Getting Old, Staying Young

[A-Schwarzenegger]

So i'm taking the recycle, coffee grounds, compost, container of collard clippings, and trash downstairs, in the dark, and i can't carry it all so i throw the tied trash bag over the railing into the yard, and i need the flashlight but can't find the good one anywhere.

I'm getting a little bugged, so i take another lousy flashlight and tote it all down there, and i'm burying the compost and collard clippings under avo leaves from the winds this week, and i go to turn the flashlight on to see what i'm doing, and i see i've got both flashlights, one in each hand....

So i finish dropping everything in their places and i'm going back upstairs but i get detoured into the darker part of the yard, and i shine the good flashlight around just to check on things in the darkened corners, and i look up and the brightest star in the black sky is right above me, it must be a planet, and i shine it at the planet, the good flashlight, and i swear, a part of me believes that they, somebody up there, on that planet, can see it, my light, and they are either annoyed with it shining in their eyes. or, more likely, they are delighted and enlivened and hopeful, after all, that whatever is happening, they aren't alone.

[Donkees]

1. ''All the worlds in the ten directions are One Bright Pearl''

[A-Schwarzenegger]

2. Amen.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

3. Been thinking about that Zen quote ...

which i'd never heard, and how much it reminds me
of the most incredible dream i've ever had, which i've
never forgotten...

I was in the woods flying, dog-paddling, about 30 feet
in the air above a group of children who were being chased
and terrorized by a gigantic grizzly bear. Still flying, i got close
to the bear and smacked it in the back of the head to distract it
from the children.

The bear chased me and i was starting to fall but i put my arms up
around a bunch of high-power lines and started to speed along
the power lines without touching them, they gave me power
and speed, and i left the whole children/bear scene far behind,
and got going faster and faster, until i was at the speed of light,
and then i realized i wasnt just going forward at the speed
of light but also backwards and down and up, in every direction at
the same time, and i had always been going at the speed of light
"in the ten directions," and just as i had that realization i stopped,
everything stopped, and i heard a little bell ring, and i woke, and
i knew right then at that moment 50 years ago that i would never forget it.

[Donkees]

4. This morning we shone our good flashlights at each other ...

... ''delighted and enlivened and hopeful, after all, that whatever is happening,'' we aren't alone.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

5. Amen again!