What do I want to tell you about?

What do I want to tell you about? A few days ago, I saw a PBS show on Irshad Manji who is ...

... the internationally best-selling author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in her Faith. Through a new lens, this questioning Muslim takes a journey to reconcile her faith in Allah with her love of freedom. Along the way, she reveals the personal risks — emotional and physical — that come with such an urgent mission. The result is FAITH WITHOUT FEAR.

I was very impressed with Irshad. I emailed her for her picture, but so far I have just gotten back an automatic reply. I plan to write her again and to get familiar with what she's saying and learn a little about Islam and her culture. Mostly, I was impressed with her clarity of thought and courage in speaking up and doing so without resentment and blame. It's not so much that she was logical (in what I've heard so far), as that she is open-minded and yet cuts through all the dogma (and superstition and judgments) with ease.

What I found amazing, was that I understood her and could relate to her easily. She seemed to be speaking for me in some instances. This part is harder to explain but I come from a southern Baptist family background and was steeped in the tradition of rigid rules and codes of behavior that go along with that, combined with just plain ole Southern mores and small town predjudices and do's and don'ts. I have spent most of my adult life challenging the narrow mindset that I grew up with. Irshad has challenged some of what her mother has taught her and (which her mother still believes) about her religion and I found myself strangely moved by Irshad's clarity and strength. To me, this kind of intelligence and courage is to be recognized and applauded. It is not clouded by political manueverings (as far as I can tell) or anything related to flattering, pleasing, persuading (except to think it through), pretending, obfuscating, or denying. It is just stating the facts and knowledge gleaned by going to the source - the Quran (Koran) and paying attention to how people interpret it and live it -- what they do in its name.

This is a high achievement for someone in our time and with this volatile an issue, but even more so for a woman, seeing how women are not given much respect or say-so in the Islamic culture. That's why I say: what a breath of fresh air!

musings on grey skies and clay earth

Today I feel like I'm stuck in the earth... and I don't mean in a good way... but mired so to speak in the heaviness of it all - clay mud and grey skies and damp, humid breezes.... There's something so earthy about it and even though I'm a Taurus and that's our stuff, I feel stuck in it somehow... like I can't transcend this earthly plane no more.

My thoughts drop like heavy raindrops into a too-wet, swampy earth. And though there are a myriad of plants (and adventures) awaiting, I am glued to the spot and feel more in common with the common housefly than with the wingéd imagination of Mercury or the blazing glory of Zeus. Not that I *should* be tracing the heavens in a silver chariot, but the thought has always gotten me out of bed before .... now my feet are lead and my head is cotton-puffy and my enigmatic expression due to a practiced persona rather than anything particulary intelligent going on inside my head.

Ah well, it's a void-of-course moon and that means that the energies are good for napping, answering email, getting caught up on things, etc. So I'm in good company. Plus it's always helpful to have time to digest the experiences of one's life, rather than always rushing down the lane from one adventure to the next. How else can we understand the forces at work? How else can we feel properly? Certainly not from overexposure to TV, radio, traffic, office gossip, etc. From overexposure, all we get is an automaton. Someone who "obeys their thirst," as the slogan goes, but which really means a media-constructed id personality who solely desires to fulfill that need (constructed by the media) for that brand of soft drink. Yuucchhh!

Where is the "soft animal of your body"? (Mary Oliver) Where is the one-who-knows in all this? Definitely not sipping on one of hundred available advertised brands of soft drink, that's for sure. But to feel what you feel and know what you know - now that's not something easily co-modified, not so easily translated, not so easily packaged, not so easily consumed. In fact, we often choke on the truth, or start to. But I'll tell you one thing, the truth is ultimately palatable in the most desirable way. It can change your life. It can open your eyes. It can make you free as the saying goes. Just take it with a shot of trust, because it will go down easier. So I guess my post today is about trusting. Trusting what shows up in your life, even if it's not what you wanted, not what you asked for, not what you would even recognize on an ordinary day. But one which you do eventually recognize on an unusual day - one like today.

My truth? What today is about? All things change. I'll have to work up to specifying. Broad, general strokes, philosophically rendered, will have to do today. See you next time.

Virginia Tech Sorrow

I wanted to extend some sympathy and lovingkindness to the families and friends of the victims of the Virginia Tech rampage, as well as to all the students there and this is what came through. It represents Nature (in the persona of the flower), looking on with sadness and feeling sympathy for the anguish of the Virginia Tech students (symbolized by the young man's head coming out of the earth).

