Catastrophe #4 – The Atom

by | Mar 18, 2011 | Albert Einstein, Catastrophe - 2011, Japanese | 0 comments

Sadly, it’s one catastrophe on top of another on Day 4 of Catastrophe Week at the NDD

The man who discovered the power of the atom, the man whose brilliant understanding of the universe led to a burst of scientific discovery, that man, Albert Einstein, said this.  And he was right.
 
Our human mode of thinking is still dominated by fear, greed, power and prestige.  It’s as if we were given new ingredients for a new recipe in a kitchen with new appliances but we insisted on cooking it according to an old recipe.  We cook, disaster. We try the same recipe again, disaster.  One more time, disaster.
 
I think it’s time we realized we are in a new human kitchen and need new recipes for how to cook.

Drawing and commentary © 2019 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by Albert Einstein

Catastrophe #3 – What has escaped

by | Mar 18, 2011 | Catastrophe - 2011, Japanese, Samuel Johnson | 0 comments

It’s day #3 of Catastrophe Week at the NDD.  Remember that even if your world is normal today, there are plenty of people in the world, Japan in particular, for whom this is still another very bad day.

Easy for me to say.  I am not suffering in the cold of northeast Japan with no water, no electricity, barely any food, family missing, and a very real threat of nuclear contamination.
 
If I were my thoughts wouldn’t stay long on what I have escaped. My thoughts and actions would turn to survival, finding what my family and I need.
 
But here’s the thing.  It doesn’t say make the escape thought your only thought, just that you make it your first. Why? Because it brings your heart and mind into a grateful attitude. That attitude will help you hold to what is good as you move into your hunt to survive.

Drawing and commentary © 2019 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, British author

Catastrophe #2 – Education vs Catastrophe

by | Mar 18, 2011 | Catastrophe - 2011, H. G. Wells, Japanese | 0 comments

Catastrophes, cataclysms, and calamities are the topic of the week here at the NDD.

When I witness from afar the past 2 earthquake/tsunami combination disasters, the recent one off Japan and the one in 2004 in the Indian Ocean, I am struck how education raced catastrophe in both cases. Both are immense disasters, both overwhelmed the affected area far beyond their ability to respond in time. But there seems to be a huge difference between the two.
 
In the 2004 Indian Ocean event there was no immediate warning to citizens close by in Indonesia and Thailand and no warning to citizens hundreds of miles away in Sri Lanka. Close to 230,000 people died in the land areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
 
In the 2011 Sendai event warnings were given immediately to the entire population of the region and the country.  The millions who lived in the affected area knew to get to higher ground almost as soon as the earthquake struck.  Those who were hundreds of miles away in Hawaii and even further on the west coast of North America knew well in advance about the Tsunami.  So far the death toll, in a much more populated area than the epicenter of the Indian Ocean event, is hovering around 1/10 of the other event.
 
Why is that? It’s because of education.  Education was crucial in knowing how to set up a warning system and how to evacuate. It wasn’t perfect, too many people died.  Yes, money has a lot to do with it, I know.  The blame game can be played out against capitalists, politicians, and many others.  But, no matter where the blame is laid, the more educated we are about any subject, especially those that can adversely affect millions, the better chance we have in the race against catastrophe.

Drawing © 2019 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by H. G. Wells, 1866-1946, English author

Catastrophe #1 – Calamity is the Great Leveler

by | Mar 18, 2011 | Catastrophe - 2011, Edmund Burke, Japanese | 0 comments

In honor of and remembrance for those killed and injured by the Sendai earthquake and tsunami. This is my interpretation of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai. Here is the original:

Calamity is the great leveler. It did not care if the person was good or bad, rich or poor, old or young.  It didn’t care if they were driving a fancy car or a beat up one.  It didn’t care if the person was an office worker with a smart phone or a farmer with an iron plow. Calamity only knew to level.  No morality, no ethics, no prayer, no wish, no hope dissuaded it from its mission. 

But calamity is no match for humanity.  Humanity builds.  It keeps what is good about being leveled, the lack of pretense and judgment, and builds from there. It does respond to hopes, wishes, prayers, ethics, morality.  It does care. Humanity always beat Calamity. Always.

Drawing and commentary © 2019 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote is an interpretation of ‘Public Calamity is a Great Leveler’ by Edmund Burke 

Sketchbook History Tour, 2007 – Two Drawings with Crescent Moons in them

by | Mar 13, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour | 0 comments

The frog sang to the seeds so they would be not afraid of the dark of night.
The Milky Way was on her back with a moon in a crescent held in place by the pink strap of her blouse.
© 2025 – Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
 
 

Zen #5 – The Infinite

by | Mar 11, 2011 | Zen, Zen Proverbs | 0 comments

It’s Day Infinity of Zen Week.  Not unexpectedly, this week’s series has resulted in many more visitors from Japan than usual. I am hopeful you are all safe and have the support and strength to rebuild your homeland.
 
INFINITY
Normal cat is insistently meowing to get in the house. I hear her through the open window.  Light, fresh air is blowing through it as well.
 
She was insistent about wanting to go out earlier.  She went out when I went to check on the neighbors yard. I heard something I wouldn’t usually hear and Wiggle dog was barking at the fence in that direction.  All was ok.  It was my neighbor, who is usually not home this time of day.
 
