New Website Launching Soon!
Announcing a new book launch and website coming soon. Mindfulexposurebook.com will soon be rebranded as Blackturtlebooks.com. So all clicks on the old website will be automatically redirected to the new site upon launch.
Why the rebranding? So whereas my first two books, How to Lose Control and Perfect Pain/Perfect Shame were psychologically based ‘self-help’ books, my next book is a book more related to a somewhat irreverent and autobiographic street level exploration of Zen Buddhism. And so, I needed a website that best incorporates the fuller array of books that I have, and will be writing. And for those of you who have been following, little black sea turtles have graced all the covers and have formed a bit of a theme. I have always just loved turtles and tortoises. Can’t really say why. Perhaps because they are so complete and just seemingly OK with their turtle nature. But as explained in the first book, there is a deeper reason. In many ways they represent the opposite of the human condition and therefore illustrate the nature of human suffering.
So you see, turtles are born with all they need to survive from the moment of birth. They come fully equipped with all the option packages they will ever require. Therefore, they have no dependency upon their parents. In fact, they will most likely never know their parents. Thus, no intergenerational attachments are formed. This has worked well for the turtle and they have been around for many millions of years. Human babies, on the other hand, are born completely hairless, helpless and largely unformed. A human baby would die within hours if not cared for. They have no shells, claws, fangs, fur, or any other of the equipment necessary for survival. Their brains are only very partially formed. Thus, human babies are wholly dependent on primary caregivers. The formation of secure and consistent attachments to parents or other primary caregivers are critical for neural, social, cognitive development and adjustment. Any perceived threat to this, whether real or imagined, gives rise to tremendous fear and anxiety. In fact, all anxiety arises from this basic reality. Further, this may be responsible for helping forge the primary delusion that one is a separate entity, apart from all else in the universe and that survival depends on succeeding in the competition of life and seeking dominion and control. This perception of a separate self creates the bedrock of all suffering. The basis of all desire, craving, aversions and ignorance based on the delusion of separateness and permanence.
Turtles are also sentient and mortal. They can know pain, but I fully doubt they can know suffering. They can only react to arising circumstances. But neither can they know true joy or bliss. Nor can they attain enlightenment. In Buddhist cosmology, only one who is born into the human realm, an extremely rare occurrence, can experience full awakening. Therefore there is some urgency that we not squander our human birth on trivial pursuits. We are cautioned to not “spend our lives rearranging deck furniture on the titanic.” Rather, to recognize the urgency born of impermanence and to work to help others and to realize our own essential nature. Or at the very least, to try not to be a complete tool and fuck up the planet for all the other inhabitants. like sea turtles.
The new site will also make it easier for readers to respond to posts, and thus make it a more lively and interactive forum.
