Touch me now. It doesn't matter. I've got breast armor. I'm failed pop idol Catty Purry Brand.
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I wish, I wish I were Daisy from Great Gatsby
It seemed to begin when I was a kid in middle school. I couldn't wait to get to the ninth grade so I could be all grown up like the seniors. They had mustaches, cars, and girls fawning all over them. But a strange thing happened, and I saw and noticed it in slow motion. Neither I nor my classmates were ever getting any older. We were the same people being promoted through the grades. The older kids left school never to be seen again, so there was no direct comparison. But in my I remember thinking that by the 9th grade, there was no real noticeable change. Sure, there was progression. We didn't freeze in time. What I mean is, we didn't become them. The 7th graders did NOT grow up to look like the 9th graders of our youth. What was going on? It might all be perspective, but everyone began to notice.
There must be a "self"! Or else who's writing -- and who's reading? - There is a self, an atta or atman. Touch your chest; there's the self. It does no good to think, "Is there a 'self' or is there not a 'self'?" What is useful is to ask,What is the nature of that "self" that for sure is existing right here right now?
It is (as impossible as it will ever actually be to believe but actually possible to see) utterly impersonal. This is why Buddhism is not a faith.
CAN YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS "NOT SELF" BUSINESS? IT SEEMS LIKE A JOKE. - Yes. It is possible to explain with an analogy. Let's say I say, "There's no such thing as a 'car.'" Then pointing you'll say, "You're crazy. It's right there! They're everywhere. Cased closed!"
But I'll say, "I didn't say there isn't anything that looks like a 'car.' The illusion exists, and it's quite useful to designate assemblages of things and cling to them as real entities, but the fact is -- in an ultimate sense -- there is no such thing as a car. You might ask, "What is there then?"
To that I will point to all the parts that, when put together, give the illusion of a new thing coming into existence. It sure seems to come into existence. It can do things the parts couldn't, and conventionally speaking, it is new to existence. But it never really makes it. It is unreal, an illusion.
"What's the proof?" you say.
I say, "Let's take it apart and find it." We proceed to disassemble the whole assemblage, and when we come to the last two pieces and separate them, do you think a 'car' will fall out?
No, it was never like that!
Exactly! And what was it like? Let's say a car is composed of 5,000 pieces but really only needs five (5): wheels, frame, motor, steering wheel, and brake. Is there a 'car' in there, or do these exist independently?
They exist independently. We don't need those particular pieces. Any set of wheels, frame, motor, steering device, and brake will do.
Do you see? The 'car' does not come into being and, of course, never goes out of being, in an ultimate sense. An illusion arises, and an illusion goes away, and this "illusion" is a convenient descriptor of that assemblage.
I don't get it.
Let's make it easier. Fire does not exist.
That's easier?
Yeah, because now you can point and say, "You're crazy. That's it right there. There's fire everywhere. Case closed!"
I will then counter by pointing out that what we call "fire," what we regard as real and existing and being "fire," is actually an illusion that arises utterly dependent on five factors.
What five? It is just one thing, a fundamental element!
Not at all. The five (and there can be more, but let's keep it to five fundamental ingredients which, when present, reliably give the persistent illusion of fire): fuel, heat, oxygen, wick, and the mysterious process-of-combustion. (We can go on and on analyzing "fire" into parts, but the one thing that is sure is that it is all parts, not a compact thing in itself).
How do we know that?
We know that because when present, Bam! The illusion arises. When any is missing, the illusion goes away. Put the five together (in a functionally coordinated way) and there it is, "fire." Take any way, and where has it gone? Where does fire go when it goes out?
Up? No, I don't know, into oblivion?
Does it wait in oblivion to come back? Because, let's say we remove oxygen, it will go right out. Add the oxygen back, and it will roar back. Where was it in the meantime?
It was not anywhere. It does not actually "go" out. It becomes unmanifested.
It becomes nonexistent, except it doesn't really come into and go out of existence either. It just seems to. Why? Because it is conditionally originated, that is, dependently originated. When this is, that comes to be. When that is not, it does not come to be.
Oh, I kinda get it. I don't believe it! I think people, and fire, and cars are real. Real REAL.
