Late night, early morning, or mid-day drunk posts

Post here as appropriate due to a combination of intention, conditions, and responsible suspension of the fifth precept.

(I had to google the precept.)




Okay, got that taken care of...

Yes! *hic*

Jackson Wilshire wrote: ...could it be that certain (usually narcissistic) individuals have dissociated from their own sense of will to such a degree that it’s projected onto their fantasy of being One with God? "

Yes, the douche and the douche-by-association are totally projecting, like the Blues Brothers. "We're on a mission from god." Except the Blues Brothers saved the orphanage. I hope they can at least say the same before they go to jail.

shargrol wrote: Yes, the douche and the douche-by-association are totally projecting, like the Blues Brothers. "We're on a mission from god." Except the Blues Brothers saved the orphanage. I hope they can at least say the same before they go to jail.

This made me laugh! It's funny 'cause it's true.

Not drunk, but woozy from dry insight work. Which might or might not count. Anyways, jus' wanna say that admiring references to Teilhard de Chardin should be taken as a sign in the same way as admiring references to Von Daniken (though not, perhaps, to the same degree): The author has lost the plot, and is likely to go off the rails soon.

*hic*
*kriya*

New topic:

We're all a bunch of assholes.

Ouch. I'm only "drunk" on a glass of wine and the after effects of getting blissed out during ritual. But I would only use the word asshole in dire circumstances.

I once saw a (upper class) guy walking his dog along the sidewalk, talking on his phone. A service guy was standing in front of a store with a load of goods he was waiting to put in a truck. The man with the dog let his dog urinate on the boxes. The service guy did the don't-confront-anyone-richer-than-you thing and stared into space, not reacting. The guy with the dog: asshole.

Being an asshole, to me, requires a real disregard for other people, a sense of entitlement or arrogance, a cad-like self-involvement. And not even feeling contrite or trying to do better next time.

Those of you I know certainly don't fall into that category.

</mom>

So assholes are them?



(EDIT: this post was done with a bowl of cheerios in hand, not a glass of wine... so it probably should be disregarded.)

eta:

As I was commuting to work, I recalled a really great conversation I had with a woman friend a few years ago… It’s about assholes. She made the observation that guys seem to be able to call themselves assholes and women do not. (Actually, I think we started of by saying “bad” as in "I am bad", but soon we included every form of bad, asshole, prick, bitch, etc.) In any case, I didn’t believe it. Well, I mean, I knew that guys really had no problem talking about their own past insensitive behavior. And we don’t find much trouble with the thought that we might fall into it again. But I was really surprised that she was saying that gals did not say such negative things about themselves, not in the same way. Over the course of the conversation, I got a whole new appreciation on how much gals are pressured into being “good daughters/good mothers” and how this kind of identity precludes consciously claiming how gals might be insensitive, uncaring, unkind creatures at times. (Not unlike how men are pressured, to be stoic and how this identity precludes consciously claiming they have any kind of interior emotional life.) But it really took her about an hour to wear me out and convince me that girls don’t say, “I’m an asshole.” There’s too much at stake. Guys can say it without much consequence.

The way I tend to translate “asshole” into dharma is being in the God Realm or the Titan Realm. The Hungry Ghost, and Hell Realms seem too instinctual, but you could argue that they have some form of conscious intent to try and transfer personal suffering onto others. It’s just that the God and Titan Realms do this with more sophistication or plotting. And in Ona’s example, it’s an upper class guy, certainly a creature of the God Realm, being an asshole.

