Talking to the Dead (pets, for profit)

(The Daily Show) Ever wonder what pets were thinking? Michael Kosta tries a pet psychic

Dead University? (Allison DuBois) Pet Psychic: Where do they go?

(The Pet Psychic) The Pet Psychic talks to police horses in Los Angeles

Fight alternative: Writing (Monty Python)

Monty Python: "Novel Writing" as a major stadium sport in England

This is an alternative? Refined literary pursuits?

(Dyynamo) Boxing not interesting? Of course, it's a brutal blood sport for savages. Instead, herewith is color commentary on the athletic exploits of British novelist Thomas Hardy as he attempts to write The Return of the Native before a large bank holiday crowd of lit hooligans going berserk in the stands.

• Bigger Fight: Eric Idle on Monty Python feud with John Cleese: Money can lead to very bad arguments:

The world famous "Parrot Sketch"

Languages of the world

Name the Top 10 most spoken languages

Happy Nat'l Unicorn and Int'l ASMR Day

Unicorns were real flesh and bone creatures like narwhals on land, a kind of goat or sheep.

I love the sound of bristles and sticking metal into soft wood, oooh. *Tingle Tingle* 😵💗

.

National Unicorn Day

What mythological creature has been more beloved over the centuries than the unicorn?

As an incredible symbol of purity and enchantment, the unicorn is loved by children and adults alike. They are integral parts of fairytales and legends.

For all the roles they have played in art, literature, and cinematography, unicorns deserve their own day. 

How to celebrate National Unicorn Day

If one is a misfit seeker, one is a unicorn.

The best way to celebrate is to find a fun, fanciful activity to enjoy with family and/or friends. Get creative with art, music, or other projects that promote free-thinking and fantasy. Or try out some of these other ideas: daysoftheyear.com/days/unicorn-day.

It's International ASMR Day, too

ASMR can help a meditator

There’s a day dedicated to the odd and delightful sensations of ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). What in the world is that? Fans of This American Life already know. It is a phenomenon that tickles the senses of some sensitive types in the most unexpected ways.

Every year, on April 9th, the world celebrates International ASMR Day. This special day is about whispers and tingles and global recognition of an intriguing sensory experience that has captivated millions worldwide.

Wisdom is Bliss (Thurman)

The story of ASMR Day began in 2012, sparked by the curiosity and creativity of ASMR artists like KellyMsAutumnRed and Ilse Blansert of Waterwhisperers.

Their goal was simple yet profound: to spread awareness and appreciation of ASMR.

It’s a sensation that many describe as a delightful tingling in the scalp and neck, often triggered by specific sounds or sights [somewhat like synesthesia].

I can't feel anything from just sound, Hun. - Shush, then enjoy the tactile sensations of massage.

,

The forest is alive with subtle sensations

Bring to mind the gentle rustling of leaves or the pleasant whisper of a kind voice. These are the kinds of stimuli that frequently lead to ASMR bliss. Think of a cat or dog companion getting a backrub. Now imagine a human feeling the same way because of auditory or visual stimulation.

Why does the world celebrate ASMR Day? It’s more than just enjoying tingling sensations, which only some feel. There’s more to it. This day highlights the therapeutic potential of ASMR.

I feel it, I feel it - the sound of rustling paper!

For some, it’s a gateway to relaxation, a means to alleviate stress, or even a helpful tool to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

It’s a day for ASMR enthusiasts to share their favorite experiences, for YouTube content creators to showcase their innovative works, and for newbies to dip their toes into a mesmerizing world.

Whether one is a long-time fan or just curious about what all the fuss is about, International ASMR Day is the perfect time to explore this fascinating sensory journey.​​​​​ More

Subtle Art of Not Giving a F: 40 truths (video)

Mark Manson, March 9, 2024; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

WARNING: Use of harsh and gratuitous language in doling out harsh truths, graphic, sexual, vulgar!

