Dependent Co-Arising
@asitisnow.bsky.social
Meditation, philosophy, lucid dreaming
You are prior to the idea 'I am'. Camp yourself there, prior to the words 'I am'.
—Nisargadatta
You are prior to the idea 'I am'. Camp yourself there, prior to the words 'I am'.
—Nisargadatta
Pinned
![There are moral dangers here. To take what might seem an “objective” economic approach to the origins of the world economy would be to treat the behavior of early European explorers, merchants, and conquerors as if they were simply rational responses to opportunities―as if this were just what anyone would have done in the same situation. This is what the use of equations [in economics] so often does: make it seem perfectly natural to assume that, if the price of silver in China is twice that of what it is in Seville, and inhabitants of Seville are capable of getting their hands on large quantities of silver and transporting it to China, then clearly they will, even if doing so requires the destruction of entire civilizations. . . . In fact, history makes it quite clear that this is not the case. Any number of civilizations have probably been in a position to wreak havoc on the scale that the European powers did in the 16th and 17th centuries, . . . but almost none actually did so.
― David Graeber (in Debt: The First 5,000 Years)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tqlqtnaocssoxvmsxethedjn/bafkreictu2kpcugq6g3tnc6lzy7bqdeg7moq7ynrqtdizracf2u5wv3kbu@jpeg)
Immorality often arises from unexamined and deeply flawed assumptions that are held up as "conventional knowledge" (or, worse, as "wisdom"):
Pain de campagne (French country bread), two-step sourdough fermented.
January 4, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Pain de campagne (French country bread), two-step sourdough fermented.
Reposted by Dependent Co-Arising
As we step into the new year, may we carry forward the commitment to show up: to listen deeply, to act with courage and care, to speak truthfully, and to remember our interconnection with all beings.
January 1, 2026 at 3:45 AM
As we step into the new year, may we carry forward the commitment to show up: to listen deeply, to act with courage and care, to speak truthfully, and to remember our interconnection with all beings.
Reposted by Dependent Co-Arising
We don’t talk enough about how the AI bubble is going to seamlessly transition to tech-based state surveillance and oppression of the working and dwindling middle classes as the wealth class steals more and more resources and power and as the climate worsens.
January 1, 2026 at 12:35 AM
We don’t talk enough about how the AI bubble is going to seamlessly transition to tech-based state surveillance and oppression of the working and dwindling middle classes as the wealth class steals more and more resources and power and as the climate worsens.
I have no use for traditions or traditional knowledge. If you do the slightest research on tradition you will see that is all a concept. I am concerned with only one fact.... How did [this consciousness] come about?
― Nisargadatta (in Consciousness and the Absolute)
― Nisargadatta (in Consciousness and the Absolute)
December 31, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I have no use for traditions or traditional knowledge. If you do the slightest research on tradition you will see that is all a concept. I am concerned with only one fact.... How did [this consciousness] come about?
― Nisargadatta (in Consciousness and the Absolute)
― Nisargadatta (in Consciousness and the Absolute)
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.
― Shunryu Suzuki
― Shunryu Suzuki
December 31, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an enlightened person. There is only enlightened activity.
― Shunryu Suzuki
― Shunryu Suzuki
Reposted by Dependent Co-Arising
The function of AI must not be to make the wealthiest people on Earth — Musk, Bezos, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Gates — even richer.
This revolutionary technology must benefit ALL of humanity, not just the privileged few who own it.
This revolutionary technology must benefit ALL of humanity, not just the privileged few who own it.
December 30, 2025 at 8:40 PM
The function of AI must not be to make the wealthiest people on Earth — Musk, Bezos, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Gates — even richer.
This revolutionary technology must benefit ALL of humanity, not just the privileged few who own it.
This revolutionary technology must benefit ALL of humanity, not just the privileged few who own it.
"[O]verall cuts in humanitarian aid would mean that 2025 was the first year in decades where the death rate of children under five years old would rise globally."
When deeply discontented and neurotic people are allowed to assume power, untold suffering ensues.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
When deeply discontented and neurotic people are allowed to assume power, untold suffering ensues.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
We still don’t really know what Elon Musk’s Doge actually did
Calculating the actual savings and impact of the bulldozing US department that vowed to cut $1tn in waste is difficult
www.theguardian.com
December 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
"[O]verall cuts in humanitarian aid would mean that 2025 was the first year in decades where the death rate of children under five years old would rise globally."
When deeply discontented and neurotic people are allowed to assume power, untold suffering ensues.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
When deeply discontented and neurotic people are allowed to assume power, untold suffering ensues.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
I Am That I Am.
— Exodus 3:14
I am this. This I am.
— Nondual Shaiva Tantra
— Exodus 3:14
I am this. This I am.
— Nondual Shaiva Tantra
December 30, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I Am That I Am.
— Exodus 3:14
I am this. This I am.
— Nondual Shaiva Tantra
— Exodus 3:14
I am this. This I am.
— Nondual Shaiva Tantra
Reposted by Dependent Co-Arising
Last night I dreamt I gave a very detailed and precise lecture about lucid dreaming. The dream was not lucid.
