinner same time. Keep drugs/alcohol to a minimum until you are more stable. Be willing to just sit and cry once in a while. It’s ok. Not all day. Not everyday. Take a deep breath (or 2 or 5) and then get up and move. Rinse and repeat. 

Be gentle with yourself - you are defining a new being-ness - a new normal. Most of us hate to have our cheese moved. It’s jarring and unfair and anger and resentment and sadness and fear are normal. Breathe, acknowledge the feelings, tell your mind “thanks for sharing” and don’t believe the lies it tells you - anything about the future is a lie by definition. And if it’s about others and you have not verified it yourself, then that is a lie as well. Also, mind works in absolutes - “it will always be like this or never be like that”. All absolutes are lies as well. Your conditioned mind is tricking you.

Move on and don’t stay stuck. Try new things.

Keep the news to a minimum. I had a meltdown over the weekend and my wife put me on news rationing - I was allowed to look briefly 3 times a day. Monday and Tuesday I had difficulty focusing and concentrating with work. That seems to have passed. But I am still not on the news as much.

Sitting and puddling will not help. Your mind may tell you that if you start crying you’ll never stop. Highly unlikely! Most I’ve seen someone go is about 20 minutes. It will stop.

Try helping others. Reach out. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. I find myself deeply moved, and emotionally empathetic with all of humanity and our predicament at times. Very surprising about myself. Watching the virus infection growth graph animate in real time - basically watching fast growing exponential curves - is tough.

Watch this: The real heroes are the medical ppl on the front lines AND the infrastructure and service folks who remain at their stations. Amazing how we all pull together when it gets tough. Just sit and appreciate and meditate on THAT.

And: What is the good news for the Coronavirus?

Maybe try this viewpoint: Perhaps Life is getting us to correct our maladaptive behaviors and giving us a window to do so. If this had been like ebola or black plague - different discussion (and even then, just a more severe correction).

Maybe it’s kinda like A Christmas Carol - we’re being given a chance to change our behavior. Ask what *you* will now choose to do differently. A very good question, for all of us, actually. Maybe this is an opportunity. Maybe Life loves all of us so much it will do whatever it takes to get us to correct our behavior and live in alignment with what really works for the species as a whole. I look at it this way: Humans are getting “spanked.” That’s a Metaphor not literal truth (i don’’t think).

Or it’s just basic math and physics: We created this (in part) by clearing wild forests and moving into new and foreign animal territories we previously had never encountered - this was going to happen. There were lots of warning no matter what the elected leaders say. We - as a whole -simply chose not to listen. And it will continue to happen. Next time we listen better and don’t get spanked as hard.

One Single Point of Consciousness's Perspective.

"These Magic Kids", "Our parents don’t know how to use a fucking democracy, so we have to" & "It's their Vietnam Moment"

Today has been a day of awakening for me, and I suppose it has been for many of my age-contemporaries, too. As a fifty-one year old man, I don’t cry much, but, wow, have I been a weepy mess all day today watching these magic kids. And that’s the term that keeps coming back to me: These kids are magic.
That and the rest of the article pretty well sums it up for me. I'm proud of these kids.

Todd Hogg reminds me more than a little of  Mario Savio, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and other rebels of my generation. 

Todd Hogg's quote is one of the best things I've heard in a long time:

"When your old-ass parent is like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage,’ and you’re just like, ‘Give me the fucking phone and let me handle it.’ Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government; our parents don’t know how to use a fucking democracy, so we have to."

My wife says it's sad that this is how it has to work. I'm not sure I agree. Birth is a painful process.

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”

― Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

It takes blood to make people stop their Fucking Bullshit.

"You and me we keep walkin' around & we see all the bullshit around us
You try and keep your mind on what's going down
But you can't help but see the rhinoceros around us
and you wonder what you can do
and you do what you can
To get bald and high

You say it's healing but nobody's feeling it
Somebody's dealing - somebody's stealing it
You say you don't see and you don't
You say you won't know and you won't

Someone stood at the window and cried one tear. I thought that would stop the war, but someone is killing me"

House at Pooneil Corners
Jefferson Airplane, 1969

Lewis Black nailed it: 50 years ago we were sending our youth overseas to be killed and maimed for corporations, money and greed. Now we bring it home and and do it in our schools. 

