Comparing Louis XIV with Donald Trump.

 

I'm not one to make a mountain out of a molehill, but I have to wonder about the Sun.  According to a CNN Science article, "The sun is experiencing a less active phase called 'solar minimum,'"
The article goes on to say: "...just like us, it (the Sun) goes through phases and changes. Over time, those changes in our star have become more predictable. Currently, it's going through a less active phase, called a solar minimum."

The sun experiences regular 11-year intervals including energetic peaks of activity, followed by low points. During the peak, the sun showcases more sunspots and solar flares.  Scientists at NASA say we're currently in a "Grand Solar Minimum." The last time this occurred was between 1650 and 1715.  

Curious on what the years 1650 to 1715 were about, I researched and found that those years are known historically as the Age of Louis XIV.  Louis ruled from 1643 to 1715.  The most notable events from this time was, war.  According to Wikipedia, France was the leading European power, and it fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession. There were also two lesser conflicts: the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions.  War was such a part of the time of Louis XIV that reference books such as An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization by Cathal J. Nolan, write: "Dominated by the ambitions of France's King Louis XIV, Europe in the years 1650-1715 witnessed a series of wars from which emerged many of the theories, practices, and technologies that characterize modern warfare. 

Another interesting fact I found was that an outgoing French ambassador compared Trump to Louis XIV by saying that they were both "Unpredictable and uniformed."  That ambassador (Gérard Araud) went on to say:  “It is the end of an era, the era of neoliberalism. We don’t yet know what will succeed it,” Araud tweeted at 2 a.m. on the night Trump was elected. “After Brexit and this election, anything is possible. A world is collapsing before our eyes. Vertigo.”

Yes, Vertigo, the world of Donald Trump and Louis XIV.  Yesterday I told you the world under Dr Donald Trump is a world of chaos, but I think "Vertigo" is a better way of saying it. What are the other similarities between Trump and Louis XIV?  Take a seat, the similarities are Vertigo crazy. 

Of all the similarities between Trump and Louis XIV, the most notable are their egos.   Trump says he is the greatest president ever and everyone before him sucked (no shit, look it up).  Louis XIV, not only thought he was the greatest ruler, but also felt he was the Sun King and so had the church priest call him one.  Which the church happily did just as the Christians church today happily calls Donald Trump "Gods Handyman (paraphrased)." 


Louis XIV loved gold.  He had everything around him plastered in it:

Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles.

Trump hotels are usually gold, well, fake gold, but still, gold:

Trump’s triplex is a marble-and-onyx-covered ode to Versailles that he calls “comfortable modernism.” It is a $100 million penthouse that sits atop the Trump Tower on Manhattan’s 5th Avenue. (Scott Frances/Otto)

Finally, from Odyssey Magazine:

Louis XIV was known for his aggressive nature throughout his reign. He engaged France in wars that many historians look back on as unnecessary, and his foreign policy was less than forgiving. During the 1680s, Louis XIV generated public hostility, creating tension and stunting growth among France's rigid class system. 

In a visit to New York's Trump Tower, one is easily amazed at the grandeur of Donald's shrine to himself. The entire building sparkles, and overwhelms the senses through the sheer excess present; individuals can see themselves on every single wall and are painted with a bronze shadow that falls over the entire interior. Guards check bags at the door, and watch the elevator to make sure only those with IDs are heading to the top. Four floors of glitter are open to the public eye, but after that only the very rich may continue. No matter what floor you're on, everything screams Trump: Trump Grill, a signature Trump clothing line, and Ivanka Trump's small jewelry case. Everything shouts Trump's name, singing of his fortune and fame.


The similarities between the Sun King and The Donald are uncanny. Slightly obsessed with themselves and able to dedicate an entire building in their honors? Check. Causing chaos? Check. Looking back to the original architectural cues of both buildings, a continued amazement of self-obsession can be easily noticed, and further comparisons of the two leaders increase with time. Louis XIV was controversial, without much of a soft side.  Trump is, well, Trump.


So, yes boys and girls, we are in a Vertigo Time Warp also known as a Solar Minimum, and since it seems to be enjoying Trump as our leader, I bet you Trump becomes president again, and finally, they will have the world they want.  Or maybe, you will have the world you want.  Truth is: we get the world we deserve. 

