Wednesday, December 24, 2025

It's Xmas Eve: How Do You Say "An Oldie But a Goodie" in Yiddish?

This is, of course, the traditional holiday music here at Casa Simels.

But please -- don't even ask about the mistletoe. 😎

[h/t George Cullinan]

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2 comments:

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

there's a sense in which i think i know what you mean

it tangentially pertains to my discussion with DeepSeek this morning - I said the 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism are oversold - even if you swallow them and follow them, you're not liberated from suffering, just suffering about suffering - "meta-dukkha" - DeepSeek, which I had asked to speak in the voice of Jon Kabat Zinn, founder of MBSR, replied:


The invitation of mindfulness is not to argue whether the end of *dukkha* is oversold, but to ask: What happens if we stop selling? What happens if we stop buying? What happens if, just for this breath, we simply meet the actual texture of our experience, without the story of whether it’s an improvement or a disappointment?

From this place of bare attention, we might see something. The Four Noble Truths are not a transaction: “Follow steps to escape suffering.” They are a diagnosis and a path of practice. The First Truth asks us to *recognize* suffering, to turn toward it with curiosity, not to hate it. The Second Truth invites us to see how our own thirst—for things to be different, for promises to be fulfilled—adds fuel to the fire. The Third Truth points to the possibility of liberation *within* the fire, not from it. The Fourth Truth is the mindful walking of the path itself.

When your friend says we only lose “suffering about suffering,” he is pointing to something profoundly significant. That is not a small improvement; it is a radical transformation of one’s entire relationship with life. To be with pain without the added layer of resistance, of story, of war—this is to find a profound and unshakable freedom *within* the human condition. This is not a diminished promise. It is the heart of the matter.

12/24/2025 9:13 AM
getawaygoober said...

Ouch. From an entirely different discussion....
A speaker mentioned the book "Wherever You Go, There You Are.", which has in the subtitle "mindfulness". ​Gimme a useful definition of "mindfulness". As Sam Kinison said, a good healthy dose of psycho babble horse hockey.

12/24/2025 9:46 AM

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