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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
On my jolk this morning this quote popped into my head when I saw the mist covering the pathway onto a property at Owhanake Bay....
"Great Faith and Great Doubt are two ends of a spiritual walking stick.(used on our spiritual journey along the Path) We grip one end with the grasp given to us by our Great Determination. We poke into the underbrush in the dark on our spiritual journey. This act is real spiritual practice -- gripping the Faith end and poking ahead with the Doubt end of the stick. If we have no Faith, we have no Doubt. If we have no Determination, we never pick up the stick in the first place."
It was a beautiful winter's day sunny and warm, so I decided to test my new phone holder...First headed into the village to do a bit of op shopping...The village was quite busy...Sunny day means many day trippers...
Then a quick stop at my favourite lookout point...
..before calling into a friend's for a cuppa and a chat...
1
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Did you know that 68% of Americans believe that Satan exists?
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
edited July 2021
iPhone Photography Awards 2021… worth seeing what makes a great photograph taken with an iPhone
@Kerome said:
Did you know that 68% of Americans believe that Satan exists?
I wonder how many Buddhists believe Mara exists?
1
Fosdickin its eye are mirrored far off mountainsAlaska, USAVeteran
Stephen Batchelor's book - Living With The Devil - has some good insights on the nature of the devil, though not addressing the question of how many believers there are.
That 68% believe that Satan exists may not tell us very much unless we break it down a little further. Does Satan exist for them as an independent being, or as a mind product, a metaphorical personification of the cause of our own inexplicably perverse behaviors?
I myself believe in the devil, or I don't, depending on what is meant by "devil".
It's a new dawn, it's anew day, it's a new life for me...
..and I'm feeling good...
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
@Fosdick said:
That 68% believe that Satan exists may not tell us very much unless we break it down a little further. Does Satan exist for them as an independent being, or as a mind product, a metaphorical personification of the cause of our own inexplicably perverse behaviors?
I believe the text, it’s from Sam Harris’ book Waking Up, specified as a real life existing being.
Wet and windy morning, no beach to jolk along 'high tide',
..so took a scenic route close to home, taking in the views..
well looking out at nothingness ...the ocean was out there somewhere...
It was an exhilarating jolk in the rain and wind , no other walker or joggers around....I'm sure people driving past in their nice warm cars were thinking "What's that crazy lady doing out in this weather"
Well this morning exhilarating jolking in the wet and windy weather and this afternoon humiliating well almost...
The day turned out to be warm and sunny when I arrived at work...
Even got to watch a lone surfer catch a wave from the office window...
Then this happened...
A storm arrived with thunder and heavy downpours...
After work I was on my way to the shop to buy some corn to pop and there was a big puddle on the footpath so I went to step up the grass verge onto the road, and whamo I slipped on the muddy grass and down I went, got covered in mud, luckily there was no one around to see me fall in the mud, but my pants and jacket got muddy...
If I was watching myself slip I would have cracked up 😁
Glad you're ok @Shoshin1 - I saw an old lady go down hard yesterday near the supermarket. Thank god she landed on the grass! Would have broken bones if it was the concrete.
Found this 60 year old news footage on YouTube. Shows how insular the world used to be. How could some of them not know what language we speak in Australia haha
In all honesty @コチシカ I have no idea what it means, but you must be doing something right
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
@コチシカ said:
What does "promote" mean? In NB I mean..
It means the mod team like you today
3
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited August 2021
@コチシカ said:
What does "promote" mean? In NB I mean..
It means that if you read a comment so profound, life-changing. significant and noteworthy that you feel it merits being singled out as notable and important, you can click "promote" and it stands out from the remainder of the thread. AFAIK. So I believe... I should double-check with @Linc, to see if I'm correct...
Well whilst carrying out a random act of kindness for the creatures of the deep blue sea, a couple walking their dog also carried out a random act of kindness towards me...
I was out for my morning jolk and came across a large bit of plastic stuck in the sand, (remnant of a large plastic bag) so I stopped to pull it out and then carried on jolking with it (I was going to put it into the next rubbish bin I came across), anyhow this couple who were walking their dog, saw me carrying the soggy sandy piece of plastic at arms length, the guy walked towards me and said "I'll take it... enjoy your jog", so I thanked him for his kindness...
So far over the last few days, whilst out on my jolk, I've picked up three beer bottles, a can, a large empty plastic packet of cat food (this was also this morning) and the odd piece of plastic here and there...
