(…which could have resulted in a “lazy eye” like character actor Jack Elam – but didn’t.)

*   *   *   *

Here’s a break from Politics:  Six years ago I was helping my brother take up the deck in his back yard.  I ended up having a large nail – like the one shown at right* – shoot up and puncture my right eye.

Since then I’ve learned to manage with one good eye.  Then last Friday, February 24, I went to a local eye institute.  I figured on getting my right eye fixed, but it turned out more complicated than I thought.  (“Of which more anon.”)  Which leads to one point of this story:  That fooling around with sharp objects can indeed “put your eye out.”  That’s what happened to veteran character actor Jack Elam, shown in the top picture.

Born in 1920, by the early 1930s he was living with his father and stepmother.  (His birth mother died in 1922.)  There – in south central Arizona – he “lost the sight in his left eye during a boyhood accident when he was stabbed with a pencil at a Boy Scout meeting.”

Then of course there was that famous exchange in the 1983 film A Christmas Story:

Ralphie:  I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

Mrs. Parker:  No, you’ll shoot your eye out.

Which is pretty much what nearly happened.*  Which leads to another valid point:  That sometimes those old wives’ tales turn out to be true.  (See also Old wives’ tale – Wikipedia.*)

But getting back to the nail in my right eye:  The thing I remember most about the incident – six years ago – was a feeling of utter stupidity.  How could I have done such a thing?  How could I have been so careless?

That, together with a feeling of being totally out of it.  I know my brother drove me back and forth to the local eye institute’s other-side-of-Atlanta offices and back, several times.  (On the Atlanta Beltway, which is normally a nightmare to drive even one time.)  I also remember that there was at least one surgery, and a host of pre- and post-operation doctor visits.

But through it all I was pretty much in a daze.

Now fast-forward six years, beyond the ongoing lack of depth perception that I had to learn to deal with.  (As illustrated at right.)  And my going on to finally adjusting to seeing with only one good eye.  Around this time last year – at the annual eye exam that I now take very serious – there was some mention of a corrective procedure that would cost only $500.

But I decided to wait.  And the end result was that having turned 65 last summer, the procedure would now be covered by Medicare.  But again, then came the complications last Friday.

The local doctor who does my eye exams made an appointment at the College Park office.  He added that I could drive myself up and back, and that the actual procedure would only take about five minutes.  Which sounded too good to be true, and it was…

It turned out he was talking about a YAG eye procedure:

A YAG procedure, or … posterior capsulotomy, is a type of corrective surgery sometimes needed to correct cloudiness of the lens covering, which is known as posterior capsule opacification, following cataract surgery…

Which was part of what threw me off during the “procedure preliminaries.”  The nurse practitioner started asking questions about my cataract, and I had no idea what she was talking about.  (I had gotten a nail through my eye!)  But in the fullness of time things got clearer.

That is, I finally got to talk to the surgeon who’d operated on and “saved my right eye” six years ago, and he had a different opinion.  A YAG procedure – shown at left – would indeed take only five minutes, and I’d have been able to drive myself home.

The problem was:  A “YAG” only clears up cloudiness in the lens of the eye.  My problem was: I had no lens in the right eye.  The surgeon had taken the lens out – damaged as it was – in the process of saving the eye six years ago.  So the surgeon’s solution was a secondary lens Implant.

The end result?  A new appointment for an actual surgery in April, complete with a thick folder of cautionary instructions and a prescription for three separate eye drops that appear to be really expensive.  Then too I won’t be able to drive home, so the nice insurance lady arranged for a ride to and from the surgery.  (Paid for by Medicare, thank you very much.)   But I feel ever so much better about this procedure.  If it’s going to be this complicated – I’ll have to tape a plastic shield over my right eye at night, to prevent “inadvertent rubbing” – it’s got to be worthwhile.

Of course I know I’ll get more nervous as the time for the surgery gets closer, but maybe – just maybe – I’ll then be able to see out of both eyes, and have some depth perception.

