ZenGlop The Podcast

Marcus Aurelius mirrors Socrates in his analysis of death - - Larkin categorically ( and in quite wonderful poetry) disputes.  

More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/

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Confidence in the outcome of scrutiny,  Authenticity and spontaneity will come out of the processes and practices of an examined life as surely as water on heat will boil.

More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/

Buy my book On Mortality and the Human Imagination (https://www.amazon.com/mortality-human-imagination-Andrew-Kaiser/dp/168818676X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=kaiser+mortality+and+the+human+imagination&qid=1605609759&sr=8-1)
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Why would I turn my efforts towards a 'magically realistic science fiction trilogy"?  What indeed!

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Talking to Socrates often left his talking partners bewildered, dazzled, unsure of what any language or thought might mean.  We're given the word Aporia to describe this sensation. Socrates might say that a good life is one spent seeking out Aporia, and this podcast would agree.

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Can I create a trend line based on the resonant patterns that arise, abide and dissolve?  From the smallest thought to the longest pattern I can be aware of - - if I dumped that information into a spreadsheet and calculated a trend, what would my confidence be in those results? 


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Sometimes I journal simply for the pleasure of feeling pen on paper ( an excuse to collect cool notebooks and beautiful pens).  Sometimes I journal to track habits - I'm a fierce proponent of the premise that priority processes will make progress with 20 minutes a day religiously practiced.  I journal daily as a matter of hygiene, to listen to the noisy part of my brain.  those pages are discarded after monthly review.  And I have a creative journal that sits beside the piano and next to my Drinking/Thinking Chair to capture fleeting ideas that may become podcast episodes, essays or new composition.

What about you? Anyone keep a daily journal of their activity?

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I have the habit on a Saturday afternoon to pour myself a bourbon, strike a match to light a pipe of Latakia tobacco and to thus apply myself to the study of whatever enthusiasm has taken me for the moment.  In the instant most recent, I happened to read a choice selection from Wordsworth, which I will hence share my thoughts upon  and a small selection thereof.  

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I recently rummaged through my bookshelf and came up with three books that turns out give a really nice sequence.  

Opening the Door to Bon by Nyima Dakota (an overview of the foundational practices for Bon Tibetan Buddhism)
The Awakened One A life of the Buddha by Sherab Chodzin Kohn ( a wonderfully clear representation of the life and awakening of Gautama Buddha)
What makes you 'not' a Buddhist  a really serious exploration of the core realization of emptiness.  

I hope these books and this podcast help in your practice. 
More episodes on  meditation notes here: https://www.zenglop.net/zenglop/meditation/

Buy my book On Mortality and the Human Imagination

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I'm enjoying the process of writing fiction.  That's a new kind of writing for me, I'm an essayist at heart.  What if I approach the thorny problems of life, the undeniable constraints and condition - up to and including the way it ends - with the same pleasure, joy and commitment that  I'm finding as I write a narrative with pencil and paper?  Isn't that the answer to Sisyphus?

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What are your experiences with 'writers block'?  When I find myself not writing, it is rarely when I'm looking at a blank piece of paper.  What gets written may end up discarded,  set aside into the archeological pile of draft notes, or re-used in a different context.  No, when I am not writing it is when I don't even sit down .  The space is there.  

Buy my book On Mortality and the Human Imagination

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