Blog | davidsmith208

Present-centered stillness

Short answer: yes — with an important qualification. Longer answer: present-centered stillness is a shared core move across many contemplative traditions, but each tradition means something slightly different by “present,” “stillness,” and “liberation.” Let’s unpack this cleanly and comparatively. 1. What Dādū means by present-centered stillness When I said Dādū emphasizes present-centered stillness, I did not mean simple mindfulness or relaxation. For Dādū: Past = karmic mem

davidsmith208

Jan 273 min read

Dadu Dariya Tulsi

This is a deep and legitimate line of inquiry—and it’s important to keep one foot firmly in textual history and the other in careful analogy, especially when bringing in physics. I’ll do both, but I’ll clearly mark where we move from doctrine → interpretive metaphor. PART I — How Kabir’s cosmology evolves (Kabir → Dādū → Dariyā Sāhib → Tulsi Sāhib) All four share the same vertical universe, but each sharpens a different edge. 1. Kabir (15th c.) — the foundational rupture Kabi

davidsmith208

Jan 273 min read

Who is Kal Niranjan?

You’re reading this passage exactly the way the Sant–Kabir tradition intends it to be read — as a radical re-ordering of the Hindu cosmos, not a polite theological tweak. Let’s lay it out carefully, because Kabir is very precise here. 1. Who is Kāl Niranjan (also called Niranjan, Kāl, or Brahm)? In Kabir’s cosmology, Kāl Niranjan is: the lord of time (kāl = time, death) the creator–ruler of the material universe not the Supreme God He is often equated with: Brahm (not Brahman

davidsmith208

Jan 273 min read

Complimentary exercises for tennis

You’re playing 12 sets a week, split nicely between evenings and late mornings — that’s a lot of unilateral, rotational, stop-start load. The goal of complementary work is not more conditioning, but counter-loading, tissue resilience, and symmetry so your tendons and joints don’t revolt. I’ll break this into what tennis overdevelops, then what to add, then how to place it in your week so it actually helps. 1. What tennis overloads (the imbalance map) Tennis repeatedly stresse

davidsmith208

Jan 252 min read

The benefits of tennis

Yes — you’re thinking of a specific analysis within a long-running health project out of Denmark called the Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS), and it did find that tennis was associated with the largest increase in life expectancy compared with several other common sports — but with important caveats. 🧠 What is the Copenhagen City Heart Study ? The Copenhagen City Heart Study is a large, long-term prospective population cohort study started in 1976 in Copenhagen, Denmark. I

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

Satsang or majlis-e haq-juyan

Lovely question — you’re comparing two living spiritual technologies, not just concepts. Sikh satsang and the Sufi majlis-e ḥaqq-jūyān (assembly of seekers of Truth) sit very close to one another in function, even while their theological grammar differs. I’ll compare them as practiced, not just as ideals. 1. What each gathering is at heart Sikh Satsang (ਸਾਧ ਸੰਗਤ / Sādh Saṅgat) Literally: company of the true / holy Core meaning Sitting in the presence of Truth (Sat) through: t

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

Aristotle

Yes — you’ve put your finger on the spine of Aristotle’s ethics. Those four words aren’t just vocabulary; they mark different ways of being human and different kinds of excellence. Aristotle is very precise here, and modern summaries often blur distinctions he worked hard to keep clear. Let’s go slowly and cleanly. 1. Technē (τέχνη) — making / craft / know-how What it is Rational skill aimed at producing something The knowledge of how to make rather than how to live Key featu

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

Chopin mazurka 23 ending smorzando

Great question — smorzando at Chopin endings is never just a generic “get softer.” In this Mazurka it’s doing something very specific and very Chopin-ian. 1. What smorzando literally means (and doesn’t) Smorzando (from smorzare, “to extinguish, to smother”) means: a gradual dying away — of sound, motion, and energy Crucially, it is not only dynamic. It usually implies: diminuendo ✔️ ritardando or loss of forward impulse ✔️ a sense of breath running out ✔️ Think a candle gutte

davidsmith208

Jan 252 min read

Is Rumi on top

This is a beautifully sharp question, because Eflākī’s remark is not devotional flattery—it’s a sociology of charisma disguised as hagiography. Let’s unpack it carefully and honestly, with examples on each side. 1. “A prophet is loved by a nation” — what does that mean in practice ? Here Eflākī is speaking historically and sociologically, not theologically. Prophets are typically: Anchored to a specific people Bearers of law, covenant, or reform Loved collectively as founders

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

The moth and the candle

This is a classic constellation of Perso-Urdu mystical imagery, and you’ve put your finger on a very specific composite symbol—not just shamʿa–parvāna (candle–moth), but the beloved as saqī who intoxicates and wounds, reigning in the bazm/mahfil. That complex goes back centuries. I’ll move in three layers: the classical Persian origin its Urdu elaboration Sant Darshan Singh’s inheritance and transformation of it 1. Classical Persian poets using shamʿa–parvāna + saqī + khanjar

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

Walt Whitman’s mysticism

You’re right to pause on Underhill’s claim—calling Whitman a “typical mystic” is provocative, and also… kind of right, but only if we stretch what “typical” means. Whitman is absolutely mystical in Leaves of Grass, yet he’s a very American, this-worldly, body-affirming outlier. Let me break it down cleanly. 1. Is there strong evidence of mysticism in Leaves of Grass ? Yes—very strong. Whitman consistently displays what scholars call unitive experience: dissolution of the ego

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

What is true empowerment?

