The Study

The Complete Sayings of Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Zohar. The Essential Rumi. The Kabbalah Handbook. The Coffee Table Book of Astrology. The Purpose of Life. The Holy Bible. These are a very small sampling of the hundreds, or perhaps thousands of books my Mother has on shelves throughout her home, many of which are book marked at some point where she stopped reading, intending to pick back up. Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, LIFEism. She has studied every teaching she has come across, some deeper than others. What, then, causes her to return to the Christian Mythos? Is it as a result of that particular religious teaching being the foundation on which she bases her learning? My initial foundation, or at least what I remember, was atheism. Sometimes I think I may have been dealt the better hand, or at least the blank slate. I wonder at the amazing powers of the Universe, while realizing it is all within me, and not having to believe that something completely outside of, and detached from, my Self is controlling me and the universe around me. I can realize that I am a miniscule cog in an infinitely expanding and infinitely changing machine, and not fear it, but BE a part of it. I can accept you and your belief without judgement, without fear, without pity, and without trying to change your mind about it.

My mother brought a book to me, for my Son, last week: The Story of Easter. I opened it expecting, perhaps, to read about the re-birth of the Earth after a long winter, or an explanation of the celebration for it's original intended purpose (Pre-Judaism, Pre-Christianity, Pre-Monotheism): to welcome Spring. To teach Children that the Bunny is a symbol of abundant new life. The Egg and the chick, symbols of new life and re-birth. It wasn't. It was the Story of Christ dying on a cross and rising from the dead three days later. It struck me over the next few days, after not bringing it home with me to read to Collin, that it, like many of the Christian Myths, is simply the same story, told in a way that separates us from the Earth, and separates us from The Mystery. What I'm struggling with is how any mythological representation of life becomes so easy to swallow by so many people for such long periods of time. For centuries it was common to believe that there were many Gods and Goddesses that all acted like humans, only they had Super Powers and could change the Earth and play with people's lives. Before that, there was an Earth Mother that would Swallow people up if she became angry, or wash people away with her tears should she become unhappy. Nothing has changed. Nothing is different now than it was thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years ago. The only thing, in fact, that has changed is how we, as Humans, have evolved and adapted to our surroundings, or forced our surroundings to adapt to us.

Somehow, despite, or maybe because of, her upbringing, my Mother taught us pieces of everything she learned. She taught us that everyone has different ideas about the world and that is what makes it so beautiful. She taught us that it is best to love, accept, forgive and embrace. She taught us to appreciate each other, and everything around us no matter how insignificant it seems. She taught us that finding peace within is most important to encouraging peace in others. She taught us that dreams are important. She taught us that people only change, grow or evolve if they want to, and there is NO way that you can drag someone along with you, no matter how hard you try.

I hope, as I finish this wandering, that my God-fearing friends will pray for me, my Buddhist friends will read this with the proper amount of detachment, my Jewish friends will shake their heads while breaking unleavened bread, my spiritually evolving friends will read too deeply into it and all of my friends will continue to embrace each other's differences. "When there is peace among religions there will be peace in our world" -His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Happy Easter, Pesach, Equinox, Spring!

Loveliness

I have officially kick-started my quest for beauty. I will attract all things lovely into my life. I know my quest has begun because so many unexpected bits of beauty have fallen into my world lately. I was driving Collin to daycare today under a dazzling azure sky and didn't get a single red light. I felt grateful for every green light I passed under, and by the time I got to work (still no red lights) I felt such a lightness of being that I nearly leaped from the car. Who knew that green lights could make a girl so happy? Fast forward to an hour ago when I found THIS: www.sublevi.com/sketchbook/. I want to reach out across three thousand miles and kiss her. These musings of a creative genius, who has NO idea who she is affecting, struck a chord. I am compelled to find focus in my creative roots. My soul resonates with art in any form, therefore I MUST create. Stay with me as I shake off the rust. There's something happening here.

Not Giving Up

Lately I've encountered more than a few people that are bent on "Not Giving Up" on their dreams, or their goals or their career. Look at that phrase: Not Giving Up. The meaning behind it is truly a mystery. When the human mind sees NOT in front of any group of words it automatically sees what is being done as a negative. Split "Not Giving Up" apart and you have two negatives. "Not" and "Giving Up". I'm not entirely sure that the psyche can see them together as a positive, therefore what ends up happening is struggle, hardship, blood, sweat and tears. People become jaded, used up and uncomfortable with what they are doing, even though that is what they consciously believe they wake up for every day. Instead of "Not Giving Up" perhaps we should all just Do and Be. Tomorrow wake up and say "I am(fill in the blank)". Say it enough times over the next 21 days that you can't imagine being anything other than what you are. When a thought appears that goes against what you are, cancel it. So many of us run around in circles chasing after something that is so much more easily attainable than we could ever imagine, and that is exactly why. We imagine it to be difficult to attain, therefore it is.

Another sad and strange phenomenon I have run into recently is the idea that a person has to sacrifice something that they desperately want in life in order to have something else that they want in life. Why does anyone feel that they have to choose one thing over another? I think any one of us can attain anything that we want in any combination, we just have to let it Be. Life flows forward, why do we hold ourselves back? Why do we paddle upstream? Imagine, instead, that we grab the oars, turn ourselves around and paddle DOWN stream toward our goal. How much more quickly would we arrive at our destination?

California Dreamin' - Between the lines of a Conversation with a Customer.

It was cold today. Colder than any of the "Colder than" cliches can explain. He sent me a picture of a man digging his car out of the snow, that I couldn't open due to the SPAM filters at my job, and said it was me. Digging a car out of the Snow. Very funny. I told him the high temperature tomorrow will be 8. Degrees. "8 degrees? It was 80 here today."

With love from Burbank.

I think he loves to mock me in my choice to remain a prisoner of Lake Effect Snow Squalls for 6 months out of the year while he drives to Las Vegas in his (really cool) "good car" for holiday break. He's interesting.