I Could Do That...

Just read an article on someone who smuggled his own artwork into New York's Museum of Modern Art. The art stayed there for more than three days before anyone noticed! He smuggled other works into other museums with the same effect. Go check out this web site... http://www.woostercollective.com

All I can say is... why didn't I think of it first?

Preconceptions

I was listening to an NPR report while driving into work today. It was talking about a restaurant in Zurich called "The Blind Cow", which served people their food in total darkness. Yes, you heard me right... total darkness! At first I thought how ridiculous! How can this be such a popular place to eat? That's insane!
The restaurant was started by, if I recall correctly, a priest that deals with sight impaired people that wanted to have sighted people understand their difficulties. The thing that struck me most though, was how the reporter described his experience. He talked of taking something off his plate and starting to eat it, and having no idea what it was. It had the texture of a soft cheese, but didn't feel like it at all when he put it in his mouth. At first he thought it might be a soft meat... a pate or something like it. Then, slowly, very slowly, his senses finally began returning the signals that told him what it was... a hard boiled egg yolk.
Apparently, our sight plays a MAJOR role in defining what we eat. If we have a carrot stick, we have already decided what it must taste like just by looking at it. Without sight, it takes to mind some amount of time to define what we are doing, and that, at least to me, would be an incredible experience -- the ultimate non-attachment to preconceptions.
Just think what a world we could live in if we didn't determine what someone was like just by looking at them, if we didn't have all those structures of how the world is set in concrete in our minds. What a liberating power we would possess, something that would transcend our very notions of existence. But could we do it? Would we ever dare to have that kind of courage?

Animal Smells

It's been a while since I've posted, but I got ill for a while, and then went on a meditation retreat, so haven't had time to write much.

It is amazing how a retreat will change ones perspective, not just of their immediate surroundings, but of all that is happening around them. I find that the burdens of life tend to make one forget the magic that seems to surround us everyday. The simple joy of seeing the sun shine through your bedroom window in the morning gets replaced with the depression of "having" to face another day. The smells around you, instead of being wonderous experiences, become "smelly stinky city life". This energy that surrounds us does not disappear... but we seem to not see it because of all the dross we heap on ourselves in day to day life.

Think about when you were a child, and that sense of wonder you possessed. Whatever happened to that? Then go to the circus with a child and watch the reactions. When you think of the "animal stink", the child might say "Oh boy! Animal smells!". The difference is in our perceptions, our sense of "now-ness", our letting go of preconceived notions and ideas.

Consider letting go of all those heaps of garbage and dross you have accumulated... at least for a moment... and sense the wonder of a child again. The world will be a better place for it...