karma ... and catch-words

I feel the necessity to speak of a great "natural force" which is widely misunderstood in the western world.  Karma isn't like HELL, a punishment visited upon the wicked for their past sins.  That's the over-simplified concept people seem to identify with the word -- I killed you in my last life, and you kill me in this; he was a villain in his previous incarnation, and so came back as a cockroach.  Amusing as well as satisfying when you see the wicked prospering like a green bay tree, with their victims unable to get justice on the earth plane, ... but complete nonsense.

See, the purpose of karma (which is defined as "volitional action") in our philosophy is not to look upon the suffering and judge them -- save that judging BS for sanctimonious puritan types!  According to the "masters of wisdom" the only appropriate response to suffering is compassion.  As a matter of fact, it's probably a big mistake to think of karma in reference to other people, and their good or bad fortune, at all.  At its best, this doctrine is a tool to help you form YOURSELF into the best person you can be.

I happened to have mentioned karma to a facebook acquaintance the other day, and she got extremely upset.  One who believes in karma is a horrible person, because that means BLAMING THE VICTIM!  One who believes in reincarnation is deluded and psychotic.  One who believes in anything spiritual is stupid and unrealistic because she is too smart to have fallen for group hallucinations and fairy tales -- and if she doesn't believe in it, it just ain't so.  She's a secular humanist, and obviously a better person than anyone who believes in any kind of life between lives: she does right BECAUSE it's right, and people who do right while believing in an afterlife are expecting to get a reward out of it, so they're impure or something.

She reminds me of conscientious vegetarians.  You know, they're better than people who eat vegetarian for health reasons.  It's not enough to do the "right thing" -- you have to do the "right thing" for THEIR reasons.

Rather a strong response to my statement of belief, I thought.  I briefly tried to explain that karma is more complicated than she seemed to think it, but no, I was a victim-blamer and a horrible person because I have reason to believe that a politically-incorrect tenet is real.  She spoke as though I had invented a dreadful system of heaping coals of fire on the heads of innocent sufferers.

This afternoon while doing some holiday baking I had plenty of time to muse on her comments.  How did a central belief of one of the most gentle and compassionate World Teachers turn into a hateful and ugly concept?  Buddhists SHOULD be lovely people!  Why do bad things happen in countries where they predominate?  ...Of course, there are probably as many ignorant and unevolved Buddhists as there are ignorant and unevolved Christians, but that's what happens when people are brought up in (or converted to for political reasons) an exotericized belief system for which their spiritual development isn't ready.  Blaming the Path for unprepared travelers upon it isn't reasonable.  I started googling "blaming the victim and karma Buddhist philosophy."  I waded through a lot of garbage before I found this:

"Sometimes this teaching is decried as a harsh doctrine which blames the victim, and even justifies social abuses. If someone is born poor, this argument goes, karma makes a convenient excuse for leaving them that way, because it is their own fault from a previous life. This is a gross distortion that cannot be justified from the Buddhist teachings. On the contrary, karma means that we have a responsibility to act compassionately towards others. To fail to do so is to make negative karma for ourselves. Judgmental attitudes are negative mind-states which cause bad karma in and of themselves*."

People are extrapolating from a social-psychological trap into an esoteric complexity, and getting tangled in the subtleties.  We WANT there to be justice, so we invent philosophical systems that explain OTHER PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS ... but when it comes closer to home AND WE KNOW we didn't ask for the hardships we are experiencing in this life, we have a conundrum on our hands. 

"But what of the case of someone born with a physical challenge like blindness? Some critics find it cruel to 'blame' the person's previous actions. This is also a misunderstanding. The emotive word 'blame' should not enter into it. The determining power of karma is not a moral judgment, but simply an explanatory tool. If karma is rejected as an explanation, are the alternatives any less 'cruel?'  It is then either the deliberate act of a creator-deity or the result of blind chance in a hopeless and meaningless universe."

My facebook acquaintance obviously prefers the latter, and goes out of her way to make a virtue of unbelief.  Again, like a religious person who lives a rough, joyless, hard-working life, she convinces herself that the life she MUST lead is the life ALL SHOULD lead.  If the frontier-dwelling church-goer does her damnedest to be a good, god-fearing person and her short unpleasant life is the high-road to heaven, why, the high-road to heaven is defined as an unpleasant one, filled with hardships and sour pain.

People like our archetypal frontier "soldier of the cross" see any pathway different from their own as a path with an entirely different destination.  If s/he experiences a special affliction or hardship, it's God testing her/his faith, BUT if that "different" person is visited similarly, The Other is being punished.  It's just human nature, but as Katherine Hepburn's character in "The African Queen" declares:  "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above."  And that is EXACTLY what the Buddha prescribes.  We're here to learn to improve ourselves, rather than be the condemnatory, self-important prat we started out as, in our first incarnation (or earlier in this one).

Actually, the Buddha's teaching goes that there are many other forces in action that influence our lives -- karma isn't responsible for it all.  We have various purposes, and we are sent experiences which will teach and prepare us for what we need to do.  Naturally, if one doesn't believe in anything "unseen" one will not believe this either.  But great things have been done by people who have been "sent" afflictions either personally or via their loved ones.  These innovators -- like Bell who in attempting to develop an aid to hearing for his deaf mother and wife, gave the world telephony -- don't just SEE a need, they FEEL it; they rise to the occasion and apply their gifts in truly inspired ways. 