Took my Mimi Me for a ride over the hills to the ocean. Ah, the fresh sea breeze and refreshing ocean air and marvelously soothing view! The ride was good too.
Peace to all
3
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
It was a four seasons in one day kinda day...Stormy windy cool one moment, then sunny and warm the next...
But worth the beautiful rainbow this afternoon when walking with a friend along the beach after work...
Just about to meditate after yoga. Crunch! Weight of rain brought down tree branch. No one hurt. Next doors gate completely blocked.
Morning 'tree clearance meditation …'
3
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
False acacia, I believe. They, like Silver birches, are known to drop a branch just for the helluv it....
2
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
I love my new computer... I have whatsapp desktop installed, have got my music library together on an old computer disk, have accounts for MLB.tv and my cable provider, who does a very nice tv streaming service, so while I am chatting I can watch YouTube or baseball or just regular tv
@Kerome said:
I love my new computer... I have whatsapp desktop installed, have got my music library together on an old computer disk, have accounts for MLB.tv and my cable provider, who does a very nice tv streaming service, so while I am chatting I can watch YouTube or baseball or just regular tv
Nice, who do you follow in the Major Leagues @Kerome?
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
The Red Sox... I lived in Boston for a while when I was young, and its something me and my dad share
0
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Now all I need is a Netflix account and I'm sorted
Was sent a writing prompt this morning...though it's likely more appropriately shared here rather than there.
"Share a memory of noise..."
Submitting to the symphonic stillness surrounding and embracing me, that which separated us receded until I became aware that I was stillness. There I remained until, from eternity’s periphery, cacophonous susurrations swarmed, laying siege to reality. With a fierce softness, primordial whispers surreptitiously penetrate the sublime silence. I sit, marveling in mourning, as the music is overcome by noise.
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Well I was checking the recycling bin outside the office at work this afternoon when I spied a tiny indigenous recycler as I lifted the lid...A native cockroach
It's a sunny winter's day insects are out and about...
@federica "Definitively officer, those Zen books filled with heaps of cannabis are not mine!!!!!!!" Right now I'm thinking on a 12 month work / holiday VISA. @Kerome
1. Work was getting a bit difficult unless your German is superb (C1-C2) or you have an IT / Engineer background. If not you are limited to Customer Service.
Germans are not particularly warm and open.. perhaps I'm not being fair to them because I'm using my "Spanish standards" to compare... I made great acquiantances and friends in the last years here... and they were mostly foreigners. Only 1 was actually German and from Berlin...
Berlin was fun when I was a bit younger and wilder, all this meditation has made me fond of solitude, reading and small gatherings. I blame NB and How for this (Haha).
Rent was getting crazy expensive. I mean, I left Madrid because it was crazy expensive and now I get the same but with worse much more expensive groceries and harsher, colder weather. Nein danke!
I will miss their forests though and all the friends I made here Sorry if it was too long.
3
JeroenLuminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlandsVeteran
Canada is nice too, although I understand the rent in Vancouver is not much different from the rent in Berlin. Wishing you the best of luck on your travels!
I have always been amazed that Victoria, as the governing center for British Columbia, has wide open empty streets by 8 o'clock at night. You can often stand on the centerline of a main street and not see another car for miles in either direction. The night life was at it's busiest last night at a local star watching park (no light pollution) where folks went to stand in silence & awe of a yearly meteoroid shower. Communal oohhs and auuhhhs were the only sounds to be heard in the darkness as each new flash of light streaked across the clear starry skies.
@コチシカ
While I wouldn't expect Victoria to be a very interesting place for the young at heart, my daughter, who has traveled the world pretty extensively, says that this stuffy British outpost while expensive, is one of the nicest places she's found to come home to.
Of course, how we relate to the externals of where any of us call home are often more about how accepting we are of ourselves at any moment.
3
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
@コチシカ, My step-son lives and works in Germany. He has exemplary qualifications in IT, and is actually sought after. He was head-hunted for his current position.
I won't say much, but his temperament is ideally suited for Life in Germany. He fits in well. His Girlfriend is Ukranian. Let's just say I think he's punching above his weight. But he's attracted to powerful, successful intelligent women with an independent streak. Someone who can match his earning power.
They'll go far, those two....
Comments
Beautiful morning...
Cold and rainy afternoon/evening...
Ah, what a wonderful place! I would swim every day!
On my jolk this morning this quote popped into my head when I saw the mist covering the pathway onto a property at Owhanake Bay....
