Last Thursday I celebrated my 35th birthday. If I'm lucky, this puts me squarely in the territory of early middle age. That means that for the most part, I'm starting to have fewer days ahead of me than there are behind. It's a sobering thought, but not a depressing one. Unlike most I really don't … Continue reading My 35th Year
Category: Buddhism
Opening Up the Hidden Heart
There are very few things as alienating as feeling like some deep part of yourself isn't understood, or worse, hated. We each have core aspects of ourselves that we prefer to keep hidden -- only showing them to a few people we trust. Sometimes we don't get to trust anyone, and we move through life … Continue reading Opening Up the Hidden Heart
Notes From the Zendo: A Softening
Last Wednesday I went to the Kannon Do Zen Centre up in Mountain View to hear Natalie Goldberg speak. A friend had invited me to see her, and when do you get a chance to actually meet the writer of Writing Down The Bones? Of course, I had to go. It was a bit of … Continue reading Notes From the Zendo: A Softening
Poetry: Love is Not Tough
He stands doe-eyed as he faces a fear disrobed from its darkness, sprawled naked before him. Behind the flash of terror an animal runs into the thicket of safe and soft and warm. The world imagines this is the part where we get to hit him with bamboo shake the bushes, rattle the cage fill … Continue reading Poetry: Love is Not Tough
Righteous Indignation, Wrong Action
We've been in a culture war for as long as I can remember. There were the 80s, when the Republicans were pretty much running the show, then the 90s where Clinton lead the charge against them from the Executive Office. The 2000s were particularly nasty and disheartening; I couldn't believe it when George W. Bush … Continue reading Righteous Indignation, Wrong Action
About Meditation
I found a really great site for trying to track new healthy habits or break bad ones, and after a short break I've rejoined the community there. I'm not sure if you guys have heard of Health Month or not, but it's a pretty fun way to get into track what it is you're trying … Continue reading About Meditation
What I Believe
Over the long weekend I watched two very different movies that touched on the same theme. One of them was a religious drama written and directed by Robert Duvall, a true passion project if ever I saw one. It was called The Apostle. The other was very much a product of its time -- a … Continue reading What I Believe
Combatting Mindlessness with Personal Myth
When I'm not pretending to be a giant rabbit who writes fiction on the Internet, I work at a services company where I deal with customers all day. The nature of our business is such that people often mistakenly believe we're responsible for things that we aren't, so it's not uncommon for me to get … Continue reading Combatting Mindlessness with Personal Myth
Movie Review: Melancholia
Melancholia (2011) Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsborough and Kiefer Sutherland Written and Directed by Lars von Trier Lars von Trier is one of those directors with a distinct, uncompromising vision. You get the feeling when you see one of his movies that every shot is exactly the way he wanted it to look, and every … Continue reading Movie Review: Melancholia
Meditating Everywhere
It's taken me a very long time to understand what meditation is for. When I first started to practice, I assumed that the time I'd spend on the bench was in preparation for something else. By sitting down and counting my breath (one-in-out-two-in-out) my brain was being molded in a way that would manifest elsewhere. … Continue reading Meditating Everywhere
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 