It was amazing that I was able to access this symbolic portrayal of how I felt given the sensationalism and lurid detail of some of the network news station coverage that was available on TV. It was disturbing.

I wanted to express my feelings in an uncomplicated, yet poignant way. My hope for you is that you find a way to express yourself ... if you were moved by this tragedy.

It's not that I don't want to grow.....

It's not that I don't want to grow. Sometimes I just get bored with it. Tired. Whatever. But I can tell it's time to let go, because I've been dreading coming here and posting again. Like I couldn't possibly top what I put up a day ago, etc..... Yesterday I was trying to be all cheerful and zen-like and that didn't work. Well it worked for about 20 minutes. ; )

But I couldn't get to my computer soon enough to write down those pearls of wisdom before they began to change to dross. Now, I'm not sure what dross is but I think it's the leftover of what is processed of golden wheat or gold or something. If you know, please drop me a line.

Anyway, part of the process of growing is the resting - which we in the West have a hard time with. I don't know about you -- but I do. Americans tend to be always on the go and action-oriented. Not much room for contemplation. Or rest.

Also part of the process of growing is the dying back (as any gardener knows), in order for new growth to occur.

Okay, now that I've covered that subject...I'll try to get on to the next one....which is? I don't know, but I know I won't be trying too hard. Because part of growing myself for me is letting be. And that's what's going to happen now.

Online art projects

Online art projects - I love it!
(see url at end) Why didn't I think of that? !! I would love to showcase my art, but on the other hand, want this to be more than that - an eclectic grab bag, if you will. Maybe that's not exactly what I wrote on the intro, but just another facet of life-as-we-know-it.

I wouldn't want to solicit photos of people holding up a placard with my name on it, but on the other hand, would love to post photos of people who send me a photo of themselves. Just don't want to get caught in a rut, say like asking for pictures of people with their pet frogs, or some natural catastrophe or something. But I am definitely intrigued. I would like the enlarge the scope of the audience here. So far, have only had one comment posted. Hmmmm....

I guess I will think about this and the possibilities.
http://www.austin360.com/arts/content/arts/stories/2007/04/9artblogs1.html
http://www.anniholm.blogspot.com/

It's that time of year....

It's that time of year and I'm not talking taxes...I'm talking butterflies and daffodils and bluebonnets...and wind whishing in your hair as you ride with the hood down....it's April and all the associations that come with Spring..... new beginnings, regeneration, celebration, joy, growing (my favorite activity), spurting (okay, we'll leave that one alone), etc. Anything that's not frozen, but running freely... like me through green meadows barefoot .... you get the idea.

In that vein (or stream), I am showing a picture of a painting maybe a decade old, but which fits the time of year..... I hope you like it. I have more and will post them from time to time.

In my mundane life, I just found out that the electric lawn mower I had that went kaput, is running after all ... after I took it to two repair shops. Embarrassed, yes, but I will trade that embarrassment anyday for finding out that an appliance is not broken after all. In fact, I will care more for it now and treasure it as I believe I wasn't trusting it enough. It was more hardy than I thought (!) I guess that's the same with me sometimes too. ; )

Easy

Easy is right
Begin right and you are easy
Continue easy and you are right
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy.
- Chinese saint Chuang Tzu

I didn't have the url of the photo I wanted to post, so took it off. From now on, I will remember to get the info on the photo if it's taken from the web, so the photographer's work is acknowledged and you, my dear reader, can go the the website it was found on if you want to.
This photo was from the National Geographic website.
http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/

misc. notes with moth

This was easier to post to when I was just getting started and in the heat of excitement. Now I have to admit that I'm dragging a little. I mean, who reads this, anyway? Of course, I could just write to a supposed audience and that has some merit too. But I'm really wondering about how to make this a vehicle for growing myself as well as a forum for growing you.

Maybe that's too pretentious. Or too esoteric. Thought I have seen a lot of disparate interests displayed on the internet. Nothing seems to be out of the question. Which is a good thing. But what exactly was the question?

On a more material plane, I took this photo of the beautiful moth on my front door a few days ago. Today, I saw an even beautiful-er and bigger moth, but didn't have my camera handy. Maybe I'll start a series called "Moths attracted to my light" ; )