Awake

-Are you a God?
- they asked the Buddha.
- No.
- Are you an angel, then?
- No.
- A saint?
- No.
- Then what are you?
-
I am AWAKE.



Einstein

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure of
the universe"-Albert Einstein-


Om Mani Padme Hum

Matthew 25:40

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 7 1-6


1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Groundhog...the movie

This is one of my favorite movies, it's not that funny, and I'm not really much of a Bill Murray fan, even considering there's a faint chance, very faint, that he might be related, but the movie makes you think.
The first and most obvious thing is how fantastic it would be to start over and know what you know now. Granted, doing the same day over and over seems to be taking it to a ridiculous extreme.
Coming to the main point,  it takes him how many times of doing it over to finally get it right? How many to figure out what he wanted?  Was what he wanted, love or Andie McDowell, really worth it? 
More important by far, over all those days he finally, somehow, learned to be a decent person.  How many lives must the average person live through to accomplish the same small thing?
There's more to learn, much more, but for that watch the movie if you haven't.  I've hopefully made you want to look under the surface.

Lee Murray

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Just in case anyone thinks

I think I know it all, or whatever. Don't.  I'm the first to admit there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people out there, authors, bloggers, etc. that know much more that I do. My goal is more to learn from them than to show what I know. Remember the song by Roger Miller, about the hermit named Dave? He not only didn't know anything, he didn't suspect anything.... Well, maybe I do suspect something.
Lee Murray

Antediluvian Civilizations...Yes or No???

Antediluvian pertains to the time between creation and the beginnings of known history, you could also say prehistoric civilizations. Of course the definition of known history varies by the knower. The average person whose exposure to history is limited to high school or college is less knowledgable than a history teacher or professor, who probably knows less than an archeologist, or other specialist. But most, if not all people, average or professional will state absolutely that civilization started in the mideast, probably Babylon, Mesopotamia, or Egypt somewhere around 3500-4000 BC, or about 5-6000 years ago. 

Personally I've always believed that there were many much older civilizations equal to, or greater than, any we know today, including our own, going as far back from us as hundreds of thousands of years, to as near to us as ten or fifteen thousand years. Most people I've told that, asked, after they stopped laughing or calling me an idiot, or both, where is the proof.  My answer today is watch the program, After the People, on the histoy channel. It shows that within a few hundred years pretty much everything we know today is gone or well on its way, and the world is ready for the next experiment.

It only makes sense when you think about it, the concept that one week we're hunter gatherers, the next week we're farmers and atisans, growing wheat and making jugs and jewelry, building chariots and writing laws, living in towns and cities, building fantastic monuments and pyramids, a couple weeks later we're building atom bombs, then flying to the moon is every bit as fantastic.  It's becoming more accepted every day that unknown antidiluvian civilizations existed. Existed before the end of the last ice age. Is existing 15, 20, 50,000 years ago that much more of a stretch?

In fact it's been proposed that the rise of sea levels about 10000 years ago was the flood of Noah and was what destroyed the most recent early civilization.  Perhaps it was Atlantis as has been suggested by several authors?   Bringing to mind a question, in the bible it says it rained 40 days and nights, and springs in the earth opened and water poured out making the water rise above the mountain tops, and as the water level started to drop after forty days, the Ark came to rest on the top of Mt Arrat. The question is simply, did enough ice melt at the end of the last ice age and quickly enough, to cause the water levels to rise above the mountain tops in just a few days? What I've read suggests just a couple hundred feet over months or years, which might be a problem, but survivable by most people I'd think. A long way from Noah's flood as decribed in Genesis.

We, as a civilization, from the estimated beginning to now, have existed only five or six thousand years, maybe a little more or less. First as a mostly rural, mostly uneducated, mostly agrarian society, (building with wood and stone, wind or oar powered wooden ships, horse, mule or oxen drawn wooden vehicles), for thousands and thousands of years,  then as an advanced civilization, (industrial, big steel buildings, steel ships, bicycles and automobiles, the ability to kill each other at ever greater distances), for about 150 years or so, finally as a truely  advanced, (at least in our own opinion), civilization (computer, atom bombs), for just about the last fifty or sixty years.

