Sacred Life Weekend: Feed Your Head....

Friday afternoon, I received "The Power of Myth" DVD set from Netflix. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to watch it and found it so entrancing that I listened to it the entire day. Listening to it is like having the richest, healthiest most satisfying meal.

Taking a break from that, I read "The Yoga of Eating" which really changed my thinking about so many things. It is a gentle, kind approach to feeding our souls so that we don't have to feed our bellies in quite the same way. :)

He speaks against self-denial and discipline, citing the origin of that type of thinking, and instead suggests that we begin to see our bodies and our minds as the same, not separate. It is not a battle between the body and mind - it is not a dichotomy - but instead learning the language of our bodies so we can provide for them and care for them more effectively.

I've just begun "Ascent of Humanity" by the same author. So far, it is wonderful! I'll write more when I've finished it.

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Weekend Chatter.....

I've made the decision to surround myself with positive books and positive thoughts for a while. This is like anything else. It's a habit. Thinking negatively and my own personal downfall, cynicism, takes a deliberate effort to change.

I ordered a few books this morning based on the recommendations of Olivia at Happy Luau. Any of you who have not visited her blog, please do. She is someone whose thoughts resonate very well with my own - but she has the added advantage of being good at translating motivation to action which is not one of my finer honed skills.

So I am following her lead on the books. I've ordered "The Yoga of Eating" and "The Ascent of Humanity", the latter of which I suspect more succinctly says what I've been trying to say on this site for the past seventeen months. The difference of course is that Charles Eisenstein is an educated, clear thinker where I am tangential.

This changing.. this changing our thinking.. I've never believed is a matter of simply choosing to do it differently. It's a process of education, of learning. We have to learn to think differently. Saying "I refuse these thoughts" is useless unless we replace it with something else.

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On another issue, I was reading a blog this morning that seems to be promoting bigotry. She says (the only reason I am linking is for verification, not because I want to give her the link or unknowingly promote her blog.) that learning to say (and teaching others to say) "I hate fat people" will be one way to discourage people from eating too much, from getting fat to begin with. I find that manner of thinking to be small-minded and utterly hateful. In a way that is not typical of me, I left a snarky comment.

It wasn't anonymous. I own the comment and am willing to defend it.

The dialogue continues. Please feel free to come by and join. It could get interesting.. but please be nice. :)

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There are a lot of people who believe that shaming works, that we can shame people into changing patterns or doing things differently. Shame and fear. "I better not be fat because people will hate me and I'll be shunned" is very different than "I don't want to be fat because I respect my body and my life. I want to be healthy."

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So.. what do you do to stay positive?



~Chani

Sacred Life Sunday... Books

Since I have been lost all weekend in a book, one that transports me to another place in time to get a glimpse of people I'd never have any way of knowing, who have ideas that are foreign to my way of thought, I decided that it is a book that is making my life sacred at the moment.

"Sacred" might seem like an overstatement. Most would think of a sacred book as being the Bible, The Dhammapada, The Q'uran, the Gita or some other book that specifically delineates or instructs a way of life. One might think a book that is life-changing would be viewed as "sacred".

But all books are life-changing.

They are the great equalizer. They allow us exposure to new ideas, new places, other cultures, other ways of life, people we'd never know otherwise and probably people we wouldn't want to know. They force us to examine things we might not examine otherwise. They promote values or lack of values. They reflect periods of history we'd never know otherwise.

Books are available to everyone. Whether you spend half your monthly income at Border's the way I do or whether you borrow from the library, books are available. You can go anywhere you choose, any time of the day you choose and you can learn anything you choose.

It is knowledge that provides us with choice. And choice is sacred.

So this week, I choose books.

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Inconsequential Saturday....

This is where I write about any old dross that happens to pop into my head at the moment, most of it from the past week.