Pagan USA and “In God We Trust” Scam

 

On this day in the year 1800, the House of Representatives suggested the building of a pyramid, 100 feet square at the base and "of proportional height."  The notion that a pyramid would best represent the idea of George Washington.   Hence, in accordance with Masonic practices, construction of the obelisk began on July 4, 1848, with a ceremonial laying of the enormous cornerstone, which had been donated by the Mason Thomas Symington who owned the quarries from which the monument's marble was taken.  The ceremony was conducted by Benjamin French, wearing the Masonic apron and sash George Washington had worn when he laid the cornerstone of the Capitol building in 1793.

Some say the obelisk was chosen because America wanted to look like it had been around for awhile, or as other's have suggested, "put down ancient roots" by choosing the ancient Egyptian symbol.   I don't know, looks pretty much like a male phallic symbol to me from all the male energy that founded this country.   Unfortunately, I have to break the news to ya'll here:  it's Pagan!  More precisely, Pan, the goat god of  sensuality.  The word ‘obelisk’ literally means ‘Baal’s shaft’ or Baal’s organ of reproduction.”

Another story links the obelisk to a different phallic myth – Osiris’ golden phallus.

Osiris was a king of Egypt who married his sister Isis. His brother Set wished to usurp the throne and so plotted his death. He tricked Osiris into climbing into a golden chest. As soon as he was inside, Set nailed down the lid and flung the chest into the Nile. It was carried off to Byblos in Syria where it came to rest against a small Tamarisk tree or Acasia tree, with the dead Osiris still inside. Isis found out what Set had done to Osiris, so she set off to find her husband. A vision led her to Byblos, where she recovered his body and took it back to Egypt.

Set stole it again and tore it into fourteen pieces, which he scattered throughout Egypt to prevent Osiris from coming to life again. Isis recovered all but one of the pieces – the penis – and gave Osiris a fit burial. Their son, Horus, avenged him by slaying Set. Another son, Anubis, resurrected Osiris with the ‘lion grip.’

Having triumphed over the grave, Osiris now reigns as king and judge of the so called dead. The piece of Osiris that Isis never recovered was the penis, which Set had thrown into the Nile where it was eaten by fish. Ever resourceful, Isis manufactured an artificial organ (the golden phallus) around which the Egyptians eventually established a cult or festival they could pay tribute to.

From this it is a small step to the conclusion that the obelisk was itself meant to be a phallic symbol. 

Whether of Osiris, Baal, or fertility in general, it was a representation of fatherhood and patriarchy.

While the idea that the obelisk is a representation of the phallus may be a story that seems stranger than fiction, when you think of Washington as the founding father of the United States, and the obelisk being a representation of fatherhood/patriarchy, it makes a lot of sense. 

______________________________________________________

In 1908 the U.S. Congress adopted a law making the phrase "In God We Trust" obligatory on certain American coins.   It was placed there to replace the socialistic phrase put their by the framers of our constitution: "Out of Many, One" -- E Pluribus Unum. 

Yes, it wasn't until 1908 that the political use of the word God found its way into politics.  So, the next time someone tells you this is Gods country and holds up a dollar bill to prove it, tell them to “open a f*&king history book, bozo.”

Drink Clean Water in Honor of the Vestal Virgins on This Day for Good Luck. It works!

The Vestal Tuccia Carrying Water, by Hector Leroux (French, 1829-1900).

On this day in ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins performed an annual purification rite to ensure the water supply for the coming year.  It consisted of the "sacrifice" of twenty-seven straw puppets to the river god of the Tiber.

The Vestal Virgins were the priestesses of the Roman goddess of the hearth (home).  They tended the sacred fire in the shrine of Vesta, performed rites, and kept the place tidy and clean.  The roman writer Plutarch (45-120 CE) said they were the "keepers of divine secrets, concealed from all but themselves."  

Vestal virgins were chosen from highborn families and were granted privileges that would have been unimaginable for other women in Ancient Rome.  They could own property, vote, and write a will.  They had the best seats at public games, and they even had the power to free condemned prisoners and slaves.

The virgins were chosen between the ages of six and ten years old by the chief priest and had to serve for 30 years (during which time they, of course, had to remain chaste). Once their 30 years of service was completed, they were free to marry, but very few did as it was considered unlucky since they had, essentially, been the brides of Vesta for most of their lives and were consecrated to the goddess.strict observance of a single life.