Also “of course,” there was and is a simple solution that could have prevented all this rigamarole:  Always wear safety glasses,* no matter how dorky they look…

*   *   *   *

*   *   *   *

The upper image is courtesy of Jack Elamlostcoastoutpost.com.  The photo of Elam was part of an article – “GROWING OLD UNGRACEFULLY: The Good, the Bad and the Awesome” – which was in turn a trbute to “Spaghetti Westerns.”  (Referring to the “broad subgenre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone‘s film-making style…  The term was used by American critics [because they] were produced and directed by Italians.”)  

And a BTW:  The original title for this post was”Yes, ‘you could put your eye out!'”

“Note” also that an asterisk in the main text indicates a statement supported by a reference detailed further in this “notes” section.  Thus as to the “large nail – like the one shown at right:”   I’ve kept the actual offending large nail “even to this day,” but was unable to upload a photo of it in time for publication.  Note that the nail image as used is courtesy of additionally 16 Penny Nails Home Depot moreover 10 X 3 1 8 In 12 Penny …nikecuador.com.  I believe the actual offending nail is a “12 penny;” at any rate, it is some 3 and 3/4 inches long, bent and rusty.

Re:  The 1983 film, A Christmas Story.  Wikipedia noted that Ralphie ended up getting the gun, but:

Ralphie takes the gun outside and fires it at a target perched on a metal sign in the backyard. However, the BB ricochets back at Ralphie and knocks his glasses off.  While searching for them, thinking he has indeed shot his eye out, Ralphie accidentally steps on his glasses and breaks them.  In order to cover for the fact that he accidentally broke his glasses, Ralphie tells his mother that a falling icicle was responsible for the accident.  His mother, not having seen what actually happened, believes him.

On that note, the “Ralphie-with-a-BB-gun” photo is courtesy of The Lance : Christmas Classic Movie Review: A Christmas Storyfunny-pictures.picphotos.net.

Re:  Old wives’ tale.  Wikipedia noted that such “‘tales’ are considered superstition, folklore or unverified claims with exaggerated and/or inaccurate details.  Old wives’ tales often center on women’s traditional concerns, such as pregnancy, puberty, social relations, health, herbalism and nutrition.”  The article includes a list of such sayings, such as:  “Swimming with full stomach causes cramps and [you] should wait an hour after eating before swimming;”  “Don’t make silly faces or it will make the silly face permanent;”  and “Shaving makes the hair grow back thicker.”

Re: Depth perception.  That lack turned out to be a problem when I was climbing “one big pile of &^%$ rocks after another.”  See the notes to On the Chilkoot &^%$# Trail! – Part 2.

Re: “Dorky.”  Merriam-Webster indicated the term, “when used to refer to a socially awkward or inept person, is a relatively recent word:  our records indicate that it first appeared in writing in the 1960s.”

Re:  “Always wear safety glasses.”  I should mention that my “niece by marriage” got me a gag gift for the Christmas following the punctured-eye incident in August.  She got me a solid set of heavy-duty plastic safety glasses.  (See also closing the barn door after the horse has bolted – Idioms.  And a side note:  The term “niece by marriage” was provided by What would you call your nephews wife – Answers.com.  Another site, What do you call your nephew’s wife – Answers.com, posits that the “English language has no special name for a nephew’s wife and does not consider you to be related to you. You would simply call her ‘my nephew’s wife.'”)

The lower image is courtesy of We’re going to be remembered [for] dorky looking goggles … kotaku.com.au, in “This Week In The Business: The Dorky-Looking Goggles People.”

Japanese view of a Will-o’-the-wisp  –  That might “lead you to your doom” on Halloween night…

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Sunday, October 30 – If you’ve been living under a rock – or sticking your head in the sand to get away from negative political campaigning – you might not know that Halloween is tomorrow night.

And speaking of jack-o’-lanterns – like the one at right – they are widely known as one of the prime symbols of Halloween.  And in some traditions they are said to represent the “souls of the dead.”

