Category Archives: Social Science

Words Which Harmonize

There are all sorts of books which describe how to meditate and what formulas to pronounce during these meditations. I do not deny that they are beautiful, useful, and effective. But there are two words which are never mentioned, words which for me are the most powerful of all, words which clarify, which harmonize, and which heal, and these words are “thank you”.

–Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Invite the Divine

Home altars can be a space for prayer, meditation, reflection, intention; to me its presence seems like a source of protection and blessing. Home altars connect us to ancient traditions of worship, acknowledging our ancestors and their connection to the divine. In creating an altar in your home you invite the divine into your daily life, I think.

–Frances Pullara, Sacred Ordinary

altar

I’ve had a home altar since 1998. It has always contained items of great personal and spiritual meaning. Now I have two. One is in my bedroom; it is a version of the one from 1998, with mostly family photos and tokens — an altar for my ancestry. The altar in this photo is in the living room; I use it more. There are various Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Pagan elements to it, and there are items from family and friends that have been given in blessing over the years.

Nothing More Astonishing

There is nothing more astonishing than a human face. It has something to do with incarnation. You feel your obligation to a child when you have seen it and held it. Any human face has a claim on you, because you can’t help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness of it. But this is truest in the face of an infant. I consider that to be one kind of vision, as mystical as any.

–Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Hidden

I have spent the past five days nestled deeply in my own self and home. Lovely emails have come from compassionate people; each one is a comfort. I simply don’t feel motivated to respond. It bothers me a bit, this absence of initiative. If people take the time and make an effort to connect, I feel I should respond, to at least acknowledge the message. My throat has been very sore, too, from the anesthesia and breathing tube, so talking hasn’t been a priority either.

I find it interesting how, since the advent of email, my sense of urgency regarding communication has changed. There is more pressure (internal) to be quick, lest the sender worry or take offense.

I’ll emerge at some point. In the meanwhile, I have been resting, recuperating from the surgery, and reading. For the record, here is a list of what brings me pleasure or joy since my situation has changed; now I get to:

  • take long, hot baths
  • drink an ice-cold bottle of Shiner Bock
  • indulge in a glass of fine wine
  • go bike-riding
  • go hiking
  • eat Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey
  • avoid spending money on clothes I’ll only wear a short time
  • feel energetic rather than sleep all the time
  • not run to the bathroom every hour
  • be free of nausea
  • eat Brie and feta cheese
  • pet cats that are strangers to me
  • eat seafood without as much concern about mercury
  • read as much as I want
  • live according to my own schedule

Just trying to look on the bright side.

If There is Love

If there is love, there is hope that one may have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education or material comfort you have, only suffering and confusion will ensue.

–His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Little Book of Buddhism

[via Whiskey River]

A Practice I Could Stand to Implement

Materialism and the acquistion of stuff infects so much of our lives, and goes way beyond simply acquiring material goods. We accumulate all kinds of other things too: practices, tools, ideas, paths, teachings. Sometimes, when we are most lost in this downward spiral, we think if I just had one more theory, one more facilitation tool, one more spiritual practice, I would be complete.

And the truth is, we rarely utilize all that we do have to its fullest potential. We confuse span with depth, as Ken WIlber would put it: we think “more” equals “better.”

You could for example acquire a whole range of meditation practices, or you could simply sit for twenty minutes a day for the rest of your life and be mindful of breathing. I would be surprised if anyone could truly plumb the depths of breath practice completly, but how many people simply make the decision to “make do” with one practice and devote the rest of their life to it?

“Making do” means stopping the act of skimming surfaces and settle down into deep appreciation of what we have around us. It is subtly different from “good enough” becasue it is not about accepting mediocrity. It is rather about deepening the uses and possibilities of what we have — finding the aristocracy in the clover.

–Chris Corrigan, Parking Lot

The Reality At Hand

About one month ago I wrote about a dream that was beginning to manifest but that was also at risk. I wrote about coping by living in the present, and it truly did work. Focusing on what was really true, on what I really knew, spared me hours of worry and permitted me to at least enjoy life at that time. However, today is a day of sorrow. The dream is lost, for now. There may be another time when it comes to fruition, but for now, I will focus on the reality at hand. It is important to observe loss and give oneself time to mourn.

A Silent Sorrow

A miscarriage is a particularly silent sorrow since others often fail to recognize the agonizing emptiness it leaves behind. When you lose a baby early in the pregnancy, you may have to deal with a lack of concrete memories about your baby and the absence of established rituals to mark this sad event in your life.

You may take some comfort in learning that you are not alone since most pregnancy losses occur in the first three months, or trimester, of pregnancy. Miscarriages account for almost 95 percent of all early losses up to 20 weeks gestation, after which they are considered to be live births or stillbirths.

A miscarriage ends the pregnancy just as it was beginning, sometimes only weeks or days after you and your partner realized you were going to become parents. Your joyous expectations were suddenly turned to grief, and the pregnancy may now seem unreal, even to you.

–Perry-Lynn Moffitt

See her recommended reading list here.

Made Primarily For Blessing

There was a young couple strolling along half a block ahead of me. The sun had come up brilliantly after a heavy rain, and the trees were glistening and very wet. On some impulse, plain exuberance, I suppose, the fellow jumped up and caught hold of a branch, and a storm of luminous water came pouring down on the two of them, and they laughed and took off running, the girl sweeping water off her hair and her dress as if she were a little bit disgusted, but she wasn’t. It was a beautiful thing to see, like something from a myth. I don’t know why I thought of that now, except perhaps because it is easy to believe in such moments that water was made primarily for blessing, and only secondarily for growing vegetables or doing the wash. I wish I had paid more attention to it. My list of regrets may seem unusual, but who can know what they are, really. This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.

–Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Teeter-Totter

This is especially applicable to me personally at the moment. It’s also from a blog that is new to me. Take a peek.

We walk a teeter-totter each day between all that we have known and experienced in our past and all that we hope and dream for our future. The tension between these two poles forms our awareness of who we are. If I am to grow and become the very best version of me possible, I cannot lean too heavily toward what happened yesterday or what may happen tomorrow. However, neither can I totally disassociate myself from them. I must strive to learn from those things that I have experienced in the past without lingering or wallowing there. Similarly, I must look to my hopes for the future to guide me without escaping into a daydream that prevents me from savoring the experiences that are being offered today.

–Nan, Dancing the Tide

The Light From The Darkness

A rabbi asked his students, “When is it at dawn that one can tell the light from the darkness?”

One student replied, “When I can tell a goat from a donkey.”

“No,” answered the rabbi.

Another said, “When I can tell a palm tree from a fig.”

“No,” answered the rabbi again.

“Well, then what is the answer?” his students pressed him.

“Only when you look into the face of every man and every woman and see your brother and your sister,” said the rabbi. “Only then have you seen the light. All else is still darkness.”

Manufactured Suspense

The grocer begged customers to return the books, but if they refused, Canadian publisher Raincoast Book Distribution sought an unprecedented injunction from a provincial court to keep the storyline a secret.

…Justice Kristi Gill ordered the 14 customers not to talk about the book, copy it, sell it or read it until after midnight on this upcoming Saturday.

—Store puts Potter books on shelves too early

When I worked at Borders, it was absolutely critical that books never went on the shelves prior to the release date. Bookstores and publishers take this very, very, very seriously. I do wonder, however, where the hell our priorities are, when we treat the release of a popular writer’s work as though it contains potent secrets that must be carefully managed. I mean, a judge got involved, fercryinoutloud!