40 harsh truths I know at 40 but wish I knew at 20

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

(Mark Manson) Get first 60 days FREE with Headspace. Head to headspace-web.app.link/e/MMG for help with meditation, the most valuable thing anyone can do in life even if it doesn't seem like it yet, and use code MARKMANSON.

First, who is Mark Manson? He is the author of the very popular, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

Today is my 40th birthday. Here are all the things that I know at 40 that I wish I knew at 20.

ABOUT: I am Mark Manson, three-time Number 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope. I share other types of content to make you a less awful human in these places: markmanson.net / markmanson / iammarkmanson / markmansonnet / markmanson / iammarkmanson. Thanks for watching. Now go not give a F.

For useful practical advice each week, sign up for free newsletter: bit.ly/3JRg3NX. Not already a member of premium membership? Get access to courses and exclusive writing here: bit.ly/3LwHWfi.

Best of Space Ghost Coast to Coast (cartoon)

JaredPierceDotCom, March 30, 2018; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Best of Space Ghost Coast to Coast

(JaredPierceDotCom) Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated comedy late-night talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character "Space Ghost."

It is the first TV show to be produced by Williams Street (formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries), the company to start up Adult Swim in the early 2000s.

In contrast to the original 1960s series, Space Ghost, which aired as a standard Hanna-Barbera Saturday-morning superhero cartoon, Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a reboot and sequel of the series intended for teens and adults, reinterpreted as a surreal spoof talk show and animated using the original series' artwork.

Early seasons are more of a parody of late-night talk shows, while later seasons rely more on surrealism and non-sequitur humor. More

Update: I made the graphic thumbnail for this video and I’m really proud of it. More of my work on Instagram @jaredpiercedotcom

One Secret to Enlightenment

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Meditation" is bringing attention (mind, focus, directed awareness) to something. Are all things equal so that anything is just as good as anything else to bring it to? NO.

Some things are better. What things? Subtle ones.

The secret to "meditation" (jhayanti) is directing attention toward an increasingly subtle object. This is because it is subtle then subtler, so the mind has to become increasingly attentive, aware, and focused (which is purifying).

The Buddha recommended focusing on the in-and-out breath for this very reason. We carry it everywhere, and it grows calmer the calmer the mind becomes.

The Five Hindrances

Who will be the Future Buddha?

When we place the mind on the breath -- bright, happy, interested (not bored, not averse) -- it meets the Five Hindrances.

Overcoming those hindrances, the mind settles as the breath thins out and eventually disappears.

1. sensual craving (desire, greed, lust)
2. aversion (ill-will, anger, annoyance, boredom)
3. sleepiness (sloth and torpor, tired mind or body)
4. restlessness (discontent, worry, flurry)
5. skeptical doubt (lack of confidence and conviction, faithlessness, excessive questioning and investigation).

The breath brings one to the first meditation (the first jhana, the first meditative absorption). The Five Hindrances have fallen away, and the Five Factors of Absorption (jhana-anga) have arisen. One of those factors is joy.

Joy is wonderful, joy is blissful, joy is rapturous (uplifting, effervescent, a kind of elation). This is good at first, but it comes to seem gross and coarse compared to more peaceful sustained-happiness (sukha and abhirati or contentment).

By removing the coarser, the mind turns to the more subtler and thereby enters the second meditation, the second meditative absorption.

This keeps happening by emerging and reflecting on the disadvantages or defects of each of the absorptions, moving one to the next more subtle absorption. This goes from the first access to first absorption, first absorption to second and so forth. This is samma-samadhi, "right concentration" or stillness.

The mind is growing more coherent, more integrated, more whole and wholesome. This is all accompanied by wholesome states -- leaving abandoned the unwholesome, the many manifestations of greed, hatred, and delusion (lobha, dosa, moha). Cultivating those wholesome states is one way to advance the process when nothing else can speed it up.

What is more subtle than the first four form-absorptions? The four formless absorptions, so named because the take as their object increasingly subtle objects: unbounded consciousness, unbounded space, nothingness, then neither-perception-nor-non-perception. What could be more subtle than that, than a state of conscious awareness so subtle that it is not possible to call it "perception," but it is not "non-perception," not unconsciousness, not non-perceiving (non-percipience).

