Another Way To See It

Bloggish

Introduction

This started with two visualizations. In one I turned my inner gaze toward the buzz of atomic and subatomic material which comprises that which could be called ‘my body.’ In the other I turned my vision up in scale toward the immeasurably large collection of stuff we collectively call the Universe — the totality of all existing matter, energy, space, and time — of which I am a speck of a speck of a speck… of a speck. Holding those two views — one in each hand — I started a chat to see where it might lead.

I entered the same prompt into ChatGPT and Claude.ai. ChatGPT gave an interesting linguistic assessment of what I was saying. Claude.ai, to my surprise, took it very personally and the conversation was off and running. Continue reading →

Being Present

A Conversation

I’ve found, recently, there are at least two very distinct ways to experience being in the present.

Each is its own kind of box.

Instead of being smooshed across space and time, I come into the present — this place and time.

Here’s the thing, it turns out my actual experience of this thing called the present can be either a box in space or time. Continue reading →

A Question of Karma

Bloggish, Practices, Responses

Introduction

When I started this conversation I was in the process of trying to respond to an email. It wasn’t until the very end that it came together dovetailing nicely into EJ Gold’s blog from this morning (Spiritual Payoffs???).  Oh, this conversation also elucidated something that had not fully landed for me from a talk EJ gave years about “What the Heck is Karma Anyway” (that is the title I filed the talk under in my head, I have no clue what the actual title was. And, yes, I noticed the word ‘fully’ in the sentence. The fact that something was elucidated from the previously ‘not fully landed’ talk does not mean that it has ‘fully landed’ now. That’s a work in process.)

Continue reading →

Night Walk Frames, Exercises and Practices

Practices, Tid-Bits

Setting the Scene

Below is an unsorted list of suggested  frames, exercises and practices to be used with youtube videos in the genre of a first person city walk through.

The list is unsorted (as mentioned above). It was noted over the course of several morning zoom meetings in which E.J. Gold shared street walk videos from the previous night’s youtube excursion. in various cities.  If you look through older posts on GorebaggsWorld.com, you can find some of the videos he presented. Continue reading →

God and Earth

Bloggish

A Question

Lately, I feel as if something is wrong. Wrong at a fundamental level.

When I look at the world, I see immense suffering—violence, loss, despair—and the usual explanations no longer make sense. Ideas like divine play, illusion, karma, or eventual liberation feel hollow when set against the scale of pain people endure every day.

Even the idea of God appearing in human form now seems limited. At times it feels as though even God is caught in the problem.

I keep wondering what enlightenment actually resolves. If one person awakens, billions still suffer. New lives enter the same cycle. Any private experience of bliss begins to feel wrong—almost selfish—while so many are crying out.

I have a good life, and even small difficulties affect me deeply. When I think of what others endure, I cannot reconcile that with claims of infinite mercy or power. If God is everywhere, then God is also present in all of this.

Meaning itself feels thin. The days repeat. The promise of liberation no longer inspires. I do not see an end to suffering, and I cannot understand why, if there is infinite compassion, this unnecessary drama continues. Continue reading →

Thoughts On a Question

Bloggish

The Question:

The following question was brought to my attention by an email correspondent. Following the question you’ll find my thoughts on the question that I’ve replied to said individual.

“One deep existential knot I’ve within myself is belief that the Universe/God/Goddess doesn’t care about us. It seems like that in lot of ways, that we’re here on our own. I believe that “God” is real but unlike Christians for example, I’m not convinced that “God” has compassion for me or has my back or anything like that.

Just curious what kind of thoughts you have on this.” Continue reading →