Tag: Life

STILL LOOKING FOR AN EMAIL EQUIVALENT

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 9 Comments

Anybody have an effective suggestion for handling this email InBox conundrum?

With physical mail, I could divide the incoming missives into piles marked

  • Act
  • Delegate
  • File
  • Toss

and respond accordingly.

Another version made a distinction:

  • Respond now
  • Routine or schedule
  • Reflect
  • Trash

What I’m finding with my emails is whenever I’m uncertain how to answer, I put it aside – where it’s likely to wither and die. That is, if I don’t respond immediately, the message gets lost in the clutter.

I’ve thought about setting up a basket specifically to hold these cases, but once they’re out of sight, they’ll be out of mind. From my perspective, there’s no place to really put something aside, at least where I’ll see it but it won’t get buried. A pile for reflection sounds like limbo.

Anyone got a workable solution? Help! Tell us all!

OVER THE YEARS OF SITTING SILENTLY WITH OTHERS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

When I first took up the practice of meditation, my goal was to get high – a natural, chemical-free experience, but a kind of escape all the same.

Moving to the ashram took that a step further. The goal became to transcend this mundane experience, entering into hours of unconscious ecstasy and returning to daily life with a heavenly vision.

Over the years, though, the practice has shifted. Yes, I still value those moments of natural high and clarity and oneness with the universe, but my bigger aim these days is to get grounded. To sit and move in that which is eternal, or my true nature. To be open to the divine around me. To be authentically loving and kind and …

The practice itself still means sitting with others in silence. That hasn’t changed!

REGARDING THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITUAL REALITY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 4 Comments

A materialistic outlook misses so much. As does an emphasis on concrete reality or causality.

How would you explain love, for starters? Much less admit passion? Why does music move us the way it does? And pain, be assured, is more than a neuro-chemical calculation. Why does social injustice to others spur our own anger? How could those who own all the creaturely comforts ever feel lonely?

The materialistic reaction to these, I suspect, prompts what we call addiction. Though it’s not always to alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, food, or even sex.

For liberation, a spiritual dimension will open. Or else.

SUFFERED ENOUGH?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Time for true conservatives to weigh in.

Take back the GOP.

(From the super-rich.)

(From the off-the-chart far-right-wingers.)

(From the anarchists masked in their midst.)

We’ve already paid enough.

Just run the numbers. The full cost of everything, far beyond war and taxes.

WHERE ARE THEY LEARNING THEIR HISTORY?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Conservatives who don’t know history are dangerous. What are they conserving, anyway? If there ever was a golden era in American history, just consider the years after World War II when the New Deal direction really kicked in. (The “socialist” programs they’ve always derided.) And we’re seeing all of its downsides, as well – sexist, racial, environmental polluting, smug.

As for solutions? It’s safe to bet their ideology would lead to yet another banking meltdown. As I said about history? Bush I and Bush II, or even Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, illustrate that point.

Without banks, there’s no modern economy. (What would you barter for a computer, for one thing?)

Oh, but if you’re truly conservative, what would you need a computer for, anyway? Or anything more than a mattress?

COMING UNPLUGGED FOR A WEEKEND – OR IS THAT UNSTUCK?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

One of those interludes when our Internet connection crashed – this one lasting more than a weekend – had me reflecting on how embedded the Digital Age has become in our daily activity. And I’m not even one of those who’s texting much or has his ears plugged into thin wires except rarely.

On one hand, apart from a bit of twitchy readjustment, it was rather liberating. I found myself catching up on a stack of magazines and a couple of books and just hanging out in the house.

On the other hand, though, I wasn’t getting my emails or making sure scheduled blog posts had run properly, much less interacting with the comments or our WordPress Reader. For that, I wound up running out to the nearby Panera for late Sunday afternoon pastry and WiFi.

Still, I’m uneasy about all these digital changes in our lives. There’s too much else right at hand we seem to be missing. Just a thought. As for you?