One thing is more subtle. And that thing is not a "thing" at all but it is certainly not nothingness. It is the greatest thing of all: nirvana. It is a mistake to think that it is nothingness on the one hand or merely the end of all suffering on the other.

American Bhikkhu Bodhi

American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi long ago showed that nirvana is unique, peaceful, not a composite like all "things" are. It alone is the deathless (amata). It alone is the unconditioned element (dhatu), the conditions being composite factors and supports of things. It stands alone and is so subtle an object that the ordinary mind cannot discern or hold it.

The mind grown pure by the increasingly subtle absorptions becomes intensified, still, and so powerful that it is able to glimpse it. And by glimpsing it, the mind (heart) is freed.

Because nirvana is real and even more subtle than "the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception," it is possible to attain that level of samadhi, the eighth jhana, and persist in that absorption for so long that the mind will then wish for something even more subtle. And it may at that point move to nirvana by simply willing for something less coarse/more subtle.

British Buddhist teacher Beth Upton (right)

A story of this exact thing happening is told by Buddhist teacher Beth Upton who knows of someone this happened to. This would seem to suggest that all the insight-meditation that makes this attainment is systematic endeavor is not 100% necessary. Even long ago in proto-India, when hermits and recluses as well as wandering ascetics kept the teaching of samadhi alive, some found the ultimate goal, the highest bliss. The Buddha was not the only one to rediscover nirvana. Other humans known as pacceka-buddhas or "non-teaching supremely enlightened beings" existed as well.

British cult classic comedy: "Bedazzled"

Bedazzled | Peter Cook | Dudley Moore | Raquel Welch | UK cult classic film

(Retro TV) July 1, 2022. Bedazzled: Stanley Moon (Moore) is infatuated with Wimpy Burger co-worker Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron), the statuesque waitress who works with him in London. He meets George Spiggott (a.k.a. the devil) and sells him his soul for seven wishes, which Stanley uses to try and make Margaret his own first as an intellectual, then as a rock star, then as a wealthy industrialist.

As each wish fails, being outwitted by the devil, he becomes more aware of how empty his life had been and how much more he has to live for.

Director: Stanley Donen. Writers: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Larry Gelbart. Stars: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Eleanor Bron, Raquel Welch (as the deadly sin "Lillian Lust, the Babe with the Bust").

📽️ Binge-watch more classic movies: youtube.com/playlist... *This film is under non-exclusive license from MVAULT. All rights reserved* RETRO TV (Retrospective Television) We're building this channel for anyone who likes their TV "Old School"! What started out as a tribute to the legendary show "Bonanza" is now evolving into much more! We'll be bringing you the TV hits (and misses) from the 1950's-90's that either viewers or their folks grew up watching on the old "square" TV set from back in the day. #RetroTV #ClassicAction #BedazzledMovie

(Wiki) Bedazzled is a 1967 British comedy (in DeLuxe Color), a fantasy, romantic black comedy film directed and produced by Stanley Donen in Panavision format.

It was written by brilliant British comedian Peter Cook and starred both Cook and his comedy partner Dudley Moore.

It is a comic retelling of the Faust legend, set in the swinging London of the 1960s. The Devil (Cook) offers an unhappy young man (Dudley Moore as a short order cook at Wimpy Burgers, Stanley Moon) seven wishes in return for his soul.

But he twists the spirit of the wishes and only follows the letter of what has been wished for to frustrate the man's hopes. Poor "Faust," tricked by a devil far too smart for him. More

California has hole bigger than Grand Canyon

Johannes Van Meter, Crystal Quintero, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

California topography banks and plunges to great depths (sanctuaries.noaa.gov)

San Francisco Bay under Golden Gate Bridge

Monterey Canyon is a submarine canyon in Monterey Bay, California, near San Francisco.

