I have been receiving your email for a while now. I am wondering if we have met?
Richard Miller
* * * *
If you're up to it, send me the entire file so far of all the chapters and I'll let others see it as well.
joy ...
Richard Miller
* * * *
Response:
Richard,
What I've been doing is sending these chapters one at a time so that people might actually take a few moments to read the whole thing. Too much at once, with all of us wrapped up in so much busy-ness, might be overwhelming and just get filed away or deleted. As it is, many just ask to be removed from the random email list I came up with, often with an exclamation point or so.
But if you have a way of setting up the whole thing on your website, or can give me hints on how to set one up for free, I’m interested. At this writing, I’m not that into the internet, nor am I in the financial position to afford it.
Meanwhile, feel free to forward what you have to people that you know are interested in this sort of thing. More will come, about thirty chapters plus a few essays. The reason they are arriving so slowly is because I don't have internet access at home and use the computers at the local university as I get over there.
Because some people have asked for actual copies, I'm thinking about offering Kinko's-made, spiral-bound versions for about $15 in the near future. Several publishing companies I contacted a few years ago liked the work, but said it wouldn’t make them any money. I wanted to tell them it isn't about money, but oh well. So, I decided to give it away free on the web, but if some people want to pay, so be it.
Let me know what you think.
Michael
P.S. What I'm sending out is only the tip of the iceberg. All total, I've transcribed almost 1300 pages of this aphoristic silliness, and still have another 20-30 notebooks, plus the daily percolations. A lot of it is, I suppose, pretty repetitious, but we're all here doing one thing or another, and this, ridiculous as it sometimes seems to be, is what comes through me. C'est la vie.
* * * *
thanks for responding to my email. Have you posted your words on any sites. I have a web address (http://members.aol.com/milleryoga/) and might enjoy linking to your poetry. I teach throughout the US, Canada and in Europe (non- dualism utilizing the tradition of yoga) and enjoy letting people know of various expressions of the Infinite.
joy ... richard Miller
* * * *
You might send some of the poetry to Inner Directions Magazine that published
non-dual literature.
mail@InnerDirections.org
www.InnerDirections.org
Matthew Greenblatt is the publisher.
I have my website on aol for free. I don't know whether hotmail has its own
sites that you can build into for free.
I will let people know of your poetry.
joy, Richard Miller
* * * *
Would you mind resending chapter 15, 16, 17, 18?
I was away in Italy and missed these emails. They expired by the time I got
to download them.
Thanks, Richard Miller
* * * *
Hey, that was neat. Thanks for the thoughts.
Love,
Ann Holshouser
* * * *
Dear Mike,
Thank you for sharing that with me. You have put into words what I so often feel. If I remember correctly, you are an excellent photographer – and now I see you are also an excellent writer. I would be interested in seeing the complete work. Is it available from your publisher?
I trust you are happy and well.
Christine Beard
* * * *
Hey, Cousin Michael,
You're getting pretty good at all this zen-style writing.
Thanks for the enlightening moments.
P.S. I erased, erronenously, several e-mails you sent me previously ... I didn't know who they were from and just deleted them out of habit. But since they kept coming, I checked the two you just sent me and was surprised. So, I'm sorry, but the others are gone. Perhaps, if you have them somewhere, like in "Mail you've sent" like AOL has, you could resend them. Mia culpa.
See you hopefully one day again,
Deborah Hunt
* * * *
Your essay takes the form of traditional sermons that paint a gloomy picture of humanity and then call for the renewed commitment to the creed. We need more than that. We need tools that make this transformation possible. And then these tools are best offered freely, without a need to bring people to their knees.
David Merritt
Editorial Associate
Magical Blend Magazine
* * * *
Who are you? (Jack Rawlins)
* * * *
Dear Friend:
This is an immediate auto-response thanking you for taking the time to contact Senator Boxer via email. Be assured that your message will be reviewed and that we will make every attempt to respond to your concerns, requests and or opinions in a timely fashion. Thank you.
* * * *
Thanks.
Mary Flynn
* * * *
Hi Michael,
Very interesting short story. Also very deep. Leaves room for much thought.
