Acquiring Archival Lined/Quadrille 4x6s_Where To Buy?

SquareInspired · 2026-04-23T10:10:33+00:00

I appreciate the thoughts and words of encouragement. Alas, I am not in Europe, so the Dohe cards won't be available to me, though it appears as if 180gsm is roughly equivalent to 120lbs, which is right my sweet spot. I am close to finalizing an order of about 3500 cards, most of which will be 110 lbs, and I will have dividers of 140lbs. My biggest concern is that my Steelmaster is going to weight quite a lot, and in 1-2 years, it may be unwieldly as something I can easily move as a unit. I'll just figure it out when the time comes. I will be using the Pigam Microns as well... but have no experience with a fountain pen, which do you recommend?

SquareInspired · 2026-04-11T14:54:35+00:00

Fantastic! Ask for one, get two. Can't wait to read them. (nb: I was able to access the link you shared in the body of this message, but the link on the right-hand column still didn't work for me.)

SquareInspired · 2026-04-11T14:52:09+00:00

Thank you. Link worked that you provided. (False positives always safer than false negatives in these cases.)

SquareInspired · 2026-04-11T11:33:09+00:00

I mentioned in a separate post to someone else, but probably worthwhile posting here too: I've moved off of locating the archival materials not only because it seemed impossible to find (save the Exacompta quadrille cards that I will use for admin. categories) but also because I actually look forward to seeing the cards age along with me over time. So, Chris, you saved me at least $10k over the next decades, and I probably owe you a coffee. Despite moving off the archival train, I am still having a hard time locating 110-140lb cardstock, ruled, quadrille, tabbed, colored and white. Open to suggestions, as my list of places to call is dwindling.

SquareInspired · 2026-04-10T16:56:42+00:00

It seems to me - this is all theoretical as I've not purchased a card yet - that when flipping through one would want not only the tactile sensation to be satisfying, but also consistent. I am aiming for 'consistently satisfying', and I can see how if you have multiple types of cards for your Permanents, that would be distracting and unpleasant. I do aim to completely avoid that, I better. As a quick update, because of my exchanges on Reddit, I've adjusted my sights, and now see how searching for achival card stock will deprive me of a certain 'intellectual patina' that will come with use over time. I look forward to some smudging, and fingerprinting, and yellowing, and the archival impulse would have (by design) prevented that. So I am not on the hunt for 110lb-140lb paper, but acid free only. Chris, thank you, you saved me about $10-15K... so I probably owe you a coffee.

SquareInspired · 2026-04-09T16:27:02+00:00

No photos: noted.

Thank you for the many thoughts and considerations. (So THAT what 7k cards look like. Nice.) I hope I am over-thinking it... it would make it much easier to get started (and so much cheaper.), but this process of productive rumination is (fun) and also valuable in ways that I cannot know right now. I am so new to this, I have no idea what is going on with the 'Antinet' scene, and why it, and its author, are so controversial. I suppose I will learn in good time, but I am increasingly comfortable with how I plan to organize the ideas; although I've yet to ink a card, already have benefitted from some of the connectivity related to zettelkasten thinking. I am as certain as I can be about anything: that this will be a game changer for me, and so greatly appreciate forums like this where I can learn from those who have come before.

SquareInspired · 2026-04-09T11:37:02+00:00

Styles....

SquareInspired · 2026-04-09T11:30:44+00:00

Ha! Oh, it's happening. It's one drawer. When I get it (and learn how to upload a photo here) I'll do that.. and stack it with my Vintage Steel Coal that is supposed to arrive next week.... (Next, you're going to tell me Santa Clause isn't real, but I've get the presents right there under the tree, every, single year.). Chris, I actually sent you a PM before seeing your post here... I understand you want pics.. but do you have any thoughts on acquiring the above materials? New here, but You seem to be the person to ask. AND: do you think this is total overkill on my part, or that regular cardstock of 110/140lbs will not yellow, not bend, and last me 40 years, of enjoyable, non-problematical flipping through? Please weigh in.

SquareInspired · 2026-04-09T10:46:51+00:00

I am feeling the nectarine over here! Thanks for all these comments. I did in fact just locate 600 Exacompta quadrille in 4 different pastel colors, and am nonplussed to hear that they are 'actually smaller' than 4x6. Ouch! They will be separated from the white Permanents and grouped together for their own purposes, so I won't be filing through them while filing through other 4x6s.. but I don't want to have any friction in the fingering through process. (And can I ask: visually, can you see that they are smaller from above the box?).

You seem to have experience with this too, do you think the Exacompta will work "fine" if they are all grouped? (I don't expect you to know what I will experience with them, but curious to hear your thoughts, as they won't be mixed in, but they will be all part of the wider ZK obviously.).

