The temple remains.

Fragments of past transmissions echo below.

Category: Email Archives

  • How to ruin your life with Instagram

    “I’m guessing you aren’t concerned about any professional ramifications your posts could have.”

    “I’m very worried for your mental health.”

    “You’re allowed to not tell me if you have access to any weapons, but I’d feel better if you did.”

    I’ve gotten a bunch of these kinds of messages since February, when I started posting talking videos on Instagram.

    At first, it was sell the piano-related stuff I was offering, and then it turned into something else.

    I wasn’t expecting it to be so tumultuous, to be honest. I’ve lost several real-life friends because of these videos. People who were attached to the way I used to present myself.

    I have no regrets, and in fact I want to push this further.

    Even if you’re not “marketing” as in “selling something”, you still have a point of view. It’s based on your life experiences, and it needs to be heard.

    If expressing yourself in the form of Instagram videos sounds appealing to you, but you don’t where to get started AND you think that attracting some of the above feedback might even have the potential to be purifying for you, I made something for you.

  • This should fix everything

    I'm looking at the computer screen.

    Wait, there's the air purifier. Still looking at the screen, but my eyes unfocused a bit to take it in.

    Just pressed 'Enter'. Had to move my eyes down to follow the cursor.

    Re-read the previous line. Eyes back up.

    I feel my fingertips on the keyboard. Eyes had to unfocus for that one.

    Air conditioner just switched on. Behind me, to the left.

    The air purifier is on the right and the air conditioner is on the left.

    Now my eyes are scanning around looking for something to latch onto. Nevermind, just closed them. Typing with my eyes closed.

    Will this ever stop?

    (btw, if this email doesn't COMPLETELY solve all your life's problems, reply and let me know why. Hey, you'll never know unless you try.)


  • A 3-Step Plan to Become Creative

    Here's a broad outline:

    1. Get to a point where you can express yourself.
    2. Focus on pleasing yourself with your expressions.
    3. Expand outward from there, figuring out how to please others.

    Now, for an example. I'll give you two expressions of the same thing.

    Bad writing (because it doesn't please me):

    kjfkljdh sdklj sdf
    sd'lfk
    ;lfj skjdf ;
    ldsjf dsf ;sdf'lk f
    ;l sd'lk ds;f sd'lf jsd;fl s'df

    Good writing (because it pleases me):

    Stream of consciousness
    could be anything
    doesn't matter
    just keep typing
    watch where it goes
    1 2 3 4 5
    what's next?
    who knows?

    These may look different, but they're not. They are expressions of exactly the same thing.

    The second one, however, was written in the presence of an auditor.

    Go create something.

  • At the risk of attracting more haters

    I know it seems like I'm all outspoken and everything, but I spend probably 95% of my time fighting off haters and worrying about how to phrase things in a way that won't provoke haters.

    I don't like this at all.

    I am trying to fix it, because #yolo.

    So, I'm making a strong effort to share more of the stuff that I'm guessing will help people. At the risk of attracting more haters. Good thing I'm a meditator, and this stuff just makes me frustrated, and doesn't drive me to suicide.

    Here's something I wrote for you:

    What's Wrong With Yoga

    (trigger warning: if you're a yoga teacher, you should probably just leave now)

  • My least favorite conversation about meditation

    I'm into meditation.

    “Oh, I've heard of meditation. You mean like with crystals and shit?”

    No, no. Not that kind. But I see the confusion.

    I do the kind of meditation that's about radical acceptance of whatever's happening.

    “Oh, I see. So, you just sit back and relax?”

    No, but that's a common misunderstanding. Whatever's happening is not always relaxing, so if you sit and watch whatever's happening, you won't always be relaxed. Sometimes, it's no fun at all.

    The type of meditation I'm into is called “vipassana”, and it comes from Buddhism.

    “So it's a religion?”

    Nope. It's just a technique for training your mind. You don't have to believe anything.

    “It doesn't sound very scientific.”

    It's not. It's an art.

    “But I thought meditation was backed up by science.”

    Yeah, probably. I don't really care, though. I do it as an art.

    “Do you think I should meditate?”

    Yes.

    “What gives you the right to tell me what to do?”

    You asked.

    “You don't seem very qualified.”

    I'm not.

    “In fact, you seem a little bit arrogant and full of yourself.”

    I am.

    “Those don't sound like traits a meditation teacher should have.”

    Oh! I see the misunderstanding: I'm not a regular meditation teacher.

    I'm an evil meditation teacher. I have the bad traits, not the good ones. Make sense?

    “No. You sound manipulative and psychopathic.”

    I am.

    “I hope no one ever takes your advice, ever.”

    OK.

    Btw, this is why you should meditate: it makes it easier to deal with people like you without getting depressed and suicidal.

    “People like me??? How dare you generalize like that!?”

    Can I help you with something?

  • I love drawing, and you are too.

    I love drawing.

    It’s awesome.

    I will share it with you. The whole process. But, you have to promise something: you will accept it as it is, whatever I say.

    I am a drawing teacher. NOT a drawing teacher.

    (I will teach you whatever I know about drawing. I suck at drawing, but I will teach you whatever I know.)

    You can’t compare me to any other drawing teachers. You just can’t. I suck at drawing. They don’t.

    Why I like drawing:

    • I like playing with art supplies.
    • I like shopping for art supplies.
    • I like doodling.
    • I like movement.
    • I like contrast and form.
    • I like sharpening pencils.
    • I like smelling pencils.
    • I like feeling the pencil move across the paper.

    There is one good book on drawing. Only one. It’s called “The Natural Way to Draw”, and it’s written by a guy named Kimon Nicolaïdes. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

    I’ll go a step further and say it’s the best how-to book on any subject. That’s what a review on the cover says, and I agree with it.

    You can read other books, but this is the best one.

    It’s the best NOT because it explains how to draw (it doesn’t, really). It’s the best NOT because it has lots of illustrations that show you how to do it, step-by-step (it doesn’t, really).

    In fact, the author died before he finished the book, so what we have is kinda a rough draft, anyway.

    It’s the best because of the exercises it contains.

    These are experiential exercises. That means you do the exercises and you have experiences that will teach you something.

    You can’t put those experiences into words. You can try with poetry or something, but poetry is lame (it can’t convey actual experience).

    You must have the experiences. That’s how you learn.

    It’s the only way.

    Have experiences.

    That’s it.

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