Please check out my web site at: northvalleyroads.com/mac
Thank you
Scott MacKenzie
* * * *
I don't know how you got our e-mail address , but please don't send us any more as we only use this to contact people who I have given the address to you are not one of these people, it will be a waste of your resourses to send anymore as I will deleat it before I even read it.
Thank-you
Bruce Lewis
* * * *
Hi Michael ...
just got the passages from your "book." Do you call it your book? Thanks very much for sending them my way. I liked what I read ... but I must say I will have to go back to read over some of the passages more slowly ... I got the gist of what you're saying overall though, and I as I said, I like it. When do you write all this stuff? When do you think it? I guess that's really an unnecessary question ... We think that all the time; every day ... the mind never really stops, does it.
A lot of what I read, reminded me of some of my Zen reading ... It also reminded me of a book I've read (and reread) ... "Das Energi" by Paul Williams. Have you read it? ... or heard of it? I think you'd like it.
My experience with Zen comes primarily from Charlotte Joko Beck ... the book you saw at Kinko's ... "Everyday Zen" ... and another that she also wrote, "Nothing Special." They are both very good.
Oh yeah, the other book I thought of while I read your passages, is "The Celestine Prophecy." I can see alot of parallels in your writing to the philosophies contained in that book.
Some of what you write seems to be a little doomsday ... some of it seems to "look on the bright side of life."
I'll have to read over it again ... I will definitely hold onto it, and perhaps pass it on to some folks.
A question ... Do you really think "Godness" is beyond the rational mind? I mean, I think I have a pretty rational mind, and I don't feel like it's beyond me.
Thanks for sending your writing to me. This life is so incredible ... or maybe the fact that we can think so damn much about it, is what is really incredible. I do love it.
Madeline Medeiros
* * * *
Michael,
PLEASE REMOVE visible@maui.net FROM YOUR MAILING LIST IMMEDIATELY
THIS IS A PROBLEM FOR ME. I GAVE YOU THIS ADDRESS AND THE PERSON DOES NOT WANT ANY MORE OF YOUE E-MAIL.
THANKS,
JOHN
omsatnam@hotmail.com
* * * *
STOP SENDING ME THIS BORING PEDANTIC BULLSHIT … ALL OF THESE THINGS HAVE BEEN SAID MUCH BETTER BY PEOPLE FAR BETTER INFORMED, MORE ARTICULATE, AND ACTUALLY POSSESSING THE CREDENTIALS TO SAY THEM. I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU GOT MY ADDRESS, PROBABLY FROM "PSYCHO-BOY" JANN OM SAT NAM. BUT YOU ARE ANNOYING ME. IF YOU CONTINUE I AM GOING TO START SENDING YOU YOUR OWN CORRESPONDENCES BACK SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF TIMES. YOU DON'T WANT THAT- OR WORSE, CERTAIN OTHER AMUSING LITTLE THINGS I KNOW HOW TO DO. CEASE AND DESIST. CONFINE YOUR MISSIVES TO THE RESIDENTS OF SEDONA, SANTA CRUZ, AND THE OTHER AIRHEAD CAPITALS OF THE WORLD. SOME OF US HAVE MINDS OF OUR OWN.
ALOHA,
LES VISIBLE
* * * *
Response:
Jaan,
Here's what your good buddy sent me. Seems to be a very disturbed, self-absorbed fellow in my view of things. A simple "please stop" would have been enough. But we'll just leave "Mr Postal" alone. Frankly, I wasn't too impressed with his stuff, either.
What I was surprised to find out was that there are credentials for this sort of thing. Would ask him where, but don't really feel the need to frame another piece of paper.
Hope you're having fun. Take care.
Michael
* * * *
Please refrain from sending further unsolicited e-mail to this address.
Brandon Fesler
* * * *
PLEASE STOP SENDING ME THIS FUCKING SHIT, I DON'T FUCKING CARE!!!!
Lucas M. Wilson
* * * *
I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS BULLSHIT, PLEASE TAKE ME OFF OF YOUR LIST!!
Lucas M. Wilson
* * * *
Thanks for your essay, but it is not the kind of piece that we use. Please drop U.S. News from your e-mail list.
Doug Stanglin
* * * *
please remove me from this list.
Bill Fishkin
* * * *
please remove me from this list. Thanks.
