Metacentricities

There is an old Zen saying, "Before Enlightenment chop wood carry
water,
after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water." I’m reminded of that as I use a shovel to hack at the piled snow next to the mailbox, so we can get our mail delivered, and take out the garbage, and put up some shelves in the pantry, and … and …

There is a lot to do, when setting up as a householder. And it is so easy to get bogged down in the details, and forget what’s really important. I’m also reminded of that story in Luke, of Mary and Martha. Martha is all busy with the tasks have having such an important guest in the house, and Mary is just sitting at Jesus’ feet, taking in what he is teaching. It’s so easy to get caught up in the important tasks, and forget that it’s all about  - about being in communion with God.

What’s the balance? Sometimes, those tasks are avenues to awakening - being aware of how we feel as we do them - patient, annoyed, tired, in pain. Sometimes we get so caught up in the tasks, and the importance of them, that we forget to be like Mary. It’s a challenge finding that balance.

And, as Ruth said this evening - there is always the reminder that although we live in a pretty remote place, and feel kind of snowed in, that we live in amazing luxury and convenience compared to most people in the world.

It’s been an interesting week, settling in. We got our stuff in the house under the wire, and the relocubes are sitting in the snow, waiting for them to be picked up. My laptop died, causing major angst (I’m using Ruth’s computer now.) I’m getting used to seeing the area from Ruth’s eyes (she says it’s like a theme park for alternative types - all the groovy people at the North Leverett Co-op, the guy selling the futon has pictures of his guru, and the guy selling the hot tub is a crystal healer.)

We’re unpacking sloooooowly - things still feel chaotic, and I can’t find anything yet. I ran into someone who said "I haven’t seen you in a long time! How are you?" He didn’t know I’d spent the last 18 months on the other side of the country.

A few things I’d taken for granted (like the big newstand in Northampton next to Table and Vine) are gone, some new things appeared (where did all of those McMansions in North Hadley come from?). It takes a lot longer to get places from Shutesbury (a trip to Northampton takes a good chunk of the day between getting there and getting back, rather than just being a quick trip.) And, I forgot how much time and energy it takes to set up a household, since it had been so long since I’d done it.

But, it’s nice to be home. And, once I feel like I have my bearings, and we’re more organized, it will be great to start socializing, reorienting to the valley, and having people over for dinner.

We’ve arrived in Massachusetts last weekend, and, finally, we’re unpacking. We made it under the wire - unpacked the “relocubes” before the big snow came. We’re nice and cozy in our house, unpacking the zillions of boxes. We don’t have much furniture - and we had hoped to do some furniture shopping today - but we’re not going anywhere.

I’m tired. I’m happy to be home. I’m ready to settle into a regular life again, and be out of the transition mode I’ve been in since I decided to leave seminary early in late August. And, I’m looking forward to going back to doing some more interesting blogging, albeit without broadband.

On the first day we arrived here, at North Topsail Beach, where we are spending some time before we can move into our house in Shutesbury, my partner and I would hear this bumping sound. It was windy that day, and we thought that must be a window that was banging open, or a chair that was banging against something outside. We’d keep hearing it - sometimes it was so loud we could feel it, too. Sometimes, it was several sounds an hour, sometimes hours would go by without the sounds.

We kept hearing it, but basically ignored it, because it wasn’t predictable, and we couldn’t find out where it came from.

One day, Ruth walked on the beach, and she realized that the sound was still with her - she’d hear them as she walked down the beach. So we realized it wasn’t from the house, it was from somewhere else.

It turns out, it’s from Camp Lejeune, about 15 miles down the beach from here. They hone their skills at shooting things, from guns and rifles, to missiles.

We never would buy a house here, for a variety of reasons. First, neither of us is attracted a house on the beach, second, the area is, well, pretty whitebread for us. What’s also true is that North Topsail Beach is a barrier island, and very precariously placed if there is a hurricane. In 1996, hurricanes Bertha and Fran almost wiped North Topsail off of the map. There were even proposals to abandon it, and make it a park. But since then, there has been a real estate and building boom, with lots and lots of new houses, and more being built every day (they are putting in the pilings for a new house just down the street from this one, as I write this.) Clearly, the lessons of 1996 have been completely forgotten.

So, if one sold real estate here, one should disclose: “You’ll hear missiles and bombs going off at all hours of the day and night, and in case of a hurricane, you may no longer have a house to vacation in.”