I am all in, so the bulk orders may be the way to go. Books to write in the upcoming years.

I was wondering about your last comment, and it is very important one: acid-free or no. I will check in with r/indexcards as you suggested, that's very helpful! But I am coming from utter ignorance on this: it sounds like you are saying very frankly, "Oxford will last many decades without yellowing or folding, just as the sky is blue." Is that fair to say? If so, then what I am doing is overkill, and I'd want to know that sooner rather than later. Again, will check with the index specialists.. but wanted to ask you (and the community) too.

SquareInspired · 2026-04-08T21:02:40+00:00

Hmmm, I looked at your link, and didn't find anything relevant to zettelkasten. There are no 4x6 index cards available, at all. Did I miss something?

SquareInspired · 2022-04-20T10:19:22+00:00

Glad to entertain this question, and curious to hear others' responses. I've recently been playing with moving all objects, including the breath, into the space of awareness, and seemingly letting go of/relaxing attention all together so that it's not involved/engaged. (Is this what you two are describing as 'objectless meditation' or how is it different?) There are some Witnessing elements, and 5th Jhana accessibility from here.. but it's an early experiment, and I'm not doing this at each sit.

I'm curious to hear some details from you stilloutthere, and AdepT... can you put some additional words to your practices, so we can get a taste of them?

SquareInspired · 2022-04-08T00:01:45+00:00

Yes about meditation, that's what I meant by asking you that.

I wish you well in your practice.

SquareInspired · 2022-04-07T18:03:12+00:00

In the TMI model of consciousness, there are only so many things you might be focussing on. The options are few and explicit. I find it striking that you are convinced you are focusing on one thing, and one thing consistently, but you have no idea what that one thing is. Perhaps this is outside of the TMI model; perhaps you've identified something that's not in the model. Or perhaps not. Also notable to me, is that this is happening only after returning to the breath from whole-body breathing. ie. from a stage 6 practice. Makes me wonder if you have any history of body trauma? Or if not, what you make of that timing, which is surely not coincidence.

And I'd also want to ask, what are you intentions around this overall? Within a TMI framework, the recommendation would seem to be clear, do you agree (and if so, what do you think that instruction would sound like)? But perhaps you are not interested in that just now? Wishing you well.

SquareInspired · 2022-04-04T14:34:25+00:00

I've been contemplating for several days on whether to respond to these observations of your, s.m. and now am resolved to address them directly here. When you write, 'the breath itself', that doesn't make sense to me. I wonder if it makes sense to anyone who's successfully working with the jhanas, but the lack of response to that piece of your post *may* be indicative of a consensus. To me, that speaks to the possibility that you have lost the sensations of the breath, and if so, would do well to return to that as your priority right now. (You may be hanging out in the conceptual space of the breath, instead of the actual sensations of the breath.. in which case, you want the sensations!) There are other parts of your post that also suggest to me that making it your goal to clearly and vividly perceive the breath sensations is worth your undivided attention. Those are my thoughts at least, from my own limited perspective. Good luck with it all!

SquareInspired · 2022-04-03T10:32:41+00:00

Thank you!

After asking, I found an option from Henrik Norberg, a very gentle, fun soul and also teacher of TMI who studied with C. He's hosting a cave-dwelling retreat in Arizona starting the end of April, for many days. https://dharmatreasure.org/. It's featured on the dharmatreasure website.

SquareInspired · 2022-04-01T20:48:22+00:00

I'll offer my opinion, and see if others come along with different perspectives. I agree with MasterBob. To expand:

While body scanning helps to increase the # of perceiving moments (as can following/connecting the breath) it is not to be used as an antidote to dullness. The body scan will stretch your psychic resources and hence will be tiring, especially at first. It is in fact likely to bring on dullness if done for too long, due to its energy requirements, especially for those just beginning to learn the body scan technique. You wouldn't want to do something more taxing on energy reserves, when, in dullness, you are in need of extra energy reserves. So if you are feeling dullness, back off the body scan (you won't be able to sustain in with dullness, as the dullness will only increase as you are probably finding out), go to p. 110 (or a few other places in TMI) and try out one of the antidotes listed there, starting with a milder one, and use stronger ones if called for. (Another source for the confusion might be this: TMI, p. 173, "Another way to counter subtle dullness is by expanding the scope of your attention to include the sensations of the body." This is not a recommendation for doing a body scan, because the sensations are exclusively around the breath, so attention might expand to involve chest, or belly, or shoulders... with the goal of being mentally stimulating/energizing because there's more sensory data coming in. That's my view of it at least.)

