Videos hosted by Michael Erlewine

"And it's hot too," to quote from one of my favorite movies, "Pootie Tang." The thermometer is pushing 93 degrees today and the humidity is high. For northern Michigan, that is warm, so here in Big Rapids where I live things (like me) are moving kind of slow around here, but still on course.

Our early morning walks at first light are all the more important as it is cool enough then to walk the dog, and he loves it.

I wish I had some exciting news, but we are still working off the news of merging my company with Cosmic Patterns and all that entails, which is a lot.

And I am not waxing philosophical much these days, either. People are so different and, as the old saying goes, "There is no accounting for taste" said the old lady as she kissed the cow.

I have been riffing some on the fact that although the true nature of the mind is something we all share (when we can manage to become aware of it), each of our particular takes or filters can be very, very different. We can't just change a mental filter like we do on our car. It takes real time to change our mind, or rather our view.

We can have a life-changing experience, one that alters the course of our life, but that is rare. Or a book, friend, or counselor can change our mind through discussion, but how long does the effect of that last? This is usually measured in weeks, or more likely in days. Pretty soon we find ourselves back in the familiar rut we popped out of for a time.

Permanent change is hard because change is slippery. Change is not stable, by definition. Sometimes it is one step forward and two steps back, and at others two steps forward and one step back.

And we each see differently. That is kind of hard for me to remember sometimes. We come together and share our views, but while seeing life through your eyes may be a refreshing experience, I soon snap back to seeing life my way through sheer habit. And I can't make you see what I see, except perhaps for the moment. This is sharing our view of life.

Years ago my view used to be what I call "the world according to Michael," but that view was not of whole cloth. There were too many gaps that I had no idea how to fill in. I could be (to myself) brilliant in some things and clueless in others. My own ignorance stood out like a sore thumb. I knew I had not found all the answers.

This is why, very gradually, I am learning something about the various Tibetan methods of training the mind. These teachings are thorough and gradually have replaced my own patchwork-quilt take on things. The brilliance of Buddhism is that it is additive. It never takes away what I came up with as the truth on my own. That remains frozen in time like insects in amber. What it does do is add on to what I know that which I could only wonder about before, that which I did not know.

I am learning to relax my own clinging view of life and just look around, take life in. I guess this is called embracing life just as it is. An old friend reminded me of a poem I wrote years ago that expresses what I have been feeling lately.

TIME FOR NOTHING

Excuse me for the moment,
No matter the reasons why,
I just need more time to do nothing,
But gaze into clear empty sky.

[Photo I took yesterday.]