Enabling Transformation

I haven't weighed in on the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary yet. I've been about to post something everyday since last week but somehow never felt sufficiently sure I was adding anything to the conversation. I have been reading though and something is abundantly clear, beyond the fact that there are some truly stupid people making suggestions and explaining why and how something like this could happen.  What is clear is that people are searching for" THE ANSWER". People seem to believe that we can have some magic single solution like taking a pill for a headache.

One of the most important lessons of Zen is that there is not one solitary path to enlightenment or the proper way. Every seeker must find their own way on their own terms. The lessons of Zen can point out the general direction and illuminate errors but they cannot lead you there.  There is no single "right" way.

There are a multitude of societal problems that enabled this and the other tragedies. We instinctively know that there is no "THE ANSWER" . There is no single answer that, by itself, will stop  mass slayings and the other atrocities we seem to witness day in and day out.  There is no simple solution for the millions of deadly weapons in the country just like there is no simple answer to 20% of American children going to bed hungry at night. We have to understand and internalize the fact that in order to change anything we will require myriad answers and tugging on dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of the strands that weave through the universe.

I am not so bold enough to suggest that I even have a clue as to what to do, which strings to pull, but I do understand one thing. Not one of us, as an individual, can make a significant change happen within society as a whole. We, individually, don't have that kind of power. The only power we truly possess is the power to change ourselves. That means that if we want to see change in our society the change needs to begin within ourselves. If we want the collective to move in a different direction or what we see as a more positive direction then we, as individuals, need to move in that direction. If enough of us move in a positive direction and change, then society will be changed as well.  A society and its behavior reflect that of its constituents. Period.

So, you might ask, what is the positive direction? We can start by rejecting violence as an answer and this includes war as a form of diplomacy. We can reject the "Screw you I got mine" mentality.  We can reject unfairness and incivility. We need to embrace diversity and inclusion. We need to recognize the sanctity of life in all its forms. We need to understand that we are on a small spaceship with limited resources and that if we don't carefully nuture it and our relationship with it we will perish. We need to grasp that what happens to the least of us happens to all of us.  That's just a start and the list is long but you get the gist.

Finally, we must recognize that what we seek is transformation from where we are to where we want to be. It won't happen quickly and the vision may and probably will change as it evolves. The important thing is that it be positive and that it evolves. Lastly and most importantly, we can't wait for someone else to begin this transformation. We can't wait for someone else to show us the way. If we look to ourselves we already know which direction to head.

I need to move toward the goal and you need to move toward the goal. If we each don't personally and fully embody the change we need and want, then the transformation will not happen.

Do What You Can

I've been terribly busy lately and in one way that is a good thing. I have been too busy to dwell upon on the bad news, especially about the environment. The shit storm is heading for us fast. 2011 saw green house gas emissions reach its highest point in history. Closer measurement has shown that the worlds oceans are rising twice as fast as predicted and there is  more bad news after more bad news and no one seems to have any inclination to do anything about it.  Wait a minute you say...what about all the Priuses and the compact fluorescent bulbs, and CFC free hairspray and deodorant and stuff. It is there and it is helping but it is nothing compared to the sheer volume of greenhouse emissions coming from the U.S. and other developed and developing countries. Spend anytime reading around and you will be overwhelmed with the bad news...well it is bad news if you are mostly conscious which appears to leave a lot of people in this country out of the picture especially the so-called leadership. Happily, most of the folks who visit here seem to be in the minority in that they actually are aware of the humongous bag of crap that we are in and thus here is the message...

