Little Tricks for Getting By Well

How To Live

"Don't Worry About Death
Pay Attention
Be Born
Read at lot, forget most of what you read, and be slow-witted
Survive love and loss
Use little tricks
Question Everything
Keep a private room behind the shop
Be convivial: live with others
Wake from the sleep of habit
Live temperately
Guard your humanity
Do something no one has done before
See the world
Do a good job, but not too good a job
Philosophize only by accident
Reflect on everything; regret nothing
Give up control
Be ordinary and imperfect
Let life be its own answer"

-  Summary of some of the views of Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) by Sarah Bakewell in How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, 2010.    

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Green Way Research

A Philosopher's Notebooks by Mike Garofalo


Currently, I am reading the excellent biography of Michel de Montaigne by Sarah Blackwell.  I first read Montaigne back in 1964.  Now, in 2015, in my own semi-retirement, I find rereading Montaigne's reflections in his "retirement" on his own life, times, experiences, thoughts, and feelings to be intellectually stimulating.  Intellectual history and biographies are some of my main reading interests.  


The Essays by Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)  Translated by Donald M. Frame.  New York, Everyman's Library, 2003.  I own the complete works by Montaigne in a Kindle digital version for easier reading.  1392 pages.  ISBN: 1400040213.  VSCL.

How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer  By Sarah Bakewell.  New York, Other Press, 2010.  Index, bibliography, notes, 399 pages.  ISBN: 9781590514832.  VSCL.

 

Birthday for Michael P. Garofalo

Today is my 79th birthday.  

My parents were Bertha June (1921-1994) and Michael James Garofalo (1916-1997).  My two brothers were Paul and Phillip.  

My parents and I in 1947

I grew up in East Los Angeles and attended St. Alphonsus Catholic Grammar School, Cantwell Catholic High School (Honors Diploma), California State University at Los Angeles (B.A. Philosophy), and the University of Southern California (M.S. Library Science).  

I worked for the City of Commerce Public Library System from 1963-1969.  

Blanche Karen Eubanks and I were married in 1967.  We we celebrate our 54 wedding anniversary this week in 2021.  

Karen and I in 1970
Biloxi, Mississippi

Served in the United States Air Force, Air Training Command, from 1969-1973.  Honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant.  

I worked for the County of Los Angeles Public Library System from 1974 to 1998.  I retired as a Library Administrator, and Regional Administrator for the East Region in the San Gabriel Valley.  I worked at offices in the Compton library, Bell Gardens library, East Los Angeles library, Norwalk library, Huntington Park library, and West Covina library.  

We lived in Bell Gardens and Hacienda Heights - both in the East Los Angeles  metropolitan area.  

Karen and I, and our families and community, raised two children, Alicia June and Michael Delmer.  We now have two grandchildren, Katelyn and Makenna. 

My daughter and I in 1977

Our family around 1990

I started creating websites in 1995, and a blog in 2005.       

Karen and I lived in Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, from 1998-2017, in a rural area on a five acre parcel.  We both worked part-time for school districts.  I was the Technology and Media Service Supervisor and District Librarian for the Corning Union Elementary School District; and Karen was a Special Education Instructional Aide.  

Yosemite, North Dome, 2005




Family, 2007

Karen in the fruit tree orchard in Red Bluff, 2015
We planted over 160 trees and shrubs on this property.  

Karen retired on June 14, 2014, after working part-time since 1998 as a Special Education Instructional Assistant for the Tehama County Department of Education in Red Bluff, California.  

Mike retired on July 1, 2016, after working part-time since 1998 as the Technology and Media Services Supervisor for the Corning Union Elementary School District in Corning, California.  

I taught yoga, taijiquan, qigong, pilates, and other fitness classes at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff from 2002-2016.

In 2017, we moved to Vancouver, Washington.  We are now both retired.  

Family in Oregon in 2013

Vancouver, Washington, 2017

I am very fortunate in having fairly good health, a positive attitude, and stamina for work and play for all of my long life.  I was fortunate in being able to be productively employed for 54 years, and earning good medical insurance for Karen and I.  

