BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog – a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts.

Phenomena = Catalyst = Reaction = Teacher = Realisation

Our being is the clarity of uncontaminated consciousness, which is completely content, understanding and compassionate. Being in a body, we experience all sorts of phenomena – both pleasant and unpleasant – but before judgement rises, we remain in the original state of pure consciousness.

Reacting to temporary phenomena clouds and contaminates the mind by distracting it, and causes confusion and doubt to arise. Once we realise our true nature of emptiness/shunyata, any reaction in our mind is seen clearly, and spontaneously reminds us of our pure state. Appearances and recognition are simultaneous. It is from this viewpoint that we can now address the world without causing harm, and hopefully be of benefit. That is wisdom.

Being otherwise, we are the cause of confusion, disagreement and harm.
All events are catalysts that act as a reminder
to curb the habitual behaviour which is the cause of our dissatisfaction.

If others want us to have a reaction, be aware … be very aware.

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Phenomena: a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question.

Catalyst: person or thing that precipitates an event or reaction.

Brain? Mind? Consciousness?

Don’t be confused; they each have different functions.

The brain is a complex wiring system of conduits carrying information. As we experience, the brain develops memory patterns, creating a specific configuration of mind. Consciousness – the life force intelligence – flows through the space within the wiring; the axons. It is through

experience and repetition that the pathways develop, but these cannot go further without personal experience.

This point is very important when it comes to our understanding. Imagine a town you know: in your mind’s eye, you can only go along the streets where you’ve actually been. Nothing registers about the areas you haven’t visited, and so you go back to what is familiar. Of course, there is some subliminal information that gets into our system without us noticing, because we may not be sufficiently aware.

When talking to someone who hasn’t had the same experiences as us, there is a lack of recognition; nothing ‘lights up’ and we are met with a blank expression.

NB Brain cells that are damaged due to a stroke are not beyond repair. They can regenerate. This process of creating new cells is called neurogenesis. With practise and repetition (like everything else), recovery usually occurs during the first three to four months after a stroke.

When does consciousness enter the body? There are different views on this. The word ‘enter’ may suggest many things. Is consciousness created by chemicals, suggesting that it is an organ of perception? Or perhaps consciousness enters the body – in which case, we may infer – or not – that consciousness can also leave the body. Two views, two ways of seeing life.

The mind can change.
The brain can change.
Consciousness never changes.

Practise meditation and see the mind expand.
It is through the quality of our mind that we express our configuration-programming.

Our Mission Chooses Us

If our intention is to discover our true reality, that motivation attracts empathy and inspiration. Likewise, if our intention is to gain over others, that motivation attracts empathy and inspiration – of another kind.

Do we find our teachers, or do our teachers find us?

Life can take some very strange twists and turns, causing our path to change direction. Events become serendipitous – being beneficial to our intention – but where we finally end up depends on our motivation.

When old opportunities wear themselves out and new opportunities are presented, our motivation can become vulnerable. Making the most out of opportunities can be perilous if we are too enthusiastic.

The conundrum:
new situations may be used either for benefit or harm.

If our intention is self-orientated, we will utilise new opportunities.
If our intention is selfless, we will utilise new opportunities.

How we respond is an indication of which path we are on.
Every moment we attract something;
our teachers come in many forms.

Is there any evidence of attraction?
Well, it’s in the way that we see.
The attraction from selfless motivation is that we see everything as an expansion of love.
The attraction from selfish motivation is that we see everything as something to gain.

Do we see the universe as fragmented or as a unity?

When we pray, we speak and the universe listens in silence.
When we meditate, we listen and the universe speaks in silence.

The universe speaks in principles of pure, conscious compassion.
When these are ignored, those same principles transform into
desire, aversion and ignorance.

Blow your mind today … now … by paying attention.

“I Get Nothing Out Of Meditation”

See how easy it is to misunderstand
… and tell the truth!

Meditation Means Distance And Inseparability

Meditation = distance = Shamata = focus = duality
transforming into
Meditation = inseparability = Vipassana = awareness = non-duality.

Distance: watching the traffic jam.
Inseparability: being one with the traffic.

We are the most sophisticated mechanism in the universe
– even while we are shopping and watching football.

