Templedragon Times
TEMPLEDRAGONtimes
Victory Vids...
This first one is guaranteed to make you lose your erection. Can you imagine coming up against the Iranian Police Nuns? Makes wish you were dealin' with Dirty Harry, eh?
This one is just plain silly and funny if you can HANdle it...
My blog reading friends and family, here I sit on yet another gray, gloomy frigid day despite the knowledge that spring is around the corner. I am thankful to have the degree of friendship I have with so many terrific people. It has been a hard year on the head and the heart. Every time it seems like it is gonna let up for a minute another salvo seems to come from the Universe. But my troubles are very little compared to the travails of millions of others.ffice
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Keep your eyes on Kenya. They are experiencing a five year drought and scientists are not optimistic about it ending any time soon. The nomadic herders in Kenya are in danger of starving to death or dying of thirst in the next several months. If you can give to a charitable organization working in Kenya please do.
I am reading an amazing book called Love, Medicine and Miracles, by Bernie Siegel, MD. I originally bought the book when my dad was fighting lung cancer, and I read it back then in 1987 and it really changed me. I bought it again for our friend and brother James who is fighting his own lung cancer. He is a tremendous human being and a true source of inspiration and teaching for me. He read it and returned it to me and I am rediscovering the invaluable wealth of truth, insight, liberation, compassion, love and spirit that is contained within its pages.
Buddhism is radically opening my eyes and mind, and even though my ego has been getting shredded in the process, the teachings have been a source of healing and illumination for me. I only wish I had the time and focus to really delve into it all. This may be my future path, we'll have to wait and see.
There has been a hurtful degree of rumors and gossip going through our tribe. Relationship break-ups, money crisis, personality differences, hard and tough decisions, and an intimidating level of adversity in general have been plaguing us for the last year, and at times it has become a nearly overbearing load.
I have had to remind myself that leadership must be anchored in the ground, firmly rooted in conviction and a clear vision of what must be done. I have begun to reach down deeper than ever before to find my intestinal fortitude. At times it has been meager, but I always seem to find exactly what I need. That said, it is increasingly hard to make the right decisions with my health as compromised as it has been.
Now the cramping in my lower abdomen is returning in full, and I am not certain whether it is the diverticulitis or if I have IBS or something else. I have a colonoscopy scheduled, maybe that will get to the bottom of what is going on.
Perhaps they will discover that the problem all along has been that I have my had stuck up my arse! That would explain my shitty attitude and why it seems to be so dark around here lately, he he. Keep the faith Baby, we are the LIGHT. Stiff upper lip and all that rot!
"So right?" ... "So right!"
TEMPLEDRAGONtimes
Hot for Guru
I woke up today and thought to myself "Hmmm, I think I will use hundreds of muscles and organs to pulse, throb, quiver, undulate and gyrate until I generate the heat in my body." Talkin' bout my thermoregulation. fficeffice" />
You see, I have a hydronic heating system. Heat is distributed to my body through the blood I pump from my heart. At the top of my body's heating system short list is maintaining and regulating my central body core temperature. Hot crimson viscous noggin nectar is delivered, pulsing from my lovingly hippie heart to all of my extremities, with my toes being the very last to quench their cold with the precious oxygen/nutrient cocktail I have prepared, warmed and delivered.
When it comes to emissivity, well I am just full of it, but you already knew that. By the emission of electromagnetic waves I carry energy away from my heat emitting self. Now if you don't find me rather agitating, I have news for you. I conduct heat by means of molecular agitation. I also distribute heat by mass motion of fluids such as air and blood, which is caused to move away from my source of heat, carrying energy with it. This is why I try to keep some air and blood handy at any given time. Go ahead, call me security conscious.
My true inspiration, though, is my perspiration, because heat gain equals heat loss. I can gain body heat from the sun and conditions of high temperature. I get all hot just thinking about it. But the majority of heat is produced from motion and stress occurring when heat gain is greater than heat loss, resulting in an increase in body temperature.