First off, I am currently reading "The Pillars of the Earth". I can not put this book down. I am reading it in the bathroom, on the treadmill, in front of the TV, in the garden. My hand is cramped from holding it. That is how good it is. Seriously, I recommend it. It's long. Nearly 1000 pages but each page is so richly written that it reminds me of Taylor Caldwell. You feel very present in the world Ken Follett has woven.

Ordinarily I don't jump on bandwagons, particularly the Oprah bandwagon. In my own defense, I bought the book two days before she announced it as her pick. It was prominently displayed at the bookstore and I had no idea it would be Oprah's Book Club Selection.

That said.... :)

Thanks for the responses about my vanity dilemma. Yes, these things are a dilemma for me. I'm a purist in most senses of that. As a friend of mine once said, if I was a Christian, I would be a fundamentalist Christian. I'm very aware of that tendency in my own thinking. If we don't truly live something, how can we claim to believe it?

I'm also on the ascetic side. Pleasure is hard for me. Not because I believe it gains me any particular merit but because somewhere in the hardwiring of my brain, I've connected pleasure for pleasure's sake with Bad Things. So when I believe I might be using the clothing for the wrong reason, it makes me question my own motives.

The clothing is to remind me where my home is, where my soul is at most peace. Doing something that, something so physical and obvious, keeps my mind focused.

But I can see where it's certainly acceptable for others to find pleasure in it. And I want to accept that graciously.

I read a post that disturbed me this week. Let's just say it was entrepreneurism gone wacky. It is only one example of the lowering of taste and class in a culture that seems to be in freefall. Marketing for the sake of marketing, not because it improves the world or our place in it, but simply because it can be marketed without any particular backlash. People have become desensitized.

And a part of me wants to get up on the soapbox and encourage people to mindfully consume, to choose purchases carefully and look not only at the object itself but where the object fits into a larger construct. That part of me is winning at the moment.

Someone once told me that everything we do is a political statement. Not political in the horse race sense of that, but political in the sense that we are supporting certain values, certain ethics and a way of life by the way we choose to consume and what we choose to consume.

I believe this is true. Nothing exists in a bubble. While it is far from me to interfere in the holidays that are coming up for most of the people who read here (not for me, thankfully), I would ask that. Directly. Please. Be careful. Choose carefully.

Your choices matter.

Okay. Enough dross for one day.

~*

Look Out for the Bogeyman!

Well, gee.

I seem to catch every bug that comes around! Actually, I was sickest Friday, Saturday and Sunday but I'm still a little bit on the wrong end of the sick continuum.

I'm not so sick that I don't feel like doing anything but too sick to do anything. After a short walk today, I ended up back in bed sleeping the afternoon away. As soon as CSI Miami is over, I'll be crawling in the sack again and will probably sleep through the night.

While this has been going on, I decided to read a mindless Nelson DeMille novel. No spiritual growth here, folks! It's been terrorists, government conspiracies and retired NYPD Detective John Corey saves the day.

Mindless. Mindless crap and propaganda but sometimes it's a relief to escape. It's so simple.

In the book called "WildFire" a bunch of rich white guys plot to nuke two US cities so they can justify a nuclear response to the Middle East. They plot and plan, choosing each city strategically based entirely on the impact to the economy. The goal is to set this up so that the US will have dominion over all the oil in the middle east.

It's worth noting of course that such a plan would never work since all the oil would be destroyed by the radiation. Am I the only one who remembers Chernobyl?

Oh well. It's fun. When my eyes get too tired, I listen to the conspiracy theories on Coast to Coast AM. Last night, they had a woman on who talked about a conspiracy to destroy the US economy so that they can introduce a new currency that will be used in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the US. This is supposed to occur in February. She assured us that it will be quite simple to learn the new currency. No need to worry.

Mark your calendars. :) The New World Order will be here.

Being sick can be rather enlightening. Gee, who knew there were so many plots going on? Amazing!

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Weekend: OJ Revisited....

For the past few days, I've been hearing quite a bit of talk about OJ's book, "If I Did It" which supposedly gives a plausible scenario for how the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman might have occurred, you know, if he'd done it.

