Personal Blog

A few personal posts copied here from Daniel Schmachtenber’s Facebook notes.

The Dance of the Tao and the Ten Thousand Things

The dance of the Tao and the ten thousand things

‘The knowledge which is knowable is not the eternal knowledge,The Tao that is namable is not the eternal Tao.Naming gives rise to the ten thousand things.The ten thousand things can obscure you from the Tao.’ Knowledge here is with a lower case “k”. It can be useful, but has a confidence interval that is Bayesian...

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A few guidelines that tend to support the quality of dialogue

A few guidelines that tend to support the quality of dialogue

On Intent and Connection The most common deathbed regret I have heard is not having expressed enough love. Hurting people unnecessarily, doing things that cause isolation, and staying stuck in limiting ego patterns also fall in the short list of main regrets. Conversely, one of the common themes of people’s highlight lists is the ways...

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I have had the experience countless times

I have had the experience countless times…

I have had the experience countless times…making love, watching a sunset, listening to music, feeling the breeze…that I would sign up for this whole life and all of its pains, just to experience this exact moment. This is a kind of wordless knowing. Its the most important and real truth I know: that experience itself...

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Dharma Inquiry

Dharma, as it is used here, means something like right relationship with Life. It could also be described as the path of right action; the path of greatest integrity; the path (of choices) that do not create unnecessary suffering and help to bring healing to the underlying sources of it; the way of living “thy...

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Healthy Shame

I’ll define guilt as feeling badly about something I have done and shame as feeling badly about who I am being (1). Defined as such, I’ll suggest there exists healthy and unhealthy (2) shame, just like there exists healthy and unhealthy guilt (and most emotions). ‘Who I am being’ is a variable my choice can...

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Processes to go through with your parents before they die

These processes can be meaningful to go through with any loved ones who are nearing passing. Given that your life came from theirs, helping your parents complete their lives tends to be particularly meaningful. Help them make a timeline of their life. All the big events, starting with their birth and earliest memories, up to...

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What I learned about being a man from my Dad

I write this in appreciation and honor for my father. And with the hope that men who may not have had the same type of unreasonable father-fortune that I had, may benefit to some degree from reading whats shared here. When I was a kid, my Dad was a sort of god to me. As...

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How to live a meaningful life

How to live a meaningful life

How to live a meaningful life: Appreciate the beauty of existence. Beauty doesn’t exist in objects. It arises from the relationship of the subject appreciating the object. Meaning is inherently relational. The depth of our appreciation of the beauty of the world increases the meaningfulness of the world. When we are with friends, meditating, listening...

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What loving you means to me

What does it mean when I say I love you? First, it means that I see you. I see the feeling, experiencing being that you are. I see your sensitivity, and your strength. I see your irreplaceable uniqueness: there has never been nor will there ever be another one like you. What possible price tag...

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