Category Archives: Humanities

Smack Dab

Halfway Down

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn’t any
other stair
quite like
it.
i’m not at the bottom,
i’m not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn’t up
And it isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn’t really
Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!

–A.A. Milne

A Great Idea

You’ve been here before: It’s the bazaar next door to the sanctuary, the place all the Unitarian Universalists go after a Sunday morning service to grab a cup of fairly-traded coffee, find a friend, navigate around the card tables strewn with social-action petitions, groan about (or praise!) the choir, amend the sermon, buy a book, look for brunch partners, or lurk hoping to overhear something really interesting. The walls of the parish hall are covered with bulletins and posters for this or that committee; the brochure rack invites you to “Meet the Unitarian Universalists” and hear the voices of UU theists, humanists, Christians, feminists, and on and on. It’s a lively place — so lively, in fact, that although ministers might not want to admit it, some people in the congregation show up only for Coffee Hour.

Surely you’re thinking: What a great model for a group blog! Thanks to My Irony’s Chutney, a group of us UU bloggers have been talking for the last month about ways to expand and enrich the on-line conversation about Unitarian Universalism, liberal religion, and the UUA. Today we’re debuting Coffee Hour, an interactive group blog.

—Coffee Hour

[via Across, Beyond, Through]

I identified as and attended a UU church for several years before moving to Austin; since moving here I’ve visited Live Oak Unitarian Universalist and First UU. While I don’t attend or formally identify myself as such, if I were to be categorized religiously, this would be the most likely spot for me. I’m pleased to see an online community blog established!

A Poem As Lovely As…

Sometimes I come across a tree which seems like Buddha or Jesus: loving, compassionate, still, unambitious, enlightened, in eternal meditation, giving pleasure to a pilgrim, shade to a cow, berries to a bird, beauty to its surroundings, health to its neighbors, branches for the fire, leaves for the soil, asking nothing in return, in total harmony with the wind and the rain. How much can I learn from a tree? The tree is my church, the tree is my temple, the tree is my mantra, the tree is my poem and my prayer.

–Satish Kumar, editor Resurgence magazine

[via Luminous Heart]

This quote reminds me of a poem I grew up with:

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

–Joyce Kilmer

Seeing Humans With Empathy

Euan mentioned a conversation he had with another blogger who was deeply disturbed by the images of Nick Berg’s execution. He then made an observation:

I know I have written about this before but yet again I was struck that, bizarrely, I have at least as much compassion for the perpetrators of such acts as their victims.

With any luck, until their untimely death, the victims will have had happy, joyous lives and inhabited a world of love and relationship. Yes they have died a horrible death but now it is over. The perpetrators on the other hand must exist in a world of absolute horror, terror and alienation and their living hell continues.

It is inconceivable to me to inhabit a world where such acts of cold blooded cruelty are OK and I find myself feeling for sorry for people who have created such a living hell for themselves.

I can, abstractly and intellectually, align myself with his position. Having seen the video of the murder, however, I am a long way from feeling it in my soul. Still, it seems worthwhile to attempt, or at least consider.

A Mistake

The conception that the physical body is made of sin and that this is the lowest aspect of being will very often prove to be a mistake, for it is through this physical body that the highest and the greatest purpose of life is to be achieved.

–Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan
From: A Meditation Theme for Each Day
Selected and arranged by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

To Be Or Not To Be A Mother

You may notice in my sidebar that my “currently reading” list includes five books on pregnancy and motherhood. I’m of an age where I’m considered “past my prime” for it. On the other hand, it’s not out of the question. I’ve set out to make an informed choice. A friend gave me several of her books, and I purchased one on pregnancy for women over 35.

One decision I need to make is if this is truly an endeavor I want to give my life to. Assuming I succeed and bear a healthy child, do I, at this point in my life and career, want to incorporate the vocation of parenthood? One thing I know for certain: I have the capacity to be a marvelous mother, far more so that I would have been in my twenties and thirties. I know who I am, and I like myself. I do believe self-knowledge dovetails with good parenting.

The problem is that there are very real risks with midlife pregnancy. In addition, the possibility increases that my fertility has waned. Do I want a child so much that I will undergo all possible treatments and get into debt? No, I don’t want to go that far. I also need to consider the impact that being an older parent will have on my child. So many questions.

My partner and I have considered adoption, and we haven’t ruled it out. Yet he is keen to try having a biological child first. So we begin by learning in order to make a responsible choice.

I surfed and located several sites offering support for older mothers; there are fewer sites for this population than I’d hoped.