Meditation isn’t about stopping thoughts;
it’s about being aware of what the thoughts are doing to us.
That serves as a spontaneous reminder
of the presence of pure awareness.

Meditation is simple, ordinary and natural …
we do it without thinking!

😀 😀 😀

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How And Why Are We The Way We Are?

It’s all to do with experience. Unfortunately, when we hear the word ‘experience’, we assume that we experience everything. We don’t, and haven’t, so ours is therefore a limited experience as we are not fully enlightened yet. Of course, in our small reality, we know everything don’t we? 🙂 Taken out of that reality, however, we flounder. We learn a little something in life, but we rarely wonder where’s that’s leading.

In our early years, whatever we experience, we repeat. This forms the pathways in our brain, our memory bank, our programming, our behaviour and our fixations. These pathways are our hard drive, while the software is written by our experiences, and forms memories. The effect is reminiscent of brand awareness, when recall takes place before we know it. For this reason, we are not fully in control of ourselves.

Whenever something happens, we refer to memory, and that is why we exist in a loop of cyclic existence. We live by fears and hopes, and conform to a type = vertical thinking. The ‘us’ is created through the feedback we receive from others, to which we respond, forming our ‘social I’ and self identity.

There is a method to break out of this pattern of behaviour. It’s called meditation. Meditation is letting go, and opening up to fresh possibilities = lateral thinking.

Choosing to stay with our special programming of ‘it’s all about me’ is vertical thinking = monkey see, monkey do. If, however, we choose to stop and see things afresh, that is lateral thinking = monkey sees, monkey wonders 😀

The choice:
conform or be elevated.

Elevate: Latin elevat- ‘raised’, from the verb elevare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out, away’ + levare  ‘lighten’ (from levis ‘light’).

Don’t feel guilty about conforming.
We all do it until a conflict arises,
and we then either awaken to new meanings
or run back to our ‘safe’ place.

Waking up is truly uncomfortable
as there are no reference points
– but there is a sense of possibilities.

Feedback

Feedback:
The action, reaction, action, reaction loop.

We relate to the world through feedback. It is through feedback that we develop a social I, and this is how we become a closed loop: “Good boy!” “Bad boy!” “Anthony is a dreamer.” 😀

Our problem is that we output bias, and then acquire more output bias from others’ input.  Simply put, we believe the feedback and act on it, when we should question both others’ feedback, and what we hold in mind.

“Okay, I’m dreamer, and that’s my part in life.”
or 
“Hmm … am I a dreamer? I am not ready for your view. 
I need time to consider your theory”. 😀

Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to feed back into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled carefully when applied to feedback systems, ie listening to others.

Simple causal reasoning about a feedback system is difficult because the first system (us) influences the second (others) and the second system (others) influences the first (us), leading to a circular argument (compounded confusion). This makes reasoning based upon cause and effect tricky, and it’s necessary to analyse (meditate!) on the system as a whole. 😀

Meditate and watch the feedback-monster release itself from pure mind.
Feedback turns out to be karma.

The purpose of meditation is to break the cherished circuit.

Unless We Actually Practise …

Unless we actually practise looking into our mind rather than just sitting still,
we will never realise the truth
that pure awareness is constantly present.

Truth cannot be found by talking or reading about it.

In meditation, there is a moment of doubt:
“Is this pure consciousness, or isn’t it?”

That doubt comes from the thinking mind,
while awareness/consciousness is present
simply doing nothing.

We may find that we oscillate between “Is it?” and “Isn’t it?”.
Just let it all be.

The pure experience is that feeling of limbo
– an uncertain boundary –
and that intermediate state is it!

Rest there.
That’s it.

The chattering mind, however, may want more proof.
This is where study is now relevant,
to give us confidence that that is indeed it.

Practise first, study after.
If we study first, this will flavour the practice with expectations.

In Uncertainty, There Is Absolute Certainty

Our mind may be uncertain,
but what recognises that uncertainty?

Do you see the catch we’re in?

We are ever-present consciousness,
which is ignored in favour of intellectual speculations.

Be absolutely certain that consciousness is always present.
It is the intelligence behind intellectualism.

How Many Die Without Knowing Their True Nature?