Technorati Tags: camplejeune, hurricanes, missiles, northcarolina, northtopsail, realestate, topsailbeach

I’ve never subscribed to Venus Magazine - but I’d grabbed a couple of copies over time. Venus Magazine used to be the “Advocate” for the Black gay and lesbian community. In general queer magazines aren’t something I’ve found especially interesting or useful for me, although I’d buy one or another now and again. I’m generally not interested in the latest gossip on Ellen or one or another actress in the L Word, or the next gay travel hot spot. But, Venus was, I think, significant in its focus and approach. Although I didn’t subscribe, I was happy that it existed. However, it is now a magazine that helps you become ex-gay:

The new mission of Venus Magazine is to encourage, educate and assist those who desire to leave a life of homosexuality. Our ultimate mission is to win souls for Christ, and to do so by showing love to all God’s people. We believe that homosexuality is outside of the will of God. We know that many new and longtime VENUS readers have been instilled with a belief system that is in line with this teaching but are still living ‘in the life’. Many desire change and wonder if they can be accepted into the family of God ‘just as they are’. The answer is YES! These readers will find the new Venus an anointed and refreshing tool for kingdom work.

This mission statement is contradictory. It says, on one hand, that “homosexuality is outside of the will of God” then, on the other, says that people “can be accepted into the family of God ‘just as they are’”. I could go into a lot of detail into why this is all a problematic statement (like there really is no clear biblical reason why being gay and doing “kingdom work” need to be in conflict.) But I’ll not bother. There have been lots of people who already have explained all of this way more eloquently than I can.

Only a few people have written about the change in the magazine. Windy City Times has a pretty detailed article and interview with Charlene Cothran, the publisher of the magazine, who says she’s been “redeemed,” and isn’t a lesbian anymore.

The blogosphere has been very quiet about it. Daily Dose of Queer picked up on the Windy City Times story, and Pam’s House Blend picked up on it. I heard about it on a mailing list. It’s all pretty much under the radar. You can be sure if the Advocate, or Curve, went ex-gay, there’d be a blog storm.

Technorati Tags: africanamerican, glbt, religion

I used to like Hillary. I thought it would be really cool to have a woman president. I also loved the fact that one of the first thing she tried to grapple with when her husband was president was universal health care. So I still had a bit of a warm spot in my heart for her.

But as time went on, and as she got more and more hawkish, I got less and less interested. Then, recently, she said that the US should keep open the option of military force against Iran. That was the last straw. I know, many of you had your last straw a good long time ago.

At this point, I’m interested in Obama, although I’m having a hard time imagining he’s going to get very far, given the lengths to which some will go to smear him. But I’m thinking that perhaps, John Edwards might be a good bet. He announced his candidacy on You Tube, after all.

Technorati Tags: democrats, president, campaign08

Mystics of all times and all places have often had one thing in common: they have isolated themselves in some way or another from the world. Some, like Catholic cloistered orders, or Buddhist monks, depend on the community to provide them the basics. Sometimes, they do provide themselves the basics, by growing gardens or the like. But most mystics over time have lived apart in some ways or another from “regular” daily life.

This makes sense, of course. It’s a lot easier to go into the depths of life and spirit and one’s connection with God without worrying when the plumber is going to arrive, or when to schedule the car being fixed, or how the five gazillion work deadlines are going to get done.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. I am a mystic, and my desire to enter into professional ministry was, at some level, a desire to find a way to live my life more fully as a mystic. I had even thought seriously about monastic life. But it appears that my life is going to be the life of a householder.

There are two threads that I’m thinking of relating to this. First is the life of the Hasidim, who I learned about in the Jewish Mysticism class I took last spring, and was reminded of again in a recent post by Rachel. She says:

Hasidism began as a spiritual movement that emphasized prayer, joy, and charity. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism, wanted to make God accessible to everyone. He taught that “every day life could be sanctified. That God could be served through everything one did. Eating, working, raising children: even sex could become a spiritual act.”

One of the real takeaways I had from that course was that anything we can do in daily life can be a mitzvah if our intentions are toward serving God. Hasidim and Sufis, as Rachel reminds us in her post, both include involvement in the world doing specific kinds of humbling work.

The second thread that I’m thinking of is the relatively recent attempt by Western practitioners of Buddhism to focus on practices (meditation, primarily) that had been previously practiced only by monks. It is true that a daily meditation practice helps me, at least, to stay closer to the ground of what’s really important to me. Any daily spiritual practice that I engage in (prayer, singing, etc.) helps as well.

So this will be a journey, for sure. How do I live within a regular life at the same time as keep closely connected to my spirit, and heart? How do I serve good, and God while being a householder, and dealing with the practical issues of that life?

Technorati Tags: buddhism, mysticism, judaism