Good evening (depending on where you live) dear members, I hope you are all very fine! Well, you are, so I hope you are well. I would like to apologise; if I am ripping anybody off with what I am about to say, please forgive me and poke me gently, so that I might know more.

I was burning a joss stick the other day. I don't know why, I just needed something that would make the air smell different without me having to put any effort in. Anyway as it was burning away I took notice of the smoke. All the scent was flowing off into the air around me.

At the same time I was writing a short story, which is- fundamentally- about death (and perversion). Anyway I had some sort of epiphany at the same time my narrator did: that we dwell on the mind, and wonder what happens to us when we die, but ultimately the simplest explanation is probably the right one. If we were to trust ourselves more often, instead of trying to discover something that isn't there, we might be able to find the answers much quicker.

When the joss stick had burned it was ash with a bit of bamboo. The thing that made it what it was was gone, dissipated forever into the beyond, whereas the physical was still there, just in a state of irreversible turmoil. Anything without its essence is dead, so when we die all we'll leave behind is our bodies, because they're the only thing that's real really. If a computer can't intake electricity, or process it accordingly, it's dead.

Now I know not everyone likes being likened to computers, but they're based on us in every way... So what is life? Is it about the mind? Or the body? I reckon I don't know, but I see dead bodies left behind when someone or something dies, but nothing else.

Although, where does the scent from a joss stick go?

Ramadwarf on death

Originally posted by Ramadwarf Philes

I was burning a joss stick the other day...where does the scent from a joss stick go?

Ramadwarf on death

What the hell is a joss stick?

Theres a saying in Budhhism that equates somewhere along the lines of "Bodhisattva is not peeling potatoes and thinking about God, rather it is just peeling potatoes"

Theres no need to complicate things, most of nature and reality and existence is actually quite simple. We try to fathom, as humans, something which we do not know. It brings fear to us, it brings anxiety and worry.

Our reaction to that is to try and understand it in ways which resonate with us, be it science, or spirituality. Even the denial of it. A simple answer is not enough, we must find ways to understand it, to reach out andcontrol some aspect of it.

Sometimes the unkown is so simple its overwhelming. The goal is to realize that all things are fundamentally simple and complicated. The lessons are much easier to learn the simple way.

Joss stick isnt something ive ever heard insence called, i prefer joss stick, sounds...different

Love and Peace

Incense is great for reaching different levels in meditation. So, it'd make sense when you're in narrate mode that it would come to sync, you were already half way there just daydreaming/writing. However, the post above put it quite elequently. Simple, is often the better way to try and go, but it's never going to be not complicated...