Abandoning hierarchy with Ayya Soma (video)

Ayya Soma (Buddhist Insights), Empty Cloud; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Abandoning Hierarchy with Ayya Soma

(Buddhist Insights, 6/30/21) The Buddha told monastics to reflect in this way every day: "I am no longer part of the social hierarchy" (AN 10.48). Ayyā Somā explains what it means to relinquish the social hierarchy and why it's an important part of Buddhist practice (for monastics and anyone interested in really letting go). To support the monastics and New Jersey's Empty Cloud Monastery, please visit BuddhistInsights.org/donate

Guru: Won’t you take tea? Take it! (Ram Dass)

Ram Dass (Dr. Dick Alpert), Miracle of Love; Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ram Dass (Dr. Dick Alpert) in ecstasy

For many years before I met Maharajji, I was searching -- going here and there, studying this and that. I began following strict yogic codes: Brahmacharya [spiritual celibacy], 3:00 AM risings, cold baths, postures (asanas), and meditation (dhyan).

It was during a period when I had given up coffee and tea that I met Maharajji. Tea was being offered to all of us, and I didn’t know what to do. I said nothing but did not accept a cup of tea, and Maharajji leaned over to me, saying...

Maharajji reading Be Here Now

"Won’t you take tea? Take tea! You should drink the tea. It’s good for you in this weather! Take tea!..."

So I drank the tea. With that one cup of tea, all those strict disciplines and schedules were washed away! They seemed meaningless and unnecessary. The true work seemed beyond these things. Now I do whatever comes of itself.

🙏❤️Maharajji Neem Karoli Baba❤️🙏

Bo Burnham's Netflix comedy: Inside (video)

Carter; Now You See It; Eric Scott Smith (HF); Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’: A comedy special and an inspired experiment (NY Times.com)

How Bo Burnham did the impossible

(Now You See It, June 29, 2021) How does one make sitting alone inside of a room cinematic?

31 details and references you might have missed

It sounds impossible, but in Bo Burnham's latest special "Inside," he does exactly that. Let's look at his experiment with lighting, lyricism, and the digital world to see how he pulled it off. It's what he did with his Covid pandemic staycation. We just got fat and meditative.

• Twitter.com/jacknugent27//Patreon.com/nowyouseeit

Sutra: Magic powers and car racing (video)

Deep Purple: "Highway Star" (NEA ZIXNH, 11/10/16) Classic rock from the album Machine Head. Guitar: Ritchie Blackmore. Keyboards, organ: Jon Lord. Drums: Ian Paice. Vocals: Ian Gillan. Bass guitar: Roger Glover. Mix by N.Z.

(Ford v Ferrari via Tao Tao) Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) shows Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) what his Ford racer can do to get Mr. Ford to let Ken Miles race it at Le Mans.

Harder, Faster!

What do you prefer, sex or cars? - S'cars.

Testosterone is a hell of a drug. And the need for speed is one symptom. It was this way even in the Buddha's time, 26 centuries ago. On various occasions in the sutras there are guys in fancy chariots decked out in banners racing about in the background. Once when asked about this, the Buddha agreed how much it's like their behavior in one of the lower celestial worlds, showing off their glorious and much faster personal spaceships (vimanas), the fortunate result of previous good karma.

Sutra: "Factors of Right Concentration"

In the Samadhanga Sutra ("Samadhi-Factors"), the Buddha gives this analogy: "Suppose there were a chariot on level ground at a crossroads, harnessed to thoroughbreds, poised with whips at the ready so that a skilled driver, a trainer of horses to be tamed, might mount it and — taking the reins in his left hand and the whip in his right — race here and there to any place he liked by any road he wanted.

"In the same way, when a meditator has pursued and developed the fivefold noble 'right concentration' in this way then any of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know-and-see, he can witness it for himself whenever he finds an opening. If he wants he can even wield these various supernormal (magical) powers:

How the USA caught up to European race cars

"Having been one he can become many. Having been many he can become one again. He disappears. He reappears. He travels through walls and mountains as if he were going through open space. He can dive in and out of the ground (solid earth) as if it were water. He can walk on water without sinking as if it were dry land. Sitting cross-legged he can fly (levitate) through the air like a bird. With his hand he can touch and caress even the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful.