CHILL! Focus on your own universe. Take care of your own heart and mind and the hearts and minds of those around you. The news coming at those of us that are even marginally attuned to the rhythms of the universe is tragic and disheartening and is a sure-fire path to psycho-emotional burnout.  Each of us has limited energy and capacity. As much as our desire and compassion pulls us into the maelstrom of our planet's problems, sickness, torture, abuse, and pollution we must, at some point, pull back and resist. Even as we see the inevitable death of our earth happen before our eyes we must remind ourselves of our limits.  As much as we might desire the power to affect it, the karma of the universe is not ours to rectify. Our responsibility is to our own karma and to some extent the karma of those we are closet to and love. If you spread your energy too far afield and try to embrace the anger, suffering, violence and pain of our dying planet you will self destruct and in doing so fail to address what you actually have the power to control and that is yourself.

The hard truth is that if each of us did what is right, truly right, for ourselves and our loved ones. If each of us focused on the purity of our local universe and lives, the problems of our planet would solve themselves. We would make the correct decisions for our environment even if it meant foregoing some of the niceties of modern life. We would reject consumerism for what it is...disaster. We would reject the idea of war and with it would go the vast wasted resources that go with it. We would turn and recognize our Mother Earth as our partner instead of adversary and we would grasp our small bit of the web of life and make it whole and as each bit is healed the whole is healed.

Staying focused on what you can control and actually have the power to control is not easy. The distractions of modern life and cries of pain and suffering coming from the rest of the world and even from the planet itself are difficult to resist. We shouldn't ignore them but should put them in their proper place in our worldview. We shouldn't, however, allow them to pull us away from our focus on getting our own bit of the universe sorted. If we, by effort or chance, happen to get ourselves and our loved ones properly balanced and have energy to spare we can widen our boundaries and share our successes with the rest of the universe.

It is not selfish to center yourself on what you can control and make right and hope that the balance and correctness spread from your center.

John Lennon

John Lennon would have been 72 years old today. His murder in New York way back on December 8th, 1980 was/is one of the so-called time markers in my life. The world has been a lesser place since he left. It is only appropriate that the lyrics for "Imagine" get remembered today as well.

"Imagine"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

No Religion

There is a new report out that indicates that for the first time Protestants aren't the majority of Americans. The report from Pew shows that 1 in 5 Americans say they  have "no religion".

From what I've read in the AJC and on Huffingtion Post the coverage seems to indicate that atheism and agnosticism are ascendant but I think what this really means is that fewer people, especially the younger population, see the need for formal religion as a crutch when it comes to their self identity.
People, and again the younger folks, are being exposed to different ideas about what it means to be human and what our place is in the great scheme of things. They are beginning to see that spirituality, to use a word, engenders more than what traditional, formal religions offer. Rigid rules and structure are at odds with what many are experiencing in their actual lives. The increased exposure of Eastern thought/philosophy, mysticism, and paganism have given people greater resources when it comes to shaping their beliefs.

Myriad aspects of modern life can no longer be strictly dealt with by whacking them with the Bible. The reality of today doesn't fit comfortably in the rigid rules demanded by Christian traditional religion. More and more people are seeing the value of a philosophy or self awareness built around the peaceful traditions of Buddhism, Shamanism and Paganism. These philosophies are rooted in the natural flow of life and dance to the rhythms of nature, human love and interaction instead of denying the reality of the world. The end result being that they blend or harmonize far better with the way the world really works.

People aren't losing their "religion" so much as they are growing out of it.

Apple-Onion Stir Fry

Since it is fall and the leeks and the onions in the garden should be ready to start harvesting and it is also apple season I thought it might be nice to offer a recipe that uses both. This recipe is from Tassajara and their brilliant cookbook from way back in 1973. For those not familiar with Tassajara it is a now a world famous Zen study center near San Francisco and while it is most famous in cooking circles for its Bread Book its cookbook is a very nice vegetarian guide to cooking. Like many aspects of Zen it is not so much a cookbook as a it is a guidebook. The recipes are not for you to follow but to test, reinvent and create from. It explains a lot and tells you some of the things to look out for but it also leaves you plenty of room for discovery and things to discover on your own. As it says on the back cover:

 "Blessings. You are on your own. Together with everything."

