Halloween Musings

A day of harvest moon,
Demons and devils crone,
Beliefs held dear by the celts,
Harshly Bishops dealt,
Spirits wandered,
Where once saints pondered,
Wax and flame flicker,
Turnip to pumpkin they did dicker,
As time passed,
Although harassed,
Deep magic persists,
Leaving things amiss,
For one night only,
Spirits taunt lively the lonely,
Seeking sanctuary from torment,
Live and weary waiting for ascent,
A Pageant of pagan tradition,
A time for the lose of volition,
Here and there,
Once thought rare,
Today's Halloween,
A holiday for teens and tweens,
A time of chocolates, sweets and treats,
In some cultures fireworks and sweetmeats,
Forever more,
It's trick or treats children roar,
Lost is ancient mystery,
Replaced foremost with entertaining history.

I Had No Idea!

Etymology lesson...Sort of. Do you know the historic origin of the word boycott? I had no idea. Last Thursday in my Irish History 313 class we read an article my a prominent Irish historian about the Land Question in Ireland. Out of the blue...or shall I say out of the green Isle of Erin the case of Boycott arose. Lord Boycott was the landlord of a piece of land in Ireland. Boycott expelled the tenant he rented this land to in order to plant large plots of Corn...the UK type'. The Irish tenants rose against Boycott...refusing to allow his villainy go unpunished. The Army and the Peelers had to be called in to save Boycott's crops and life. Yet, it was unsuccessful. Boycott took such losses that he gave up and returned to Britain. Therefore when we use the word boycott...praise Erin. We can also praise Erin for Oscar Wilde, Celtic Music, Shamrocks, beautiful mythology and St. Patrick's day...especially green beer!

Song A Day Keeps The Dull Away

For all those Starbuckians out there...have you heard of the new Starbucks partnership with itunes. Each day Starbucks gives its customers a free itunes song download. To me there is no better way to relax than sitting with a cup of coffee listening to wonderful music. Music not only heightens but intensifies the warm sensation coffee gives me. Music opens the mind to numerous avenues of exploration while coffee delights the senses. For me this is a refuge from stress, the rat race, life and work. In a world where we are expected to build an island for the self to reside in which were a totally individualistic and with out connection building material and success, the refuges of connection, exploration and relaxation are not only a comfort but necessary. The human existence is one of communion spiritual, emotional and sensual. To deny the existence of anything except the present is to deny humanity. After weeks of stress, fast pace and disturbance I crave refuge through word, connection and love. Although coffee and music only give comfort and exploration, they relax the body so that the mind can be released from the prison of life. Freeing the mind to search out refuge and procure friendship and connection. We are all interrelated whether we wish to be or not. Celebrate interrelation through engagement, responsiveness and openness....find refuge and pursue life with new meaning.

Be not a loner all the time for sometimes the spirit craves to be human---Anonymous.

From The Desert I Emerge Smarter...But Sleepier

I'm back. I returned from the desert. I am stronger after the laborious last few weeks. I feel worn out, beat up and run through the wringer, but I am alive. Praise all the powers in the universe, I live! I survived my 21st birthday, I can add a margarita to my belt....but I've got to be honest, I could only stomach about 1/8 of it. I....I'm just not much of a drinker. I have two new additions to my zoo. Chino and walnut, two quarter sized red eared slider turtles. Terribly illegal! That's why I bought them. Walking into a discount 99 cent store in East Pomona next door to West Covina I see a row of teeny tiny reptiles. I couldn't believe it, don't the owners know first of all that it is illegal to sale animals from an unlicensed provider and second, that it is illegal to sale red eared sliders under the size of a palm? I couldn't pass up the chance to purchase to of these tiny trooper of the illegal turtle sales. Chino is the smallest named after the town next to Pomona and Walnut after the town on the other side of Pomona...what original names. Well, I am practically insane and blank after two 2 and half hour midterm exams today. Both exams were essay...I wonder if you can sue professors for causing arthritis. Well...Goodnight cyberspace...I can barely keep my eyes open. Good wishes, Good thoughts, and Good works!

The Sunflower...Musings To The Self

What does the sunflower mean for Simon Wiesenthal? For me the image is very disturbing. How could God…allow a bright beautiful flower to grow on the grave of a despicable SS trooper? Why don’t these sunflowers wither and die like the rotting bodies they decorate? What an irony? In a way it could be seen by an observer as redeeming the evil that the body did in life, but how could such a disgusting debacle exist. The thought is sickening…Wiesenthal at least in the first part of the book suggests that the Sunflower seems to act as an axis mundi for these dead Nazi connecting them to life even in death, the butterflies swooping from grave to grave bringing messages to the dead that are transferred through the sunflower to the dead officer. Yet, how can it be right or good that such a connection exist, when as Wiesenthal believes that his people lie in mass graves that sunflowers will never grace. I am still unsure what the sunflower represents or what it means to Wiesenthal. All I can do so far is wonder if the old woman was right in claiming that God was on leave. How else could such an atrocity happen…even though it goes against everything I believe about God…

Shhhh....

Sit for 3 minutes in silence. Take deep breaths, close your eyes. Its harder than it sounds, but I believe if you do this 3 times a day you will be a better person for it. Do it I dare you! Silence is a very powerful thing. When used in the right contexts and situations the change it makes can be creative and transformative. In silence the workings of the mind become loud and unyielding. One must deal with them and conquer them or once again return to noise and chaos in order to tame the mind....Mother Teresa claims "See how nature-trees, flowers, grass-grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls." Without the soul we are beings lost into a void of nothingness, the abdication of thought is what causes most evil in the world. Others like Thomas Merton assert "solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say".Silence allows one to examine the deepest layers of being and gather up the dregs of goodness deep inside that we alienate with daily life....use at least 3 minutes of your day to recharge your being in concentrated thought, it will be a refuge for your soul.

Hurt, Lingers like...

Sometimes the people you love and care about the most do you the most harm. Spouses, Lovers, Friends, Family, with close contact comes propensity for aggravation, irritation, hurt and great joy. In times when my best friends push me away, alienate me and turn me into a object to deny relation with...I wonder how they can sleep at night. My mind and heart ache at these small rejections and losses of moments where we can experience great joy. Life is so short and filled with so much terror, horror and disintegration. Why do we work to tear one another down?
Why be selfish when you could be selfless?
Why deny when you can give?
Why have pleasure if it causes so much pain?
Martin Buber asserts that all life is relation and when we deny this relation we treat one another as an It...an object. We treat the other human if we own it, we alienate ourselves from God and from one another. Great atrocities in history were committed when Nations abdicate humanity in favor of objectification and ownership...The Holocaust, Darfur, The Holmodor....when will it end...Could it end if we would just stop hurting one another in our daily lives and squelch our propensity to treat each other as ITs and begin to treat one another as YOUs....living breathing human entities interconnected in every action, breath and word.