What I find facinating is that people today, if you take away the advancements, the electronics, the laptops, ipods, etc., are little or no different, barely more educated,  no more, perhaps less, civilized, than people who lived 50, 100, 1000, or 5000 yearrs ago.

If you watch the time machine we have available, ie old movies, and newsreels, in the past most people got out and interacted with each other, knew each other. Then came the radio, then tv, and now even those are becoming out of style and passe' as people stay home alone with their computers, online, leading virtual lives.

Regarding the people of these long ago times compared to us modern, superior people. In my opinion, we, the modern human, are inferior mutations of a superior and stronger humanity that lived so many thousands of centuries ago. Whether the mutation happened in the lab of God, or an Alien, or just slowly over centuries as we "developed," I haven't a clue. 

Is it possible that civilizations existed 50 thosand years ago? Who knows? I've read that before it burned the Library at Alexandria had thousands of scrolls and books, (for lack of a better term), that went back into history thousands of years. Exactly how many thousands I don't know.  But, human beings, in one form or another, may have been around as long as 2-3 million years, or more, depending on who you talk to, we, homo-sapiens about a half million years.That's a lot of time. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of civilizations could have existed in all that time.

Again, in the Bible it tells of the civilization that existed and was destroyed by Noah's flood, the people had become degenerate and were destroyed for that reason. Well Noah, his sons and their wives survived, and it seems likely that they would also have been degenerate also to some degree,  after all they lived among the ones destroyed. If you believe the Bible, we the modern humans would've had to come from Noah through his sons. Are they the only survivors?

The Bible says yes, but, I've always thought that the people that we call cave men, were in fact survivors from some massive world wide destruction. Perhaps it was also the flood, who knows. Mutated, losing intelligence, psychic abilities, strength, size, longer lives, skills and knowledge, again who knows? Perhaps the modern predilection to killing, murder, and war, the greed, and overwhelming need for sex is part of the mutation?

It seems a safe bet, that if Noah could save himself then others could and probably did, there probably were other boats around.  Once the water subsided, it's safe to assume homes, business's, farms, factories, animal (except those in the Ark), crops, vehicles, pretty much everything would be destroyed. Just like a modern flood, on a larger scale. The survivors would try to go on with their lives, but, like us if we lost all electricity, meaning all our modern advancements, they'd be thrown right back to a more primitive state.  In our case it would be the 1800/early 1900's, in theirs who knows?  I imagine as what was left disappeared, each new generation would remember less and less of what had been, until after dozens or hundreds of generations, what had once been common knowlege would be just legend and old mens stories. No longer sophisticated and civilized, they became cave people, hunter gatherers surviving  by doing whatever. Or, perhaps that never happened, instead the survivors realized their technology, whatever it was, was gone, forever,  moved into caves temporarily, got together what was left, and started farming, raising animals, etc. Or perhaps the technology survived but gradually power started to fade and they eventually had to use more primitive methods, until as generations passed that was all they knew.

The possibilites are endless, so here's where I leave off for now. Comments anyone???

Lee Murray

Friday, January 22, 2010

Still illusion

To take the concept that the world is maya, or illusion in another direction. If that's true, then why do we care if the world is warming or cooling, if oil is running out or we're finding more, if there are more tornado's, earthquakes, floods, etc.? They're no more real, just as much illusion, as the world itself or for that matter that we are.
Take oil for instance, practically speaking for thousands of years no one had ever heard of it, yet once a need arose, suddenly it was there, everywhere, oil wells, processing plants, many different products all from oil, almost overnight. As the world's need grew, more was found, in the 70's "They" were saying at the rate it was being used we'd run out any day, but the need continued to grow, and lately "They're" saying there's enough for one hundred or more years at the current rate of consumption. I believe we'll always have as much as we need, until there is no more need.
So what if the Mayans are right about the end of the age, the end of the world, the end of whatever, none of it is real.  The illusion is going to continue to reflect the desires and needs of those who create it, even destruction,  and nothing we do will change it until the dreamer(s) want, or need, it to change.