Can you begin to see, however, how and why someone might say they're unreal?
Not really. That's crazy.
It's crazy to our conventional way of worrying and needing to cling to illusions. But let's say we wanted to be free of illusions, then wouldn't it be great to disillusion ourselves?
Disillusion?
Awaken, enlighten, clearly see what's really there?
Well, yeah, sure if we could be sure that that really is the Truth.
We can. The Buddha saw it, pointed to it, and invited us to come and see, to clearly see the Truth, not to believe him or anyone else. We with our own purified and intensified eyes, heart, mind could come and see. Where is the car before the parts-of-a-car are assembled?
It isn't anywhere.
Where will it go when disassembled again?
It won't "go" anywhere.
Now you're getting it! It doesn't come or go because it was never really what it seemed to be. Illusion arises, that's for sure, and the illusion of the loss of it, that, too, is sure. But it isn't reality.
Why would anybody talk like this?
One (such as the Awakened One, the historical Buddha) would talk like this because we are clinging to pain (suffering, distress, disappointment) and the unreal. He wanted to move us to reality, and that means waking up to what's REALLY there and what's been there all along.
What's that?
Self and not-self.
Aha! So there is a self?
Yes, conventionally speaking. But ultimately speaking, no. There is no self.
You're crazy. It's right there. I'm pointing at it. Case closed.
And what are you pointing at?
At you, Dummy! I can also point to myself, Smarty.
Good, good. I say you're pointing at a body.
Well, sure, but within that body there's a soul, and that's the self!
Good, very good. The body is an illusion; you can see that much. Now let me disassemble the soul/self you're sure is in there. What are the components of "self"?
There are no components! It's a highly mysterious fusiform whale carcass thingy with feelings.
Ha ha ha. There is a body; that's one thing, but it is no thing. It is components. We can disassemble, reassemble, add, subtract, but still it's just a functional assemblage of parts. The "self" is partly that and partly four other things.
Things? What things?
Invisible things -- feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and a mysterious process we call consciousness. Whatever else we want to add to "self," it is at least these fundamental five things, these Five Aggregates clung to as "self."
Oh. I think I'm starting to see. You're not crazy, but you're speaking dangerously. Aren't you afraid you're going to vanish in a puff of unsmoke for talking like this?
What would vanish, the illusion? I'd be glad to get rid of it. It has cause incalculable misery (dukkha) and disappointment, chasing after things for it, never being able to satisfy or fulfill it. Ah, to be free!
Free of "self"?
No, free of the persistent illusion of "self" traveling and rearising life after life in this samsara, this Wheel of Rebirth, of Life and Death, of endless suffering (unsatisfactoriness)!
Yeah, I guess that would be good, but what about taking rebirth in a permanent heaven and having a good time all the time till the end of time?
Nice alternative, but it doesn't exist. The longest most enduring heavens all come to an end eventually. It may take a great aeon (maha-kalpa), but beings (dynamic becomings) fall away to continue on according to their just desserts which we call karma. And because of greed, hatred, and delusion (lust, aversion, and ignorance), our many unskillful deeds in pursuit of things will yield many painful results for a long, long time. It would be far better to awaken to the Truth.
Well, I won't argue with that. But who can say what the "Truth" is?
The Awakened One, the Buddha, and those enlightened ones who have awakened by practicing the Teaching (the Dharma) of the Awakened One(s).
Faith (saddha, confidence, truth, conviction) is useful but not nearly as important as a shamanistic attitude to actually come see the Buddha's Teaching, investigate it, and confirm it. It won't liberate us because it's true; it will liberate us because we PRACTICED whether or not we "believed" (had faith) in advance. Better to doubt and question AND practice than to completely "believe" and not practice.
Modern Buddhists try to explain this away by various analogies, many of which amount to Hinduism with different gods and bodhisattvas. It's actually very easy to grasp intellectually and not be confused, almost impossible to accept, as if by accepting we would instantly disappear in a puff of unsmoke (as in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). We will not. The habitual tendency or "conceit" (māna) to conceive, think, and speak in terms of I-and-other is very strong and not easily wiped away, but actually wiping it away is key to awakening from illusion and clinging and suffering. It is the missing key to enlightenment.
