Category: Zen

Mastery and Value – Part 1

The Fahkee - Symbol for the Path of Mastery Mastery of some skill is a type of project we all take on multiple times during our life. If we chart our progress towards that mastery, it follows an interesting pattern.  There is first that long, slow, boring, frustrating, humiliating period of building foundational skills. During … Continue reading Mastery and Value – Part 1 →

Reflection Models

Abstract My zen art as a software developer hones that model of the Universe safely housed in my head through the practice of modeling lesser domains than the Universe itself.  We are sentient objects somehow flourishing in the impermanence of a relentlessly changing world. Our brains are the model of that world which determines our interactions … Continue reading Reflection Models →

The Dukkha of Original Thinking

  We Don't Pay You to Think I originally wanted to title this blog, "We Don't Pay You to Think", a phrase I often hear on movies and TV shows. It usually goes something like this: A private approaching his sergeant: "Sergeant, I think ..." Sergeant immediately interrupts: "WE DON"T PAY YOU THINK, PRIVATE!" The … Continue reading The Dukkha of Original Thinking →

Awareness of the Unknown Unknowns

Unknown Unknowns Thanks to Donald Rumsfeld for making the very Zen, Philosophical concept of "unknown unknowns" rather mainstream. This notion reaches deeply in the field of analytics where my career focuses. I can't ever say "there are unknown unknowns" in a presentation without someone attributing it to Donald Rumsfeld's wisdom. It's easy to be cognizant … Continue reading Awareness of the Unknown Unknowns →

Escape from the Pineapple Plantation Town – The SQL

Years ago Mrs. Hanamoku took a few series of watercolor classes from the late Roland Roycraft. He was in his 80s at the time, still very much active. He was an excellent teacher and very open with teaching his wonderfully distinct style. Mrs. Hanamoku asked him about any concern he may have in divulging his … Continue reading Escape from the Pineapple Plantation Town – The SQL →

The Five Aggregates – Part 2 – A.I.

The Five Aggregates in Artificial Intelligence To help drive home the meaning of the Five Aggregates as I wrote about in Part 1, let's try an exercise devising a high-level architecture for an Artificial Intelligence mapping to the Five Aggregates. In some ways it could be easier for us to relate to an Artificial Intelligence … Continue reading The Five Aggregates – Part 2 – A.I. →

I’m a Buddha Trapped in a Man’s Bodhi

A Buddha's Bodhi The Eternal Fishnu is not just that blue, rubbery, fish-like figure with a yellow cap and a red backpack. The blue rubber figure is just an Earthly manifestation, an icon, of The Eternal Fishnu for my Earthly, visually-oriented and symbolically-thinking brain. The actual Eternal Fishnu is a phenomenon of the Universe like … Continue reading I’m a Buddha Trapped in a Man’s Bodhi →