"He can exercise influence with his body even as far as the heavens (Brahma worlds). He can see this directly for himself whenever he finds an opening. If he wants he can hear — by means of the divine ear-element, which is purified and surpasses the human — two kinds of sounds, human and divine, whether near or far. He can see this for himself whenever he finds an opening. If he wants, he can directly know the minds of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed their minds with his. He discerns [as he wishes]... More

• Violence and sex: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
• Faster faster kill kill: Passing a cop at 186 MPH
• Even faster, reckless driving in American traffic

(ABC 13 via Taylor88 Productions, 9/18/18) They say you can't outrun the cops...Maybe...Maybe not. This seems to be in Texas, outside Beaumont, but the Interstate 10 Freeway is one of the most popular to speed on in Los Angeles, California on the way to Las Vegas.

CIA's tragic miscalculations in formative years

Dave Davies (Fresh Air WWNO, 6/25/21); Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Quiet Americans examines tragic miscalculations in the CIA's formative years

HOST DAVE DAVIES: This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies in today for Terry Gross.

We're used to a world in which American intelligence services operate with enormous power and reach. Our guest today, writer Scott Anderson, has written a book about the early years of the CIA, when America was victorious in World War II and former soldiers were improvising a campaign of spying and covert operations to contain and undermine the nation's new adversary, the Soviet Union (USSR).

It was a time, Anderson writes, when Americans wielded great moral authority in the world, and nations struggling to throw off colonial rule looked to the United States as a beacon of freedom and democracy.

Anderson concludes that the CIA's rigid commitment to anti-communism and willingness to topple democratically-elected governments squandered the goodwill the U.S. held in the developing world and led to a disastrous war [on] Vietnam.

Anderson tells the story through the lives of four young men who played important roles in the CIA in his book, The Quiet Americans. I interviewed him last year when the book was published. It's just come out in paperback. Transcripts + AUDIO

• AUDIO: CIA's [crimes during its] formative years | WWNO

The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn

ANDERSON: Sure. It was in 1984. I was an aspiring journalist at that point. I had gone down to El Salvador. And in 1984, the so-called dirty war in El Salvador was really starting to wind down a bit. And perhaps over the previous four years, something like 60,000 people died in this war, and the vast majority of them killed by -- not in combat, but by right-wing death squads that were part of the government.

DAVIES: You know, it was a leftist insurgency against a right-wing government, right? Yeah.

ANDERSON: That's right, and a right-wing government being supported by the Reagan administration. But by 1984, the Reagan administration's whole attitude was, well, the war is winding down. You know, the death squads are, you know, are not nearly as active as they once were. And, you know, they're really not part of the government. And so it was -- this fiction had been going on for quite some time.

And so this one day I was in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, and I was walking along a downtown street, and a van passed me. It pulled to a stop maybe -- I don't know -- a hundred feet ahead of me. And out came a body of a dead woman. Her thumbs were tied in front of her. And just -- the body was just tossed out on the street. And as -- I was the only person on this street. And as I kind of tentatively walked towards this woman who I, you know, clearly knew was dead, even before I got to her, a matter of maybe 10 seconds after the first van had pulled away, a military van pulls up. Three soldiers get out. One points a gun at my feet, kind of the universal, you know, stay back symbol, and the other two men -- the other two soldiers pick up the body, throw it in their van. They all get back in the van and drive away.

So it was this very kind of -- very seamless sleight of hand idea where the, you know, the so-called anonymous death squad has dumped this body, and literally 10 seconds later, the government has come to collect it. And there was something in that moment that just, for me, it just really brought home this idea of, you know, what has the American government come to that we are supporting governments who will murder their own citizens and just throw their bodies out in broad daylight? And so that was really kind of a turning point for me of just how squalid had our foreign policy become.

DAVIES: So this book is about the early years of the CIA kind of from the end of World War II through the mid-'50s and when the CIA had sort of become a primary instrument of policy in fighting the Cold War. You know, we're used to the American intelligence community being huge. But before World War II, the Soviets had - they had a huge intelligence operation. They'd been spying for a long time -- not so much the United States. Why?

ANDERSON: You know, America was really -- up until we came into World War II, we were still a deeply isolationist country, I think, at our core to the point where we had no permanent foreign intelligence agency. It wasn't until World War II with the creation of the Office of Strategic Services that there was any kind of foreign intelligence office. So the four men I profile were all in the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, during the war.

