Politically Progressive ... Spiritually Transcendent
"The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose
that I am here ... and you are out there."

Yasutani Roshi - Zen Master

INTRODUCING B.U.M. ... The Bottom-Up Movement - a small town, community revitalization project

Posted Wed, 01/25/2012 - 22:43 by tctroi

Last winter I took a cross country road trip from the Midwest to Texas, traveling through the state of Arkansas. About 90 miles outside of Little Rock, the expressway ends. We stayed overnight in a dying little town called Newport, where the only place to eat was a McDonald’s.

The next morning we continued on, winding our way through small, forgotten towns. I couldn't believe the extreme poverty I was witnessing. I'd spot a rundown building and think it’s an abandoned garage. Then I’d notice the traces of

I forgot myself - And now I remember

Posted Mon, 01/23/2012 - 16:54 by tctroi

My blogs have been a bit intense and introspective lately. I'm not crazy. I just write from a very different place from which I live my daily life. Some ideas have to dance their way out. Why I do this in a public forum, I'm not sure. But I do hope that somewhere in my written blather, one or two insights bring you a moment of comfort.

Having said that ... I've sketched out my
thoughts from over the past couple weeks.
One more time with feeling, as the singer
would say. Then, time to let it all go.

Broken Open, Part 2

Posted Fri, 01/20/2012 - 15:31 by tctroi

Broken open, I nervously pace the room. Frustrated, annoyed, over-caffeinated. There is too much energy here. I don't know where to place it.

Broken Open, Part 1

Posted Fri, 01/20/2012 - 15:30 by tctroi

A night of fear. I was in college, 20 years old. I had been partying with friends and came back to one of their apartments to sleep it off. I crashed on the couch while my friend, Betsy, headed upstairs to her room. Later that night, her roommate came home. A man was with her. I never knew his name.

A Creek Runs Through It

Posted Fri, 01/20/2012 - 00:31 by tctroi

I've been clinically diagnosed with a chronic illness from which there is no cure. It's called Restless Brain Syndrome. Each night when I lay down to go to sleep, my mind leaps to attention, racing around the room for hours. I've tried counting sheep. Believe me, it doesn't work.

Soaring Beyond All Fear

Posted Mon, 01/16/2012 - 21:47 by tctroi

When I get bored at work, I browse around YouTube for inspirational videos. I came across one that defined enlightenment as "leaping beyond all fear". “Wouldn't that be great”, I thought to myself. I'd love to leave all my fears behind, live in a place of peace where nothing threatening ever comes my way. Of course there is a state that's just like that. It’s called being dead!

Christmas 2011 - Part III

Posted Tue, 12/20/2011 - 17:24 by tctroi

Christmas 2011 - Part II

Posted Tue, 12/20/2011 - 13:16 by tctroi


Was Doubting Thomas not a Christian?

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."
1 Corinthians 13:11

Christmas 2011 - Part I

Posted Tue, 12/20/2011 - 10:35 by tctroi


I've got a case for the blues this Christmas.

Hey, that could be a song! But it's not.

"Blue Christmas" actually is a song, but that's not my point.

"Blue" is the season, and here are the reasons...sung by the award-winning "One Thousand Cynical Voices Choir"...

  1. Let it Snow, Let it Snow Let it Snow: I do not like the cold! And while snow is pretty to watch and fun for play, it sucks when you

America, The "Oh Well, Sucks To Be You" Society

Posted Fri, 11/25/2011 - 12:26 by tctroi

Have you heard the latest joke? Occupiers are a bunch of dirty hippies, ha ha ha. They're self-entitled losers, ha ha ha. Oh yeah? Well, rich people are all inbred, ha ha ha. Conservatives are tea bagging tea baggers, ha ha ha. Really. Google it! (Giggles)

Yep, let's just keep laughing. There's so much humor in society, right? What a joke. We keep laughing because it conveniently hides the truth, shame, sadness in it all. The laughter obscures what the silence would reveal; the actual lack of compassion we show to one another.