Lee Murray

Illusion - Is the World Real or Not?

The Eastern philosophies, Hinduism in particular, teach that this world is maya, that is to say illusion. That what we think we see, hear, feel, taste as reality, isn't really there.  The world you know, the family you love, the girl or guy you adore, the kids you're so proud of, the house, car, boat, job or career that define you, none of it is real, it's all a figment of your imagination, a dream. Perhaps the figment of a mass imagination, or mass hallucination.  If there is a mass to imagine or hallucinate that is.
If it is a mass imagining it would explain why the illusion goes on when the individual imaginer, you or I, pass away and move on. Of course the other possibility is that the illusion passes away with us. Which opens up more questions, for instance, if all this is a figment of your imagination, a dream, and ends when you pass away or wake up, how is it that the illusion apparently goes on, the rest of us continue to live, and we remember you, while knowing that you're gone?  Why am I still here after my grandfathers, grandmothers,  father, brother, and a girlfriend, anyone or all of which one would think could be the dreamer, have passed away? But then as I said above, I may be the imaginer, the dreamer. Those who've passed away simply left. No longer part of the dream, and it all ends as I pass away, waking up.
Another possibility, we're all living in our own illusions, and our illusions interact with other illusions randomly. That doesn't seem likely, but...  Enough for now, thoughts or comments anyone?

Lee Murray

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Snow, snow go away...

A friend wrote in his blog about the rain they're getting where he lives in Southern Calif. over the last couple days. Another friend asked about the weather and when I said it had come up to almost 30 degrees that day he laughed and said it was cool in San Diego, only in the mid sixties. Both of them should live here one winter.  It's been snowing for the last seven or eight days, not steady and not a lot, at least here, but snowing anyway. Last week the high temperature was between 10 and 20 degrees in the daytime and a below 0 low at night. Roads snowy and icey, slick and dangerous.  Last few days a tropical 30ish high and lows in the teens at night. At least now mid January, it's staying light to almost 6pm and no longer dark by 4:30. I know, same in Calif. but here the cold, snow, intense dark of no streetlights, just winter in general, make it so much worse.

Lee Murray

New York Drivers

Are idiots. That may seem a bit harsh, but true nevertheless. I was going to Rochester yesterday on the thruway, and the NY game of leapfrog was going strong. I'm driving about 70mph with a couple hundred feet between me and the car ahead.  The left lane empty ahead. Next thing I know, a car comes up on the left, passes me, whips over into my lane maybe a car length ahead of me, and stays in the right lane until he (or she) gets close to the truck ahead of me, when the car whips into the left lane, passes the truck and whips back into the right lane.  If it was just one now and then it would be  one thing but it's over and over, cars, trucks, semi's, buses. Maybe it's that I learned to drive in Calif where the faster traffic stays left, but to me this NY stay to the right leapfrog is stupid and dangerous.

Lee Murray 

Astral Travel - Is it real?

