I’ve only been studying R[I] for a few weeks. It’s my second programming language, and I’m only a beginner at my first – python. R is strangely strange. It looks a bit like java with all its brackets, but then goes and uses “<-” for designating variables, as if the universal “=” wasn’t good enough. In my accumulation of anecdotal evidence...
Echoes in the green smoke
Editorial notes: This post was found in ‘Draft’ mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 12/05/2016 I first heard this story while smoking a thick reefer, bathing in a hot water spring in the interior of Fiji. I had travelled by cattle truck, foot and horse to arrive at this place. And it was good. I had long...
Meditating on death
The Buddha called sickness, ageing and death, the divine messengers. The Buddha called death the supreme teacher, containing all teachers just the elephant’s footprint can containĀ all others. I know that I will become sick, that I will age, and that I will die. I know these things but rarely am I aware of them. I begin with an intention to be aware of that death. I spark my mind with...
Reflecting on fear and doubt of change
The Buddhists teach that fear is like a slave at a festival who cannot enjoy the celebrations because of immanent obligations, while doubt is like one lost in the desert, wavering back and forth, going nowhere. Change can be frightening for many reasons. Change implies new challenges and facing new unknowns. Change can mean abandoning old challenges and old senses of self. Sometimes the need for...
Story of a slave in the desert
He had been walking since before he could remember, and before that he had escaped. There had been dunes of fine white dust and shattered stones lining desiccated river beds. He had passed passages decorated by impossible fossils, decaying wooden signs and roughly hewn markers proving undeniable theses and directions, and a skeleton proving that he was not the first to go this way. He had known...