November 6, 2010

Moment of Zen: A Great Cup of Coffee

By Joe

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About Joe

I began my life in the South and for five years lived as a closeted teacher, but am now making a new life for myself as an oral historian in New England. I think my life will work out the way it was always meant to be. That doesn't mean there won't be ups and downs; that's all part of life. It means I just have to be patient. I feel like October 7, 2015 is my new birthday. It's a beginning filled with great hope. It's a second chance to live my life…not anyone else's. My profile picture is "David and Me," 2001 painting by artist Steve Walker. It happens to be one of my favorite modern gay art pieces. View all posts by Joe

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at 6:43 pm and posted in Moment of Zen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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8 responses to “Moment of Zen: A Great Cup of Coffee”

• Vilges Suola
  November 6th, 2010 at 3:46 pm

  He's gorgeous, but I don't get the Zen reference. Zen training makes boot-camp look sissy.

  Reply
• JoeBlow
  November 6th, 2010 at 4:26 pm

  Moment of Zen is a sort of Americanism, I guess, made popular by "Jon Stewart's The Daily Show." It is in reference to Koans, which are small stories, used in Zen training, in which the meaning (or "point") of the story cannot be resolved through our normal, rational, Western reasoning. If you've ever read Zen koans, they share the characteristic of seeming contradictory, and nonsensical.When people talk about a "moment of Zen," they are referring to something that seems somewhat incomprehensible and mind-blowing — like a Koan. One of the goals of most Zen practice is to train your mind to quiet its chatter about past and future and embrace entirely the moment you are currently experiencing.I've always taken The Daily Show's "moment of Zen" as a kind of simplified, shorthand, somewhat distorted version of same; i.e. here, in this picture of beauty and serenity is an actual moment that transpired somewhere in the world today, and so forget the rest of the day's events and just imagine what it was like to be in that spot at that time. I hope that makes sense. My "Moments of Zen" are just pictures that I find a short bit of serenity through them. It is not meant to devalue Zen Buddhism but to just show a short moment of sanity and clarity through something beautiful and serene, such as the picture above.

  Reply
• Anonymous
  November 6th, 2010 at 4:58 pm

  Yeah Joe, it is a quiet moment for this beautiful subject. I just wish I could be there with him for coffee. Then after our hour or so of coffee it is down to business. He is a beauty I wish I had. Thanks agian Joe.Denis.

  Reply
• JoeBlow
  November 6th, 2010 at 5:36 pm

  Denis: I wish I could be there with him too. You're Welcome.

  Reply
• Joe
  November 6th, 2010 at 9:08 pm

  Wow. He is just so perfect. I could serve coffee to him every day.

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• JoeBlow
  November 6th, 2010 at 9:29 pm

  Joe: I completely agree with you.

  Reply
• fan of casey
  November 7th, 2010 at 2:59 am

  Joe: He's a warm comfort, like hot coffee on a cold morning – I just want to snuggle up with him.

  Reply
• JoeBlow
  November 7th, 2010 at 8:01 pm

  FOC; Me too. In fact it was kind of cold in my house when I got home, and I wish I had him here right now to warm me up.

  Reply