Apple-Onion Stir Fry

You'll need some onions or leeks or some of each, apples, raisins or brown sugar or honey, vinegar or lemon juice, butter or oil, salt and pepper. That's it.

Slice the onions and/or leeks and slice or chunk the apples. About the same amount of each. Saute the onions/leeks in a small amount of oil or butter until they are golden brown or almost caramelized which should take about 10 -15 minutes. Add the apples and raisins(as many as you want, they are for sweetness or you can use brown sugar or honey), season mildly with vinegar or lemon juice, cover, and steam until the apples have softened a bit but not too long. Season with salt and pepper.

This is a nice warming dish and great for a cool fall day. If you cook it down a bit more then you can use it as a spread on some nice toasted whole meal bread.

No there are no exact measurements....if you are cooking for two then make enough for two or if you are cooking for 10 make enough for 10.

This recipe is adapted from the book Tassajara Cooking copyright 1973 by the Zeb Center, San Francisco

Robotic Versus Gaian

Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer have an interesting article in the NYT "The Machine and the Garden" that brings up an interesting and, I think, a valuable notion. Our use of mechanistic metaphors when talking about government, economics and society in general drive our thinking in the wrong direction. They use the neologisms "Machinebrain and Gardenbrain" to separate the two ways of thinking about how things work and it really does make sense and it has been something I have thought about a lot over the years. The economy and society more resembles a garden than a machine, and it needs to be fertilized and cultivated more than it needs to be lubricated and tuned.

What we require now is a new framework for thinking and talking about the economy, grounded in modern understandings of how things actually work. Economies, as social scientists now understand, aren’t simple, linear and predictable, but complex, nonlinear and ecosystemic. An economy isn’t a machine; it’s a garden. It can be fruitful if well tended, but will be overrun by noxious weeds if not.

In this new framework, which we call Gardenbrain, markets are not perfectly efficient but can be effective if well managed. Where Machinebrain posits that it’s every man for himself, Gardenbrain recognizes that we’re all better off when we’re all better off. Where Machinebrain treats radical inequality as purely the predictable result of unequally distributed talent and work ethic, Gardenbrain reveals it as equally the self-reinforcing and compounding result of unequally distributed opportunity. 

This is good way to think and while I am not to keen on the ugly  "machinebrain/gardenbrain" terms and would prefer something a little less barren on the order of "Robotic/Gaian" it does provide what I consider a  much more positive and constructive alternative for economic reality. What is even more important is that it happens to fit the facts far better than the right-wing/libertarian machine models which are leading us rapidly down the path to a major catastrophe. I would venture to say that if we and our leaders started thinking more about the "ecosystem" that is the reality of our society and economies we would begin to see a lot more constructive things begin to happen. If the mechanistic thinking and insistence that the whole thing is a "zero sum game" where if one wins another loses were to turn into a recognition that we all can win in a healthy, ecologically balanced system we could do nothing but generate a positive change. It also doesn't hurt that this whole way of thinking fits pretty closely with my overall Buddhist, Gaian, and Pagan belief system.

Something For A Rainy Morning

A little JS Bach in the woods. Very cool and very Japanese.

Lightning Bugs

There is something very comforting and elemental, if you will, about stepping outside on a summer evening and seeing the lightning bugs flash. It just feels right.

Salmon Teachings

I'm just echoing something that Hecate posted but that resonates completely:

My friend the great Dakota activist Waziyatawin once said, “That defeatist attitude makes me want to scream. The battles we’re fighting are overwhelming, but we know things won’t get better if we do nothing. Our only hope is enough people intervening and taking action, people willing to risk something now so we all don’t lose everything later. The only sense of empowerment I feel is by taking some kind of action, whether it’s writing, working to undermine the existing structures, or sitting on the open prairie in December with a Dakota man trying to save our landbase.” She went on: “If our actions will do nothing, why would anyone even want to live anymore? That kind of hopelessness, in the defeatist sense, means an embracing of victimage and complete powerlessness. Here the salmon have much to teach: either they make it upriver to spawn, or they die trying.”