How many die without knowing their true nature?
How many live without knowing their true nature?
How many know their true nature
Knowledge withheld is power.

It is through meditational insight that we gain confidence in what we actually are, and realise that we are what we have always sought. It stands to reason that it is only through pure consciousness that anything can be known. That is our starting point and our finishing point.

The Alpha and Omega.
The First and the Last.
The Beginning and the End.
What we are now, and what is realised.

We Are All Living In An Hypnotic State

“Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey”.

Slowly, slowly, we lose our sense of reality, and give up our confidence and carefreeness.
We  stare at a screen – “Look into my eyes … interact with my screen … let the computer control you while you think you are controlling the computer.”

The monkey thinks it’s controlling what’s on the screen, while it is itself being controlled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rXrGH52aoM

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
– witches in Macbeth.

The witches (the authorities) are calling Macbeth (the people) “wicked” when, in reality, they are the ones who are “wicked” to the extent that Macbeth’s (the people’s) wickedness can be blamed upon the witches’ prophecies (propaganda).

Meditation is the recognition of being distracted.

Politics

Politics is the control of human resources.
“Never give a sucker an even chance.”
– P.T. Barnum

Politics is a game of sides, each side creating problems for the opposition to blame them – or for them to blame the opposition. This bating charade is watched by supporters. Up in the ivory tower, the owner of the stadium doesn’t care who wins as long as people become addicted and obsessed, and pay for the privilege. Payment isn’t just monetary: we also pay with a reduction in intelligence.

Politicians are voted in to put things right when, through their unconscious bias and incompetency, they actually create more problems (which is the purpose of the game). The crowd shouts out what the players should be doing which probably right, but the ivory tower isn’t listening as it has its own agenda. As long as we react, the men in the ivory tower are laughing.

The point to note is that things never improve … it is just a piece of theatre, selling lifestyles that capture consciousness. The rules of the game; the spectators are the product, and we can only take back our sanity by understanding the game.

Don’t let anyone pull the wool over your eyes.
It’s the same with spirituality, and even meditation.
Always know why you are doing something.

The Ultimate Prize Is Consciousness 

Consciousness is either your prize,
or the prize of influencers.

When we realise consciousness, we realise that we are nothing other than consciousness. If we do not realise that we are consciousness, we will simply become the prize of others. In this way, society is divided, with those who argue about this and that, and those who watch the dance between influencers and the influenced.

Confusion is rampant.
Compliance is rampant.
Complacency is rampant.
Misleading media is rampant.
Normalising restrictions are rampant.
Division is rampant.

It is only through meditation that the mind becomes clear and free of bias, together with a proper understanding of the nature of everything. That clear seeing is pure consciousness.

Evil normalises restrictions so that the collective does not notice. We need a reason to be free, and this is it! Evil has always prized capturing and feeding off consciousness. If we tell a joke, we want people to laugh. If we promote incomplete truths or lies, we want people to believe us.

But if we tell the truth, don’t want people to believe us … we want them to know.

The ultimate prize is enlightenment.
Why settle for anything less?

In settling for less, we become entangled in constructs.

To Tell The Truth, You Don’t Want People To Believe You

You want them to know, themselves.

What Is Hell?

Hell is – our inability to drop our reactions.
Heaven is freedom from hell – we are able to drop our reactions.

Note: there is still a reaction!

Hell is the vicious cycle of existence in which we live. It’s our going up and down and round and round, seeking happiness and finding it, holding on to it and losing it, and seeking it again … in other words, it’s addiction.

In practical terms, hell is not letting go.

We will not drop our attitude, obsessions and trauma and, as a result, we suffer, become angry, suffer, become angry … it is this clinging that turns pure consciousness into a fixed state.

The secret teaching is that we are free in the moment of seeing what is happening. Why is this secret? There are those who don’t actually like us being free: those caught in hell cherish conflict and want us to join them. They become angry when we don’t, so we have to be watchful and skilful in order not to fuel their fixations.

Our entire life is one conflict between hell and heaven.
Hell is closed mindedness clinging to likes and dislikes.
Heaven is awareness, before hell sets in.

We are actually in both places at the same time,
being free in the moment of seeing.

How wonderful!