When the ambient temperature is above my body temperature, I have to get to work to stoke up my radiation, crank up some serious conduction, and get my convection fired up to transfer heat into my body instead of out. Now here is where I really need a net outward heat transfer, and the only mechanisms I possess under these conditions happens to be the evaporation of my perspiration through my skin combined with my evaporative cooling from exhaled moisture.
On a good day I can bang out in excess of 600 grams per day of "insensate loss", just from the moisture from my skin, but you already knew that.
And, boy can I get glandular. For heat sensors I use neural feedback mechanisms, mainly through my hypothalamus gland. If I get chilly, I have a grab bag of techniques by which to get me outta the frigid pink. I can stop the flow of heat to the skin with Vasoconstriction, Shiver my timbers to generate warmth, turn off the sweat faucet, and whip out some British thermal units by cooking up some norepinephrine, epinephrine, and thyroxine.
This is the time to stand up to power that is corrupt.
Jake Finkbonner is just 6 years old. A very cute little boy usually, his face is swollen and disfigured by a deadly infection that is eating away at him. After a fat lip from a fall at a baseball game Jake developed necrotizing fasciitis, and he has been undergoing surgery to remove the infected areas of his face.
Little Jake is a fighter, and his family is going through this horrible drama together, are you in a position to help? I am certainly sending a small contribution to assist them through this nightmare. Anything will help, just a card would be better than nothing.fficeffice" />
We can help them by donating to:
Jake Finkbonner
Industrial Credit Union
Box 1767, Bellingham, Wa 98227
Dear Templedragon Times readers and others beyond the imaginary confines of this cybernetic experience....fficeffice" />
I feel that I owe ya'll an apology. This blog page had morphed from an attempt to communicate about things I took seriously and wanted to share into a tool to help me cope through the trials and travails of existence.
I somewhat underestimated how many people actually visit this page, and I feel like I was a bit irresponsible in that I want to promote positivity in the world very badly, and I have been succumbing to what I perceive as a torrent of adversity. That degree of self-indulgence and woe is not characteristic of who I usually am.
But I am hopeful that I have discovered a key element in my inability to cope with the demands of life and activism and now I think I may be able to function a bit better. For about a year and a half I have had nearly constant cramping in my lower abdomen, and in times of stress it was a sensation that just sucked the center right out of me, rendering me a lump of quivering morass. I quite literally could feel an instant effect in my stomach when I saw, heard and was told of something extremely negative. This process has progressed until I feel it in my belly when I just think of some one or some thing that stresses me out. Well let me tell you, THAT list has gotten pretty long this past year!
In fact it is cramping pretty good right now. Last Monday, after a meeting I had to attend with the City, Fire, Police, Transportation, yadda yadda, my guts started dancing like the Grateful Dead was playing in my groin. It kept me up through the night and got even worse Tuesday morning. It got to the point where I could not stand all the way up when walking, and I was hunched down, whimpering, like a tattooed, dreadlocked old man scurrying down the path to more misery.
I developed an area on the bottom left quadrant of my tummy that was so painful that I could not bend or twist or even gently touch it. I relented and went into the emergency room at University Medical Center. I arrived at 2pm, and sat in the waiting room until 4:40pm, writhing in relative discomfort.
I have RSD in my shoulder, and frankly it hurts like hell most of the time, and the accident that caused it has affected the latter half of my life more than any other single incident. Sitting in the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room was difficult for me with the effects of my cramping, bloating stomach and my arm/neck/shoulder. Factor in my abject anxiety derived the cumulative stimuli that has come with the last year or so and compounded by pressing on for so long despite feeling so overall crappy.
