Ruminations from the Temple

Sometimes entanglements separate, so often for the better. Love was not lacking, or even desire, only that paths parted. Being free of attachment is a benefit, and loyalty isn’t always a virtue; Truly, clinging for acceptance and striving for victory leave only expectations. If clinging is your way, cling to the truth that expectations lead to suffering. If striving is your habit, strive to train yourself to be still. For in stillness there is awareness, acceptance, and quietness of mind. It is only in stillness that you will find what you seek.

I suggest reading THIS . Then, add her blog to your blogroll. Next, follow her advice. I certainly have. I challenge my readers to abstain from social media (facebook/twitter/______) for one week. Take back your life. Quit feeding the monster.

[September 2012, originally posted on Expose.] A picture of the place you want to spend the most time. I don't think I can find a photo, mine or otherwise, that would portray where I want to spend the majority of my time. Instead, I will attempt to paint you a picture... With wide, sweeping strokes, the lightest of white, pearly and somewhat translucent, would be the light of life. I want to live in the light. Sweet hues of light blue, lavender and pink represent freely given friendship and acceptance. I want to live with acceptance and true, unconditional love. Splashes of bright colors - yellow, orange and green - punctuate the days with new experiences and things to learn. I want to live in a place where new ideas are embraced and fresh opportunities are welcomed. Deep and comfortable darker hues find their way onto my canvas; soft brown and warm burgundy...deep turquoise and emerald green. All these speak of the abiding feeling of home and belonging....

Fingers intertwine, hearts and feet set on the path. Unconditional. This morning I awoke thinking of haiku. Strange. When I was a school kid I hated the idea of writing poetry, especially haiku. Teachers seemed to be so taken with the simple poetry puzzles. Suddenly, these little poems seem a fitting way to capture my observations. Maybe I will write more. Here's some information I found online about them: So what should haiku accomplish? What should it provide the reader? According to the classic haiku poets of Japan, haiku should present the reader with an observation of a natural, commonplace event, in the simplest words, without verbal trickery. The effect of haiku is one of "sparseness". It's a momentary snatch from time's flow, crystallized and distilled. Nothing more.  Of all the forms of poetry, haiku perhaps is the most demanding of the reader. It demands the reader's participation because haiku merely suggests something in the h...

It is the end of week 11 of this term, and man , it's hard! Well, I have to say it is the intensity that makes it hard. Almost there. In the midst of the push of Latin, post-grad sticky notes abound. Transcript ordered, recommends in place, application needs to be completed. So many stickies that are being pushed to the side in order to drill Latin vocabulary. A few Latin snips: volo, velle, volui, _____ - be willing, want or wish dubito, dubitare, dubitavi, dubitatum - hesitate, doubt fas , n., (what is divinely) right; (what is) permitted But, what about this year's word of the year...could it be a new dictionary ENTRY ? In the feed: A Washington Post ARTICLE that was interesting. I wanna make my own! On the cushion: Wind in the cave; Movement in stillness. Power in silence. "In a cave, all outer sounds are smothered by rock and earth, but this makes the sounds of one's own heartbeat and breath audible. In the same way, cont...

This is what the country looks like the day after the election. This is what division looks like. This is where judgment, competition, and elitism leads. Division. I don't know about you, but all the people in my life, including myself, were rather stunned at this outcome. And rightly so. This was not like any other election, and similarly, the newly-tapped President-Elect is like no other. I am not posting this to wax poetic on how it all went down and who is or isn't worthy to be blamed, I really just want to capture my day yesterday. Again, it was like none other during my time on university campus. It was a scheduled "long" day, meaning I had two classes, a prof meeting, and a tutoring session planned. It was also was my middle son's birthday, so I knew the evening was booked, as well. Frankly, I didn't know what to expect as I drove to campus. Since we don't partake of television news (or any tv for that matter), my source of news of the electio...

I heard an analogy yesterday. It was so good, I have to share. It is so good for me, because it completely describes how I feel about my experience. I (try) to blame no one, as we all must take responsibility for our actions regardless of cultural conditioning, family expectations, or personal motivations of social connection and inclusion. We have all heard of children who have had invisible friends. Perhaps you had one, or one of your children did. That invisible friend, created out of a deep psychological need of some sort, is a source of comfort and companionship. The child is never alone, as they can 'conjure' up their invisible friend, speak for their invisible friend, and rely on their invisible friend at any time. However, eventually the child grows out of the need for their invisible friend, and even forgets about them as they get older; sometimes, the only ones who remember are the parents or older siblings.  But, I know many adults who have an invisib...

So, yeah. I closed my pinky finger in the car door. omg. Who knew how much that would hurt?? I'll spare you the pic. So, there's that. And one more week down. And yes, there is a lot of clutter hangin' around. Kinda like the Halloween candy that we had for the trick-or-treaters that didn't come. Time to grab a 'fun size' and clean up this mess! Let's put on some music while we are at it... Don't you just need that on your iTunes? Love it. From the Latin class: qui, quae, quod - who, which qui, quae, quod - what? which? quis, quid - who, what quam ob rem - on account of which thing quare - why??? You got all that, right ? At the Bookmark : There is never enough time to read all that I want to... The Tao of Yoda , by D.W. Kreger - this is just too good not to share! Amazing work and amazing wisdom of Lao Tzu (in the Tao Te Ching )...here's a taste: The Great Force flows through all living things manifest ...

Chuck has finished his Star Wars art-quilt - isn't it great?? That is a lot of artistic work you are lookin' at, there...he says it is a meditation for him. Mindful sewing, indeed. Somehow, it seems to go with a new book we just received entitled The Tao of Yoda , by D.W. Kreger. Here is a sneak-peak: "...So, we wanted to see what would happen if we substituted the words 'Force' or the 'Way of the Force' everywhere the Chinese character Tao appears. Then everywhere it says 'holy man' we put 'Jedi.' The result was simply astonishing. It was a perfect fit..." If you are in the dark about the Tao Te Ching , it is the thought by scholars to be prehistory oral tradition of teachings given to Confucius by his teacher, Lao Tsu . The mysterious philosophical teachings were written down approximately 2,600 years ago--when it was already centuries old--becoming the foundation of Taoism . These writings could be the oldest known writings on...