now, to make up for being confusing, here is something fun to try: go outside, pick up a pebble, and toss it in the air. until that pebble lands, you all by yourself have managed to reduce the mass of the entire planet of earth. congratulations!
*i suppose it could be argued that the earth consists of everything in its atmosphere as well as well as the actual ball of matter. in this case, you'd better have a damn good throwing arm. of course in that case there is also no way to find any actual border for earth, so really perhaps no throw is good enough. or any throw is. either way- congratulations!
buddhism has some really wonderful insights, but then it turns them into incredibly baseless generalizations
http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/attachment.html
One afternoon, Nasruddin and his friend were sitting in a cafe, drinking tea and talking about life and love. His friend asked: "How come you never married?"
"Well," said Nasruddin, "to tell you the truth, I spend my youth looking for the perfect woman. In Cairo I met a beautiful and intelligent woman, but she was unkind. Then in Baghdad, I met a woman who was a wonderful and generous soul, but we had no common interests. One woman after another would seem just right, but there would always be something missing. Then, one day, I met her. Beautiful, intelligent, generous and kind. We had very much in common. In fact, she was perfect!"
"What happened?" asked Nasruddin's friend, "Why didn't you marry her?"
Nasruddin sipped his tea reflectively. "Well," he replied, "it's really the sad story of my life.... It seemed she was looking for the perfect man..."
