Lesson From Cat

I just looked at my cat and “got” that there is just so much of life that I can’t fathom. It is a profound knowing that I don’t know much at all. I have lived with this cat for 10 years now and I have talked with this cat and my students have talked with this cat but I still don’t know the depths from which his life springs. Every time I look at him lately I get this vast unknowingness. He is always the one who shows me the way and now he is showing me how little I know – can possibly know about any of us. It’s always been there within all life – this sense of AWE at the unknowingness – but it’s my cat that points it out so I can see.

Tis the Season

Christmas is about the birth of Christ consciousness within each of us. I would like to see more of that celebrated and less of whatever it is we seem to be celebrating. This is a re-post from Nov. 2007. I haven’t changed my mind about any of this so I’m just going to repost it every year till I do.

Already everyone is talking about what STUFF they are getting for friends and family for Christmas. Yadayadayada stuffstuffstuff and more stuff. I say most who find themselves on this page probably have enough STUFF! More than likely way too much STUFF. Maybe we can’t pay the rent this month but STUFF we’ve got already. STUFFed houses, STUFFed garages, STUFFed storage lockers, and all to often STUFFed bellies — so much STUFF! If you don’t have too much STUFF you probably don’t care much for STUFF and have roughly the same reaction I do to people spending so much time and energy dreaming up STUFF to give at Christmas.

HEY! Please join me in STOPPING the STUFF! Give a Heifer or a Water Buffalo or even just a humble bee or chick. You can go to Heifer International and give the gift of life. What kid wouldn’t want a Water Buffalo? Mom won’t let it live in the yard but a nice African family is taking good care of it and it is taking good care of them. Wow! Awesome! And it works for Show and Tell!

Heifer’s Mission to End Hunger
Heifer envisions…
A world of communities living together in peace and equitably sharing the resources of a healthy planet.

Heifer’s mission is…
To work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

Heifer’s strategy is…
To “pass on the gift.” As people share their animals’ offspring with others – along with their knowledge, resources, and skills – an expanding network of hope, dignity, and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe.

Heifer’s History
This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 60 years. Today, millions of families in 128 countries have been given the gifts of self-reliance and hope.

It has become popular in the bloggosphere to ask for a cup of coffee or a beer rather than asking for donations. I could certainly use a few bucks but they just come and go anyway and life goes on. Instead, starting this Christmas season, I would like to make it more popular to ask for a Heifer. You can get started by going to Heifer International and Creating a Gift Registry right now.

And I know you have been concerned about what you are going to give me for Christmas.
Here is where you can shop for my gift. Just a little chick or two would be appreciated. Thanks. NQ32NXMFZMPY

The Lesson From Piss Ant Flat

If you are kind…

Twitter can spring some surprises within. This was a post today from one of the people I love to follow, MauraAura “If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.”-Mother Teresa (Experienced this today.)

I haven’t actually paid attention to people who would accuse me of ulterior motives for my kind behavior for a long time. I pretty much let people think whatever they want to think about me these days. But this memory did spring to life upon reading the quote;

I was at Girl Scout Camp. I suppose I was 12 or 13 years old that year. A few of us with one leader took a back pack trip which was to last several days. We thought it was a really good idea to take a pack animal along to do the heavy lifting. I don’t know if the leader had any experience in handling pack animals but in hindsight I would say NOT. So we had this burro who thought it was a really bad idea to be treated as a pack animal. He was OK for most of the first day but saw his opportunity to rid himself of the pack when we were traversing a steep hill. He lay down and rolled over and over down the hill. This was a very successful ploy on his part as it spread the contents of the pack over a huge, nearly inaccessible area and freed him to run at large in the wilderness .

It took us a few hours to catch him and put everything back in order but off we went again. The burro continued his anti pack behaviour over the course of the trip and we were just exhausted by the time we started back. We certainly wished we had just taken heavier packs ourselves rather than this pugnacious animal. On our way back to camp we encountered that hill again and made it almost to the top (xing fingers all the way) when that ASS – yes he was an ass by that time – did it again! At some point in the re-ordering process I was behind the animal and got kicked. Off I went tumbling down to the bottom of the hill. I had badly hurt something in my hip and back. The rest of the day was a nightmare but while one of the girls helped me out to the highway the others stayed behind to repack the ass and carry most of the gear out. People were very kind to me.

Several weeks later a larger group of us were on another back pack trip – this one I remember the destination – Piss Ant Flat. The first night we were sitting around the campfire after a long day on the trail, when one of the girls became quite ill. It was decided that she should be taken back to camp with one leader and a volunteer. I really didn’t want to leave yet – it was just the beginning of the trip after all – but I was so grateful for the kindness that I had received on the last trip when I had been the one needing help, I volunteered to help get the sick girl out. It was a long night hiking then hitching a ride when we reached the highway but I felt warmhearted about helping and was happy to do it.