My friend and I didn’t talk about the six realms interpretation of this, but we did talk about the “psychological shadow” side of this. We spent a lot of time talking about how the significant shadow caused by men not owning their own softness and emotionality. In some ways, it’s too easy for men to claim “assholeness” because it helps masks the gentle, caring -- and easily hurt – side of themselves. This denying of being able to be hurt can become the indifferent God-like “I don’t care what other’s think about me” persona, and it can be the manipulative “I’ll just control my emotions and use them” Titian-like persona. (You can see the latter guy in nightclubs around the world!) We also talked about the significant shadow side of gals not being able to say “I’m an asshole.” While trying to be good daughters/good mothers is noble, the whole mommy wars thing -- the competition among women to be perfect moms, and snobbishly being dismissive of “others” different parenting styles -- gets pretty oppressive. And while the “grizzly bear mom” behavior (powerful acts of protection) is a beautiful thing, it can get corrupted into a very Titan-like way of plotting to crush “others” that are perceived competition to the family.

For what it is worth, I don’t think anyone on this board is an asshole, but I’m pretty damn sure everyone on this board gets psychologically reborn into the God or Titan Realms from time to time, which is such mundane observation that I thought it worth of only the “Drunk Posts” thread… but maybe (If the conversation I'm recalling has any validity) it goes deeper than I originally appreciated.

Everyone must watch this ridiculous stupid funny video (animated gifs - low bandwidth): imgur.com/gallery/RWLoO

Best viewed with a mouth full of food.

What kind of drink are you having with your food?

Green tea! I'll save the wine for a call with a student later.

Anxiety solved forever!

Excerpt: "According to Menon, research participants who focused all their mental energy on fretting passed through three distinct stages as their feelings of angst were systematically eradicated. First, subjects frantically overanalyzed each detail of their particular anxiety, after which they mentally tormented themselves regarding every single thing that could possibly go wrong. Finally, and most crucially according to the data, subjects beat themselves up over their stresses to such a degree that they became virtually paralyzed, rendering themselves too impaired to function in most aspects of their lives."

www.theonion.com/articles/study-anxiety-...out-it-real-h,32555/

I forgot about this wonderful thread, until Shargrol reminded me on another thread.

Last night I had to go to a really tedious and obscure church meeting. One of the inevitable ones where someone tells me to go, as a parish representative, but I have no idea what it's for. This one was for "pastoral communications". I had a gin and soda water with lime before heading out to the 8pm meeting. A casually-dressed priest wandered in at 8:30 and gave a meandering talk about the importance of communication, riffing off of the story where Jesus tells everyone he is the bread of life and they have to eat his flesh, and most everyone runs away in confusion and horror.

I took notes.

By nine the rest of everyone had wandered in. As usual there were multiple conversations going even while the priest continued. Eventually there were some discussions about the importance of websites for parishes, and mention of an upcoming conference on Photoshop. I spent most of that time fantasizing about how funny it would be if the old woman across the room suddenly levitated and was stricken with stigmata. Church meetings need more supernatural occurrences.

So that's my problem! I went to a church meeting last night, except instead of a gin and tonic I had coffee, and instead of Brazil I was in Minnesota in the good old USA. And instead of fantasies about levitation I participated in some real business, like voting to call a new Dean for our little country cathedral. And if people talked out of turn they were asked to stop. But life seems to go on, one way or another.

Reality seems to have been designed with much more room for error than we usually think.

I think I'll be worthless in Northern Hemisphere meetings for the rest of my life. Ruined I am.

Ona Kiser wrote: Reality seems to have been designed with much more room for error than we usually think.

I think I'll be worthless in Northern Hemisphere meetings for the rest of my life. Ruined I am.

I think it more likely you'll be a force for needed change in this hemisphere; you're cutting-edge!

I'm realizing I've been a good boy lately... ok, I just jinxed myself!

Thanks for reviving this important thread.

Here's a funny. I have been having heavily interrupted sleep for a couple weeks now.

Not sure where to post this poem, but since I found it funny I thought I'd stick it here. It reminds me of those Zen poems about stumbling home drunk in the snow and such.

books.google.com.br/books?id=-GP2roSmNeA...s%20rinpoche&f=false

"i think all thoughts should end with 'who knows, i just made that up'" - a friend