Earthship disaster

Here's where I peer clearly into the not-so-distant past at the earthship disaster. E and I walked onto the scene like Bambi v. Godzilla. We were Bambi. However, there is no bad guy here, although I used to think so. No Godzilla, just a pathetically dysfunctional situation involving a retro-romantic vision of sustainable living, and a couple of libertarian yahoos. That would be us.

To begin with, E and I committed sin numero uno: we made assumptions. I know! Looking back, having recently removed my retro-romantic lenses, it's easy to see where and when things began to go awry. But at that time, I was so psyched to leap into a new living situation that seemed to provide a lot of solutions to the problems of modern life as I saw it. So ready, that when E and I took our first step inside the first earthship we visited, we basically decided right there on the spot that we would like to build one and live in it.

And we figured, why not build and live right there in that very community? The people were cool, at least the ones we'd met so far, and since it was legal to build alternative housing there (at least to build an earthship), it would save us the hassle of looking for an appropriate piece of land where the building codes allowed for alternative building. We'd done a bit of research and knew that could be a major obstacle.

science + religion = not all bad

In The Marriage of Sense and Soul, KW talks about science and religion co-existing. This has something do with my newly-developed allergy to New Age thinking, which is really just that -- thinking. Void of a serious practice, you simply believe whatever you want, and if you focus on it hard enough, voila! You make it come true. New Age is the smorgasbord of religion. In fact, it's a smorgasbord of science too. Just look at What the Bleep, and its very partial very suspect scientific basis. A little of this, a little of that, whatever works. Fill your plate and stuff your face. It's all good.

Except it's not. Distinctions are important. Distinctions are necessary. It's confusing unless you know AQAL, or the Integral model. I'm trying to work this out because until very recently, I wasn't acknowledging the use of religion, or the beauty, or the power in it.

practicing pure perception

Lama Surya Das (whose mother often refers to as 'the Deli Lama') is discussing Dharma in a chapter called 'Seeing the Buddha in All: The Practice of Pure Perception.' This morning I got to practice seeing the Buddha in E's swollen tonsils, and in the kitty puke on the wood floor.

On my way to Greenlife for lemons and vitamin C I was doing alright, until a little white-haired old lady pulled out in front of me going 20 mph. I couldn't do it.

The question is how far can any of us extend ourselves toward including one and all in our unconditional loving hearts? Can we love and respect even those whose actions or personalities we don't happen to like?

The dialog in my head was going like this:

Me: Hel-OO! We're on the street now!
Her: You must learn to slow down, and I'm here to remind you.
Me: I don't give a rat's ass. I'm on a mission here. Step on it.
Her: Lala-lala-laa, I don't notice you in the rearview mirror tailing me.
Me: I've got two puking cats and a sick boyfriend and I'm not in the mood.

etc., etc., etc.

Sigh. Practice. Comes from the Greek word, praktikos "practical." The Dharma is practical.

What are you reading?

I hate reading online. However, I admit I do it more and more. I'm into speed reading blog posts the way you might scarf popcorn during a movie. And since discovering Mr K's Used Books, which is five minutes from home, I'm getting into real books again.

Books I've started over the past month or so include Awakening the Buddha Within, by Lama Surya Das; Grace and Grit, The Marriage of Sense and Soul, by Ken Wilber, and Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

Moby Dick was recommended during college, but since no teacher ever actually assigned it I never bothered. Melville's character sketches are odd and funny, and yeah, I know, it's a boy's book. We've just left Boston Harbor and there have already been fart jokes.