Even Mahayana, which often speaks like a school of Hinduism, could understand this if it only paid attention to its most prized and popular discourse, the Heart Sutra. It's not about love, feelings, and emotions; it's about getting to the heart of wisdom through the perfection of wisdom.
What is there if not a self/soul? - There are Five Aggregates clung to as self. - Who clings?! - The aggregates, steeped in ignorance, cling and have aversion/fear. Released from the illusion (disillusioned), there is freedom and realization that the ultimate Truth was always true. - How does [the illusion of] self arise? - It comes about through Dependent Origination.
Talking about "Emptiness" (Śūnyatā) and "Suchness" (Tathātā) obscures the fact that what the Five Aggregates clung to as self are devoid of is an abiding, enduring HEART, core, essence. Conditioned things do not last even one moment because in the sub-moments there is arising, turning, and falling away. This is true at a submicroscopic level of atoms (kalapas) and mind-moments (cittas), mind and body, name and form.
And this is great news because to really see it, even for a moment, transforms the heart/mind, releases us from illusion, as we are able to effortlessly let go of clinging and be free through the perfection of wisdom, the direct experience of the Truth.
This does not happen by accident. It happens by higher training.
Erin Brockovich, WQ: ABJ racked up another million views.
(Status Coup News) "She erased our history": Native Americans, victimized by Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi L. Arnold Noem, dying from radioactive water
I never really think about the ocean. It's just here.
Someday, maybe on June 8th, it will be World Ocean Day. Then people will begin to realize our whole way of life is made possible by the oceans.
Trees give us so much, and we can see them. The ocean with all its plankton, water cycle, and underwater forests gives us more, but we cannot see it.
Corporations pollute, and we clean it up.
We might live on chlorella, spirulina, Irish moss, and seaweed -- nourished by all the salts (minerals) of the earth without knowing it -- yet never think to thank the seas from the sand at the foot of the oceans.
The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) is halfway through. However, the UN Sustainable Development Goals on life below water (SDG14) remains the most underfunded goal.
This World Oceans Day, join us as we celebrate the ocean's essential wonder -- from all the wonders it consists of to the wonder it ignites. The ocean's wonder is what draws us in and drives our urge to protect it. Wonder is the foundation of scientific knowledge, the allure behind exploration, the curiosity that drives innovation, and the seed of traditional wisdom.
The act of wondering serves to remind us that we are part of something bigger. It wakes us up to our inherent connection to this earth and to each other, expands our understanding of what is possible, empowers innovation, and prioritizes decision-making for collective wellbeing.
While the ocean sustains our planet, wonder sustains our humanity. If the warnings haven't changed us, wonder is what will. More: United Nations World Oceans Day
World Oceans Day (WOD) is an international day that takes place annually on June 8th. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Ocean Project started global coordination of World Ocean Day... More
The ocean needs innovative, passionate leaders to drive the sustainable blue economy and ensure a healthy future. Scientists, academics, entrepreneurs, and technology developers are pushing the frontiers of exploration and innovation to monitor ocean health and counter the big challenges facing the ocean, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Economist Impact’s Ocean Changemakers Challenge showcases leading changemakers working to develop business solutions to ocean-related sustainability challenges. The competition... World Oceans Day | Insight Hour
Leo Di'o in The Beach in Buddhist Thailand, 2000; World Ocean Day; Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The lawyer Watts laid out the case as if those present, many of whom were in the mainstream media with cameras rolling, inside a special seminar room in Lake Avenue Church. Attorney Boxer, son of former Sen. Barbara Boxer, was present. The utility Edison is guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, as the judge in Family Guy would say. The evidence is overwhelming. Whether Edison loses is not in question. How it loses is. If Edison presents itself as a competent and responsible company that made a mistake, it is eligible for 80% reimbursement for its legal losses (estimated to range from between 20 and 23 billion due to the Eaton Fire). However, if it is shown to have been incompetent and irresponsible, it will have to cover the entire amount from its own coffers. We were shown pictures of a grounding wire that was not in place but only jerry-rigged and held down with chicken wire, unable to serve its function of grounding electrical surges (into the ground as intended). There is film footage of the derelict "zombie" transmission tower maintained by Edison sparking (electrically arcing) and setting the forest ablaze. The most damning evidence, however, comes from Edison's own records of urgent work orders never completed to correct these issues to prevent such a disaster. Those records say it is a fire hazard; therefore, Edison had every reason to know what the danger was, what their incompetence would cause, what in fact their negligence did cause. They tried to hide all of this, but LA Fire Justice dug for it and found the evidence. The firm claims to have over 500 clients harmed by Edison. There are thousands more distributed among other lawyers, many who have rushed to the area to set up shop and cash in. They do not have the experience or skill to win big but winning in any way will likely make their move profitable.
