#2

Making yogurt

Yes — and I think your revised memory actually makes the project much more interesting and simpler. What you remember sounds very much like the traditional household method: heat the milk, cool it to roughly the right temperature by experience, add yesterday’s yogurt, cover it, leave it overnight, and refrigerate it in the morning. And since you have several gallons of milk right now, I’d experiment before buying an expensive yogurt maker or exotic starter. I would approach t

davidsmith208

Sep 254 min read

Read more Mircea Eliade

Yes. If what you liked about Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane is the combination of big comparative ideas, mythology, symbolism, ritual, sacred space/time, and a very readable attempt to see what different religions have in common, there are several successors—but none is an exact replacement. Eliade’s approach has actually become somewhat controversial in academic religious studies. Later scholars often criticized him for imposing universal patterns too readily. B

davidsmith208

Sep 94 min read

Stereo piano?

Given your equipment, I would not buy a mixer until you’re standing in the store and know exactly what problem you’re solving. You already have: Yamaha P-125 Arturia KeyLab 61 MK3 Two Akai MPK Mini MacBook Two Peavey PV15PM speakers One XLR cable The KeyLab and MPK Minis are primarily controllers, not sound sources. Their sounds come from the MacBook. The P-125 is the only keyboard here that makes sound by itself. Minimum purchase today I’d probably buy: Two good 1/4” cables

davidsmith208

Jun 42 min read

Abhyasa and vairagya

Great question. You’re zeroing in on what is arguably the spine of almost every serious spiritual path, even when the vocabulary changes. First, the core idea (in plain terms) Abhyāsa = steady, repeated practice Vairāgya = letting go of grasping, craving, fixation Patañjali’s genius is not inventing these, but naming the two forces that must balance each other: Practice without non-attachment → obsession, ego, burnout, spiritual materialism Non-attachment without practice → p

davidsmith208

Jan 303 min read