Chuck Worth
* * * *
Michael,
Please take us off your mailing list.
Joe Martin
* * * *
Thanks for thinking of me, but please remove me from the list.
Ray Bransky
* * * *
please take me off this list. thanks
Joan Hamilton
* * * *
Please don't send – give thanks
Kaera Anzalone
* * * *
eat me
Nicole Seredszun
* * * *
Hello.
We appreciate your e-mail, however, because our group is distinctly involved in stopping child pornography on the internet, we must ask that you refrain from using this e-mail address to forward your variety of insights into life. Our group recieves quite a lot of e-mail, and yours, unfortunetly, is being deleted, because it is not within the relm designed for this address (ehap@hackers.com). In the future, please take this e-mail address from your list. We appreciate the thought, but this address is really only intended as a means of forwarding information to us involved in child-pornography. If you have any futher comments/questions, please refrain from using the ehap@hackers.com address in the future.
Thank you.
RSnake
* * * *
I'm not really sure who you are or how we might have met. Can you clue me in on that?
Also, I really am swamped with school and work, and so don't have time for critique right now. I think maybe you would be better served by sending your work to someone else.
Thanks,
Eirik Ott
* * * *
Remove me from your mailing list!
Alex Mak
* * * *
Unless you plan on tellin gme who you are and how you got my e-mail address, I'd appreciate it if you STOPPED sending me e-mail.
Thanks,
Eirik Ott
* * * *
Please remove me from your email mailing list.
Thanks,
Nancy Praizler
* * * *
Mike:
I've been enjoying "the stillness"
Talk with you the next time.
Gene
* * * *
please take me off your e-mail list
Tom Gascoyne
* * * *
Please take us off your email list.
Keith Hollenbeck
* * * *
Dear Michael,
I'm enjoying "The Stillness Before Time" very much. Thank you for sending it for review. In my line of work I have a lot of time for reflection, especially while airborne on a 4 hour leg. The world looks mighty small from 7 miles up! Again, appreciate your sharing with me.
Sincerely,
Patrick Fitzgerald
* * * *
Dear Mr. Holtzhouzer,
Thank you for sending me your essay/dissertation.
I find no argument with it, just an acceptable viewpoint which I am happy to forward to a number of people.
As a Chritian, Anglican-flavored, theologian, I STILL have no quarrel with it --
but then, I've been accused of being liberal.
Good fruits, it seems to me, are the important thing.
I even had to give up being an anti-bigot, bigot, because I judged people who
Were judging people. However, I find fundamentalist Evangelicals and their anal-retentive God, so off-putting, I try to avoid their company if at all possible
(I have a son who's a right-wing, knee-jerk, reactionary, born-again Southern
Baptist who is legalistic 'til hell won't have it).
Let us break their bonds asunder ...
Warm regards,
Nancy Eckert
* * * *
I forgot to tell you I'm very fond of James Hillman. If you're interested, you may want to take a look at Blue Fire.
Nancy Eckert
* * * *
Thanks for the latest pieces ... so, do we ever get to meet for coffee so we can talk about this? I feel like I have all these unprocessed reactions that I'd like to share with you ... let me know.
Blessings to you.
Mary Flynn
* * * *
Michael,
This is really excellent and thought provoking! I really enjoyed it and would love to see it in one of those little books that people carry in their purse to remind them of where they have been whether in physical reality, or in mind. It seems that we forget on our journey what is and what seems to be, therefore slurring our realities. This would serve to remind us when we most needed to remember, because we would be drawn to discover it over and over again upon instinct. Everything has a purpose, even if we do not see it or admitt to it, but eventually we come to know it even if we do not realize it.
Eva Questo
* * * *
Hi Michael,
I'm enjoying the chapters ... every now and then run across something that strikes a particular chord.
thanks again for sharing.
Madeline Medeiros
* * * *
Shannon,
I am going through my last 4 months E-mail and just read this from you. Sorry I haven't been keeping up. I know the semester is almost over but your welcome to E-mail and I'll check back in a day or two. Hope everything worked out and thank you so much for all the E-mail!!!!!!
That stuff from Michael Holshouser is absolutely beautiful, were do you get all this stuff from? Take care hope your feeling better soon.
