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    Beginning to See More Light

    It was just approaching the deep dark of the solstice when I left for places warm and light. Last week, when I got home, just by comparison to the sultriness of southern India, it felt dark. This morning, though, I noticed earlier morning light. When the wake up call sounded, I was deep in a rather wonderful dream in the violet-tinged landscape of the American southwest. As I had an early meeting at another governmental agency that required me to walk 10 blocks further than my usual walk to work, and I did not want to miss my regular morning practice, I had to get up right away.

    The light through my second floor skylight seemed softer than it had just a few days earlier. Instead of being absolutely dark, there was enough of a hint of dawn that there was no need to turn on the light just to walk downstairs. I thought perhaps a little of yesterday’s snow might have accumulated. No snow. It was just the first glimmer of the days starting to get longer. When I walked past the Capitol on my way to the meeting, I saw several robin red breasts. With global climate change, many of them now do not fly farther south for the winter.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    The Hair Pat-Down

    When I was going through airport security today in San Francisco on my way to Los Angeles, the security guard made me stop. She patted my hair all around my neck and then let me go. I had read an article a few weeks ago (probably in the New York Times), written by an African-American woman complaining of the hair pat-down. The author said that though she knew many woman of color who had experienced it, she knew of no white women, no matter how curly their hair. When it happened, I thought, “well, I’m a white woman who has been given the hair pat-down.”

    When my blonde friend, whose hair is thick and curly, met me at the gate, I asked if they had patted her hair. It was not a surprise the answer was “no.”. My wild and frizzy, dark, ethnically jewish hair is still scarier to this society than pretty blonde, northern european tresses.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Waste Not, Want Not

    As the child of Depression era parents, I was taught to use every bit of the food that we bought.   I was an impoverished scholarship student for the first eight years I lived on my own.  I also started paying attention to environmental issues early on; in high school, I worked to bring awareness of energy and water consumption and recycling in connection with the earliest Earth Days.  Having gotten into the habit of being resourceful and creative with food early on, I never got out of the habit–though many of my law school and better off friends thought I was weird or cheap.

    With the recession continuing (and only likely to deepen dreadfully for my lifetime given the tenor of the debt negotiations) and thankfully growing interest in being kinder to our environment, it is becoming fashionable to be more mindful of waste of any kind.  Here is a great article on how to savor more of your food and diminish your trash output (which, by the way, also lowers your carbon footprint.)

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    330 Million Gods (Mas o Menos)

    In which I encounter some more of the 330 million gods (mas o menos).

    (Notes:  (1) Hindu philosophy speaks of 330 million gods, i.e.  a bigger number than we can actually get our minds around, one for every person, giving room for a complete diversity of belief.  While I don’t believe in “God,” I have no problem with the idea of 330 million gods, none more exclusive or correct than any other, with no permission to use of the concept of “God” as justification for murder, physical harm, repression, or suppression of expression because of societal or family of origin privileging any particular belief.  (2) “Maya,” which in Sanskrit not Spanish, literally means to measure, is the tattva that is the bridge between the universal and the manifest.  The “universal” is immeasurable; what we think of as manifest is always measured in space and time.  The distinction between how the tantrikas and other yoga philosophies interpret the concept of maya is for your own research or another day.  (3) The number 108 refers to Shiva.)

    330 million 1a 330 million 1b 330 million 1c 330 million 1d 330 million 1e 330 million 1f 330 million 1g 330 million 1h 330 million 1i 330 million 1j 330 million 1k 330 million 1l

     

     

     

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