1.
Unsolicited, reality streams.
If your ear’s already trained to the sound of reality, you hear nothing but random noise.
If, however, your ear is epistemologically* still new, you hear marvelous melodies of meaning.
2.
We all start out as equal.
But then we get preferred, selected, chosen.
In: the beautiful (as the mind’s eye sees it)! Out: the ugly!
3.
We keep trying to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio**.
We seek more signal, we seek less noise.
We find more discrimination, we find less harmony.

The reality runs on cause-and-effect.  We are part of this reality.  We run on motive-and-behavior.  We run on reason-and-behavior.  After all, we reasonable, rational, sentient, sapient beings.  If we don’t have a reason (i.e. a motive) behind what we do, then whatever we are doing is mindless, meaningless, and reflexive.

Selflessness – as unmotivated behavior – is a psychologically-toxic myth.  A robot is selfless because it doesn’t have a self.  A human has a self, and this self makes choices, i.e. expresses preferences, i.e. moves towards wellbeing.  That’s how we operate.  That’s natural.  There’s nothing wrong with having a reason (i.e. motive) behind what you do.  We tend to struggle to acknowledge our motives in fear that you’ll be accused of selfishness.  But selfishness doesn’t have to be a bad word.  Selfishness* is simply a pursuit of well-being, an act of self-care.  It is our psycho-physiological imperative. 

Mind is a curmudgeon.  Mind doesn’t like to review and revisit.  It likes its presumptions.  So, an occasional “pattern break” is a healthy wake-up call for the sleeper.  Here’s a platter of consciousness for you to get you started this morning.

“Buddhists are one of the least popular religious groups in the country [US].  People like Buddhists less than they do atheists and Mormons – and only slightly more than they do Muslims” (source: Newsweek/Sept. 27, 2010, “Our State of Disgrace”)

My reaction (not that it matters):

• Surprised to find out that Buddhism is a religion (after all, Buddhism posits no gods and, as such, is more of a philosophy of living than anything else, the original psychotherapy of suffering, if you wish)
• Makes sense: compassion and “acceptance of reality as is” are threatening values; judgment is socially simpler

Who are the Hadza?

Location:  northern Tanzania; “About a thousand Hadza live in their traditional homeland, a broad plain encompassing shallow, salty Lake Eyasi… Genetic testing indicates that they represent one of the primary roots of the human family tree – perhaps more than 100,000 years old.”

Language: “not closely related to any other [language] that still exists”

What are the Hadza like?

A koan is a kind of question used as a training device in the Buddhist tradition, designed to help the aspirant attain a degree of clarity. I’m sure you’ve come across these zany questions before (“What’s the sound of one hand clapping?” or “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?”).

Here’s an emotional eating koan for you to meditate on…

What is your mind full of when you feel empty?

What do you think?