"Rules"

There are no rules

There is no right way

There is no wrong way

There is nothing by which

To measure what is right

What is wrong

And yet

There are rules

There is a right way

There is a wrong way

There is only this

To measure what is right

Or wrong

We do so by

What feels so

And what does not

We do so by

Understanding

That we are all

Human beings

All experiencing things

In different ways

And yet

We also do so by

Realizing

That we are all

Human beings

And all have similar reactions

To things like pain or poverty

And so

And so

Live your life in a way

That makes you happy

Live your life in a way

That does not make others

Unhappy

This is a great

Rule of thumb for

How to fix the world

Why can't we ever

As human beings

Seem to do this?

ML

11/8/2023

13:27

 "Stains"

My art is

Precisely

Multiple

Failed attempts

At bringing

Order to

The chaos

Playing

Songs for

No one

Writing 

Words for

No one

Reflections

Refractions

Of the

Chaos

Inside me

Around me

Spontaneous 

Musings

Like this

The lessons

Of the past

Always return

These days

Thinking about

Writing about

My past

Again

Sticky subjects

Better left

Alone

Leave the

Dustbins

Of yesteryear

Alone

Pain is nothing

But a reflection

Of energy

Made manifest

In the body-mind

There is no

Cure

There is only

Acceptance

Of “what is”

妥協

You can fight

Or you can

Choose

Not to fight

You can complain

Or you can

Choose

Not to complain

So long as

One feels

That one is

Moving forward

One is

Moving forward

Why do I continue

To write

These things

Here

Inappropriate 

I should

Just quietly

Slip away

Where are we now?

Where are you?

Where am I?

“It’s the end

Of this

Three-ring

F***ing show”

The hidden

Stains

Always

Reappear

In time

November 4, 2023

Tokyo, Japan

Temperature: 25C / 77F

 28. And so...

And so...

And so

There is nothing to be afraid of

There is nothing to strive for

Life and death are a continuum

Life and death are intertwined

An interplay of light and dark

Yin and yang

When things outside, things in the world, get bad

Really, really bad.

The way out is in

The only way out...

Is

In

In

In

Inside yourself.

Not "yourself."

But, rather

Your 

Self

And mine, too.

And A.I. do not, cannot, possess this

Do they? 

Can they?

Well, this is a topic for the experts on A.I., perhaps...

Ask Elon, maybe

Or ask a guru, who has seen his own "inmost light"

And who knows that there is "more than meets the eye" to this world

To our reality, to our existence, what we can and cannot

Perceive

Beyond the body

All I can say is this:

I am a creative being

My music can only have been made by me, though I do not "own" it, cannot claim to possess it, any more than any of us "owns" his or her own body (it will age, it will fade, it will die, be buried or burned, rot and decay in the ground)...

(I am not talking about "copyright." Or the right to copy, either. No more talk of A.I. today, please!) 

Of course "I" made this music, in this sense, and so of course I "own" it, in this (albeit very limited, temporal) sense

Like the fictions I wrote in my thirties and forties...

Take a step back for a moment to consider the meaning behind the meaning

And so

Nothing to cling to

Nothing to chase after

Nowhere to go

Where do you want to go, anyway?

Just go with the flow...

Do you want to try and swim upstream all of your life?

Do you have the energy for this?

To be human

To have a body

To be here in this moment

This is all we in fact have

Right now

Past/future

Can you grasp this present moment?

Can you? 

Really??

Can you show it to me, then!!!

Show me the face you had before your mother’s grandmother was born…

Is this the conclusion of my essay? My book? 

Oh my...

Won't I also talk about my future plans? 

Won't I also discuss my future projects?

Won't I tell you that the key to life is, is, is really just...

There's so much more I could add, might have added here

So many things we could not say...

This neverending story...

"Without beginning

Without end"

I could keep writing this thing forever

If only I had the time

Time

Time

Time

Time is waiting in the wings...

My death waits like a swinging door...

Hang up your pride

This dark shroud...

And so, for now, I shall simply say

Goodnight

And so, for now, I shall leave my readers, or my no-readers (same thing), with this...

You are the universe

The universe is you

And this is not New Age claptrap, either

Life and death

Is only a

Transition

a hop

a skip

a splash...

Basho's wet pond

Or was it the frog that was wet?

Was it the flag flapping?

The wind flapping?

Or was it only the mind that flapped?

flapflapflapflapflap

Inside/outside

Light/dark

Male/female

Peace to you

Peace to all

The world was not the same

Can never be the same

Will never be

Cannot. Will not.

Accept.

Maybe we'll all wake up dead tomorrow

May

Be

Could happen

Really, it could

But we can change ourselves, can't we?

Yes, of course we can!

At least now we can

In this and at every new moment

Each and every one of us

Has the potential to do so

By focusing on our own individual

Inner light

To transform the world

First we must transform ourselves

This is not about ego

This is not about pride

No fear and no greed

No life and no death

गते गते पार गते पार संगते बोधि स्वाहा

Just

This moment

The past is the past

The future is new

Is there a future?

No one knows

The end is the same for all

RIP Ryuichi

RIP Scott

RIP David

RIP James

RIP you

RIP me

Live for today

I'll see you again tomorrow

Maybe