"When I pump gasoline into my tank, I can imagine that the gasoline that is actually entering my tank is flowing backwards from my gas tank back through the pump nozzle and into the tank in the ground. From there I imagine the gasoine coming out of the tank in the ground into the tanker truck from the refinery. I imagine a fictional driver "Bob" or whoever, and I thank "Bob" for driving the truck to deliver the gas so that I can use it to live my life. It doesn't matter that the image of "Bob" is an accurate image of some actual person. What matters is that emotionally I am contacting some human who served my life with a deed of sacrifice...
Once I feel that I have thanked "Bob" sufficiently. I continue my exercise at the gas pump by tracking "Bob's" tanker truck to the refinery where I meet "Shirley" the lady who makes out the invoice that is on "Bob's" clipboard. I thank "Shirley" for her work and I thank "Bob" for his work and then listen intently as my gesture of thanks towards them flows into silence...
In this way I can contact numerous unrecognized persons who are serving me by working in the fossil fuel industry. Through this exericse of gratitude I can personalize the issues around the use of fossil fuel and find the serving human being at the basis for most things encountered in the daily life. This goes a long way towards dealing with the nameless and pervasive guilt and anxiety that live in the souls of most people today surrounding the loss of personal power to impersonal organizations and exploitive economic systems."
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:46 PM | Permalink |
Phoenix Soleil is probably swamped with work right now. But I'm telling you about her anyway since she represents a kind sensibility that is somewhat unusual in the computer biz. Her gentle approach to home-and-office computer tech support got her mentioned on the New York version of Daily Candy newsletter this week. She calls herself a "left-brain computer geek, right brain artist" who can help you in person or by phone with your various computer issues, using a language you can understand. "My teaching method is nurturing... My goal is to destroy shame and make using technology enjoyable." Not the standard pitch, right? Brilliant.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:26 PM | Permalink |
In sum, being female and raised by religious parents in a large family appears to make one more religious, whereas being male, educated, in conflict with one’s parents, and older appears to make one less religious. As people become older and more educated, they encounter other belief systems that lead them to see the connection between various personal and social influences and religious beliefs. This helps explain the differences we observed in reasons people give for their own beliefs versus the reasons they attribute to other people’s beliefs.
Here's what he says are the top five reasons people say they believe in God (sorry, you have to work with his awkward syntax here):
1. The good design / natural beauty / perfection / complexity of the world or universe (28.6%)
2. The experience of God in everyday life (20.6%)
3. Belief in God is comforting, relieving, consoling, and gives meaning and purpose to life (10.3%)
4. The Bible says so (9.8%)
5. Just because / faith / the need to believe in something (8.2%)
Have you ever wondered what to do with those raw cacao beans you purchased at the health food store? Remember, those little brown beans of totally unprocessed chocolate that you then gagged on at home because they were so bitter? Fear not, the beans themselves and a clean coffee grinder are all you need to bring anti-oxidant-rich raw chocolate into your life.
Since I've been avoiding tea again (as it inhibits iron absorption), I found the blogging buzz I lacked this morning by placing several heaping tablespoons of freshly ground cacao into a pan of organic milk. I then added a teaspoon of honey, and subsequently enjoyed a bitter cup of hot chocolate on this rainy afternoon that gave me a surge of creative energy! Wheeee...
I'll have to remember this drink the next time I tackle the clutter in the basement (which since mentioning to you, I've realized is more than 12 feet square--not 10--and about six feet high. Thanks for your supportive posts regarding the closet/basement cleaning rituals by the way! I will soon provide vitally important advice on how to purge your home of reminders of deceased people and disappointing relationships.)
In the meantime, here's a better, more official recipe for cacao-packed hot cocoa. And here's a good article about the people who find ingesting cacao a near-religious experience.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:56 PM | Permalink |
I very much like the fact that the New York Times has hired a fragrance reviewer to contribute real journalism on the subject of scent. After years of being pretty primitive when it came to essential oils and fragrances (and a bit like Granny Clampett who as you may recall, used to place "vanilly" extract behind her ears on "The Beverly Hillbillies"), I'm seeing more merit to my least favorite sense. By expanding my appreciation of smell, I've found new ways to be present. I also like the fact that the commercial perfume industry is producing fragrances that are more natural and ephemeral.
What's your pleasure in the realm of fragrance? Everybody's different.
Don't rush out to get married after midnight in Las Vegas, Nevada anymore. Law changes this week force those dying to tie the knot to wait until the morning to get hitched. It's sort of like a gun law, I guess. And not a bad idea.
Learn more fun facts about Las Vegas nuptials (which can be quite spiritual and lovely) on Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway's "Wedlok" blog. She says only four percent of all Vegas marriage licenses were issued in the middle of the night anyway: "And you can still get yours from 8:30 a.m. to midnight seven days a week."
Today, I tried on my first pair of Masai Barefoot Technology shoes--the next big thing for your legs and feet, said to mimic the motion of walking barefoot on the beach. Corporate literature claims that wearing these sneaker-like sabots reduces stress on the joints.
Better still, the all-black style doesn't look too dorky when paired with dark trousers.
I--I think I'm in love, but I didn't buy. Yikes! With tax, they're more than $250!
"...the unique uplifting lever-spring action of the MBT® sole challenges the core strengthening muscles to be more active. This reactive, more supportive muscle action creates good posture and increases shock absorption for all the joints, significantly reducing muscular-skeletal compression..." says one website.
The shoes I tried came with their own videotape that teaches you how to break them in. You begin by wearing them no more than an hour a day.
Is anyone out there enjoying a pair? Please share your experiences!
It was only a matter of time before the ritual of lighting Jewish sabbath candles was put online. Chabad Lubavitch recently launched FridayLight.org, a site that encourages women everywhere to say the Jewish blessing over candles 18 minutes before each Friday's sunset to welcome a full 24 hours of rest and religious reflection.
Click here to learn more about the website and register, click here to see when sunset occurs every Friday of the month.
Click here to learn more about other women--Jewish and non, it seems--who are sharing their lighting rituals online.
I've written two semi-humorous posts on basement and closet de-cluttering in the last week. Some of you took my tone seriously, others knew I was kidding somewhat.
A lot has been written on this subject. And yet, many of our cluttered messes are as vexing as they've ever been. Lord, how we all spin our wheels and procrastinate! That's how I got to thinking about writing some "spiritual satire." I was thinking, "How can we all have more fun with this dead serious task?"
So now, it's day three. I hope to actually help you today. For this is the day to see your clutter for what it is!
1. Take a meditation cushion to your messy place. Sit on it and gaze at your things--try not to fret about what you need to do next. You may notice a neglected holiday decoration, a bag of clothes you meant to give away, a chair you wanted to paint, a box with a bizarre mix of letters, recipes, and books you'll never read.
2. Take a big breath, and fill yourself with love and compassion for all these nutty things, for yourself, for your messy life, for the world and its squabbly people arguing over parking spaces. See your body next to the mess, then see yourself and your mess in an aerial picture from your roof, then from the trees, then from above your neighborhood, pulling focus farther and farther out until you are high above your city now, a city that encompasses many people surrounded by their own troubled closets and basements. From above the earth, you can't see your mess any longer. Stay there for awhile. Just breathe.
