Graduation Speech | The Meaning of Life --- Part II

Sex is ... well ... sex is a river. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down. You can channel it, at times, but it is powerful, and can end up running, or ruining, you.

Jack Kornfield speaks of the sign posted in Las Vegas that says, You have to be present to win. One way to learn presence (and peace) is meditation. Another is self-hypnosis. Another is getting off the freeway, or off the bus. Another is psychotherapy in its many forms: counseling, group therapy, AA. Without these it becomes steadily easier, as you age, to go mad --- mad with the sheer weight of the years and lost opportunities that turns us unforgiving, wizen, deaf, blind, and, all too often, miserably alone (figures for suicide among what they so glibly call "Senior Citizens" or "Golden Agers" are through the roof).

Peel off the outside leaves of Brussels sprouts. Boil the sprouts in chicken stock for about five minutes; drain, and heat with some butter and three or four pinches of caraway seeds for three or four minutes. Lemon juice and caraway also keep cole slaw from being too bland.

William Burroughs said that "Language is a virus from outer space." Believing that words will convey the truth can be compared to smelling a rose with the picture of a nose.

Dreams are mystery movies that show nightly in the theater of the mind. The moment you wake up, write them down. Inside their tangled illogical logic, they have much to teach you. You created them, and from them (e.g., from yourself) you can learn powerful lessons. They are directed by another auteur than your waking self, so they give you a different take on where you have been and what you think you are doing --- for better or worse --- to yourself.

A foolproof spaghetti sauce: cook a half onion, chopped, in a Dutch oven until it just begins to turn dark. Add seven or eight chopped-up Roma tomatoes, and the diced leaves and inside stalks of celery. After five or ten minutes, pour in a cup of dry white wine (not red) and two or three teaspoons of dried chicken stock. Leave the sauce on low heat for an hour or so, then spoon it over thin spaghetti cooked al dente.

You have a monster/god floating around inside of you. Some people choose to belittle this being, call it bad names like "The Devil." Labeling it such will cause it to cause the two of you to do devilish things to yourself, and to others. Look at Pat Robertson. It's far better to befriend this creature, stop calling it names (like "monster.") It is possible to discover its needs in order to make peace between you and it and the world.

Find your secret passion. It may reside in or next to your monster, but probably not. Dreams will take you there when you are ready, if you are ready.

Place boneless skinless chicken thighs --- lightly rubbed with olive oil --- in a square ovenproof dish. Douse with lime juice and Tabasco sauce. Sprinkle with tarragon or rosemary --- preferably freshly picked and chopped and cover with chopped Bermuda onions. Broil in the oven or on a grill, turning every three or four minutes until they are done.

Be wary of the systems that run our lives. Seventy years ago, Hitler was elected to office through a carefully-constructed democratic process. The people who built the American system of checks-and-balances are now long out of favor, if not dead.

Always have a place you can run to. It might be behind your house; it might be a beach some 5,000 miles away; it might be deep in the recesses of your soul.

Yellow squash is best cooked the way my granny did it. Chop off the ends and cut it in squares or rounds and boil until it's sluggish. Put in a drainer and squish it a bit to get out the water. Transfer it to a pot with hot butter and freshly chopped basil. Heat a little bit more and grind in fresh black pepper.

Hirouki Itsuki wrote, "How can we forget that we are born into this life crying? That when we die, we die alone." Think on death every moment you can. Not to be morbid but to be prepared. It's the only cure for old age. Mark Twain said that death was the refuge,

the solace, the best and kindliest and most prized friend and benefactor for the erring, the forsaken, the old and weary and broken of heart.