Do We Use Spirituality To Escape Life?

Spirituality is not about hiding away from desires and adversities.
Spirituality is living life to the full
– making life fruitful.

When we face the music, we are facing the consequences of our actions,
and we realise in that moment that we are free.

How wonderful!

This Is Absolutely The Right Time

This is absolutely the right time. We all go through a process of worry and wondering, and come to a certain point of dissatisfaction. This moment is important, and time to move on.

We recognise that whatever we have heard so far no longer satisfies us as we see only the negative side. There are many levels of understanding: each level uses the same words, but the meaning changes through personal understanding. Even the ‘baddies’ know this with their doublespeak.

In a room full of people all listening to the same teacher, we can respond differently to those teachings. To be honest, fellow students can seem crazy – and that’s when the isolation starts and it’s time to move on.

We can live happily in ‘isolation’ in the midst of the religious and the scholars (although they can be a distraction 🙂 ). It’s how we see, rather than what we are seeing and hearing that matters. There is nothing wrong with being religious (following the form) or being a scholar (following the words) but these have their limitations as it is the realisation of the meaning (the truth) that counts.

This blog is about finding inner realisation in a crazy world full of fantasies of someone or something to chase after. The word ‘Buddha’ means realisation of our true nature and the clarification of the obscurations that conceal that true nature. This is actually a realisation of truth and lies which humanity has pondered for millenia. If we do not know the truth, we live in lies. This is not as harsh as it might sound: we have simply been deceived about our true reality, and that confusion is our path to realisation and enlightenment.

In the first instant of hearing religious or scholarly words, there is no identification or comment, but just pure consciousness. That is the right moment, the right time! Not a ‘special’ occasion. The right time is always now; anywhere and everywhere. That moment of pure consciousness is what we are, and is what we have always been. Without the clarity of purity, nothing would be known. It’s extremely ordinary, simple and natural – without any elaborate behaviour. Our true essence is an uncontaminated state without any name; it is beyond words and names. Being stuck in the words, we become Mara fodder.

Normally, when we humans see something, we refer to memory and judgement, and we react. That is our animal level. Of course, we have to utilise this behaviour to survive, but we can miss the esoteric moment of pure being which is always present. When we miss this, off we go again, back into the war zone, constantly bombarded by suggestions and distractions.

Whatever happens to us is a product from our past, which is karma. Whatever we habitually think is also a produce of the past. It is this that creates our habitual reactions, and our behaviour. When we re-enact, we produce more of the same and become predictable. If, however, we do not just react but sit back for a moment, we can allow our life-programme to display itself, and we don’t have to become involved.

This doesn’t mean we do nothing. We allow space to reflection and, in this way, we can act more skilfully by doing no harm, avoiding gossip, finding harmony. Gradually, the world changes for us. The world itself is still unstable, but now we are no longer caught up in it. We are no longer believers.

Meditation sees to all this – if we know what meditation is for. We start to see our own habitual reactions clearly and, through this observation, we realise and empathise with others’ inner demons, which in truth do not exist. Real compassion and love manifest, and not just for those ‘out of sight’. We take responsibility for our actions, here and now. When we no longer react, evil can no longer feed.

Teachings – what people say – are just generalisations: it is in personal investigation through meditation that those teachings become known, real and alive. The Buddha said, “Do not take my word for it; test it for yourself.”

Demonic activity is just our own likes and dislikes. When give in to these hopes and fears, others can – and do – take advantage.

Understanding this is waking up. Whatever is now presented to us is an illusion – including the idea of ‘waking up’ or ‘freedom’! Demonic minds want us to shout, “Freedom! Freedom!” because, all the while, we will never be free.

Demonic mind is really sneaky.
But we already know this, don’t we?
We already know everything,
but have been taught that we do not know.
That is why we doubt what we know.

We have a monkey mind that jumps all over the place.
The external excites this monkey to keep it busy.

It is said that we should train our monkey mind,
but all we have to do is see it in action,
and it stops in embarrassment!

We know what we are doing.

The Dharma Is Beyond Our Expectations
and our wildest dreams.

The Dharma is blown out of proportion
into something spectacular
… and unattainable.