While I was out front I took the opportunity to pull up some long dead plants.  I hit the roots against the warm brick wall so the rich soil would fall back in the garden. Then I threw them over the rusty barbed wire fence into the open field. I notice how well the chives came up again.  I pulled one plant that had new growth I hadn’t seen and replanted it.
 
I didn’t bother to check the mail, the mailwoman doesn’t usually come this early.
 
When I came back inside I started water to boil some beans.  They need to stand for an hour now.
 
Drawing and story  2025 by Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
 
Quote is a Zen saying
 

Zen #4 – Enlightenment

by | Mar 11, 2011 | Zen, Zen Proverbs | 0 comments

I hope you are enlightened on day 4 of Zen Week at The Napkin Dad Daily. 
 
Enlightenment always wants to be grand.  We like to make the grand proclamation that we have been enlightened about something. Maybe after we have done something bad, been caught, and had to publicly apologize. Maybe after having an amazing life transformation that makes us aware of new things. Maybe travel to a new country that opens our eyes to ways we didn’t know existed.

We like to make a spectacle of enlightenment.
 
But enlightenment is sustained when it is small, not large. When it finds the mundane being just as capable of expanded awareness as the heroic, then it has food to live on. We can’t feed our enlightenment every day with only our heroic deeds and thoughts any more than we are likely to feed our bodies on only gourmet restaurant fare.  We feed ourselves in our daily life with more everyday fare and if you want enlightenment to stay with you, you have to find it there too.
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Drawing and commentary © 2025 by Marty Coleman |napkindad.com
 
Quote is a Zen proverb
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One year ago today at The NDD – Homelessness in Palm Springs
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zen buddhism religion enlightenment mundane everyday hero heroic spectacle 2011

Zen #3 – Lent, Emptiness and The Clay Pot

by | Mar 11, 2011 | Zen | 0 comments

It’s the Ash Wednesday edition of Zen Week at the Napkin Dad Daily
First a limerick I made up:
You know what would be
Really bent?
If I gave up cookies,
Just for Lent.
Emptiness:
It’s what Ash Wednesday and Lent is all about.  It’s about sacrifice, taking something out of your life, not just to feel better or lose weight, but to experience the feeling of sacrifice, of emptiness of what you value and need.
 
It’s one of the reasons people don’t change easily. Change almost always includes taking something away, emptying something from your life.  A relationship, food, drink, behaviors that aren’t replaced. Just an emptiness where something used to be.  A big gaping void.  Not easy to face, not easy to live with.
 
But every emptiness has a shape that contains it.  It might be your stomach, your hands, your living room.  You created that shape, that clay pot.  It wasn’t always filled with what is now missing.
 
When you purposely empty something from your life, whatever it is, don’t forget the clay pot is still there and it can be filled with something new.  Indeed, the great joy of Lent isn’t just that you learn about sacrifice, it’s that you have a new opportunity to fill that emptiness with something better.
 
So the Lent question today is, What are you ADDING into your life along with the sacrifice? What new thing can you fill your vessel with?
 
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And yes, I really am giving up cookies for Lent.  I will report back on my success, and more importantly, what I filled my cookie emptiness with. Stay tuned!

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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily – Making your brain bigger and your day better.
 
Quote by Lao Tzu, 6th century BCE, Chinese – Traditionally known as the founder of Taoism

Zen #2 – Drops of Water

by | Mar 8, 2011 | Zen | 0 comments

In case you want to be one with it, it’s day two of Zen Week at the NDD.
 
Good question.  What’s your answer?

© 2025 by Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote is a Zen Saying

Zen #1 – There is no Path

by | Mar 7, 2011 | Robert Allen, Self, Zen | 0 comments

I am not a Zen master.  Me saying that proves, of course, that I am one.
 

This isn’t about Zen Buddhism, about which I know virtually nothing. It’s about perception and the precision of language.
 
Substitute any of a number of words for ‘Zen’ in the quote above.  Then what? Let’s use ‘self’ for an example. Are you trying to find yourself?  Are you trying to find your ‘self’, in other words?
 
Where is that ‘self’?
  • Does it reside in your career, if only you could get a promotion?
  • Does it reside in your hobbies, if only you could be finish a project?
  • Does it reside in your friendships, if only you could be worthy of them?
  • Does it reside in your makeup bag, if only you would not age?
  • Does it reside in your kids, if only they would not age?
  • Does it reside in your golf clubs, in only you could reach par?
  • Does it reside in your religion, if only you could be good enough?
  • Does it reside in the future, if only you can find it?
  • Does it reside in the past, if only you can recapture it?
Or does your ‘self’ reside right here, right now?  If it isn’t here right now, how are you reading this?  Is it someone else occupying your body doing the reading?  No, it’s you, it’s your ‘self’ doing it.
 
So, back to the ‘precision of language’ I mentioned.  What you pursue is not your ‘self’. Your pursuits are those things I listed and more. You may want those things better understood, better defined, better lived. And that is good, pursue them all with great passion.
 
But call them by their name and don’t be sloppy with your name calling. Their name isn’t ‘self’. You are named ‘self’ and you are here right now. Indeed that is the only place your ‘self’ will ever be.
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Drawing and commentary © 2025 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
 
Quote by Robert Allen, author of ‘Zen Questions’