Jeffrey Davis

My world crashed down around me in 2008.

…sort of.

I mean to say many things I held as “foundational”, constant, and unshakable were revealed as no longer such.

I walked struggled grew through some pretty drastic changes in:

• my beliefs regarding “God”
• the nature of our existence & reality in general
• the concepts of absolute Truth and right & wrong
• humanity’s existence within a system of dualism
• foundationalism in general
• and lots of other stuff

Having so many questions and gigantic life and paradigm changes in a single year has been exhausting (but exciting).

That said, you may have also noticed my posting here has been VERY sporadic recently. That’s because I’ve come into a place of rest…and it feels GREAT.

2009 seems to at least be beginning as a year of…nothing.

It’s a time of peace when the world around me is in chaos…when I COULD be in utter chaos.

I’m at a place where I have no longing to explore, seek out, or discover any “new realizations”.

That said, I’m open to such things if they arise on their own, but for the first time in my life I’m not running hard after the understanding of the next greatest life-altering concept.

Quite frankly, I couldn’t give a damn about it (at this moment).

THAT is refreshing.

We’ll see what 2009 has in store. Without so many things to wrestle with right now, who knows where this blog will head.

Guess you’ll just have to stick around and find out.

I’d love it if you would check out my (completely unrelated) other blog that is actually taking off like a spaceship.

It’s where I write about simple, fun, easy ways to continue or begin living green. It’s The Fun Times Guide to Living Green. Check it out, you’ll like it…and it’ll help me out, of course.

That’s a source of income to the ole’ Davis’ house.

Here’s to a restful 2009. What’s yours have in store?

I’ve been asked MANY times today if I’m gonna vote.

No, I’ve actually been asked, “You’re going to vote today, aren’t you?”

My answer, “No, actually I choose not to vote.”

I’ve had the privilege of being engaged in several great conversations today and in the recent past regarding that statement.

Why do people feel like it’s “our civic duty” to vote…even when many people feel like they’re voting for “the lesser of 2 evils” most of the time?

How is that doing anything but perpetuate a system–or at the very least, a candidate–that they don’t really believe in?

If you vote, what prompts you to? If you don’t, care to share why?

…and if you’re looking for some non-election, tongue in cheek fun today, check out my review of the free online game OILigarchy at my other blog, The Fun Times Guide to Living Green–because democracy is way overrated.

I try to abide by ole’ Teddy Roosevelt’s policy here on my blog.

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

All I mean is that I try not to blog about nominal, day-to-day, random type stuff.

That said, my blog has been kind of quiet recently as I’ve kind of been in a “settling in” phase (as Rick once put it) here recently.

I mean that I’ve just been dwelling and resting in some recent thoughts/realizations and not really actively attempting to “discover” anything new…hence, not really any food for thought on the ole’ blog.

If you want to catch other day-to-day type stuff during my relative silence here, follow me on twitter (as I’m totally addicted to it and twitter quite frequently) and DEFINITELY be sure to check out my other blog, The Fun Times Guide to Living Green for lots of fun, inexpensive, and easy ideas to take steps towards living a greener life.

Heads up! This is Chloe, an 18 week old female Beagle mix who needs a home by Saturday or she goes to the humane society.

She currently belongs to a co-worker of one of my clients who is no longer able to keep her in her apartment.

She does need some shots (the current owner will be able to tell you which ones), and she is FREE to a loving family!

Do you know anyone who is looking for a lovable little friend like Chloe? If so, leave a comment or email me with contact details.

Update: If you’d be willing to foster Chloe until she can find a permanent home, she’d enjoy that too…anything is better than going to the humane society!

Here’s a couple of nuggets to get ya through a rainy hump day.

If you’re looking for a sweet treat, you should DEFINITELY pick up a 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate! I had one last night and it was delicious! Sure it’s 150 empty calories, but as Jell-o says, every diet needs a little wiggle room.

If you’re heading to the beach soon, why not try baiting a rod and reel with a big hunk of chum and surfing behind a great white shark.