3. Then with the intention of neither making your life perfect, nor ignoring what bothers you about it, stand up and put your hands on the nearest piece of your closet/basement chaos: it could be an old sweater that would look swell with new buttons, or a piece of sporting equipment given to a family member years ago.
4. Decide: Is this bundle of molecules, this bit of matter, nourishing me, or should I release it into another's loving arms, or to the garbage and the earth?
There's much less to laugh about at this point, which is why I thought I'd "fun up" my earlier posts. I find the task of not attaching myself to mislaid, odd belongings exceedingly difficult, so hard in fact, that messy basements and closets have tormented me all of my life. I make my situation even more complex by being a frustrated "junque" dealer, pulling in bits of sweetness and sentiment at flea markets which I then can't organize. At present, I've actually got my chaos limited to a ten-foot-square area of our basement. Everything else in our house is in pretty good shape. But it's taken about three years of decluttering to get it down to this stage. And the last hours of work seem hardest.
Holding on, feeling shackled by the chattering thoughts that clutter allows, is a spiritual problem--an agony for me--one we all must tackle with a regular decluttering practice. I like websites like FlyLady.net, that teach people how to sensibly declutter with a regular habit of clearing out and filing for just a few minutes every day.
The thing is to start, and to stay on it. Let the past go, let some unrealistic hopes vanish with it. You can find the boxes, you can hire helpers, you can tear out magazines photos of closets and basements you like. But until you say, "I can move mountains, I am at peace with needing less, I am entitled to t
he freedom uncluttered space brings," only then will you really get steamed, and launch your decluttering practice. Only then will you walk away from the resentment of things not being the way you want them to be. Only then will you step into the daylight unfettered, breathing free.
So today, realize that the scarf you wanted to knit with the yarn you've been saving may never come together, and forgive yourself for that. The universe will find a place for the yarn. Say goodbye to that coat you bought that never worked. In passing it on, you'll find another coat to keep you warm.
Occasionally, you may find in your pile of junk things like these--the note I wrote the dean of undergraduate studies, asking for his permission to drop the Buddhist Thought course I was failing, as well as my oldest son's cartoon history of Christianity ("Jesue loves me!" says Emperor Constantine.)
And then you'll be reminded, as I was, why you didn't burn your whole junky heap! You are careful. You are good to yourself. You know what is of value.
Thanks for listening to all this! Do you have anything to add?
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:01 PM | Permalink |
"...we all have the ability to rule our own world and live with confidence. To do this, we need to use our daily lives to be strong, as opposed to aggressive, and to act with wisdom and compassion. This may sound difficult, but when we begin to mix this ancient wisdom of rulership into our everyday life, we have both spiritual and worldly success. We don’t need to abandon our life and become an ascetic or a monk in order to gain confidence and achieve this success. We can live in the world as a ruler no matter what we are doing."
Astrologer Shelley Ackerman generously mentions her affiliation with Beliefnet.com in this Wall Street Journal article about how minimizing the planetary stature of Pluto could have complicated astrolgoical effects.
"Whether he's a planet, an asteroid, or a radioactive matzo ball, Pluto has proven himself worthy of a permanent place in all horoscopes," says Shelley Ackerman, columnist for the spirituality Web site Beliefnet.com. Ms. Ackerman criticized the IAU for not including astrologers in its decision.
"Others warned that Scorpios--people born between Oct. 23 and Nov. 21--should be especially cautious in the coming days because the sign is closely associated with Pluto.
"Scorpios can be extremely explosive, and very direct, and this could be the trigger that makes them explode," says Milton Black, an Australian astrologer who claims to have more than 580,000 clients. Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, take note. All three are Scorpios."
Well, I hope playing rock music met the negative chi of your messy closet or basement head-on ! Today, we're going to be more assertive with these disaster areas, but we'll fall just short of disassembling them. This is gentle work, best done in the given sequence. Let's take a deep breath and begin.
1. Bring a tall standing lamp over to your troubled basement or closet. Take care that you keep your mess illuminated without setting your home on fire.
2. If you have any bells in the house--musical bell toys, or bells like this--shake them in the vicinity of your well lit mess. Or, grab a kitchen pan and wooden spoon and bang away for a good fifteen minutes. This will make the mess think, "Hmmm. Something's definitely different."
3. As you ring and bang, enjoying all the new light and noise you are shedding on your situation, visualize how you want this area to look. Aim high. Think Pottery Barn or The Container Store.
4. Grab a ladder and hang a windchime or large crystal above your awakening chaos. Here are some nice ones.
5. As you prepare to quit for the day, pray (in whatever way you feel comfortable) for the strength to clear out all the objects you don't need.
6. Avoid drowning yourself in ice cream or other comforting carbohydrates. Come on, you can do this.
7. Check out your local flea market for attractive storage containers and baskets to house the parts of the mess you're keeping. Buy biodegradable garbage bags for whatever you decide to toss and can't give away or recycle.
8. Peek in at the mess. Repeat prayers and visualizations.
Monday: Arm-wrestling the clutter devil!
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:51 PM | Permalink |
"The mind carries its own confusion unless we bring about clarity. Our self-esteem is so vulnerable that our mind comes to our rescue to protect ourselves against the light that would shatter us...It requires a lot of courage to face the truth. That's something we gain as we move from childhood into adulthood...
"As an illustration, say there's a mouse in our hut and we put a flashlight on. All of a sudden the mouse leaps out of the light to get back into the shadow again, but we don't allow it to do that. That's the way our light is able to unmask the hoax and bring it out into the open."
Do you love Garry Wills? Read his article "Christ Was Not a Christian" here.
He writes: "For two years, Jesus slipped through all the traps set for him. He moved like a fish in the sea of his lower-class fellows. He kept on the move, in the countryside. If I think of music to be heard in the background of his restless mission, it is the scurrying agitato that opens Khachaturian's violin concerto. He went into cities as into alien territory. He was a man of the margins, never quite fitting in, always 'out of context.'"
Everyone has a problem area of their home where unused belongings fester for years. This can be tough since often we could really use that space for our trance-dancing, healing work, sauerkraut crocks, or singing bowls.
So, let's get rid of that junk we've come to hate. Let's take back control!
Today, we'll just begin (so as not to tire ourselves). Tomorrow, we'll do more.
1. Start by moving your stereo, boom box or iPod charging station closer to the closet or basement (where your mess is no doubt concentrated).
2. Borrow from neighborhood (or your own) teenagers the raunchiest rock'n'roll CDs they have. Or go to a used CD places, and buy a heavy metal album the management might pay you to take away. I recommend something from ZZ Top, that very scuzzy Texas band of shag-bearded hippies popular in the 1980s. One of their songs employs the telling lyric: "I've got a gal, she lives on the hill. She won't do it, but her sister will..."
Trust me, this is the kind of base, low-down music your messy closets and basement ADORE. They are energetically stuck on this stuff. The idea here is to stop telegraphing your annoyance to your no-longer-needed household items. By offering them music they like, at a root level they "get," you are indicating that you have some appreciation for their past usefulness. You are saying: "Hey, baby. I like what you're about. I can get down. I can relate!"