And then President Truman shut down the OSS in the immediate aftermath of the war. And it was this idea that, okay, the war is over; we're all going home. The American military was demobilizing at the rate of 15,000 soldiers a day. And it was like, our job is done, and we're just -- we're going back home to, you know, our American way of life -- so utterly unprepared for what was coming.

There was an interim organization started that was kind of the bridge between the OSS and the CIA....

DAVIES: Well, it's quite a story. Scott Anderson, thank you so much for speaking with us again.

ANDERSON: Thank you, Dave. I really appreciate being on.

DAVIES: Scott Anderson is the author of The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War: A Tragedy in Three Acts, which is now out in paperback.

(Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR)

Where the Wild Things Are: Yakshas

Where the Wild Things Are:  Adventures of Max, illustrated and written by Maurice Sendak

Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness

Our forests seem to be hiding something much more complex than an "undiscovered gorilla."

Sasquatch or "Bigfoot" may be howling from a mountaintop, but the phenomenon is revealing big secrets...if we will but listen.

Eyewitnesses and investigators (called cryptozoologists) worldwide contend ample evidence exists supporting the survival of large, hairy, apelike creatures lurking in the wilderness alongside humankind today.

• What are Sasquatches in Buddhism: Yakshas?

By all appearances, these beings seem wholly natural, interacting with their surroundings and leaving behind physical evidence: hair, blood, fecal droppings, and, of course, big footprints.

Yet, despite their apparently physical nature, Bigfoot and its hairy hominid kin consistently appear mired in High Strangeness — the peculiar, ineffable, and nonsensical absurdities so often encountered in paranormal phenomena.

Some sightings seem more consistent with mythology than biology. Bigfoot often present supernatural attributes, like luminescent eyes or the ability to pass, ghostlike, through structures. Anomalous lights are regularly seen in areas of frequent Sasquatch activity.

Footprints persistently, if rarely, display odd numbered toes. And — most bafflingly — Bigfoot trackways suddenly end in the middle of open, untouched terrain. They simply vanish, as if passing out of this dimension like interdimensional beings.

In Volume 1 of Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon, authors Joshua Cutchin and Timothy Renner carefully examine not only the intersection of hairy ape-people with global folklore of:

American Cryptids (Irish)

• poltergeists,
• faeries,
• extraterrestrials,
• magic,
• witches,
• ghosts, and
• archetypal women-in-white.

They question the fundamental assumptions underlying contemporary cryptozoological beliefs surrounding Bigfoot.

Reviews

Passport to Magonia: Folklore to Flying Saucers

"Impressively, even exhaustively researched, Where the Footprints End should give all students of the anomalous pause for thought.

"By documenting both the high strangeness that surrounds Bigfoot sightings and the deep folklore in which they are embedded, Cutchin and Renner so far broaden the context of Bigfoot encounters that it is no longer possible to credit any single theory or literalistic interpretation concerning their nature.

"Indeed, one begins to suspect that the reality of Bigfoot is less a problem to be solved than a mystery to dissolve our view of reality itself. Here at last is the book that dear old Bigfoot deserves."

—Patrick Harpur, author of Daimonic Reality

"This book poses a danger to the foundations of cryptozoology. While mainstream Bigfoot investigators would have you believe that people around the world are merely encountering a lost ape, Cutchin and Renner dig into the details they've swept under the rug, excavating countless Bigfoot reports involving glowing orbs, telepathic communication, and paranormal phenomena that have more in common with tales of ancient gods and alien abductions than they do with primatology.

"Meticulously researched and backed up with a treasure trove of footnotes, Where the Footprints End is poised to do for Bigfoot what Passport to Magonia did for UFOs."

—Greg Newkirk, director of The Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and the Occult and executive producer and star of Hellier

Sports: Tour de France big BIKE CRASH (video)

Tour de France off to a good start

Because oceans need good lawyers, too (Ej)

What do you call 100,000 lawyers under the sea? A good start. It's a cruel thing to say for the good attorney among all those slimy colleagues. It's a lot like that for the would-be Lance Armstrongs of the world. Like bolts, they went for the nuts, no, like squirrels they went nuts (ape sh*t) as a fan got a little too fanatical with a sign. Was it a selfie? It caused a mishap then a pile up then the worst bike crash ever, because this one was caught live and is of consequence to a big race.

