May There Be Light
This Diwali–festival of light.

This Diwali–festival of light.

Bhagavan — another name for Shiva — literally means “possessing fortune, blessed, prosperous.”
What does it mean in this context to be possessed of fortune, to be blessed, to be prosperous?
What does it mean in the context of balancing individual and societal needs, hungers, and wants? What could it mean the current conversation about taxes, government spending, and healthcare? In the discussion of budget, war, etc?
We live at one level in a paradigm in which communal wealth is finite and is fought over to obtain individual wealth. How do we live within that paradigm and still find a sense of inner prosperity with what we have been given?
When you get conflicting, confusing, or unintelligible instruction, how do you react?
Give up? Get angry? Relying on your own experience and knowledge, figure out what to do next, even it it was not necessarily what you wanted or hoped for or expected?

I was meeting a friend near Dupont for dinner. It was positively balmy, and I caught the space between showers, so I walked the 25 blocks from the office. It is rather wonderful, to be able to stroll past the White House when I am out for a walk between work and dinner.
Even as fearful a nation as we have become, much is still accessible for all to see. I think preserving access is tremendously important. On the way home, I walked past “Occupy DC” before catching the bus to witness those sacrificing comfort to maintain such access and all it is meant to represent.
Then I did my evening meditation on the bus.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.