Banteron's Muse: Going Tubeless

Banteron's Muse: Going Tubeless: This is annoying, yet undeniably the price we will have to pay to feel politically and environmentally correct nowadays.It's Scott &quot...

Going Tubeless

This is annoying, yet undeniably the price we will have to pay to feel politically and environmentally correct nowadays.It's Scott "Naturals".This huge paper company is now presenting a new tubeless toilet paper roll.You are now able to feel good about taking (and for that matter) giving a shit.Comedians will have a field day with this one.You can hear one saying now,"Yo! when my fingers ain't enough for cleaning the old bung-hole, I can now use the whole roll!"Lookout Scott, it's coming.

Don't these people know that toilet paper tubes are a necessity for many a school art project? When stacked upright, several tubes can support weight thousands of times it's own.It's what this country is built upon!(an endless trash heap, that is...) It will be sad the day when children won't have that pretend telescope to peer through; But will this mean that it will be an eye-blink before Scott pulls the tubes from their paper towels? Ever try to place a new roll on one of those spring-loaded holders?

Like you, I don't want to think about these things. Waste,when out of sight is out of mind in my book; But Scott has a point, and no doubt has held countless meetings and focus groups to bring this idea forward for the rest of us to ponder.It only goes to prove the time worn Werner Erhard pontification..."Their is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." Nor is a crap,when one is ready to deliver one.It's sort of like being stuck in traffic after two espressos and a bran muffin if you get my drift.New mother's will concur on this...Does everyone agree that toilet paper tubes are an environmental disaster? Didn't you get the memo on this?

A little shook up

This morning at 3:30 am I was woken to a rumbling sound and items falling from shelves throughout my apartment. I bolted out of bed and through the front door down the stairs to the driveway yelling, "Earthquake!" Being the first one out, my heart was thumping and after calming myself a bit, i noticed I was still in my underwear. Hmmmm... well they were a plaid pattern and looked somewhat like a pair of swim shorts,so I didn't worry too much about people noticing.

The neighbors began to appear from balconies across the way, and everyone was standing around looking at each other wondering what everyone usually wonders... is that the end of it? Well it is approximately twelve hours later and we've only experienced mild aftershocks here at the North end of the Valley. Napa bore the brunt of the damage from this 6.1 magnitude quake.My sister and nephew called in short order to see if I was alright.No problem here.

My nephew posted pictures of his place in Napa where you can see that many items were tossed about; like ping pong balls in a lottery spinner.Thankfully everyone is still alive and hopefully we will not have another shaker like that for some time to come.Let's keep our fingers crossed.

What is Meditation?

Is it sitting still? Is it letting your thoughts go? Is it focusing? Or, as the Dalai Lama would say, "The best meditation is sleep". I find that it is a variety of practices,postures and positions. None of which will guarantee results because these are the manifestations of that which our mind conjures and that by definition is thinking.Thinking is either constructive or destructive.Meditation is neither.As I write this, I think about the times I've meditated and how it has been practiced (not unlike weight-lifting or even losing weight for that matter). Meditation requires an entry and an exit. Like prayer it requires a conscious attempt to engage. Listening to sounds and sensations as a way of entering into a meditative state, just as breathing slowly and releasing tension helps us to drop down into our experience.

Today I am looking at what meditation is not.Distraction is not meditation.It will misalign us.Distraction has to be allowed though,as it can be incorporated into the body of the meditation. Otherwise, resistance ensues. Resistance will persist to the degree that we resist it.Acceptance is the key,and ultimately the essence of a regulated meditative practice.Acceptance then becomes the first level of our conscious experience.Meditation is all about experiencing our experience.This experience is beyond belief.