[The Random Factor #40c] - Our mental and physical realities

Greetings brothers & sisters of Earth!

While the world joins in protesting
China's control of Tibet it seems like
a good time to revisit the teachings
of the Dalai Lama.

Why?

Tibetans are not asking for independence
they are asking the Chinese to stop
persecuting the Tibetan culture. A culture
based on the DL's teachings.

Readers may remember my friend Nick Harris
who met many Tibetan refugees in India and
shared with us the following rules being
imposed by China on Tibetans.

It is illegal to:

1. Practice any form of their religion
(the penalty for possessing a photo of
the Dalai Lama is now 4 YEARS IN PRISON
undergoing FULL TORTURE).

2. Possess the Tibetan flag (the penalty
is having your hands cut off).

3. In some cases to keep your own house.
Tibetans are being forced to destroy
their homes and borrow money from the
Chinese government in order to build new
Chinese style homes in preparation for
the Olympic games.

4. Teach their children in the Tibetan
language. All Tibetan children must take
school in Chinese.

5. To leave Tibet. Anyone caught trying
to leave is shot and killed. If they are
unlucky enough to survive they are kept
in a prison cell with no access to light
to be tortured for the rest of their
lives.

Since the Dalai Lama teachings are at
the heart of his culture it seems like
a great time to revisit what I learned
from him in Hamburg Germany, July 2007.


Previously in issues #39, #40, & #40b
of the Random Factor we looked at:

- Emptiness
- The Interdependence of all things

Those topics can be found at
http://www.some-guy.com/the-random-factor/

Still worth discussing are:

- Our mental and physical realities
- The goal of clearing mind of obscurities
- Meditation on emptiness & compassion

Ok, let's just look at mental & physical
reality for now.

------ Mental / Physical Reality -------

The 21st century has brought a very high
material standard yet the people who enjoy
these luxuries are mentally and emotionally
not very stable. There is constant stress,
fear, frustration, and jealousy, and these
emotions disturb the mind.

Since all sentient beings innately desire
happiness and therefore do not want
disturbances we seek pleasure to block
these disturbances.

Unfortunately, when you partake in
pleasurable events these actions immediately
begin to become less pleasurable, meaning
we need more next time to get the same
level of satisfaction.

The Dalai Lama talked of meeting
billionaires filled with stress and worry,
and pointed out that this demonstrates the
limits of material facilities in achieving
happiness. Since a contented mental level
is perhaps impossible to achieve through
material means we must instead take a look
at our inner world.

"Mental level is more superior than
physical level because physical can not
subdue discomfort on the mental level but
the mental level can subdue discomfort on
the physical level." - Dalai Lama

Imagine two patients with the same disease
in the same hospital with the same doctor
and the same treatment. Now imagine that
one of them is relaxed and optimistic,
while the other is filled with worry. The
calm and peaceful patient will report a
more positive experience. The mental worry
is an additional problem...

The DL said a scientist assured him it has
been scientifically proven there is a link
between an optimistic outlook and a speedy
recovery. Our attitude, the power of our
mind, is therefore of great importance.

Another perspective; "Traits of the Survivor"
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/traits-of-the-survivor/

"When the going gets tough the most important
survival skill is contained within your mind.
You need to want to survive, no matter the
situation and prospect of outcome. Survivors
never give up."

After January 1st, 2000 the death rates
spiked as it turned out many dying people
had been "holding on" to see this landmark
event.

So it's safe to say our attitude is related
to not just the quality of life but the
length of it too.

"Like outer space our brain is vast and
not fully explored. We should look at what
makes a good day a good day and a good night
a good night. We can not eliminate our outer
experiences but we can change our inner
attitude. Thankfully, more and more people
are looking inward... it is time to look
more closely... but how to change it?"
- Dalai Lama

"Consider the close link between our physical
well being and mental well being, anxiety,
fear, and anger eat our immune system while
forgiveness strengthens it." - Dalai Lama

"Our physical comfort is important but not
at the expense of ecological and societal
damage. All man-made problems are linked to
our emotions so using force or technology is
NOT the answer. The answer is a deeper study
of the emotional world and analyze what
emotions we have, what causes it, and what
can change it at the mental level."
- Dali Lama

Accepting that the experience of our "reality"
that exists "out there" is a product of our mind
sets the conditions for a happier and more fulfilling
existence.

Some Guy

p.s. Ralph Waldo Emerson's corollary - "People
seem not to see that their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character."

[ The Random Factor#44 ] More Interesting than the New York Times

Greetings brothers & sisters of Earth!

I am very pleased to announce the results of a
recent poll. The poll question is as follows:

"Read a random article from the New York Times,
and a random article from The Random Factor and
let us know, which article was more interesting?"

The result? A shocking 73% of people find The
Random Factor more interesting than the New York
Times.

http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/253797/
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/253797/results

This is stunning, of course, as the NY Times
is one of the world's most read and respected
newspapers dedicated to covering the most
news-worthy events of the day.

