I love Alan Watts.
He was a genius. In the video below he tells, in his pithy, funny, inimitable style, my all time favorite zen story, The Farmer and His Horse.
Watch it. I bet you'll be glad you did. I was.
45 days ago in a fit of wanting-to-get-over-myself, I signed up to give a Kiva loan to someone in Colombia.
As of today, they've repaid over 45% of that loan! I'm grateful that the action that resulted from my contemplation is making a positive difference in the world! As soon as the loan's completely repaid, I'm going to take that money and loan it to someone else through Kiva, and probably add to it, too.
I love helping!
Yesterday we went on some more adventures. First, Missy got me up early, so she, her sister M. and I could go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. While I had been at work Friday, they'd even picked out an outfit for me to wear.
We had a great time. We shopped a bit, wandered, saw entertainment, and ate us some turkey legs.
Afterward, when we came home, we took a long nap, and then rushed out to make Ingress badges to wear/use at an upcoming Ingress Anomaly Event we're going to go to in Virginia Beach. Here's mine.
What makes me grateful is that Missy loves to go on adventures, and do oddball, quirky things. She's got a childlike heart and carefree spirit that feels so good to be around. I love that we're like this. It's fun to be married to her.
Click for source!
I've long held to the belief that I am your student. Yes, specifically you.
I am also your teacher. Again, yes, specifically, you.
There's a term for that. It's called interdependence.
Every day, as I move throughout it, I share experiences with other people. They teach me things, about themselves, and myself.
Among the things that I've learned:
- Words matter. Being cruel to someone else in even a tiny way is significant. It hurts them and it hurts me.
- If I love me, I can love you, too. In fact, I have to love me first.
- It's easy to unthinkingly hurt another person.
- It's easy to unthinkingly be hurt by another person.
- Actions matter. When you care about someone or something, it's never a waste of your time to show it, to do something about it.
- Words don't matter. Okay, I know that I'm directly contradicting myself here. This is possible. Language is a tool we use, and a necessary evil. But often it's a trap. We get stuck on labels, meanings, and expectations derived from language.
All this is on my mind because a friend of mine wrote me this morning and told me, while blushing fiercely, that I'm sort of their hero. They find me to be further along a path they themselves want to travel down.
It was an immense compliment, and one I thanked them for profusely. I do take it as an honor, but not a sign of special status. I'm no guru. If anything, I find that each day I'm alive, I find I know less than the day before. There's a verse of the Tao te Ching that speaks to this.
“71
Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick;
then you can move toward health.
The Master is her own physician.
She has healed herself of all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.”
I'm grateful that each day I can help others to heal themselves of what they know, and seek the wisdom of what they experience. I'm grateful that each day, they do the same for me.
Some folks find my voice sexy. I think that's awesome. That's why I recorded a video log about it, and why sexiness in general is something I'm grateful for.