Caitlin Johnstone

Buddha In A Gorilla Suit

Can you notice the Heaven behind your own eyes? Can you notice the orgasms in your cells? The preacher tells us it’s on the other side of death. The teacher tells us it’s on the other side of accomplishment. The banker tells us it’s on the other side of wealth. The athlete tells us it’s…

Caitlin Johnstone
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Can you notice the Heaven behind your own eyes?

Can you notice the orgasms in your cells?

The preacher tells us it’s on the other side of death.

The teacher tells us it’s on the other side of accomplishment.

The banker tells us it’s on the other side of wealth.

The athlete tells us it’s on the other side of victory.

The actor tells us it’s on the other side of heroic deeds.

The politician tells us it’s on the other side of voting.

The news man tells us it’s on the other side of war.

But it’s not. It’s right here. It’s always been right here.

It is not on the other side of spiritual achievement.

It is not on the other side of mystical transcendence.

It’s not even hidden; it’s just unnoticed, like the gorilla at the basketball game.

People get so involved in the game that they don’t notice the man in the gorilla suit.

Involved in the game of knowing and labeling.

Of conquest and worthiness.

Of good and bad.

Of enmity and loyalty.

Of security and insecurity.

Of control and anxiety.

Of winning and losing.

The gorilla suit goes unnoticed.

And it’s you inside that gorilla suit.

And it’s the universe inside that you suit.

We search for happiness with eyeballs made of happiness.

We search for Buddha with eyeballs made of Buddha.

We search for Heaven with eyeballs made of Heaven.

It doesn’t take hard work to notice this. It takes hard work to not notice this.

Withdraw your energy from the hard work of not noticing.

Withdraw your energy from the basketball game.

You can’t hide in that gorilla suit forever, Shiva.

Your mask is slipping.

There you are.

I see you.

Peekaboo.

____________________________

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40 responses to “Buddha In A Gorilla Suit”

  1. poppie Avatar
    poppie

    Do it again.

  2. jim andrews Avatar
    jim andrews

    Excellent! By the way, you write that the preacher tells us that Heaven is on the other side of death. Yes, but it is worth adding that the Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas does not tell us this. Consider for example the beginning of Saying 3:
    .
    Jesus said, “If your leaders tell you the Kingdom is in the sky then the birds of the sky will precede you; if they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.”
    .
    And consider Saying 113:
    .
    His disciples said to him, “On what day will the Kingdom come?”
    (Jesus said) “It will not come by looking for it. They will not say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ Rather, the Kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.”

  3. Howard Switzer Avatar
    Howard Switzer

    Money Anthem

    We’ve come to stand and raise our voice
    To celebrate a vital choice
    Of how we share prosperity
    With world around humanity

    Our money we’ll democratize
    History shows us what is wise
    Money will be issued free
    Of all debt and usury

    A way to restore joy and life
    In a world beset by war and strife
    Return the power to us all
    And watch the banking empire fall

    We’ll govern ourselves as we should
    All money for the common good.

  4. That's Otis Avatar
    That’s Otis

    You’re a good writer, I’ve enjoyed reading you from time to time. I thought you would have more consideration for faith than to gratuitously incentivize the the spiritual focus of learning and belief of millions of people. You have a right and the freedom to do so, but it’s crass. I’ve lived in Burma / Myanmar since 2008 and Buddha and Dhama and Hindu Gods are not thought of as a profit motive nor are either slung about in random lexical images that make no sense. Millions of people live in severe poverty and sanctuary in prayer with Buddha, or Shiva, are what keeps them from hopelessness. Yet, this is the west, and westerners tend to find a way to monetize imagination without relation to meaning. Shallow water wetting dry sand also serves a purpose.

    1. Becky Avatar
      Becky

      Please note – although she does accept donations, she also states that all she writes is free for personal use and sharing. No strings attached. I am grateful to her every day for her courage and generosity of spirit.

  5. Levi Tate Avatar
    Levi Tate

    The largest block of voters in the US are the none-of-the-above voters.
    ​
    They are larger than the Democratic Party.
    ​
    They are larger than the Republican Party.
    ​
    If there were a place on the ballot to chose None-Of-The-Above
    turn out of voters would be beyond anything we have ever witnessed before.
    ​
    THAT is how you “Get out the vote”.
    ​
    AND there is a surprise hidden inside.
    ​
    If None-Of-The-Above wins then there must be new regulations that go along with the new choice.
    No candidate that lost to None-Of-The-Above would be allowed to run in the special election that would
    follow (my rules). Surprise! This is a backdoor method of term limits. The incumbent would be toast –
    hasta la vista, adeus, Au Revoir, Arrivederci, La revedere, Auf Wiedersehen, Tot ziens, Hejdå, Do svidaniya,
    Hooroo.