Another theory is that some old-time people set those carved-out pumpkins on their windowsills, to keep out “harmful spirits.”  (Keep them from invading their home.)   And in yet another tradition,  jack-o’-lanterns “represented Christian souls in purgatory.”

(See also “corpse candles,” in the notes below…)

Which brings us back to Halloween.  But what many people don’t know is that Halloween is actually a religious holiday.  Or that there are actually Three Days of Halloween.  (Called the Halloween Triduum.)  The third day of the three-day holiday – November 2d – is called All Souls’ Day.  The original idea was to remember the souls of “the dear departed,” illustrated by the painting at left.

The second of the three days – November 1st – was known as All Saints’ Day.  But back in Merry Olde England, the word for “saint” was halig, which eventually became “hallow.”  (It may have been easier to pronounce…)  So originally – back in England – November 1st was called “All Hallows Day.”  That meant that – literally – the night of October 31 was the evening – or e’en – before “Hallows Day.”  (Or “All Hallows Day.”)

That then got shortened to “All Hallows E’en” – “Eve” or “Evening” – which in turn got shortened further to what we now know as “Hallowe’en,” or just plain Halloween.

Two things about the night of October 31.  One:  By tradition it started the winter “season of darkness.”  (Old-timers – seeing the days get shorter and shorter – started thinking the days would eventually get so short there would be no light at all.)  The other thing old-timers believed was that on the Eve of All Hallows, “the veil between the material world and the afterlife thinned.”  Put another way, the veil between the living and the dead was most permeable.

(Spirits could more easily “pass through” the veil separating the dead from the living.) 

 So what was the deal with wearing masks and disguises? 

To review, people originally thought that on the night of October 31, the barrier between the living and the dead was pretty much all the way down.  And those old-time people were – perhaps naturally – “scared of those ghosts.”

So those old-time people originally started putting on masks and/or costumes to fool the ghosts and spirits.  (In other words, to disguise their identities.)  The idea was to keep the afterlife “hallows” – ghosts or spirits – from recognizing the people in this, the “material world.”

Another thing they did was to build “bone fires:”

“The fires were thought to bring comfort to the souls in purgatory and people prayed for them as they held burning straw up high.”  The idea came from pagan times, when evil spirits had to be driven away with noise and fire.  (Note also that “bonfire” is short for bone-fire.  See Bonfire – Wikipedia, noting the term “is derived from the fact that bonfires were originally fires in which bones were burned.”)

And there was another old-time custom.  If you had to travel on All Hallows E’en – like from 11:00 p.m. until midnight – your candle could tell your future.  If your candle kept burning, that was a good omen.  (The person holding the candle would be safe in the upcoming “season of darkness.”)  But if your candle went out , “the omen was bad indeed.”

The thought was that the candle had been blown out by witches.

Which brings us back to “fool’s fire,” will-o’-the-wisps, and/or jack-o’-lanterns.  A note:  Such jack-o’-lanterns are now made from pumpkins, but were originally carved from large turnips.

And both the jack-o’-lantern and Will-o’-the-wisp are tied in with the strange ghostly light known as ignis fatuus.  (From the Medieval Latin for “foolish fire.”)  That refers to the “atmospheric ghost light seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes.  It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached:”

Tradition had it that this ghostly light – seen by travelers at night and especially over bogs, swamps or marshes – resembled a flickering lamp.  The flickering lamp then receded if you approached it, and so it “drew travelers from their safe paths,” to their doom…

Put another way, the phenomenon of fool’s fire was “linked with the leading astray of weary travelers into mires.”  The guy leading people astray was said to be a “mischievous spirit,” carrying a lantern or torch and was said to play tricks on people.