Sometimes a highly-evolved individual actually CHOOSES to be a "sacrifice" for the good of his/her group.  Am I blaming the victim for pointing out that such an individual is responsible for the plight s/he is in?  I don't see it that way.  I bow before their amazing unselfishness.

So when we see someone who has been treated appallingly, either by fellow humans or by the fates, we don't know if this person is being taught a lesson for past misdeeds, or if s/he is "a human angel in disguise" doing special work for mankind.  Don't judge.  At all.  The ONLY appropriate response to suffering is compassion.

_________
*  quoted passages from http://www.arrowriver.ca/torStar/karmanote.html

nine days left

We're in the middle of one of the three Mercury Retrograde periods which happen every year.  That's when, from Earth's perspective, Mercury appears to be moving backward in the sky -- an illusion of course caused by M's smaller and faster circle around the sun than ours.  Astrologers decided millennia ago that Mercury-ruled activities were likely to go awry at this time, and that it's also a good time for "looking backward."

So look backward.  Go somewhere there's NO extraneous noise, leave your ipod and phone and internet behind.  Turn off that television which is ALWAYS on in the other room, and the radio, too.  Listen to nothing but your own thoughts (and your own body) for an hour.  And no "self talk" -- just shut up and listen.  No distracting snacks or beverages.  No other person.  No distractions, period.

This activity is close to meditation, but no cigar.  You're not trying to still the mind or solve a problem or pep-talk yourself.  BE "bored" for a little while.

It's pathological to need constant outside stimulation.  How did our world come to this?

THIS is the new year

also known as "Christianity steals Pagan holiday ... AGAIN".  In the northern hemisphere, where Judeo-Christian "civilization" began, Nature initiates "resurrection" of her plant and animal populations in the springtime of March-April (plus or minus a couple of months, depending on location).  What better time to choose for the RC church's new holiday than when the heathens are already celebrating a "rising from the dead"?

If i really gave a damn, i'd look up and report who decided that moving the official New Year to January 1 was a good idea, but that would just be icing.  Esoterically, it was a really stupid move.  Start anew in the middle of Capricorn's time?  Capricorn is all about maintaining the status quo!  How in the name of all the gods can one expect personal and societal improvement under such circumstances?

OH WAIT -- the "powers that be" which make decisions, like when the new year starts, DON'T WANT ANY CHANGES TO THE STATUS QUO!  Of course, when they decide that public health stats are dragging down the societies they rule, they want YOU to make changes....

NOW is the time to make them, not January 1!  Ever wonder why the "first sign" of the zodiac is Aries, which began with the vernal equinox?  Ever wonder why the date of Easter is not a regular thing, but the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox?  NOW the inner-planes conditions have settled in and calmed down to produce a consistent and positive environment for change and "growth."

I put the word "growth" in quotes very consciously; what we're looking for is growth of good habits after all. Growth of our knowledge and wisdom.  Growth of our characters -- personal evolution.  ...Not growth of our waistlines as might be expected with all our friends who are having lamb-shaped cakes instead of cake-shaped LAMB today.  ;-)

bad moon ... waning

Hooooweee, that was a rough full moon!  It had some nasty aspects with heavy-duty planets like Pluto.  ...And don't tell me Pluto's not really a planet!  ;-)

Spring is springing very slowly here in the midwest -- we had a significant snow last week which only melted off completely this morning.  It's been very hard to get any enthusiasm up for exercise or controlling details of diet, or concentrated work of any sort!  I'm hoping that the worst of the grey, cold and wet are over; there IS a time for that sort of weather, but around here that time SHOULD be past.

I'm not subject to "that other SAD problem" -- the seasonal thing -- any more than i've suffered from "standard" diet for a VERY long time.  However, day length affects humans just as it does birds, and when days become longer the sun becomes stronger and vitamin D and fresh air and all sorts of other good things become readily available.  Our spirits rise, and our metabolisms must, too, because we see progress with our  diets and fitness and well-being.

Happy springtime-fertility-festival.  Happy easter.

most people probably aren't happy today

Last year i wrote about the dark side of Valentines' Day, and i'm not likely to change my mind much about the unfortunate character of this "holiday."  I imagine that others who feel like i do have described their objections well enough, so anything i could write in that direction would be redundant.

One of my objections to the observation of St. Valentine's feast-day as a romantic celebration is ... the time of year!  It must be granted, the "church" which gave us the holiday in the first place has always been AGAINST earthly love, save as it might be a means of procreation = more church MEMBERS = more power = more income.  "The church" is scared to death of sex because it's such a powerful thing, and they've wrapped all sorts of myths around it, like "original sin."  Kiddies, "original sin" is your own bad karma you brought into this life with you, from the last -- it doesn't have a bloody damned thing to do with the fact that we all are "conceived in sin"!  The misogynist "saint" Paul and the raging pedophile Augustine are largely responsible for the ridiculously anti-feminine slant of Christianity and all its writings.

In the middle ages, this feast day (thought to be a cleaned-up version of Rome's Lupercalia) became associated with the convention of "courtly love."  If you're a history buff, you know that it was rare for anyone of wealth or importance to wed a person they were in love with -- marriages were mergers or alliances, and some really inappropriate matches have been made through the centuries with those "ideals" as a guide.  "Courtly love" was all about sleeping with somebody you actually WANTED, although it was dressed up in prettier finery than that.

