More than just sticky notes...bring on week 10 of Fall Term

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 in both good and evil
All living things depend upon it
and none are excluded
Used for Accomplishments
yet takes no credit
Nourishes and cares for ten thousand things
yet not has it desire to control
Eternal Nature not being desire
it can be named 'small'
Ten thousand things must return to it in the end
yet it does not act as lord
can be named the action - great
By not making itself great
thus, it is enabled to realize its greatness.

The Star Wars Heresies - Interpreting Themes, Symbols and Philosophies of Ep. I, II, and III, by Paul F. McDonald - now, this is a great book that Chuck is reading. George Lucas has fielded criticism for the Star Wars prequels far too much, but this book puts all the criticizers to shame as McDonald parses out all the mythological and symbolic reasons, in good Joseph Campbell style, why the story played out the way it did. Very interesting, indeed.

Holy  Anorexia, by Rudolph Bell - Ah, the scholarly endeavor. This is a very scholarly tome that has been referenced and rebutted by multiple dissenting scholars trying to answer the long-asked question: why do some starve themselves to death? Bell makes the connection between modern anorexics and the psychological theories surrounding the illness and recorded behaviors and writings of medieval extreme ascetics, such as Catherine of Siena. I am getting quite a different impression of his work from other scholars, and after reading the first two chapters, I am impressed with his scholarship and thoroughness of the subject matter. We'll see how the rest of the book goes, but in the meantime, I think it is kinda making me hungry!


We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.


***********

This is worth remembering:

"Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught that that sort of home is not our real home; it’s only nominally ours. It is a home in the world and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty but it is not very peaceful. There’s this worry and then that, this anxiety and then that. So we say it is not our real home, it is external to us. Sooner or later we’ll have to give it up. It’s not a place we can live in permanently because it doesn’t truly belong to us, it’s part of the world.

Our body is the same: we take it to be self, to be “me” and “mine,” but in fact it’s not really so at all. It’s another worldly home. Your body has followed its natural course from birth until now; it’s old and sick and you can’t forbid it from doing that. That’s the way it is. Wanting it to be different would be as foolish as wanting a duck to be like a chicken. When you see that that’s impossible—that a duck has to be a duck, that a chicken has to be a chicken and that bodies have to get old and die— you will find strength and energy. However much you want the body to go on and last for a long time, it won’t do that.

Conditions are impermanent and unstable; having come into being they disappear, having arisen they pass away. And yet everyone wants them to be permanent. This is foolishness." (excerpt from a wonderful article on Lion's Roar, read the full article HERE)




Let's see...what other clutter can we clear?

How 'bout some pics on my phone?

isn't he cute? He just makes me smile...

looking forward to registration...last time at PLU!
A sticky we ALL need:

“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”
~Brene Brown

There are those who see you clearly. They know that you are not being authentic.

I know, it can be scary, especially if you want to remake yourself into something else, or you think another is re-creating you into what is better or somehow divinely intended.

Even if you have convinced yourself that you are being authentic and real, they still see you. They have always seen you.

I know it can be annoying...history is both a comfort and a curse. But, you have to know that they have seen you the entire time, from the very first. They have accepted you the entire time, just as you are. They see your soul, your motivations, your intentions, your loves and fears. They have loved your authentic self the entire time, even when you wanted to be something else.

You can even convince others who cannot see you that you are exactly how you desire, how you think is better, more valuable, or more worthy of love and inclusion. But, until you decide to be authentic, genuine, and honest with yourself, things are not going to be as you crave. You will continue to suffer. Unfortunately, repeating your chosen identity will not change the way you are seen by those that can see.

It is also unfortunate that spreading around responsibility to others and not looking to yourself will not eliminate this ongoing suffering, but only prolong and deepen it. Only when you stop, breathe, and begin to accept your beautiful self...not the one that you think you should be, or think is better, but who you truly are...will life stop being so marked with grief and unfulfilled desires.

I hope you can understand this. I want the best for you. I want the suffering and grief to end. I want you to have peace. I want us all to have peace.

**********************

See, I had a lot of sticky notes lying around cluttering up the place. Suppose I need to get this next week started, eh?



I'll leave you with one more sticky:




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