Mothers Over 40

Mothers 35 Plus

Midlife Motherhood

She Knows Network: Midlife Moms

Hip Mama (not just for older moms)

And the books I’m reading:

Pregnancy and Childbirth: The Complete Guide for a New Life

Planning Your Pregnancy and Birth, Third Edition

The Hip Mama Survival Guide : Advice from the Trenches on Pregnancy, Childbirth, Cool Names, Clueless Doctors, Potty Training and Toddler Avengers

Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It

Your Over-35 Week-by-Week Pregnancy Guide: All the Answers to All Your Questions About Pregnancy, Birth, and Your Developing Baby

Anne Lamott’s book, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year, also came highly recommended.

First Noble Truth & The Heart Of Christianity

I was raised in the Christian (Catholic) tradition. Over the years I have discovered Buddhist teachings to be compelling, and yet the roots of my spiritual origins run deep. I read a post on another blog which makes me curious to explore more the connections between Christianity and Buddhism.

Suffering, symbolized by the cross, is at the heart of Christianity. Simone Weil calls this penal suffering, suffering inflicted upon one by external force, reducing one to matter. This is a time of penal suffering — of occupying armies, of militant religions, of spineless and duplicitous politicians, of rabid crowds, of jeering, abusive soldiers. The engine of force grinds on day and night, crushing everything in its path.

Suffering is also the first noble truth of Buddhism. Dukkha: the unsatisfactoriness of conditioned phenomena. Birth, old age, illness, grief, despair, death. The vulnerable, mortal body. What is the origin of suffering ? Craving. Clinging. And cessation ? The eightfold path — right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.

Christ was the consummate Bodhisattva. One could imagine this, from the Bodhisattva vows, in the Sermon on the Mount: Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Compassion is at the heart of both religions. We are not separate from one another. We are members of the Body of Christ. How can we, then harm one another ?

Craving. Clinging.

The incarnation. God puts on the humiliating mantle of flesh. The latin words from Arvo Part’s ravishing setting of the Nicene Creed — Deo de deum, lumen de lumine, deo vero de deum verum — run through my head. God from God, light from light, true God from True God. Consubstantial. Incarnation: form and emptiness consubstantial. The incarnate God, tortured. Soldiers jeer. High priests, avid to preserve their authority, call for death. The viceroy washes his hands.

—Paula’s House of Toast

Change Your Mind Day

Austin will soon observe its third annual Change Your Mind Day. From the press release:

Buddhism has come to Austin and is here to stay: There are nearly a score of Buddhist organizations in Austin to date, from temples to weekly meditation and discussion groups, representing several Asian ethnicities as well as the new American Buddhism, with growing numbers of ordained monks and nuns along with lay practitioners. To promote awareness of this growing movement in Austin’s religious and cultural landscape, on June 5 “Change Your Mind Day” will bring teachers and representatives from most of Austin’s Buddhist centers to a friendly public setting for a day of introductory talks, meditation instruction, chanting, tea ceremony, Buddhist art, and other events, free of charge to the general public.

For more information, visit Buddhism in Austin. This event is hosted by the Austin Zen Center, sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and presented by Tricycle: the Buddhist Review.

Thanks For The Clarification

Intrinsic enlightenment refers to the idea that all living beings are Buddhas. It does not mean that beings possess a Buddha nature, or that beings are containers in which a seed form of Buddha can be found, as if there were two realities, beings and Buddha. It means that beings are Buddhas, but they are blind, stupid Buddhas who are ignorant of their true nature.

–Francis Cook

[via whiskey river]

The Six Perfections

What is Bodhisattva?

A Bodhisattva is motivated by pure compassion and love. Their goal is to achieve the highest level of being: that of a Buddha. Bodhisattva is a Sanskrit term which translates as: Bodhi [enlightenment] and sattva [being]. And their reason for becoming a Buddha is to help others. The Bodhisattva will undergo any type of suffering to help another sentient being, whether a tiny insect or a huge mammal. In Shakyamuni Buddhas ‘Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines’ it states: I will become a savior to all those beings, I will release them from all their sufferings. If this sounds familiar to anyone not acquainted with Buddhism, then you only need to think of the example of Jesus Christ, a true Bodhisattva.

–Lisa Maliga

The mind must become enlightened by generating The Six Perfections.

  1. generosity
  2. ethics
  3. patience
  4. effort
  5. concentration
  6. wisdom

Alfred Adler & Abraham Maslow

In a brief article, “Alfred AdlerÂ’s Life: Five Lessons for Everyone,” Ed Hoffman highlights five of Adler’s personal characteristics that contributed to his extraordinary influence on contemporary psychology. In another article, “Abraham Maslow: Father of Enlightened Management,” Hoffman clarifies the connections among enlightened management, quality products, and psychologically healthy employees. Both articles may be found at http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/.

Edward Hoffman, Ph.D., a New York City psychologist, is the author of “The Drive for Self: Alfred Adler and the Founding of Individual Psychology” (Addison-Wesley, 1994); “The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow” (Tarcher/St. Martin’s Press, 1988); and “Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow” (Sage, 1995).

[via Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco & Northwestern Washington]