Archives for “zaadz/gaia”
Our car died, and we decided to try living without one. It’s been interesting. Lots of things are harder, but not so hard we can’t manage, generally. Being sick is harder, for sure. But one thing I notice is that I get to experience the world more directly from a bike. In a car, you’re [...]
Did you ever wonder why you’ll run across a spiritual teacher who clearly has genuine insight, and then as you get to know them you’ll find attachments and judgements that are almost shocking? I don’t know about you, but I’ve even wondered that about myself. I “get it,” and yet I find myself judging, becoming [...]
I was sitting zazen the other day, and an image came to mind. Actually, it was more like a whole story, but it only lasted a second, I swear! :-) Anyway, I was thinking of a piano player who’d been playing by ear for years, and doing fine. She’d created beautiful music by listening to [...]
In the morning, at the zendo, after zazen there is zendo cleaning and then a formal breakfast. There is a formal aspect to the meal, but it’s not silent. That is, we engage in pleasant conversation while we eat. I asked the priest, “Is it ok for me to ask a dharma question over breakfast?” [...]
I have heard people tell me that they don’t want to study Karate (or any martial art) because, they say, it’s not practical, or it’s too structured, too choreographed to be worthwhile. I’ve even heard students complain that endless punches and blocks will not help them to become… whatever it is they hope to become. [...]
People need unconditional love. I instantly recognized the truth of that idea when I ran across the work of Carl Rogers in college. But that creates a dilemma for me. Either it’s actually possible to love unconditionally, or it’s not. If it’s not, then something is required for the full expression of humanity that we [...]
I’m liking Jesus better all the time. At least, I’m liking the Jesus that’s forming in my mind. Once I got a clear understanding of love… It’s what holds everything together, and it’s the everything too! — Rumi …I began to have an easier time seeing the light in stories about Jesus. Especially the stories [...]
I am trying to really get it. I know–we all know, by now–that our intention is very powerful. All we have to do is focus, pay attention, and anything we choose is ours. But there’s the problem: what do we choose? I’ve talked to folks who’ve just been exposed to ideas like the ones in [...]
A few months ago, I wrote what may turn out to be my last poem. There’s a part of me that that would love to put together more words, this time to tell you how we are one, how you and I are a universe, all by ourselves, a singularity that split itself in two [...]
I’ve been pretty convinced that switching to ethanol, running cars on corn, is a bad idea. It has looked like a big corporate monoculture nightmare. But I just found some hope. I just discovered David Blume, whose work on biofuels comes from a permaculture perspective. Alcoholcanbeagas.com offers answers to my objections. If this guy is [...]
Shit. I just filled my gas tank with a biofuel blend. And I was thinking about how there are serious problems with corn as a fuel. And I told myself, “yeah, but it’s clearly better than oil and blood, which is what the other 90% of the fuel is made of.” Oh my god. No [...]
I received a message, very clearly, over the course of a few weeks, saying “You are a very powerful person.” Over and over, people I’d meet would say to me, “You are powerful.” So it wasn’t just in my mind that I got the message, but from people around me. “You are so powerful.” Shortly [...]
There is no such thing as a student, and there is no such thing as a teacher. Those are only roles we play, depending on how our attention is directed. I had the experience today of having some wisdom dropped at my feet. It came in the form of an unexpected phone call. It came [...]
I suppose this recent concentration on staying grounded and earthy is going to be a good thing. Right now, I’m doing energy work. I’ve finally got it through my thick head that until I allow the free flow of energy through me, I’m not going to have real peace. It’s a weird, swirly rabbit-hole, more [...]
Who I am I am a manifestation of the force that you can only begin to see, to trust. I am a being of light, of the divine-quantum-love-energy that is the one, where all energy and all power rests, and where you are completely safe and whole. I am individualized, and walking in the dream, [...]
I picked up an audio book at the library, Love Is a Fire and I Am Wood: The Sufi’s Mystical Journey Home, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, mostly because Sufi teachings have been fitting well for me lately, and audio books fill my hunger at times when I… should… oh, probably be meditating rather than keeping my [...]
There are people all around us who think that what they see is what is real, who forget that they are beings of light, embodiments of divine energy. Forgetting is easy, it seems, but it hurts so much that once the truth comes to your attention, it becomes harder to ignore. At least, it does [...]
I neglected our community garden space this week, because we’ve had some rain, and some cooler weather, so I figured it didn’t need me. When I got there, I discovered that rain not only waters the plants we planted there, but also the weeds. It’s a very green, very weedy garden! But there’s plenty of [...]
I went to a hempfest this weekend. Here’s proof! I was helping at a booth supporting Ron Paul for president. If you haven’t learned about Ron Paul, you should. Generally, I think politicians are all part of the problem, but Paul may be an exception. He’s a good guy, and could really help to wake [...]
This year, we’re gardening. We’re growing food, which is as spiritual a thing as I’ve ever done. It’s really beautiful. As a result, though, the “trash” we create when cooking isn’t boxes and packaging. It’s food scraps. And I began to get really tired of throwing them away. Working hard to grow food, then cutting [...]
In the past, I’ve avoided using “Namaste” because friends I know who are from India tell me it just means “hello” or something, and doesn’t really have any spiritual meaning. I figured it was like the English word, “goodbye.” That word could be said to mean “God be with you,” but we certainly don’t understand [...]
I made a new friend recently. He’s a delightful fella, a steward, a spark of the divine fire (as are you). When he walked me to my car, he made a special effort to check out my bumper-stickers. “Who is this person?” was his explanation. He found bumper-stickers relating to my kids’ sports (was it [...]
For my whole life, Christian friends have considered me an atheist, and atheist friends have considered me one of those silly religious people. It’s taken me decades to be comfortable where I am. Which leads me to this question. Do you believe in God? A higher power? The Source of All? Your own higher self? [...]
It’s rare for children to be hurt by guns at schools. It’s rare enough to be big news when it happens. But every day, children are hurt in less tangible ways by the school itself. A high school senior in Texas made a video game map of his school. As a result, police searched his [...]
A woman on a list I hang out on asked how to teach her child about abundance while still teaching her to conserve water, for example. The bigger question is, I think, “How do I believe in abundance when there really isn’t enough?!” We’re using up finite reserves of oil from the earth. Clean water [...]
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