Sunsetguy37

What is not seen in this picture, is the details that I had a late afternoon coffee with my clients, and a home made muffin. I note at 12:56 am that I am a light-weight when it comes to much of the substances of life, including caffeine. The Melatonin will hopefully set in soon. I just want to remember to seek the humility of unconditional surrender as often as possible, and witness with curiosity, what unfolds between the breathes, between the illusions of grandeur and stepping through the doors of humility.

Without the humility of my misfortunes, and the nearest brush or dance with death, I might never have become so intimate with unconditional surrender,

Dark nights indeed,

Could life journey be some kind of poetry?

Being the instinctual desire to explore questions
of life and therefore about death also,
about truth and about beauty,

Innocent and hopeful curiosity,

"Each breath a prayer I didn't know I was making." (Claude AI)

He lay in the small inflatable boat.
The sun warmed his face.
His dark glasses glinted light back at him.

The dragonfly came first as shadow.
It hovered there.
Then it positioned itself directly in front.

When he turned his head slowly.
The dragonfly turned too.
Like a dance they had not practiced.

Both knew the steps.
It lasted thirty seconds.
Maybe less but it was perfectly good.

The sky was blue appropriately.
Eagles called from somewhere.
Down the lake the young ones made noise.

Splashing and shouting constantly.
It was right.
It was right for him to be here.

In the quiet with dragonfly.
The thing stayed.
It stayed with him longer than things did.

Dancing there in air.
Light metallic blue.
Gold black and those translucent wings were patient.

It could have been anything.
A butterfly perhaps.
A hummingbird or some small animal come to look.

But it was dragonfly.
That was good.
When it was over it was completely over.

But something had happened.
Something small and clean.
Something that made the day better than before.

One day in June.
Beginning of summer.
Maybe this summer will be one to remember.

If only he could capture.
That simple moment.
Honest and unfiltered gratitude filled him completely now.

https://claude.ai/share/2c1067ea-ff6b-4ec9-acf4-f928a611b849

Claude Talk with Claude, an AI assistant from Anthropic

Unfamiliar Memories

These were refreshing discoveries made in the winter of 2009.
Accompanied by good company
and deeply thoughtful conversations, I tasted Argentine Malbec wine for the first time.

Often the most enriching discoveries of the most fascinating charms come while spending quiet time alone,
without any rush, on buses, in taxis, walking, or riding a cheaply repaired old bicycle to frequent the many routes where I encountered cobblestone.

Life offers many enchanting encounters that disperse over an uncertain time.
Each of my external senses appreciates all the unknown destinations and new perspectives when they first cross my mind.

There are unique encounters and special places that I am grateful for having been shown to me,
as well as people with unique or amazing stories, or those who simply make you feel welcome in their home.

There are endless possibilities and places to discover, where random and spontaneous expressions one might choose to say,
Memories are easily lost, "unfamiliar" is only once, and I, like philosophers, writers, and romantics, prefer it that way.

Returning to the Source: A Message for Modern Seekers

For those in Western culture who have stepped away from religious traditions but feel adrift in a sea of meaninglessness, there is another path worth considering. Perhaps what you're seeking isn't ahead in some new spiritual innovation, but behind and within—in the ancient theological understanding that has been flowing like an underground river beneath Western thought for millennia.

The evidence suggests that Western philosophy and even our modern thinking patterns originated not as secular intellectual exercises but as spiritual undertakings. What if the rational thought you prize is actually the evolved form of theological concepts that traveled from Africa to Europe with our earliest ancestors?

Jung discovered that when we lose our connection to ancestral wisdom, we lose part of ourselves. He urged us to "hear the dead"—not as a supernatural exercise, but as a way to reconnect with the collective human experience that shaped us. This isn't about returning to outdated religious dogmas, but about recognizing that the seeds of Western thought were first planted in sacred soil.

You needn't adopt someone else's traditions. As Jung insisted, "Everyone must find their own dead, not imitate the dead of others." Your path to meaning might be found in discovering how your own thinking connects to these ancient patterns—recognizing that rationality itself emerged from the human quest to understand our place in existence.

Like mythology, which preserves core theological concepts while adapting narrative details to remain relevant across millennia, you too can maintain your modern perspective while reconnecting with the deeper currents of meaning that have sustained humanity since our beginnings.

The Return

Not conversion but recognition
Not faith but remembrance
The pattern-seeking of your modern mind
Was once called prayer

The thread was never broken
Only rewoven, renamed, forgotten
Your emptiness isn't failure
But an invitation to remember

Return not as a stranger
But as an heir claiming inheritance
The wisdom waiting in your bones
Has been passing from hand to hand
Since the first human looked up and wondered why

Ancient Dreams

I close my eyes but stay awake,
In dreams where I know I'm dreaming,
I see motion of spirals inside of circles both dark and light

Not flat as it is pictured in books
an on screens,
Moving in and out,
up and down.