Astral travel has been around for a long time. I'm not sure who first mentioned it, perhaps Blatvaskey, maybe someone/somewhere else. It's been around hundreds-thousands-millions of years, Sumerian's, Egyptian's, unknown antediluvian civilizations, as long as there've been people there's been Astral travel. Astral travel is really nothing special, it's simply leaving the body during sleep, or unconsciousness. What is special is the ability to do it consciously, and remember where you went, and what you did/saw, which is much more difficult, and rare.
It's been awhile since I've studied it, but as I remember, the body we all see is really seven bodies one inside the other, each higher in vibration. The grossest body, the one with the lowest level of vibration, is the earthly one you see as you look in the mirror. A body made of mud, if you will, that allows you to interact with other mud bodies and everything else that exists in this world. It is possible to raise the vibrations of this body and become more in touch with the higher consciousness that resides in all of us. But only so much, and then you leave this body for the next level. Some drugs, peote for instance are alleged to make it possible to leave the body consciously also.   Astral travel allows you to leave the Earthly body temporarily and in the Astral body visit the Astral level. To move beyond the Astral level is not possible in that body, anymore that you could enter the Astral level in your Earthly body. Personally, I have to admit that I never have been able to do it consciously. Yes, I do in dreams, and yes I write them down, but conscious Astral travel is still beyond me. But from what I understand the Astral is the reality that is the basis for the illusion that we see and believe on the Earthly level. In the Astral everything is more real than on the Earthly. The Astral is where we come from before birth and return to after life.  Where we stay between lives, and where we get together with friends to plan the next life, establishing roles and relationships. It's where we review our previous lives or life, to see what's been accomplished, or what still needs to be accomplished.   So far so good...

Lee Murray

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Ads For Dish Network

If you're a TV addict like I am, I highly recommend Dish Network. I came to them from Direct TV, because when we were redoing the porch two years ago, the dishes needed to be moved. Direct TV who I was using then, and had been since 1998 or 99, told me it would be two to three weeks for them to do it, even though I'd see one of their trucks on our road two or three times a day, and it would only take 30 or 45 minutes. They just didn't care if we went without TV or not, and I was expected to pay anyway. So I got mad and told them what they could do with their service in words I can't repeat here.
Dish Network is much better, if I need something they're here within a day or so, not two or three weeks. Prices are similar, but more HD channels. Even if Dish was more expensive, after the way Direct treated me so arrogantly, a loyal customer, I'd never go back with them. If you're looking for good product, decent prices, and great service, check out Dish Network.

Lee Murray

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Mini-stroke??? Inner ear infection???

In an effort to bring the blog back to Earth, more real, a friend mentioned I was getting too esoteric, I posted about how hard it is to sell Jags, in upstate NY.
Now I'll tell you about the first serious blip in my health, other than broken ankles, since I was a kid. It happened on the afternoon of December 11, 2009, and I don't mind saying...it scared me. It's easy to talk if you've never been ill, and even now I'm not 100% sure, but it was enough to scare me.
I was feeling fine, and was cooking some bacon to make a bacon sandwich. Always been one of my favorites, a pound of bacon, two slices of bread and Frenches Mustard. Anyway, the light was out in the hood over the stove. So while the bacon was cooking, I bent over and looked up under the hood, taking the screws out so I could get to the light bulb. Suddenly I felt dizzy, so I straightened up. The dizziness went away. I got a new bulb, and again bent over and looked up, changing the bulb and replacing the cover and screws. Suddenly I was dizzy again. This time so bad I almost fell, I sat down and it went away after a few minutes, when I stood it came back, so bad if I didn't hang on to something I'd have been on the floor.  I finished cooking the bacon, put it on a plate, cleaned the frying pan, then took the bacon and went in my room and laid down,  taking a nap. When I woke it had subsided. But now when I stood and walked I veared to the right, and if I turned my head too fast the dizziness returned. I worked the following day, driving was no problem, it only bothered me when I got out of the van and walked or stood.  A  couple days later I was going to work again, so in a bout of self medication, I took 10 Tylinol, 8 Centrum Vitamin tablets, a couple of allergy pills, and 4 or 5 Echinacea pills. Which I WON'T DO AGAIN.  The next day I noticed that the right side of my head, starting at the nape of my neck, passing over down my face through my nose, and stopping at my chin was numb. The right side of my mouth felt like I'd had a Novocain shot. Also I could only swallow food with difficulty, if I took too big a bite, it would block my throat, choking me. Fortunately I was able to cough up the food each time. Over the last couple of weeks this has not gone away, but has susided to a mild numbness, the skin only is numb. I've learned to take small bites and chew. Everything works, there's no droopyness in the eye or mouth just numb skin. I have wondered if this was something else, perhaps a pinched nerve, from sleeping on my side, head, not neck supported. As it stands at this point, I'm fine except for balance issues if I move suddenly, numb facial skin, and overall weakness/lack of stamina.  I was convinced I had an inner ear infection (although it showed up suddenly), others have me two thirds convinced it was a tsa or mini-stroke. Also for some time I've had poor circulation in both lower legs, and laying on my back under a car working on it would make me dizzy and nautious, but it went away as soon as I sat up.  Everybody thinks I'm an idiot for not going to the hospital, or a Dr. but I'm convinced that they couldn't tell me any more than I already know, take an aspirin daily, and they'd charge thousands of dollars running tests to tell me that. Maybe I am an idiot, I guess we'll see.