Not that there’s any connection to the election coming up next week or anything…

 Another view of some  ghostly “Fool’s Fire…”

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The upper image is courtesy of Will-o’-the-wisp – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “A Japanese rendition of a Russian will-o’-the-wisp.”  (It should also be noted that any resemblance between that “upper image” and any of the political candidates running for office is purely coincidental…) 

Much of the text and “imagery” for this post was gleaned from my companion blog, to wit:  “All Hallows E’en” – 2015, and – in 2014 – On “All Hallows E’en,” Parts I and Part II. 

 The lower image is courtesy of Will-o’-the-Wisp – Lantern Man, Feu Follet, Ignis Fatuus.  The caption:  “Artist unknown. Source: ‘Flammarion, L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire’ (1888, p.749):”

The Will-o’-the-wisp has been recorded as flickering over marshy ground since at least the middle ages…  The lights have also been incorporated into modern literature, e.g. Dracula, and have even had a children’s television show named after them.  The most commonly cited explanation for them is that they’re the product of ignited marsh gas:  most likely slowly leaking methane whose ignition is triggered by phosphene…  Some of their synonyms reveal what cultures thought about them[, such as:]  “corpse candles” suggest[ing] that they’re the souls of the departed…  The phenomenon is also inextricably linked with the leading astray of weary travellers into mires.  The light was taken to be a lantern or a torch carried by a mischeivous [sic] spirit … said to play tricks on people.

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I started this blog a year ago.  My first post came on March 12, 2015, with “Birdman,” the movie. That initial post explained how I signed up for the domain name, “Georgia Wasp,” while adding that there was a problem. Back then there was a web-site, DatingPsychos.com, and one of its bulletins told of a crazy guy – “Alias ‘Georgia Wasp.’” The site said this guy was a “pathological liar…   married many times and has cheated on each wife with multiple partners!”  So I had to start off with “a heads up:  I’m not that guy!!!“

Also in that first post, I explained how I chose “THAT ‘WASP’ NAME.”

Moving right along, on March 18 I posted Jeremiah and the Parable of the Dirty Underwear.  For the Bible version, see  Jeremiah 13:1-11.  (An “interesting read.”)  It also cited a Harry Golden essay with a similar story.  As to that I wrote, “few people would use ‘schmooze’ and ‘death’ in the same sentence, let alone the same title, but Golden did.”

The next stop – metaphorically speaking – was Pink Floyd and “rigid schooling.”  That post compared modern musicians like Pink Floyd with old-time Bible prophets like Isaiah. For example, in The Wall Pink Floyd took issue with – among other things – “an out-of-touch education system bent on producing compliant cogs in the societal wheel.”  In a similar way – according to guys like Isaac Asimov – the Bible prophets of 3,000 or more years ago were also considered the “radicals of their day.”  Isaiah for one took great issue with the kind of priesthood that was “primarily interested in the minutiae of ritual.”

I posted On “Exodus: Gods and Kings” on March 28, 2015.  I noted the natural inclination to compare that 2014 movie with the 1956 DeMille film, The Ten Commandments.

That included one big difference:  In Ridley Scott‘s 2014 version – including the image at left, of Moses and “Pharaoh” – God was portrayed by “a bratty kid with an English accent.”  I also noted that “the Moses played by Christian Bale was more human, more like us today and therefore more believable.”  I ended that post with two points:

First:  To the icons that we choose to throw our cares and responsibilities on – like Moses – we followers are pretty much a pain in the neck…  Second:  Exodus: Gods and Kings is a pretty good movie and well worth seeing, if only in the interest of broadening your horizons.

And finally, I closed out the month of March 2015 with “When adultery was proof of ‘loyalty.”

Looking back – a year later – I think I may have been a bit prescient.  Harry’s essay on “when adultery was proof of loyalty” was set during the time of the Commonwealth of England.  That came after the Execution of Charles I, in 1649.  Basically a bunch of radical conservatives took over the government, shook things up, and made every Englishman’s life miserable.

Which naturally gave rise to a whole lot of quasi-religious hypocrisy:

One may easily see how desire for office or promotion led to hypocrisy.  If sour looks, upturned eyes, nasal twang, speech garnished with Old Testament texts, were means to favor, there were others who could assume them besides those naturally afflicted with such habits.

