Portmanteau

Portmanteaus are cool:

A portmanteau or portmanteau word (from "portmanteau (luggage)") is a blend of words in which parts of multiple words are combined into a new word, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, or motel, from motor and hotel. In linguistics, a portmanteau is a single morph that is analyzed as representing two (or more) underlying morphemes.

A portmanteau word is similar to a contraction, but contractions are formed from words that would otherwise appear together in sequence, such as do and not to make don't, whereas a portmanteau is formed by combining two or more existing words that all relate to a single concept. A portmanteau also differs from a compound, which does not involve the truncation of parts of the stems of the blended words. For instance, starfish is a compound, not a portmanteau, of star and fish, as it includes both words in full.

You can read more at Wikipedia, HERE.

It's Okay to...

"It’s okay to care about what people think. Just know there’s a difference between valuing someone’s opinion and needing their approval."  ~Lori Deschene

Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things

 You're not really all that different from a plant.

Excerpted from the article "Plants Feel Pain and Might Even See:  It’s time to retire the hierarchical classification of living things" by Peter Wohlleben in Nautilis:

After our first cup of coffee, we were soon deep into our main topic: trees and plants in general. Coccia argued that our biological classifications are not grounded in science. They are strongly influenced by theology and are dominated by two ideas: the supremacy of the human race and the world as a place humans must bend to their will. And then there is our centuries-old compulsion to categorize everything. When you combine these concepts, you get a ranking system that puts humankind at the top, animals in the middle, and plants way down at the bottom.

I listened, fascinated by what he had to say. Here was a man of my own heart. I would prefer it, I told Coccia, if science categorized species one beside the other. That would still allow an order, a system of sorting, without imposing any kind of a hierarchy. He immediately agreed. He reiterated his belief that the ordering system we have today is not scientific but rather influenced by cultural, historical, and religious values. For Coccia, the hard boundary between the plant and animal world does not exist. He believes plants can experience sensations and even reflect on them. And he is not the only one who thinks this.

You can read the whole article HERE.  It's fascinating.

Not Just

"Spiritual practice is not just sitting and meditating. Practice is looking, thinking, touching, drinking, eating, and talking. Every act, every breath, and every step can be practice and can help us to become more ourselves."  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

There's the struggle...

 

Big Smile

 

(click to imbiggen)

Donna onstage dates this to between 1971 and 1979.  I love seeing the big smile on Jerry's face!

Picture via MrGratefulDean

The Knowing

“Nothing that comes and goes is you. ‘I am bored.’ Who knows this? ‘I am angry, sad, afraid.’ Who knows this? You are the knowing, not the condition that is known.”  ~Eckhart Tolle

Stars

 

And that reminded me of this:

Full lyrics HERE.

It's The End of the World

 From Slashdot:

Human society is on track for a collapse in the next two decades if there isn't a serious shift in global priorities, according to a new reassessment of a 1970s report, Vice reported. In that report -- published in the bestselling book "The Limits to Growth" (1972) -- a team of MIT scientists argued that industrial civilization was bound to collapse if corporations and governments continued to pursue continuous economic growth, no matter the costs. The researchers forecasted 12 possible scenarios for the future, most of which predicted a point where natural resources would become so scarce that further economic growth would become impossible, and personal welfare would plummet.

The report's most infamous scenario -- the Business as Usual (BAU) scenario -- predicted that the world's economic growth would peak around the 2040s, then take a sharp downturn, along with the global population, food availability and natural resources. This imminent "collapse" wouldn't be the end of the human race, but rather a societal turning point that would see standards of living drop around the world for decades, the team wrote.

So, what's the outlook for society now, nearly half a century after the MIT researchers shared their prognostications? Gaya Herrington, a sustainability and dynamic system analysis researcher at the consulting firm KPMG, decided to find out. [...] Herrington found that the current state of the world -- measured through 10 different variables, including population, fertility rates, pollution levels, food production and industrial output -- aligned extremely closely with two of the scenarios proposed in 1972, namely the BAU scenario and one called Comprehensive Technology (CT), in which technological advancements help reduce pollution and increase food supplies, even as natural resources run out. While the CT scenario results in less of a shock to the global population and personal welfare, the lack of natural resources still leads to a point where economic growth sharply declines -- in other words, a sudden collapse of industrial society.

I've long thought that most things we don't need at all; and of the things that we do, we don't need more, we need better.