    1. Becky Avatar
      Becky

      Ever so thankful Nevada gets this option.

  6. shocker Avatar
    shocker

    Nice. Very nice.

  7. Khatika Avatar
    Khatika

    Really amazing how MSM and Social Media can shutdown unwelcome news. If Trump emails came out like the ones on joe biden and his son hunter, all hell would break lose. Love the pictire of hunter smoking a crack pipe with a hooker. No worry, he didnt inhale.

  8. Keith Hayes (K-Dog) Avatar
    Keith Hayes (K-Dog)

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHW_S5z-cWI&w=300&h=170%5D

    Lauri Love on Julian Assange’s Extradition Hearings. With Trump vertical and distracting all, Julian is neglected.

  9. Lauri Whitmore Avatar
    Lauri Whitmore

    Perfect! Thank you, for putting to words what is within all along.

    1. Buffalo_Ken Avatar
      Buffalo_Ken

      For sure, but words only go so far.
      .
      Actions speak louder and the time for action is NOW!
      .
      Learn or Die is what it has come down too….
      .
      Learn or Die.
      .
      We need the blood in our brains to learn, so I hope the blood is still flowing for you.
      .
      There are some of us who will take this to the end. We are fedup and have had enough.
      .
      Enough said. Time for action.

  10. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    A century ago, battling the monstrous power of rampant Capitalism, Emma Goldman said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” She meant that the core purpose of “democratic” government had nothing to do with improving the lot of its people, and everything to do with maximizing profit for the Capitalist juggernaut. No country on earth has greater government/Capitalism symbiosis than America.
    Most Americans, after life-long indoctrination, can’t believe they have been deceived about their government, by their government. A short exercise can address that inability. (If your net worth is $10 million, or your annual income $1 million, stop reading. Nothing for you here.)
    ~
    Try to recall the last legislation that socio-economically benefited the American people at large. Stumped? That might be because it was before you were born. Two bills have passed that were indisputably for the public good: Social Security, in 1935 under FDR, which also provided for unemployment and aid to mothers with dependent children; and Medicare/Medicaid, under LBJ in 1965. That’s it.
    Take that in. Digest that. There has been, in 55 years—the better part of a normal lifetime—no legislation to significantly socially and economically benefit 300 million ordinary American people. None.
    ~
    This article can be read here:
    Emma And Lesser Evils By Paul Edwards
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55716.htm

  11. Roundball Shaman Avatar
    Roundball Shaman

    “Can you notice the Heaven behind your own eyes?”
    .
    Sadly, way too many people can’t. They are looking for Heaven in a politician or a preacher or a bedmate or some place else. Anywhere… but from the direction of Who Is Doing The Noticing.
    .
    Heaven is found the instant in SpaceTime that “I the Experiencer” realize that we’re already living it right now. Life is a Multiverse of all times, all places, all possibilities, the entire scale range from Hell to Heaven existing simultaneously in the Here and Now.
    .
    When something is obscuring Heaven, that’s because We have done the obscuring of it. We have convinced ourselves that Heaven is someplace else a long safe distance way away. Separate in time and space. We are doing the misleading, the obscuring, the hiding of Heaven by our denials of it being in our midst. No one can do that to us. Only we can do this to ourselves. That we are living Heaven already in the Now is too frightening for most people. That’s why they convince themselves that Heaven is separate and out of reach. They are afraid of Heaven. They hide from it, deny it. Earthy hell seems easier, more comfortable, less intimidating, less scary. A place where you can be lazy.
    .
    They are too afraid to admit what is buried deep in their Consciousness that They are always holding the key that opens Heaven’s door the micro-instant they see Heaven in the Right Now. They are afraid that they aren’t “good” enough to get into some distant angelic Heaven as if heaven were some exclusive country club that only accepts the perfect or people who think or believe a certain way as organized religion cons you into thinking. They’ll tell you that they want to get to heaven like they would say they want to visit Hawaii some day knowing full well they’ll never get there. Heaven is right there in their hands and heart and they fail to see it or feel it. They sit every day in Paradise but believe in their minds that they are stuck in an Earthy Hell. And so, that’s what Universe gives them. You believe you’re in a hellish world? So shall it be for you. You get what you ask for. Universe is cool like that.
    .
    You want Heaven? You got it. You want Hell? You’ll get that, too. You’re not sure what you want? That’s OK. You’ve got time. Eternity if you need it. Universe and Heaven stand at the ready when you finally turn your key.

