This hand-sized specimen of Puget Sound kelp crab (Pugettia producta) quite startled me on the high tide line, far from its habitat on the low tidelands, till I noticed that it was completely dead and dry. Probably thrown up there by the waves, then dried by the sun in this lifelike posture.
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”
I've recently been pondering this Philip K. Dick line. A lion of literary science fiction, Philip's life was dogged by mental illness complicated by drug use. This led, as such things often do, to a fascination with metaphysics and transcendental philosophies. And an enduring preoccupation with reality, that thing human brains are singularly ill-suited to detect.
Perception challenges notwithstanding, I think the writer wields a sharp Zen katana here. We humans are especially apt to mistake ourselves – our cultural assumptions, our half-experienced experiences, the truisms we were taught as toddlers – for objective truth. "That's the way of the world," we say. Or, "That's just the way the world works."
Problem is, we're not talking about the world, or anything like it, when we say that. Far less any rule the world may impose.
For the benefit of those still struggling with the concept, let me take a page from Philip: the world is that thing that remains, unmoved and unchanged, when the last of us has died.
Which could be rather soon, at the rate we're going.
I find this principle a productive "empty" meditation. You know, those paradoxes we Zenners like to chase on the cushion as calisthenics for our power of perception:
"Picture an empty mirror."
"What was your face before your grandmother was born?"
"Mu."
So I sit and imagine a planet millions of years hence, unmarked by human striving.
Endless global landscapes that bear no trace of our passing.
The utter inexistence of economics or religion, art or technology, love or hate. And the profound absence of any recording witness whatsoever, anywhere on the planet.
An Earth returned to the ground of being, removed that single self-centered force of denial that dominated a second of its lifecycle, its pan plumb flashed out.
As Philip conjectured: a vast and infinite reality, entirely innocent of human delusion.
(Photo courtesy of Vadim Mivedru and Unsplash.com.)
(Photo courtesy of my friend Laura, who rescued this guy from a cat. Prevailing theory is he's a juvenile black chin [Archilochus alexandri].)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
Welcome, honoured sangha, to your annual festival of potential rock group names here on the Ring. This makes an eleventh year of this odd and inexplicable July ritual, which is offered in the cause of the entertainment of all sentient beings.
Those needing reminder will find an explanation, such as it is, of this phenomenon here, as it first appeared away back in 2013.
As for rules and regulations, I suspect the 2021 post stated them most clearly.
Remember that any suggested genres are just that; there is no obligation of any kind, moral or financial, associated with this list, in whole or in part. You're a group as yet unnamed, you grab anything you like, with no apologies.
Let's crack on, shall we?
Rock Groups 2024
Roobar (Australian alt-country)
The Riot Dogs
Synesthesia (acid rock jam band)
Visible Filth (seems like it's gotta be punk, but hey, why not a boy band?)
The Drop Bears
Albino Platypus
Palindrome
Head Cannon
None More Black (Spinal tap reference)
Farmer John and the Weeds of Concern
The Sea Lions
No Thru Traffic
Demogorgon (metal)
Prometheus (hair band)
Bedfellow
House Hippo (Canadian twee pop)
Fingerstop
Matthew
Drywall
Maßkrug (metal band too sophisticated for an umlaut)
Ziggy Says
Monitor (the lizard, not the teacher's pet or computer screen)
Apeechequanee
Pantser
The Brothers German
Rook
Crankover
Ten Penny Nail
Blork
Menȝies (pronounced properly)
Gar Ye Grue (Scottish punk band)
Elementary Penguin
Viaticum (death metal)
Fustibalus
Номенклатура
Article 58
Alice Blue (dream pop)
When Ready Fire
The Pump Jacks
Puck Bunny
Fox 3
(Photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema and Unsplash.com.)
"I'm going to try speaking some reckless words and I want you to listen to them recklessly."
Zhang Wuzi
Quoted in Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, translated by Burton Watson.
(Photo courtesy of Rawpixel.com.)