The NY Times hires the best journalists they can
find and gives them both the credentials they
need to access nearly anybody on the planet and
the expense accounts to get there and back. They
even have fact-checkers and editors who know
grammar great!

This would seem to lead to only one of two
conclusions. Either, the Random Factor really is
more interesting than world events or two, the NY
Times is not actually covering world events.

Since the first conclusion is clearly ridiculous
the second must therefore be true. The NY Times
does not actually cover world events!

Thankfully, they do cover some of it very well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/world/asia/21exiles.html

What is really staggering is we have a winner of
the Nobel Peace Prize revered as a divine
reincarnation by his people and even he can not
stop the violence amongst his own people much
less the Chinese.

Anger is the result of people not getting the
respect they feel they deserve. We should need
no more proof that as sure as people will fight
for their own life so too will a strangled culture
fight for it's existance.

SG

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[The Random Factor #43] Why Do We?

"Why do we create the things we create?"
"To be fulfilled."

"Is it fulfilling us?"
"No."

"Are we still chasing it?"
"Yes."

(Prem Rawat, Adi Magazine)

"The peace we are looking for is within."

(Prem Rawat, http://wordsofpeace.org/)


love and light,

SG

[The Random Factor #40b] The interdependence of all things

[This issue originally published 10/18/2007]

Greetings brothers and sisters of Earth!

Continuing an exploration of Buddhist
thought resulting from a week of teachings
with the Dalai Lama in Hamburg Germany July
2007.

The topic was Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas, also
known as Four Hundred Verses on the Yogic
Deeds of Bodhisattvas, a text at the heart
of Tibetan Buddhism.

Key Concepts

- Emptiness
- The Interdependence of all things
- Our mental and physical realities
- The goal of clearing mind of obscurities
- Meditation on emptiness & compassion

Ok, let's just look at the interdependence
of all things.

------ Interdependence -------

According to Buddhist thought, a great
misconception of the mind is that the
characteristics of an object are part of
the object itself, when "in reality", they
are conceived by our mind and filtered by
our beliefs.

The existence of THE PERCEPTION of these
objects is not refuted, but the objects
themselves are said to not have any
independent or "inherent existence."
Buddhists refer to this understanding
of natural phenomenon as Emptiness.

Because of the nature of interdependence
all objects can appear to exist in
infinite ways. That is to say a starving
person views a hamburger much differently
than a vegan after a big meal. Therefore,
the only "actual" existence of an object
is in it's interdependence.


2000 years ago they didn't have many
possessions or objects to use in
discussion, so in Arydeva's book "the pot"
was the subject of many stanzas. After
hearing about the pot for a week we had
enough of that pot, so I have tried an
updated illustration.


Your computer monitor's existence depends
on the company that manufactured it. This
company is dependent on the companies that
made the components for the monitor. And,
in turn, the companies that made the
components of the components and the
companies that mined the resources that
became the components and the companies
that made the tools used to do the jobs
needed by all the companies making all
the components for your monitor.

And, of course, the monitor is dependent
on the computer the monitor plugs into, and
is therefore dependent on the computer,
not to mention the electrical grid that
powers it all. Without all this in place,
your monitor would not quite be the same,
would it?

Your monitor's existence in your life is
also dependent on the store where you
bought it, and the company that shipped
it.

All the people employed at all these
companies are dependent on food to do
their job, and that food is dependent
on the people who grew, sold, delivered,
and prepared the food.

Your monitor's existence is also dependent
on geniuses who made breakthroughs in
electricity, computing, optics,
manufacturing, even transportation and
economic breakthroughs... and the parents
who raised them and the schools
that challenged them.

And, don't forget about the dinosaurs and
the comet that killed them and time itself
which turned them into crude oil, the big
bad oil companies which drilled for the
oil, and the companies that created the
plastics.

And, definitely don't forget about the
big bang which led to the formation of
the elements from which the monitor,
the components, the food, the trucks,
the people, the dinosaurs, the company
offices, and all the tools are made.

Your monitor exists in the eyes of the
company that made it as "a sale", A genius
looks at your monitor and thinks "good
thing those LCD cathodes don't use more
than 1 kv." the trucker sees "a package",
and the dinosaurs might complain, "hey,
that was my ass!"

This lesson of the nature of interdependence
tells us there is no such thing as "separate."

Such things may have some affect on a person's
perspective on life.

How far would the Dalai Lama's message have
spread without the invasion of the Chinese?

until next time,

Some Guy

p.s. The Dalai Lama's in the news getting respect
and giving the Chinese fits.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/17/dalai.lama/index.html

For CNN's look at why

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/17/dalai.lama/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

--------------------------------

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The Random Factor at www.some-guy.com

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[The Random Factor #42] I love you

Greetings brothers & sisters of Earth,

Wow. This is harder than I remember. I
was hoping to get this to you earlier, but
even the list software wouldn't work.