Lynn Marie Ott
* * * *
Dear Michael,
I wanted to write and tell you how much I appreciate your E-Mails regarding "The Stillness Before Time." I have enjoyed them a great deal. I just read the for the first time today because I have not read my E-mail since January.
Thank you again,
Lynn Ott
* * * *
'nuff said.
Eirik Ott
* * * *
Hello:
I don't know who you are and I do not accept emails from people I don't know. Please remove me from your mailing list.
Thanks.
Lynn M. Wilson
* * * *
Thanks very much for the poem. best,
Leah Garchik
* * * *
Dear Michael,
I don't know where you got my email address but I'm glad you sent this to me. I loved it. Where is chapter one?
Lynne Thomas
* * * *
Dear Michael:
Thanks for the latest installments!
John King
* * * *
Hi Michael:
I didn't know who you were. We only get 25 hours a month for email and run out early every month, so we only use email for business and just have to delete everything else so didn't even look at what you sent. Sorry about that. Hope all is well.
Lynn M. Wilson
* * * *
PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM YOUR MAILING LIST!
Barbara Evans
* * * *
This one I like. Short and to the point. "No system is required to discover and own your birthright." Very true. I used to live in Westhaven, near Trinidad. I would spend many hours perched on a cliff above the rolling sea drifting with the wind and clouds. Introspection ruled. The peace I encountered there stays with me still, no matter where I go. There was no particular brand of faith, or sacred chant , or ordained direction involved in my self-awarenes, just a willingness to look and think and feel and be. Inner peace is obtainable. Self-awareness is obtainable. And no system is required ...
Pat Fitzgerald
* * * *
remove us from your list
The Synthesis
* * * *
hi mike,
thank you for sending me your stuff, but i rarely get around to reading it and do not see a way in which i can help you get published. I have my own zine and we do print fiction. i would strongly suggets printing your own zine adding some pictures and circulating it at coffee shops. so, so what you will, but if you could get me off your list that would be greatly appreciated.
keep on writting,
dna
* * * *
who are you?
Chatty
* * * *
How did I get on your list????? What you say is true. I just want to know why you mailed this to me.
Sharre T
* * * *
again.. who are you?
Chatty
* * * *
thanks for the latest chapters...I always setting each new piece aside for a time when I can spend time reading and contemplating...so much more of that these days than in the past ... another one of the gifts I have in my life today ... see you soon
Mary Flynn
* * * *
Hi Michael,
You might want to submit some of your poetry to an upcoming coillection of work by northstate artists, "Portfolio North." Deadline will be Sept 15., watch for more info in the Free Press.
Greg (Redding Free Press)
* * * *
enjoying the chapters ... sometimes I open one up, I think that they are like opening a book to some random page ... and that the answer to my most recent question will be waiting on that page for me. Sometimes it really works!
Hope you're having a fun summer ... I am!
Madeline Medeiros
* * * *
Claims to religious persecution are misbegotten paths to glory.
Countless peoples of every persuasion have suffered throughout history.
Many, perhaps most, have claimed themselves chosen by the divine.
The arrogance of collusion has always been an enticing delusion.
Nice closing line!
John King
* * * *
Please stop sending your poetry to this e-mail address. This is my work e-mail address and your poems simply clog the system.
Jaffe
* * * *
Michael …
please remove me from your poety list
i am having trouble keeping up with my email
good luck
Chatty
* * * *
Hi there,
Great writing, all good, all true,
Sure, keep it coming,
Keep me on your mysterious list
of interested parties
Love to keep reading your words,
feeling your passion,
find out how it all ends,
forever and ever,
OK?
RBirnberg
* * * *
Dear Michael Holtzhouzer
Thank you for your kind comments about my work. I think you will find more
each time you reread the works. Also available is The Shogun Scrolls and The Living Tao both published by Tuttle as well.
While on the subject of rereading, I think your paper is most intelligently put together and I will reread it. This section is quite right on, especially to me, as a writer.
"Words, whatever the language, are conceptual icebergs each and every one of us envision differently. Thoughts of god, love, morality, money, tradition, politics, ad infinitum, inspire a myriad of responses, often conflicting because of rigid, dogmatic attachments to time. Yet, at the origin of all consciousness, that field from which this grand three-dimensional mirage has come to pass, is very much the same oneness, the same universal, timeless, eternal truth, despite our sophomoric arguments over the endless permutations of knowledge we ourselves have contrived."
