Remain diligent, and reserve your energies for these explorations. This is your own work, and these discoveries will be far richer than just listening to someone say “You are All One,” and accepting it as true.

Safe travels…

I know that in the midst of this kind of exploration it can fee like a fight. As if thought is an arch-nemesis or a James Bond villain that you must thwart at every turn. But if there is a villain, it is YOU, because the blueprint of the self says, “There is me here, and the negative thought there.” That is the greatest villainy of all.

Thoughts are not you in the purest sense, as you have said. But they are you superficially, and that is the questionable bit we must reserve our energies for. That is the delicate curtain so seemingly impossible to move aside.

You might have noticed in yourself, during the thoughts of throwing the books away, the center was still very strongly present (I am using center here as the doer or self or whatever you want to call it). Even though you might have seen through to some nonsense; that you are being comforted by the writings of others; the need to throw the books away was just another ploy to eventually bring you the same comfort, just in another direction.

You must see where you are seated in all things; where the center pokes and prods the embers, trying to keep the heat going. It is always there, but that is good. You’ll never lack material for spiritual exercises.

Our conversation here helped push me to see WHY I didn’t listen to the thoughts. Thoughts are not ME. And most importantly, I realized that my thoughts and ego are there to help me to see who I am. I feel more layers coming off

It is a curious dance, this simple thing called life. This idea to communicate, wondering what might be heard.

What else can we do as human beings? Well, there are countless things, I suppose, but communication is the fun bit, isn’t it? Verbal or physical or whatever. That is one way in which humanity is gifted. We can express, with such completeness, our other gifts in a beautifully sophisticated way. We don’t usually do this, but we CAN. There is always that hope, springing eternal.

The US was nice. Colder than Japan for sure. I had the opportunity to catch up with some old friends I had not seen for over ten years. That was great. And even a couple of impromptu talks popped up here and there.

There was more ‘death’ involved on this trip than I am used to (two funerals in a one week period), but it provided an interesting background for new exploration. I will write about all of these things soon.

Nice to see you, Davidya. Glad you’re still around.

The flight wasn’t so bad. I had an aisle seat with no one next to me. I watched all three Austin Powers movies, all 3 X-Men, the first Bourne film, and a bunch of Simpson’s, Family Guy, and Futurama episodes, so I was well taken care of.

I have not stopped by your site in awhile…maybe I’ll drop in and say Hi; find out what I’ve been missing.

Thanks for stopping by…I appreciate all of your activity here.

You could be right about the pacification. Only you can say for sure, because we are talking about YOU. But if you stick with it, you may see the pacification as superficial, and something even deeper may be at the root. But you will find it before any of us will.

Sometimes I feel that I want to throw out all my books (just like you did) and stop reading the blogs, and stop talking about this subject.

That is all well and good, but always ask yourself WHY. Are you going to throw out the books for the same reason you bought them? Will you find the same comfort at the trash can that you did at the cash register?

Thank you, Masi. I am glad to still have you along…

“we go on…” and yes, so many things said become a message of not enough for the listener.

It is a curious dance, this simple thing called life. This idea to communicate, wondering what might be heard.

Hope you enjoyed some dancing in the US. It would be interesting to hear of your impressions of that. How it is vs how it once was. How everything responded.