3. PLAY this music on a loop for them ALL DAY. You may leave your home, meet friends for brunch, shop for groceries, but you must pay this music at reasonably high volume near your messy "hot spot" for at least twelve hours.
This will really get your cluttered area's attention, and perk it up in preparation for the radical transformation to come.
You'll find a great radio conversation here (scroll down to Take Charge of Your Health, Friday August 4, 12 p.m.) between clinical nutritionist and radio personality Corinne Furnari, and cardiologist Dr. Stephen Sinatra. They cover metabolism, weight, and chronic fatigue issues too.
Thanks to CM reader Stephan for providing us with this cool link to the Q-link necklace, which some people believe can increase your energy and provide protection from EMFs. Let's not argue about it. Those who believe will buy, and swear they're being helped. This product seems to be presented at a more sophisticated level than others I've studied.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:32 AM | Permalink |
Thanks to Debra Lynn Dadd's holistic newsletter for informing us all about these eco-friendly backpacks for kids returning to school. The eco lunch bags, shown at right, also make sense for kids, though I'm not sure how a banana would do for three hours in one.
One day, you'll look back and say, "Chattering Mind called it." Not that I have any ego invested...
Please, let's keep talking about this. If I welcome to the demographic unmarried yoginis, anti-war pro-lifers, liberals who aren't parents, women who were against the war but now want to finish what we started, plus all of their "green" friends, lovers, partners, and husbands, I'll definitely have a broader constituency. But what is that, then? That's just a really nice salad of greens. LOHASian (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) people. And maybe some Crunchy Cons. If we all we get together not everyone's Down Dog will be good. But that's okay. I can't get my heels to the floor in that position either.
Let's keep the Yoga Mom idea in play a little longer. I welcome more thoughts on the matter. What an election we'll have in a couple of years! Are you looking forward?
Here are quotes from your posts:
From Daria: "Vitamin-watered, yoga moms pushing Bugaboo strollers through Whole Foods after class sounds more like lifestyle extension than political action. As a group, they seem too diverse and divided on the issues to be a cohesive political force."
Ann Marie: "I am constantly shocked at how shallow our young women in America are today. Bring on the Yoga Moms, if they are socially conscious we may not need to delete as much."
Nancey sees a new group coming comprised of "friendly, non-judgmental, active and passionate, good-natured people" who are "in a crazy world doing their part to be concious about many important things that affect all of us, soccer moms or not."
You DID, however, like my chattering thoughts on the reduced importance of physical beauty, beauty you have to mimic or buy.
Says Stacey-Robin H. Johnson: "I think culture-by-culture we are becoming more aware of our true selves, sans 6-pack abs."
Asks Myrna: "Does this mean that I can stop coloring my hair and give up worrying about a breast cancer re- occurrence because of toxins in the coloring agent?
Says Kathryn: "Life is not about appearances; it's about the action of living life to the fullest and being just who God created, minus the hair coloring, finger/toenail polish, botox injections, etc."
"Think of the smiles on people's faces that come in natural colors and shapes. Imagine the smiles on children's faces who are no longer hungry. Now that's REAL BEAUTY!" writes Nancy J.
Says Kitty: "...just think what a warm, caring smile could do for someone who needs a friend, for a child who only needs love or an elder person with no one to care. Just a simple smile could brighten up their day and show us all a glimpse of heaven."
You know, as I was editing your posts about beauty above, my mind cast back to two icons of glamour when I was a tiny girl: Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe.
When my Dad was out of town, I sometimes stayed up with my mother to see movies or "The Jack Paar Show." And by the time I was a disenfranchised artist-teen, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe were my real goddess-heroes--alluring, sexy, in the brightest of bright lights. Wow.
They were both so talented, so crammed in the tight girdles of their epoch. Soooooo drunk, delicate, and lost!
I don't know that Paris Hilton is any improvement. But I'm happy that many people--you, my readers anyway--are interested in developing a more holistic perspective regarding what being beautiful and glamourous is, maintaining relationships with healthier role models today than we did when we were young.
What goddesses did you adore when you were a child? Was the influence negative or positive, or both?
In late August...I'm sorry...my chattering thoughts drift to school harvest festivals, and Thanksgiving plane reservations and December gifts for family members. If you think your coming schedule is full, start paying attention to every wisdom tradition's holiday! Not only are these sacred celebrations wonderful to know, they widen our knowledge and help us understand other cultures.
The following two sources are really quite fascinating: First, Beliefnet has its own multi-faith religious calendar chock filled with information about holy days and more. Second, Waverly Fitzgerald presents a more elaborate monthly calendar with fascinating links to all manner of celebration, saint days, and more. Did you realize, for instance, that August 24th is both St. Bartholomew's day (he's the patron saint of butchers), and the day the Chinese will celebrate the birthday of the Kitchen God Zaoshen? Trot that out at Thursday's neighborhood barbeque! August 25th marks the Roman harvest festival. And on August 27th, many Hindus will commemorate 'Ganesh Chaturthi,' the fourth day of the bright lunar fortnight of Bhadra. According to one site, "Statues of Ganesha are purchased in the market and installed in the family shrine, where Ganesha is honored with flowers, lighted candles, food including sweet-balls (modokas), prayers and songs."
I am loving the cooler August mornings we've got going here. Bright sun. Breezes tinged with autumnal foreboding. Judaism has it right: This is the sweet ending of the old year.
The farmer's market was exploding with wonderful produce Saturday. This morning, I ate two burgundy and bulbous Heirloom tomatoes I purchaed there, sprinkled with a salt I'm liking that is harvested from the Himalayas.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:42 PM | Permalink |
"Life is dependent on the air around us, and the quality of life is dependent on the quality of air. In an atmosphere of Torah and mitzvot there is healthy life. The first general step in healing is to purify the atmosphere, and is effected through the letters of Torah. When speaking words of Torah while in the store or walking in the street or riding the subway, one purifies the air..."
There's been a lot of press lately about the difficulty of selling homes where something awful has occurred: a murder, suicide, or even divorce. Some people feel spaces can be unlucky or cursed. Whether or not this is true, the belief that something unpleasant might recur is enough to energetically throw off potential purchases transactions. What to do?
Well, a lovely book just crossed my desk on this subject and much more: "The Mystical Guide to Home Inspection: Thoughts from a Holistic Home Inspector" by Faith Ranoli. I love this woman. I just want to hug her. "Everything is energy, even your emotions and thoughts," she writes. Much of the volume is exceedingly practical, but toward the end you'll find information on home numerology, space clearing, and energetic blocks that can impede happiness.
Take a look at Ranoli's website which explains how she consults by telephone, and specializes in homes that are energetically complex.
Two great articles related to Wednesday's new moon in Virgo have been added to Mooncircles.com.
"Virgo is often harshly criticized for being a picky sign... But on a deeper level this sign’s dissatisfied restlessness is more often a symptom of its search for a cause to serve," writes Pythia Peay in "To Serve Without Suffering," her new moon meditation.