If our actions make it so there is even a one-thousandth of 1 percent chance that things will work out better for ourselves and the planet, then it is our moral duty to act and act and act. Before it’s too late.

Am I optimistic? Not in the slightest. Am I going to quit? Not on your fucking life.

You should read Derrick Jensen's entire post here.

Power Hours

Now that we are officially into spring, which is the most powerful of times, we should remember at all times the words of the Goddess:

"And you who seek to know Me, know that the seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am That which is attained at the end of desire."

This is the time of  rebirth and renewal. This is the time when we can be closest to the power of the Goddess. Stop the frantic day to day dashing hither and yon and witness the magic going on around you as the world becomes, once again, fresh and new. There is much power to be gained in this time so take advantage of the gifts of the Goddess.

Thanks for the reminder Hecate

I Refuse To Accept

I had to work today so I didn't get a chance to post this this morning. If you have been visiting here for any time you have figured out that I am probably what many call a socialist or at minimum a dirty hippie. What I really am is someone who tries to live a life of peace and love. I have embraced the teachings of the Buddha and to some degree it is because I lived through the struggles of Dr. King to find the way to a better future for all of us.
In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, a portion of his Nobel acceptance speech:

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!

Yes, Virginia

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

“DEAR EDITOR:
I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Thanksgiving Reflections

I'll steal with thanks from Barbara at Mahablog.

There’s a bit of Zen liturgy called the “Five Reflections” or “Five Remembrances” that is chanted before meals; it’s sort of the Zen version of saying grace. There are a number of translations of the reflections floating around, but they all boil down to this:

First, reflect on all the work that went into putting the meal on the table. This goes beyond just the cooking. There are grocers and truckers and farmers and suppliers of farmers. And all of those people are sustained by food provided by other cooks and grocers and truckers and farmers and suppliers. And don’t forget the non-human creatures represented on the table, from the turkey to the dairy cows and even the bees who make pollination possible. If you think about it, you realize the food in front of you represents a huge web of relationships that spreads across the globe.

Second, reflect on whether you are contributing to the greater good with your own life, and if the work you do is sustaining other people as much as their work sustains you.

Third, reflect on not being greedy.

Fourth, reflect on what food is really about — keeping us alive and healthy.

Fifth, reflect on “attaining the Way,” or realizing enlightenment.

Social Justice

I was challenged by a commenter last week when I posted the thing about Glenn Beck and his charge to listeners to abandon their church if it mentions "social justice". Terrance Heath at A World of Progress does a pretty good job of addressing the issue. The commenter opined that Beck was correct and that there was no such thing as 'social justice' and never has been nor never will be. Whatever!

Joe On Socialism and Tea Partys

Joe Bageant has another response to a reader up and I think it is worth a read. The reader challenges Joe's previous arguments for socialism and, as usual, Joe responds with wit and a deep insight into exactly what is wrong with our world today. In response to the reader's challenge on there being no successful demonstrations in the world of socialism working (citing China and Russia as examples) Joe responds, in part, with his definition of socialism:

To my mind, socialism is this:
A community and national philosophy, a commonly shared and not necessarily politicized way of life wherein the first priority is the fundamental well-being of the people (also known as "the masses," a term you have probably been programmed to wrinkle your brow in ominous suspicion of.) "Fundamental well-being" means that everyone eats well, enjoys safe and adequate homes and a common standard of good health. It means that children are educated to do more than just the rote tasks that serve corporate empires. It means the man actually doing the work man negotiates the value of his labor. It means that somewhere in the last third or quarter of his life, that working man, after enjoying his freedom, bacon and common work, and diligently sustaining his fellow men, is released from his toil. Released into security and peace and modest but guaranteed sustenance. He is free to nurse his aches, chase old women or take up Bourbon or Buddhism. Or both, as I have. Whatever he chooses as a free man in a free and benevolent socialist society.

