Hollywood loses Robert Redford, 89

I will live forever.

Dear Robert Redford, why do people keep dying? And not just famous ones neither. Sure, the Hollywood stars get most of the attention, but they don't do most of the dying. It's almost as if, hey, you don't suppose I, too, am going to die one day, do you? No, it's just that when a famous person dies, the whole world is reminded of Death (Mara), like you played that time on The Twilight Zone (Episode 81). What was that one about?

Into The Twilight Zone

There, there, my dear, you can still be famous. - How and where? - In the afterlife, of course.

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Life is samsara is beset by rebirth

An old woman is living in a nightmare. She an old woman who has fought a thousand battles with Death and always won. Now she's faced with a grim decision—whether or not to open a door. And in some strange and frightening way she knows that this seemingly ordinary door leads to the Twilight Zone.

PLOT: Wanda Dunn is an elderly and frail woman, who lives in a dark basement apartment in an abandoned tenement flat.

She is awakened one morning by an altercation outside, in which Harold Beldon (Robert Redford), a young police officer, is shot and falls just outside her door. Although he cries out that he is dying and pleads for her help, Dunn is reluctant as she knows Death takes many forms and is coming to claim her life.

While she eventually relents, she tells Beldon that she has no phone to call a doctor. Dunn is relieved when she touches him and doesn't die, which convinces her that he can't possibly be Death. (But it is).

• More: "Nothing in the Dark"

Why did the Buddha recommend recalling "mindfulness of death"?

Attain The Deathless, and then you will never die.

Maraṇasati ("mindfulness of death") is a Buddhist meditation practice of bringing the inevitability of death to mind, remembering (frequently bearing in mind without resistance) that death can strike at any time (AN 6.20). Therefore, what is the wise thing to do?

Avoid it, deny it, never think of it, and become angry with any reminder of it in polite company? No, this is no way to peace and enlightenment. Instead, we should practice vigilantly and assiduously (appamada), with a sense of urgency (samvega) in every moment, even in the time it takes to draw in a single breath.

Not being diligent every moment is called "negligence" by the Buddha (AN 6.19). In the earliest discourses (sutras) of the Buddha, the term maranasati is only explicitly defined twice, in the two suttas (AN 6.19 and AN 6.20).

Later Buddhist schools expanded the meaning of marana ("death") sati ("mindfulness") to include various visualization and contemplation techniques to dispassionately remain aware of death, which is as natural as rebirth.

Just as we keep being reborn in samsara, "the continued wandering on through life and death in pursuit of pleasure and fulfillment," so we keep dying. How could it be otherwise, for how could there be a coin with only heads and no tails (only a front without a back)? It is not possible. As soon as one springs into being, the other arises simultaneously.

The cultivation of maranasati is said to be conducive to right (balanced) effort and helpful in developing a sense of spiritual urgency (saṃvega) and letting go/renunciation (nekkhamma) [1]. More

• Maranānussati: recollection of death

Solution to Death: The Deathless

The Buddha awakened to Truth

There is a state beyond the reach of death. It is not heaven. Death comes to heavenly beings, no matter how long lived. Many Buddhists aspire to a heavenly rebirth. That is in many ways superior to rebirth on the human plane. But there is at least one way in which the human plane is superior to any of the ordinary heavens (sagga, deva loka). Here in the human world, it is like being on the surf between the warm sand and the swirling, crashing, restless ocean. It is not possible to get too comfortable for long.

Suffering (dukkha = disappointment, dissatisfaction) soon finds us. But it is not so bad as drowning and bobbing and being thrown around out in the rip currents of the water. There is a balance here. We see death. We can't hardly forget it for long. We have our sandcastles wiped out. We can't hardly build an impervious abode to rest in. Even when it is the epoch of long life, even human lives of 80,000 years, it is still too short, not long enough to attain all we wished for.

Why did so many place faith in the Buddha?

Then there is NIRVANA, the ultimate bliss, liberation from the cycle of samsara, freedom from all suffering and all further rebirth. This nirvana has a synonym in "the deathless" or amata (amrita, ambrosia, the "elixir of immortality" used in a figurative sense for deathlessness).