Bias upfront: I believe he did it. At the time of the trial, I was able to watch every single day of it, moment to moment, and was convinced absolutely that he was guilty. I still believe that.

But that isn't what this post is about. This post is about the exploitation of two murdered people so that someone can make money.

I find it no more comforting that the Goldman family is getting paid than I would if OJ was being paid.

It's still blood money, no matter who gets the checks.

This led me to start thinking. When all is said and done, I believe there are certain things that should not be in the marketplace. Kiddie p*rn, blatant exploitation of women, unverified biographies that can bring harm to people, classified national security information and ... OJ's book. Those are just a few examples.

There is no redeeming social value to having this book out there. I understand that OJ takes great pains to completely trash Nicole's reputation, basically justifying the murder by implying it is Nicole's fault. If she'd just been a different kind of person.. if she'd been a bit more settled....

Noteworthy, of course, is that Nicole is not here to defend herself.

I believe there comes a time when any society has to decide what it values, what it stands for ~ what it will tolerate.

The fact that this is tolerated is beyond my comprehension. The fact that the Money God still comes ahead of every other value is beyond my comprehension.

At what point does any society at large determine that this kind of prurient sensationalism, this kind of blatant exploitation of someone else's life for entertainment, is unacceptable?

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Smallish things...

Saturday morning: While I'm waxing poetic about my lovely, peaceful and small life, I haven't forgotten the important things. If you get a chance, give this a listen. It's a new video for one of my favorite songs ~ done very well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOWrqR_QFfg

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Today, I spent a lot of time in the garden. The next few days will bring an opportunity to do even more trimming and planting. The crepe myrtle is blooming early this year and it's really beautiful! The tree in the back yard will do its job this summer by shading the window into the sun room. That is one of the greatest weaknesses in this house. It gets really hot in the back, so we planted two crepe myrtle trees a few years ago.

The roses in the front are also starting to climb along the side of the house. Yes, that is a particular breed of rose.

This is how many of my weekends pass, quietly, involved with nature and nurturing these little plant beings that bring V, D, M and me so much pleasure. It's amazing sometimes how seeing a blooming rose can bring everything into perspective.

And then, of course, there are the ever present books. At times, I wish V and D liked to read. It would be nice to share books with them and compare notes after reading. But they prefer movies and TV.

This is my current stack of books, certain to keep me busy for the next few weeks. There never seems to be enough time or energy to read all the books I'd like to read.

So, yes, my life is a small one. It isn't filled with activity and social interaction. My phone doesn't ring every ten minutes with someone requesting the pleasure of my company. I can't regale anyone with stories of my oh, so, busy and peopled life.

But I can certainly share the pleasure of a blooming rose .. or a good book. I can share how it feels to step out in the morning and see a back yard that is filled with some of the most beautiful greenery I've ever been able to create in one place. I can tell you what it feels like to do yoga on the patch of lawn that is surrounded by morning glories.

And I can tell you how I never, ever, believed I would experience that kind of peace or know that kind of contentment when I believed I had to be "more than" I am.

Thanks so much to those of you who came around to let me know that while my life is small, filled with these things so often perceived as insignificant, it is okay to talk about it.. and okay to live it without the shame. It is what I have to offer ~ and I offer it with an open heart and palms together... to all of you.


Peace,


~Chani

The White Masai.....

So, I spent the weekend reading this book, recommended by several people. Cliff Notes: It is the story of a woman who visited Africa, was instinctively drawn, met a Masai man, married him and had a child. The book is the story of that relationship.

I had some mixed feelings about it.

For one thing, I wish the author would have told us more about what drew her so strongly to the culture of Africa, where she gained her knowledge and what went on internally. What was she looking for?

She expressed her affinity but gave us no details. I would have liked to know what aspects of the culture she found comforting. Explanations of the history behind the customs, an explanation of her "Masai body decorations". What Masai body decorations? Tattoos? Markings? Jewelry? And what did they mean?