And that, of course, that reminded me of this:

Let There Be Songs To Fill The Air

 And that, of course, reminded me of this:

Full lyrics HERE.

Soon

Will Soon Become Me

by Michael P. Garofalo

(via Jules of Nature)

This peach, these peppers,

These grapes, these tomatoes

Will all soon become me.

Such a tasty fact.

I am That and That is Me. 

Bless the garden!

Bless the kitchen!

The Garden Of

 From a conversation on Tumblr, available HERE:

• “Evil is unspectacular and always human.” ~W.H. Auden
• “This is the great treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.”  ~Ursula K. LeGuin
• “I just think goodness is more interesting. Evil is constant. You can think of different ways to murder people, you can do that at age five, but you have to be an adult to consciously, deliberately be good--  and that’s complicated.”  ~Toni Morrison
• “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”  ~Simon Weil
• “Evil comes from a failure to think. It defies thought for as soon as thought tries to engage itself with evil and examine the premises and principles from which it originates, it is frustrated because it finds nothing there. That is the banality of evil.”  ~Hannah Arendt

Tea and Oranges

 This poem by Leena Badri and this song by Leonard Cohen seem to share a common vibe:

Azza and I Share a Cup of Tea

by Leena Badri, from Pank Magazine 1.1-2020

(via 3 Quarks Daily)

We find a perfect piece of shade underneath the warm sun,

and Azza pours the tea before she speaks

Azza never looks the same.

Each time you get close enough, each time you think you know her,

she reveals another surface

If you don’t pay attention, you might almost miss it

the way her crisp white toub falls gracefully on her shoulders,

how the gold crescent in her nose accentuates her face tenderly

Azza is timid, but captures your attention

She is not a mere stop on your destination

So, plan to stay awhile.

Listen to the way she uses language to weave stories full of heart

Pay attention to how she sings songs of love

Count the scars and ask her how many battles she has fought

You will be surprised to learn how many of them she’s won.

Sip your tea slowly and know that she will offer you a place to stay

Let her soft voice trickle into your ears, and

Let the cool breeze touch your skin

No need for formalities,

Azza has no care for them

She has no need for ceremony nor procedure

She takes big leaps, wanders on the dangerous route

She fears nothing, and is ready to risk it all

She is fearless, but never reckless

Beautiful, but never boastful

Smart, and always dreaming

She paints pictures of hopes and what-ifs

See how her eyes light up when she talks of future

Notice when she smiles

Because it does not happen often

Savor the moment,

Ask her the questions

Listen to the answers

Sip your tea slowly

Woodstock

 

It's not terribly hard to find Woodstock, but there are other things that make this image fun:

• Why is their sink full of lemons?
• They have just missed their bus
• Pre-coffee Snoopy is adorable!

Standing in the Doorway

Bob Dylan does not allow his albums to be streamed on YouTube, but he does allow fans to film and post his concerts.

This track below, from his 1997 Time Out Of Mind album, is a wonderful song with pretty good audio quality-- but you're going to make yourself queasy if you try to watch the video.

Full lyrics at BobDylan.com, HERE.

Let Go

"Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living."  ~Rachel Marie Martin (via)

Who are you?

Excerpted from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, ©1865:

She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large blue caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the smallest notice of her or of anything else.

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.

"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

"What do you mean by that?" said the Caterpillar sternly. "Explain yourself!"

"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir," said Alice, "because I'm not myself, you see."

"I don't see," said the Caterpillar.

"I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly," Alice replied very politely, "for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing."

"It isn't," said the Caterpillar.

"Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet," said Alice, "but when you have to turn into a chrysalis-- you will some day, you know-- and then after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little queer, won't you?"

"Not a bit," said the Caterpillar.

"Well, perhaps your feelings may be different," said Alice; "all I know is, it would feel very queer to me."

"You!" said the Caterpillar contemptuously. "Who are you?"

I read this book many years ago, and am enjoying reading it again.  I love the clever wordplay.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is in the public domain, and may be downloaded or read online for free at Project Gutenberg, HERE.

On The Floor

" i’m not lying on the floor physically but i am lying on the floor spiritually"  ~tumblr user uranodioning

The Other End

 This song was cowritten by Elvis Costello and Aimee Mann, and they both used it on their respective albums.  You can hear Costello singing in the background of Mann's version.

Full lyrics HERE.