It is hard to conceive of because all we have ever known in the phenomenal universe is conditional and composite, with everything composed of impermanent constituents. But nirvana is the unconditioned element. So there is nothing to compare it to. It would be like a turtle being asked by fish where he had been as no one had seen him.

The Turtle and the Fish

• The turtle answers, "on dry land."
• "Dry land? What is this 'dry land' you speak of, friend Turtle?"
• "Well, Fish, um, you see, uh... Hmm."
• "This 'dry land' of yours, is it cool and wet?"
• "No, it is not cool and wet, Fish."
• "Can you swim and dive into it?"
• "No, you can't swim and dive into it."
• "Can you drink it?"
• "No, you can't drink it."
• The Fish would determine, "Well, if it isn't cool and wet, can be swum or dived into, and is not drinkable, then this 'dry land' of yours must be complete nothingness and nonexistence!"
• And the Turtle would be left with little to say other than, "That may be, Friends, that may be" as it went onto dry land again and bathed in the warm sun.
• Robert Redford (RIP), The Twilight Zone (Ep. 81); Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Journey to surface of Moon: Nikon P900

Jukin Media, 8/9/16; S. Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Using Nikon P900 camera to zoom in on Moon

(Jukin Media) This amateur photographer didn't need to travel to space by means of meditative absorption or the mystical powers that temporarily endows one with or in an aluminum can or weather balloon (because it's actually much closer than we're told but still too far to easily reach).

Hey look, everybody, gray just like we thought!

To see our moon, Chandra or Luna, really close up, all one needs is an awesome camera (Nikon P900) that has the ability to zoom in. See all the nooks and crannies, the lights and crafts emerging from craters or from the inner-moon, on this not-so-natural satellite.

It's artificial and likely blocked from view by a hologram (screen image), which has an inexplicable wave feature many have filmed as if a screen were undulating at a predictable rate, indicating that it's an artifact of an electronic projection promise and not an actual physical waving of the screen.

What else is on the screen of the virtual sky?

Nikon COOLPIX P900 (bhphotovideo.com)

As Eric Dubay points out, moon is probably only about 3,000 miles up. It may be closer because, as he points out, that "impact crater" at the bottom is known and its specifications are published. It is said to be 72 miles long.

Look how clearly we can see it, for such a small thing a quarter of a million miles away. So he asks, Do you imagine that if the USA were turned upward so that it curved the opposite way that we're told it's curved, from Hollywood, could we see and clearly make out Long Island, New York (which is about 72 miles long)?

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  Time it right, and the hologram looks like magic

  The dimensions of the earth are not known to us. They are clearly not the published and officially available numbers because as a ship moves farther away from shore, it disappears "over the horizon" of the curved ocean water. It disappears, blocked by the water, six miles away. That's the official story. Only that doesn't happen! Put on a zoom lens, and the ship comes right back, all of it comes back, which would be impossible if the size dimensions of Terra, Bhumi, or Earth given to us were correct. This is an easy test.

Dick Hoagland will reveal what the moon is 3/25

Obviously not, and Long Island's only 3,000 miles away. We can't even make out anything in Nevada, such as the brilliant Las Vegas, from a mountaintop in Los Angeles, much less bright Manhattan or NY, NY. Yet, the naked eye can see a 72-mile-long indentation that's 250,000 miles away?! 

No, obviously this is not the case, but this is what we're told and expected to believe. Most of it never question it. It's "crazy" to question it. Obey. Look down. Go inside. There's something on TV. Listen to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and other apologists for all official information. Thou shalt not question...or else!

• License this video now: jukinmedia.com/licensing...
• But a better test is to stand at a sunset beach on the West Coast and watch the "sun go down." It doesn't go down. It goes sideways as if spinning above us in a circle not an orbit. But the test is this, Will the light of the sun seem to shoot straight at you and only you? (This is what is seen on a rainy night when opposing cars are coming. Their light streaks right at you, even if you move. And everyone else looking has the same sensation. The light goes straight to them and only them. The catch? This effect of light is only possible on a flat surface, not a curved one. How is that possible? The ocean water is not flat from the sun to the observer on the shore. It's curved. Everyone knows that! Stop questioning things, and start obeying. Learn the party line and stick to it. Neil!)