But from an esoteric point of view, could one possibly choose a WORSE astrological signature for a holiday meant to celebrate affection, romance, and devotion?  I can't see it!  The sun is currently in Aquarius:  the "intellectual" sign; the 50-years-ahead-of-everyone-else sign; the cool-headed, reasonable, detached sign.  Piss-poor time for romance, to me!  And since the inner planets (Mercury=mental, Venus=hedonistic) signs can never be far from the sun, there's a darned good chance they'll never be in an auspicious sign, either.  This year, the moon (emotions) is in Aries (hot-headed, stubborn, selfish, rash), Mercury is in Pisces (a wild-card), Venus in Aquarius, Mars ("drive") is in Pisces also, and Jupiter (good fortune) in Gemini (duality).  Frankly, i don't think it looks good.

If we MUST have a holiday "for lovers" i would lobby for May as a much better time than February.  The first three weeks, the sun is in Taurus, the sign associated with hedonism (also fertility).  Or July, September or October, for various reasons.  Even March!  Give people a CHANCE to have something to celebrate!

[sigh]  Since we're stuck with what we've got, the least we can do is try to make sure our honeys know we CARE.  Be extra nice today, because most people need it!

the day i become a potatoista....

EB joked that she wanted to see a blog post on the subject.  ;-)  In a comments section, i said i'd become a potatoista the day i reincarnate as a young male gym rat.  Well, never say never, because the gods WILL make you eat it.  Or more precisely, the Lords of Karma.

I share the belief that we keep coming back till we get it right.  It isn't a random come-back-as-a-cockroach-next-time thing -- one progresses through human lives which are circumstanced in such a way as to cause us to evolve, to improve our characters, to perfect ourselves.  At the end of each incarnation we go to "the Judgement Hall of Osiris" (only one of the names it's been given), and our progress is assessed.  We are made to "realize" any harm we've done, then get a rest period before returning to that classroom we call life.

A hateful abusive bigot is very likely to come back as the sort of person he used to victimize, just so he'll learn how wrong that is.  The gentle vegetarian gets points for "doing no harm" but the PETA hypocrite doesn't, and as for cold, heartless doctors ... they probably come back with a nasty illness that LOOKS psychosomatic.  ;-)

My philosophy gives me a degree of comfort when i see the massive, unconquerable misery in the world.  No doubt many people will want to tell me that they hope i'm happy in my little fairy-tale (even if what they REALLY want is to make me unhappy with their scorn and "superiority") -- but yes, it IS my "illusion" and YES i'm pleased to keep it.  I have my reasons for thinking it valid, which will convince no one but myself.

So i could come back as a male next time ... but i hope i'll be evolved enough to have better things to do than waste much time in a gym.  I hope i'll have more health and vitality than i've had in this one, so that i can get more GOOD accomplished.

calories are good (from the right sources)

After decades of trying to minimize the number we can be satisfied with, in the course of a day, i find myself a delighted contrarian on the subject now.  Who'd'a' thunk it?

Calories, carbs, fat-grams, points -- it seems to help people focus on what they're doing, to have something to count.  In fact it's an old esoteric secret, using something that's merely emblematic to focus concentration where it's needed to do a job (think voodoo doll, or an icon, mandala or candle-flame).  Also, measuring things and mathematical gymnastics are "scientific" tools that help us to feel that what we're doing is based on solid, reliable FACT, rather than the shockingly-bad ideas which have gifted us with the "obesity epidemic."

It's easy for me and my contemporaries to remember back, and see how things have changed in the diet-and-health realm.  When i was a child, there were darned few "fat kids" in our school; nobody but "health nuts" went out of their way to get exercise, and yet before the age of menopause/andropause few people were particularly overweight.  These were the days when everybody ate white bread and drank whole milk, we weren't afraid of sugar, our home and school meals were full of fats AND carbs, and the only reason we used margarine in our house was because it was significantly cheaper than butter and we weren't very well off.

My kids, however, grew up in a society in which we were rather afraid of eating the "wrong" foods.  In search of health, their generation has enjoyed a surprising lack of it:  obesity, diabetes, infertility, mental disorders, ... i don't know where to stop.  Suffice it to say, our dietary changes seem to have wrought a sad result -- all in the hopes of IMPROVING health.  :-(

So here we are today, struggling to fix the damage done by the mistaken or greed- or fanatically-inspired diet advice of the last half-century.  It's truly and disgustingly absurd how we have clung to some of the most archaic, simplistic non-science -- like the obsession with calories.  Ironically, the Mephistopheles of my dietary-morality play, Ancel Keys, did a piece of early work which shines a beacon of brilliance upon this murky subject.  The "starvation study" showed that low calorie intakes (higher than a lot of diet plans dictate) caused some nasty psychological effects, as well as other health issues.  Calorie restriction was pretty well proven to be a bad idea -- yet that is the CONSTANT advice one is given for weight loss, improved health AND longevity.

For millions of years nobody counted calories, and the human race thrived and multiplied.  Then suddenly people started paying attention to the situation in large numbers, and the situation went straight to hell.  To me, this is just confirmation that whenever mankind sticks meddling fingers into natural processes, we fuck it up.  Science thinks it knows a lot more than it really does -- be skeptical of its sweeping pronouncements!

So ignore calories!  The only good use for paying attention to them is in making sure you're getting ENOUGH FAT.  YES.  This is opposite everything we learned before ... but we can all see where THAT idea has gotten us.

willingness to be blind

This is a shamelessly politico-esoteric posting, so rabid tea-partiers should read no further.  And since this is MY blog, don't expect me to argue with a single individual who takes umbrage with what i say; this is THE TRUTH ... as i see it.  ;-)  I MAY discuss, but will definitely not argue with the contumelious.