Now I want to take this moment out to state that I feel very uncomfortable complaining about the condition my condition is in because I know several people, some very close to me, who are in a way worse health crisis than I am. Frankly, I don't know how most of them do it. It is primarily their courage and grace that inspires me to strive for health, both physical and mental, and to press on undaunted. After all, if they can do it I can do it - - the whole of humanity is "in it" together.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, I am finally allowed into where the action is. Well, action really is not the word to describe my experience. Results is a better, less hurried description. Two x-rays and a CAT scan later, I am told by the doctors that I am suffering from acute diverticulitis, or an infected pouch in my colon. Now talking much about your infected colon is not a very desirable pass time for me, so lets just suffice to say that diverticula are small ruptures that occur in the weaker membrane of the sigmoid colon (usually), and they protrude and form little pouches that can fill up with funk. When they get infected, that is called diverticulitis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverticulitis
Not to change the subject, but....they admitted me to the hospital, as I had a fever and was in a lot of pain. I got a penicillin I.V. and a clear liquid diet. I ended up going without any solid food for 4 days or so. Man, was I hungry.
I have been reading up on this disease and it appears I have to modify my diet forever, because I have shown a propensity for having this condition. I cannot eat things that could cause it to happen again, even if I elect to undergo the surgery. I am on Cipro and some other antibiotic that I have never heard of.
Unfortunately, for the last several months I get a sore throat and a cold nearly every time I get baked or eat refined sugar. Man, if I ever wanted to get baked, things have been real stressful. I am hopeful that things will get better. Since I am in a sharing mode, I'll describe my usual symptoms for ya.
BCFS: Buzzing in legs from knees down, twitching (anywhere on body, especially in the calves), stiff, sore muscles, "clicky", snapping joints, insomnia). RSD: Surface numbness, dull, moderate, sharp pain in L shoulder, radiating into arm, neck, back.
Now I have a better idea why I was pretty much losing my mind, or as Buddhism teaches me, my mind was losing me. I have been gut kicked, but the pressing needs of life are relentlessly unforgiving. I have desired to be a competent steersman, governor, pilot, or even a rudder for my community and cause. This has been one of the most distressing, depressing, daunting periods I remember in a long time. It seems like the shit is hitting the fan on the macro and the micro. Things that I have known as constants are changing rapidly. The law of impermanence is unfolding on an ongoing eternal pursuit of everything, us included.
The wheel of Dharma grinds away the illusion as fast as it is created by our karma. We have a choice whether or not to put more negative karma on that wheel. The goal is to get where the wheel ain't got to turn no more, because every sentient being has been enlightened, therefore saved. I am thankful to be alive, to be so lucky to have so many good friends, and I am humbled by the beauty of existence.
Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum
Om MaNi PadMe Hum
A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
Buddha
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
Buddha
All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
Buddha
All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?
Buddha
Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.
Buddha
An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.
Buddha
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
Buddha
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Buddha
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
Buddha
Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
Buddha
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha
Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
Buddha
Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair.
Buddha
Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
Buddha
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
Buddha
He is able who thinks he is able.
Buddha
He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.
Buddha
He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.
Buddha
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Buddha
However many holy words you read,However many you speak,What good will they do youIf you do not act on upon them?
Buddha
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
Buddha
I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
Buddha
In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
Buddha
In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true.
Buddha
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Buddha
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
Buddha
It is better to travel well than to arrive.
Buddha
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
Buddha
Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.
Buddha
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
Buddha
On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.
Buddha
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
Buddha
Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
Buddha
The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.
Buddha
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
Buddha
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha
The tongue like a sharp knife... Kills without drawing blood.
Buddha
The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.
Buddha
The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
Buddha
The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze.
Buddha
There are five things which no one is able to accomplish in this world: first, to cease growing old when he is growing old; second, to cease being sick; third, to cease dying; fourth, to deny dissolution when there is dissolution; fifth, to deny non-being.
Buddha
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha
There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
Buddha
Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.
Buddha
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Buddha
To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
Buddha
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Buddha
To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.
Buddha
Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.
Buddha
Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.
Buddha
We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
Buddha
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.
Buddha
What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?
Buddha
What we think, we become.
Buddha
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
Buddha
When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.
Buddha
Without health life is not life; it is only a state of langour and suffering - an image of death.
Buddha
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.
Buddha
You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
Buddha
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Buddha
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Buddha