Still Learning

I pulled into the Chase Bank parking lot yesterday. I was in a hurry and I wanted to park into a space that was at the end, with a cement curb on the right side. I was coming in from the right and I pulled in too quickly. I wound up scratching the right front bumper of my car. I was pretty upset about it, but I had to take care of my banking business. When I came out, I got back into the car and thought about it again. Not only did I think again about how upset I was, but I also thought about how I would feel when I told my husband and worried about how much it would cost to fix. (No dent, scratch was about an inch in diameter). Then I thought to myself “You gave it enough thought. That’s it. You’ve done all the thinking about it that you should do.” I’m trying to let it go. I guess that's my lesson for today.

Roman Polanski, How Should He Be Punished

I found an interesting page on Wowowow.com. There were three articles written by Candice Bergen, Joan Ganz Clooney and Liz Smith giving their opinions of Roman Polanski. I have read about a great deal of celebrity support for him, which I find disturbing.
The following is the comment that I posted on that site.
First of all, he did commit the crime. It is up to an American judge/jury to decide the rest. Anyone who comes up with extenuating circumstances for the rape of a child (she was willing, maybe she was not a virgin, he is of a higher social class and should not have to obey the law) should be willing to make allowances for any rape under those conditions. Would they? Of course not. Even prostitutes can be raped. How far back would that take back the women's movement?
If you want to read the page, the link is:
http://www.wowowow.com/entertainment/should-roman-polanski-go-prison-389539?page=4#comment-390776

Meditations

Last night I attended my first Buddhist meditation class. It didn’t start off really well for me, because I came in a few minutes late because my directions were not good and it was pouring rain. They didn’t have many parking spaces so I needed to park around the corner on the grass. Then after I arrived, the assistant asked us to turn off our cell phones and (new cell) hit the wrong button and No Doubt started to play (at least at a low volume). The class was very enjoyable and interesting.

I was really impressed by the “Give and Take” meditation. When we first started it, it didn’t seemed to be working for me, but eventually I found myself looking at the world through the other person’s eyes and even learned something about him that I didn’t realize before. It was almost psychic. I feel like I can be more helpful in the future. I will continue to practice that meditation in the future.

When the class ended, I noticed that I had met one of my classmates before. She was the one who told me about Eckhart Tolle, which led me down a new path of spiritual learning. Is this a sign from the Universe that I am doing the right thing?

Spouses and Spirituality

I think it’s important for couples to have some sort of spirituality in common. Your beliefs influence your behavior and unless there is some sort of understanding between two people there will be misunderstandings and miscommunication. Have you ever been in a situation where someone spends literally hours complaining about something negative? They don’t want to talk about how to change the situation, they just want to talk about how unfair it is. Well, you know that “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists." Try changing the topic to something more positive and you are seen as someone who doesn’t care. You also have to strengthen yourself so you can be strong for the other person. I know that is not easy to do and takes a lot of time. The other person is not aware of this and you can be taken for granted. Also being on the same wavelength, spiritually, can bring you closer together, as each party can build each other up.

Agnostic vs. Atheist (Penn Jillette)

I would suggest watching this first to see what YOU think (NSFW-Language and "the Finger"):


My thoughts: first of all, that would be like asking if your spouse told you to kill your kids, would you do it? I would answer that my spouse is never going to ask me to kill my kids. I know that the history of Christianity shows people killing others and saying that God (or the Bible- same thing) told them to do it. I don’t believe it was God, myself, but a basic fault in humanity (our ego) that says “My way is the only way. If you disagree with me, I have to get rid of you”. Still goes on today, in varying degrees. I also don’t define God in the way Christians do. If, in the odd chance, he actually asked me to do it, I would refuse on the grounds that this being is not God . However, this is only my opinion, I won’t come after you , if you don’t come after me. :) I love Penn and Teller.

Brad Pitt/ Bill Maher

Brad Pitt appeared on Bill Maher recently. Maher is a reknowned atheist and a hilarious comedian. I Tivo his HBO show on a regular basis. As reported on The Huffington Post:
"You know, I grew up in a religious family, in a religious community and it just doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't work for me in the long run," Pitt said. "I never wanted to stop anyone else's religion and their beliefs until I started seeing it defining policy.... Like gay marriage. You have a group of people telling other people how to live their lives, and you can't do that."

In this country, everyone is entitled to an opinion and has the right to express it. We can believe in God, or not. We can believe in a Christian God, a Wiccan Goddess, one God, many Gods. A personal God, the Force, or the Universe. Some are not sure what they believe. All valid because we live in America. We can’t decide the right path for others. What works for me will not work for everyone.

Besides, how can I tell other people what their path is if I haven't figured out my own, yet. (I think I might Twitter that line).

Another Question

Please keep in mind that I am a searcher of knowledge and certainly not a teacher. I have been reading Tolle for the past few weeks. I have been wondering about the Ego.
Tolle does give credit to the good it has accomplished but 98% of the book is about the evil that comes from it and how to destroy it (as he has done). What kind of world would we have if there were no ego? All the bad results would be gone, but how about the good? As an example, what effect would it have on art? I don't know. Can we keep it on a leash as opposed to destroying it completely? Maybe Tolle or another wise man will come up with an answer in another book. I'm probably way off base. So I'll keep reading (and praying for wisdom).