As most of you know, The Random Factor
was out of commission during the Writer's
Guild of America (WGA) strike.

For those interested, you can read more
about that and how it relates to my
"ambitionz az a writer" if you follow this link

So, now that stressed-out negotiators and mailing
list software troubleshooters have prevailed we
can all go back to... to... well, I hope it was good.

But, first, I want you to know.

I love you.

And, I want you to be safe.

So, here's two highly recommended, and FREE,
protection programs to help keep your computer
and you from battling Internet VD.

The first, SpyBot, is anti-spyware, the other
AVG is anti-virus. They are among the best, if
not the best, tools Microsoft Windows users
can use. That includes well-known and non-free
heavyweights like Norton & McAffee Anti-Virus

Mac users... smiling, aren't you. Well,
here's a tip, the most up-to-date source of
OSX software is at Version Tracker.

Windows users, without further ado.

SpyBot Search & Destroy anti-spyware

There is other good anti-spyware, like Spyware
Blaster, & Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition, but
you only need one.

AVG Free edition anti-virus:

Windows Defender, which is made by Microsoft,
is also another highly recommended free option.

If you're willing to shell out $40 Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0
is the best anti-virus software available according to
Consumer research

By running these applications you might find that some of
your software programs are mysteriously disabled.

That's because it had some secrets.

Even RealPlayer, one-time pioneer, has been called out for
it's use of spyware. Check this link to get spyware-free
RealPlayer.

The quarantine option lets you store suspect files in a safe
place in case you notice software that is no longer working.

You can also re-install software if it's disabled, and you need it.

I hope this helps some of you,

love and light,

SG

p.s. And when you're done, windows users, here's the
windows software link:

[The Random Factor #42a] The WGA Strikes Back

Greetings brothers & sisters of Earth,

As most subscribers know, The Random Factor
was out of commission during the Writer's
Guild of America (WGA) strike.

Now, it is true, I'm not actually a member of
the WGA and clearly I'm not getting any
professional help with The Random Factor, or
otherwise.

And, that's what makes this so difficult.

Long ago I heard this quote

"If you want to be a knight, act like a knight."

That mind-over-matter, decide-your-own-reality
sort of attitude really resonated with me.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to
be a knight.

Instead, I write.

More thoughts on being a knight


Now, imagine my dismay when I discovered some
time ago that the WGA does not consider writing
to be the sole condition for membership.

I can't find it, but I know somebody worthwhile
once said something along the lines of,

"To be a writer one need only write."

Oh semantics, how you soothe.

Unfortunately, the WGA has a more strict
criteria, 24 "units" and $2,500.

Sure, 2,500 people will make their way to
www.Some-Guy.com and www.RandomFacts.org
this very day and they will spend 125 hours
viewing around 15,000 pages of gems like ...

----------------------------------------
"Why do we create the things we create?"

"To be fulfilled."

"Is it fulfilling us?"

"No."

"Are we still chasing it?"

"Yes."

Prem Rawat, Adi Magazine
----------------------------------------

That's nearly one million visitors, 42,000 hours,
and 26 million "hits" a year exploring riddles
and facts and quotes, oh my!

But, these sites clearly were not intended to
be a place for my writing. Which is why I
decided to kick it up a notch with this
newsletter.

However, even while the WGA fought for a piece
of online revenue, receiving millions of web
visitors and thousands of subscribers does
not count as even 1 "unit" towards memebership
apparently as it's not for movies, radio, or
television... or paid. Hey, that just makes it
more challenging!

I guess I have to accept that this medium, while
clearly the future of entertainment, is too easy.
8% of people blog, which makes for at
least 10% of the population who write online.

Tough competition... but, has The Random
Factor been worth reading?

I decided to take a poll.

I guess I thought if I wrote a great newsletter
I'd get published or something. What a dreamer
I am. It occurs to me now I could write a hundred
newsletters, some even good, and not get a lick of
credibility amongst what I understand is a reputable
affiliation of real writers with actual writing jobs.

Now that would be sweet.

And so it was when it dawned on me the first day
of the strike... I've been acting like a writer
this whole time, surely I should take the logical
next step and start acting like a real writer!

Apparently, real writers write books and
screenplays too. It's not as easy as
striking, in fact it's very difficult.

It won't make me happy, but it would seem to
be the natural progression.

I truly appreciate your support, you have
given me confidence to try my best to ramp it
up a notch.


SG

[A Random Factor #41] Hope Agreement

Hello 2008, may you experience many good wishes to come true!

Too bad is still news how my oh my writers still not showing up to work to word Random Factor. Hope writer's guild of America happy soon and all be happy.

Some guy so far solidarity because wanting to great screenwriter very much... also a writer not so well by self need help badly for good stuff.

Good luck with writers back soon so until next time with hope this not make writers unhappy because we love them and need them.

SG