New Year's Resolutions

1. Simplify, live more frugally.

2. Be humble.

3. Show compassion.

So this is Christmas

How should this Taoish Taoist celebrate what has really become a secular holiday focused more on consumerism? Another Taoist might think I should not celebrate it at all. That would be their choice.

I will celebrate Christmas with my family, the same way that most middle-class American families will. The same way we've celebrated it since I was a little boy.

We will gather in the living room around our artificial tree decorated with a hodgepodge of ornaments that we have collected over the last 35+ years. There will be grand-kids and too many presents and lots of picture-taking. Later there will be a spiral cut ham and wine and laughter, lots of laughter.

But probably no mention of Christ because none of us have gone to church in a long time. And we really don't miss it.

Happy Holidays!

Nothing Exists

“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.” - Democritus (Greek philosopher, 460-370 BCE)

Matter and energy are really forms of the same thing. (See E=mc².)

The people in my reality are made of atoms, pure energy.
The people in my dreams are made of thoughts, synapses firing, pure energy.

Are they really different?

Nothing exists except Tao.