At the time I asked, “Does any of this sound familiar?”  In closing I noted one of Harry Golden’s main points in his essay, that history repeats itself in cycles.  Which led to the question:

“Which cycle are we in now??”

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Joseph N. Welch (at left) tries to figure a way to escape McCarthyism…

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The upper image is courtesy of the article Nell Gwyn, included in Charles II of England. The full caption reads: “Nell Gwynn was one of the first English actresses and a mistress of King Charles II of England.”

The lower image is courtesy of McCarthyism – Wikipedia.  See also Joseph Nye Welch – shown in the lower image at left – as “head counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation by Joseph McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for Communist activities.” See also – re: history repeating in cycles – Historic recurrence – Wikipedia.

“Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with the Beatles in India” – in happier times…

 

Welcome to the “Georgia Wasp…”

This blog is modeled on the Carolina Israelite.  Harry Golden did up that old-time personal newspaper.  And for that he was considered a “voice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.”

That’s now my goal as well.  To be a “voice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.”

For more on the blog-name connection, see the notes below.

In the meantime:

Remember Transcendental Meditation?  In case you missed it, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi started teaching this method of personal development in 1958.

Ironically, “TM” was said to have launched in Madras, India.  (Now called Chennai.)

In less than a decade after 1958, Madras shirts, shorts and jackets – like those at left – became all the rage.  (“All the rage” for middle school, high school and even college “boys” in the 1960s.)  Getting back to TM:  It also got “more popular in the 1960s and 1970s, as the Maharishi shifted to a more technical presentation and his meditation technique was practiced by celebrities.”

Celebrities like the The Beatles, shown in the top-of-the-page picture

The kicker?  You had to pay through the nose.  (At one point the price for “working folk” was pretty much a full week’s salary.)  For that you got instructed in the technique itself, plus you got your own “personal Sanskrit mantra.”  (Note that a mantra is a word or phrase – said to be of “spiritual power – that you repeat over and over again, for up to 20 minutes.)

One of the goals – of “regular” meditation anyway – is to “bind the mind staff in place.”

That – in a way – brings up that the Maharishi – hereinafter “Mahesh” – did quite well as a result of his teaching.  (The photo at right shows one of his “headquarters;” the one in Seelisberg, Switzerland.)

 On the other hand:  It turns out you could get pretty much the same thing from Lawrence LeShan‘s 1974 book, How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-Discovery.  But of course, that would mean you had to do some actual work, to learn the self-discipline on your own.

(An observation that seems to be “redundant redundant…”)

But we digress!  The point is:  LeShan’s How to Meditate was “one of the first practical guides to meditation.”  And it was a whole lot cheaper than TM.  (My first copy cost $1.95.)

And incidentally, LeShan noted that “anyone who gives (or sells) you a mantra designed just for you … is pulling your leg.”  On the other hand, I remember reading somewhere that Mahesh charged Americans so much – for example – because they don’t value “free stuff.”  They – we – arguably figure that if we don’t pay a high price for something, it must not be worth much.

Which does make a certain amount of sense.  (And a telling comment on the American psyche.)

Be that as it may…

We mentioned the Beatles being “converted” to Transcendental Meditation.  As Mikal Gilmore noted, George Harrison’s wife Pattie introduced him to Mahesh in 1967.  Harrison was impressed enough to persuade the other Beatles to “attend a sabbatical in Bangor, Wales.”

Later – in 1968 – the group went to Rishikesh, India, for a longer course.  However:

[T]heir relationship with the teacher soured when they heard rumors that he had attempted unwelcome sexual advances on a female devotee.  Lennon and Harrison confronted the yogi, pronounced their disdain and then left him, despite his pleadings that they reconsider…

On a related note, pretty much the same thing seems to have happened to Rajneesh – born Chandra Mohan Jain – also known as “Osho.”