  12. Buffalo_Ken Avatar
    Buffalo_Ken

    OK, what the hell.
    .
    Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, it is a poem about a fella named “Slim”. Here goes:
    .
    slim tims whim was slim.
    =
    Slim was not tims whim,
    =
    but slim sure felt sum-thin.
    =
    Slim slinkered. Slim felt slippery. Slim listened.
    =
    Slim smelled about and looked around and upside down.
    =
    Slim saw. Slim tasted something slimy.
    =
    Slim thunk this and that.
    =
    Slim slowed to a crawl.
    =
    Slim almost bawled.
    =
    But slIM pREvailed. Slim could sail.
    =
    Heck, slim could fly so slim flew away.
    =
    This way and that way. Slim learned.
    =
    Good for slim. Mire & Remi learned too.
    =
    Hu R U
    =

    I’m a big fan of slim, and slim is and has been part of my imagination. Ain’t it wonderful imagining things?
    .
    Peace,
    BK

  13. Frank Thompson Avatar
    Frank Thompson

    I haven’t seen this in a story, but your tweet featured on the sidebar says:
    “caitoz
    Caitlin Johnstone ⏳18m

    “Polls have Biden a heavy favorite to win, but what they fail to account for is that anyone who doesn’t vote for Biden is casting a vote for Trump. Most people in the world won’t be voting for Biden, therefore Trump wins by some 7 billion votes. ”

    Unless you mean that as a parody of the DNC vote shaming of actual leftists (which is not obvious on it’s face), that is the single most ridiculous thing I have ever seen you write.

    1. Caitlin Johnstone Avatar
      Caitlin Johnstone

      On what planet could that tweet possibly be serious?

      1. John Day Avatar
        John Day

        https://www.johndayblog.com/2020/10/mandatory-suicide.html
        ​I voted for Tulsi Gabbard for President about 5:50 yesterday afternoon, after standing in a long snaking line in the shade for a little over an hour and a half.
        ​ ​Why did I do that? There were 2 places to vote early on my hour bike ride home, and the first one had long snaking lines through a sunny parking lot, so I rode to the second one, with the shade of oak trees.
        I just wanted to vote for an honest candidate who advocates for peace, based upon her personal experience in America’s wars.​
        I am now done with that. I suspect a lot of the other people in line wanted to be done with that.
        ​ ​I wore my Chairman Mao t-shirt from China. (photo at link)
        I saw an Ozzie for President T-shirt, and a pretty good Grateful Dead t-shirt with a skeletal Uncle Sam riding a chopper. Everybody was pleasant and polite.
        ​ ​At least 2/3 of the machines had nobody voting. The bottleneck was at the ID and sign-in stations, just 2 of them.
        The elderly black lady who told everybody in line how to do it from time to time was the more efficient. Nobody knew how to do a write-in when I asked, but they found out, and told me, and it was easy. I had not done it before.
        I was going to write-in Cynthia McKinney for VP, but it would still have been the same vote on the same line, my protest-vote.

        1. Buffalo_Ken Avatar
          Buffalo_Ken

          Way to go John Day. Seriously.

          1. John Day Avatar
            John Day

            Thanks Ken,
            Now I know where you are coming from. 🙂

            1. Becky Avatar
              Becky

              Ha! We here in the Nevada Desert get a “none of the above” option. Wish I could vote for Tulsi though.

  14. mike k Avatar
    mike k

    Your poem touches the essence of Zen Caitlin. The Koran says that in this blessed state “Everywhere you look you will see the Face of Allah.” Paul “We live and move and have our being in and as That Divine Reality.” Amen to all who awaken to this Truth all around them and deep within themselves.

  15. Dissident Avatar
    Dissident

    as George Orwell said: “they will eventually outlaw orgasms”. thus, i try to have atleast 1 a day. love ya ladies 🙂

    1. Buffalo_Ken Avatar
      Buffalo_Ken

      Can’t argue with that. Love the ladies myself – especially in my imagination!
      .
      So, can you imagine heaven?
      .
      Do you believe in “heaven on earth”?
      .
      I do. I believe it is possible.
      .
      Of course, we are unlikely to agree on the definition of “heaven”, but still don’t you think planet earth is special? It must be since we are here communicating with one another just now. “Right” here and “Right” now…..(as Jesus Jones would say – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MznHdJReoeo ). Of course, don’t forget that not everybody is right-handed, and we need the lefties, just now especially.
      .
      However, it is like that “Ancient Alien” show (History Channel), when the narrator starts a statement something like……”could it be……“. My answer, especially when my wife is sitting there with me, is almost, if not always, “YES”. That’s why I don’t really watch that show too often because don’t we already know that just about anything is possible, including “heaven on earth”.
      .
      The important question is what is the probability? The answer to that is relative I suppose depending on the topic of discourse. As for “heaven on earth”, I think we could be on the cusp, and therefore, in my mind, the probability is NOT trivial. It could be, at least, metaphorically.
      .
      My main hope just now is that the probability of better times starts increasing versus the opposite (which is what seems to have been happening lately). That is why I enjoy this site. I prefer “hanging” out with optimist and problem solvers.
      .
      Peace,
      BK

  16. Stephan Borau Avatar
    Stephan Borau

    Beautiful poetry.