Vestal Virgin, British Museum

Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA)

If a Vestal Virgin failed in her duties, she was severely beaten and the punishment for loss of virginity was being buried alive, though other, worse, punishments were sometimes given such as having molten lead poured down one's throat.  Even so, the Vestal Virgins were honored by the community, had most of their needs provided for by temple tithes, and were free of many of the restrictions Roman women had to endure.  It was, in fact, because they were so highly regarded that the punishment of breaking their vows was so severe.  Plutarch writes, "If these vestals commit any minor fault, they are punishable by the high-priest only, who scourges the offender, sometimes with her clothes off, in a dark place, with a curtain drawn between; but she that has broken her vow is buried alive near the gate called Collina, where a little mound of earth stands."  Most of the virgins on record kept their vows, however, and continued through time to honor their goddess Vesta, and the city and people of Rome, until the coming of Christianity.

The fall of the Roman Empire, it was argued, was caused by the acceptance of Christianity and the neglect of the old gods who had kept the city safe and prosperous for so long.  Both St. Augustine and Orosius wrote in defense of this very accusation.  The desecration of the temple of Vesta, and the disbanding of the Vestal Virgins, was seen by pagans as the height of ingratitude for the service the goddess had given the city over the centuries.  A woman named Serena, the Christian niece of Theodosius I, is said to have desecrated Vesta's temple by taking the necklace from her statue and claiming it for her own -- those silly Christians.  For this act she was cursed by one of the last remaining Vestal Virgins and was tormented by nightmares about her impending death.  Whether she died young is not known, nor is the truth of the account verified, but the fact that it survives attests to the importance the Vestales played in the life of ancient Rome and what their loss meant to those of the city who did not place their faith in the new god of the Christians.

So dear readers, enjoy a glass of clean water in honor of the Vestal Virgins today.  It can do you no harm. 

~~ Eso Terry

John Lennon and Emily Dickenson: thoughts of this dying man.

 A vision came to me this morning while chanting: I saw John Lennon's 'Imagine' album cover and saw he had his head in the clouds on the album cover.  I never put it together back then, but now I do.

 

I had stared at that album cover for hours as I listened to the songs on the album.  I never thought about how John had his head in the clouds.  I saw it as two separate things: the clouds, and then John.   I never put the message together for I never have been good at seeing the obvious.  The obvious message of how he was telling the world he was okay with his head in the clouds.  Something I heard a lot as a kid and it was never good: "Get your head out of the clouds or you'll end up dead."  

It is funny that I see now how John was telling me it was okay to have my head in the clouds while the world around me was telling me different.  And I tried to get my head out of the clouds, I really did, but I never could.   As a kid they told me to "apply myself," "focus,", "Wake up!"  But I couldn't.  And when I became a grown man with a wife, kid, and house in the suburbs, my head was still in the clouds.  Which led to a divorce where I could be alone.  You see, being alone with my head in the clouds works for me.  

In the 90's they told me I wasn't "grounded enough."  I did the New Age workshops and tried to find my place on the earth.  Those were wasted years: a person with his/her head in the clouds can not be grounded, and so, must remain alone. 

Which brings me to Emily Dickenson.  I digitized a documentary of her life yesterday, and just as I had never conceptualized the meaning of Lennon with his head in the clouds, I had never conceptualized the life of Emily Dickenson and how she remained alone.  Obviously, she too had her head in the clouds and so had to be alone, for being alone no one can tell you to get your head out of the clouds, now can they?

I told my oldest friend about my cancer today.  He lives in China.  So now two people know about my death sentence, and both are on a continent I'll never see in this lifetime: China.  It is funny that I've been most places on earth but never to China, in this lifetime.  I know I have been there in a past life.  With a third of the people who have ever lived having been Chinese, I think it is safe to say we have all been Chinese in a previous life.  

Not sure where I am going with today's words, and I am sorry that they are so cloudy, but well, you see, because I could not stop for death, death has stopped for me, and I have never been closer to John or Emily. 

Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886

Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves— 
And Immortality.

We slowly drove—He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility—

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess—in the Ring—
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—
We passed the Setting Sun—

Or rather—He passed us—
The Dews drew quivering and chill—
For only Gossamer, my Gown—
My Tippet—only Tulle—

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground—
The Roof was scarcely visible—
The Cornice—in the Ground—

Since then—’tis Centuries—and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity—

An Intro to the Essence of Flower Therapies

 

 Most people today are familiar with holistic healing therapies, particularly the practice of using herbs for healing.  But raise the subject of healing with flower essences, and most people are at a loss to tell you what an "essence" is. 

First of all, essences are not the same as essential oils.  In fact they are very different.  Essential oils are used in aromatherapy treatments, home fragrance, and bath and body products.  Unlike essential oils, essences contain no biological material, have no scent, and no confirmed physical therapeutic properties that you would associate with an essential oil used in aromatherapy. 