I am a philosopher by inclination and practice.  My biography.

I have been active with various sports, physical conditioning programs, weightlifting, walking, fitness, Taijiquan, Yoga, hiking, etc., during my entire healthy long life.  

I am hoping that 2021 brings an end to the pandemic, work for all, and peace.  

That about sums it up!   

My Intellectual and Spiritual Heritage

Buddhists, Taoists, Philosophers

Noted Authors, Scholars, Translators, Editors, Teachers

** These are my teachers.
This is my intellectual heritage, my "lineage".
These are the authors I have read and studied since 1962.

* ** *** I have benefitted and applied what I have learned! *** ** *

Confucius (551-479 BCE) Philosopher *

Lao Tzu (Circa 450 CE) Taoist *

Buddha (Circa 450 CE) Buddhist **

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) Philosopher ***

Epicurus (341-270 BCE) Philosopher *

Epictetus (50 BCE-135 CE) Philosopher *

Heshang Gong (250 CE) Taoist *

Bodhidharma (450 CE) Buddhist *

Huineng (638-713 CE) Buddhist *

Mazu Daoyi (709-788 CE) Buddhist

Eihei Dogen (1200-1253) Buddhist **

Chang San-Feng (1247-1317) Taoist *

Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) Buddhist *

Takuan Soho (1573-1645) Buddhist

Bankei Yotaku (1622-1693) Buddhist

Menzan Zuiho (1683-1769) Buddhist

Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769) Buddhist **

Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831) Buddhist

Daisetsu T. Suzuki (1870-1966) Buddhist **

Reginald H. Blyth (1898-1964) Scholar ***

Philip Kapleau (1912-2004) Buddhist *

John Blofield (1913-1937) Buddhist

Trevor Leggett (1914-2000) Buddhist *

Alan Watts (1915-1973) Scholar **

Robert Aitken (1917-2010) Buddhist ***

Burton Watson (1925-2017) Scholar *

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) Buddhist **

Dalai Lama (1938-) Buddhist **

Red Pine (1943-) Scholar *

Sam Hamill (1943-2018) Scholar *

Yang Jwing-Ming (1946-) Taoist **

Norman Fischer (1946-) Buddhist

Thomas Cleary (1949-2021) Scholar ***

David Hinton (1954-) Scholar *

Deng Ming-Dao (1954-) Taoist **

Eva Wong (1955-) Taoist **

Livia Kohn (1956-) Scholar *

 

Transmission of Light: Buddhist Biographies by Keizan

Transmission of Light (TOL)

53 Biographies of Buddhist Patriarchs, Leaders, Legends, Thinkers, Famous Ones
Written by Zen Master Keizan (1268-1325). Title: Denkoroku.
Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo. First Draft on March 30, 2023.
Source for Biographies: Transmission of Light: Zen in the Art of Enlightenment. Translated by Thomas Cleary, 1990, 207 pages.

Alphabetical List of the Biographies in the Transmission of Light (TOL) Collection. PDF, 3 pages.

List of Biography Cases by Case Numbers in the Transmission of Light (TOL) Collection. PDF, 2 pages.

Subject Index to the Biographies in the Transmission of Light (TOL) Collection. PDF, 3 pages.

Books I Use in My Research and Study of Koan Collections

Zen Master Keizan Information 

Koan Database Project 

Subject Index to 1,001 Zen Buddhist Koans

 

My Birthday

Today is my 76th birthday.  Michael P. Garofalo, January 23, 1946 -  

My daughter, Alicia, and I, 2021

My two grand-daughters, Makenna and Katelyn, and I, 2021

My parents were Bertha June (1921-1994) and Michael James Garofalo (1916-1997).  My two brothers were Paul (1948-) and Phillip (1952-).  

My parents and I in 1947
In South-Central Los Angeles

My maternal Grand-Mother Mabel Ast Blaize on the left,
and my Paternal Grand-Mother Lena Garofalo in 1947.  

