It's Wild Here

You are not a local event.

Life After Death - the Burden of Proof, by Chopra.

The cosmos is nonlocal; that is, it can't be mapped as a location. After death we gradually stop being local. We see ourselves as we really are from the soul's perspective: everywhere at once. This adjustment is probably the biggest obstacle any of us will encounter in the astral planes. Right now you are at the center of the universe because infinity extends in all directions, yet someone on the other side of the world is also at the center of the universe, because infinity extends on all sides of him, too. If both of you are centers of the universe, you must both be at the same location. The fact that you appear to be in different places is a sensory artifact. It's based on sights and sounds, which are local events. You are not a local event.

More to come, particularly for skeptics.

I just can't get enough of the nuns' blogs

Here's a recent favorite post.

updates

 

The fossil and rock in the Buddha's hands were given to us by our friends at Family Hour at the Dharma Center - we have been attending regularly, 2x/month.

There will be new photos in the weekly albums to the right.

The babies are still sick although fevers seem to be gone. Coughs and snot remain. Sleep deprivation is severe.

The big boys are enjoying the snow, which is quite beautifully falling all morning. We're planning some sledding by the weekend if possible.

I'm reading An Abundance of Katherines, which is so far excellent. The characters are very smart teenage boys - one a prodigy and one a Muslim boy who was homeschooled until his current grade, 1o. He is at once dedicated to his religion but also irreverent about many things and very typically 15ish in his boy humor and attitude.  The story isn't doing much, which usually annoys me right away, but is fine this time - the characters are so engaging.

busy

Yesterday, Jamie scored a goal in his soccer game! His team is doing really well this season, and he tends to consistently assist other players' goals (which is important, of course). But yesterday (in a game I missed :-(  ) he scored a goal himself - cool!

On Friday, Katie and I took the kids to Lebanon to see Curious George. It was a cute movie and the theater was pretty empty, so there was no problem with Ryan's running around and occasional outbursts. We went to a McD's playplace after, and discovered that Ryan is not afraid of any of that. He crawled to the tip-top and came down the big slide, protective brothers hovering after happily.

The kids were all up in the structure, and Katie and I were chatting below, about various things. We got on the topic of Clover's need for some sneakers.  She didn't want to go to Walmart (?) I think because among other reasons, they have Strawberry Shortcake shoes and she doesn't want to buy those for Clover. As soon as she told me this, from way up in the atmosphere, Clover's voice calls down, "DID YOU SAY STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE??!!" 

Poor Katie ;-) 

Yesterday was productive. We put up shelves in Jamie's room and got the mess off the floor. It looks like a totally different place. At various times throughout the day he could be heard running in there and yelling "I love my room!"  Ahh, don't we all love a tidy space?

Evan worked on the big wide gate for our kitchen, but the directions were really, really bad. So, we're stalled but I think he has some plans for trying something else today. His back was really hurting by the time he stopped last night.

I got our book work planned out for the week, finished knitting those green stripey socks, and also paid the bills.

So, we did all that and also managed to keep our kids alive and fed. Not a bad Saturday.

Today:
grocery
trike-walk with Ryan
family meeting
children's hour at Dharma Center

Mabon celebration - Autumn Equinox

Starting today, we'll start to light candles at night. We made tissue paper flowers from autumn colors, baked banana bread, ate chocolate pancakes for breakfast, popped popcorn, and whipped up some (not really very good) popcorn smore balls from Family Fun magazine. So, we were busy.

We might take a hike later and collect some items for a fall wreath, and we're hoping to have a fire in the back yard tonight.

We read in a book that long ago, Germanic people believed that hostile spirits walked the earth at harvest time. They were also afraid that Odin wanted part of their bounty. From the roofs of their houses people emptied sacks of flour into the wind so Odin could have his share.

I mentioned doing a little flour toss into the wind, but of course when I explained the story, the boys just wanted to get up on the roof more than anything.

Maybe tonight we'll reread Persephone and Demeter from our Greek Myth book.

Next week, from Celebrating the Great Mother:
string corn necklaces?
door blessing/wreath

corn books, nonfiction and legends

mohawk, etc

What is Jamie up to?
New haircut!

Also, Jamie has created  our new nature table/altar/centerpiece - anyone have a name for me to use?
The tree represents the end of summer. Pregnant mama represents Aunt Katie, upper righthand corner, playdough-sculpted birthday cake, representing all the birthdays this time of year in our family, soccer ball obvious, colored leaves around statue, fall coming, figure at bottom right represents Uncle Joshua's visit.  I think he did a great job!   

Tibetan Medicine Buddha Mandala

We went downtown to the Dayton Public Library (after picking up Evan from his office for a little visit)  to see the completed sand mandala. It was stunning, of course, and we were very glad Ryan was strapped into his stroller. THere was nothing preventing any child from hurling himself into the sand and destroying it prematurely. Evan was most impressed of all of us!

We thought about staying until 3 until the closing ceremony and decided against it. The library wasn't holding our attention and Ryan needed a nap.