Spirituality and Rationality

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(This blog is on spirituality, so if it’s not your thing…)

Dr. Carol Hand has one of the most stirring blogs on spirituality I’ve ever read.

I love, love, love, the Native American approach to spirituality–they don’t dictate to each other or complete strangers what they should believe or how they should worship. They worry more about their own spiritual path than others’.

When I was growing up, my belief was that the world could only know Peace if we were all Christians–hence the reason for missionaries and witnessing to others our beliefs.

It took my taking a class on religion in college to realize that despite what you might hear in the press or religious leaders, we aren’t that far apart in our beliefs.  As I’ve written about before, all religions have the eerily similar belief in treating others as you wish to be treated.  This was such a powerful discovery for me–as at this time, after my divorce and the turmoil that followed, I was questioning God’s existence.

Two things happened that brought me “back”–one is a dream I’ll keep private, and the other is my daughter going through a terrible time.  She made it through, although she still has “days” that I think are more related to the poison in her mouth (amalgams) than to anything else.

Anyway, Carol’s post highlights the Native American tradition of seeing women as connected directly to God by our ability to give life.  I love this.  The European tradition as seeing menstruation as “dirty” –something to be ashamed of, others see it as the blood that gives life to the growing baby.  As I wrote that, The Red Tent popped into my head.  Even though women were banished to the tent for menstruating, they had a wonderful camaraderie that is absent in our society today.    (Not only that, Big Pharma has developed a Pill to stop women from menstruating for three months (or more)…someone I knew was getting married and didn’t want to have her period on her wedding day….unbelievable.  God, how Big Pharma must hate women and their icky periods….)

Back on subject—

It does make sense to keep one’s visions to oneself–lest it create jealousy or judgment.  Wise.

This passage was powerful and reflected my own conclusions:

When I realize that the temptation to judge and compete with others is becoming too strong to resist, I look at the context and forces around me. Often I find that it’s time for me to change course, to be honest about what is my responsibility to do, and to simplify and refocus my life on what really matters on my path. I have a responsibility to do what I can in my thoughts and actions to end and prevent harm.  I have a responsibility to judge actions and their consequences, but I cannot judge or demonize others whose paths I can never know.

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It is hard to resist those powerful urge to judge and compete with others…but if one truly follows the “do unto others..” it helps keep one on the right path.  After all, we can only control our own actions and reactions, not those of others.

Peace to you all.

 

Americans protests of Israel bombing/blockade

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In New York City, protesters staged a “die-in” at an Israel bank.  The article is slanted towards Israel…saying that the protesters were siding with terrorists…so what else is new?

…people who kill innocent people cannot claim innocence nor can they claim to be the victim here.

The destruction of Gaza

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Global News has photos up on the utter destruction of Gaza.  I can’t even imagine what they must feel like.  Well, I take that back–I do know how it feels to lose your home, but not by bombing.

My heart goes out to the Palestinian woman crying over losing her home.

The 7th photo shows an ambulance driver’s charred body from being hit by an Israeli rocket.  I’d like to see Netanyahu explain this away–he’ll say that the ambulance driver was a member of Hamas, I’m sure…./snarky to the extreme

Warning for the next photo–children who were bombed by Israel.  It is horrible.  I’m sure they were members of Hamas, as well/snark with disgust

Before, this, they were starving them.  Interfering with their ability to earn a living or blocking paychecks.  Now I learn that they were also restricting their water!  Water!

Do unto others as you would have done to you.

Blood on your hands, Israel.  Blood on your hands.

 

Nature leaves a calling card…

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…just to let us know who’s in charge…

We had a powerful thunderstorm with lightening that cracked so loud I jumped two feet off the bed.  Seriously, it was the loudest (and closest) that I’ve ever experienced.

So, naturally, it took out the phone box in back, the phone box attached to the house, and cooked the router.  I’m typing from my sister’s pc, and I hate it, so I’m just here briefly.

This is another instance where having a land line is a lifesaver–because your internet can get knocked out just like *that*.

Hope you all are doing okay.

Watch out for those lightening strikes…heh.

Changes….

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…I know that nothing stays the same, and yet…

I went to Fort Wayne Sunday.  I had the thought of giving some food to the food pantry that our building had.  It was there to help with the gaps between what the gov’t thinks people need in order to eat and what they actually had at the end of the month.

So…I bought about $80 worth of food and called the manager to see if she was available to get in the building and chat awhile.  She didn’t pick up her cell, and I found out why when I arrived at the building–

I had tried the disabled gal that used to run the food pantry.  She would have had the key to get in.  I couldn’t for the life of me remember her apartment number, so I guessed.   A man answered, so yeah, no luck.  He didn’t even know the name so either he was new, or the gal has moved to another place.  She had been there quite a few years, so I was surprised that she wasn’t there.

I tried a few more apartments, but no one was home.  On a final try, I got one of the residents.  Ironically, he was the same one that gave me such grief over there by setting off the fire alarms all the time.  Heh.

He let me in and then said they didn’t have the food pantry anymore.  I was shocked.

He said that everything had changed and that the manager was no longer there.  There had been a big shake up, I guess.  No wonder she didn’t reply to my call.

So…I ended up just putting the food on a table in the main lobby for people to pick up.

It was just surreal.  There used to be folks outside chatting on the benches. No one.  No one inside where a couch and tables are located.

It just felt like the world got a little colder.  Makes me sad.  Really sad leaving the building. What once was a small community, where we looked out for one another, has become a place to exist.

Once our former manager left, it just seemed to take the warmth and light out of the place.  The new maintenance guy did not like the “free” table we had in our rec room…he was somewhat anal and didn’t like the clutter of it…but that table was a life saver for us with little money to buy things.  If someone didn’t want something, but another resident could use it, that just saved it from ending up in the landfill, didn’t it?  But the maintenance guy insisted there were fights over the stuff…and I can say that I never witnessed it nor heard about any such fights.  He just didn’t like it, is my guess….and if there were any fights, he probably blew them out of proportion.

Anyway, what should have been a happy day of giving back was one of sadness.

Why Hamas is launching the rockets…

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DN! has a good report up this morning on *why* Hamas is not backing down.  Palestinians don’t necessarily support Hamas, but they are left without any other means to break the blockade of Israel the bully.  It impacts their ability to get supplies, water, wages, etc.  It affects every single thing in their lives.

As President Kennedy said–when you make peaceful protest impossible, then violent protest is inevitable….

March on Detroit: the right to water

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Story here.

It is outrageous that General Motors and two sports arenas have not paid their bills…and yet, their water has not been turned off.

It is outrageous that children are being taken away from their parents when their water is shut off.

As a response to this–what about drilling for wells?  There are probably laws against that, but I say go for it.  It will be hard, but at least one has access to water.

Meanwhile, General Motors and the city’s two sports arenas, which owe millions in unpaid water bills, have not had their water turned off. – See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/07/187784/water-rights-march-detroit#sthash.87CJMFVo.dpuf
Meanwhile, General Motors and the city’s two sports arenas, which owe millions in unpaid water bills, have not had their water turned off. – See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/07/187784/water-rights-march-detroit#sthash.87CJMFVo.dpuf

Farewell to Teaching

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I hope that you will keep the door open to teaching. We need teachers that care about what they’re teaching their students and aren’t just there for the paycheck.
I was dismayed when I started my college career at 34–the classes were mostly lectures with very little debate or exchange of ideas and viewpoints. Those open discussions expand an education beyond the confines of a textbook. In the few classes I had where debates were allowed, i found it thought-provoking for both sides.