Paul, Big Mike Dad, Philip, Me, Mom
Circa 1958

I grew up in East Los Angeles and attended St. Alphonsus Catholic Grammar School, Cantwell Catholic High School (Honors Diploma), California State University at Los Angeles (B.A. Philosophy), and the University of Southern California (M.S. Library Science).  

I worked for the City of Commerce Public Library System from 1963-1969.  

Blanche Karen Eubanks and I were married in 1967.  We celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary in 2021.    

Karen and I in 1970
Biloxi, Mississippi

Served in the United States Air Force, Air Training Command, from 1969-1973.  Honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant.  

I worked for the County of Los Angeles Public Library System from 1974 to 1998.  I retired as a Library Administrator, and Regional Administrator for the East Region in the San Gabriel Valley.  I worked at offices in the Compton library, Bell Gardens library, East Los Angeles library, Norwalk library, Huntington Park library, and West Covina library.  

We lived in Bell Gardens and Hacienda Heights - both in the East Los Angeles  metropolitan area.  

Karen and I, and our families and community, raised two children, Alicia June and Michael Delmer.  We now have two grandchildren, Katelyn and Makenna. 

Alicia June, my daughter, and I in 1976.

Alicia, me, Karen, Mick, circa 1990

My colleagues in East Region at our
Community Library Managers Meeting, Circa 1993
For 15 years, I was the Regional Administrator for 22 libraries
in East Region of the County of Los Angeles Public Library System

I started creating websites in 1995, and a blog in 2005.       

Karen and I lived in Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, from 1998-2017, in a rural area on a five acre parcel.  We both worked part-time for school districts.  I was the Technology and Media Service Supervisor and District Librarian for the Corning Union Elementary School District; and Karen was a Special Education Instructional Aide.  We both enjoyed gardening and landscaping projects. 

 

Red Bluff, California, Sunny Garden

Yosemite, North Dome, 2005

Sean, me, Mick
Alicia, Karen, April
Circa 2007

Karen retired on June 14, 2014, after working part-time since 1998 as a Special Education Instructional Assistant for the Tehama County Department of Education in Red Bluff, California.  

Mike retired on July 1, 2016, after working part-time since 1998 as the Technology and Media Services Supervisor and District Librarian for the Corning Union Elementary School District in Corning, California.  

I taught yoga, taijiquan, qigong, pilates, and other fitness classes at the Tehama Family Fitness Center in Red Bluff from 2002-2016.

In 2017, we moved to Vancouver, Washington.  We are now both retired.  

Family in Oregon in 2013

Vancouver, Washington, 2017
Our New Home

Flinn and Garofalo Family Gathering
Vancouver, Salmon Creek, Washington, Summer 2021

I am very fortunate in having fairly good health, a positive attitude, and stamina for work and play for all of my long life.  I was fortunate in being able to be productively employed for 54 years, and earning good medical insurance for Karen and I.  

I am a philosopher by inclination and practice.  

I have been active with various sports, physical conditioning programs, walking, fitness, Taijiquan, Yoga, hiking, etc., during my entire healthy long life.  

However, during this past COVID epidemic period I did not walk each day, kind of huddled in my home office and read, smoked too much cannabis, daydreamed, lolly-gaged, goofed-off, and acted like a lazy depressed retiree.  Therefore, I was very out of shape at the end of 2021.  

My personal goals for 2022 are to:  

1. Maintain a dietary habit that reduces my blood sugar. 
2. Reduce my body weight to 225 pounds. 
3. Walk and exercise every day. 
4.  Read and write:    Four Days in Grayland     Cloud Hands Blog. 

5.  Help and take care of my wife, family and friends. 
6. Support humanistic and environmental causes. 
7.  Explore Photography using my Canon SX740 camera, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop; and work on our Family Photo Project😊 with Karen. 

8. Enjoy old age. 
9. Travel to the Coast and Yurt camp each month for four days.  
10.  Yet to be Determined, New Opportunities, Unknown

That about sums it up!