***

The world is changing, and the old guard doesn't like it.  Back in the day, a whole village full of people who didn't go along with what the local warlord wanted could be slaughtered, and not only did no one care but for the most part no one ever found out (except the next village over, to whom it was advertised to convince them that THEY had better truckle, or face the same fate).  Nowadays, the information always gets leaked -- no wonder the powers-that-be want to censor the internet.

To chip away at the power that has been lost by the Juggernaut, its paramilitary is attempting to undermine the hard-won rights of those it considers weakest ... and stupidest.  Therefore, women and the blue-collar class are the first targets.  And not only are their rights under siege, but their minds are undergoing a barrage of misinformation that is certain to do some damage to the weakest and most inexperienced.  While at my daughter's house, i saw and heard more commercials than i usually do;  it's easy to see where the Koch brothers' political contributions are being spent.

Why is it so hard for the laboring class to realize that if teachers' unions are busted, THEIR working lives are going to be adversely affected too?  Why do foetal-life enthusiasts not understand that a flood of unwanted children into an already overpopulated world is not a good idea?  How do people this stupid manage to fill out their tax forms every year???

I wish i could convince these "it-can't-happen-to-me"-thinking people that the law of karma WILL catch up with them.  They have an unfounded belief that they can succeed on an unlevel playing field, simply by identifying emotionally with the Overlords -- which is exactly what the latter want them to think.  Do they not realize the degree to which they benefit from the "socialist" system the US has had from its very inception?  I have to assume they don't....  But if a subconscious desire to subjugate those "inferior" women and minority-group individuals (who earn more with their brains than Bubba can with his muscles) causes him to promote a social system deleterious to them, he too will come to suffer the more.  The ones who are seduced by the rhetoric of "the good old days" are, for the most part, sufficiently unevolved that they already have a boatload of karma to work off;  they're already suffering, but inevitably blame the wrong cause for it.

Tell ya the truth -- it's been really hard for me to fight off the temptation to HATE these people with a passion, but i know that hate is a self-poisoning emotion.  They already have power and riches:  the only reason they can need more is to create a class of people more miserable than they are, to try to disguise the fact that they are unhappy, unfulfilled losers, in the truest sense of the term.  They take joy from placing themselves above the mass of people in the world -- it gives them a sense of superiority that their natural gifts can't afford them.  They are like slave-owners of old, who considered their "possessions" less than human BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN DENIED THE OPPORTUNITIES TO ACQUIRE THOSE QUALITIES, BY THE POWER OF THOSE WHO SET THEMSELVES ABOVE.  Do i need to say, self-fulfilling prophecy?  The set of right-wing candidates this century have been largely the out-of-touch, privileged sort -- they look on us middle-class folks as plodding masses, and on the struggling poor as scarcely human.  NONE of us is more to them than a potential customer for their lousy-quality manufactured goods, or cannon-fodder for their wars of acquisition.

But as i said above -- the world IS changing.  Centuries ago (and today, in parts of the world where consciousness is still medieval), nobody thought there was anything wrong with torturing heretics, but most people consider it wrong today.  Beating one's children as a matter of course has been replaced by other methods of teaching.  The problem with the hippies' Age of Aquarius in the 1960s was that they were premature -- in the words of the song, it WAS just the "dawning of the age."  Its first rays were perceived in 1908, and its zenith has been predicted in the year 3574.  A long time to wait for perfection, but we CAN do our best to practice and promote the Golden Rule.

what Monday ought to be

Despite my shortage of sleep last night (the Irish coffee last evening should have been decaf, but wasn't), i woke early and r'arin' to go -- well, no wonder....  From tarot.com (general influence for all sunsigns):

An unexpected emotional encounter in the morning is likely when the combative Aries Moon activates domineering Pluto and irrepressible Uranus. However, our memory fades quickly along with any lingering negativity as the Moon harmonizes with jolly Jupiter and the radiant Sun. Although we may express our emotions before thinking about the consequences, everything should work out fine as long as we remember to consider the feelings of others, too.

The moon in Aries is a go-get-'em kind of influence, and it interacts with two "beneficial" planets in a good way, and two "tricky" planets in a more questionable way ... but they don't tell you exactly what those angles are.  Tsk-tsk!

Now, THAT is the trouble with so many horoscopes -- GOOD basic information, but sometimes blown out of proportion.  Septiles, quintiles and semisquares?  Theoretically impactful, but usually indetectable when placed beside the fact that THE MOON IS IN ARIES and THE SUN IS IN LEO.  Now THOSE are palpable.

Summary:  good day for getting things done; just watch your mouth.  ;-)

more wooo for Wooo

I've mentioned astrology in earlier posts -- how i think it's a valid art, though not in the sense of what most people are familiar with:  "sun signs" for descriptions of personality and predictions of events.  What astrology IS good for, is choosing the best time for any at-all-important activity.

My great-aunt (we called her Ant) had a spectacular garden, renowned in the family and the small town in which she lived.  She and her husband planted acres of flowers and vegetables, had fruit trees and gooseberry bushes (probably had currants and grapes, too, though i don't remember them specifically), and they dried, canned and preserved vast quantities of food.  Needed it, too -- not that the family they supported was large, but they were very hospitable, social people -- even railroad tramps wouldn't be turned away hungry, back in the old days.

