Smart Cookie Award

I was recently surprised and honored to receive the Smart Cookie Award from Rick Watson who has a popular blog, Life 101. Thanks, Rick!

I understand that there are some rules that go along with this award. Here are the rules:

           1. Thank the award giver and link back to them in your post. 

           2. Share 4 little known facts on anything.  
           3. Pass this on to other "smart cookies" you may know. 

Here goes:
1. Thank the award giver and link back to them in your post.  (See above)  
2. Share 4 little known facts on anything. 

• The commonly used idiom, “spitting image,” was originally “spit and image.” I, like most, had heard the phrase as “spittin’ image” and just assumed that it was that habit of dropping the ‘g’ that is so often done in the South. When I learned of the “correct” phrase, it just made life more frustrating. That’s the problem with being a grammar geek – you are frustrated by all the incorrect grammar going on all about you. 

• Cholesterol actually performs a vital function in your body. Any student of anatomy knows that cholesterol forms a protective sheath around every nerve fiber in your body. Without that protective sheath, your nerves become damaged – leading to muscle pain and atrophy as well as declining mental function. That’s the problem with being an anatomy geek – you are frustrated by the pharmaceutical companies that make millions of dollars by foisting drugs on the public to reduce cholesterol which in turn can damage important neural pathways. It’s unnerving, really. 

• Groundhog Day is an American substitution for Candlemas, or the Feast of the Presentation, which was traditionally the time to announce the dates for Good Friday and Easter. This was important in the olden days, because those dates marked the coming of spring and the days of planting. Of course, the date for Easter is lunar based and varies. It can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25 (hence the question of early spring or 6 more weeks of winter posed to the groundhog). That’s the problem with being a history geek – you get frustrated by people not knowing why they do the things they do. 

• Light roast coffee actually has more caffeine than dark roast due to the roasting process.  Once I was in Starbucks at three o'clock in the afternoon and requested their light roast blend of the day. The person behind the counter countered, “We don’t brew that one in the afternoon, it has too much caffeine for this late in the day.” That’s the problem with being a coffee geek – you get frustrated by other coffee geeks telling you what kind of coffee you need to drink when.

3. Pass this on to other "smart cookies" you may know.
Here are three from my blog reading list that I always enjoy visiting:

• David Brazzeal at http://davidbrazzeal.wordpress.com/. David is an artist/writer living in Paris, France. I'm always interested to see what he is posting.
• Tim Lennox.com at http://timlennoxonline.blogspot.com/. Tim is a journalist who blogs from the state capitol of Montgomery, AL. I like the way he provides a daily concise presentation of interesting items in the news. 
• Language or Parole?, at  http://langueorparole.blogspot.com/, by Jeremy Patterson is a fascinating read. Sometimes he writes in French of Japanese, so I have to skip over those, but the ones in English are always interesting.

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Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the Dharma

“In any gathering of people, with every so-called movement or public endeavor, some will find purpose, some will find meaning, some will find help, and some will get hurt.”

     

                Days of Awe; Days of Reconciliation

I am trying to learn from my varied cohorts and sojourning comrades within the multi-faith environment of today’s world.  This week I am listening especially to my Jewish friends while in the midst of reading about the beginnings of Buddhism in America. Rabbi Rami Shapiro explains that during the Jewish High Holy days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the custom is to approach people whom we interact with to ask forgiveness for any hurt we have caused.

Rosh Hashanah, on the Jewish calendar is a holy day known as the anniversary of creation, the birthday of the world. It signifies a time of new beginnings.  I decided that this year I would take some time on this day to try to dwell with that immense cosmic concept, that this day is the anniversary of the day it all began.  In eons past, this was the day that the earth was hung in space, the day when the Big Bang set the universe in motion, the day when the divine creator gave form to the formlessness that was within the dark recesses of the deep and watery abyss – or whatever image your mind chooses to focus upon as the beginning of existence.

