(no subject)

[realexplodingcat]

Seems like forever since I last posted here. This class I'm taking is keeping me busy. Not so busy that I don't have time to do anything, but busy enough that when I have down time I don't really want to do activities that yield some kind of output, like writing or composing music. I've been doing more restorative activities like reading, taking walks, meditation, and exercise.

I am going less crazy over the class, but that experience is pushing me to find an inner peace to hold on to when all else is going nuts. I have always been intrigued by Buddhism and I'm considering seeking some formal experience with it. I think part of me misses a little bit of the ritual of being Catholic (which is the way I was raised) and the spiritual glue that binds one's disparate activities together. But the Catholic establishment no longer appeals to me. So, I'll check out the Buddha. Maybe I can find out why this guy who eschews materialism and lives without earthly desires is always portrayed as being fat.

Sort of related to the inner-peace thing: the other day I went to bed early, and woke up an hour earlier than usual. I usually just roll out of bed at 9am and right into the office. But I decided to try getting up early, to start the day with some personal time. It was a very nice way to set the tone for the day. I'd love to continue doing that, if I can manage to get to bed consistently earlier.

Yesterday, I thought it might be a good idea to take back the power in my relationship with my boss. I fixed a bug in our software in a way that only I could do. That's power! I control the bug fixing! So, I thought, next time my boss prompts me for a fix, I'll say, "I don't think you want it bad enough! I'm not going to check-in this bug fix unless you beg for it!"

And I blasted a squirrel off our bird feeder with the hose. Yes, indeed. I still can't bring myself to shoot them out of the trees, but I think I'm within my rights to defend my bird feeder.

Comments

[redzshadow.livejournal.com]

Buddha is portrayed as being fat because in his journey of life he once was starved and he also overindulged. That is how he found balance. ( or at least I think I read something similar to that...I could be full of BS...I don't have any proof of anything.)

[seeliespright.livejournal.com]

Well, the really corpulent "buddhas" you see are in fact a famous priest of buddhism. However, it is in the Indian tradition to represent sensuous (we say plump) figures in sculpture. I dunno, that's just what I vaguely remember from what my professor told me.

Heh, sorry to keep commenting...

[seeliespright.livejournal.com]

I just remembered, rereading what Maya said:

Siddhartha (sp) preached the "middle way" in that you seek a balance in all areas of your life. He originally starved himself for some time, but then realized that that wasn't leading to any higher truths. Then he came upon the "middle way" and was set because he got to eat and be religious. By having balance, he was able to ignore his body and move beyond to greater truths. That's why you should always remember that you can't think when you're hungry!

There's more about it here.

[twilight-spirit.livejournal.com]

Do yourself a favor and read Siddharta by Herman Hesse if you haven't already. It's the story of Buddha's journey to find enlightenment, and I would venture to say is required reading. (Not that I'm an expert or anything.) It's a good story, and as I recall there are some truths in there to be found.

One weakness of Buddhism I've heard is though it's an interesting philosophy, its attitude towards actually living is too passive. If I remember correctly, that same criticism pointed to Sufism as a religion that shares a lot in common with Buddhism, but is a bit more practical for living the beliefs. Need to do more research on this one myself.

You also should really read The Celestine Prophecy. Bit of an interesting success story for the author, actually. TCP was actually a vanity press book that became popular solely by word of mouth. I think it even hit the NYT bestseller list before one of the major publishers woke up and asked “Why don't we have this?” It was a pretty big thing about eight or nine years ago ... you may recall having heard about the whole Celestine Prophecy phenomenon back then. Anyway, it's a really good story, and the nine insights do seem to get at the core of what spirituality is. In fact, I wrote quite a bit about it about three years ago here in my LJ when I first read it.

It's funny this should all come up now. After all my problems sleeping this summer, my mom got me a book for my birthday having to do with the Zen of Sleeping. I started reading it and began to remember the things I really like about Eastern philosophy and how I seem to keep losing sight of that in the hustle and bustle of day to day living. It just seems to have such a refreshing perspective that eludes our Western minds, and yet the ideas are so simple it always comes as a surprise. It's like lateral thinking for living.

Also, the poetry of Rumi is extremely good reading for the spiritual-minded.

[javafiend.livejournal.com]

Buddhism is neat. Don't be overly disappointed when you notice the same kind of hypocritical crap within the Buddhist community that you find in Western religious groups. It's not an easy fit to Western culture/ structures; a lot of people end up picking and choosing things from different sects. I personally think that most people should wait until they have progressed to a deeper level of understanding before they start deciding which teachings/beliefs are more or less relevent (not an accusation, just addressing a pet peeve I acquired in the Eastern religion department.)

Ritual is altogether too much neglected (or at least unacknowledged) in our society. I blame the Puritans, and the penchent in the modern age for being overly reductionistic (the whole black box "it's all in your head" business).

As for the squirrels, if you set up a sheet of glass/ plexiglass between the feeder and the tree, you can watch them jump right into it.