"I’m not so sure that an earthy, practical sign like Virgo was ever meant to symbolize anything as otherworldly and unattainable as perfection," writes April Elliott Kent in her article about perfectionism's harmful effects.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:10 PM | Permalink |
The New York Times Sunday magazine ran a long and inspiring article by Lisa Belkin about the arduous task of improving the nutritional quality of America's school lunch programs. Results thus far with obese and at risk children are "cautiously exciting." Did you know that, without intervention, this generation of children may be the first to have a lower life expentancy than its parents? Here's the link.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:31 AM | Permalink |
In the last election, the term "Soccer Mom" described suburban, swing-voting women. The feeling was that Soccer Moms were important because no one was really sure how they'd vote, and that they carpooled in large numbers. In the end, this label was perhaps mostly a media phenomenon, something chewed over by pundits.
So now, here's my question: Are Yoga Moms the next Soccer Moms? And are Yoga Moms a real force? Surely, we can see the Yoga Mom's influence in the marketplace. Who do you think sustains the Whole Foods stores sweeping the country? Who do you think Walmart is trying to please as it presents its new line of organic produce?
Yoga Moms are very "green"--obviously interested in cultivating ways to protect and sustain our environment. They are also interested in bringing women of all faiths/spiritual inclinations back into the women's movement (see my interview with Helen LaKelly Hunt on this). Yoga Moms come from a cross-pollinated spiritual backdrop: They can be Jewish, Christian, pagan, or on a journey and still seeking. Whatever their leanings or origins, they gravitate toward and value the contemplative traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism--whether they're in the suburbs doing health club Pilates, or in urban yoga studios sweating to the kirtans of Krishna Das. Yoga Moms are earning a living and raising children, needing tools to help them relax.
Yoga Moms are pro-choice but you won't ever hear them say that a zygote is not a life. On the war in Iraq: They are mixed. Younger yoginis with kids in strollers were always against and attended all the peace marches. Yoga moms with two kids or more might have been for the invasion, but now are opposed to deeper involvement.
Are Yoga Moms too elite or too marginal a group to have political sway? Tell me what you think. In the meantime, I'll do more research. I know I read somewhere that the person driving up the nation's interest in organic food is the mother seeking to find hormone-free milk for her toddler. I think this dignified, empowered lady holds much more than a bottle in her hand!
This segment from PBS's evening "News Hour" is really worth watching (scroll to Wednesday, August 16, fourth item down). It's about the current trans fats debate in Chicago initiated by Alderman Edward Burke, who thinks the artery-clogging ingredient in many fried foods and packaged crackers, chips, and baked goods should be "outlawed." Keep watching until you see the best part: Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is opposed to this notion, saying: "If we start going in that direction, we'll all start eating carrots and...and tofu!"
Oh my, Dick. A Google search has just revealed to me that your own father, Richard J. Daley, died of heart failure at 74. Maybe it's time to stop joking about healthy eating.
Lots of fabulous mail on my recent post about prayer beads and home altars. Basically, most readers contentedly catch sacred moments when they can.
Krista White meditates and prays in the "woods, washing dishes, waiting in line at the school to pick up my daughter," she says, adding: "This doesn't feel wrong to me as I don't want to get too caught up in ritual and form, thus losing the essence of what feels most important--my connection to the divine."
Stacey-Robin H. Johnson found the maintenance of a large home altar daunting: "I meditate and pray on the train in the morning."
Priscilla Hudson believes it is wonderful to "allow the mundane to be sacred."
Wilhelmenia Bell writes: "Prayer is a good way to relax in a higher divine power than your own being, knowing that there is always a place you can go and allow God to enter in."
"God wants us to come to him just as we are, without any pretenses, conditions, idols, etc. I do prayerfully meditate upon His Word, but I do so freely with any breath that I take, whether it's in the grocery store, walking my dogs, etc..." writes Kathryn.
Here are some new links for you to ponder: an article by Lama Surya Das on how home altars, while not mandatory, can be helpful, and here's a Washington Post story about the variety of home sanctuaries out there. Then here's what appears to be a wonderful book about women and their sacred spaces, which defines altars so broadly that they can be collections of treasured photos and objects on a dresser. Now that, I do have. I'll take some pictures and post them for you. Send me images of your sacred objects and spaces, or just describe them!
"Honey, these prayer beads shouldn't be in your car! They should be on your altar!" my friend Frances exclaimed the last time she drove around Brooklyn with me.
"Oh...yes. Well. I was hoping they'd enhance the car's sacred energy," I said distractedly. (I'd wrapped them around the emergency brake.) But in truth, I didn't want the conversation to go much further. My altar, currently, is a window sill in the kitchen. Obviously, I've got to carve out more physical space for my meditation practice.
As I do that, you might check out this explanation of what prayer beads are for and how to use the various types. Mine are a short string from my Sufi teacher.
The site also provides links to sacred jewelry of all sorts; much of it skillfully made by HeartstoHeaven.com founder LoriAnn V. Paul herself.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:41 PM | Permalink |
You know, right now, I have piles of Ken Wilberbooks, and CDs and DVDs stacked around me. Hi, Ken. How are you? He's always with me. I keep waiting to more thoroughly digest his spiritual theories of the universe, put them all up on Beliefnet, and get you hip to the remarkable Integral Institute. Well, thank God, my life just got easier. Today, I-I announced the launch of its own monthly newsletter: HOLONS. Go on, sign up, look it over. We'll talk more later. Trust me, it is packed with exciting material.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:39 PM | Permalink |
Have you seen this? It's a blog written by Israeli women of various academic and media backgrounds who wish to promote peace so all might prosper. Born out of frustration with mainstream news coverge, the blog's authors use their personal narratives to "suggest complex perspectives beyond black and white ideals."
posted by Chattering Mind @ 12:39 PM | Permalink |
I had an epiphany while standing in the yoga pose Warrior II yesterday. This epiphany may not blow you away. But it meant a lot to me. It came in the form of the sentence: "This is me." Or in other words, "I am one with this energy."
Allow me to offer a more refined explanation: The transition from Warrior I to Warrior II is such a beautiful move. It's a switch from piercing the sky with your arms, gazing up for inspiration, then smoothly rotating your hips to the side, bringing one arm back, one arm ahead, and looking out over your front hand with uncommon clarity. You know who you are in Warrior Two; nothing cute about it. It's a posture of preparedness--you're looking ahead over your hand, extended palm down, ready for anything.
Warrior II is translated from the word "Virabhadrasana" (veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna). Yoga Journal says "Virabhadra" is the name of "an incarnation of Shiva, with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, wielding a thousand clubs, and wearing a tiger's skin." Nice outfit. Great regalia.
Although I have struggled to make contact with my masculine side--I don't argue well in public, and think of myself as sweetly receptive--I am at home in these assertive postures (is my Chattering blog also helping?). And when I'm in this pose, looking out over my front arm, it's odd... it's like I quickly fall in love with myself, like a beautifully adorned warrior might. But it's not really me, you know? It's a much bigger divine life force.
I'm trying to convey one of yoga's many gifts, to explain why if you haven't tried it, you might want to get yourself to the nearest class. Yoga lends you an inner vocabulary, a new way to articulate the unity of self, soul, earth. The Sanskrit word "Yogah" translates to "oneness," "union" or "the way." Given those meanings, you can see why some conservative Christians are threatened by it. But bear in mind that many contemplative Christians today are in yoga's full embrace. Here, for instance, is a DVD from Sounds True (a great company) that melds yoga moves with "The Lord's Prayer."