I sure don't have any arguments with it.

Brit Hume is Such an Ass

Brit Hume managed to insult all of us Buddhists over the weekend by suggesting that Tiger Woods should abandon his Buddhism and turn to Christianity if he wanted to recover from his transgressions.

Since it is FOX News I am not expecting an apology but if it was any other religion that was so insulted we would be hearing much more hue and cry.

It is quite obvious Brit has no knowledge of Buddhism but interestingly in his ignorance he is somewhat correct. Since the whole idea of 'sin' is a foreign concept in Buddhism it is true that Buddhism doesn't offer the same kind of "redemption and forgiveness" as does Christianity. We do, however, offer the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths that helps us understand the reasons and solutions for such destructive behavior. Seeing as how Buddhists have been applying the precepts and practices taught by the Buddha for 25 centuries quite successfully we can comfortably tell Brit to go away until he has fully grasped the Three Pure Precepts;
I like them expressed as taught by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center

With purity of heart, I vow to refrain from ignorance.
With purity of heart, I vow to reveal beginner's mind.
With purity of heart, I vow to live, and be lived, for the benefit of all beings.

Then again there is always the other side of the coin as expressed by Elephant Journal  who vows vengeance.

Little does Brit realize that not only are we Buddhists temperamentally unable to forgive, our various secret ninja societies will hunt him down and unforgive him until he cries out in the dark for his mother.

Land of the Lost

Gregory Rodriguez has an excellent article in the Los Angeles Times about the nature of conspiracy theories and why people believe them.

The real truth is that, as weird as they are, rumors and conspiracy theories can only thrive in the minds of people who are predisposed to believe them. Successful propagators of fringe theories don’t just send random balloons into the atmosphere. Rather, they tap into the preexisting beliefs and biases of their target audiences.

Plenty of studies have shown that people don’t process information in a neutral way — “biased assimilation” they call it. In other words, rather than our opinions being forged by whatever information we have available, they tend to be constructed by our wants and needs. With all their might, our minds try to reduce cognitive dissonance — that queasy feeling you get when you are confronted by contradictory ideas simultaneously. Therefore, we tend to reject theories and rumors — and facts and truths — that challenge our worldview and embrace those that affirm it.

This is likely true for every one of us, myself included. I find myself jumping on the bandwagon with news and stories that fit my world picture but I usually realize that I am not letting my well learned skepticism kick in and soon get it sorted out. Granted I still get fooled now and again but not often. This most recent period in American politics has done a fairly good job of sucking the 'pollyanna' out of my world view. Yes, I still get excited and believe at times that there is light at the end of the tunnel and I guess that will always be the case as I am not ready to give up life without some hope and I will always believe the positive attributes of our world will come to bear eventually. And yes, I understand "The Two Hands of God" bit and all the other yin and yang stuff.

What else is apparent is the "right" is pretty much gone over the edge and nothing like facts and logic is going to drag them back from fantasy land. Over the last 8 or 10 years, surrounded as I am with the hard right, I have come to realize that they are just too far gone and wrapped in their fantasy world and that reason and logic are no longer an effective tool for communication. No scientific fact or even the evidence in front of their eyes is going to change their minds about whatever bizarre notions they have about the world around them. It's not worth the effort to try and talk with them. I still try and reach out to the somewhat 'sane' but have effectively given up on the 'land of the lost'.

From the Buddhist perspective of "your outer reality is a projection of your inner reality" we have a serious problem with a rather large piece of the American public. I would have to say that there are way too many people running around with a very twisted inner reality and that is one disturbing thing to contemplate. I'm just saying.

