🌀🐇 #86 overcome anxiety, living architecture, rainbow trees

Plus The Inner Toolbox  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ​ ​ ​ ⚡️ Enlightening Bolts 🏛 Stoic Quotes on Anxiety to Organize a Chaotic Mind: A handy Stoic reference guide for understanding and working with anxiety. [Read it here.]()​ 🎧 Be You, Be Clear and They Will Come: Advice from the real-life Wizard of Oz, Steve Sims, on The HighExistence Podcast. [Watch it here.](=)​ 🗼 Living Architecture: The digital artist Refik Anadol brings Gaudí's legacy to the future with an astonishing projection on the façade of Casa Batlló in Barcelona. [Watch it here.](=)​ 🎇 Image of The Week ​ The Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree is quite the sight! I couldn't believe they were real. "These trees turn into rainbows as they lose their bark, and the pictures are magical. The rainbow effect is created as the bark peels off throughout each season, revealing the fresh, bright green bark below." [Source.](=)​ 🗝 Elders and Exemplars I was reflecting on celebrity worship and the fixation so many have on "influencers" in today's world. There are so many waiting and watching for them to mess up so they can chatter about the drama. It should not be a surprise that anyone with a large following acts in ways to upset large swathes of people. This isn't to say having a large following inherently makes you a bad person. It's just that followers are attracted through polarization. These figures are lightning rods for controversy. Their audiences grow through agitation. This might be deliberate or unconscious. The point here is that people look to cultural icons as if they are meant to be figures of moral purity and guidance. They are not that. They never have been. They are entertainers. The everlasting drip of drama is latched onto as a form of digital opium. It's a way of distracting ourselves from the stressors and pains present in our lives. That's fine. I'm just trying to clear up a confusion. Don't be shocked that the boat gets rocked. Don't clutch your pearls that people with large audiences express abhorrent opinions. It's that way by design. Opinions with no shock factor don't captivate attention in the same way. We all know this intuitively but it's easy to get swept up in the scrum and lost in the tension of us vs. them. Some people expect to gather elder wisdom and moral examples from the digital platforms we travel through on the winding roads of the internet. I feel we've become disconnected from the grounded reality around us. The people in your 3D offscreen life are meant to be the source of this kind of wisdom where it can be held in flesh and blood relationships with a shared context. I'd much prefer we treat our grandmothers and grandfathers as the portal to insight than the never-ending social media buffoonery and over-the-top moral grandstanding. Learn from the example of people with a vested interest in us. Not necessarily about how the world SHOULD be but to understand what they regret and what really matters to them. There is a lack of focus on gathering personal perspectives informed by years of living. There's something clarifying about a long life. A lot of the captivating BS can fade away the closer we get to the end so that the heart of the matter can really shine through. I'd love to see the reinvigoration of elderhood within our culture. The path to get there? It's unclear from where I sit. But pointing it out seems like a good first step. I'll listen and watch how this seed grows over time. Maybe you have some thoughts on it? 🧰 Inner Toolbox Enjoy some of my favorite quotes from the author Anne Lamott: “It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools - friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty - and said 'do the best you can with these, they will have to do'. And mostly, against all odds, they do.” “I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.” “But you can’t get to any of these truths by sitting in a field smiling beatifically, avoiding your anger and damage and grief. Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth. We don’t have much truth to express unless we have gone into those rooms and closets and woods and abysses that we were told not go in to. When we have gone in and looked around for a long while, just breathing and finally taking it in – then we will be able to speak in our own voice and to stay in the present moment. And that moment is home.” 🤓 Learn This Word Opia: the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable—their pupils glittering, bottomless and opaque—as if you were peering through a hole in the door of a house, able to tell that there’s someone standing there, but unable to tell if you’re looking in or looking out. ⏳ From The Archives A hand-picked classic HighExistence article. ​[‘Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen’: A Timeless 1958 Essay by Alan Watts](​ “In Buddhism there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water, and when you’re tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.” In 1958, Alan Watts published the following essay in the Chicago Review. The essay examines two extreme interpretations of Zen — “beat Zen” and “square Zen” — which arose in the West in the 20th Century. With characteristic eloquence, Watts articulates the strengths and follies of each of these interpretations and also attempts to compare them to a more “authentic” Zen — Zen as taught and practiced in China, where it originated, during the 5th to 9th centuries CE. Some scholars have criticized Alan Watts for being a universalist — i.e. claiming that there is a discernible “essence” of Zen, or a “true Zen,” or a single universal satori (sudden enlightenment) experience. These critics argue that the nature of Zen will differs across cultures and across history, as the individual will always process the practices, teachings, and even the satori experience through various filters of identity and cultural conditioning. While I respect and largely agree with this point of view, I nonetheless feel intuitively that Watts was not wrong to think that there was something universal — what Watts calls the experience of our “original inseparability” with the universe — within the satori experience. Perhaps it is not possible to answer the question of whether there is some commonality between all satori experiences, yet certain key elements — e.g. an experience of non-duality — turn up again and again, across cultures and time periods. This would seem to indicate that all satori experiences contain something of the “essence” of the experience. Again, this is really impossible to determine, but it seemed important to note this split among universalist and non-universalist interpreters/scholars of Zen. In any case, even if you disagree with Watts’ universalism, this essay still has much to offer in the way of clarifying the history of Zen’s assimilation into Western culture. It also, I think, has much to offer in terms of illuminating the origins of Zen, the early spirit of Chinese Zen, and the connection between Zen and Taoism. Enjoy. ​[Continue Reading](​ 💪Start A Challenge Right now we're offering $30 off our 30 Challenges Experience. This physical poster and digital guidebook offers 30 distinct challenges you can complete to enhance your well-being and push past self-perceived limitations. Are you up for a challenge? 30 Day Challenges This personal growth obstacle course will give structure to your pursuit of self betterment. Get $30 off when you use code 30OFF at check out. [Claim Your Discount]() 🎬 Endnote We hope you enjoyed this issue of Down The Rabbit Hole. Feel free to reply and tell us what you think. Want to help us spread the word? We love sharing these gems of wisdom and wonder with you each week. If you love receiving them and want to help us spread the word, here is one quick way you can do that: Forward this email to one friend. That's it. It will take 5 seconds and will help us spread the good vibes and reach more people. We appreciate you. With Wonder, Mike Slavin & The HighExistence Team P.S. Did a friend forward you this email? 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