Lee Murray

Experience Job Hunting

Since the scooter business has slowed down, I decided to look for another job, part-time or full time, with benefits, which became important after my mini-stroke, or whatever the hell it was.  Last Saturday I drove to Liverpool to interview at a call center for a phone sales job.I got there at 6pm and noticed a bunch of the workers, and the supervisor (I found out later), standing outside, smoking. Going inside I looked around, then filled out the app, and looked around some more as I waited. I noticed the "salespeople" all seemed to be right out of high school, judging by their looks, and style of dress, so I'm guessing probably in their 20's, or so. Almost none of these phone salespeople were on the phone. I knew it was all incoming phone calls, selling stuff advertised on infomercials. that they made their money by talking on the phone. Instead they were standing around chatting, drinking coffee, or going outside to smoke. At my 2nd interview last Thursday, I mentioned this to the interviewer, and was told they're looking for more mature workers, for that reason. What's going on with young people? I know, I know, that question just catapulted me into old geezerhood. But really, when I was in my 20's, granted I didn't work more that I could get out of and didn't earn a lot, (got into sales for real in my 30's), but when I had a job I did it. I didn't goof off. When I did get into phone sales, I STAYED on the phone. We were required to make 150-200 calls a day, and that's what we had to do to make sales and get paid. We didn't have the luxery of nothing but incoming calls, which may be the problem at this call center, these "kids" don't really have to work, the people call them, and many if not most are ready to buy, or they wouldn't call. Maybe we were like that in our 20's and I just don't remember.

Lee Murray

Friday, January 15, 2010

What Happens Before We're Born???

Many believe, that between lives we retreat to, or start from for new souls if there are any, the Astral Plane. Prior to birth we plan what's going to happen in the upcoming life. Good things, bad things, long life, early death, rich, poor, middle class, boring or the life of the party, beautiful, ugly, sexy or not, everything is planned. Some say yes, it's all planned, pre-destined, and no deviation is possible, free will is a myth. That what we perceive as free will, is something that was planned ahead of time.  Others say that yes, there is planning, for the big picture, the broad strokes, but the details successful, unsuccessful, getting laid or not, a drunk/dope addict or a church going tightass, etc.  are the result of free will.
Along the same lines, the same entities that you know in this life, have for the most part been with you in all lives. Like a troup of actors the roles may change, but the cast remains the same.