Stay in touch and best regards.
Hanshi S. Kaufman
* * * *
I finally have had a chance to really read your work. Magnificent!! Well said!!! I shall pass it on to the very few who can really understand it.
Thanks for sharing ... pearlie girl
Shirly Einhorn
* * * *
Who is yaj_ekim@hotmail.com?
AWAYWWORDS
* * * *
Dear Michael,
I don't know how you got my e-mail address, but thanks for sending me your thoughts on life and humanhood. I do recognize Kathleen's address.
Who are you?
Suzie Muchnick Spencer
* * * *
Please do not send this type of unsolicited e-mail again. If you persist I will contact hotmail and have your account shut down.
Clancy Priest
Chico Systems Administrator
* * * *
Dear Clancy,
Sorry to have bothered you. Some people enjoy what I'm sending, and since you hadn't contacted me earlier, I would have assumed you were one of them. No need to be so threatening. "Please take me off your mailing list" works quite well.
Take care,
Michael
* * * *
My apologies if I sounded rude, it is not my nature. I have users that get so touchy about recieving this sort of e-mail. I thank you for your quick response. And again , sorry if I was rude.
Thanks,
Clancy Priest
Chico Systems Administrator
* * * *
Hi Michael,
You sent me some rambling prose about the Stillnes Before Time. I skimmed the work and the writing was interesting. I'm a busy man and an email that long usually gets trashed, so before you send me another, I'd like to know who you are, how you chose me for your email list, and what your point is with this writing.
Think,
Mark Mavis
* * * *
It doesn't matter. You sent me some writing and it must've been a mistake.
AWAYWWORDS
* * * *
I don't know who you are. I don't know any Michaels. Well not any more. I'm not sure how you got my address. I haven't read any of the pieces you've sent. I'm also a writer and I do read for others but I need to know who they are.
Elizabeth (AWAYWWORDS)
* * * *
Illusion, more illusion.
yogi-doc
* * * *
Dear Michael,
Thanks for sending Chapter Two. Are you open to the exploring the possibility that there is something more to realize than "There is only the absolute And an infinity of appearances Disguising the way home"? There is an even larger and far more scary reality to be awakened into than the absolute dimension of our existence. And many of your fellow realizers of the infinite are here doing this work with us in a white-hot cauldron of mutuality.
You're invited.
Love,
Ted Strauss
* * * *
Great stuff!
Peter Reck
* * * *
Yaj Ekim,
Thank you for your email. I will let you know when something new is available.
Right now I am working on six pieces that will shortly be published, including
a novel and a series of Zen Fairy Tales for Children of All Ages.
Incidentally, if you would like to be put on my mailing list you may forward
your snail address which is kept confidential. Due to the incredible amount of
email I am getting from around the world, I will be putting up a Homepage in
the very near future.
You are obviously fairly well enllightened as well, from what I am reading
that you are sending. Keep it up.
Hanshi S. Kaufman
* * * *
Dear Michael,
Victoria here from Steamboat Springs, Thank you so much for your mail! I love your postings and support your wonderful ability to write from your heart.
I'm off to teach at Kripalu for 3 weeks, I am assisting the DansKinetics teacher training program. I was in Estes Park last weekend and got to take classes from Nischala. She and Baskhar are as wonderful as ever and upon seeing her my heart nearly exploded from my chest and I began to sob. I don't think I have ever had anyone effect me the way she does, and I can feel that by merely being in her presence my heart expands and grows. What a miraculous thing!
Be well and happy! We have had two snow storms so far, but leaves are still hanging on to the aspen and cottonwood trees.
Thanks again for sharing your great writings.
Namaste,
Victoria L. Strohmeyer
* * * *
Hello,
Is it possible to purchase through you a copy of REFLECTIONS OF A FELLOW SOJOURNER BY Michael J. Holshouser? My E-mail address is litegraph@aol.com.
Thank you!