So what are they then?  Simply put:  essences are liquid solutions that contain the energetic or vibrational nature of the flower or plant from which it is made.  An essence is the energetic imprint of the life force of the flower or plant.  This imprint is captured in water and then a preservative is added (usually alcohol).  This solution, or decoction, is then stored in bottles (which usually include an eyedropper) so that the essence can be taken orally, added to bath and body products, or used on chakras or meridian points.

Unlike essentials oils, essences do not contain any of the biological content of the plant from which they are made; therefore, they are non-toxic. 

Nature has its own energy or life force.  This energy or life force allows everything around us to function, live, adapt, grow, blend, and flourish within its surroundings, and to survive its environment by evolving to cope with challenges around it.

Most people are familiar with the word "chi" or "qi," used by the Chinese to describe the life force.  The yogis of India refer to the life force as prana.  The Hawaiians call the life force mana.  Native Americas call it manitou; in Hebrew the life force is known as ruach, and in Islamic cultures it is known as baraka. 

All life, in whatever form it takes, comprises energy, and this energy is constantly mixing, merging, and exchanging.  People like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein spent years exploring it through physics and the same goes for those who are studying quantum mechanics today -- so much in the universe does seem to relate to vibrations and energy. 

Essence making is a tool for capturing the vibrations and energies of life.  Much research has been done over years by scientists and other people on how water can be affected by vibration and the energy to which it is exposed, and the way that it can hold a memory of the energy or vibrations to which it has been exposed.  This is why flower essences are prepared in water. 

To understand how essences work, you need to recognize that a human being is more than just a physical body.  Each person has his or her own external and internal energy and vibrational centers.  You may have heard them described as auras, chakras, subtle bodies, or meridians -- to just name a few.  Many people simply visualize these energies and vibrations as mists that surround and go through us;  they can carry different colors, frequencies, sounds, and speeds.  These are not visible to human eye but they are still very much there.  Interchanging, mixing, and merging with each other and all living things throughout the world.

Here is a great example of the way in which these subtle bodies and energy centers can impact the way you feel or affect what you think about a situation: Take a moment to think of a time when you met someone and liked them instantly, although you have never met before.  How about a time when you have walked into a room and not been comfortable or sure about the space you were in, uncomfortable with the "vibes"?  Or a time when you took a walk in nature and experienced a difference in emotion without knowing quite why?  This is because your vibration and energy centers mix with the vibrations and energy centers that are around you, affecting your thoughts and feelings, thus creating a vibration and energy with you.  Those external and internal energy centers evoke emotional and psychical responses making you feel a certain way.

When our energy systems are affected -- whether by thoughts, feelings, or life experience--we can feel off-balance.  This is where working with energy and using the life force and the imprint of the vibrations we can obtain through essences can make a difference.  We use what nature has to offer, by taking the vibration of our mind, body, and soul, so that an optimum state of healthy and well-being can be achieved.  As everything has its own energy, the combination of what to use and when it should be used is unique to each of us.

Dr. Edward Bach

Before we look at a few of the essential therapies themselves, let's have a look at the founder of flower remedies.  His name is Dr. Edward Bach, a physician who got tired of treating the symptom instead of the person and so developed his Bach Flower Remedies.  He specifically defined the seven moods that cause disease and suffering as, fear, uncertainty, loneliness, lack of interest, over-sensitivity, over-concern for others, and despair.  He then went on to discover a total of thirty-eight different flowers that could help bring about changes for his patients.  He defined the seven qualities of healing disease as hope, peace, faith, joy, certainty, love, and wisdom.  He truly believed the mind played an important part in improving general health and well-being, and explained his therapy as a way,  "...to raise our vibrations and open up our channels for the reception of our Spiritual Self, to flood our natures with the particular virtue we need, and wash out from us the fault which is causing harm."

So let's look at some therapies. 

Wild Rose:

The BACH remedy Wild Rose encourages the positive potential for enthusiasm and a lively interest in life. Reignite your passion for life, and find enthusiasm for the world in general, work, and those you care about. Take initiative, and make some changes.

Mustard Flower:

Be Joyful, with BACH Mustard The BACH remedy Mustard encourages the positive potential to return to joy. Everyone faces occasional sudden gloomy feelings. When you are feeling down, bring joy back into your daily life.  