December 28, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Last night I dreamt I gave a very detailed and precise lecture about lucid dreaming. The dream was not lucid.
"In music, the bardo is the space between the notes, without which the notes have no value.... The music is the space between the notes...and the bass is the great annihilator that brings everything back to that space."
December 28, 2025 at 9:09 PM
"In music, the bardo is the space between the notes, without which the notes have no value.... The music is the space between the notes...and the bass is the great annihilator that brings everything back to that space."
Reposted by Dependent Co-Arising
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
― Teilhard de Chardin
― Teilhard de Chardin
December 26, 2025 at 4:37 PM
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
― Teilhard de Chardin
― Teilhard de Chardin
That which, taken as causal or dependent, is the process of being-born and passing on, is, taken non-causally and beyond all dependence, declared to be nirvāṇa.
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
December 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
That which, taken as causal or dependent, is the process of being-born and passing on, is, taken non-causally and beyond all dependence, declared to be nirvāṇa.
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
Whenever a thought is good, wisdom arises. Just as a single lamp can dispel a thousand years of darkness, a single thought of wisdom can end ten thousand years of ignorance.
— The Platform Sutra (transl. Red Pine)
— The Platform Sutra (transl. Red Pine)
December 24, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Whenever a thought is good, wisdom arises. Just as a single lamp can dispel a thousand years of darkness, a single thought of wisdom can end ten thousand years of ignorance.
— The Platform Sutra (transl. Red Pine)
— The Platform Sutra (transl. Red Pine)
It is not selfishness to forget about saving others and to concentrate only on developing your own spiritual strength.... The solemn truth is that you can't begin to save anybody until you yourself have become whole through the experience of Self-realization.
—Yasutani-roshi (The 3 Pillars of Zen)
—Yasutani-roshi (The 3 Pillars of Zen)
December 23, 2025 at 1:14 PM
It is not selfishness to forget about saving others and to concentrate only on developing your own spiritual strength.... The solemn truth is that you can't begin to save anybody until you yourself have become whole through the experience of Self-realization.
—Yasutani-roshi (The 3 Pillars of Zen)
—Yasutani-roshi (The 3 Pillars of Zen)
Reposted by Dependent Co-Arising
Worth noting, I guess, that inside of a year we've gone from administration officials taking selfies of themselves at CECOT and bragging about how it's hell on earth to now getting their horrible little media worms to kill stories about it
December 22, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Worth noting, I guess, that inside of a year we've gone from administration officials taking selfies of themselves at CECOT and bragging about how it's hell on earth to now getting their horrible little media worms to kill stories about it
Absolute freedom for an ego-self is impossible, since its lack of self-existence ensures that it never experiences itself as free enough.
1/2
1/2
December 22, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Absolute freedom for an ego-self is impossible, since its lack of self-existence ensures that it never experiences itself as free enough.
1/2
1/2
If you want peace and harmony in the world, you must have peace and harmony in your hearts and minds. Such change cannot be imposed; it must come from within.
― Nisargadatta (in I Am That)
― Nisargadatta (in I Am That)
December 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
If you want peace and harmony in the world, you must have peace and harmony in your hearts and minds. Such change cannot be imposed; it must come from within.
― Nisargadatta (in I Am That)
― Nisargadatta (in I Am That)
I would like...[to put] in a good word for the non-industrious poor. Insofar as the time they are taking time off from work is being spent with friends and family...caring for those they love, they’re probably improving the world more than we acknowledge.
―David Graeber (Debt: The First 5,000 Years)
―David Graeber (Debt: The First 5,000 Years)
December 21, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I would like...[to put] in a good word for the non-industrious poor. Insofar as the time they are taking time off from work is being spent with friends and family...caring for those they love, they’re probably improving the world more than we acknowledge.
―David Graeber (Debt: The First 5,000 Years)
―David Graeber (Debt: The First 5,000 Years)
[People] are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma.
― Huang-po (in The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, trans. J. Blofeld)
― Huang-po (in The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, trans. J. Blofeld)
December 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
[People] are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma.
― Huang-po (in The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, trans. J. Blofeld)
― Huang-po (in The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, trans. J. Blofeld)
Ultimate serenity is the coming to rest of all ways of taking things, the repose of named things; no truth has been taught by a Buddha to anyone, anywhere.
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
December 19, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Ultimate serenity is the coming to rest of all ways of taking things, the repose of named things; no truth has been taught by a Buddha to anyone, anywhere.
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, trans. M. Sprung)
It's a terrific read!
A bunch of new people followed me recently so I must remind you that I wrote a biography of Henri Bergson called Herald of a Restless World.
I wrote it with my HANDS and BRAIN and I'm very proud of it. John Banville called it “The most intellectually stimulating book I read this year” (last year).
I wrote it with my HANDS and BRAIN and I'm very proud of it. John Banville called it “The most intellectually stimulating book I read this year” (last year).
December 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
It's a terrific read!
Precognitive dreams are well and good, but the best dreams are those that predict the now, that eat their own tails so to speak.
December 18, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Precognitive dreams are well and good, but the best dreams are those that predict the now, that eat their own tails so to speak.