Sacrifice and Destroy

"Each of us has our own idea of happiness. It’s because of this idea that we run after objects we desire. We sacrifice our time and, to a certain extent, destroy our bodies and our minds. According to the Buddha, happiness is simple-- if we go home to the present moment, we realize that we have more than enough to be happy right here and now. All the wonders of life are in us and around us. This realization can help us release our craving, anger, and fear." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Christianity and Capitalism

 

There's a wonderful graphical essay on Christianity and capitalism posted to The Nib, which you can read HERE.

Everybody But

"The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself."  ~Rita Mae Brown

Well Grounded

"When we recognize that we have a habit of replaying old events and reacting to new events as if they were the old ones, we can begin to notice when that habit energy comes up. We can then gently remind ourselves that we have another choice. We can look at the moment as it is, a fresh moment, and leave the past for a time when we can look at it compassionately. We can make the time and space, not in a busy moment but in a quiet time, to tell the suffering, wounded child inside us that she doesn’t have to suffer anymore. We can take her hand and invite her to come into the present moment and witness all the wonders of life that are available here and now: 'Come with me, dear one. We have grown up. We no longer need to be afraid. We are no longer vulnerable. We are no longer fragile. We don’t have to be afraid anymore.' You have to teach the child in you. You have to invite him to come with you and live life with you in the present moment. Of course, we can mindfully reflect upon and learn from the past, but when we do this we stay grounded in the present moment. If we are well grounded in the present moment, we can look skillfully at the past and learn from it without being sucked in and overwhelmed by it." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I highlighted the last sentence, because I wanted to make sure it wasn't overlooked. 

I'm Young, I Know…

The song stands on its own, but seeing Keith Richards pull in Nora Jones to calm her obvious stage fright adds a level of charm to the video:

And did the effort pay?

 Aimee Mann deserves to be ranked among the elite of female singer/songwriters, alongside of Carol King and Joanie Mitchell.

Full lyrics HERE.

"Spiritual Lifeguards"

 I listen to The Dan Patrick Show every morning.  That's kind of an unusual pleasure for me, since it's a sports show and I don't follow sports, but it's friendly and I like the positive vibes they generate.

On today's show Dan casually referred to the family of cancer patients as "spiritual lifeguards."

I really like that.  😀

Right?

 

This excerpt from Answers from the Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh, ©2009, illustrates the fundamental difference between Buddhism and Christianity.  Christianity is all about the destination, heaven or hell, while Buddhism is more concerned with the path: 

"If you don’t feel that you’re on the right path, happiness isn’t possible. This is true for everyone; if you don’t know where you’re going, you suffer. It’s very important to realize your path and see your true way.

"Happiness means feeling you are on the right path every moment. You don’t need to arrive at the end of the path in order to be happy. The right path refers to the very concrete ways you live your life in every moment. In Buddhism, we speak of the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. It’s possible for us to live the Noble Eightfold Path every moment of our daily lives. That not only makes us happy, it makes people around us happy. If you practice the path, you become very pleasant, very fresh, and very compassionate." 

yet not, but not

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;"  ~2 Corinthians 4:8-9

I don't know man.  I'm feeling sort of distressed, despairing, forsaken, and destroyed.

But I guess that's something to aspire to.

Has, Held, Is

Come to Dust

by Ursula K. Leguin, in So Far So Good ©2018

(via Jules of Nature)

Spirit, rehearse the journeys of the body

that are to come, the motions

of the matter that held you.

Rise up in the smoke of palo santo.

Fall to the earth in the falling rain.

Sink in, sink down to the farthest roots.

Mount slowly in the rising sap

to the branches, the crown, the leaf-tips.

Come down to earth as leaves in autumn

to lie in the patient rot of winter.

Rise again in spring’s green fountains.

Drift in sunlight with the sacred pollen

to fall in blessing.

                                   All earth’s dust

has been life, held soul, is holy. 

Another

 

Kurt and Albert

 

Many mathematicians consider Kurt Gödel (l) to be intellectually superior to  Albert Einstein (r).  Einstein certainly thought so.

But which one looks friendlier?