Eaton Fire justice is LA Fire Justice's mission. Get started: INTAKE FORM
. Then the real-life Erin Brockovich took the stage with a command of the facts and gravitas, siding with LAFireJustice.comagainst Edison. She has decades of experience dealing with corporate irresponsibility, and this is a blatant case of it. This makes Edison worse than PG&E, which itself caused one or more infamous fires by not monitoring and shutting down aged electrical equipment. Corporations privatize profits and socialize costs; it's an age-old problem. This is why they have to be held accountable.
Brockovich emphasized that the cleanup is not being done correctly, meaning that toxic heavy metals are spoiling the area. So in ten years or so, there will be a new wave of lawsuits to deal with that shortsightedness. Just today the local mainstream media is reporting how the City of Pasadena below the burn area has closed two baseball fields. They are unsafe due to elevated lead levels from the fire (from homes painted with lead-based paints when they were legal in the forties and fifties).
Community activistBrooke Teal Robbins was present with her parents, who were harmed and displaced by the Eaton Fire. She was promoting another LA Fire Justice "public awareness presentation." It is on Friday, April 25, 2025, at 5:00 pm at 221 E. Walnut St., Suite 100, in Pasadena 91101. It is becoming the new hub for community for Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre.
Event details
Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich is a Julia Roberts film about a real person named Erin Brockovich (née Pattee, born June 22, 1960). She is an American paralegal, consumer advocate, and environmental activist who was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination in Hinkley, California for attorney Ed Masry in 1993.
Their successful lawsuit was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film, Erin Brockovich (2000), starring [American Hindu] Julia Roberts as Brockovich and Albert Finney as Masry. Since then, the real Brockovich has become a media personality, hosting various TV series. More
Now she's aligning with LAFireJustice.com in Pasadena, California, to fight Edison for causing the massive Eaton Fire in 2025. See her live at The Eaton Fire Town Hall Meeting with Erin Brockovich and attorneys Doug Boxer and Mikal Watts. Free pizza!
Brockovich: "I am so sorry for what you are going through right now. I know this wasn't just your home. It was your community and your way of life. I am sure you are asking yourself, where do I go from here? How do we even begin to recover from this disaster? Throughout my career as an advocate, I have talked to thousands of families that have had these same questions and have gone through what you are going through right now. I am here to tell you that we will get through this. And we will get through this together. Our team will be here every step of the way to help guide and support you through this challenging journey. We are ready to take on the fight to hold Southern California Edison accountable and get you and your community the justice you deserve."
Refreshments will be served. Catering provided by Pinocchio's Pizza. Families are welcome. Standing with residents of Altadena, Sierra Madre, and Pasadena
Oh, Bojack Horseman, you're not for kids. Real living horses can heal children.
Words of Wisdom: Rupert Isaacson on how horses bring us happiness
(Happinez Magazine International) Feb. 7, 2018: In search of healing for his autistic son, Rupert Isaacson traveled to Buddhist Mongolia and the world with that son on horseback. He discovered how horses have a wonderful effect -- not just on people with autism, but on every single one of us.
Healing autistic children with Shamanic Healer Dawn Paul
(Dawn Paul) I work with autistic children all over the world. I am able to connect with them and obtain information from them as well as carry out any necessary healing in order to allow them to be more whole and comfortable in their bodies. I work on them remotely and then email the parents a report of what I did for their child. Visit liberate-online.co.uk for more information and an article on healing for autistic children.