It has steep canyon walls measuring a full 1 mile in height from bottom to top. Its height and depth rivals that of the great Grand Canyon.

Wiki image conceals shore and size of canyon.

It is the largest such submarine canyon along the west coast of the North American continent. It i snot know how it was formed. The only theory allowed is insufficient to explain it, saying it was by a process known as turbidity current erosion.

Many questions remain unresolved regarding the nature of its origins. As such it is the subject of several ongoing geological and marine life studies being carried out by science.

Researchers studying it are stationed at the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and other oceanographic institutions.

California's rivers carving Monterey Submarine Canyon (mobileranger.com)

 

OUR MOOD: "That sinking feeling"

Monterey Canyon begins at Moss Landing, California, which is situated along the middle of the coast of Monterey Bay, and extends horizontally 95 miles (153 km) under the Pacific Ocean. 

It terminates at Monterey Canyon submarine fan, reaching depths of up to 11,800 feet (3,600 meters) below surface level at its downstream mouth.

It is a part of the greater Monterey Bay Canyon System, which consists of Monterey, Soquel, and Carmel Canyons.

Mazu, Chinese Goddess of the Sea

The canyon's depth and nutrient availability (due to the regular influx of nutrient-rich sediment) provide a habitat suitable for many marine life forms.

 

The Soquel Canyon State Marine Conservation Area protects a side-branch of the Monterey Submarine Canyon. Like an underwater park, this marine protected area helps conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. More

Depths of beginning of California's Monterey Submarine Canyon (mbari.org)

SUTRA: Fairy in "The Wilderness" (video)

John D. Ireland (trans.), Arañña Sutra (SN 1.10); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Thus have I heard. Once upon a time the Blessed One (the Buddha) was staying near Savatthi, at Jeta Grove in the millionaire's monastery.

When the night was nearly past, a certain fairy (deva) that lit up the entire Jeta Grove with her surpassing splendor approached the Blessed One.

Having drawn near and bowed, she stood respectfully to one side.*

Classic fairy (Luis R. Falero, 1888)

Standing there the fairy said:
 

Those living in the forest,

Peaceful, calm, of pure livelihood,

Eating but one meal a day,

How is it they appear so radiant?
 

The Blessed One replied:
 

They sorrow not for what is past,

They long not for the future,

The present, now, is sufficient.

So it is that they appear so radiant.
 

By longing for the future,

By sorrowing about the past,

By this fools wither up

As a tender reed cut down. 

Buddhist fairies

*NOTE: A "fairy" or deva (literally, a "shining one") in this case refers to a woodland denizen or an inhabitant of a lesser heavenly plane. Deva or "light being" is a broad category. These beings exist on many planes.

The word is related to the English words diva, deity, and divinity from the Latin deus, "god" in the Greek and Roman sense of the word, "demigod" or "godling," and Western religious "angel" or "archangel." When the term is applied to a human, it usually designates a royal (a legendary hybrid human-deva left behind to rule mere mortals, an honorific title like the one applied to the Buddha's mother Maya Devi).

The devas are angelically beautiful, like Pleiadians and Lyrians, Venutians and the women of Aldebaran. The bodies of devas -- be they lowly fairies or magnificent space beings more brilliant than celestial bodies, planets and suns -- are more subtle and purer than human bodies. They radiate more light. (Auras? Western science now confirms that human bodies emit light, not just devas).

The period before dawn-- the third watch of the night -- is the usual time for such beings to visit the Enlightened One, the Buddha. One of his titles, after all, is sattha deva-manussanam, a "teacher of gods (devas) and humans.

Look at my cool YOGA tattoos! (video)

Yogis Crystal Quintero, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Vickie Howie (chakraboosters.com)

Maximize Potential for Love, Health, Money...

Chakra Boosters Healing Tattoos™ are the easiest way to move through blocks in any area of life.

Full set of seven tattoos

These temporary tattoos beautify body while boosting our seven main energy centers -- even during sleep! The vitality of these energy wheels -- called chakras -- are responsible for our wealth, sexuality, power, love life, personal expression, relationships, intuition, spirituality, and overall health. 