Here is how Rabbi Rami puts it:

Rosh haShanah, the first of the Days of Awe, is the anniversary of creation, and our time to honor God, the Source of Creation. (This year Rosh haShanah begins at sundown on September 28th) For me God is the Source and Substance of all reality, and Rosh haShanah is the time when I remember that all life is a unique yet temporary manifestation of God the way each ray of sunlight is a unique and temporary manifestation of the sun. I use Rosh haShanah as a time to realign my life with creation so that my living is in service to all life.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (At-One-ment, October 7th at sundown) is the culmination of all this effort. We have made peace with our neighbor, peace with nature, and now it is time to make peace with God.  (From “Jewish Fall Holy Days” at Beyond Religion with Rabbi Rami) 

Practicing Compassion

In my reading of Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center, by Michael Downing, I learned that the first precept of Buddhism, like the first precept of medicine, is “do no harm.” In Downing's narrative, the Japanese Zen teacher, Shunryu Suzuki, once observed that any time we try to do anything, we end up hurting someone. He said the best way to do no harm is to just sit – that is, sit in meditation.  I can understand the appeal, for I have felt the frustration of trying to do some good deed only to bring about some mishap or offense. If my actions cause hurt in any way, maybe I’ll just retreat and sit things out. Maybe meditation will provide me with the personal integration and grounding I need – if not, at least it will keep me out of the way.

             

I can only go so far with that line, however, before it seems like a narcissistic retreat from reality, except that I know that compassion is central to Buddhism. I also know that Buddhist practice, like any faith practice, is a process of moving outward as well as moving inward. There is an ebb and flow from meditative practice to doing good in the world in order to ease suffering. Suzuki himself did not simply withdraw in meditation, he continued in his acts of compassion according to Buddha’s teaching. 

All of this shows me that there is really no way I can get around it: I am indeed my brother’s keeper, as Torah indicates in that early story from the Garden of Eden. I should strive to do no harm and I should try to do some good in the world. I must also realize that it is inevitable that with human interactions, people get hurt. In any gathering of people, with every so-called movement or public endeavor, some will find purpose, some will find meaning, some will find help, and some will get hurt.

A Page From the Prayer Book

In the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, there is the public confession in the Penitential Order:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

The salient points in that confession for me are: (1) "by what we have done, and by what we have left undone,"  (2) "we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves," and (3) “We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.” The truth is that there will always be things we realize in hindsight that should have been done, and there will always be mistakes we make in the process of our doing – which is why I like the concept of my Jewish cohorts in their Days of Awe, which begin today.  A special time of reflection is set aside so that we can make amends with our friends, family, and colleagues. Likewise, I appreciate my Buddhists friends’ practice of inward meditation and outward acts of compassion.

When the Earth Shuddered  

Though the Buddhists do not celebrate the birthday of the world, they do honor the beginning of enlightenment. I am reminded of the cosmic implications of Siddhartha’s transformation as told by Sophy Burnham in The Ecstatic Journey: The Transforming Power of Mystical Experience:

"At that sacred moment [of his enlightenment],” writes Sogyal Rinpoche in  The Tibetan Book of the Living and Dying, “the earth itself shuddered as if drunk with bliss.” At that moment no one was angry, ill, sad, or proud, or performed any malicious acts. Everything stopped, resting in utter quiet. In the mind of Buddah.”  (page 124)

We need that balance, that cycle of inward reflection and outward involvement in the world. On this day we can celebrate both the Torah and the Dharma.  We can begin anew, as on the first day of creation, to repair the world for the greater good. We can also call to mind that hope when the earth shuddered, and all rested in the mind of the Buddha.

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A Conclave of Writers!

I just returned from a great weekend in Huntsville, Ala., where the Alabama Writers’ Conclave  met. The Alabama Writers’ Conclave is one of the oldest writing organizations in the country, and is the body which nominates the state’s poet laureate.  The annual meeting always focuses on providing workshops led by expert faculty for writers who work in all genres of the field. This year we had workshops in fiction, memoir, and poetry. My greatest excitement was that Rabbi Rami Shapiro  was there to lead a workshop session as well as to deliver the keynote address.

