People call Instagram poetry bad, and some even go as far as to say it’s a rejection of craft. I’m talking about the type of poetry that is just a few lines long, that seems more like a sentence with line breaks than what we consider a poem to be. But I’m not so sure it’s inherently bad. People read these poems; it brings them joy; they reshare. If the poems were bad, this wouldn’t happen.

A fun game to play: go to a Target with a friend or sibling, or any shopping mall that sells perfume. Take turns smelling perfume scents and guessing what the scent is titled. Check to see how close you were. The result is the realization that the names are relatively arbitrary. Candles scents are more in line with reality. A title gives a product a concrete identity. But it doesn’t change the underlying qualities of the product.

We can use a stimulus to activate dopamine. We can take a chemical to activate more brain chemicals. It’s like our brain is just sitting there, begging to be stimulated. The things with which we stimulate it vary from person to person. A sunset, moonlight, an incredible film, a moving song… non-chemicals that induce chemical reactions, or chemicals that induce chemical reactions. It doesn’t matter. In all cases, we’re setting off fireworks with each and every move, and we’re watching them dissipate, staying ready for more.

I was talking with a friend about whether or not we’re “weird.” And I’m sure many people have described me as weird, but those are the people that don’t really connect to me. They aren’t concerned with what I’m concerned about. After all, I’m the type of person that could fall down the YouTube rabbit hole on the most random subjects, I could learn the ins and outs of microphones or tennis balls or what is the nicest pencil.

+++ title = “02” date = 2020 +++ This is a misnomer. Once of the classic texts in Zen literature is Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Suzuki. Among other points, he rightly claims that every time we meditate, regardless of how many years experience we have doing it, we’re always starting at the same place. We’re always a beginner. No one has mastered Zazen. Not even those who consider themselves enlightened.