I have found images of people doing Warrior II without enough attention to detail and energy. I'm not an expert, but I could see the flaws in posture right away. And I bet you can too. Corrections could be made here and here and here, though all of these photos show the posture's essential glory. In an effort to locate the best photo for you, I wrote my favorite yoga source Frances Stahnke, who assists yoga über-teacher Glenn Black at Omega, and she thinks the Yoga Journal photo I linked to above (and shown here) is the best, though the model's upper torso, she says, is slightly collapsed; the chest should be out and active since this is also a heart-opening pose for increasing stamina.
There's so much to explore on Robert Wright's MeaningofLife.tv, a series of cosmic webcast interviews admirably picked up by the webzine Slate.com. You'll have to visit more than once.
On the site, you'll find Wright's filmed conversations with noted authors, religious studies scholars, physicists, and scientists including Lorenzo Albacete, Daniel Dennett, Freeman Dyson, Francis Fukuyama, Owen Gingerich, Joseph Goldstein, Ursula Goodenough, John Haught, John Maynard Smith, Andrew Newberg, Arthur Peacocke, Steven Pinker, Robert Pollack, Omid Safi, Sharon Salzberg, Huston Smith, Brian Swimme, Keith Ward, and Edward O. Wilson. Much as I'd like to link to each one of these people, it's too much work. Go to the site.
Here's Wright's meandering talk about meditation and mystical experience with world religion scholar Huston Smith (a shining star on my list of glittering people).
If you don't want to listen to the interviews online, there are places on the site where you can get transcripts.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 12:06 PM | Permalink |
Here's an endearing excerpt from Robert Wright's conversation with spiritual teacher, author and Beliefnet contributor Sharon Salzberg. Some might be put off by his self-assured nature, but I am amused by it. And I find Salzberg's response to his confession marvelously kind and gentle.
Wright: I had always taken the Buddha as having recognized that the main problem with people was not their failure to love themselves but their failure to love other people. And I know certainly in my own case I have a very high regard for myself. That's not the problem. It's, it's compassion for other people, not compassion for myself that is the hard thing. So how does that work, that loving yourself? Why do you recommend it? I mean it seems like it comes pretty naturally to people.
Salzberg: Well, I think it doesn't come that naturally to a lot of people. I think you're very fortunate actually, if that's your experience.
Wright: Oh, if you were me you'd love me too...
Salzberg: I'm sure that's true. I have no doubt. And this wasn't, you know, something I made up in our time in California. This is actually the way it's been transmitted as the Buddha having taught...
Wright: So this is not... I mean, that was my first suspicion that this was like a late 20th Century American self-indulgent add-on to Buddhism. You deny this charge?
Salzberg: I deny that charge completely.
Wright: So you can find this [idea that it's important to love oneself] in the ancient texts?
Salzberg: Yes, yes.
Wright: And this type of meditation in particular, loving ....
Salzberg: Loving kindness?
Wright: Yes. The word the pre-translation word is "metta" ... meditation... not M-E-T-A but what is it?
Salzberg: M-E-T-T-A.
Wright: Ok. So that goes way back, and even then it started with loving yourself.
Salzberg: Yes. That's what they say. That's what the texts say that you begin the whole practice of loving kindness with yourself. That's the foundation, and the Buddha said something like you can search the entire world for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself and you won't find that person anywhere... that you yourself deserve your own love and...
Wright: But everyone else is exactly as deserving, right?
Salzberg: That's right. That's right. But the beginning tends to be establishing the basis of loving care for one's self and from there we move outward to somebody. We're very grateful to somebody known as a benefactor and then friend and then neutral person and then difficult person and finally all being everywhere without exception! But the love for one's self needs to be genuine and to be all inclusive, not just those parts of ourselves that we proudly present to the world, but those parts of ourselves we're a little cut off from, that are more hidden, those parts of ourselves that we're ashamed of, or afraid of. To be able to hold all of that in the light of some care and compassion is the foundation, they say, for being able to extend that to others.
For more about Sharon Salzberg and metta meditation, check this out. It's bee
n one of Beliefnet's most popular guided meditations over the years, and we're grateful to Sharon for sharing it with us.
Ever since my darling stomach lining (DSL) was pronounced "inflamed" by my doctor, I've been a culture vulture, by which I mean a fan of "live-culture" or "living" foods. Yogurt is the best recognized substance of this nature. But to the list you may add miso, sourdough bread, sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, and kombucha tea. This morning, I ate a big serving of Nancy's Organic Cultured Lowfat Cottage Cheese (which tastes like buttermilk). Turns out, all of us should regularly ingest fermented foodstuffs. Erp.
Every one of the 14 days I was on antibiotics, I drank a little vial of a live-culture probiotic drink new to the market called Bio-K Plus. I'm going to stay on that for awhile. Dannon also makes a less expensive probiotic beverage called Activia, which you can find at most grocery stores. Doctors don't always tell you to replace the L. acidophilus and B. bifidum killed off by antibiotics (it slips their busy minds, I guess), but this is an important practice. And now, with the help of a great book called "Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Life-Culture Foods" by Sandor Ellix Katz (who claims fermented foods improved his health after an HIV diagnosis), I'm venturing deeper into this whole terrain, and have decided to stick with live cultures in my diet...well, forever. This is for keeps. While I don't expect to start filling the house with the fat vats and crocks you'd find in Katz's kitchen, I'll buy as much live food as I can and stay open to experiment. In the book, you'll find all kinds of recipes for safely creating healthy fermented foods at home.
"Your body is an ecosystem that can function most effectively when populated by diverse species of microorganisms," Katz writes. "By fermenting foods and drinks with wild microorganisms present in your home environment, you become more interconnected with the life forces of the world around you. Your environment becomes you, as you invite the microbial populations you share the earth with to enter your diet and your intestinal ecology."
This past weekend, I learned that a growing group of progressive Christians regularly congregate at CrossLeft.org. Check it out.
Claiming to take the Bible seriously but not literally, the group has published manifestos about how the religious left can--culturally and politically--overtake the Christian right. With free sign-up, you may read the new webzine, and even post your own blog items.
Thanks to the excellent Buddhist blog Woodmore Village for alerting me to the fact that 21-year-old Buddhist blogger Will Henderson has developed a downloadable meditation software with timed silences, gongs, and even an ability to coordinate with iTunes! Henderson, a computer programmer who meditates, has his own blog on "programming, wondering, and living life." So if you don't want the software (free with optional opportunity for donation), browse through this sweet-smart fellow's musings. Here, he explains how academic studies in India steered him toward his current Zen meditation practice. Going places is not his aim, but this young man is off and running on a tank that will always sustain him.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:38 AM | Permalink |
Beauty is over. It's so passé. Pouty lips? Trendy hair? Well-tapered brows? These things are no longer of pressing interest to the vast majority of American women.
Here's Chattering Mind's humble prediction: Magazines that primarily feature the latest bang trim will soon notice a big dip in readership. What about those plastic surgery reality shows, you ask? Well, okay...they may last another year or so, but then they'll blow off the networks like so many dried tumbleweeds. Or face peels.
