John Swinburn

The weather tricked me into believing February had come and gone.  And I believed the calendar’s lies; I had my shorts ready for months of use. How can the calendar be so cruel?

Though not a legitimate “quote” from the Buddha, I find this aphorism especially meaningful:

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the single candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

I am by no means a master, nor even a very good student, of efficient use of words, but I am pleased when I find short, meaningful aphorisms like this.  Not only are the words instructive, but the efficiency with which their meaning is conveyed is pleasing.

At some point, every generation must acknowledge its decay.  In one sphere, today, Jimmy Fallon is forcing that acknowledgement.  It’s not intentional, nor is it with any rancor, yet it’s happening nonetheless.  I wonder how that acknowledged decay, or the emergence of the youthful replacement, affects the people in the “in-between generations?”  In the case of Fallon versus Leno, what about the 50-somethings?  What do they think?  Do they feel cheated that “one of their own” wasn’t on stage?  Do they feel cheated that a youngster, Fallon, took a spot unavailable to them because their awkward age made a breakthrough inappropriate?

Some things just mesmerize me; I’m too easily amused, perhaps.  I’m the guy who wonders whether my younger friends feel connected to change or feel washed along by a social tidal wave over which they  have no control.

Everything is temporary.  The pain of a loss is temporary.  The joy of an accomplishment is temporary. Even the life we live is temporary. The value ascribed to us by others, and even by ourselves, based on the title or position we hold, is painfully temporary. Fortunately, that artificial value, that counterfeit social currency so integral to money and prestige, also is the least important.  It may seem important in the short-term, but reality sets in and sets  us straight. The real value is not the temporary stuff; it’s the people with whom we have relationships, the people we can count on, who define value.

I think there’s a visual artist locked somewhere inside of me.  Not necessarily a creative genius, but a competent technician; someone who, with the proper training in technique, could produce art that’s not half-bad. My occasional dabbles into art…pencil sketches, acrylic on canvas, and so on…are satisfying, but would be much more so if I were better, technically. at the process of creating it. “Take a course in acrylic painting” has been on my to-do list for a long time; now, though, I think something more fundamental might be more appropriate, though I don’t know precisely what is more fundamental than a basic painting class.  Maybe a “sketching” class.  Well, I’m not doing anything about it today, other than reminding myself about it; but I’ll highlight in on my to-do list for the near-term.

Here’s the thing. The character of a place can influence a person’s mood. A person’s mood or sense of comfort in his or her environment are defined by the place, then.  So, it makes sense to say changing  places is what changes the mood.  Move from NYC to Albuquerque, for example.

But, a person can change the character of a place.  New curtains, clearing clutter, painting, etc., can make a place seem like a different place.  So, it makes sense to say changing the place is what changes the mood.  Change the curtains in NYC, for example, or painting can make the place seem like a new environment.

Mood, then, is manufactured.  Changing it may involve changing places or changing the place.

Dreams can drive us to do exceptional things, or they can drive us to curse the distance between our dreams and reality. I’ve had both dreams; the former is more fulfilling, the latter more upsetting.

One way of looking at pulled muscles, blisters, and aches and pains  is this: their absence makes even a ho-hum day seem rather pleasant.

There is such a small circle of people who are really important in one’s day-to-day life. Those are the people for whom one should be prepared to sacrifice almost anything. Beyond that small circle, there are incrementally larger numbers of circles of people who matter. At some stage, as we watch the number of circles grow, we realize there’s a point beyond which the happiness of the members of some of those circles is not a high priority. And that should be reason to sit back and reflect on that point and what it means.

Thirty spokes join together in the hub.
It is because of what is not there
that the cart is useful.
Clay is formed into a vessel.
It is because of its emptiness
that the vessel is useful.
Cut doors and windows to make a room.
It is because of its emptiness
that the room is useful.
Therefore, what is present is used for profit.
But it is in absence that there is usefulness.
~Lao-Tzu~

There is no poison worse than hatred, nor no medicine better than love.

Today is Valentine’s Day.  I have participated, begrudgingly, in certain aspects of the corporate greed-driven celebration, but I do so very sparingly and only under mild duress.

Valentine’s Day is a corporate greed-fest sponsored in large part by people who make scads of money off of the day: florists, Hallmark and friends, chocolatiers, and others who have figured out a way to use intimidation and guilt to spur massive unnecessary spending.

That is not to say I am an utter kill-joy.  I love my wife and will tell her so.  If she wants to go out for a nice, expensive, celebratory dinner, I shall gladly take her.  If she would like me to write poetry, I’ll try.  But, as a whole, I think Valentine’s Day is naked, manipulative capitalism gone awry.

Snarl, snap. But if you, dear reader, are into Valentine’s Day, then ignore my nastiness and enjoy it.

I often wonder if other people have thoughts like mine.  Do other people wonder whether extroverts’ emotions are less brittle than the emotions of introverts ? Do other people listen to music and think it may have been written specifically for that moment when it touched the ear and the heart…that it was intended to trigger a thought that wasn’t there before?  Do other people sometimes sit, alone, and just think about the world and space and humanity and emotions and the oceans?  Are other people curious about silly things, like whether words sound the same to all people…like maybe I hear the word “compass” but it sounds to me the way the word “almond” sounds to someone else?  Or is it just me?

Words cannot describe everything.
The heart’s message
cannot be delivered in words.
If you receive words literally you will be lost.
If you try to explain with words
you will not attain enlightenment
in this life.
~Mu-Mon~

One of my brothers returned from a trip to Mexico several years ago with some gifts for me…including two masks, carved and painted to look pretty frightening.  Both of them have long, twisting tongues emerging from their mouths and both have horns, like the horns of a goat. I imagine they both are intended as masks of the devil.  I really like them. And this morning as I sat down to write another Thoughts for the Day, for no particular reason I started wondering about the people who carved them. What did the artists/artisans think about these masks?  What, to them, is the meaning behind the masks…do they have meaning?  Is their job, the job of producing masks for the “marketplace,” fulfilling to them? There is no way to know the answers to those questions, but it’s good to have the questions, I think.

“Walk a mile in another man’s shoes.” The source of this aphorism is variously ascribed to the Bible, to American Indians, and others, but the intended meaning is clear: empathy arises from having put oneself in the place of another, thereby developing an understanding of the circumstances that cause that person’s present predicament.

I think empathy is natural, but some people don’t seem to develop it to the extent that might be hoped.  Maybe empathy-training should be a required course in school and mandatory testing used to measure its retention.