Get In Line or Die? Hmmm................. Well, How Long is the Line?

So a disclaimer to today's post
I Have No Idea What I'm Talking About.

http://i.imgur.com/m7Bvt3L.gifv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHumksS88Zs

     Social Norms
     We determine what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior by observing what everyone else is doing or isn't doing. For instance, it's a lot harder to get up and dance at a music show if no one else is dancing. Still possible of course, but an unspoken pressure to conform is there, and often difficult to overcome. That's not really a problem normally, and sometimes it's just a good idea to do as everyone else is doing. Stopping at a Red light is probably a smart move for example. However, if it's 4am and no one else is around and no one is coming, why wait?
     While harmless crimes and questions of safety are debatable, some social norms aren't quite laws but unspoken rules. Such as a 20 year old dating a 40 year old. Some might see nothing wrong with this, some might want to know the gender of each individual in order to judge, and some might be appalled regardless. Even if we disagree with the way society thinks, our environment restricts our behavior. One such way is through the fear of judgment from others.

     We don't want to be judged. Why not? Some people hide in their homes just to avoid it. What happens to us when we are judged? Anything? You can kind of feel it though, can't you? And what happens to us when we judge another? Does it do us any good? What about when we have to judge someone? To live one's Life without fear of judgment—how can we become that person? 
       When we meet someone and interact with them we might come to admire something about them. I personally believe that every single person in The World has at least one thing they can teach us, though Judgment and bias can get in the way. Once you both get past each others' walls and nobody puts the other beneath themselves, you really have the chance to connect and learn from each other. When that happens, you might be surprised at just how much an impact someone can have on you, and you them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JWOKGK9pis

     Can The Heart Be Wrong?
     We often hear the adage, "Follow Your Heart."
     But this advice is often given with the assumption that the listener's Heart is good, pure, and true.
     Where then do dark desires come from? Are they purely a corruption of The Mind? Ideas we get from The World, with all of its brutality? Do these ideas seep their way into out Heart when we want something?
     We want something we do not have or perhaps can not have—that desire itself is not evil. Then our minds concoct plans to get that which is desired. The plan may be more or less thought out. The plan may or may not consider others. If it does, that scope is limited by our sight and by the limits of our compassion. The more sight and compassion we have, the greater good our plan will pan out. Patience and self-control are needed to do and not-do, as best to "stick to the plan."
     God knows the limits of our patience, self-control, and compassion. God can see our plans. I am told they make God laugh.

     Though I often wonder—Can God be surprised?

 I got a table at an Art Show selling the pipes!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BambooEtcetera

 I've got plans for this corner...

 Yale at Night

Music - Vibration - Energy

Yeah I need a better camera before I can really make this a photography blog.
Though at the point that the photographs are worthy I aught to just put them on facebook.
I suppose I'm hiding here on blogspot
expressing my raw unpolished ideas quietly.
Ah, I'm reflecting about myself again.
Blog End - Journal Go!

Reflect Upon The Whatevs

In case you missed it last week
My FB Artist page!
Buy a pipe!
https://www.facebook.com/BambooEtcetera/

     Okay I got it!
Less talk about myself

More talk about things
In other words
Reflection

Here we go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJPnmaPB3-g

     We all want things out of life.
     At least I assume everyone does (if you no longer want anything you have transcended desire and are now on level with The Buddha. If you only want to Give Love then you're like Jesus. Good job).
     By the Buddhist philosophy, want/desire is the cause of our suffering.
     I don't know if I totally agree with that though. I think it depends on what you want. If you want good things like Peace and Prosperity then that will probably alleviate a lot more suffering in the World than it causes. If you want to give and help others that too will probably be more positive than negative.
     I don't think that most people know what they want, at least not too concretely. Figuring out what you want is definitely a good first step towards getting it.

