I may have posted this before or I may have forgotten that I thought about doing so. When unable to remember something, it is better to be stuck in a happy space than in an unhappy one.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Last night at house practice, we were led to think about humility (in Sanskrit vinaya). Yoga, similar to religion, tends to privilege the idea of humility.
From a one perspective, it is easy to think of the benefit that those in charge–the priests and the moneyed and privileged classes that support religious institutions to get help staying in power–get from preaching the virtues of humility. If the relatively powerless are led to believe that they will benefit spiritually from practicing humility before humans and institutions that hold sway over them, that certainly helps perpetuate a patently unfair status quo.
We can recognize our own skills and talents and relative worthiness and actively seek justice and fairness, though, and still be humble. However much intrinsic power we have and extrinsic fairness in distribution of power we seek, we can still recognize that we are not ultimately in charge of exactly how our life will play out in the vast and complex web of being. Feeling humility in the face of all that we do not and cannot know is just living in awe at the wonder of life. This, I think, is true and sustainable humility.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
When I was waiting for the bus this morning, a woman walked up the sidewalk with two dogs off leash. The back, belly, and hindquarters of one dog had been shaven; he looked post-operative and stayed close to the woman. The other was eager to check out the man sleeping on the bench.
“Venus, come,” said the woman to little effect as she walked in front of the enclosure to get some distance.
“Venus, come,” I joined in with more directive tone. Though she’d never met me before, on hearing me say her name, she trotted up to me and sniffed my hand favorably before allowing me to pet her head.
“She doesn’t bite,” said the woman.
“No, I expected not,” I replied, continuing to pet Venus (after all, how often does a goddess condescend to allowing pettings from a stranger), “but I think the man on the bench might be wary of her.”
“That’s why I walked on this side of the bus stop,” the woman added and off she, and Venus, and the other dog, he limping, went to buy milk at the grocery store across the street.
It only takes one thing to put a dog in danger–traffic, other cars, strangers who don’t know how to deal with dogs, bicyclists racing down the sidewalk, etc. I’ve seen the harm done. In the city, please keep your dog on leash.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Over-wintered local apples, cranberries put in freezer last fall when fresh in stores, pantry items
Today, if it was still there, it would be frozen.
