Companeros, take heart~
though your roots be torn
they will grow again in new ground
and brighter days will rise
from the fertile dark.

had this crazy dream last night, and so I wrote it down for my sister as a birthday offering. not sure what it is offering, yet, here it goes..Jd’s Birthday Dream:

(a vivid and fun one, lots of detail and emotion)

So you and I are wandering through a forest of thick bramble and woodsy terrain. Suddenly the skies go dark; there is no visibility in this strange and slightly frightening place. So after following you, arm in arm, and getting nowhere, (your even directionally challenged in my dreams) we decide to let lil’ ol me take the lead. Gracefully, as if by magic, we mazed our way through the branches, puddles and frightful mystery… And as suddenly as the dark closed in, we had found a way out!

As the end of the forest approached there was a beautiful scene of cliffs and breaking ocean waves. Arm in arm we dove into the sapphire blue sea and let the waves toss us around like little children. Then… HARK! Karen spots a boat at sea! As she swims for it, JD bobs in the water waiting to see what the fuss is.

When she finally reached the deck of the boat, in the dim light of exhaustion and with a glimmer of hope, she sees it- a dead man with eyes wide open.

“Jenny, get up here, there’s a dead guy!”

She climbs up to the assumed and in disbelief whispers into Karen’s ear: “Sweet, look at this boat!”

And so JD and Karen make themselves at home on this dead stranger’s boat, finding the most comfortable bed, the most delicious foods and with a Goldilocks approach, settled in for the night.

After a few hours of rest and relaxation, (after all they were just lost in a wild forest) Karen hears a noise coming from the deck. Within seconds... he appears.

The dead guy.

“What?! I thought you were dead!"

Apparently this man, this boat owner from the cliffside of the ocean, sleeps with his eyes open.

And here is where the story gets weird. Karen starts to feel certain closeness with the stranger; in fact, he seems to be befriending her parents (who suddenly enter the dream and the boat) and is looking more and more familiar to her…

Wait, its DR. MATHEWS!!!

And after a few minutes of this older Dr. from her past, courting young Karen... she realizes that everyone in the dream is OK with the fact that her Doc is coming on to her. Weird.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Time to get up, end of dream.

*after reading this over, i realize it sounds like some freakish confession. it's not.. i guess you just have to know my sister and i to get its full meaning.

Happy birthday JD!

Why do we live in such terror of death? Perhaps the deepest reason why we are afraid of death is that we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity; but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography," our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards. . . . It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are?

We live under an assumed identity, in a neurotic fairy-tale world with no more reality than the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland. Hypnotized by the thrill of building, we have raised the houses of our lives on sand.

This world can seem marvelously convincing until death collapses the illusion and evicts us from our hiding place. And what will happen to us then if we have no clue of any deeper reality?

sogyal rinpoche

"Artwork by convicts and ex-convicts from Oregon will be on display at Enterbeing, located at 16th and NE Alberta in Portland, from February 22nd through March 21st. The show will open at 5 p.m. on February 22nd as part of Alberta Street's Fourth Thursday events. The public is invited to attend."

Monkey Mind

Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness.
-The Dhammapada

Enlightenment, because of its mysterious nature,

has become a subject of so many fantasies!

But what is the reality behind it?

Do you want to know?

If yes - look inside and see who you are Now!