     So there is this idea of "manifestation." Some people might explain it differently, but if you ask me it basically is the idea that if you try really hard to achieve something The Universe will actually help you. In a perfect World where we are all striving to better ourselves and better our World this is awesome! But what if someone is striving for something negative—something that will bring others down. Will The Universe help them?
     So when you want something, where does it come from? Well, depends on what it is. If you want rain then it comes from the sky. If you want a potato it comes from the ground. If you want money it either comes from your community or it comes from somewhere else (but it comes from somewhere). If you want a pen it was made with x, y, and z from a, b, and c. If you want a free pen well someone probably has to drop one somewhere. If you want complicated things better start thinkin' and/or prayin' and/or hopin'. If you want a simple thing, maybe just go try to get it yourself. Or make it yourself, if ya' can. That's fun!
     If you want a person, they're pretty easy to find. You usually have to leave your house though. If you want a certain type of person, maybe go where that type of person goes. If you want a certain person, better first find out if they want you too, 'cause if they don't ain't nuthin' you can do. Hang around, do your thing, talk or whatever, but if they don't wantcha sometimes ya' just gotta move on. No hard feelings though, lotsa people in The World, and everybody that's out there is busy lookin' for something, otherwise they wouldn't be out of their home!
     Some people are lookin' for water. Some people are lookin' for a potato. A lotta people are just lookin' for money. Some people are just lookin' for a pen. Some people are lookin' to make their dreams come true, and some people are just lookin'. Some people are lookin' for some other people. And of all the billions of people in The World looking for other people right now, every second about 77 people find that other person.
     And out of all the possibilities of what one person might be searching for in another person, we can barely even begin to imagine the start of it. For example, somebody out there is looking right now for a Chinese trapeze artist to join their collective party and escape the confines of their Society to venture the land as street performers. Perhaps more traveling performers will join them and they will one day become a circus. Hopefully the government doesn't shut them down. Godspeed young band of Wild Dreamers!!
     Somebody out there is also looking for you. Someone is out there lookin' for you right now. No not you specifically, but a person exactly like you, whoever you are. A person who has something exactly like one thing you've got, or one thing you do, or something you know that you might not even know you know and you won't even know you told them when you do and they won't know you did either but they will then know what they needed to know from you and then you both move on, if you want to, or have to. Or maybe you both want what the other has got.
Maybe you got money, and the other has a thing you want. cha-ching.
Maybe you have charisma, but the other has somehow attained peace.
Talk  :  Listen  : :  Show  :  ______ 
Maybe those eyes of yours are on fire. Maybe theirs are deeper than any part of The Ocean you've ever looked into. With a reason like that why even question it?
And who knows, they might have been looking for you for a while. Who are you to not give 'em a chance? And why pass that person up 'cause of the kind of shoes they are wearing, or the color of their skin, or the job they work (or don't lol), or their hobbies, or their friends, or some odd thing you perceived about them and assumed a conclusion about and now you feel they are beneath you? Why ever do that, and who do you think you are to do that anyways? But hey, maybe you'll both do this in some way or another, at the same time really fast, and you'll juuuuuust miss each other. Tragic, but so it goes. You're probably too busy for them anyways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtjBXwwT2xE

     And now a short reflection on Love. It's a tricky thing. Love is simple in that all it is is an emotion. Love is complex in that everyone interprets that emotion in a different way, probably feels it in their own unique way, and for most people it is the most powerful moving force within them. Usually, that's beautiful, like parents taking care of their children. Sometimes, it's scary, as people can do some craaaaazy things because of Love.
     Love is a need. People need Love. If someone doesn't have Love, they're going to do what they feel they have to do to get it.
     So what is The Way? How much Love is okay to need? What is the greatest or most appropriate way to express and give Love? People have been trying to figure this out forever. That's why I'm not going to even try to answer it, at least not here. If I've got you thinking I recommend looking into a dude named Jesus and reading about what he has to say on the subject. He figured a lot more stuff out than I ever will.

     Pictures:

It snows in New England

This bamboo thicket is pretty much my livelihood now

The bamboo thicket itself means a lot to me though
Lots of amazing memories there

So I really entered a different mindset when I left home
I understood and accepted the real possibility that I might never be back

So much for that
I came crawling back a couple months later haha
I can only hope I'm wiser from it all

Even though I really yearn for adventure
I have to admit I wanted and needed the break

This is where I want to be
It's Home

I am so so so lucky to be here.
Where else could I want to be?

Storms are awesome
When you have a shelter to retreat to.

What is the meaning of a flame burning through the night?

Just then!
A bird?
A plane?
A Dog!
It's SUPER ROGER

SUPER ROGER and his sidekick Awesome Oakly rush to the rescue of this poor man trapped in the snow.
The State of Connecticut can rest easy knowing these hero Dogs are on the job!


I learned this week that Hemp is NOT Weed.
It is a great agriculture crop that can be used to create many great things
Such as clothes, strong thread, delicious seeds, healing oil, and super heady necklaces.

I remembered the tale of Icurus
And I also remembered that no bird soars too high when he flies upon his own wings.

Awe crap, I'm doing it again
Talking about myself in some bizarre metaphorical nonsense that I don't think anyone gets (my fault, not yours).

So I got an idea for when I get back on The Bike!
I'll need to get a GoPro.
I Love my current lil' Digital camera but the bike helmet cam would be pretty me.
And I'll definitely need a functioning laptop...
Library computers just won't cut it
Check this guy out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BvwWHzbJUY

 I'm not going to do it just like he does his though.
If I did it like that I bet I'd find myself doing things just for the camera and that would suck!
I'm just not used to having a camera on me like that...
It's just an idea
Might do it might let it go