I Speak of Dreams

Atheism Unelectable

Ronald Reagan's son answers a few questions....(Makes you think of Poppy and G.W., doesn't it? Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON Published: June 27, 2004)
Now that the country is awash in Reagan nostalgia, some observers are predicting that you will enter politics. Would you like to be president of the United States? I would be unelectable. I'm an atheist. As we all know, that is something people won't accept. [snip]
So you sometimes practice Buddhism? I don't claim anything. But my sympathies would be in that direction. I admire the fact that the central core of Buddhist teaching involves mindfulness and loving kindness and compassion. [snip]
How do you account for all the glowing obituaries of [your father]? I think it was a relief for Americans to look at pictures of something besides men on leashes. If you are going to call yourself a Christian -- and I don't -- then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog's leash? How can Christians tolerate it?
It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight -- it has put them in greater danger.
[snip]

Generating Gratitude

This is the selfish and entitled society. "What have you done for me lately?" "I deserve MORE!". But some people are rowing upstream, by cultivating gratitude, humility, and service.

I think I've told you before about Naikan, the , and Constructive Living

Positive Psychology has a ritual of gratitude also, called the gratitude letter.

Daily Invocation

Laura brings us a reminder from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.

The last one listed carries, as do so many BCP prayers, a gentle liturgical reminder to behave well in adversity:

In the Morning

This is another day, O Lord.  I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be.  If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely.  If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.  If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently.  And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly.  Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus.   Amen.

I told you before that I can't say I'm a Christian. Who do I ask to help me to do these challenging things?

Magdalen News seems to be on sabbatical, but Laura writes about teaching and learning faith and values in healthcare.

Malcolm Brenner: A Witch Among the Navajo

Chas at A Letter from Hardscrabble Creek has posted a wonderful bit of autobiography, in which Malcom Brenner recounts how his own brand of Wicca manifested in an indigenous tradition--the Navajo.

Me? I'm half-Celt, half-Jew, raised liberal/agnostic. I grew up on Philadelphia's Main Line and learned Wicca in Seattle. That I should come to be a Witch in Navajoland, struggling for truth and fairness, is one of the crowning ironies of my life. I can only attribute it to the will of the DinÈ Diyiin - the Holy People, the Navajo gods.

In 1991, I was living in Oregon with a nurse who wanted to work for the Indian Health Service. Of the five IHS hospitals in Navajoland, she chose Shiprock because, she said, "It was the least dumpy of the lot." Farmington, the border town, was only 30 miles away.

It is an interesting glimpse into two remote cultures: Navajo and Neopagan. Check it out.

Roadmap: Baraita to Apikorsus Online toHeretic's Corner to Hardscrabble Creek

Buddhism 101

The Asia Society Museum has a nifty introduction to Buddhism and how it spread through trade routes.

There's also the Wikipedia.

Less Stuff, More Health

My primary "stuff intoxication" is books (used to be horses). I love this house, but I'd like to have 1/3 the size and land....later for that. At any rate, welcome to the Mental Health and Simplicity website:

Mental Health & Simplicity On January 31, 2004, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute held Mental Health and Simple Living: Countering the Compulsion to Consume, in association with Seeds of Simplicity and Ashley Montagu Institute, where complexity was identified as a key factor in our toxic culture and the simplicity movement as a beginning response.

I started at Crooked Timber , which pointed me to Pradeep's, who told me about Simple Living.

Two Good Reflections on Marriage

Harry has a good post on marriage (which includes a reflection on reading a writer whose fundamenal view you disagree with, but who has something worthwhile to say).

One lesson you could take from this is Tooley’s — push women back into the domestic sphere. But another would be: push everyone back into the domestic sphere. We live in the wealthiest world in history, and what makes people flourish is not consumption (above a certain level) but lasting and intimate human relationships, and rewarding labor. So we should just encourage people to work less for pay — both men and women.

Laura also is thinking about the stresses of marriage.

I'm convinced that one of the reasons behind the dual income family is the fear of divorce and not greed. You never know for sure that your partner will be around to support you in the future.

Paradoxical Commandments

The Paradoxical Commandments
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

Kent Keith, 1968.

Metta of Peace

Metta of Peace

May I be happy and well

May no harm come to me

May I have Peace

May all of my friends, family and those I love

Be happy and well

May no harm come to them

May they have Peace

May all of those who are troubled in body, mind and spirit

Be happy and well.

May no harm come to them

May they have Peace

May all of those who have hurt me in body, mind and spirit

Be happy and well.

May no harm come to them

May they have Peace

May all of those I have hurt in body, mind, and spirit

Be happy and well

May no harm come to them

May they have Peace.

May all of my enemies

Be happy and well

May no harm come to them

May they have Peace.

May all living beings

Be happy and well

May no harm come to them

May they have Peace.

The Uses of Conflict

Some people seem to use the word "conflict" as if it is always negative and unhealthy and violent, while others of us use the word in a more nuanced way, meaning a way toward greater understanding and insight, or even intimacy.