The story begins in earnest when she meets Lketinga. She is immediately drawn to him and actively pursues him.

The author is not someone who swims in the deep end of the pool. I can't imagine a logical, intelligent person marrying someone with whom she can't communicate in a significantly different culture. It's apparent that she was physically attracted but surely she must have known that wouldn't be enough to sustain the relationship. Also, admittedly, I had some serious problems with the way she dumped her boyfriend in Kenya and sent him back to Switzerland by himself. It seemed rather heartless and whimsical.

I suspect someone would have to do a lot of soul-searching and a lot of self-evaluation to know whether an adjustment of that magnitude would be possible, to marry a man and create a life in a completely foreign environment.

Naturally, the book got me to thinking about my time in Thailand and what would have happened if I'd met a Thai man to whom I was attracted. There were certainly plenty of them around. No secrets here. I think Thai men are beautiful to look at.

But... given my limited experience of Thailand at that time, I honestly can't imagine that a relationship would have been possible. Not yet.

My exploration and research into Thai culture took place not only there but after I got back. There is so much depth and history that it would have been impossible to absorb it all in the time I was physically there.

First came the affinity ~ then came the learning about the culture enough to see if the affinity would last.

The affinity not only lasted. It grew. I internalized it more and more. Effortlessly. The more I learned, the more I knew it was for me.

With that knowledge, a relationship (if it should occur) would probably work. The reasons for certain behaviors are known to me and I can cope with them ~ even assimilate them. I have already assimilated many of them.

In the case of the author, I can't help but wonder if she was just adventure-seeking. There were no final thoughts, nothing to indicate what what she learned or how she grew from the experience. It ended too suddenly.

Any other thoughts? From those who read the book.... or from those who didn't? Do you think a cross-cultural relationship would work without foundation-building?

Maybe I am just too cautious.


Peace,

~Chani

(Note: I was poking around on Amazon this morning and discovered that there is a follow-up book to "The White Masai" called "Reunion in Barsaloi". It has not been released yet but will be soon.  I'll probably read it because I thoroughly enjoy torturing myself. Seriously though, it might be interesting to see if she's explored any of this in a bit more depth.)

Reading......

Due to my fatigue the past few days, I've been able to read two great books!

The first was "The Measure of a Man" by Sidney Poitier. This isn't a celebrity book or ego book. It isn't a chronicle of achievement. It is truly like listening to an elder, someone who speaks wisely and cautiously, using an economy of words to allow them to sink in on a deeper level.

He writes of his childhood in Bahamas. He tells of the lessons he learned from his parents and his childhood. He then takes us on a winding road to the present, documenting many things, experiences and people, most notably how he maintained his dignity during the 60s and 70s as a Black man in America. In many ways, he reminds me of Nelson Mandela who warned his prison guards that "I will call you sir. You will call me sir. We will respect each other." It's an honest glimpse into someone else's life, someone who has had to assert his personhood, his manhood and his dignity in the constant face of those who would take it from him. Yet he does it without aggression or defensiveness. He does it by behavior.

Last night and this morning, I read "Eat, Pray and Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. One of the reviews states, "If a more likable writer than Gilbert is currently in print, I haven't found him or her...."

I agree. Reading the book is like listening to a good friend over pizza and beer, telling of her travels and her insights. She is painfully honest about her own shortcomings, her own failings. In that, she becomes a very real and delightful person. Even with my failing eyesight, I couldn't wait to get a little bit more of her, to read just one more tale. I sat here, magnifying glass in hand, savoring each word. Even though I have been writing for many, many years, I often whispered to myself, "Ghod, I wish I could have said that!"

I recommend both of them.

What are you reading? Do you recommend anything in particular?

** I know this post is dull and boring. Hope you'll stay with me. I'll try to come up with more interesting topics next week. Hopefully, Social Justice post Monday. It's one of those topics I have to think about....


Peace,


~Chani