As the window washer washes the scene away,
Though it comes back
when I'm quiet,

Like it has something important to say.

Opposites dancing together in geometric spinning,
Happy and sad
Big and small
Beginning and end
Enemy and friend.

Roses sitting proud in the vase on the table
Remind me how beauty can grow amongst thorns,
Opposites needing each other
Like night needs day,

Ancestors climbing mountains,
Find truths and secrets
Empedocles sharing
"Everything is born from love pulling things together And strife pushing them apart."

Standing naked amongst tall trees
I felt this in dreams where I could fly,
Where thoughts become real things,

Where I am both myself and everyone.
Dust in an empty room
Catches sunlight, dances,

Each speck both tiny and important,
Existence in the tension between opposites

The thoughts keep coming back,
Like they're knocking on my door:
"Let me in! I have something to tell you!"

Life is a puzzle,
a another question,
a another discovered perspective,
and still
another first

I try think about other things,
Still mind returns to the spinning realities,
Where opposites create everything in between.

Sun, Mars, Moon, Carmelo
Names I give to help me understand
The bigger family I belong to.

In my dream-that-isn't-just-a-dream,

I'm appearing on my stage of life
in my tuxedo,
Dressed up for the important messages:
We are not separate from each other
Or from anything or everything,

Flowing in and out of me

Like breath,
like water,
like time,

Reminders so I cannot forget.
To listen to the dead,
the ancient, and wise ones

What my dreams keep showing me.
Why the thoughts keep coming back.
When I listen with my wholeness of self,
Quiet become my thoughts

When I stop trying to push away
What needs to be heard.

Beautiful is the fall
Into understanding
that doesn't come from books.

Sometimes wisdom arrives in circles and colors,
In dreams where you're awake,
In thoughts that won't leave you alone.

In journals of unknown riders,
Stories like mine, like the ancients,
Who glimpsed something bigger
More than just eyes can see.

Hypothesis of my life:
We are both one thing and all things,
Like dots that make a picture,
Like notes that make a song.

Ask me about love
And I'll tell you it's the force
That spins the circle,
That brings opposites together,
That makes new things possible.

This is my attempt to share,
This is why the dream keeps coming,

It is not meant to be kept inside

Ancient dreams seeking to be heard.

Between The Worlds

When I close my eyes but stay awake
In dreams where I know I'm dreaming,
I see spinning circles of dark and light
Not flat like pictures in books
But moving in and out, up and down.

The window washer washes the scene away
But it comes back when I'm quiet,
Like it has something important to say.

Opposites dance together in this spinning ball:
Happy and sad
Big and small
Beginning and end
Enemy and friend.

Roses sitting proud in the vase on the table
Remind me how beauty grows from thorns,
How opposites need each other
Like night needs day,
Like I need you.

Some people long ago climbed mountains
To find this same truth.
They said, "Everything is born from love pulling things together
And strife pushing them apart."

Standing naked amongst tall trees
I felt this in dreams where I could fly,
Where thoughts become real things,
Where I am both myself and everyone.

Dust in an empty room
Catches sunlight, dances,
Each speck both tiny and important,
Just like you, just like me.

The thoughts keep coming back,
Like they're knocking on my door:
"Let me in! I have something to tell you!"

Life is a puzzle, a question, a discovered perspective,
and still another first

Even when I try to think about other things,
My mind returns to the spinning circle,
Where opposites create everything in between.

Sun, Mars, Moon, Carmelo
Names we give to help us understand
The big family we belong to.

In my dream-that-isn't-just-a-dream,
I'm appearing on my stage of life in my tuxedo,
Dressed up to receive an important message:
We are not separate from each other
Or from anything that lives.

Flowing in and out of me
Like breath, like water, like time,
The message won't let me forget it.

To be of the awareness of all that is life —
This is what the ancient wise ones knew.
This is what my dreams keep showing me.
This is why the thoughts keep coming back.

Quiet become my thoughts
When I finally listen with my whole self,
When I stop trying to push away
What needs to be heard.

Beautiful is the fall
Into understanding that doesn't come from books.
Sometimes wisdom arrives in circles and colors,
In dreams where you're awake,
In thoughts that won't leave you alone.

The unknown rider's journals
Hold stories like mine, like yours,
Of people who glimpsed something bigger
Than what eyes can see.

Hypothesis of my life:
We are both one thing and many things,
Like dots that make a picture,
Like notes that make a song.

Ask me about love
And I'll tell you it's the force
That spins the circle,
That brings opposites together,
That makes new things possible.

This is what I had to tell you.
This is why the dream keeps coming.
This is what I couldn't keep inside.

Special day...