“OSHO” (1931-1990) was yet another “Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.”  In the fullness of time he got nicknamed “the sex guru.”  (But others said he just had “straightforward attitudes about sex.”)  

All of which may prove no more than that men are scum.

(At least from a female view.)

But again we digress.  Getting back to Mahesh and the Beatles, see Maharishi Mahesh Yogi | The Beatles Bible.  As to the group confronting Mahesh about the allegation, Lennon said he had to do the “dirty work … as usual.”  When he said they were leaving, Mahesh ostensibly said, “‘Why?’  Hee-hee, all that shit.  And I said, ‘Well if you’re so cosmic, you’ll know why.'”

The article noted as well that despite “the harshness of Lennon’s words about Maharishi, McCartney and Harrison, in particular, remained believers in the power of meditation.”

Which could be another way of saying that the underlying discipline itself was good and valid. (Even if one greedy individual did use it for his own personal gain.)

And the article noted a positive result:  The song “Sexy Sadie,” which Lennon originally wanted to title “Maharishi.”  But again, none of that means the underlying discipline is worthless.  It simply means that – at worst – one or more unscrupulous, misguided or overzealous individuals used a valid spiritual discipline for person gain.

Which is “nothing new under the sun.”  Take martial arts…  Please!

Many people these days come to the martial arts as if to a sport or, worse, as if seeking an effective instrument of aggression and domination.  And, unhappily, there are studios that cater to this clientele.  Violent and exploitative martial arts movies contribute to the corruption…  (E.A.)

And incidentally, that Henny Youngman one-liner – “Take my wife, please!” – is based on a fundamental principle of both martial arts and magic.  (The principle of dislocation.)

But for a third time, we digress…

Plain old meditation – the kind you don’t pay an arm and a leg for – is a “practice where an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness.”  It’s done for any number of reasons, including to “promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force (qi, ki, prana, etc.) and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.”

Among the benefits of meditation:  better focus, less anxiety, more creativity, more compassion, better memory, less stress and “more gray matter.”   Or as LeShan said, the real goal is “to help you grow and develop as a total human being.”

The kicker?  You actually have to put in a lot of work.  Or as LeShan said, in its ideal form the “long hard practice” of true meditation “disciplines and strengthens the personality.”  See also Discipline – Wikipedia, with an image captioned:  “To think good thoughts requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline – training – is about.”

All of which may be another way of saying that – when it comes to personal development (a heavy-duty industry in this country) – some people prefer that kind of thing pre-digested:

 

The upper image is courtesy of www.vintag.es/2013/06/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-with-beatles.  

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Re:  The Carolina Israelite.  Harry Golden‘s personal newspaper, which he wrote and published back in the 1940s through the 60s.  Harry was a “cigar-smoking, bourbon-loving raconteur.”  (Which is another way of saying he told good stories.)  That also means if he was around today, the “Israelite would be done as a blog.”  (For more on the blog-name connection, see “Wasp” and/or The blog.)  But what made Harry special was his positive outlook on life.  He got older but didn’t turn sour, as so many seem to do today.  He still got a kick out of life.

*   *   *   *

Note that personal development has “developed” into an industry, with “several business relationship formats of operating.”

The “Madras” image is courtesy of  Madras Guide – How the Shirt, Pants & Jackets Became Popular.

References to LeShan‘s book, How to Meditate, are from the 1975 Bantam Books edition.  The “bind the mind staff” quote is from page 55.  (Along with a note that “we” should “bind ourselves gently and with humor and compassion at our own lack of discipline.”)

On that note too, see page 14, featuring a quote from Teresa of Ávila, describing the mind of man – in the attempt to meditate for example – as an “unbroken horse that would go anywhere except where you wanted it to.”

The quote about “anyone who gives (or sells) you a mantra” is from page 67.

The “Switzerland headquarters “photo is courtesy of Transcendental Meditation – Wikipedia.

