Upside Down Kris

Sparrow's Song Once there lived a russet Sparrow who rustled to and fro in the forest carrying messages. She took the croak of a tree frog to a distant tree. She carried the clicks between insects, the whistles and hoots between birds, the sound of breezes ruffling feathers or wings...She was forever flying back and forth between one creature and another–so much so that she had forgotten her own message. One day, tired of all the busy-ness and busybodies, she sat down at home and stayed there. Finally, she had some time to think. She thought and thought. "What is it that I want to say? What?" she wondered. Just as she was sure her thinking was getting somewhere, a squirrel suddenly pushed through the high grass hiding her home. He popped his head over the edge of her nest and a piece of straw tickled his nose making it crinkle. "Sparrow?" he sputtered through a sneeze. She made no answer, nor movement. Squirrel "ah-hemed". Still nothing. So, he decided...

Perception Dependent The way I see it, our world is a hodgepodge of sensations that we have collaged into meaning. It's not that the world is this way or that, nor is it that people "are" this way or that. We make them that way through our perceptions, and everything is quite situation dependent. This is why some people (and philosophers) would argue that reality is arbitrary–what I'm seeing is not necessarily what you're seeing. Maybe we miss details or look at a situation sidelong instead of head on. And let's not forget that our past paints events in shades of memories that slant our vision. Let's take one of my recent experiences as an example. I was in a cafe drawing a literal blank for the word sandwich in Spanish. So, I pointed to what the woman next to me was eating. "Un toast?" asked the server. Well, not exactly, but it was close enough and I loathed the idea of resorting to google translator. Consequently, I nodded yes. However, anot...

Love is in the Air "Love is in the air"...literally, you can feel it wafting about, trying to decide where to land on this lover's day. Of course, love's latches are various: latching onto your dear friends, family, even your pets (who stretch the latches more than one could imagine, becoming a member of the family.) Love is all about bonding, feeling that connection, and sometimes suffering when it's missing.It's about those ties that we create with the surrounding world which support us in the bad and good. In the end, it's that net we rely on, or that safeguard that makes us feel secure. And if in some way it has been subtracted–toxic, not there, or losing it through death or divorce–we find ourselves on a rocky shore unsure of our footing. Recently I attended a Buddhism seminar to find out the Buddhist take on love because Buddhism is based on compassion (yet another type of love). Yoga had led me there and I was curious to know more. I agree with many...