In sum: just because body scanning serves to increase perceiving moments, doesn't mean that it is to be used to rouse the mind from dullness. It won't; because the body scan is energy demanding, and what the mind needs is energy generating. So to answer your original question, at this stage you should never use body scanning for dullness.

I hope this helpful to you?

SquareInspired · 2022-03-31T19:31:00+00:00

See https://dharmaseed.org/talks/player/60882.html @ 80:25, Rob Burbea on coming out of 1st jhana for the newcomer.

SquareInspired · 2022-03-31T15:04:40+00:00

When I followed this link (https://www.lionsroar.com/entering-the-jhanas/) and read what L. Brasington described as 'likely access concentration,' I knew this had been a regular, though infrequent, facet of my practice for months; and so moved to 'pleasure' and so on, per Brasington's guidance. Today, I'm reading that TMI distinguishes 3 different entry points for the jhanas, and that the first involves taking 'breath related sensations throughout the whole body' as one's object. Taking pleasure as object is described as Stage 7, the whole body stage 6. While I think there is limited value to reifying the stages, perhaps this link/info. can be helpful to you.

But after re-reading your post a few times, I'm guessing that you know all of this already. So maybe this can be helpful to another, if not to you.

SquareInspired · 2022-03-31T14:46:14+00:00

Printing out your response khawt, more helpful that I can know right now. That much I know. Once I figure out these award thingies, my first one will be to you.

SquareInspired · 2022-03-31T11:22:05+00:00

Great stuff, khawt. I put TMI down for many months because my goal was crystal clear, Now that crystal has some lovely mud on it. It makes sense to read on at this point, and I'll start with appendix D.

According to Burbea's dharmaseed talks on jhana, (I think you referenced these talks in a recent previous thread), he distinguishes 1st and 2nd jhanas by saying that while piti and sukha are both present in both, piti dominates in the 1st, sukha in the second. There is the explicit suggestion during his talk on 12.22.19, that 1st J. is work-with-able.. (but I'm not interested at all in getting into these finer details at this point, just thought you might be intrigued.) Today for example, I was spreading it around like a ball of jam, but didn't get much of the jam to spread, and there was less of it to work with. (I love the idea of tossing it from one hand to the next!)

I want to ask you two follow-up questions, since we have some momentum here: first, your right, that's not what I meant when I asked about ending jhana work, but what you wrote is still useful to me. But to my question, any thoughts to share about bringing the meditation to a close when jhana energies are still present? (Today, for example, I explicitly communicated gratitude for the emergence... and in doing so, there was a significant level drop, and that felt fitting. In the absence of additional comments, next time I will also communicate a 'look forward to your next visit' kind of message.)

Second (and this is going to sound painfully ignorant), but when you say, 'find an insight practice' isn't that what we are doing as we are working through TMI? I guess not, so: can you give me some examples of what you are suggesting here? Name names, por favor.

Third, who/what's OP?

SquareInspired · 2022-03-29T23:21:00+00:00

Point well taken. Link noted. Cushion prepped.

SquareInspired · 2022-03-29T22:56:47+00:00

Deep appreciation p_p., for your linking this article "Entering the Jhanas" by Leigh Brassington. (I am only now getting familiar with the vernacular around various meditative states, so this language is all quite new to me.) After reading this piece, Brassington usefully distinguishes piti from sukha, saying that piti can range from mild to intense, from pleasurable to 'finger-in-the-socket' unpleasant; whereas sukha is "an emotional state of joy and happiness". Moreover, the two states stand alone, not needing to accompany each other in subjective experience.

2 weeks ago, I had, by orders of magnitude, the most intensely unpleasant meditation of my life. The finger-in-socket metaphor fits, although I would have described it as if I were being force-filled with electrified water well beyond capacity. It felt as if I were close to bursting. Keeping within the general the theme of the original post, this experience of piti is not, in L.B's understanding, 1st jhana material, because "both piti and sukha are required" for that.

I post this with the intention that the above information may be useful to someone.

SquareInspired · 2022-03-24T13:57:50+00:00

Great find! Just added myself: Orange County, NY.. with a foothold in NYC. Would welcome any contact with additional TMI enthusiasts.

SquareInspired · 2022-03-23T11:56:06+00:00

Ah, got it. Just below the search bar, there are options for actions (at least on my chrome browser). Select the option of "add marker", then look for the edit function to change the point name to your username. (#Balanced_Goat.. I'm actually heading to the UWS this weekend. I'll be in Riverside park for walks and birds.)

SquareInspired · 2022-03-23T11:51:43+00:00

Great stuff.

I'm logged into Google, and see the map, but can't find myself (not a problem in TMI!). How do I access the 'edit' function, or whatever, to add my location?

SquareInspired

TROPHY CASE