Bach Star of Bethlehem 

The BACH remedy Star of Bethlehem neutralizes the effects of grief and encourages the positive potential of inner strength. Deal with the aftereffects of a life-altering experience. Have comfort and soothe your pain and sorrows.

White Chestnut:

The BACH remedy White Chestnut encourages the positive potential to find tranquility and peace of mind. Don't let those repetitive thoughts cloud your mind and get in the way of your focus. Reclaim your day and cope with the hectic world around you.

Aspen Flower:

The BACH remedy Aspen encourages the positive potential to maintain a state of inner peace and security, regaining assurance of mind. For when apprehensions consume your mind, and unsettling feelings leave you on edge. Face the unknown with your head held high, and take on any moment throughout your day with confidence.

Chicory Flower:

Love Unconditionally, with BACH Chicory The BACH remedy Chicory encourages the positive potential to selflessly take a step back and care for others without expecting anything in return. Care for the ones you love without becoming manipulative or overprotective. Take a step back, and love unconditionally.

Crab Apple Flower:

Accept Imperfections, with BACH Crab Apple The BACH remedy Crab Apple encourages the positive potential to embrace your body and mind, and accept your imperfections. Obsessive thoughts over imperfections can lead to a poor self-image and a feeling of uncleanliness. Learn to accept yourself.

Larch Flower:

Have Confidence, with BACH Larch. The BACH remedy Larch encourages the positive potential to approach different situations with confidence and determination. Are you nervous to try new things due to a lack of confidence, or need a boost to your self-esteem? Find your inner confidence.

Hornbeam Flower:

The BACH remedy Hornbeam encourages the positive potential to be certain in your ability, and “face the day ahead.” Shake off that “Monday morning feeling,” cope with the demanding day ahead and face whatever obstacles are on your schedule, without hesitation. 

Honeysuckle: 

 “Those who live much in the past, perhaps a time of great happiness, or memories of a lost friend, or ambitions which have not come true. They do not expect further happiness such as they have had.” 

Good for: Homesickness, nostalgia, bereavement 
 
Gentian:

“Those who are easily discouraged. They may be progressing well in illness or in the affairs of their daily life, but any small delay or hindrance to progress causes doubt and soon disheartens them.”
Good when you easily get discouraged when faced with difficulties. 

Oak: 

“For those who are struggling and fighting strongly to get well, or in connection with the affairs of their daily life. They will go on trying one thing after another, though their case may seem hopeless. They will fight on. They are discontented with themselves if illness interferes with their duties or helping others. They are brave people, fighting against great difficulties, without loss of hope of effort.”

Good for exhaustion, overwork, workaholic, fatigued, over-achiever

Willow Flower:

“For those who have suffered adversity or misfortune and find these difficult to accept, without complaint or resentment, as they judge life much by the success which it brings. They feel that they have not deserved so great a trial that it was unjust, and they become embittered. They often take less interest and are less active in those things of life which they had previously enjoyed.”   

Fights self pity, resentment, short-changed, poor me, sulky, irritable, grumbling, bitterness, blame, complain

 

Thinking of a Woman Buddha as the USA slips back into the Dark Ages.

 

So lets talk female Buddha Power today boys and girls, more specifically, Mandarava.  

If you've never heard of her, let me tell you she was a liberate woman monk long before it was acceptable -- well, kind of acceptable considering the rollback of a woman's choice to say what happens to her body being threatened in the USA Supreme Court as we speak which has always been about politics and not life.  

Back to Mandarava: She was a princess born into wealth, but overcame that by standing up to her parents when they tried to marry her off into an arranged marriage.  

"Mandarava don't play that shit! (I paraphrase)" she said, and so made her escape.  

Of course this pissed her Alpha Dog father off and so he did what any loving father would do:  he had her thrown into jail. 

Seeing her suffering as an opportunity -- as all good Buddhist do -- she simply converted 800 woman to the Buddhist Mystic Law -- "800 woman in prison?" apparently marijuana was a crime back then too -- and they became a Dharma force to be reckoned with because her father was so overwhelmed that he gave her her freedom and she fled with the nuns to continue her life as a Bodhisattva.   

When she had completed all of her beneficial activities, it was time for her to depart from this world. Her body became invisible and then manifested as a sphere of light filling the entire sky.  She departed to the Akaniṣṭa Paradise of Padmavyūha and arose as the supreme secret consort of primordial wisdom. 

On a final note boys and girls, we are all Bodhisattvas, some of you just don't know it.  A Bodhisattva is a person who has achieved Buddha enlightenment in a previous life, however, instead of accepting Nirvana, she/he comes back to help others find enlightenment, like me. 

