MoxieLife

Goodbye Karma

While walking around the track the other day the ladies and I were talking about assisted suicide and the right to die movement. Two of us were pretty clear about what we thought, but one wasn't sure. This is big stuff and having an answer is not necessary, in fact, given the time who knows what any of us will choose in our own lives.

What was interesting though was the idea of Karma. A mutual friend of ours believes in Karma and that suffering is just part of our Karmic debt that we owe for things that went wrong in a past life and need to be worked out in this life to get to a better place in the next life.

I freaked out. Seriously, if I have to be held responsible for every life lesson - good and bad - that comes my way to get to something better shoot me now. I don't want to do this life or any other life again. And I don't want to see my suffering as something that will bring me any greater rewards in the next life.

Life happens. Good and bad. We handle it all the best we can. We make mistakes. We do the right thing. We are heroes and we are schmucks. All of it is part of our life experience and learning from each moment to take into the next moment is huge - how many of us are often on autopilot? To think that I have to relive horrible moments lifetime after lifetime to get to something better makes every moment seem horrible - like torture or worse, hell on earth.

To believe that there is something better seems so simple - and yet it is that belief that causes suffering. If you are not content with what you have right here at this very moment and you are waiting for something better and you are not fully experiencing this moment. And that is suffering.

I will take all life has to offer head on - good and bad - but it isn't to get anything better later. It is to just experience it at that moment. And that is good enough.

Photo Credit: TapperBoy

Minding My Own Business

Is your life perfect? Your home shining in every corner? Does your job, husband, and sex life fulfill you in every way? Do your children, immediate family, friends and pets exceed your expectations with everything they do?

I didn't think so.

We all have flaws. Some large, some small. We are also different. The things that I like or find acceptable might make you crazy. I might love my bohemian, funky home that is mismatched and filled with memories. Whereas you like a home that has museum quality pieces, stark corners, and everything in its place. Both are perfectly fine.

The question is why do we have to comment, critique, or judge everything? Why do we feel compelled to share our opinion about absolutely everything?

I realize we are living in a tabloid society where judgment brings ratings, but really who are we to say what is right for them? Are we so unfulfilled that we have to live in other people's lives?

I believe there are two bible verses about this; one about throwing stones and another about plucking the log out of your own eye. Obviously, minding your own business has been an idea for a long time, and yet we don't seem to be heeding that advice.

What would happen if for one week we didn't pass judgment? We didn't comment on someones outfit? We didn't tell someone else how to live their life? Wouldn't that be freeing? Think of all the time we would have to look at our own lives? We might actually be able to clean out that clutter in the corner we have been meaning to get to or work on our own personal issues.

I know, looking at our own lives isn't nearly as much fun as sharing our opinion about other peoples lives, but I can say for myself that the idea of minding my own business seems like freedom. No more worrying about anyone else and how they are dressed, what they have, what they are doing, or how they are doing it. I can focus on what actually matters to me, what I can actually control to some extent - my life. Who's with me? Let's start the Minding My Own Business movement - wow, we might actually be able to get some stuff done!

Photo Credit: ElMarto

Hey Boston there are Unitarians down here too

It looks like the UUA board is looking at some pretty significant changes to their makeup. For a denomination that wonders, often, why it doesn't reflect the faces of the US I find it amazing that it hasn't met outside of Boston more than three times. I don't know if they know this, but we aren't all from the east coast.

Class, youth, race - these are all issues that the UUA struggles with. They have good hearts, but they can't seem to figure out why they don't hit a high note with many individuals. It could be that they have no idea what we are like. Personally, when I was in California I cared less and less about what the UUA wanted or did. They didn't reflect the needs of the congregations or districts that I was part of. Now that I am in the South they are even further removed. Often, and I don't advocate this, members of our fellowship will ask why we send them money when they do nothing for us except give us an umbrella name to sit under.

Then there are the districts - If nothing happens except the change of the districts within the UUA I would be thrilled. We are in the district with Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Texas is a whole other world from Arkansas - and most of our district is made up of folks from there. Talk about not feeling part of the clan. I am 10 minutes from the Missouri border, but it is hours to get to Texas.