Noam Chomsky on Martin Luther King Jr 

"People are always waiting for a Savior But no Savior is gonna come.. That's not how it works....You're not going to get a leader who will save you, unless you do the work"

Start at 1:56

I was under 10 years old when all this was happening in the 60's - I grew up influenced by it but could only read about it later.

To be here now and see it happening is amazing.

I watched the March video and Emma’s 6 minutes of silence. Immensely powerful. The fact the network let it all play was even more amazing.

It always starts with the youth. Enough is enough.

It's weird, and sacred to be able to be here and watch it all happening. Again.

Good questions for a get to know you/drinking game

From the post:

Questions that truly reveal someone’s personality and capabilities

1. If you could have superpowers, would you use it for good or for evil?
2. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
3. Would you accept the gift of reading other people’s minds if it meant you could never turn it off?
4. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
5. Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or strength?
6. Would you rather be able to eat as much as you want with no weight gain, or require only 3 hours of sleep a day?
7. If you had to choose to live without one of your 5 senses, which one would you give up?
8. In what ways are you the same as your childhood self?
9. If you had your own TV network, what would it be about?
10. If you’re in a bad mood, do you prefer to be left alone or have someone cheer you up?
11. Would you rather know without a doubt the purpose and direction of your life or never have to worry about money for the rest of your life?
12. If you could master one skill you don’t have right now, what would it be?
13. What song typifies the last 24 hours of your life?
14. What words would you pass to your childhood self?
15. If you had to do it over again, what would you study in school?
16. If you could have any accent, which one would it be?
17. Would you rather be married in an arranged marriage or spend the rest of your life single?
18. If you could be someone of the opposite sex for a day, what would be the first thing you do?
19. Would you rather have an extra hour everyday or have $40 given to you free and clear everyday?
20. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island with one other person, who would it be?
21. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
22. Would you rather spend 48 straight hours in a public restroom or spend the next 2 months taking only public transportation?
23. What did you learn in school that has proven to be the least useful?
24. If you had an extra hour every day, what would you do with it?
25. Would you rather lose your sense of taste and small or lose all of your hair?
26. If you could invent something, what would it be and why?
27. Would you rather have more than 5 friends or fewer than 5 friends?
28. What stands between you and happiness?
29. If today were to be your last day in your country, what would you want to do?
30. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
31. What was the last thing you got for free?
32. Would you rather be extremely attractive or be married to someone who is extremely attractive?
33. What do you want to be remembered for?
34. Would you rather have $50,000 free and clear or $1,000,000 that is illegal?
35. If you could trade lives with one of your friends, who would it be?
36. Would you rather discover something great and share it? Or discover something evil and prevent it?
37. What movie deserves a sequel?
38. If you could see 24 hours into the future, what would you be doing?

The World Continues to Turn

I'm sure quite a lot of folks are in shock this morning. I was surprised when I heard about our new president. Surprised, but not unexpected. I wanted to share some things today.
If you are looking for perspectives that are more direct, insightful and outside MSM, these may serve you well.

Don't Panic - First, understand that the opposite of panic is not blithe acceptance of the situation -- it's clear-minded, positive, day-to-day action. Panic makes you do stupid shit or, even worse, curl up into a ball and do nothing. Don't tell me you have reason to panic. You never have reason to panic. You have reason to act.

Why it happened. Chris Hedges has insights in this post and this one:

The rise of Donald Trump is the product of the disenchantment, despair and anger caused by neoliberalism and the collapse of institutions that once offered a counterweight to the powerful. Trump gives vent to the legitimate rage and betrayal of the white underclass and working poor. (my emphasis)

John Michael Greer does well in capturing the rural vs city dynamic here.

As does Cracked: How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind.

And I think Bob Cringley is spot on with his piece and quote from Harry S. Truman:

When contemplating General Eisenhower winning the Presidential election in 1952, retiring President Harry Truman said, “He’ll sit here, and he’ll say, ‘Do this! Do that!’ And nothing will happen.”

Personally, I am not a fan of globalism, and believe we need to focus more on local communities  to source our Food, Energy and Water, healthcare, goods and education. Perhaps this will be an opportunity to dive deeper into that.

And, if you are tweaked about the outcome, I have to ask: What did you do to participate in the political system and campaign and governing of our county and your local community, beyond voting?

I voted my conscience. I voted for the kind of country I want to live in.

I DO!

July 9, 2016

A splendid time was had by all.
100+ people in our house - which I never would have thought possible - and it worked. The house never ceases to amaze me.
A most wonderful experience!

If you are interested there is a short video.