Slowing Down

Meditation is a kind of medicine - its use is only for the time being. Once you
have learned the quality, then you need not do any particular meditation; then the meditation has to spread all over your life. Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen.

Then what will be the quality? Watchfully, alert, joyously, unmotivated, centered, loving, flowing, one walks. And the walking is sauntering. Loving, alert, watchful, one sits, unmotivated - not sitting for anything in particular, just enjoying how beautiful just sitting doing nothing is, how relaxing, how restful..... After a long walk, you sit under a tree and the breeze comes and cools you. Each moment one has to be at ease with oneself - not trying to improve, not cultivating anything, not practicing anything.

Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen. Talking or silent, moving, unmoving, the essence is at ease. The essence is at ease: that is the key word. The essence is at ease: that is the key statement. Do whatsoever you are doing, but at the deepest core remain at ease, cool, calm, centered.

just like a tortoise, we carry our home with us wherever we go. There is no need to hurry, no need to seek shelter elsewhere. Even as we move into the depths of the emotional waters, we can remain self-contained and free from attachments.
It is a time when you are ready to let go of any expectations you have had about yourself or other people, and to take responsibility for any illusions you might have been carrying. There is no need to do anything but rest in the fullness of who you are right now. If desires and hopes and dreams are fading away, so much the better. Their disappearance is making space for a new quality of stillness and acceptance of what is, and you are able to welcome this development in a way you have never been able to before. Savor this quality of slowing down, of coming to rest and recognizing that you are already at home.

ROCK IS DEAD

The time of really "quality" rock music is over: The era from the 60's to the 80's where brilliant and interesting people made brilliant and interesting albums. The music industry and the general dumbing-down of this plastic and hyper-materialistic culture has killed creativity and passion stone cold dead. I can't believe the crap people willingly listen to these days. It's like someone urinating in your ears. Vapid dribble would be a compliment. When the most popular rock band out there is frigging Fall Out Boy, it's time to stick a fork in it. The lack of originality out there is breathtaking. Everyone is a pale memory of a weak replica of a poor imitation of a half-baked clone. The era of idiosyncratic artists on a mission to change the world has passed into history...and now all that is left is pap, illiterate Rap/Hip-Hop, cartoon darkness, fake sensitivity, sophomoric lyrics, banal sensationalism, and tepid retreads of far better music created by far better musicians. And that means that MY time is over, because I refuse to make crap music for a crap audience. I'd rather take a bullet. As it stands, the people who used to listen to good music are all well past the age where they have stopped seeking out new artists and new music, and the younger people (Generation "Whine") wouldn't know a decent song if it crawled up their asses and laid eggs. Let them eat Beyonce.
*excerpts from http://johnludi.com/