Preface

 

Preface

 

 

Greetings,

 

What is the timeless awareness that time-bound consciousness (a.k.a., imagination) has usurped, since who-can-ever-know-when, in the jungles of long ago. These are some of the aphorisms written over the years, that explore the mystery that is prior to all imaginary constructs.

 

A PDF is available at:

 

Imagination: The Great Usurper

http://thestillnessbeforetime.com/imaginationthegreatusurper.pdf

 

Writing has been an enjoyable process ever since I first began toying with prose; scribbling poetry, keeping journals, corresponding with friends and acquaintances during the college daze. The philosophical/mystical/whatever-you-want-to-call-them thoughts, that have been popping into mind since 1989, have always been very out-of-the-blue spontaneous. Nothing planned or forced about them. They are being shared on the off chance that others may find them of interest, though, quite frankly, it really does not matter if no one else ever even reads them, for I am, first and foremost, my own audience. I got mine, so to speak. I played my little part. I had my share of fun. And it is, as it has ever been, up to each to discern their own, on their own. There are really no followers in this Don Quixote quest; only earnest seekers, who waylay their desires and fears and dreads, enough to discern that which is the end to doubt, the end to dueling with windmills. “Yay” if it is your fate to figure it out. “Oh well” if it is not. And “so it goes” either way, really. Ecclesiastes 1:2 is always a good reminder: “Vanity of vanities,” saith the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Awareness can only, with great effort, regain control, regain sovereignty, from the usurper, imagination, creator of all that is time, creator of all that is space. Creator of all that is illusion, has never has been anything more than illusion, will never be anything more than illusion. Only as real as the given moment.

 

“The Stillness Before Time” is the original work that came together in 1992, including mostly aphorisms, an essay, a newspaper question-and-answer, ten reflections, and lists of both movies and books. Though an early self-published version, long since edited and expanded, can be purchased at major booksellers, a downloadable copy is available, no charge, at the link below. There are also links to a variety of blogs of other creations by me, along with links to many writings of a similar nature, by thinkers and seers from across all times, across all geographies.

 

"The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim" is the second published book, and is both blogged and available as a PDF download.

 

The “Breadcrumbs” titles, published annually since 2015, all include the core chapters: Leftovers, Soundbites, Breadcrumbs. In the Breadcrumbs chapters, I unleash thoughts of a more personal nature than in the other two. All just to show I was ensconced in a living, breathing, relativity mundane, oftentimes foolish, mortal mind-body. An actor playing the hand that was dealt; same as everyone else, vain as everyone else. No need to sculpt me into more than I was. No need for myths, nor legends, nor fables, nor miracles, nor cult followings, nor any other fictions, any other absurdities, over to which the human mind, and all its imaginary history, has so often given itself. The Breadcrumbs chapters prove me again and again to be yet another Shakespearian player, as full of the limited and arbitrary as anyone else born into this dream of space and time. So please be sure not to shape me, or these many random thoughts, into some dogmatic absurdity. Use them as a launchpad, not an orbit.

 

“The Return to Wonder” blog is a compendium of aphorisms not included in the three other works: The Stillness Before Time, The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim, and Breadcrumbs. It originally totaled 3,000 pages formatted in 300 ten-page chapters written since 1990-ish. A gradual editing that will likely never be completed, is changing that dynamic into something of a mishmash.

 

Please note that this sort of wordplay is very haphazard, way too much work to put into any order. Probably best read it in bits and pieces in the here and there. One of those open-to-any-page works. Especially well-suited for coffee shops, coffee tables, and porcelain thrones.

 

Also note that all writings are always subject to updates and editing, so if you are interested in the most current version – before this house of cards comes tumbling down, and the world grows large again – downloading PDF copies every once and a while might be a reasonable discipline. This applies especially to the current year of Breadcrumbs, which could well be an annual project until the last wheezing breath, though frankly, the temptation to stop writing entirely is not off the table. It is a pleasant way to pass some of the countdown remaining, but it is unlikely there is much ground that has not been wandered by this frame of reference far more than enough already. No matter how many times Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the mountain, it is more than a little doubtful that the blind men and their true-believer followers, will ever discern, ever realize, ever embrace, the elephant in the middle of the room, without fabricating some new form of absurdity. It is the way we roll, it is the way we have always rolled, it is the way we will, far more than probably, always roll. Every species has its limitations, and we have in this mind’s eye, far-exceeded ours.