I discovered Rabbi Rami a couple of years ago when I noticed his column, “Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler" in Spirituality and Health magazine. I have also recently begun following his blog, Beyond Religion with Rabbi Rami.  I knew he had a sense of humor from reading his blog, but this guy is hilarious! He encouraged us writers to be subversives to the status quo by puncturing the cultural norms that aren’t working by using humor. He gave us examples of what he does on Twitter to send out aphorisms that question some of our status quo assumptions.

Rabbinical wisdom

Rabbi Rami, in his keynote address had us all laughing but also shared some useful wisdom for anyone interested in spirituality and religion. He talked about how in the Jewish tradition, the old biblical stories are seen as just that – stories, not facts or history. This allows those in the rabbinic tradition to discuss and debate many different views of what a story means. He used the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as an example. He shared many different ways that Jews have interpreted that story, but never has it been taken as factual, and never has it been used to blame women for sin entering the world as many Christians have done.  Ideas about the serpent, what the exit from Eden meant, and what the angel at the entrance of the garden symbolized – all take on new meaning that those of us in the Christian tradition are not usually exposed to.

For example, did you know that, according to one interpretation, Eve passed by the forbidden tree in the garden three times? The first time she saw it looked good to eat, but did not give in to that base appetite. The second time she saw that it was beautiful to look at, but resisted the urge to take it just to have it for its beauty. The third time she realized that it was a means of gaining knowledge of good and evil, so this was why she ate the fruit (and it was an acceptable reason to partake). When she offered it to Adam, however, he asked no questions, gave no consideration, he just took it and ate it because it was food for the stomach. As a result, it was Adam who was sent out from the garden because he was not yet ready to make a new advancement in life and development. He was still guided only by his base appetites. Eve went along with him to help until such time that he could grow and advance in his development to the point that he was capable of the higher level of knowledge and life that is be found in Eden. The angel with the flaming sword was not to keep people out, but to show the way back when mankind is ready.

The rabbi also touched upon the idea that the serpent in the garden is sometimes seen as identical with the messiah figure in Jewish thought in that his role was to guide humankind out of a dependent protected existence as children in Eden to a more mature consciousness. Fascinating concepts! It can be invigorating to take a step away from our traditionally held views, which is one reason I love interfaith dialogue.

Philosophical Views of God

Rabbi Rami offered as an aside the five basic views of God. However you think of God, it will fall into one of these five categories:     
        1. Theism

        2. Atheism

  3. Agnosticism

  4. Pantheism

  5. Panentheism

Theism holds the view that God is “out there” somewhere. Away from us, separate from creation. Atheism holds the exact same view of God as theism – except that is denies Gods existence – but the God that it denies has the same traits as the God the theists affirm. Agnosticism says it is just not sure, so why go to all that bother with religion if we can’t be sure anyway? Pantheism sees God as equal to creation/nature.  What you see of creation is equal to God. Panentheism holds that God is indeed in all of creation (not separate from it). Creation (the universe) is God, but God is more than creation.

Those were just a couple of philosophical asides that the rabbi shared as he gave his keynote address.  I found out in conversation with Rabbi Rami that his rabbi is the renown Zalman Schacter-Shalomi of the Hasidic tradition. No wonder he has such a grasp on spiritual approaches to life and can so readily share those in the course of conversation. A project he is working on is to use children’s letters to God as a means of using humor to puncture some of the narrow cultural views of religious fanaticism.

An Inspiring Weekend

Let me hasten to say, lest anyone think that this was a weekend of Hasidic spirituality, there was a variety of educational offerings for writers with a wide range of interests. We were privileged to have an excellent faculty to lead the workshops. At night we were able to hear from many of our gifted colleagues as they read portions of their work. We meet all kinds of people at these gatherings. It is always fascinating to hear from other writers, to find out what they write, and why they write. I left the conclave today with new ideas for writing, new contacts, and renewed inspiration. For anyone interested in attending future conclaves or joining the AWC, be sure to visit their website at http://www.alabamawritersconclave.org/index.html.

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