Ant and Uncle Ranse cultivated, planted, weeded, harvested -- did everything one does in a garden and in dealing with its products, by the moon's sign.

The moon as well as the sun and all the other planets each have their own signs and aspects as they move about in relation to one other.  Each moment has its own "natal chart," so that whatever happens (like a birth, for instance), it has an astrological signature all its own.  That's why all Cancerians, as an example, don't fit the timid, mommy-dependent, home-worshiping stereotype.  (I should know, being a Cancerian with my moon in Sagittarius, and my Mercury AND Venus in Gemini....)

But although interesting (and useful in dealing with one's children or a prospective partner), knowing these things about oneself is MOST valuable as a guide to action, in relation to the planets in the passing moment.  "The value of utilizing astrology in your life is to increase your conscious awareness of valuable timing and trends to be aware of in order to optimize opportunities for growth" wrote Kristen Fontana (who has a good free weekly horoscope online).

Speaking of growth, astrology is not only valuable in gardening, but in hair care.  Most of the beauticians i've asked about it heartily endorse the notion of cutting one's hair by the moon sign.  There are days which are more auspicious for "cutting for thickness," "cutting for growth," and "cutting to grow slowly"....  I used to have a great website to link to here, but it doesn't work anymore.  :-(

When i was first delving into the deeper aspects of astrology, i wasn't entirely convinced that there was anything in it.  I had borrowed a book which teaches how to draw up a chart, and i "did" myself, my husband and kids, my closest friends, and a few of the people i worked with, back then.  I was even inclined to doubt MORE when i did Tammy's chart; it described her as being flighty and unreliable -- and she was the most dependable of my co-workers!  ...Then one day, she didn't come in to work, because (we learned) she had just run away with her lover, from her husband and two little girls.

I'm a believer.  ;-)

another Mercury Retrograde

Here we go again.  The MR started over the weekend, and as i mentioned (repeatedly) in March, all kinds of frustrations are likely to occur for three weeks, involving travel, communications, electronics, buying/selling, learning/teaching....  So hold on to your hats ... er, patience!

The secret to "surviving" a MR is to check and double-check EVERYTHING.  Leave early, mail it registered, take an extra battery for your cellphone -- you get it.

On the other hand, retrogrades are good for some things.  Old projects which are unfinished may get a new lease on life.  You may run into old friends, or regenerate a relationship which you thought was over.  Watching old movies and listening to old music will be particularly appealing, and nostalgia will be in the air.

Me, i'm going to be working on the renovations of my living room, which have been in process for YEARS.  I have every confidence that it will work out well.

eat low-carb, or punish yourself

That title was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek.  I have to announce this up front, or some doctorate-types would insist that i'm 1) lying; 2) ignorant; 3) unqualified to open my mouth in public; or 4) all the above.

Reading all the commentary (in TPJ-approved sites) on why the Kitavan diet isn't a high-carb diet in the "modern world's" sense, something occurred to me:  a truly high-carbohydrate diet is all about Biblical-style asceticism!  YES!  If you eat a high PERCENTAGE of your diet as carbs you have a few choices to make, to keep yourself from embodying the Deadly Sins of Gluttony and Sloth.

You can eat your huge percentage of carbohydrates in comparatively meagre quantity.  A very low CALORIE diet can afford to be high-carb!  And what do we call a very low calorie diet, kids?  STARVATION.  Saints used to be very fond of that; it shows that you value spirituality more than worldly hedonism -- and you get really kewl visions and stuff -- sometimes you get to hear God talk to you!

Instead of eating very little every day, you can also choose to eat as much as you want today, and nothing at all tomorrow -- it balances out the same way.  If you prefer to eat every day, you can also decide to eat for a very short time.  Fasting is a multi-disciplinary-approved means of self-denial.

OR ... you can eat enough to saturate your bodies with all those strengthening "energy foods" and work extra hard to make them go into the SPECIFIC tissues you want them in.  Punishing the body to chasten it was also very popular in the height of the monastic era (AKA the Dark Ages).  If you worked hard enough you could make your body forget it has all sorts of horrible urges like ... a LIBIDO!  Ewwwww....  Where's that Ben-Gay -- i mean HAIR SHIRT?

;-)  Thanks but no thanks.  Their self-righteousness is not for me!  The believers in Gluttony and Sloth (reincarnated as food reward) may think i'm damned because of my faith in the Golden Calf (BEEF, yes!), but i'm not afraid.  Even if they're right about my destination, their idea of hell has no terrors for me -- and the music there is said to be much better.

contentment!

With my husband out of town on business again, yesterday was a modified-Strong-Medicine day, and it felt so GOOOOD!  My mental fog has been lifting over the last 36 hours, my joint pain subsiding, and my exhaustion alleviating.  The bathroom scale read almost a pound less than yesterday.  Today will be more of the same.

In the throes of socializing i forget myself, and if there are contraband foods in front of me, i can't trust myself not to eat them.  I'm really safest when it's just me and the dog!  :-)  Intellectually, i know i'll feel best when i avoid the carbohydrates, and that i'll regret it later ... but the ATMOSPHERE of eating the stuff can be contagious.

Atmospheres are powerful things!  Esotericists will tell you, being around depressed people is a downer even for the most optimistic, and the company of criminals blunts one's moral sense.  It stands to reason that when you're in the company of people who WANT you to stray from your dietary straight-and-narrow, it's harder to be true to it.

