Point South Mexico - Real Estate and Lifestyle Magazine

At a recent local AA meeting, someone defined "sanity" as the unconscious becoming conscious. In my case, the words are precise. Alcoholics Anonymous helped me to regain my sanity, and thus to enjoy the fruits of a loving and generous life.

We identify with our body - material, substantial and concrete. This is embedded belief, and we rarely question it. Inevitable conditions of old age come out of believing that we are our body. We pay a high price whenever we believe in false perceptions. This perception is not just held individually. It is held by the collective society. At a very early age we are indoctrinated into the notion of self as the body. Our normal, every day perception of each other is governed by a false identity and then strengthened and enforced by the language we use.

The Tao Te Ching

Part One

We identify with our body - material, substantial and concrete. This is embedded belief, and we rarely question it. Inevitable conditions of old age come out of believing that we are our body. We pay a high price whenever we believe in false perceptions. This perception is not just held individually. It is held by the collective society. At a very early age we are indoctrinated into the notion of self as the body. Our normal, every day perception of each other is governed by a false identity and then strengthened and enforced by the language we use.

I could never understand why it was so difficult to lead a joyful life. I still do not understand why there is so much hatred and discord in the world, or why there are so many different religions, all praying to the same God and at the same time, fighting and killing each other while attempting to bring peace and joy to their constituents.

My father got in to photography early on, in the days of glass plates, mix-ur-own chemicals, magnesium flash powder, under-the-hood viewing and "say cheese".  He retained an avid interest all of his life, and was in his glory days with 35 mm slides, leaving literally thousands of them in his wake.  I shared his interest, but not quite his avidity, after being given my very own KODAK Brownie as a birthday gift from KODAK for my seventh birthday on May 7th, 1925.  A present, but one I could not relish often because of the cost of film, developing and printing.