Sharon G. Amestoy
* * * *
Thank you for your E.Mails, but I am not interested in them. So please don´t include me in your mailing list.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Atri
* * * *
MERCI DE NE PLUS M ADRESSER DE COURRIER
Thirion
* * * *
Dear yaj_ekim,
Recieved 'Stillness'. We're all volunteers at non-profit JFL and up to our eyeballs, so it may take us some time to look at your manuscript and get back to you. Thanks for putting us on your addressee list.
We'd love to know how you found out about us. Hope you and yours have the best for the holidays
JFL staff
* * * *
Dear Michael,
I invite you to check out an essay I've posted on the web. I'd love to hear your reactions. To read it, go to www.sanielbonder.com and click on the Saniel & Other Adepts button. Then click on my photo - Ted - and you'll see a link to my essay titled Mutuality.
Ted Strauss
* * * *
Hello Michael
I have enjoyed reading your passages. One thing I noticed is that it takes me a while to get through them because I am forced to stop and ponder. You do have a very interesting view, though. I better be off. By the way, Shannon is in here (English lab) :)
Sara Godbold
* * * *
Hi Michael,
Thank you for sharing your"silliness" with me. It comes at a time when I am feeling rather "spiritually depleted." I've printed "The Stillness" so I can reread them when I feel the need to reflect.
How "gifted " you are. I wish I could walk in your shoes for one day and feel such calmness. Perhaps as my year rushes to a close, I will begin to have the time to explore my inner self with more respect .
Just finished up my last big show of the year , and it's time for a little blessed peace !
If you are in the area of Folsom, please call. It would be nice to see you out of the "show environment."
Thank you again for your insightful and inspiring thoughts. Many blessings for this season.
Your friend,
Marilu
* * * *
Hi there Michael,
I really do enjoy your reflections, they really match a lot of the ones I too, have made. Many merely call us selfish in our endeavors to be at one with ourselves because there is a whole world of others, however, you can not be true to anyone but yourself. You can see your reflections in other people and that may draw you to them, but it is you that you are trying desperately to love and understand. If you can become master,and lover of your own soul and give yourself the freedom to be exactly who you are in a world that may displace you, then you have accomplished something,and when the end comes you will walk with those who have always seen and known the truth.
Yet the need for some kind of companionship outside ourselves ebbs at our souls also. A bond of separately connected energy forms surges and mingling amongst one another is divine. To feel the gentleness,strength, and love of someone elses soul is to feel the passion for mystery and ultimate emotion and awareness. I do hope the three of us shall mingle in mind and spirit and learn far more than we anticipated. Ultimately it is all about learning.
Hugs,
Eva Questo
* * * *
Michael,
Thank you so much, I will read and enjoy every word.
See ya soon.
Wendy Coggins
* * * *
Hello.
I've enjoyed reading the poetry that you've sent, but I wonder ... who are you?!
Deborah Gissing
* * * *
The Science of Kindness
"Those who attend will be taking a journey to the core. We will go past the fear of the future, and regrets of the past, into the heart of every moment."
"When you understand how to just be you, you can hear the sound of infinity. When you can nurture this state of consciousness, the quality of time shifts and prosperity can flow through you."
Thursday December 24th at 7 PM with Dr. Hari Simran Singh Khalsa yogi-doc
* * * *
Michael,
Thank you. I really enjoy your writing, I find you quite deep and intellectual. Let's get together and talk sometime, perhaps over coffee.
Wendy Coggins
* * * *
Dear sir,
I am thoroughly enjoying you're beautiful writing, Stillness before time.
I have a yoga studio in Los Angeles, and have studied extensively with J. Krishnamurti as well as Jean Klien, U.G. and other advaita, non-dualist guys and your writing is another shining jewel in this shining world. I'm wondering if I have perhaps missed a chapter, I think i inadvertently erased one, could you re e-Mail me chapters 1-9.
Thanks in advance,
Robert Birnberg
Community Yoga
Los Angeles
* * * *
MERCI D ARRETER DE M ENVAHIR DE MESSAGES
Thirion
* * * *
I have been
l i k i n g
(there's no good word)
your beautiful
writing.
Diana Lang
* * * *
The body is more than a dream. It is the gateway to higher awareness. Try reading this message without your body. Feel your feet on the ground and rejoice in the bald reality of being in a body.
amba stapleton
* * * *
Response:
Amba,
Higher awareness is just a dream, too. And I do enjoy this body, especially when it isn't achy.