THE HORSE BOY (official US trailer)
(ZeitgeistFilms) Now on DVD from Zeitgeist Video. How far would you travel to heal someone you love?
An intensely personal yet epic spiritual journey, The Horse Boy follows one Texas couple and their autistic son as they trek on horseback through Buddhist Outer Mongolia in a desperate attempt to treat his condition with shamanic healing.
When 2-year-old Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson, a writer and former horse trainer, and his wife, Psychology Professor Kristin Neff, sought the best possible medical care for their son — but traditional therapies had little effect.
Then they discovered that Rowan has a profound affinity for animals — particularly horses — and the family set off on a quest for a possible cure.
The Horse Boy is part travel adventure, part insight into shamanic tradition and part intimate look at the autistic mind.
In telling one family's extraordinary story, the film gives voice to the thousands who display amazing courage and creativity every day in the battle against this mysterious and heartbreaking epidemic.
The filmic companion to Isaacson's best-selling book of the same name and a festival favorite, this ravishing documentary odyssey gives insight into how, in life's darkest moments, one can find the gateway to joy and wonder. More: zeitgeistfilms.com/horseboy
Zeitgeist Films, July 17, 2009; Dawn Paul, Sept. 6, 2019; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
It's another mandatory beach day in Southern California to fight the heat with cold LA seawater
Workout time, Jen Love Hewitt
Los Angeles will see highs in the 90s for much of next week and inland areas such as Palm Springs will see temperatures topping 110 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
While Northern California won’t see as extreme temperatures as the southern portion of the state, they will still be above average temperatures for most of the week.
This will all go on while fire crews are battling wildfires all over the state with the largest being near the Tahoe National Forest, north of the capital Sacramento near the Nevada border.
A brush fire sparked in Fairfield on Sunday, leading to evacuation warnings before it could be fully contained, according to CalFire Lake Napa Unit (Fire Rescue)
Dubbed the Bear Fire, the Sierra County blaze sparked Monday (Labor Day) afternoon and prompted mandatory evacuations in the surrounding area according to state and federal fire officials. More
The Mirror US via MSN, 9/3/24; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
One needn't be a girl or a goddess to be a nurturer, a steward of Planet Earth, the Goddess Gaia (Bhumi, Tierra, Terra, Urth). Planet Wild is doing it by human power. As much as people think Buddhism is atheistic because it does not bow to some "creator God," it is actually nontheistic and polytheistic. There are many gods (devas), Gods (brahmas) and Great Brahma, and GOD (the impersonal/transpersonal Brahman) or "godhead" like the Vedic religion of old or modern Hinduism talk about. The celestial bodies are all deified (likely because ET visitors said they were from there or were rulers of those places visible in the night sky).
Countless worlds on 31 planes
In the Jataka (Rebirth) Tales of the Buddha, a kind of collection of Aesop Fables (with a strong moral to each story, which always seems to be the same moral -- what the person did in this life that person did in a previous life/lives), he recounts being reborn as the deity of the Moon (Soma) and Sun (Surya) multiple times, as were others close to him. Did he mean he was the ruler there, the embodiment, or a deity (deva) from there named after that world? It seems that when Dr. Steven Greer, MD of Disclosure Project, Sirius Disclosure, and Gaia TV, says that "Earth" is literally a female deity, he is onto something. He has some reason for believing it and saying so other than others having said so. If we can be reborn as devas (shining ones, light beings), and we can, we can theoretically be born into the role of Mother Earth, the Goddess Gaia, Bhumi, or Tierra, just as Sakka King of the Devas was reborn as the king of the World of the Thirty-Three and the Realm of the Four Great Sky Kings, the two worlds immediately above the human plane.
Saving animals like this cute baby sun bear? Yes! Here's one way to bring back our charismatic megafauna: Learn about "Planet Wild." What is PW?
Planet Wild is a nature protection organization, building a global community of people that care deeply about the planet and want to give back to nature and save the animals like the sun bear.
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Now she's aligning with LAFireJustice.com in Pasadena, California, to fight Edison for causing the massive Eaton Fire in 2025. See her live at The Eaton Fire Town Hall Meeting with Erin Brockovich and attorneys Doug Boxer and Mikal Watts. Free pizza!
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