When we got back to camp there was a debriefing. Apparently the leader we had come out with had reported that I was eager to come back to camp with the sick girl. It was put to me that perhaps I had been too eager. Perhaps I hadn’t wanted to continue with the trip. Perhaps this was further proof I was a malingerer, which they had suspected when I was hurt on the first trip. I was stunned. I told them I had felt gratitude for being treated with kindness when I had needed it and just wanted to repay that in some way. They were skeptical. More than skeptical. I couldn’t believe that someone could so misunderstand me.

And now I say WHO CARES WHAT MY MOTIVE WAS ANYWAY! I always loved Scout Camp and all the leaders. It was a way to escape a less than pleasant home life for a month or so each summer. But these were really unkind cuts. I never held a grudge but the Mother Teresa quote just brought it right up for examination today.

On the brighter side it could be that an unkind cut given by a trusted leader to a sensitive kid might immunize the kid to the phenomenon Mother Teresa speaks of here – for life. I really don’t get all that fussed about people questioning my motives. I don’t think I have since this incident. You could say it was a wonderful gift given by those too thick to see what they were giving In fact I think I will say that. Thank you to all of you who are trusted to look after children’s delicate natures, who fail to see past your own stupidity and self loathing, to give the gift of inoculation to these very attitudes. Thank you.

7 Things I Don’t Get and the Ah-Ha Moment

Sometimes I think I was born missing some gene that understands the culture in which we live. There are just so many things I don’t get. Now please understand I’m not here to be rude or offend anyone, I just genuinely wonder about this stuff all the time. I list my questions in order of how often they come to me on any given day.

1) I don’t get why women dress up their lips to resemble the nether regions of an orangutan in heat. You know – red and puffy. Well of course it resembles other nether regions in full flush but orangutans are the only ones that expose it in public. We generally keep that very private. I’m sure it’s representation on the face IS very attractive to some but I would tone it down for a trip to the zoo. Or to a bar. Or to the grocery store…

2) Not that I’m pro slavery or anything but I don’t get why it is so much better to work at a job to earn just enough to get deeply in debt than it is to be housed and fed for your work. Yes we call it being a wage slave but I don’t think many take it all that seriously. Still, most people feel shackled to jobs, with no particular fulfillment feature, as if they had no choice. Why do people allow others to own their time? Time doesn’t equal money, it equals LIFE. There are choices – why is it so few make conscious choices about their time?

3) The answer to that question may have to do with another whole conundrum. What’s the deal with keeping up with the Joanses? Take a look at the Joneses! If all you see is glossy grooming and toys, that may be all there is! What’s the deal with that? Seems to me that if you have to flaunt it you are probably waving a flag to divert attention from the VOID you are feeling. But I could be wrong. Probably a perfectly good reason for ALL this stuff that I just don’t get.

4) I don’t get why so many people over a certain age – lets say 50 – still have issues with their upbringing. I don’t care what happened, get over it. I’ve heard a bunch of stories and frankly my dear… There must be many things out there that are far more interesting to think about.

5) Remember the old joke – “My hands are cold and nobody loves me!” And the answer, “Sit on your hands God loves you.” Remember that? I don’t get why people don’t get that! If your hands are cold do something practical – like sitting on them – and as for love you are swimming in a sea of love, the only way you can avoid seeing it is to be busy looking to people and THINGS for that which is right there along with the air you breathe. How is that so difficult to get? I don’t get it.

6) High heels – Expect it is related to #1 & 5

7) Diamonds! Good God. Never mind that people are dieing for them – as in actually being slaughtered – where did that whole thing about diamonds being so bloody (pun intended) precious come from anyway. Probably related to #’s 1-5-6. I think I’m starting to get it! I suppose #’s 2 & 3 are the male equivalent of women’s #’s 1 & 5. Yes a pattern is emerging as the song, “Looking for Love in ALL the Wrong Places”. #4 is just plain pitiful. The poor me card – well I guess it does still work. Probably far more relationships start with bonding over shared wounds than over shared joy.

Oh dear. I’ve lost my stomach for this project now that I have found the thread of the matter. I get it now. Well. Now I can stop saying I JUST DON’T GET IT. I so didn’t expect that when I started this post. Always a surprise inside – not always pleasant.

It’s a our first cold beautiful day. I’m going for a walk now. Have a beautiful Sunday.

A Fable

Once upon a time there dwelt an old King in a palace. In the center of a golden table in the main hall, there shone a large and magnificent jewel. Each day of the King’s life the stone sparkled more resplendently.

One day a thief stole the jewel and ran from the palace, hiding in a forest. As he stared with deep joy at the stone, to his amazement the image of the King appeared in it.

“I have come to thank you,” said the King. “You have released me from my attachment to Earth. I thought I was freed when I acquired the jewel, but then I learned that I would be released only when I passed it on, with a pure heart, to another.

“Each day of my life I polished that stone, until finally this day arrived, when the jewel became so beautiful that you stole it, and I have passed it on, and am released.

“The jewel you hold is Understanding. You cannot add to its beauty by hiding it and hinting that you have it, nor yet by wearing it with vanity. Its beauty comes of the consciousness that others have of it. Honor that which gives it beauty.”

From The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas