I have had the incredible opportunity to spend some time with Rabbi Rami Shapiro.  You may know him as a regular contributor to the magazine Spirituality and Health or through his many books.

I greatly enjoy his blog, and just couldn't resist sharing today's with all of you.  You can learn more about him at www.rabbirami.com

Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year's Day Pondering

by Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Here is something worth pondering this New Year’s Day: When asked if it is true that the earth orbits the sun, and that a complete orbit takes about 365 days, over fifty-one percent of Americans said… wait for it… “No.”

I don’t know about you, but I love living in a country populated largely by idiots. Why? It makes me appear smarter, and I like being smarter, especially if all I have to is graduate the fifth grade.

Yet I understand why most people don’t believe in the Orbiting Earth Theory (OET). First, it is a theory, and as everyone knows theories are only guesses. Second, if the earth orbits the sun then the Bible is wrong when it says Joshua stopped the sun from orbiting the earth so he could finish slaughtering the Amorites (Joshua 10:13), and if the Bible is wrong about this maybe it is wrong about homosexuality, and that would be the ruin of everything. And third, if the Orbiting Earth Theory is true life is meaningless.

Why do I say that the Orbiting Earth Theory leads to meaninglessness? It’s simple: if the earth just goes around and around the sun it never gets anywhere. There is no point to it. And if that is true of the earth, how much more true it must be of those of us who live on the earth. Rapture me up, Scotty! This planet is a dead end.

Think about it: Today is January 1st. Last January 1st the earth was just about in the same place it is today relative to the sun. So what was the point of the orbit? Why travel millions and millions of miles just to end up in the same place? It’s like people who race around a track; what is the point? They never get anywhere. The winner is the person who gets nowhere fastest. What kind of competition is that? Why not just sit down at the Start/Finish line and wait for all the others to come back to you?

I would rather live on a planet that was going somewhere. Then again I would rather live a life that was going somewhere also. Sure things are different today than they were last January 1st, but not in any significant way. I mean I change my underwear every day, but my butt is always the same. Since last January I have changed underwear 365 times (and plan to do so 366 times this year since it is a leap year) but I am fairly certain that my ass hasn’t and isn’t going to get any smaller, tighter, or more attractive. So what is the point?

There isn’t any. With apologies to Rich Warren, life has no purpose. It isn’t going anywhere. There isn’t anywhere to go. So you might as well make the most of it. While you’re speeding through space just to end up back here again in 366 days, why not laugh a little more, read a little more, dance a little more, make someone else smile, lend a hand to someone in need, and stop measuring yourself against some artificial idea of purpose. And you could learn a little science this year, that wouldn’t hurt either. Oh, and don’t forget to change you underwear.

Read more of Rabbi Rami's blog at www.rabbirami.blogspot.com

What an incredible night!  I am totally a sucker for this stuff, but i am so excited by the Iowa Caucus tonight.

Here in 2008 admist a country of horrible divide, rampant fear, and it seems nothing but backward momentum on so many social and global issues...a black man won the IOWA CAUCUS!

Iowa?!  I mean what is Iowa like 98% white.  When was the last time your typical Iowan even saw a black man.  And there they went and strongly voted for Barack Obama. 

Oh it just warms my heart and gives me such hope for the future. 

Maybe this country is not as divided as we would believe.  Maybe we have made some strides in terms of racial issues in this country.  And just maybe the ridiculous, backwards horror of the last 7 years will be crisis enough to propel us into a new era.

It is fabulous to see so many in our country optimistic and active in the political process.  Especially young people.  I have questioned so many times before what my generation is doing.  Why aren't we protesting the war, etc.  While at the same time i have been so inspired by so many being "activist" in new ways.  Inspiring stories such as the creators of Kiva.org and so many more.

All and all, tonight has allowed me to look at the glass as half full, and when it comes it the political glass, i have only seen the empty for so long.  And for that dear Iowans I THANK YOU!

"Inside you find that silence is the final and ultimate teacher and the final and ultimate teaching. Silence is the only teaching and the only teacher that is there all the time, every minute you are awake, every minute that you are alive, every minute that you breathe ~ it is right there."