Radiance, peace of mind and authenticity are what everyone craves today. Here's evidence with trickle-down potential: An article about how folks in the spa industry recently met to talk health and wellness. Making clients look more technically attractive is a "given," but no longer their goal or emphasis. Ha.
Airports clogged, news of arrests, tanks in Lebanon, hard rains up and down the East Coast (I'm still in South Carolina filled with irrational worry that water may have come in through some open windows at home that Mr. Chattering forgot to shut). In the light of big things, little irritations tear us up.
Here's a wonderful piece by Alice Chasan on how repairing the world in the smallest of ways can help us get through tough times like these. I don't know how she wrote it yesterday. I'm finding it hard to focus. Anyone else having a tough time staying calm?
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:32 AM | Permalink |
Beliefnet published an audio meditation about overcoming fear by Dr. Bernie Siegel today. You might find your square acre of peace by listening. Here's an excerpt:
Come out once again into the garden and the sunshine, and walk over to the pond and look at your image. Become one with that image and who you are. When you feel like 'one,' then turn and begin your journey toward that beautiful light that you see off in the distance, and know that on your way you'll meet many guides who can help you. All you have to do is ask and reach out, and they will be there.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:07 AM | Permalink |
You're going to love this: photographer Demetri Dimas Efthyvoulos spent most of the 1980s in Iquitos, Peru--along the Amazon River--and one day as he was printing a photo of foliage he'd taken on a boat trip down the Amazon's banks, a voice inside his head told him to turn the photograph sideways. So he did.
What emerged from the green--with the river running up and down--looked amazing. What was it? A head, or an entity, or a deity? Already a student of the region's ceremonial and "visionary" plants, this photographer's perspective instantly changed forever.
"Through a relatively simple change in point of view, all kinds of allegorical images, mythological beings, and totemlike entities emerge before the observer's eyes," he writes in the latest issue of Shaman's Drum magazine. Unfortunately, Efthyvoulos's only book of these photos, published abroad, is no longer available on Amazon.com. We must content ourselves with his website,which contains a gallery of mind-bending "sidesight" photographs. Efthyvoulos draws this life lesson from the whole experience:
"If you don't like what you see happening in the world around you, use sidesight to see if you can find innovative ways of revisioning the world. If we wait for someone else to change the world, or if we content ourselves with dreaming of a paradise to come, we may find ourselves stuck in a virtual hell on earth."
I knew it. Astrologer Caroline Casey's website has great downloads of her most recent radio programs which always wed "spiritual magic to ingenious social action." You'll find Rabbi Michael Lerner speaking on the Middle Eastern conflict and more, plus Rev. Barry Lynn--executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State--sharing his concerns with Casey's devoted audience of "visionary activists" (which of course you may join). Read more about Casey's life and times here.
Picked up a copy of Oprah's "O At Home" magazine today and enjoyed Martha Beck's piece about "environmental autobiography" called "My House, Myself." An excerpt:
"Life keeps happening; your home should be an ideal spot for the best and most meaningful experiences in your future as well as in your past. Picture the experiences you want (or want more of), and then make your house a place to accommodate them."
These days Beck, a writer and life coach, is consistently hitting her magazine pieces out of the park.
You don't have to be a long-time Bob Dylan fan to be blown away by Jonathan Cott's recently published compilation of interviews with the poet/rebel/sage ("Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews").
Any student of the heart, any devotee of creative thinking will adore this book. This morning, I sat at a noisy airport gate (enroute to see my Dad in South Carolina) so engrossed in this 450-page tome that I had to close the book to catch my breath and pause to take it all in. You learn that Robert Allen Zimmerman (who later created the stage name Bob Dylan) ran away from his home in Minnesota numerous times, worked years for a carnival, and was so impressed at an early age with Woody Guthrie's songs of social protest, that he picked up a guitar and began to play. But the playing was always a spiritual practice. While Dylan professes to follow no organized form of religion today, the interviews take him through times when he was a born-again Christian, reader of the Bible, and student of mystical Judaism.
There are many funny, gorgeous bits (including an old Dylan interview playwright Sam Shepard recorded for Esquire). Here's an exchange in 1966 between Dylan and journalist Nat Hentoff.
Hentoff: How do you get your kicks these days, then?
Dylan: I hire people to look into my eyes, and then I have them kick me.
Hentoff: That's how you get your kicks?
Dylan: "No. Then I forgive them; that's where my kicks come in.
Here's Dylan talking about music and meditation with Robert Hillburn of the Los Angeles Times in 2004:
"What happens is, I'll take a song I know and simply start playing it in my head. That's the way I meditate. A lot of people will look at a crack on the wall and meditate, or count sheep or angels or money or something, and it's a proven fact that it'll help them relax. I don't meditate on any of that stuff. I meditate on a song."
And here are words of encouragement spoken to Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone in 1986:
"If I've ever had anything to tell anybody, it's that: you can do the impossible. Anything is possible. And that's it. No more."
Sorry, I can't stop there. I'm truly a love child of the Sixties (and Seventies); these are my people.
Here's a charming 1978 exchange between Bob Dylan and Rolling Stone's Jonathan Cott:
Cott: You've described and communicated the idea of two aspects of love--the love that longs for commitment and the love that longs to be free. Which is the most real to you?
Dylan: All of it. It's all love that needs to be love.
Cott: You often sing about having a twin, a sister/wife, a dream/lover for one's life.
Dylan: Everyone feels these feelings. People don't like to admit that that's the way things are because it's too confusing.
Cott: A famous short poem by William Blake goes: "He who binds to himself a joy / Doth the winged life destroy / But he who kisses the joy as it flies / Lives in Eternity's sun rise."
Dylan: Allen Ginsberg quoted that to me all the time. Blake's been a big influence on Kristofferson, too.
Cott: What about soul mates?
Dylan: What about them?
Cott: Do they exist?
Dylan: Sure they do, but sometimes you never meet them. A soul mate...what do they mean by soul mate? There's a male and a female in everyone, don't they say that? So I guess the soul mate would be the physical mate of the soul. But that would mean we're supposed to be with just one other person. Is a soul mate a romantic notion or is there real truth in that, señor?
Cott: That's what I was asking you.
Dylan: How would I know?
posted by Chattering Mind @ 11:05 AM | Permalink |
Another view, disturbing as it is, says "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"... According to Chris Hedges, author of a book by that title, 'The seduction of war is insidious because so much of what we are told about it is true-—it does create a feeling of comradeship which obliterates our alienation... we find nobility in a cause and feelings of selflessness and even bliss. And at a time of soaring deficits and financial scandals and the very deterioration of our domestic fabric, war is a fine diversion.'
Shocking, isn't it? But it helps explain a legislative body willing to cough up over $301 billion in war funding and over half the voting populace re-electing the incumbent.
Here's a salient passage of the review that should get you talking...
Just as dramatic as the portraits of bin Laden and Zawahiri is Wright’s account of the roots of Islamic militancy — the intellectual, spiritual and material world from which the plotters came. Wright draws a fascinating picture of Sayyid Qutb, the font of modern Islamic fundamentalism, a frail, middle-aged writer who found himself, as a visitor to the United States and a student at Colorado State College of Education in Greeley in the 1940’s, overwhelmed by the unbridled splendor and godlessness of modern America. And by the sex: like so many others who followed him, Qutb seemed simultaneously drawn to and repelled by American women, so free and unselfconscious in their sexuality. The result is a kind of delirium:
“A girl looks at you, appearing as if she were an enchanting nymph or an escaped mermaid,” Qutb wrote, “but as she approaches, you sense only the screaming instinct inside her, and you can smell her burning body, not the scent of perfume, but flesh, only flesh. Tasty flesh, truly, but flesh nonetheless.”
It wasn’t much later that Qutb began writing elaborate rationalizations for killing non-Muslims and waging war against the West. Years later, Atta expressed a similar mix of obsession and disgust for women. Indeed, anyone who has spent time in the Middle East will recognize such tortured emotions.
Thanks to Mary Ann Brussat for introducing me to "The Jerusalem Candle of Hope," an unusual joint-venture, $36 dollar product crafted by Israeli and Palestinian women to raise money for needy Israeli and Palestinian families, as well as foster greater Middle East understanding.
"This candle is an expression of people's willingness to overcome anger and frustration and bring a new light of hope to the region," says Amber Chand, one of the architects of this idea. Five percent of the proceeds from the Jerusalem Candle will also benefit the Parents Circle, "an organization of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians who have all lost family members to the conflict and... work for reconciliation and understanding," the website claims.
"Our girls spend an absurd amount of time singing and chatting. Each day begins with a stretch, a wing flap (and for some an attempted flight). The remainder of the day consists of gab, chat, gossip, singing, and blather...The amount of chicken chat in our barns is downright ridiculous. We have no idea what they are trying to tell one another, and we are even less certain they are actually listening to each other, but we do know that they are thoroughly enjoying themselves."
In a feng shui seminar I once took, teacher Nancy Santo Pietro told us to always unplug appliances when they weren't in use because they can still produce an electro-magnetic field that can create health problems over time (ranging from subtle to severe depending upon length and proxmity of exposure, plus one's sensitivity).
I do believe that sleeping with your head close to a digital alarm clock for 50 years is not a great idea, but the notion that appliances drain energy from an outlet when turned off seemed incredible to me. It was one of those bits of information I intentionally go to workshops to gather, but then can't deal with right away.
Well, guess what? In the wake of last week's heat wave, an article in today's New York Times explains how televisions, computers, cell phone chargers and other common appliances do indeed use electrical current when off and hanging out in "standby" mode. While the newspaper approaches the topic purely from the standpoint of energy conservation, the feng shui/EMF wisdom is lingering in there.
Any way you cut it, it IS best to unplug appliances when not in use, when possible. What a hassle. But what do you know...
By age eight, about half of African-American girls and 15 percent of Caucasian girls show clear signs of sexual development. Boys too are maturing earlier than ever. Thanks to author/researcher Marcia Herman-Giddens, we knew that in 1997. But now public health watchers and naturopathic doctors like Sherrill Sellman are really becoming alarmed about the trend.
Is early puberty due to a sedentary lifestyle, environmental toxins, hormones in grocery store milk, or what? Kudos to Alternative Medicine magazine for looking into this in a six-page feature in their September issue. Interesting tips for everyone can be found in the sidebars: avoid hormone-laden food, buy organic fruits and veggies, create a green household, keep the kids active, have them drink filtered water, and encourage them to eat detoxifying foods like broccoli and cauliflower.
You cannot imagine what a queen of the earth I was when I was 12 years old...Ah! how you would have loved me, and how I miss myself!--Colette
I've heard that whenever a woman feels indecisive or depressed, she should recall who she was when she was 12. At 12, you're in touch with the truest parts of yourself. The idea of adapting yourself to please someone else is fairly alien.
I believed I was a witch when I was 12. My friend Suzy Clayton (who went on to marry a minister) and I told fortunes and doused with a crystal pendant necklace I purchased at our church's rummage sale. My friend Debbie Kopp and I spent hours that same year making tiny pieces of doll furniture out of mud, twigs and grass for our four-inch-high, tree-dwelling imaginary friends we named Violet and Rose. At 12, we were old enough to ride around the Chicago suburbs on our bikes, but still young enough to fully exalt in the wild imaginings of childhood.
Do today's girls partake in a true girlhood? Given the previous post on early puberty, how do you think the lives of girls are changing? I have ideas, and some sense of foreboding, but I honestly don't know. So much depends on the home environment. What do you think?
posted by Chattering Mind @ 12:22 PM | Permalink |
In 1996, a Laguna Beach psychotherapist named Sharon McErlane was startled by a vision of a "council" of loving grandmothers who urged her to help balance the "masculine and feminine energies" of the earth.
Ever since that day, McErlane has been sharing the information those sweet, old, and powerful-beyond-measure ladies gave her by showing others how to receive what she calls "The Grandmothers' Empowerment." She has a book and an audio tape too. Click here to learn more.
Send in a thousand grandmothers, They will surely volunteer. With their ancient wisdom flowing, They will lend a loving ear.
First they'll form a loving circle Around the wounded wing, Then contain the brutal beasts of war Sweet freedom songs they'll sing!
A lullaby much stronger Than bombs and threats to kill, A force unlike we've ever seen Will break the murder's will.
To the prisons we'll invite them. The most violent men will weep, When a 1000 women hold them strong And pray their souls to keep.
Let them rock the few who steal the most, And rule with youthful charms, So they'll see the damage that they do, And will fall into grandma's arms. Two thousand loving arms
If you think these women are too soft To face the world at hand, Then you've never known the power of love And you fail to understand
An old woman holds a powerful force When she no longer needs to please. She can cut your shallow life to bits, And bring you to your knees
We best get down on our knees And pray for a thousand grandmothers! Will you please come volunteer? No longer tucked deep out of sight, Will you bring your power here? Will you bring your power here?
--By social activist and dynamite folk singer Holly Near from her album "Edge." Copyright 1999 Hereford Music (ASCAP), and reprinted here with permission.
This new study sort of gets you thinking that the folks once considered "extremists" (like vegans) actually prove to be leaders dragging us all in a good direction. I do not practice a vegan lifestyle, but I learn much about good eating through their literature. Likewise, I do not homeschool our children, but I used to belong to a homeschooling parents' book group (Mr. Chattering found this quite disturbing), and boy, did I gather good learning resources.
Anyway, the article I've linked to above says that "people who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet."
Not all that surprising. But still a big "wow" in terms of future medical implications.
Medical intuitive and mystic Caroline Myss sent the following around in her newsletter(which is always a riot of interesting thinking).
First of all, when a planet is at war, the entire vibration of the planet shifts to one of trauma. The physical war does not have to be fought on local territory in order for the people of that area to become affected or "infected" by the mental and emotional strain that is created as a result of the fear and violence of war. A person does not have to believe in the Armageddon myth to be affected by the toxic psychic field that it generates. All it takes is the combination of a passionate group of believers in the Armageddon myth – and Evangelicals certainly qualify for that, if nothing else – and anything that looks like proof that the myth is true. In this case, the war in the Middle East has all the right markings and prophetic omens. Such a combination infects the collective psychic like a poisonous homeopathic treatment, penetrating into the subtle energy bodies of every single human being. No matter who you are, you are being influenced by the vibration of this war and many prophecies that are emerging around it and because of it.