 

That said, if you do find these many thoughts at all worth preserving, for whatever times are ahead for this world and all its life forms, please feel free to share them with others who might also appreciate them. Else they may well swiftly slip back into the timeless oblivion from whence they came.

 

So it goes, either way. I played my part, I said my piece, I had my fun.

 

All the best,

 

M

 

 

P.S. For best viewing online, using the largest screen you have available to explore my little theme park, is suggested. Scrolling down and down on a phone screen is just not going to give you the same entrée.

 

P.P.S. Regarding the name Yaj Ekim ... It is just a reverse spelling of the first and middle names ... Michael Jay Holshouser ... Mike Jay ... Yaj Ekim.

 

P.P.P.S. Coincidently, make of it whatever you will, or will not, Yaj is an Indian boy’s name meaning worshipper, sacrifice, another name for Shiva, a sage. And Ekim is a Turkish name for October meaning “sowing” (of seeds). All kinds of absurdity can be read into that by the many, so-inclined – none of which was in mind when the idea came to reverse the letters to my name. See P.P.S. for details.

 

P.P.P.P.S. Yes, I am Shiva. And so are You. No, I am not Shiva. And neither are you. Irony and paradox rule.

 

 

 

The Stillness Before Time

Reflections From a Fellow Sojourner

https://thestillnessbeforetime.com/

 

 

One Through Thirty

 

One * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

 

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 * Thirty

 

 

Essays

 

Of the Human Journey

 

Got God?

 

Ten Reflections

 

 

Blog and PDF

 

Blog * PDF

 

 

Other Resources

 

Books * Movies * Links * Blogs

 

 

Main Blogs & PDF's

 

(All blogs and PDF's subject to change, so stay tuned)

 

The Stillness Before Time

Reflections From a Fellow Sojourner

Blog * PDF

 

The Ponderings of Yaj Ekim

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2015

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2018

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2019

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2020

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2021

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2022

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

Breadcrumbs 2023 & Beyond

Bits and Pieces From a Dream of Time

Blog * PDF

 

The Return to Wonder

Field Notes From the Unknown

(Major edit underway -- Edited copy colored green and blue )

Blog * PDF

 

 

Blogs & PDF's of Other Works

 

Michael's Rabbit Hole

A Selection of Breadcrumbs & Other Aphorisms

Blog * PDF

 

The Call of the Eternal

A Conversation With My Self

Blog * PDF

 

Imagination: The Great Usurper

Blog * PDF

 

Lost in Translation

The Human Paradigm's Linguistic Muddle

Blog * PDF

 

The Gordian Knot of Ethical Thinking

Blog * PDF

 

Mystery, Mystery & More Mystery

Blog * PDF

 

Imagination, Imagination & More Imagination

Blog * PDF

 

Doubt, Doubt & More Doubt

Blog * PDF

 

Science, Science & More Science

Blog * PDF

 

History, History & More History

Blog * PDF

 

Patterns, Patterns & More Patterns

Blog * PDF

 

Reincarnation, Reincarnation & More Reincarnation

Blog * PDF

 

Standouts From the Return to Wonder Edit

Selections From the First Sixteen Chapters

Blog * PDF

 

Of the Human Journey

Along with Got God? And Ten Reflections

Blog * PDF

 

To Be or Not to Be

Blog * PDF

 

The Mystery of the Mystery

Blog * PDF

 

Who Was the First?

Blog * PDF

 

The Real is Discovering

Blog * PDF

 

59 Moments to The Way It Is (And Is Not)

The Scribe's Guide to the Great Whatthe#$*!?

Blog * PDF

 

Definitions

An Incomplete Selection 0f Contemplative Definitions

Blog * PDF

 

Conversations

A Variety of Letters, Emails, Texts, & Sundry Odd 'n Ends

Blog * PDF

 

Titles, Titles & More Titles

Blog * PDF

 

Even More

Blog * PDF

 

Sketches of the Once Upon a Time

A Few Epiphanies and Other Hallmark Moments

Blog * PDF

 

The Corollaries of Yaj Ekim

Blog * PDF

 

Possible Last Words & Epitaphs

Blog * PDF

 

The Standard Ripostes

The Scribe's Go-to Responses to This and That in the Day-To-Day

Blog * PDF

 

My (Not Quite) Haiku

Blog * PDF

 

Jester Amok

Blog * Facebook * Facebook (Original)

 

Uncle Sam Says

Blog * Facebook

 

Once Upon a Christmas

Blog * PDF

 

Ditties for the Bluegrass Pyre

Blog * PDF

 

A Short List of Books for the Up and Coming

Some Written Works That May Help Get the Young up to Speed

Blog * PDF

 

Spam Responses (a.k.a., WTF Is This Shit!?)