• Sociology: What are SPORTS for? (video)
• Sports coverage by Wisdom Quarterly journal

Fan with sign causes huge pile-up in Stage 1 of the Tour de France | Cycling on NBC Sports

(NBC Sports, 6/26/21) With less than 30 miles left in the first stage of the 2021 Tour de France, a fan held out a sign over the edge of the road that clipped Tony Martin and caused most of the field to pile up behind him.

Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MyPillow Guy

MyPillow Guy: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse

(The Daily Show, 6/17/21) The Daily Show with Trevor Noah has Jordan Klepper traveling to a Wisconsin rally.

Do Republicans make better presidents?

It's hosted by Mike "The MyPillow Guy" Lindell to hear all about the latest election fraud claims and goes head-to-head with the MyPillow guy himself. Will Donald Trump be back in office this August (2021), not until his 2024 reelection, or never except when he's voted "richest man in the cellblock"?

• The Daily Show: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Stream full episodes on Paramount+
• VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel skewers Mike Lindell

Health Care Sharing Ministries w/ John Oliver

Health Care Sharing Ministries (HBO)

(Last Week Tonight, 6/27/21) Health Care Sharing Ministries (HCSMs) advertise themselves as a more affordable, faith-based alternative to health insurance. But John Oliver explains some of the massive limitations these plans can have. Website: Last Week Tonight

Oceans are in crisis: Give up fish eating

March is Dolphin Awareness Month, DAM! Too bad the rest of the year (Britannica)

Cruise ships are small compared to shipping

Our oceans are in crisis. Irresponsible fishing practices, pollution, and habitat destruction are wearing down the health of ocean ecosystems.

Noise pollution from sources such as sonar, emitted by ships, is harming and even killing whales and other marine mammals (dolphins).

Ocean warming and acidification are threatening coral reef and other vibrant, fragile marine ecosystems.

EarthJustice has a comprehensive approach aimed at building a healthy ocean strong enough to bounce back from the activities that are harming it.

Attorneys Steve Mashuda and David Henkin discuss how EarthJustice is fighting to protect and build the resilience of our ocean ecosystems. The teleconference is moderated by Campaign Manager Kari Birdseye. More

• AUDIO: soundcloud.com/earthjustice/teleconference...

Alan Watts on MONEY (video)

Alan Watts (alanwatts.org); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

7 things about "The Big Lebowski" (video)

7 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Big Lebowski

(CineFix- IGN Movies and TV, 1/12/15) Movies are a very complicated mess of time, money, people, and strange decisions. Inevitably, in the hodgepodge of life that goes into creating a movie, a few strange and interesting things happen here and there that are rather fascinating little tidbits of information.

 

The Big Lebowski may be your favorite source of movie quotes and the reason you drink toxic White Russians…but do you know these seven little-known facts about this perennially popular Coen Brothers movie?

Subscribe. Watch on. This video really ties the trivia together. What d'ya think? Know any of these tidbits of trivia already? Did we inspire a sip of toxic brew or get you in touch with your Inner Dude? Do you know any Lebowski facts left out? Want to see a Part II of Things You Didn’t Know About The Big Lebowski? Comment. Updates: Twitter.com/CineFixNetwork, Facebook.com/CineFixNetwork.

Converts to the peaceful religion of Dudeism go to dudeism.com to while their time away.

Dudeism: Path to Big Lebowski Enlightenment

Hot Corn quotes from the Coen Brothers' cult classic The Big Lebowski (hotcorn.com)

The Dude Abides: The Dudely Lama discusses Big Lebowski, Dudeism, Religion (insidetherift)

.

Dudeism: The Path to Lebowski Enlightenment

.

(ABC News, 8/24/12 Inside the bathrobe-wearing, White Russian drinking, real-life Church of The Latter Day Dude. The Dudely Lama and His Duedist Priests (dudeism.com).

The Dude De Ching

NOTE: In this new annotated version of the Dudeist classic, there are 81 essays explaining each verse. The Dude De Ching is an interpretation of the Tao Te Ching for followers of Dudeism.

This is a brand new version, completely rewritten, with a new translation of the Tao Te Ching, and new illustrations.