So while Spense and i are alone for these few days, we'll be eating and drinking with conscious intent ... and it'll be EASY.  I LIKE meat and coffee, and other low-carb fare.  So why do i EVER eat and drink things i shouldn't?  Because they're there, and we have a biological drive to take advantage of abundant nutrients, AND a lot of people are constantly sending nonverbal (and verbal) cues urging us to be "bad."

Note to self:  when eating and drinking in the company of others, be especially aware of body language that "rewards" me for consuming things i know i shouldn't....

the power of good news and positive attitude

I was "bad" yesterday.  It didn't start out that way, but i worked my way down from black coffee for breakfast, to sushi for lunch ... to cocktails and red-beans-and-rice with my oysters and "alligator eggs" (bacon-wrapped scallops) for dinner at the Swamp Shack.  This morning i'm hungry.  :-(

So, of course, i felt emotionally as well as physically uncomfortable ... but i'm better now.  In my emailbox there were a few cheerful items, and ditto on facebook.  I've had several cordial communications there as well.

I'm a big fan of pronoia -- Rob Brezsny's work has been inspirational to me.  It has encouraged me to do things like ... avoid reading blogs that are full of unpleasant, misleading and ill-natured raving*.  ;-)

As Brezsny points out, the news media can be "addictive" as well as depressing; they seem to think that people WANT to hear the worst.  Is it because people with difficulties like to know that others can have more troubles, misery loving company?  Intentionally stirring up bad feeling, in my humble opinion, is despicable.  Not that the "ignorance is bliss" attitude is WISE, but one needs to sort of keep the world at arm's-length so as not to be overwhelmed by it....

A relative i will not mention (now departed) used to become easily irritated -- tell me, how could that help him, or anyone else for that matter?  What good can one possibly get from becoming annoyed by little things?  Is it not a lot more intelligent to shrug off the dumb little things that happen around one, and maintain aplomb under the influence of things one cannot help (like traffic)?

Aggravations will happen.  I think we can expect them to be as inevitable as death and taxes.  Does it make us feel better to let them bother us, though, or does it make us feel worse?
______
*  a little rant can be relieving to one's frustrated feelings, but i believe in limits....  ;-)

RIP Titanic (ain't happenin')

When the movie came out, fifteen years ago, i was impressed.  Being a living-history costumer, i was convinced within a very few minutes that it would OWN the Oscars, because of the clothes.

I wasn't crazy about the plot, and the characters were so obnoxious i really didn't care if they lived or died.  Some of the computer-generated stuff was off-putting, too.  BUT THE SETS -- oh, my god....  The details were stellar.  And a few of the filmographic devices were masterful -- again, i was IMPRESSED.

So, although i'm a bit late in "celebrating" the centennial of the notorious shipwreck, i have to make a mention of it.  (Reminded by television specials....)  Of all the tragedies of which we have record, all the massive losses of life throughout history, all the stories of steadfastness, heroism and cowardice -- for some reason, Titanic's story really touches people.  I have an idea about why this might be.

Because people from all over the world were traveling on this ship, people from all over the world "gave a damn" when the report came that something had happened to her.  From every part of the globe, a complete sphere spangled with loci of mental energy, ardent thoughts streamed forth of fear and love and grief.  Our world became a matrix of magnetism, concentrating for an extended period on ONE subject of hope and dread.

In the esoteric scheme of things, this is an immensely powerful generator.  Searing, overpowering emotion is what makes a lot of hauntings happen!  They leave an imprint of feeling, a form of electricity, behind -- rather like the imprint of light which is classic photography.  Added to the worldwide energy contribution, there was the extreme atmosphere of terror contributed by the participants themselves.  Overwhelming....  As a result, this recorded emotion is contagious to anyone who taps into it, through sympathy or even indifferent study -- get close enough to the situation and it sucks you in.

I have a similar reaction when i hear Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."  Between the way the lyrics are spun, and the energy left behind by the sailors, relatives and friends, this very unromantic story produces a huge amount of sadness in people who have absolutely no connection with her.

So she's been gone for a century.  That's nothing.  Titanic will live in legend the same way Pompei has, and for similar reasons.  May heaven rest the souls lost.

grey day

First, my alarm clock didn't go off, then the scale didn't show improvement, then i got a text that didn't bode well.  The sun isn't shining, either.  Yep, we're in the middle of a Mercury Retrograde.  It goes right along with my security system crapping out last Friday, the inability to fix it yesterday, and me twiddling my thumbs today, waiting for the technician to arrive and change the motherboard.

For those not familiar with the concept, Mercury Retrograde is the astrological event in which the planet appears to be moving backward.  Of course, it really DOESN'T -- it's just what SEEMED, to ancient astronomers, from the perspective of an earthbound observer.  Retrogrades happen to a number of planets occasionally, but Mercury does it three times per year, so it has potential to complicate our lives frequently ... according to the philosophy.

Each planet is "in charge of" some department of life:  in Mercury's case, it's travel, communications, electronics, that sort of thing.  This "department" retrograding will gift us with cars that won't start when we're in a hurry, traffic jams, dropped phone calls, bad internet service, electrical outages, malfunctioning alarms, arguments, and so on.  It occurs roughly every four months, on unset days (as does the full moon, for example).  Ironically, i've noticed, it makes an appearance during Christmas-shopping time every year.