Take care,
Michael
* * * *
Hi. I don't know who you are but I did enjoy your poem.
Thanks, Mark
* * * *
What is this?
Mack Mahon
* * * *
Hi again. I plan to look in the student book store for your book. Let me know if there's a better place to find it.
Mark
p/s Have we met?
* * * *
Michael: ok, I'm interested and plan to get a copy. Keep me on your list.
Mark
* * * *
I find it rather amazing you're able to put into words some of the thoughts I believed nobody else ever had. Thanks for your sharing. By the way, I'm from Chico also, for the past 30 years at the U.
Mark
* * * *
Response:
Mark,
I think there are more of us than you might think. We are the mystics, the seers, the students, the thinkers, the witnesses of the human drama. We who discern the unity of all things, and yet must participate and endure the insanity of so many who do not, and probably never will. We pass each other every day, but most of us remain unseen because that is our way. Those whose fate it is to become known are really no different or better in my way of thinking. I suppose it's just the nature of the theater to place some on pedestals for history's sake.
About ten years ago, after 35 plus or minus years of drinking fully of this theater, I was sagging under the weight of world-weariness, and these aphoristic thoughts just started coming to mind. Because part of my experience was as a small town journalist, it was easy to carry a notebook and write them down. What you're getting is about 40 to 50 pages of over thirteen hundred thus far transcribed, with at least twenty more notebooks to go. And more still trickling into consciousness daily. Much of it is very repetitive, of course, and probably, I must admit, therapeutic. To what ends, if any, I know not, but it's been interesting to play it out as a scribe. We've all got to put in our time somehow.
Michael
P.S. Am not sure how I got your e-mail address, perhaps from a mutual friend or randomly from forwarded material. The way this whole thing has unfolded has been quite a haphazard process.
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Michael,
Thanks for your reply. My theater has not often been the written word but the
classroom, along with some face to face counseling. My field is social work and I've been employed in some capacity in over 10 different agencies. This is my last semester at CSUC and I'm not sure what's next. I like your thought that there are many others who do think enough to care. I find the lack of concern for what's happening in the world and the apathy toward others discouraging, and so I keep struggling with the question of why and what's it all about. About 10 years ago I began the long process to find some answers through meditation. My only regret is that I didn't start much earlier. I'm still looking for the answers, but I think my questions are getting better. My fear is that maybe there are no answers. Anyway its comforting to know others wonder too.
Mark
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Mark,
Somewhere along the line I reached a point where either I didn't have any more questions, or I didn't need any more answers. Am not sure why, or whether it's a good thing, but these days I just take what comes the best I can.
Once upon a time, I was a lightweight activist/idealist, but anymore the whole mess is just too boggling for any manmade remedy. I'm kind of waiting for mother nature to bring some order back to things.
As for when you started meditating, at least you started. Out of six plus or minus billion, probably only a sliver ever get around to really examining things. Count yourself lucky (or unlucky) to be one of them.
Take care.
Michael
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Dear Michael,
Thank you for your emails. Your words ring true for All of humanity. How did you get my email address? I am also living in Chico, California. Please check out my web site: www.angelfire.com/hi/samaadhi. Talk with you again, hopefully.
Samadhi
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Have enjoyed reading your work ...
Thanks, Herb
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Dear Michael,
I have lost Stillness Before Time chapter 1 to 13 can you resend them? I am enjoying them very much.
Thanks.
Simon Marrocco
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Hi Michael,
Yes, I now remember you, and your poetry is superb! Thank you for writing. Please check out my web site: www.angelfire.com/hi/samaadhi. Also, go to spiritweb.org, scroll down to chat rooms, and register in, then go to either MtShasta (my hangout) or Stonehedge. You will find me there as "Samadhi."
Bye for now …
Samadhi
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Dear Michael,
Lovely poetry ... thank you for sending it ...
Samadhi
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Hi Michael,
I love receiving your thoughts.
Are they published in book form?
I'd like to buy it so I can read it in 3-D with my hands on paper.
You know what I mean?
You are doing such a good work.
Appreciatively,
Diana Lang