In a way, this reminds me of all the hysterics that preceded Y2K. Remember that? I remember this one guy – who I haven't heard from since, thank God – who sat in his home in Washington State sending out email after email after email warning people about all the destruction that was going to happen by three minutes after midnight, January 1, 2000. I mean, according to this guy, absolutely no one was going to survive this turning of the millennium, except him, of course, and the rest of his happy little Washington State community because they were savvy enough to listen to him, a high-tech oracle who was able to predict the downfall of all technological systems and airports and computers and what have you. I mean he had people going nuts with his material. I met him once and listened to him try to convince me of the insanity that was just on the horizon. All the while I was looking right into his eyes…speaking of insane….as he described the stupidity of people who "just won't listen" to the obvious signs that the end was near. It took me about thirty seconds to realize that this guy wanted the end to be near because he was building his identity on his predictions. He wanted death and destruction and global systems breakdowns and nightmares because that would prove he was right and every one else was wrong. This was a dangerous, dangerous man….all the more so because he thought of himself as so good.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:40 AM | Permalink |
I wholeheartedly recommend that you read Beliefnet's new "Posts from a War" blog--particularly if you, like most people, find the Middle East conflict confounding. Every day Beliefnet posts new commentary on the war by scholars and religious leaders designed to help readers understand what the conflict means for Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, American Jews, American Muslims, and anyone else concerned with the conflicts's global implications. It has helped me get my bearings for sure, and I think you will benefit.
Here's an excerpt from a recent post by author/translator Haim Watzman in which he rejects the idea of demonizing "the enemy."
"First, seeking to suffocate debate by flinging a charge of anti-Semitism at anyone who questions Israeli policy is consistent neither with Jewish tradition nor democratic practice. Second, charging that Islam is by nature anti-Semitic is a slander. Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, contains within it a multitude of traditions and voices, and religious leaders of all three religions have all been able to use their traditions to justify hatred and violence. And all three traditions have had leaders who have used those same traditions to advocate tolerance and peace. At this point in history, Islam has too many of the first kind of leader and not enough of the second. But neither Christianity nor Judaism can cast stones."
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:00 AM | Permalink |
Thanks to Daily Candy for informing me of the grand opening of a new Thai Privilege Spa in downtown Manhattan. It sounds incredible. The photos of models on massage tables at the Bangkok-based company's other facilities are sexy and lush.
In truth, I rather dislike these sorts of places. Whenever I've gone--on assignment for magazines mostly--I've laid there thinking about the money I'm spending. Anxiety mounts as I ponder other questions: Should I have refreshed my toe-nail polish at home before coming? How much will I tip? Will they let me nap for ten minutes after my session, or are they going to roll me out the purple-painted door, clang me past the wind chimes, and sell me (vulnerable and wilted from treatment) overpriced essential oils at the cash register?
True, fancy spas educate an opinion-leading clientele, help worthy mind-body therapies get better established, and employ talented bodyworkers. But every time I've spoken frankly to someone employed by a high-end spa or health club, they say: "Well, you never really get to go deep." By which they mean that not much life-altering change occurs. Oftentimes, they get only one chance to help a customer (since the client is usually traveling through town or just looking for a one-time feel-good experience).
If you want intimacy, if you want to get out of pain, it is best to find a massage therapist,osteopath, or chiropractor you can relate to and afford to visit monthly, someone who will remember your name and your issues and say, "Well, how's the shoulder doing? Did the last treatment help?"
Sometimes you can find a talented massage therapist not long out of school who needs additional work experience and thereby charges less. Then you can really talk about what's working, and what's not. Additionally, you and a friend (or partner) could take a workshop in massage to learn how to practice on each other. Nightly massage is always best!
Yoga teachers and directors of yoga studios know where to find reliable massage therapists and high quality workshops. And the more yoga you do, the less bodywork you'll need since yoga postures have a way of eventually aligning every muscle of your body.
Tell me: Are you wed to a particular style of bodywork? What were your most transformative experiences?
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:59 AM | Permalink |
And here's the last piece we ran about Buddhism and the 12 Steps, accompanied by excellent AA-related links including Paul O'Donnell's interview with Susan Cheever about her biography of AA founder Bill Wilson.
posted by Chattering Mind @ 10:03 AM | Permalink |
Gibson was born on Jan 3, 1956 (reportedly at 4:45 PM in Peekskill, N.Y.), and is a Capricorn with Cancer rising and the Moon at 0 degrees of Libra. His willful Mars/Saturn conjunction in Scorpio (a sign famous for its dark-side, intensity, and control-issues) in the creative and "kingly" 5th house of his horoscope-contributes to the messianic overtones in his chart.
What triggered this arrest and outburst just now? Shelley says transiting Saturn opposite Mel's Venus in Aquarius (Saturn makes one accountable) and transiting Pluto is on his progressed Mars at 26 Sagittarius (at the Galactic Center) can be an explosive mix. The sign of Capricorn (Gibson's sun) is known for its many spiritual tests that brings natives of the sign to their knees (Capricorn rules the knees), humbly asking for forgiveness.
Is Gibson's career, as he himself said, "truly "f**ked"?
Read Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's take on Mel's moment of truth here.
You know your kids are in a lefty summer day camp when the music teacher turns to the gathered parents at the final concert and says, "Now we're going to sing a song that I learned in Cuba."
After the Cuban number, the kids sang a truly gorgeous hymn by Jewel called "Hands." It made us cry. And I daresay any right-wing Republican would be surprised to see sandal-wearing liberals standing in a barn in Western Massachusetts sniffling to a song that contained so many references to faith. We asked our son afterward if the teacher had questioned the kids directly about God, to see if anybody had a problem with the lyrics. And our nine-year-old son, awakening to a moment that suddenly made sense to him, said "Actually, she did ask, and nobody had a problem with that."
Here are the lyrics. But you might get a better feel of the song by listening to its clip on Amazon.com.
Hands By Jewel
If I could tell the world just one thing, It would be that we're all OK. and not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful, and useless in times like these.
I won't be made useless. I won't be idle with despair. I will gather myself around my faith, For light does the darkness most fear.
My hands are small, I know But they're not yours, they are my own But they're not yours, they are my own and I am never broken!
We'll fight, not out of spite, For someone must stand up for what's right. 'Cause where there's a man who has no voice, There ours shall go singing.
In the end only kindness matters I will get down on my knees, and I will pray I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
We are God's eyes, God's hands, God's mind. We are God's eyes, God's hands, God's heart. We are God's eyes, God's hands, God's eyes. We are God's hands. We are God's hands.
In case you missed it, here's a recently repackaged piece I wrote for Beliefnet on ways to have a more spiritual summer. Unplug the television, swim in real water, gaze at the night sky, make presents for those you love, consider where you are burning out...these tips and more!
Chattering Mind is a blog on motherhood, aging, health and healing, yoga, whole foods, spiritual music, meditation, as well as the struggle to manage time and clutter.
Read more about writer Amy Cunningham.
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