05 May 2011

Fifth of May Revolutionary Communiqué

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Cinco de Mayo, 2011. I am now re-reading – after several decades – the great libertarian science fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (1966). Hence the revolutionary consciousness.
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I have been, and plan to continue to be, offline a lot more than usual for the foreseeable future. It is the Hot Season now, our summertime and holiday time, and the hot humid weather does not encourage me to sit in front of a computer for long stretches.
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I’m feeling very well, and I resolve to keep on feeling that way. In the past few years, I have had major illnesses during the slothful days of the Hot Season, so I’m allotting my prime time to exercise and healthy pursuits. Jump-starting a new fitness program, I marched 7 klicks in 100-degree humid heat the other day, and I feel great (after major re-hydration).
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I hereby am liberating myself from mundane technological bondage. This is consistent with my personal history, as I liberated myself from the Boob Tube (TV) back in the ‘70s and never missed it. Today I must limit my time in front of the modern, wired, www version of the electronic teat. Being thus weaned is a wonderful release. Ah, Liberty!
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I am practicing my meditation with new resolve, i.e., in accordance with the Buddha’s last words of advice: “Strive on with diligence.” I am adding Hinayana/Theravadin simplicity of focus on the original fundamentals (Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path) to my decades-long practice of Ch’an/Zen daily aesthetic mindfulness. I haven’t known such clarity in meditation since my teens, in ’67 and ’68. I feel very young.
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-Zenwind.
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