Dharma Bum

“I often recall these words when I am writing, and I think to myself, ‘It’s true. There aren’t any new words. Our job is to give new meanings and special overtones to absolutely ordinary words.’ I find the thought reassuring. It means that vast, unknown stretches still lie before us, fertile territories just waiting for us to cultivate them.”

—Haruki Murakami

"Remembering not to identify with the story has been crucial - and very hard to do, because, in anger the story carries such obsessive power. But this for me really is, most fundamentally, what it means to be "religious." It means remembering, again and again, that the stories we tell ourselves - all those stories about loss, failure, shattered hope, betrayal, blame - are not what is most true about who we are. This is for me the true meaning of "taking refuge," this residing in the vast only don't know of practice."
- Noelle Oxenhandler

Right Away, Great Captain

RAGC's new album, the final of the trilogy, comes out in the spring. I don't think I've sat in anticipation of a new album since the Replacements days. Hurry. Here's a new song..

Retreat

Friday I escaped to the Five Mountain Zen Order's winter retreat. It was exactly what was needed, and It was great to connect with my Dharma family. If you're interested in exploring a meditation practice, the HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen sitting group will be meeting on Feb 12th at 5:30. Conact me for details. Here's a few photos from the weekend, we're actually a pretty casual Zen crew, but we do robe up every once and a while. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sent from my iPhone

[No Title]

Sent from my iPhone

AAMFT Student Conf. & AFTA in San Francisco - Presenting

Don't I look like I know what I'm talking about? Hello All. Anne Arnold and I will be presenting on Narrative Approaches to Family Therapy at both the AAMFT-CA Student Conference at SDSU on Feb 24th, and the American Family Therapy Academy Conference in San Francisco May 16-19th. I've been to both conferences and both are worth the effort if you can make it. Plus you can come say Hi to us! Currently they're offering discounted registration for the AAMFT Student conference HERE. I hope to see you in San Diego or San Francisco.

Update: HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen - Feb 12th

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.

Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don't think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of - indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.
- Mary Oliver

I'm going away this weekend to sit with the Five Mountain crew. But will be back next week ready to reconvene the Sunday night sitting group, aka HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen. If you haven't been we meet at 5:30 at my place and anybody interested in exploring meditation, with a little bit of Zen thrown in for good measure, is welcome. Beginners especially welcome. Contact me for directions. I hope to see you on Sunday Feb. 12th!

I'm about 9 months away from this. Not a mid-life crisis, just going to win a bet and make a few changes in the process.

Nowadays, I don’t have a plan, an exit strategy, or a career arc in mind. So it’s like: keep working on things. Don’t sit and play PlayStation and wait for the phone to ring. Go out and see music, see art, participate. Then you just cross your fingers and hope it will work out OK. - Craig Finn

Anon

Had a great time today with some friends who volunteered to participate in Naida Osline's anonymous portrait project. Naida is the current artist in residence at the Grand Central Art Center. Thank you Sarah, Kim, Michelle, Ed, Tony, Mark, Zach. Creatives helping creatives. Here's some pics from the photo shoot today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cabin

My favorite new website.

FreeCabinPorn.com.

Take a look. I love the internet.

Power is Everywhere

..And so is resistance.

Sorry for the lack of stuff around here. I'm trying to write a review of Jeffrey Nealon's Foucault Beyond Foucault for possible inclusion in a journal, and that's taking up all my brain power. Well, that and the fact I'm in one of my "want to crawl in a hole and disappear" moods.

All the art fairs are happening in LA this weekend so that might be a good diversion. I'll snap out of it. Promise.

Help

Attn: Friends of Bill W. who might read this blog. I need some volunteers who would be interested in posing for my friend contemporary artist Naida Osline this Saturday starting at noon at the Grand Central Art Center. Please contact me ASAP. Anonymity is assured. This is an opportunity to be part of a great art project and tell a bit of your story. You can see some of Naida's work HERE. Don't be shy!

 

 

 

Image: Naida Osline

 

I think I hold on to this for my writing...

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and somthing else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

-Chuck Close

"I'm for mystery, not interpretive answers.
The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer, but they think they have. So they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
- Ken Kesey