Lee Murray

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A Time Machine exists

sort of...  Not in the Jules Verne way with Rod Taylor sitting in a seat as he's wizzed into the past or future. But it does exist, and I'm willing to bet most who've seen it never realized it. I don't know what you think of if you think of time machine, but I think how great it would be to watch what actually happened at the sermon on the mount, or the building of the pyramids, or DaVinci as he paints the Cistine Chapel, or Van Gogh as he cuts off his ear, or the Wright brothers taking off, etc.  My other idea is load a jeep and machine gun and go back to the old west and show them how robbing a stagecoach or bank should be done, I know, not a good idea.
Anyway, I not too long ago realized in one sense we do have a time machine, it's old movies, or tv for that matter. I've always loved movies from the thirties, forties, and fifties. I at some point realized that if you watch the stuff going on around the fiction/story, you're watching the past, as it was 30-50-70 or more years ago. You'll see the cars, airplanes, trucks, and trains in context, in use, not static displays in museums. You'll see how people really dressed, hairstyles, talked, how they traveled, the stores that existed at the time, streets as they were, offices, stores, homes as they were, you'll see life as it was lived.  
Since I started watching this time machine, I've realized that we today are virtually no different if you take away the computers. With that exception, and the super casual dress of both men and women, there is little difference. 

Lee Murray

Selling My Jaguar

You hear the name Jaguar and it seems that most people, around here at least, think Rolls Royce. Until you try to sell it, then they think, unrelliable, overpriced parts and service, etc. I guess.  I've been advertising my '96 Jag XJ6 since August or September I think, on Craigslist, and once on Ebay, and so far haven't gotten one real offer. Lots of offers from "sellers" to advertise on their websites from Craigslist, and a whopping top bid of mid-2k on ebay, with a reserve of 4500., which in my opinion was giving it away to begin with. I don't understand it, these are cars that cost 60-70k new and I can't seem to give it away. Virtually the same thing is also happening with my 95 XJS. Had that listed for sale since late November, I think, for 10k, and not one real inquiry, just a couple of lookyloos. I know the prices aren't out of line, at least in my opinion. Is it the redneck area, upstate NY, the economy, that it's a Jaguar? I just don't get it. A friend told me if they were SUV's or pickups, or American muscle, Camaro or Mustang, they'd have been gone long ago...
Lee Murray

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A thought about reincarnation

Something that's been bugging me lately is that the popular concept of reincarnation is linear. Life after life, starting long ago and moving closer to the present life each time. Bridey Murphy as an example. Why does it have to be liear though? It's pretty much a given that we are vehicles for immortal souls that come to this plane, or level, or reality, to learn or experience in a body made of mud that which it can't on it's own level or reality.
So, if that's true, then let's take it a step further, assuming that that immortal soul instead of inhabiting a single body, life after life, past to future, instead actually inhabits no body at all, but controls, possibly through the silver cord linking the earthly body to the astral, many bodies in many eras, epochs even, worlds even. Hundreds, or thousands, or millions, or billions, or trillions, of lives lived, experienced, learned from. Which could mean that each of the billions of persons on the Earth could belong to a single soul. Not billions of souls as is popularly believed, but just one soul controlling billions of beings and learning, and experiencing a billion things at once.

Lee Murray   

Here's something to get started. Dreams...fact or fiction

reality or not? Most people that think about them at all think dreams are distorted fantasies triggered by what happened that day, or a bad meal, or too much coffee, or whatever. I never thought that, I thought that I was out of the body, viewing the astral or lord knows what. As I get older, my dreams get clearer, and I remember more. Now I believe that as we dream we are either experiencing or viewing alternate lives. Much the same as one, or more of those alternate lives would be dreaming and seeing this life. Something to think about anyway...

Lee Murray

Welcome to my new blog

This may or may not be a great idea. I want a venue to talk about what interests me. Just so you know, pretty much anything interests me. For instance politics, guns (I'm pro), aliens, reincarnation, life after death, death, life, the law, books, art, photography (as art or not), music, guitar (I play...badly), computers, tv, movies, sex**, and on and on... Just a few of the subjects we can discuss. If anybody out there wants to listen, or reply or argue, or whatever, that's great. If not that's great too. I'm hoping to learn a lot. Possibly somebody else can learn something from me, anythings possible.
**Apparently obscenity and pornography are forbidden subjects on this website, so they are also forbidden on my forum, I am screening posts and have the option to delete posts that get into those areas.
Now to see if anybody finds my blog...

Lee Murray