Fun with Zoom; "Bullsh*t Jobs" (video)

Bailey253 (imgur.com); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Weekly online meditation sessions via Zoom: Dharma Buddhist Meditation, Los Angeles

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Meditation? Should I take notes, or just sit?

This is how not to do your online conferences. Online meditation practice is different. For one thing, meditation is voluntary. For another, meaning makes all the difference. A bullsh*t job kills us, whereas meaningful meditation elevates us.

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory

Audiobook with Christopher Ragland

From bestselling writer David Graeber comes a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs and their consequences.

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to society or the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs."

My work gives my life danger but meaning (CCupps).

It went viral. After a million online views in 17 different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

There are millions of people -- corporate analysts, consultants, marketers, adjusters, assistants, co-managers, coordinators, rubber stampers, lawyers -- whose jobs are useless and, tragically, they know it!

I don't give a sh*t about my job. *Burp*

These people are caught in "bullshit" jobs. Graeber explores one of society's most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln.

Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation. More

"Go the F*** to Sleep" (book)

(Akashic Books) A PDF of the book Go the F--- to Sleep was widely circulated on the Internet and has now become a best-seller on Amazon.

Last week, a friend forwarded Southern California Public Radio's Madeleine Brand a PDF of a funny little book with a catchy title: Go the F*ck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach.

She forwarded it on to her friends... and apparently she wasn't alone. The book has become a viral sensation. The PDF was leaked, and now every parent under the Sun has seen it. [First Everyone Poops, now this!] It's the number one best-selling title on Amazon. And it hasn't even been released yet.

The publisher bumped up the release date from October to June because it was in such high demand. Fox has already optioned the rights to turn it into a movie. Here's a taste of it:

"The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear
Please go the f*** to sleep."

Here to talk about what this book's success could mean for publishing is Seth Godin. He's an author and founder of the Domino Project - an e-publishing venture: LISTEN

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• Harold Camping at the heart of Mediapocalypse

Resting brain works on Screensaver Mode

At Rest, Your Brain Runs in Screensaver Mode
Robert Roy Britt (LiveScience.com)

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Your brain's visual centers remain active when your eyes are closed and even when you sleep, studies have shown. But it's a different type of activity, one not fully understood.

A new study sheds light. In both situations — resting with eyes closed or sleeping — electrical activity continues in the brain, but the activity is represented by slow electrical fluctuations, rather than the bursts of activity that occur when you're awake with eyes wide open. The resting oscillations, as the scientists call them, were found to be most pronounced during deep sleep, as might be expected.

The slow fluctuation pattern can be compared to a computer screensaver, say the researchers at the Weizmann Institute.

Though the newfound activity's function is unclear, the researchers have a couple ideas:

Perhaps neurons, like philosophers, must "think" in order to be; neuron survival, the idea goes, would require a constant state of activity. Or maybe the minimal level of activity enables a quick start when an outside stimulus is presented, something like a getaway car with the engine running, the researchers suggest.

These new ideas differ starkly from how scientists thought all this worked. "In the old approach, the senses are 'turned on' by the switch of an outside stimulus," explained Weizmann Institute neurobiology student Yuval Nir, who worked on the study. "This is giving way to a new paradigm in which the brain is constantly active, and stimuli change and shape that activity."

This different type of brain activity could also explain why most people don't constantly experience hallucinations or hear voices while they rest, the researchers suggest. More>>

• Brain News and Information
• Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind
• Exercise Improves Old Brains

Meditation and the Brain

Matthieu Ricard (speaking at Google)

Speaker: gifted French scientist turned Buddhist monk, bestselling author, translator, and photographer. He has lived and studied in the Himalayas for the last 35 years.

If happiness is an inner state, influenced by external conditions but not dependent on them, how can we achieve it? Matthieu Ricard examines the inner and outer factors that increase or diminish our sense of well-being, dissect the underlying mechanisms of happiness, and lead us to a way of looking at the mind itself based on his book, Happiness: A Guide to Life's Most Important Skill and from the research in neuroscience on the effect of mind-training on the brain.