Ok, so it’s obviously a fake video (as you can see, the wake of whatever is really pulling the guy starts in front of the dorsal fin), but at least it’s creative.

Happy Hump Day!

Here recently I’ve felt conflict between my mind and my heart.

I believe that the things I feel in my heart, in my gut, in the deep places of who I am–those are the truths.

That said, my conditioning to religious systematics seems to rear its ugly head quite a bit more often than I’d like.

Here’s the cycle I tend to be trapped in:

• I feel a truth in my gut/heart–and it’s normally a very simple, yet transforming realization
• I think on that feeling
• I rationalize and analyze it in my intellect
• I make it very complicated
• In my attempt to basically make it a theology, I lose the very thing that changed me
• I feel empty, dogmatic, and religious once again

What a vicious cycle indeed.

Why am I unsatisfied with BEING? Why must I always try to “do, do, do”. Sometimes that even means trying to “learn, learn, learn” or “realize, realize, realize”.

I seem to be in endless pursuit of the next best thing…and I don’t want to be any longer.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”
~Leonardo Da Vinci

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”
~Albert Einstein

Photo is “Freed Heart, Understanding Mind”, by Dale Wicks
It is accompanied by this poem:

The shell no longer does confine
when hearts embrace higher design
Connecting intimately with eternal one
found in the room of midnight sun
No style of speech is found, but praise
A song of peace, the soul does raise
The bars swing open to his temporal dwell
for he sees in this midst, that all is well
A glory that shall never fade
unlike the things that man has made
Deserving of the deepest affection
for it is the key to love’s perfection.

Did you know that I write another blog? It’s The FUN Times Guide to Living Green.

I’m proud to say that after right at a year of diligently dedicating myself to that blog, it’s really beginning to take off. I experienced my record traffic day last month, tripling my usual daily hits.

Well, thanks largely in part to Ivy (one of my Nashville blog buds) stumbling my post about .99 cent reusable shopping bags the other day, I had a new record day yesterday…which was triple my previous record set last month! Thanks Ivy.

Feel free to mosey on over to my other blog (which is a paying gig) and browse around. You’ll find ideas about easy, inexpensive, creative, and most importantly–FUN ways to begin to live green. It’s the perfect place if you just don’t know where to start.

Of course, feel free to comment, stumble, digg, hugg, etc if you like what you see.

You can check out all of Ivy’s stuff at her places:
Home-Ec 101
Curbly
Shakyard
LoveShak
BadBadIvy.com

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Merry Christmas to you folks who read this here blog. Here is our family eCard, enjoy.
Merry Christmas!

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For the last three months or so I have NOT been able to get a song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory out of my head…

3 MONTHS!?!

That’s a long time to have a tune stuck in your head. I’ve just been randomly breaking into song with (and in my best British accent–for some reason):

“If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it…[forgotten line]…there’s nothing to it.”

Yesterday, however, FINALLY brought some insight into this madness. I was pondering some recent conversations I’ve had with some friends just before the wife and I headed for lunch at Cinco de Mayo when it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Here’s what I realized…and it’s not all that dissimilar from the actual lyrics themselves.

Everything in life is a choice. No, scratch that. While many things are not choices…like cancer, death, etc…the way in which we react to them is always a choice.

That said, “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it…there’s nothing to it”.

In reality, there is one thing to it…a decision. A decision to not let our well-being, self-worth, identity, etc be wrapped up in our circumstance. At any moment, at any given time, in any given circumstance, we can choose to be in paradise.

Maybe more on that later…

Technorati Tags: willy wonka, jeffrey davis, reality, philosophy, spirituality

Just a quick post to let you know that there will no longer be a daily digest of my Twitter updates, as I have decided to “protect” my tweets.

If you’d like to check out my tweets, feel free to follow me on Twitter. The wife and I don’t think we want just anyone knowing things like “we’re out to dinner at South Street”, which in the wrong hands translates into, “we’re not home, come rob us…”.

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