Of PARADOXES AND METAPHORS

Also See: Endorsements and Purchase Information

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE—PARADOXES, METAPHORS, AND LESSONS, AN INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER TWO—FROM WHENCE A PARADOX?
The Eternal Trio
Darkness
Silence
Emptiness

Then a Thought
And an Idea
The First Pet
The First Utensil to Hold Water
The First Garden
The First Ditch
The Synergy
Finally a Paradox

CHAPTER THREE—A COLLECTION OF PARADOXES, METAPHORS, AND LESSONS
Eternity and Time
Eternity And The Banishment Of Fear
Eternity And Peace
Eternal Relationship
We are Alone
In an Evolutionary Sense
In a Familial Sense
In an Individual Sense
In the Unity of Life and Death
Choice, the Eternal Requirement
Interpreting an Event
Of Knowledge and Ignorance
Knowledge is Relative
What Treasure in the Land of Ignorance!
When Is "Truth" Really The Truth?
Change is Eternal Becoming
Nature is Neutral
We Place Value on Outcomes
Our Eternal Moment
Nothing is Totally Reversible
Attachment to Expectations
The Enigma of Control
What Measure Freedom?
Giving Versus Receiving
From Reason to Chaos and Back Again
The Shape of Our Thinking
The Universal Circle
Misty Mountain's Cycle
One Douglas-Fir's Cycle
The Salmon's Cycle
The Second Douglas-Fir's Cycle
Convergence In The Cycle Of Two Firs
The Proverbial "What Ifs"
Cyclical Thinking
Linear Thinking
Understanding The "Thought Paradox" of Our Time
Everything Has Its Tradoff
Appearance and Reality
Slower is Often Faster
Killing, the Inescapable Necessity of Life
Competition and the Ultimate Prize
Lessons In Lifestyle From The Hunter-Gatherers
Prejudice
"Rights" by Whose Definition?
Commandeering Language
Finding Contentment in Our Anti-Contentment Society
The Illusion of Equality and Justice
Acceptance versus Tolerance
If Everyone's Right, Who's Wrong?
History as Teacher

Endorsements:
"A child of nature turned scientist, Chris Maser, is a modern day transcendentalist. In his book Of Paradoxes and Metaphors: Understanding Some of Life's Lessons, he leads us in a gentle spiral of stories, experiences, and observations. Maser looks at our world through relationships personal and global. His questions for the Great Mystery spring from interactions within the human web. He nudges us to our own questions for the Universe, which will point each of us toward our own truth, and asks us to have the courage and humility to find that truth."—Linda Saurenman, Los Angeles, CA.
"Mesmerizing. Reading Of Paradoxes and Metaphors is like sitting around a campfire, listening to the wisdom of the ages as shared through the stories of a dear, wise friend and mentor. Through reflections on his own life, Chris Maser provokes the reader's reflection on her or his life-stories and, ultimately, the mystery and wonder of being human. That process is both calming and challenging because it leads to the truth that, ultimately, we are each solely accountable for how we respond to and experience of our time on this Earth. Fully understanding and embracing that responsibility forces us to give up the "comfort" of blame, self-pity, anger, and other aspects of being a victim. The joy is the rediscovery of the knowledge that lies within us … that life is unfolding in each moment, and we have the power to respond in the manner we choose."—Jennifer Griffin-Wiesner, Minneapolis, MN.
"Chris Maser, master of language and metaphor, conveys how 'Life, as an idea, is a gigantic paradox composed of paradoxes, and the purpose of life is to understand the paradoxes and to put oneself in accord with them. To put ourselves in accord with life's paradoxes, we must daily interpret the unfolding of our never-ending story because we are, in a sense, spiritual detectives charged with finding, understanding, accepting, and living the highest Truths of Universal Governance—Truths secreted within the unity of each paradox. I have, therefore, titled this book—Of Paradoxes and Metaphors: Understanding Some of Life's Lessons.' Having found a way to experience transcendent, timeless peace Chris Maser relays this book 'has within its covers the collective gift of millions of minds and hearts reaching back into the millennia, to the first word utter by the first hominid. This gift of human understanding and emotions, archive as a written language, represent the never-ending stories of every human being who ever lived and asked: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What value do I have? What is the meaning, the purpose of life?' Building upon one paradox after another, life lessons unfold and enlighten readers: 'Only when our Earthly pilgrimage has been long enough that the creep of age brings forth our mortality, and thus causes us to turn the searchlight inward, do we begin to distill experience into wisdom. At that point, the overriding precept of age instructs that wisdom can neither be taught nor given away. It must be earned by fully engaging life.' Chris Maser states 'If, therefore, you find within the following pages a glimmer of understanding or—hear an inner—'Ah so,' my attempt to share with you a little of the beauty and wonder I find in life will be fulfilled.'"—Anonymous, from Amazon (Return to Top of Page)

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