Nurture the Spirit

Feed the body - food, 
and the mind - books. 
Do we neglect the spirit? 


To be whole we must nurture the whole self. 
Look inward and reflect,
but remember: we are threads in a common cloth.

God was separated from the classroom, but when we kicked out religion, it seems we may have also kicked out the nurturing of the spirit. Religious schools do not have this limitation, but American public schools do, and thus this basic need seems unmet.

I am a Buddhist, by way of a choice made as an adult. I am a father, by way of the happy choices I've made. Finally, I am a husband, also by a happy choice.  It seems I have a duty as a father and husband that I have not lived up to for myself or for my family.

My children's spiritual education has been haphazard, at best, and I intend to correct this as my only 2010 resolution for the new year. I probably cannot convince the school to hold a non-denominational moment of meditation, but I can at least teach my children to do this for themselves. I can also join a sangha where we can find the company of other families looking for the same spiritual nourishment.

I wish I had discovered Buddhism as a child, and been taught by my parents. I hope that I can feed their spirits and fill them up with as much joy as I can before they leave to live their own lives.

Thus I resolve, for 2010, to nurture the spirit of my family and to become a more mindful and compassionate person.

A Comparison Between the US and Other Rich Nations

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE US AND OTHER RICH NATIONS:

The following statistics are a 1991 comparison of the United States with Northern Europe, Japan and Canada. The comparison is especially revealing because all these nations are more liberal and democratic than we are. Their voter turn-outs are 50 percent higher; their corporate lobbying systems are much less developed; their taxes are higher, their safety nets larger, their societies more equal, their labor unions stronger.

America needs a new cultural revolution based on people power. We need to take back our country from corporate lobbyists, mega-corporations, and turnstile to-and-fro exchange between our government regulators and the companies they are supposed to be protecting us from. Americans are fed a daily lie that we are the best country in the world, and the Socialists in Europe are deviants from the norm. I think it is we that are out of sync, and it's time that that we set things back on the right path. It's time to take back out country.

Music Make Magic Memories

Music makes magic memories. A song on the radio, a first kiss, a high school marching band, a wedding song... Hearts shrink and swell at 99BPM with horns and strings. Remember.

Consider... the value of one

Short or long,
bitter, sweet, and bittersweet,
cogent or vacuous,
word.

Predicate, object, tense, adjective, subject, verb, syntax, semantic,
sentence.

It's been a long time!

What has happened in the two years since my last post? So many things.... Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo360, my own domain, TV, a new president, a new era. And yet, still there are things upon which we muse, ponder, considering, and stew.

Look for me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/philozopher

Locavore, Get Your Gun - New York Times

Locavore, Get Your Gun - New York Times: "EVERY year, 15 million licensed hunters head into America’s forests and fields in search of wild game. In New York State alone, roughly half a million hunters harvest around 190,000 deer in the fall deer hunting season — that’s close to eight million pounds of venison. In the traditional vernacular, we’d call that “game meat.” But, in keeping with the times, it might be better to relabel it as free-range, grass-fed, organic, locally produced, locally harvested, sustainable, native, low-stress, low-impact, humanely slaughtered meat."

Well said! Now if I only knew how to hunt.

A fundamental failure of leadership

TheStar.com | News | This guy was the green prime minister? : "What we are witnessing is a fundamental failure of leadership. We now have had a government that has dismantled what little the previous government put in place to reduce emissions, and has all but abandoned any attempt to make serious inroads on our rising emissions."

Thank you David Suzuki. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Islam’s Silent Moderates - New York Times

Islam’s Silent Moderates - New York Times: "If moderate Muslims believe there should be no compassion shown to the girl from Qatif, then what exactly makes them so moderate?"

Now and Forever - New York Times

Now and Forever - New York Times: "Priorities don’t get much more twisted. A country that can’t find the money to provide health coverage for its children, or to rebuild the city of New Orleans, or to create a first-class public school system, is flushing whole generations worth of cash into the bottomless pit of a failed and endless war."

You go Bob! This man speaks truth to power, and I like it!