This funny and inspiring book of spiritual lessons helps readers take it easy and abide in the face of any gutterballs that are thrown our way.

Who are you, the Li'l Lebow?

Each verse is followed by the original verse from the Tao Te Ching to help show the similarity between Dudeism and Taoism.

Dudeism is an authentic religion with nearly 400,000 ordained "Dudeist Priests."

It is inspired mainly by Taoism and the Coen Brothers' 1998 film The Big Lebowski.

Take it easy, and visit Dudeism at dudeism.com to find out more.

• From: Duddhism and the Wonders of Thailand (video)
• The Big Lebowski: The Dude's Funniest Quotes (ScreenRant)
• The Dude Abides: The Dudely Lama discusses The Big Lebowski, Dudeism, and the potential of future religions

Dudeism logo: See, it's the yin yang symbol of Taoism but as a bicolored bowling ball.

I see it. I finally friggin see it! And now I can just abide. - The Dude

Just take it easy, Humankind. It's actually all alright. The Tao will go to Zen. (dudeism.com)

"PlantPure Nation" free official release (film)

PlantPure Nation, whole food, plant-based documentary film

PlantPure Nation the official FREE YouTube release

(PlantPure TV, 2/18/18) PlantPure Nation tells the story of three people on a quest to spread the message of one of the most important health breakthroughs of all time.

• PlantPure Nation | whole food, plant-based documentary
• Delicious plant-based meals delivered! – PlantPure Nation

Nutritional scientist and author Dr. T. Colin Campbell speaks to the Kentucky legislature.

Then his oldest son, Nelson, works with Kentucky State Representative Tom Riner to propose a pilot program documenting the health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Through this well-intentioned effort, they inadvertently set in motion a series of events that expose powerful forces opposed to vegan and vegetarian diets.

After industry lobbyists kill the pilot program, Nelson decides to try his own grassroots approach in his hometown of Mebane, North Carolina, before circling back to Kentucky for a dramatic ending.

A growing number of celebrities, athletes, TV hosts, and nutrition experts have promoted the plant-based diet in the past few years, and tens of thousands of people have documented their personal success stories.

But as more doctors and public officials become aware of the healing power of plant-based nutrition, the question arises:

• Why don’t they share the information with the public?

Tragically, there have been few official medical or state-sponsored efforts in the nation to support the life-sustaining benefits of a whole foods plant-based diet.

PlantPure Nation was filmed across the USA and includes world-renowned experts, doctors, and authors. The production team includes Director Nelson Campbell, and Producer John Corry, and Writer Lee Fulkerson from the acclaimed documentary film Forks Over Knives.

• Sweet Veggie, 10478 Valley Blvd, North El Monte, CA (yelp.com)

Rahel makes vegan Ethiopian cuisine in L.A.

Rahel is an award-winning restauranteur

Rahel opened her first restaurant (Messob) in Los Angeles in 1985. Her mission, to provide authentic Ethiopian cuisine.

Her dishes are crafted from age-old recipes full of delicious flavor. In 2000 she left Messob to pursue a higher dream.

She opened "Rahel Vegan Cuisine," fulfilling her vision to establish the first ever -- and still the only -- 100% vegan Ethiopian restaurant in the world.

She is committed to preparing the most wholesome, conscious, enjoyable foods free of harm to animals, people's health, and our planet. Anyway one looks at it, real vegan food is the optimal diet for all. That's Rahel's passionate vision!

Vegans can rest assured their meals are 100% animal-free with absolutely no cross-contamination with non-vegan items. There have never been any such items in this facility. Customers can rest assured they are being served the healthiest and most enjoyable Ethiopian cuisine.

Non-vegans have declared with delight, "At Rahel's, there is so much variety and flavor [that] I didn't miss [animal products] at all!" Rahel also caters to anyone with food allergies.

For instance, there are no nuts in any meals or any of the facility's food preparation areas. (Desserts with nuts are prepared off-site.) And there's coffee, which originated in Ethiopia.

Rahel also offers gluten-free injera (authentic Ethiopian flatbread), gluten-free vegan cheesecake, and over 90% of the dishes are naturally gluten-free.

Rahel Vegan Cuisine has repeatedly been voted "LA's Best Vegan Restaurant" by the people of Los Angeles at LA's annual World Vegan Day Celebration. More