Blog * PDF

 

 

A Collection of Miscellaneous Creations

 

Final Exit and Related Links

 

COVID-19 Information Links

 

The Blind Men and the Elephant

 

Of A Philosophical Nature

 

The Four Agreements

 

The Joyful Curmudgeon

 

12 Rules You Can Live By

 

Quotes, Quotes & More Quotes

 

Fichier Circulaire de Michael

 

How to Work in Any Environment

 

50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

 

Election 2016: The Rise (and Fall?) of Donald Trump

 

Michael's Little Warehouse of All Things Amusing, Absurd & Profound

 

 

Breadcrumbs: The Original Blog

 

Preface

 

Leftovers

 

Soundbites

 

Breadcrumbs

 

The Standard Ripostes

 

The Corollaries of Yaj Ekim

 

Possible Last Words & Epitaphs

 

Spam Responses (a.k.a., WTF Is This Shit!?)

 

A Short List of Books for the Up and Coming

 

59 Moments to The Way It Is (And Is Not)

 

Sketches of the Once Upon a Time

 

The Real is Discovering Series

 

Quotes Worth Pondering

 

Of the Human Journey

 

Ten Reflections

 

Got God?

 

Books

 

Movies

 

Links

 

Photo Gallery

 

Michael J. Holshouser: Life Resume

 

 

Other Blogs and PDF's by Michael

 

Other Blogs and PDF's by Michael

 

 

Facebook

 

Michael Holshouser

 

Fichier Circulaire de Michael
(Michael's Circular File)

 

Yaj Ekim

 

 

Twitter

 

@YajEkim

 

 

Sivana East

 

Michael Holshouser

 

 

Eight Translations of the Ashtavakra Gita

 

The Heart of Awareness (Byrom)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Marshall)

 

Bitten by the Black Snake (Schoch)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Richards)

 

A Duet of One (Balsekar)

 

Astavakra Samhita (Wood)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Shastri)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Vedic Scriptures)

 

 

PDF's of Eight Translations

 

The Heart of Awareness (Byrom)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Marshall)

 

Bitten by the Black Snake (Schoch)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Richards)

 

A Duet of One (Balsekar)

 

Astavakra Samhita (Wood)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Shastri)

 

Ashtavakra Gita (Vedic Scriptures)

 

 

Translations of Other Ancient Writings

 

Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

 

Tao Te Ching: Verse One

 

Tao Te Ching (Marshall)

 

Bhagavad Gita (Marshall)

 

Yoga Sutras (Marshall)

 

Dhammapada (Marshall)

 

Ecclesiastes (Marshall)

 

Song of the Avadhut (Abhayananda)

 

Avadhut Gita (Shastri)

 

Atma Bodha (Chinmayananda)

 

The Essence of the Ribhu Gita

 

Yoga Vasishta Sara (Ramasramam)

 

Crest-Jewel of Discrimination (Madhavananda)

 

Mandukya Upanishad & Mandukya Karika of Gaudapada (Panoli)

 

Gaudapada: Advaita Vedanta's First Philosopher (Jones)

 

 

PDF's of Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

 

Ashtavakra Gita: I Am Shiva

 

I Am Shiva Comparison Chart

 

 

Translations of Ancient Writings by Bart Marshall

 

Ashtavakra Gita

 

Tao Te Ching

 

Bhagavad Gita

 

Yoga Sutras

 

Dhammapada

 

Ecclesiastes

 

 

Writings by Bart Marshall

 

Verses Regarding True Nature

 

One Hundred Two Haiku

 

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

Imagination: The Great Usurper

© Michael J. Holshouser 2022

World Rights Reserved

 

Michael J. Holshouser

1112 Cedar Creek Drive, Unit 4

Modesto, California 95355-5213

The United States of America

mjholshouser@gmail.com

 

Pronunciation: Holtzhowzer

 

All have the express written encouragement

To distribute this creation freely to any and all

Who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear

The mystery in which each and every one

Equally participates in so many ways