Well look at this! 2 blog posts in 2 days...Im really on a roll.

Im trying to make an effort to do some sort of freewrite in the mornings and see whether blogging can actually suit me at all. Everyone is quaking in their boots about the cost of living going up and rightly so Im sure. Income has never been high on my list of priorities but Im starting to think I ought to try to make more of this opportunity here on hive. Ive been around here for years and had some fun, ive even piled in to the defi opportunities a bit on #leofinance and #cubfinance, #polycub now as well, but Ive never taken the blogging bit very seriously. Im sure if I had I would be sitting on a very nice stack of hive by now and I might feel a little more secure as this financial pressure starts to weigh down on us all. But hey ho, Ive also been busy freeing myself of worldly concerns by learning to accept the potential for suffering through meditation practise.

Spiritual Autolysis

This is what I had a good crack at for a couple of years during the lockdowns. I think it was coined by Jed McKenna in his book: Enlightenment. The damnedest thing. Its essentially the process of shedding anything that you can not strictly confirm to be true beyond doubt (or perhaps what can be deemed necessary beyond doubt). This can start with the usual things like 'am I happy in my job?' and 'do I really need a new haircut?' but soon heads towards questions like 'who actually am I?', 'what actually am I?', 'Am I at all?' and 'If I am, then what is ISness anyway?' and ends in the ultimate search for a semblance of non-falsity in all that you think and believe, eventually pointing towards the divine contradiction of constantly fluctuating one-ness and duality in a sort of superconnection with the entirety of existence. Pretty cool. I liked it anyway. I grew a big beard and stopped thinking about the past and future, stopped chasing sensations and generally did a lot of laughing to myself while not moving very much.

When small fish start to decay, the bacterial flora in their guts burst through cell walls, initiating the process of autolysis.
— Taras Grescoe, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Oct. 2021

Thought Id just throw that quote in there, because autolysis is not all roses by any stretch. There are some dark nights of the soul to get through and some major waves of nihilistic dread and existential lonliness. I think this is all stuff that God has been dealing with ad infinitum - seeing as God is all and all is the expression of God, or Love or Chaos or whatever you want to call the entirety of existence. Actually I dont really think that.... I don't actually claim to know anything (like a good Tauist) I just sometimes say things and they sound like I think I know something, when in fact, if pressed, I will attempt to allow all assertions to crumble in to nothingness, or perhaps replace them with new fresh assertions, to be disposed of with equal disregard as and when it feels right to. Blah blah blah.

just keep talking, just keep talking. Eventually we'll work it all out right? ....Right?

The point I was trying to make in the first place was, a lot of suffering is generated by our beliefs, assertions, expectations and desires. A lot of that stuff can be dropped so that hopefully you can experience some liberation from your nonsense and get in touch with the actual base experience of your existence, here in this moment, right now. And yes, there is still suffering. Sigh.

HENCE:

Splinterlands

What better way to alleviate the suffering than with a splinterlands Life quest?
It was actually pretty tough to begin with as I was getting smashed by some heavy match ups but eventually I called Uriel from on high to 'purify' my enemies:

Uriel in the blast ruleset with renova healing the back line
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_1d385d5d6aed67fcf16955295d184e5d&ref=basilmarples

And here's a battle that I was sure I had in the bag. I love using my cube in the earthquake ruleset to gobble up all the corpses, but today it was no match for @randumb and his flying Dr.Blight!:
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_6671b7ac39909e0d5c94eceb9cd964df&ref=basilmarples

SPS transaction complete!

Im glad to report that my missing SPS was delivered to me only 5 days late. Much appreciation to the the @splinterlands ticket service!

And NOW!..... what?

I somehow feel like these rambling scattergun blogs need at least 3 sections so here it is.

Uhh....
I.....
Ummm.... I
oo! I went to the studio last night and had a bit of a jam session. No evidence though Im afraid. No recording. Not even a photo. Just plain old free expression. Which is helpful sometimes when youre a bit uninspired or creatively blocked. Get out of the limelight, stop thinking about the product, and just have some play time. It felt good.

Let that be thought for the day. Make space for some 'unrecorded' playtime

Big love everyone x x
Basil