With these Chakra Boosters we can effortlessly and continuously improve key areas of our lives. Get some now.

How do they work?

Dr. Emoto water crystal (indicescibles)

Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water research shows why these tattoos work. The renowned Japanese researcher showed the world that when we put positive words on water, we change the molecular structure of it. Since humans are approximately 70% water, we can boost our body’s main energy centers by putting these beautiful, powerful, healing chakra tattoos right on the actual areas where each energy center. More

Why Affirmations may do more harm than good

Vicki Howie (M.A., International Life Coach, creator of Chakra Boosters Healing Tattoos, Hypnotherapist) shares a controversial perspective on affirmations: They can actually have a detrimental effect. To find out why and learn what to do instead, here's a short VIDEO to create a transformative turning point. Namaste

Sublimation: Transforming Drains into Wells

Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Amber Dorrian, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Vocabulary.com

SUBLIMATION

Christy Turlington (sportsforus.com)

To sublimate is a chemistry term used in psychology. To sublimate is to go from a solid state into a more rarefied gaseous one, from dense to vapor without melting in between.

We can turn what drains us into what fills us, transforming drains into wells and reservoirs of energy. In psychology, sublimating means going from base to sublime. Imagine sitting on a meditation mat in a hall feeling restless -- beset by one or more of the Five mental/heart Hindrances: craving, anger, restlessness, sleepiness, doubt.

Done right, it is bliss and joy unutterable!

There will be no successful meditation. (But sitting through it, not getting up, is also progress. It is also meditating. This is true even if it seems like it has been a complete waste of time. In time, over time, with time and diligence, one notices that one has come a long way. One has gone from being scattered to being able to sit as one wishes rather than being controlled by mental aberrations and disruptive emotions. One becomes cool. "Cool" is a synonym of nirvana, which is quenching, slaking, extinguishing the defilements and aberrations that cause and support suffering, woe, and sadness).

Meditation becomes possible anywhere once it is mastered in silence and peace (gaynerdlife)

 

Now imagine sitting in a hall or cave or wherever and moving from restlessness to calm, from thirsty (tanha) to quenched (cooled).

Going from anger to appeasement, sleepiness to energized, confusion to clarity (doubt or confidence) -- all of these are examples of sublimation. These five have antidotes. 

America loves Science of Yoga

The Five Hindrances have opposites in Buddhism which are called the Five Factors of Absorption.
 
Another word for absorption (jhana) is "meditation." Jhana is the Sanskrit dhyana, which means "zen," or ch'an (Chinese), words that are synonymous with meditation, with cool, with calm collectedness (the right understanding of concentration, which does not mean trying and striving but rather getting into the flow, effortless ease, the Tao, the way, the path).

The hindrance or defilement becomes more subtle so we can continue being still, applying the mind, giving applied and sustained attention to a meditation object, to "meditating." This becomes the case even if at first we do not want to, if we do not "feel like it," if we can't. We sublimate the impulse into something useful. Anger can be fierce determination, as one hears so much about in tantra-influenced Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism sometimes also called Tantrayana). The DAKINIS are all about turning fierce "spirits" or moods into useful ones that advance rather than retard us along the path.

  

Well, for one thing, it explained your neuroses.

Psychologists and some meditators use the verb sublimate to describe the process of channeling intense energy into something useful and appropriate. The meditator may turn the intense energy of the Five Hindrances into determined diligence that open up the Path as the Five Factors of Absorption (jhana-anga, the limbs of "right concentration").  

According to Vocabulary.com, sublimate is related to the word sublime. Both words come from the Latin word sublimare, which means "to raise up" or "to exalt." So a struggling sitter finally being able to effortlessly meditate is a superior -- a more exalted -- situation. If suffering hurts, the cool peace of nirvana holds out the promise that we are not in a hopeless situation. It can get better, so much better that the goal comes into view and our happiness runneth over.