"Great Faith and Great Doubt are two ends of a spiritual walking stick.(used on our spiritual journey along the Path) We grip one end with the grasp given to us by our Great Determination. We poke into the underbrush in the dark on our spiritual journey. This act is real spiritual practice -- gripping the Faith end and poking ahead with the Doubt end of the stick. If we have no Faith, we have no Doubt. If we have no Determination, we never pick up the stick in the first place."
It was a beautiful winter's day sunny and warm, so I decided to test my new phone holder...First headed into the village to do a bit of op shopping...The village was quite busy...Sunny day means many day trippers...
Then a quick stop at my favourite lookout point...
..before calling into a friend's for a cuppa and a chat...
Did you know that 68% of Americans believe that Satan exists?
iPhone Photography Awards 2021… worth seeing what makes a great photograph taken with an iPhone
https://www.ippawards.com/2021-winning-photographers/
I wonder how many Buddhists believe Mara exists?
Stephen Batchelor's book - Living With The Devil - has some good insights on the nature of the devil, though not addressing the question of how many believers there are.
That 68% believe that Satan exists may not tell us very much unless we break it down a little further. Does Satan exist for them as an independent being, or as a mind product, a metaphorical personification of the cause of our own inexplicably perverse behaviors?
I myself believe in the devil, or I don't, depending on what is meant by "devil".
The Devil is in the detail...
...so to speak..
It's a new dawn, it's anew day, it's a new life for me...
..and I'm feeling good...
I believe the text, it’s from Sam Harris’ book Waking Up, specified as a real life existing being.
Luckily the 100% of devils that don't exist, don't use statistics
Here is the official Natas (Satan backwards) website
https://theemmys.tv/
and now back to the useless fun …
Wet and windy morning, no beach to jolk along 'high tide',
..so took a scenic route close to home, taking in the views..
well looking out at nothingness ...the ocean was out there somewhere...
It was an exhilarating jolk in the rain and wind , no other walker or joggers around....I'm sure people driving past in their nice warm cars were thinking "What's that crazy lady doing out in this weather"
Well this morning exhilarating jolking in the wet and windy weather and this afternoon humiliating well almost...
The day turned out to be warm and sunny when I arrived at work...
Even got to watch a lone surfer catch a wave from the office window...
Then this happened...
A storm arrived with thunder and heavy downpours...
After work I was on my way to the shop to buy some corn to pop and there was a big puddle on the footpath so I went to step up the grass verge onto the road, and whamo I slipped on the muddy grass and down I went, got covered in mud, luckily there was no one around to see me fall in the mud, but my pants and jacket got muddy...
If I was watching myself slip I would have cracked up 😁
Glad you're ok @Shoshin1 - I saw an old lady go down hard yesterday near the supermarket. Thank god she landed on the grass! Would have broken bones if it was the concrete.
Not saying that you're old of course mate
Found this 60 year old news footage on YouTube. Shows how insular the world used to be. How could some of them not know what language we speak in Australia haha
What does "promote" mean?
In NB I mean..
You get a merit pay rise
Sunrise from my bathroom window this morning....
In all honesty @コチシカ I have no idea what it means, but you must be doing something right
It means the mod team like you today
It means that if you read a comment so profound, life-changing. significant and noteworthy that you feel it merits being singled out as notable and important, you can click "promote" and it stands out from the remainder of the thread. AFAIK. So I believe... I should double-check with @Linc, to see if I'm correct...
Well whilst carrying out a random act of kindness for the creatures of the deep blue sea, a couple walking their dog also carried out a random act of kindness towards me...
I was out for my morning jolk and came across a large bit of plastic stuck in the sand, (remnant of a large plastic bag) so I stopped to pull it out and then carried on jolking with it (I was going to put it into the next rubbish bin I came across), anyhow this couple who were walking their dog, saw me carrying the soggy sandy piece of plastic at arms length, the guy walked towards me and said "I'll take it... enjoy your jog", so I thanked him for his kindness...
So far over the last few days, whilst out on my jolk, I've picked up three beer bottles, a can, a large empty plastic packet of cat food (this was also this morning) and the odd piece of plastic here and there...
One good turn deserves another
Took my Mimi Me for a ride over the hills to the ocean. Ah, the fresh sea breeze and refreshing ocean air and marvelously soothing view! The ride was good too.
Peace to all
My new desk… with my new iMac on top of it…
Just after this morning's cushion time....Crescent moon...
Signs of a beautiful day to come....