Maybe these changes would mean that the UUA figures out who we all are - us outside of Boston.

Hello Oligarchy

Last night, while watching NewsHour, I felt so frustrated I could scream. They reported on the recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporations to give as much as they see fit to elections/campaigns. They can now openly buy votes. They can push through legislation that will reflect their bottom line. They can rule with their deep pocket books. Last time I checked that was an oligarchy.

Oligarchy. –noun, plural -chies.

1. a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.
2. a state or organization so ruled.
3. the persons or class so ruling.

To say that I am disappointed is to not understand the passion I feel for our government system. I am devoted to a by the people, for the people rule. We are fortunate in this country to have had founding fathers who understood the value of people being able to speak up and vote for what they felt was right.

So, let me be very clear. Corporations - no matter what the law books say - are NOT people. They are focused on money and greed is, often their primary objective. They do not care about people, the environment, social causes - unless it positively effects their bottom line.

People, on the other hand, will sacrifice for causes they believe in. They will give even when they have very little chance of seeing a return. They will help when they themselves need help - because they have a conscious.

Not to be full of doom here, but we are heading into dark times when corporations are controlling the shots. My only hope is that candidates will actively state that they are NOT taking corporate dollars to fund their campaigns and that people will get behind that action. It is a small hope. - Don't let me down people.

Be part of the solution

Last night we watched a program on PBS about Lenin and his program of eliminating the classes to promote utopia. He killed over 20,000,000 people in the Soviet states. Horrible deaths, that until last night I had no idea happened. They showed the relationship he had with Hitler, how he taught them how to build concentration camps and employ gas to kill. Horrific.

After the election last night of a GOP senator in Massachusetts that has the power to derail health care reform in the US, the earthquake in Haiti, and the continued unrest in Afghanistan - it all seems a bit overwhelming.

We as humans hold the capacity for great pain as well as bold hearts - we are inflicters and we are healers. It is truly our choice. There are times when I would like all of those who are "wrong" to just disappear, but that would make me no better than Lenin. Instead, the lessons of Dr. King are relevant today as they were when he was struggling for racial and class equality.

Every action we make speaks volumes. Granted, we may not have the pulpit as King had, but if we do not speak boldly, act courageously, and move us forward to a better place we are complacent in acts that are unspeakable.

My husband often feels it is hopeless. That you can't change people. I agree, you can't. But 10% of the population doing the right thing can move us toward a better place - doing nothing leaves a void to be filled with what kind of violence?

What are you doing to make a difference?

Happy Big Bang

For those who attend the UU church in Eureka Springs you have already heard this, but for those who are venturing for posts far and wide here is my meditation that I offered on December 20th.

The holiday season is in full force and for those of us who subscribe to the the big A (atheist) path we may find it difficult to get into the swing of it. Personally, I walk the path of fusion - delighting in the sounds, lights, and holiday baking that is offered. To join those spectacular offerings I have looked for a celebration that I can get behind during this delightful season.

Granted, I could celebrate the birth of the son or the return of the sun, but those don't quite feel right. So, in my search I have touched on the greatest birth of them all - the big bang! There is nothing more spectacular than the formation of our own universe.

Bringing this happy moment to our festivities is as easy as tuning into a little fuzz. Radio waves capture 2% of the radiation made by the actual event - just as we are viewing stars over a million years old - we can now listen to the moment we started to coalesce. Join me as we celebrate the birth of our universe during this magical season.

At this point I turned the radio to a little bit of fuzz. Happy Big bang!

The New Little Rock 9 - Health Care in Arkansas

I live in a state where the federal government had to force the people to integrate. The brave souls of the Little Rock 9 had to walk through a crowd of people who were jeering, yelling and displaying rage and hate. Their act is considered one of the most important features of the civil rights movement and it happened in a place where the majority of the people didn't want it to happen. They were forced to be fair.