Living and Thinking

I have been reading books on American Pragmatism, a biography about William James (1840-1910), and five lectures/essays by William James.  

. 
My current reading includes:

The American Pragmatists.  By Cheryl Misak.  Oxford University Press, 2013.  Index, bibliography, 286 pages.  VSCL.  The thorough and informative summary of key pragmatist thinkers in America. 

Maps of the Mind: Charts and Concepts of the Mind and Its Labyrinths.  By Charles Hampden-Turner.  Collier, 1981, index, 224 pages. VSCL.  An excellent overview of modern theories about our minds, consciousness, and its biological foundation. 

Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living.  By Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn.  University of Notre Dame Press, 2020, index, bibliography, 432 pages.  VSCL.  Hellenistic thinkers applied to modern concerns.  

Genuine Reality: A Life of William James (1840-1910).  By Linda Simon.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998, index, bibliography, notes, 496 pages.  VSCL. 

Pragmatism, Old And New: Selected Writings  Edited by Susan Haack, with associate editor Robert Lane.  Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books, 2006.  Glossary, index, 741 pages.  Subjects:  Pragmatism, Philosophy, Neopragmatism, American Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Belief, Usefulness, Action.  VSCL.  Includes five essays/lectures by William James.  

Pragmatism and American Philosophy

Epicureanism

How to Life a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Leaving Some Foot Prints

"The Edwardian Apostles [an advanced and select discussion group at Cambridge University in England in 1905] were ambitious men who wanted their work to endure in memory. They even had a code-word, 'footprints', for the guiding-marks which they hoped to leave for posterity. The best test of the value of work, they believed, is that it continues to please or impress future ages. Bertrand Russell once recounted to G. H. Hardy a distressing dream in which he stood among the book stacks of Cambridge University two centuries in the future. A librarian was winnowing the shelves, taking down books in turn, glancing at them, restoring them to their places or dumping them into an enormous bucket. Finally, he reached three volumes which Russell recognized as the last surviving copy of his Principia Mathematica. He took down one of the volumes, turned over a few pages, seemed puzzled by what he saw, shut the volume, balanced it in his hand and hesitated: Russell presumably awoke with a shuddering cry, for the devaluation of their work, or the absence of footprints, was the Apostles' nightmare."
- Richard Davenport-Hines, Universal Man: The Lives of John Maynard Keynes, 2015, p.52   
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) is a famous and influential economist.  

Farewell, Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and activist. 

I enjoyed attending two of his concerts in Los Angeles in the 1960's.  One concert was at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and one at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.  I played a number of his albums many hundreds of times. 

His ability to get everyone singing, clapping, and smiling was enchanting.  

Pete was a significant contributor to the civil rights movement, anti-war movement, liberal causes, and environmental activism.  He inspired us to be better people and better Americans.  His efforts to encourage people to clean up the Hudson River are legendary. 

Like many students in the 1960's, I sang folk songs alone and with small groups, played a guitar, and associated these activities with the counter-culture movement.  

Yes, I am one of those tender-hearted Liberals that Ann Coulter delights in insulting each day.  





We Shall Overcome

Pete, for me, was a truly decent, open-hearted, involved, and inspiring man!! 

I Wish I Had ...

"However that may be, I now wish that I had spent somewhat more of my life with verse. This is not because I fear having missed out on truths that are incapable of statement in prose. There are no such truths; there is nothing about death that Swinburne and Landor knew but Epicurus and Heidegger failed to grasp. Rather, it is because I would have lived more fully if I had been able to rattle off more old chestnuts — just as I would have if I had made more close friends. Cultures with richer vocabularies are more fully human — farther removed from the beasts — than those with poorer ones; individual men and women are more fully human when their memories are amply stocked with verses."

-  Richard McKay Rorty, 1931-2007  American Philosopher
   The Fire of Life, 2007


Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature: Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition


"We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea."
-  A. C. Swinburne, "Garden of Proserpine"