And does it come from the center? Do you need preparatory devotion or is that unnecessary after fifty years? Why would you only have questions? Do you have to be totally detached to reach a state of being a professional? If you want what is spiritual you can go into it. Sitting cross-legged is the gold standard and is a lot better than having a gold card. You can hold a convention at the center of your brain instead of just complaining. I completed my doctorate by just not

davidsmith208

Jan 253 min read

A blind pig sometimes finds a succulant acorn

That line is a folksy proverb with a long, slightly muddy pedigree—and the tennis player was using it very deliberately. Where it comes from The saying is a variant of an old English proverb: “A blind pig may sometimes find an acorn.” It shows up in English by at least the 17th century. One early printed form appears in Thomas Fuller’s Gnomologia (1732), a famous collection of proverbs. Variants exist across Europe, but the English pig–acorn version stuck particularly well in

davidsmith208

Jan 232 min read

Hold the Pickleball, tennis only

That’s actually a very clean experiment, and the result tells us a lot. The fact that the tendon improved when you stopped pickleball is a strong signal that: It’s impact-dominant, wristy, snap-style loading that’s the irritant Not general use, not conditioning, and not even tennis per se Pickleball is sneaky that way—short court, lots of sudden forearm snap, late contact, and quick grip tightening. For a biceps tendon, that’s death by a thousand paper cuts. Given your constr

davidsmith208

Jan 222 min read

Fixing your exercise

Good — that clarification helps. Since you’re already doing isometric dumbbell holds and icing the shoulder after tennis, the remaining missing piece is true biceps-tendon rest days, not just “lighter” days. Below is a clear, tendon-specific way to add rest days without cutting out the sports you enjoy. Key concept (important distinction) A biceps tendon rest day does NOT mean: No activity No tennis or pickleball at all It means: No elbow-flexion loading No supination under l

davidsmith208

Jan 222 min read

Patanjali and Kant

This is a subtle and important comparison, and the passage you photographed is actually quite careful. Let me lay it out in three layers: (1) what Funes-Maderey is claiming, (2) where Patanjali and Kant genuinely converge, and (3) where the comparison decisively breaks down. 1. What Funes-Maderey is actually claiming Funes-Maderey is not saying that Patanjali is a Kantian, nor that Yoga is transcendental idealism. The claim is narrower and more precise: Both Patanjali and Kan

davidsmith208

Jan 213 min read

Jesus’s Donkey gets it

You’re looking at a dense cluster of metaphors in Masnavi V around line ~160 (numbering varies by edition). Let me unpack “the secret” using (1) the Persian, (2) Rumi’s broader usage, and (3) the consensus of classical commentators. 1. The Persian image and key terms The Persian behind your translation runs roughly like this (paraphrased, not a critical edition): shakar (شکر) = sugar, sweetness tuti (طوطی) = parrot (a bird trained to repeat words) dahān / manqār = mouth, beak

davidsmith208

Jan 203 min read

Teaching with parables

You are pointing to a very precise claim Rumi is making about method, not just poetry. Let’s take him at his word and answer quantitatively and linguistically, as you asked. “A parable, not an analogy, To thaw the frozen mind effectively.” (Masnavi V.118) Rumi is distinguishing parable (tamthīl / mathal) from abstract reasoning. He is also implicitly placing himself in a lineage of teachers who teach by narrative shock rather than doctrine. 1. Who, across religions, used para

davidsmith208

Jan 182 min read

Shine in forehead

This is a subtle and important question, and you’re right to frame it linguistically and doctrinally, not just poetically. I’ll answer in three layers: What “reflection shining in the forehead” means in Sikh / Sant Mat / Radha Soami language Whether this is meant literally, experientially, or symbolically (linguistically) How this maps—carefully—to Christian language about Christ “living in” or being “seen” in the believer 1. In Sikh, Sant Mat, and Radha Soami thought: what i

davidsmith208

Jan 183 min read

Amrit Vela

Short answer: Christianity does not single out 3:00 a.m. as a doctrinally privileged hour for the descent of the Holy Spirit in the way Sikh amrit vela or Sant Mat/Radha Soami traditions do. But there is substantial experiential, liturgical, and mystical precedent for pre-dawn or night-watch prayer being a time of heightened spiritual receptivity, which is the closest parallel. Below is a careful, tradition-by-tradition comparison. 1. No fixed “3 a.m. grace hour” in Christian

davidsmith208

Jan 173 min read