If you keep an eye on astrological events, you'll be warned of its occurrence.  The big benefit of having this knowledge is that i'm less inclined to be irritated, frustrated and despairing at the cluster of minor catastrophes that befall me.  I know enough to double-check reservations, ask to make sure that unanswered communications actually went through, back up computer files (and save frequently), keep an eye on the gauges in my car, and have patience when things don't work right the first time.  "This too shall pass" -- the current retrograde began on March 12 and will end April 4.  It takes a few days, afterward, for things to get back up to speed.

Oh, look!!!  The sun came out!  :-)

time for a little more "woo"

I'm occasionally troubled by the attitudes of "friends" on Facebook.  Some get very wrapped up in one or another group ideology, and seem to lose their humaneness.  Others seem to feel privileged to rebuke complete strangers for being too sensitive about some very loaded subjects.  There are those who can't be happy, and must always have something to complain about, however small.  Then there's the ... never mind, you get the point.

Is it the anonymity of the internet which encourages people to express themselves in ways they wouldn't dream of, face to face?  Is this the "real person" behind the facade they present to the everyday world?  Are some displacing rage they actually feel in a different direction, toward targets unable to effectually give them the response they might otherwise expect?  Or is it self-hate to which they are reacting, trying to justify their choices, to themselves, by making virtues of either vices or plain necessity?

In whatever case, i pray for something which i really have no hope of seeing -- that they would all take a quiet hour and examine their hearts. 

A young man i know complains of his bad karma.  It's no wonder -- bad karma it truly is, and all of his own creation.  Whether religiously-inclined or not, most of the people i know believe in some kind of repercussion from their behavior, be it heaven/hell, the self-approbation/condemnation of a rational humanist, good results in the Judgement Hall of Osiris -- whatever.  Myself, i believe in both lifetime and afterlife rewards. 

I believe that emanating hatred earns you hatred, and hostility, hostility.  You know, the old "as you sow, so shall you reap" thing.  A little understanding and compassion toward others goes a long way.  "Judge not, lest ye be judged," and "forgive us commensurately with how we forgive others"....

Conversely to what disheartens me on some social websites and forums, i also see much good ... and more is possible.  Goodwill is just as contagious as nastiness.  As long as i'm in a quoting mood, there's this one:  "Smile!  it'll make everyone wonder what you're up to" -- remember that?  :-)  Smiling is contagious.  I even read once that the physical act has a mental response, in increased cheerfulness, and it seems to bear out in practice.

Do YOURSELF a favor, and cultivate cheerfulness and compassion -- it pays more than you might expect.

happy St. Valentine's day!

...or not, as the case may be....

Back at the time of the Chinese New Year, i posted of my enthusiasm for celebrating all sorts of holidays.  This one, on the other hand, is one which i rather wish could evaporate into the aether.

It's a "loaded" day, and i strongly suspect that very few really enjoy it.  For a lot of people it's bound to be "Christmas revisited" -- WHAT to get one's best-loved-one that will be appreciated and not break the bank (the winter holiday bills not forgotten, and tax-time just around the corner...).  For the single, it's got to be even harder:  choosing a gift which is not indicative of too much affection, nor too little.  My sympathies are most strong for children at those appalling school parties -- if you're not among the popular crowd, you HATE reminders of how little you're regarded by your contemporaries!

It's tempting to point the finger at modern entertainment media, for deleterious and unrealistic visions and expectations.  One of my most-despised films is "The Truth About Cats and Dogs."  It's got an amusing variation of the Cyrano story going on (anytime you add animals, you add charm), but the message of the movie itself is highly disturbing:  if Janeane Garofalo is too "ugly" to be a possible recipient of affection, how must REALLY homely girls feel while watching this movie???!!  My husband, in fact, finds her MUCH more attractive than Uma Thurman....

Unfortunately, classic literature is full of "bad" love stories, too.  One of my favorite "discouraging" books is Charlotte Bronte's "Shirley":  published in 1849 (and written during the time her siblings were dying right and left), it was set during one of the worst economic times in recent British history, 1810-11.  Both of the heroines are having romantic troubles; one, who is beautiful and sweet and "perfect" cannot get together with the man she loves (and who apparently loves her too) because she has no fortune and he desperately needs money for noble purposes; the other, also very attractive but charmingly-flawed and rich, cannot get her man because he's poor, humble and proud, though totally crazy about her.  Bronte writes movingly about women's positions in such times and situations -- "Shirley" isn't her best book, but i recommend it wholeheartedly.

Then there are the poisonous stories that so many find romantic, like "Wuthering Heights"....  Heathcliff and Cathy were a pair of unevolved, selfish asshats who SHOULD have ended up with one another -- so as not to ruin anyone else's lives!  "Gone With the Wind" is not much better.  I (and some other friends -- hello, Jules!) absolutely DEPLORE whoever first wrote about the glorification of the "bad boy" and all the STUPID women who want to "fix" them.  This moronic trend got a new lease on its bad life in 1950s films.

Even in comedy....  We just re-watched "Shrek" the other night -- entertaining fantasy for adults as well as children! -- but it wasn't the movie itself that i'm referring to.  Oh, NO, it's a cartoon, for heaven's sake -- one isn't supposed to find it a rational guide to life.  It's that brain-dead song, "I Need a Hero."  :-P  THINK ABOUT IT!  In modern society, the qualities which make a great classic HERO (warrior) are not going to result in anything but trouble.  "Heroes" in this sense make appalling husbands and fathers.  And yet, silly young girls still want their knight....  BAD CHOICE!!!  Short of the zombie apocalypse, he'll be a millstone rather than a benefit -- and there IS no zombie apocalypse, kids -- that's FICTION!!!