Knowing that I look at the landscape of people shouting about health care and I wonder if this is a similar case. A case where the people will need to be forced to do the right thing. My senators are both reluctant to vote for health care, even though a large percentage of our states population are already on some form of federal health care system (AR Kids, Medicare). They are afraid that those that oppose the "right" to health care won't vote for them and that their jobs will be lost over this decision. I say that they need to stand up and do the right thing and that sometimes the people need to be forced - an unfortunate thing, but one that has been proven in our states history.

We all have the opportunity to be on the right side of this debate and go down in history as a people who cares for the whole - or we can stand on the sidelines and shout hatred. The choice is ours to make - or it will be made for us.

Getting Comfortable

I have been thinking lately of the idea around comfort. Why people need/want comfort. Where they get comfort. What are comforting thoughts. Of course, my thinking swirls around people who need god as part of their comfort and why I don't need that. And how I feel about them needing that.

It is true that I don't need the comfort of knowing there is a plan, god, or divine reason for anything that happens. I am comfortable knowing that it is either a process or just random chaos. Either way is fine with me. I am not sure WHY that is fine with me, but it is. I lose no sleep knowing that bad things happen, people die, or the world doesn't work the way I want it to. Granted I fret over those things day to day as they happen, but it is ok that there isn't some divine plan making them happen that way.

It seems though that other people need to think there is a divine plan. They need to know there is a reason for both good and bad. They need god.

A part of me, and I have discussed this before, thinks that this is a childish need (don't berate me again about it.). My thought is that they are either trying to replicate the loving father/mother that they had or grasping for one that they didn't have on a large scale. That would mean, to me, that they haven't processed those needs that developed very young and are attached to them. Which, on some level, is fine because we all are where we are.

I also think that some people just have a need to have answers... and god and the comfort of having a god who is in control at some level provides those answers.  I wonder if on some level there isn't so much a god gene, but rather a need for comfort gene. Or a need for answers gene.

So, where do I find comfort? In my friends, in knowing I have tried my best, in sleep, in rice pudding. Simple things bring me great comfort. I don't look outside much (except for that pudding)... I try to tap the well within that can bring me both comfort and suffering. It seems to replenish at a rapid rate and is always accessible.

What about you? Where do you find comfort? Do you need comfort?

A little Atheist News - good and bad

The Bad:

Just a quick post - do you all know about what is happening in New Mexico? A fellow UU is having to DEFEND himself as a Unitarian and, quite frankly, is losing. Sad news for reason.

The Good:

You can't discriminate against an Atheist. Which is a good thing.

JUST ADDED:

A NEW NOT SO GOOD:

At the Intermediate school where my daughter is assisting in the classroom (she is a sophomore education major) she saw this in the office. Now the question is do I, or don't I, write a note to the principal saying that this is inappropriate. Thoughts?

What are you for?

Often ideas come to me from many sources all at once - serendipity, I guess. When it happens though it makes me want to slow down and pay attention to the concept. This one was: what are you for?

A few nights ago my husband was reading Sam Harris where he talks about not being against something rather just state what you are for. For instance, don't say you are Atheist say you subscribe to Reason.

Then today I was walking through the living room and the television was on with Wayne Dyer on it. He was talking to Bonnie Hunt about what you are FOR is where your energy will go. His example was we have wars on drugs and we have a huge drug problem, we are having a war on terrorism and terror is still happening. He quoted Mother Theresa from the 60's when asked if she would attend an anti-war rally and she declined saying to invite her to a pro-peace one instead.

I see from ALL the comments on my blog that the language of "anti" or against something doesn't move people closer. In fact, I think it makes us all dig our heals in a little further. Although it is no secret my opinions can be pretty radical I would like to think that I am a compassionate caring woman who wants to build bridges not create wars.

What I am hearing from the above message is to share what I DO care/love/cherish/believe not what I don't. When I think about that I can say I am:

• Pro-People
• Pro-Peace
• Pro-Passion

So far three P's... what about you? What are you FOR?