That keeps us in a state of poverty. We hear fantastic stories from the past, but none of these things happen now. It’s all ‘smoke and mirrors’: intended to make us believe that something is true, when it is not.

‘Deepfake’ does the same thing today. Deep fakes are a form of artificial intelligence — a compilation of doctored images and sounds put together with machine-learning algorithms. Deepfake technology manipulates media by creating people who don’t exist, or by making it appear that real people are saying and doing things they didn’t say or do.

Deepfake has been brought out into the public arena: we can’t even imagine what’s going on behind the curtains …

The world is in a terrible state.
There is no help coming over the horizon, save what we do to help ourselves.

Accepting Others’ Limitations Is Love

Accepting others’ limitations is love.
Seeing others’ limitations is compassion.
Feeling others’ limitations is empathy.
Taking advantage of others’ limitations is selfishness.
Conditioning others’ limitations is evil.

Limitations = suffering.

Love is blind to limitations as it sees through all the conditioning. Love knows others’ true reality, and that those limitations have no inherent existence. Limitations are imposed by those who know that limitations have no reality, and are just a belief.

Love = pure consciousness.
Love is beyond limits.

The way we think about others reveals how we think.
Our problem is that we easily adapt to conditioning!

Become Aware, Now

“But I am aware!”
That’s the mistake we all make.

We are aware of our surroundings and that’s all.
Being aware is realising that we are that awareness.
Consciousness!

Through familiarity with our true nature,
whatever needs to be developed, develops,
and whatever needs to drop away, drops away.

That is dissolution of karma –
or rather, the disillusion with karma:
the disappointment resulting from the discovery
that something is not as good as one believed it to be
… my self.

We have become so familiar with our surroundings
that it’s a shock to realise
we believed that to be our only reality …
“Did I really believe all that?”

Become aware now.
Just see that you are seeing … and drop what is seen.

Now you know.
It costs nothing.

Make Life Meaningful

Don’t settle for anything less
than your own perfect reality.
Who are we trying to impress anyway?

If we do not see evil coming,
we are, unfortunately, already part of it.
Our lives are becoming more restricted.

Arguing about the colour of politics is like
arguing about the colour of a phone;
they all do the same job – make noise.

We are not just a commercial enterprise.
At heart, we are perfect, while being told we’re not.
Life is meaningful when this is realised.

Controlling Our Mind Controls Our Behaviour

If we cannot control our mind, we cannot control either our reactions or our behaviour. This becomes a habit, and our acquired behaviour now controls our mind. We go round in circles and become predictable – every computer knows this! 😀

Being in control doesn’t mean being cold in spirit (as many unfortunately are): it means being skilful, being truly alive and feeling the joy in finding everything fresh. There is always another inspirational approach.

If we do not control our minds, then others will – along with our behaviour. We hear about this every day in the news. This realisation is both a tremendous shock and a relief. Life is now fruitful because we know, as we found out what’s it all about.

The meaning of life:
realising that we have always been free.

Don’t spend a lifetime trying to conform to others’ insecure conformities.

Recognise your madness
and be freeeeee!
😀

We Have To Be Our Own Psychologist

Ordinary psychology just wants us to be ‘normal’, to fit in to the collective. I once spoke to a psychologist and asked, “What your job, really?” She replied, “To get people back to their normal.”

That was the most idiotic answer I’ve ever heard; it was their normal that got them into the state they were in!

I asked a psychologist to speak to my Mum as she was very depressed and unhappy. He came, and asked, “Who is the Queen and what day is it?” and then walked out, saying she was fine.

This is why we have to be our own psychologist – to transcend our dissatisfaction with life, rather than conforming to a collective normal. Professionals don’t want us to break out and think for ourselves; even spiritual groups want us to adopt their ways.

The collective way makes us pay … and take the pill!

We have to take responsibility for the collective way of thinking. As an example, there is a problem with men not respecting women. Some awful-disgusting-dangerous things happen to women. The answer isn’t in making laws or telling people what to do. The answer is in fathers showing respect and friendship to their wives and daughters. Boys learn by example. Throughout generations, men have been subtly indoctrinated by watching other men/TV/films, none of which represent our potential. This mindset comes out even in the tone of the voice, and of course, women react, feeling inadequate or fearful … and so we go round in circles.