47 spammers removed thus far since Monday... No new applicants.
Build it, and they might not come anyway.
It was a four seasons in one day kinda day...Stormy windy cool one moment, then sunny and warm the next...
But worth the beautiful rainbow this afternoon when walking with a friend along the beach after work...
Just about to meditate after yoga. Crunch! Weight of rain brought down tree branch. No one hurt. Next doors gate completely blocked.
Morning 'tree clearance meditation …'
False acacia, I believe. They, like Silver birches, are known to drop a branch just for the helluv it....
I love my new computer... I have whatsapp desktop installed, have got my music library together on an old computer disk, have accounts for MLB.tv and my cable provider, who does a very nice tv streaming service, so while I am chatting I can watch YouTube or baseball or just regular tv
Nice, who do you follow in the Major Leagues @Kerome?
The Red Sox... I lived in Boston for a while when I was young, and its something me and my dad share
Now all I need is a Netflix account and I'm sorted
Ah yes, good team.
I follow the Colorado Rockies. I was living in Denver when we made the World Series in 2007 against you guys but lost 4-zip 😔
Yeah! That was great... oh... I mean terrible
It's no surprise that the moment that I get an MLB.tv subscription that the Sox start slumping, 2-8 in the last 10.
Was sent a writing prompt this morning...though it's likely more appropriately shared here rather than there.
"Share a memory of noise..."
Submitting to the symphonic stillness surrounding and embracing me, that which separated us receded until I became aware that I was stillness. There I remained until, from eternity’s periphery, cacophonous susurrations swarmed, laying siege to reality. With a fierce softness, primordial whispers surreptitiously penetrate the sublime silence. I sit, marveling in mourning, as the music is overcome by noise.
Very sibilant... and poetically expressive.
Heh, and they said I was alliterate...
Well I was checking the recycling bin outside the office at work this afternoon when I spied a tiny indigenous recycler as I lifted the lid...A native cockroach
It's a sunny winter's day insects are out and about...
@Shoshin1 - he’s kinda cute for a cockroach
start of rant
I'm leaving Germany and I want to move to Canada. VISA paperwork sucks. Ahhhh!
end of rant
What made you decide to leave Germany?
Ooooh! Will we see you on "Border Security - Canada's Front Line"...?!
@federica "Definitively officer, those Zen books filled with heaps of cannabis are not mine!!!!!!!" Right now I'm thinking on a 12 month work / holiday VISA.
@Kerome
1. Work was getting a bit difficult unless your German is superb (C1-C2) or you have an IT / Engineer background. If not you are limited to Customer Service.
Germans are not particularly warm and open.. perhaps I'm not being fair to them because I'm using my "Spanish standards" to compare... I made great acquiantances and friends in the last years here... and they were mostly foreigners. Only 1 was actually German and from Berlin...
Berlin was fun when I was a bit younger and wilder, all this meditation has made me fond of solitude, reading and small gatherings. I blame NB and How for this (Haha).
Rent was getting crazy expensive. I mean, I left Madrid because it was crazy expensive and now I get the same but with worse much more expensive groceries and harsher, colder weather. Nein danke!
I will miss their forests though and all the friends I made here
Sorry if it was too long.
Canada is nice too, although I understand the rent in Vancouver is not much different from the rent in Berlin. Wishing you the best of luck on your travels!
I have always been amazed that Victoria, as the governing center for British Columbia, has wide open empty streets by 8 o'clock at night. You can often stand on the centerline of a main street and not see another car for miles in either direction. The night life was at it's busiest last night at a local star watching park (no light pollution) where folks went to stand in silence & awe of a yearly meteoroid shower. Communal oohhs and auuhhhs were the only sounds to be heard in the darkness as each new flash of light streaked across the clear starry skies.
@コチシカ
While I wouldn't expect Victoria to be a very interesting place for the young at heart, my daughter, who has traveled the world pretty extensively, says that this stuffy British outpost while expensive, is one of the nicest places she's found to come home to.
Of course, how we relate to the externals of where any of us call home are often more about how accepting we are of ourselves at any moment.
@コチシカ, My step-son lives and works in Germany. He has exemplary qualifications in IT, and is actually sought after. He was head-hunted for his current position.
I won't say much, but his temperament is ideally suited for Life in Germany. He fits in well. His Girlfriend is Ukranian. Let's just say I think he's punching above his weight. But he's attracted to powerful, successful intelligent women with an independent streak. Someone who can match his earning power.
They'll go far, those two....