Manhattan

 

(clicking imbiggens)

Manhattan Midnight by Ellison Hoover,1945

Sensory Input Patterns

"Have you ever heard Data describe friendship?  How did he put it?  'As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them.  The inputs eventually are anticipated and even missed when absent.'"  ~Deanna Troi, on Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Wiki Family

 I think everybody by now knows about Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, but that's just one of a whole family of Wiki services.  Here are few you may not be familiar with-- and like Wikipedia, they are all free to use, quote, and link to:

• Wiktionary:  an online dictionary
• WikiNews:  breaking news.  This one has not really caught on yet, so there isn't a lot of content, but what they have is more complete and better sourced than most traditional news sources.
• WikiQuote:  sourced quotes.  (I use this on a lot to verify quotes before I post them.  When I see something like "'Always follow your dreams!'  ~Albert Einstein," I check it out before I pass it along.)
• WikiSpecies:  if it's alive, you'll find a picture and description here.  It's very cool, great for casual browsing
• WikiBooks:  free, open-source textbooks
• Wikiversity:  free courses for learning just about anything that interests you
• WikiSource:  an extensive collection of public domain books, free to read and download

Just On The Point

"I cannot tell if what the world considers “happiness” is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness."  ~Chuang-Tzu

This one hits hard:

 Full lyrics HERE.

Eff It After All

 

"Come, let us go.  Let us leave this festering hellhole.  Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable.  Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."  Dirk Gently, in Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, ©1987

My friend Mary, who just turned 80, liked that quote so much she wrote it on a piece of junk mail and used it for a bookmark.

And that, of course, reminded me of this:

Full lyrics HERE.

The Great Emptiness

"When he was dry, he believed it was alcohol he needed, but when he had a few drinks in him, he knew it was something else, possibly a woman; and when he had it all-- cash, booze, and a wife-- he couldn't be distracted from the great emptiness that was always falling through him and never hit the ground."  ~Denis Johnson

•

"Wasting away again in Margaritaville, looking for my lost shaker of salt.  Some people claim that there's a woman to blame, but I know it's my own damn fault."  ~Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville

Intercession

"The idea that each of us can be directly spiritual is radical. Most religions are based not on teaching adherents to be directly spiritual, but in persuading them to trust in the intercession of ministers or priests. The problem with this approach is that we cannot gain access to spirituality except through the medium of a fallible human being. If we want to see Tao, we need only open our eyes and trust what we see."  ~Deng Ming-Dao

•

"You don't need to believe in hereafter--just believe in me."  ~from Jesus He Knows Me by Genesis (YouTube)

Just Something Silly I Did:

 I saw this graphic from a 1954 toothpaste advertisement:

And added vampire fangs:

Alireza Nafisi

This is very pretty: 

alireza nafisi · لو بص فی عینی - سیرین عبدالنور

Armor

 "Many trauma survivors hold their breath and their bodies tightly, bracing themselves for whatever is coming next.  Staying alert for years takes a toll.  Create spaces where you can take your armor off."  ~Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis

3 LED

Two things I've learned about LED lightbulbs, and one thing I've recently learned about myself:

1. LED lightbulbs don't last anywhere near as long as it says on the box.  Not even close.
2. When LED bulbs go bad, they don't simply stop working-- they start flashing like a strobe light.
3. I am one of those people who are sensitive to strobe lights, so when an LED in its death throes starts flashing away I have to shut my eyes and leave the room.  Otherwise I'll end up on my knees with nausea.  

I was curious what the inside of an LED lightbulb looked like, so I sawed one open with a hacksaw. Everything is pretty flat inside. There's really no need for that big plastic dome, other than tradition:

Ragin' Eyes

Nick Lowe's songs always have a sense of fun to them.

Full lyrics HERE.

Betray the Mango

"It’s possible for us to have several spiritual roots. To me, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and all religions belong to the spiritual heritage of humankind. We can profit from all of these traditions. We should not confine ourselves to just one tradition. If you love mangoes, you are free to continue to eat mangoes, but no one forbids you to eat pineapples and oranges. You don’t betray your mango when you eat a pineapple. It would be narrow-minded to enjoy only mango, when there are so many different fruits in the world. Spiritual traditions are like spiritual fruits, and you have the right to enjoy them. It’s possible to enjoy two traditions, to take the best of two traditions and live with them. That’s what I envision for the future, that we remove the barriers between different spiritual traditions."  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Perspective

What I love about this perspective of this painting by Angela McKay is that the viewer doesn't just look at the mountains, we actually inhabit the body and become an Indian looking at the Himalayas.

Maybe

 "'Grow up,' we say. 'Stop crying,' we plead.  'Be quiet,' we scream.  'Do as you're told,' we demand.  And then we wonder why there asre so many adults who can't find the courage to speak, or feel, or create.  Maybe there are so many wild souls in cages because we put them there."  ~Brooke Hampton

Stop!

And that reminded me of this:

 Full lyrics HERE.

Exactly.