Re:  The high price of TM.  For another view, see Why does the Transcendental Meditation course cost so much?  One theory has it that Mahesh wanted TM to be “primarily taught to the wealthy leaders of society in order to enact maximum change in society,” and further that he “made a public address to that effect in the mid 1990’s and immediately T.M centers worldwide raised their prices.”

Re: Mikal Gilmore.  Gilmore – a writer for Rolling Stone magazine – described Mahesh and the Beatles in his 2009 book, Stories Done: Writings on the 1960s and Its Discontents, at pages 124, 156, and 164-65 in the 2009 Free Press paperback edition.

As to the Beatles and Mahesh, Gilmore noted that later in their lives, “Harrison and McCartney reconciled with Maharishi, though Lennon never did.”  (124)

The Henny Youngman image is courtesy of Wikipedia.  His classic one-liner – “Take my wife… please”  – relied on dislocation.  That principle is used in comedy, and also in magic and the martial arts in general. See, Shinogi – Budotheory.ca, which mentioned three types of dislocation: positional, temporal, and functional.  See also Magic (illusion) – Wikipedia.  Finally, see The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu, which noted the Chinese philosopher who said, “The fundamental principle of the Art of War is deception.”  (In other words, dislocating an opponent.)

So anyway, in the classic one-liner – literally “a century ago” – the audience was led to expect Youngman to say “for example” when he began.  (As in, “Take my wife… for example.”)  But instead of saying that, Youngman dislocated his audience with, “Take my wife…  Please!”

The quote on martial arts as used for “aggression and domination” is from Taisen Deshimaru’s The Zen Way to Martial Arts, translated by Nancy Amphoux, Arkana Books (1991), at page 3.

Re: “Benefits of meditation:”  The actual article-title is What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate (And How it Benefits You.  As to “more gray matter,” the article said that meditation has been shown “to diminish age-related effects on gray matter and reduce the decline of our cognitive functioning.“

Other benefits of meditation came from LeShan‘s How to Meditate, in the 1975 Bantam Books edition.  (The quote “develop as a total human being” is from page 38.)  LeShan pointed out that true meditation is much like physical exercise.  Both require “repeated hard work,” most of it “basically pretty silly” in appearance.  “What could be more foolish than to repeatedly lift twenty pounds of lead up and down?”  But both forms of exercise aim for “the effect on the person doing it.”  (Page 3.)

LeShan cited two main effects.  The first is greater personal efficiency in everyday life.  The second is “the comprehension of a different view of reality than the one we ordinarily use.”  (Pages 6-7.)  Other effects?  The capacity to transcend the painful, negative aspects of life, and develop a serene “inner peace.”  (Id.)  He said it’s characteristic of a practiced meditator to live with joy and love; “a zest, a fervor and gusto in life.”  And one final effect – for the practiced meditator – “a very deep sense of the union of himself and the All.” (Page 7)

The quote about “long hard practice” is from page 38.

The lower image is courtesy of mydailyminefield.com/2012/03/20/spring-has-sprung.  Another good image is at animalstime.com/what-feed-baby-bird-what-feed-baby-birds, along with good advice on “What To Feed A Baby Bird [Who] Fell Out Of A Nest.”

I originally planned to use the image below, an illustrated quote from “that great Philosopher, Charlie Chan.”  But then I had a brainstorm, figuring an image like that of baby birds – eager mouths wide open – would get the point across better.  

“So anyway,” the image below is courtesy of izquotes.com/quote/217824.  See also Charlie Chan (Wikipedia).  The quote is said to have come from Charlie Chan at the Circus, and in the form given.  See Charlie Chan – Wikiquote and Reel Life Wisdom – The Top 10 Wisest Quotes from Charlie Chan.  But I could have sworn that the actual quote was, “Mind like parachute;  work best when open.”

 

A final note:  This post is a substantially altered update of a post originally published as On the Bible as “transcendent” meditation, at DOR Scribe – Expand your horizons.