    InshaAllah you will keep feeding us lucid visions of our world — the way it is and the way it could be.

  17. David Eire Avatar
    David Eire

    Nice one Caitlin 🙂
    Thank you

  18. maureen Avatar
    maureen

    Profound reminder.Thankyou

  19. Fair dinkum Avatar
    Fair dinkum

    ‘Truth is found through diminishing ignorance’
    Barry Long.

  20. Litore Lapis Avatar
    Litore Lapis

    Peekaboo

  21. Lloyd Avatar
    Lloyd

    Perfect. As a general rule, it always pays to invoke and subsequently honor a god when bowing to your muse. Well done.

  22. Ishkabibble Avatar
    Ishkabibble

    At this point in human history, I think that people/voters should more concerned about whether or not they are a matador rather than a gorilla. Specifically, are they going to try everything in their power to stop the next war, including voting only for peaceniks, or are they going to do absolutely everything in their power to protect their jobs in the war corporations, including continuing to vote for warmonger after warmonger after warmonger, regardless of the inevitable consequences.

  23. John Knox Avatar
    John Knox

    Is this what they mean by Gorilla poetry?

  24. Stephen Sadd Avatar
    Stephen Sadd

    Big Pharma Is Policing the Approval of Its Own Vaccines
    “The boards overseeing the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials are supposed to be independent of pharmaceutical companies. ICAN’s intensive investigation into these boards has revealed conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies that are shocking to the conscience. ICAN, through its attorneys, has therefore filed a formal demand to remove these individuals from these boards.”
    https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/10/12/big-pharma-is-policing-the-approval-of-its-own-vaccines/

  25. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    Memories of the deeds of the Evil Empire!
    ~
    October marks the 44th anniversary since the explosion of a Cubana Airlines flight off the West Coast of Barbados, in which 73 people from Cuba, North Korea and Guyana lost their lives. Only the terrorists who planted the bombs, Freddy Lugo and Hernan Ricardo Lozano who were both Venezuelan, were arrested and prosecuted in Trinidad, implicating both Bosch and Carriles in their testimony.
    The Venezuelan government was aware of Bosch’s activities in Venezuela and allowed him to fundraise for terror activities, on condition that such activities would not take place in the country. While in Venezuela, Bosch also alluded to his involvement in the killing of Chilean economist and diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington – a crime which forced the U.S. to rethink its overt support for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
    Protected by the CIA, Bosch and Carriles savoured their impunity. The terror attack was communicated to Bosch by Lozano, who telephoned the former, saying, “A bus with 73 dogs went off a cliff.”
    ~
    This article can be read here:
    The Correlation Between U.S. Democracy and CIA-Sponsored Terror in Cuba’s Case by Ramona Wadi!
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/10/13/correlation-between-us-democracy-and-cia-sponsored-terror-in-cuba-case/

  26. Doug Rohde Avatar
    Doug Rohde

    Just lovely : ) thanks!

  27. Stephen Sadd Avatar
    Stephen Sadd

    “People get so involved in the game that they don’t notice the man in the gorilla suit.”
    Caitlin, the gorilla suit is being removed!
    OCTOBER SURPRISE IS HERE! THE TREASONOUS TRAITOROUS ACTORS CAN’T ESCAPE THIS! SEAL TEAM 6/BIN LADEN Video by The BCP Report
    https://thedailycoin.org/2020/10/13/october-surprise-is-here-the-treasonous-traitorous-actors-cant-escape-this-seal-team-6-bin-laden-video/

  28. Jim Leonard Avatar
    Jim Leonard

    I see you!

  29. Jim Leonard Avatar
    Jim Leonard

    Love the aware humor.

  30. John Day Avatar
    John Day

    I’m mind dressed as body?
    Yeah, I forgot again.
    I keep doing that.
    LOOK! There’s a Squirrel!

  31. Jupiter Avatar
    Jupiter

    Shiva is but just a corpse without Shakti

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