Problems are pushed on to us and are never solved. Those who have the power do not want change. Everyone knows that systems do not work perfectly and that things could be better, but unless the change means more profit, no one is listening. Pharmaceutical companies produce treatments, never a solutions to the cause. Our natural body and mind know how to heal themselves: this may not be perfect but it’s what we have to deal with.

Likewise, all Dharma or spiritual talk is about what we naturally are. There is nothing to be learnt – just realised. We don’t acknowledge that we are walking-talking encyclopedias of wisdom.

Seek help from those who show you what you already know,
and realise that you are fine.

Meditation gives us self respect.

We may not stay at the best hotels,
but we make do and mend.

Making do is accepting karma.
Mending is not reacting to that karma.

We may not eat cake,
but good bread and butter is wonderful.
😀

Clearly Seen; Few See It

Clearly seen: pure consciousness just sees. It doesn’t do anything.
Few see it: because we’d rather do something.

Realisation isn’t something fabricated.

Realisation is disappointing … “Is that all there is?”
If you met me, you’d be disappointed … “He’s a bit ordinary.”

We are so used to associating the words ‘pure consciousness’ with a person of ‘importance’ that we fail to see that we are pure consciousness, ordinary and uncomplicated.

What’s the point of realisation?
We gain confidence in what is truth and what isn’t truth. That confidence brings relief of realising that we have always been happy, and that we no longer have to be clever or impressive. We are just pure consciousness embodied in a karmic form of confusion and unsophistication.

With realisation comes the sadness that others do not realise that they too are happy. We have been taught to want to better ourselves, which creates the conditions for unhappiness and intolerance.

What do we do with this realisation?
We earn just enough money to keep this body and mind in good condition, to have time and space to lead a contemplative life, free of fear and hope – and perhaps to pass on what we have learnt before we pass on 🙂

“We have always been free in the moment of seeing.”

What Does “Beyond Birth And Death” Mean?

Taking that saying literally implies something supernatural – that life goes on elsewhere (which may be possible).

Another way to see this is to realise that pure consciousness is always present, and is neither created nor ceases; it just is. This present moment can neither be improved nor impaired.

One view is to relax in whatever happens,
while the other is to worry that we aren’t doing enough.

Whether there is existence after death or not, the point is to live fully, here and now. Unfortunately, these words zoom over our head: we assume that we are living here and now, but we don’t see how we project into the future and hold on to the past.

Living in the here and now is rare. Few realise that this spontaneous presence of Nirvana, Heaven, Zion, Elysium, Paradise … is here, right now. Wishing for something else is living in the angst of hell … right now. Just observe reactions.

It isn’t necessary to be clever or intelligent or scholastic to realise that our true reality is empty cognisance. We don’t see space simply because we are attracted to the things in it. We don’t see consciousness simply because we are attracted to the conceptual thoughts in it.

Be at ease in whatever happens.

Karma brought us here for a reason;
to bring an end to our karmic misunderstanding of reality.
Simply enjoy sweeping the path
so that others see no obstacles.

We can either live in servitude to the strong,
or live in servitude to the weak who think they are strong.

Perhaps there is a beyond, and perhaps there isn’t …
At least we are no longer in hell,
and that’s a relief.

A sense of relief is happiness.
🙂

We Never Noticed The Switch

Do we own our minds and bodies?
Where did our ideas come from?
How long have those ideas been there?

Our mind is full of ideas acquired since birth. Just as the name given to us, we are neither those thoughts or that name. We have become a fallacy, a mistaken belief. An identify is registered at birth to say who we are, and this has nothing to do with our actual reality. We have learnt to believe that we are this name, body and mind, just like everyone else.

Our name represents something recognised by a system as ‘the person’, or as ‘the commodity’.

The system cannot deal with our true reality of pure consciousness, so we become part of the system. We work for someone, who works for someone, who works for someone …

Identity documents are used to prove that we consent to a personal identity, our strawman.
Strawman: getting someone to identify with a fallacy.

When we meditate, we discover that
we are nobody else’s imagination
but our own.

We are enlightened beings;
rulers in an independent state.
That is our right of birth
… and we never noticed the switch.