Eso Terry wearing his evening gown of choice.

~~ Eso Terry   

My New Good Luck Charm called Joan of Arc

I got a new good-luck charm from the thrift store this weekend.  There was something about it that called out to me, maybe her black eyes or burn-victim face, whatever, it said to me, "buy me and I'll bring you good luck." 

And so I have another spooky conversation piece that will go well with the chalk drawing my daughter made of me and her at a Dallas Museum of Art summer art class I once took her to when she was 5.  It is kind of spooky too for in her chalk drawing I look like the devil.  The art teacher said my daughter had talent, today she is an artist/art teacher and the teacher was right: I am the devil. 

The Chalk Drawing

Speaking of burn-victim faces and the devil, on this day in the year of our lord 1431 a man of God showed Joan of Arc all the torture tools he had to use on her if she continued to insist God had talked to her.  

 

The thumb smasher to smash your thumbs one twist at a time, in the name of of lord.

The Gossip mask we put on the head of woman who have been found gossiping, or talking as if she were a man, for woman who gossip or talk like a man are being controlled by the devil. 

This chair has tiny spikes on it which will cause you to bleed out, slowly enough so you have plenty of time to repent.

The breast ripper.  Need I say more?

And for woman who have had an abortion, the Kavanaugh Special (named after a 13th century knight, not our current Supreme Court man by the same name): the Clit Ripper. 

To avoid being victimized by anyone of these tools of God, all Joan had to do on this day in 1431 was admit to the priest that "God only talks to men."  But Joan wasn't playing any of that shit, and instead, she said (as we know from the church records):

"Truly, if you were to have me torn limb from limb and send my soul out of my body, I would say nothing else.  And if I did say anything, afterwards I should always say that you had made me say it by force.

I have asked my voices to counsel me whether I should submit to the Church, because the churchmen were pressing me to submit to the Church.  And my voices have told me that, if I want our Lord to help me, I must lay all my deeds before him."

 

And what did the priest say in response?  That wasn't recorded, but we do know that a few weeks later, on May 30th of the same year, Joan was burned to a stake at the tender age of only 19. 

 

My new conversation piece titled "Joan."

 ~~ Eso Terry

 

Living With Cancer, Sunlight, Breath.

The sun came through my window like the Buddha this morning and it is good to be alive.  I need to make a correction to my Blue Buddha post a few days ago, for in it I said "I am dying of cancer."  Not a good choice of words, the correct statement is "I am living with Cancer."  That's how it is.  For there is no difference in one's life as long as he/she can walk, talk, or bicycle.  And for the time being I can do all three.

For the last few days my chest has been hurting.  Could be the cancer, or it could be a pulled muscle from lowering video production equipment in my car.  That's right,  I am still working for the man.  It is what some of us do.  "We work until we drop," as my grandfather used to say, and he did, he died mowing the grass a few months before he was going to retire from his factory job and enjoy a life of leisure in the Florida sun.

Yes, the sun is shining through my window this morning and I'm alive with cancer.  This moment is worth a million bucks people, breath deep, enjoy it.  It is all we get to share in the end, breath.

~~ Eso Terry  

Looking at The Bright Side of Cancer

So in this mornings chants, (Daimoku), I chanted for the cancer cells in my body to become benign and grow smaller than they were yesterday.  I do this because this body that has the power to create such ailments surely has the power to fix them.  Stay tuned for more on my miracle healing from the power of Nam Myo Renge Kyo.  

Today, however, I want to talk about the good news of getting cancer. That's right, like anything else that is bad, there is some good.  With cancer you don't have to worry about tomorrow anymore, that's right, that retirement account you didn't add enough money to when you had the chance doesn't matter now.  Then that hole in the ceiling you've been putting off fixing, fuck it.  Yes, these thoughts are now replaced with things you need to fix for when you are unable to fix things, like that bathroom toilet in your bathroom you stopped using years ago for the second bath down the hall.  Need to fix it now so you won't have so far to walk when you are on those serious cancer meds that might make you toss your morning cookies, repeatedly. 

Speaking of meds, how about some serious pain pills, they might help focus on things like the esoteric thoughts of Plato, that could be a plus.  

Then those tools you didn't return and that money you never repaid, fuck it, take it with you to the grave, it will balance out in the next life. 

Yes, dying of cancer does have some perks.  The biggest perk is being able to blog about the other side, the great beyond, the land of light, and what can be more esoteric than this?