Summer Pressures and Pleasures

Sorry for the light posting around here but the pressures of high summer are keeping me busy. Canned more tomatoes today and a batch of tomato preserves from all the yellow pear tomatoes. I also have a batch of tomato preserves from the cherry tomatoes waiting to be canned tomorrow. It looks like Wednesday will be another tomato canning day in spite of the efforts of the birds to damage every ripening fruit before I can harvest.

Speaking of birds... I had a rewarding experience in the garden today. While working quietly...I tend to go into a sort of meditative state in the garden...a small bird (Eastern Pee Wee) alighted on a post just inches from my head and then fluttered even closer as if to alight on my shoulder. He/she decided not to but again landed just a foot away and just watched me go about my chores. This close surveillance went on for the better part of a half hour and then he/she flew off down the row of tomatoes. It wasn't two minutes until it reappeared with a large bumble bee in its beak and took its position by me once again. I got the impression that it was showing me the bee and letting me know it appreciated the fine hunting ground I had provided with the garden and all its blooms and attending insects. I acknowledged the attention and let it know it was welcome. Off it flew to the bluebird house I have mounted on the garden fence where it seems it is raising a family. Maybe it was saying thanks for the apartment as well? That is one of the great pleasures of spending time in a garden...especially if you silence the mental chatter and just let the life around you guide your thoughts. Beethoven has nothing on the symphony of sounds in a healthy garden all intertwined with the constant hum of bees creating another generation of life.

David Carradine RIP

CNN and others are reporting that David Carradine has been found dead in his Bangkok hotel room. Unconfirmed reports are that it was a suicide.

This is very strange news for me. In the early seventies David's character on the TV series "Kung Fu" had a pretty profound effect on my spirit and somehow the thought of suicide doesn't connect. I know was well as the next person that David Carradine was not Kwai Chang Caine just like I know Leonard Nimoy was not Spock but somehow the mental connection with the actor and character just presents some irreconncilable issues. I think I will just remember the David Carradine who made an impression on a struggling psyche and not the David Carradine who was so troubled that he considered taking his own life.

Peace be with you Grasshopper.

Raining Weed Seeds

Right now the sun is out here in the Northern Atlanta burbs but the forecast is for another day of scattered showers and thunderstorms. Last night, as has been the case for what seems like weeks, we had another 'frog strangler'. It came down so hard and fast that it washed a lot of the wood chip mulch from between the garden rows. You can see the path of the torrent through the garden as the flood made it's way down the very gentle slope. I have some redistribution of chips in my immediate future.

All of the rain has generated another gangbuster crop of weeds. Sometime I think it must rain the seeds. Mostly morning glory and milkweed with a dash of Queen Anne's lace thrown in for good measure. In spite of all the mulching and weeding this past weekend I now have a fresh crop that needs attention. It is, needless to say, not my favorite part of gardening.

On the 'spiritual side' however, all the time in quiet activities in the garden with no distractions and the near mindless activity of weeding has moved what I call my 'consciousness dial' a good way higher. Quiet contemplation has a way of moving your consciousness more toward the harmony side of the dial. Pretty much everything else in today's world, news, TV and all the rest strives hard to de-sensitize you to the universe and your vibrations don't resonate like they should. In spite of what you read and hear, gurus, teachers, masters or whatever are really a hindrance in a person's spiritual evolution. They are more than likely, and usually are, a distraction. One's movement toward harmony and resonance with the universe is and should be a strictly personal thing. Occasionally, a teacher may provide a useful hint or remind you of the proper path like a sign post along the road but the actual journey is something you have to do by yourself. Time alone in the garden is an excellent way to negate the dehumanizing effects of the modern world and allow yourself a little spiritual expansion. I recommend it highly. Not only do you get a kick in the ass toward a little spiritual growth you get the benefit of fresh fruit and vegetables. You cannot find a better spiritual master than a little dirt under the fingernails and the hot sun on your shoulders.

The picture is 'Moon of Enlightenment' by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and is a good illustration of my point about spiritual masters above. Don't mistake the finger pointing at the moon as the moon.