<sigh>

Everyone wants love, but the kind that's promoted in this season is a phantom seducer.  It's exciting in theory, but it has a bitter aftertaste and it can't last.  The more people go hunting for it, the more it will elude them, because a truly desirable partner isn't needy in that fashion -- needy partners can be a nightmare!  The best thing everyone can do is cultivate self-esteem and universal benevolence, love your TRUE FRIENDS, appreciate the ones who care for you, and practice tough-love on the ones who would take advantage of your good nature without reciprocating in kind.

Loving oneself is NOT selfish; looking out for oneself is a serious responsibility.

p.s. -- for the record, i have a husband who IS a friend and a blessing, affectionate, responsible and mostly considerate.  ;-)  he only drives me crazy some of the time.

a little "woo" is not a bad thing

I failed to get myself some new clothes for the Chinese New Year, but i'm wearing a shirt i haven't had on in a couple of years -- can we let that count?  ;-)  I still plan to serve fish for dinner....

As part of the starting-anew concept, i also looked up some other new-yearish info.  In the 9 Star Ki* (a Japanese) system, next month will begin a new cycle too, a year of dynamic change (i THINK it's 8 Soil, but don't quote me).  Does that fit in well with your understanding of 2012 or what!  In numerology*, this is a Five year, a balancing point in the 9-year cycle, where decisions and changes are made, in order to send the next four years in the direction you want them to go.

Different esoteric systems look at different things to make predictions and recommendations.  I find that they work together very harmoniously, even though they don't coalesce to give a CONCRETE picture ("you will meet a tall handsome stranger...").  Astrology, of which i have a small amount of knowledge, also "works" -- when you get past the silly oversimplification of Sun Signs.  Here's a perfect example, from one of the better sites:  "Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, spent most of the past decade (or more) in incompatible signs – this was a macro indication that the world was unhappy."  The last two were 6 Metal and 7 Metal years in the 9 Star Ki system -- the world HAS had trouble with money (metal), now hasn't it?

If you're old enough to find this blog interesting, you probably remember the era of the hippie and talk of the Age of Aquarius -- know what?  The reason all that fizzled out back then was because they were too early; they anticipated their cosmic income.  The Age of Aquarius is NOW, and the changes happening (Occupy, anyone?) are going to take hippie idealism and eventually make it happen.

The forces which are fighting change are going to find it a losing battle, because the world CANNOT continue in the way it's going.  We all need to make changes in ourselves and the way we do things voluntarily, because if we're forced to do it by circumstances later, it'll be a lot more painful.

* a couple of favorite sites are 9starki.com and creativenumerology.com

more esoterica

Most mornings, i do my reading and then i know exactly what i want to write about -- frequently, a reflection upon the conclusions i've drawn from my experience vs various postings.  Today, despite having a list of topics i'd like to write on eventually, i'm less inspired.  I'm feeling philosophical rather than tigerish (mentally speaking).

My husband has the television on in another room, and is watching programs of the political/business sort; i can't help but hear snatches of what various people have to say (grrrr).  Me, i hate that sort of thing.  It brings to clear focus what kind of idiocy is in the world, "leading" us.  The only thing i do regularly which is at all analogous to his practice, is reading "news" articles on MSN and other services which i see when logging in and out of email accounts.

"News" pisses me off -- it's so artificial.  Instead of important things going on in the world, we hear about entertainment, fifteen-minutes-of-famers, and lifestyle trends.  When it comes to the "nightly news" on broadcast television (which i accidentally hear when i'm around my mother for any amount of time), i find that it is presented by "personalities" so vapid, they make my head ache.  Their grammar is atrocious, and when they make their idle chatter i am reminded that almost 50% of the world has below-average IQ.  ;-)

A number of paleo bloggers and commenters have frankly declared that one of their methods of lowering chronic stress is to unplug from all of this.  I don't blame them -- it's tempting to put my fingers in my ears and say "lalalalala" but it concurrently makes me feel uneasy not to know how bad the worst is, in the world in which i live.  "Know your enemy."

Then there's facebook:  i got so many invitations, a year or two ago, that i started using it.  I love being able to keep in touch with friends i had when i lived in different places but the venue encourages a LOT of BS.  I've found that a number of people, whom i like "to their faces," are completely unbearable in print.  And don't get me started about the games....

I have worked out a few strategies to stay informed and still lower the stress of it all. Seems to me, the best place to read about current events is in a foreign newspaper (London's "The Times" is a good one, as was Mexico City's "The News" when i last accessed it -- it's been awhile). Overseas, journalists are more likely to call a spade a spade in American events, and you will certainly learn more about the rest of the planet. 

On the internet front (specifically FB), i block the posts of those who only present sensationalist nonsense.  Just say no. 

These are toxic people who poison your spirit; they encourage one's worst emotions and reactions, drain one's energy and deplete one's positive feelings like self-confidence, cheerfulness, optimism, JOY.  People like this, it would be best just to excise them from one's life like a tumor, but sometimes it's almost impossible to do so.  At very least, keep them at arm's-length, emotionally speaking.  Don't let them or their message in; don't keep giving them more chances because they'll just wound you again and again.  Surround yourself, as best you can, with people and ideas that are uplifting and love-inspiring.

The atmosphere of miserable, hateful, or ill-principled jerks will make you a lesser person, but the proximity of truly good people will improve you -- these characteristics are contagious.  Which "bug" would you rather catch?