I have just returned from a silent yoga retreat. I have decided that it makes most sense to describe the experience with the two words 'magnificently ordinary.'

What a gift it is to be silent.  Each day was filled with experiences that were simultaneously the most magnificent and the most plainly ordinary, what beauty. It just felt so luxurious to be able to be silent and to just be. I reached a peace in myself that i didn't know was there to be found.  And as this quote from Adyashanti says, that silence is always there, always there.

A friend of mine on the retreat lost her dad while we were there in silence. Her presence, her strength, her grief was the most beautiful thing i may have ever witnessed.  Her dad had been in hospice care and hadn't eaten in a week, so we were all "expecting" the news. She received a text message Wednesday morning from her brother telling her that their father had died.  She texted back, does mom want me to call her, and her brother texted mom wants you to be silent.

As i sit her writing now, and recalling the experience yet again, i am moved to tears. What beautiful support and integrity in that family. My friend has been the main care-taker for her aging parents for years now. But her family encouraging her to be silent is so powerful to me.  What incredible respect they have for each other.

It is truly remarkable the power we all have within us to face life head on, and the beautiful ways we can support each other, while giving the all important space to allow each to take the empowering, inward journey.

I am so grateful that my friend was given the space to be alone with her grief without which the beautiful power and strength she exuded would have never been known.

I don't leap on my feminist horse all too often, but i must say giddy-up pony here i go!

I have been quite disappointed by the recent behavior of former President Clinton.  Now it should be noted I am a good democrat and have happily raised him to saintly status in recent years.  I enjoyed his book "Giving" and his wonderful philanthropic spirit.  I was thrilled in the speech i heard him drop Ken Wilber's name.  And he often speaks in an incredibly inspirational manner of recognizing the differences in people while honoring the commonalities among all people as the way we should view humanity to move forward, and he does so in a post-pluralistic way that has brought me to tears before.

So to feel the need to offer a harsh criticism of this man, is not easy for me to do.

That being said.  Can someone shut him up, he is embarrassing himself, and certainly not acting in a respectful way for a former president to behave.  The way he is campaigning on his wife's behalf and totally inappropriately smearing Barack Obama is completely immature.

Now does anyone remember former President George Bush Sr. rushing to his son's aid in such a way.  Hell no!  And as Americans we wouldn't have stood for that!  It would have been viewed as George W. as a wimp and very unbecoming of his father, a former president to behave in such a manner.

So why is it that a former president is able to act this way with very little criticism?  In my mind it is solely because he is "protecting" his wife.  And so we all just allow it and understand it. Even applaud it on the 10 year anniversary of this same president stepping out on his wife.

Now i totally accept the difference in genders and can even understand that i like a little male protection now and again, but for shit's sake she running for President of the United States.  She is a strong, viable candidate and does not need, or in my mind benefit from Bill jumping to her defense, in a very unbecoming manner at every turn.

As a leader, i want her to be in control and right now controlling her husband should be priority number 1. 


 

I have just returned from my first ever cross country skiing expedition.  Ok, so calling it an expedition may be over-stating it a bit, but i sure had a blast.

It was the most incredibly perfect conditions.  We have gotten a TON of snow in the last week.  And it was cold (which i am not sure if that made the conditions better, but I was sure shocked not to feel cold) it was about 10 degrees, little wind, perfect trails, and here is the miracle, the sun was shinning!  If you have ever spent a winter in Michigan you know what a big deal that is.

I didn't hear the stats for December, but for November we only had 14 hours of sunlight the whole month! So needless to say, sunshine truly is miraculous!

My friend was teaching me and her instruction for c.c. skiing could very well be an instruction for life.  So i was asking her do i do opposite arm to leg, or what is the best technique, and she said, "Just don't think about it."

I was shocked at how incredibly well that advice worked.  I stopped looking down at my skis, and just did it.  And let me be clear i was not instantly transformed into some world champion skier, but i just let it happen and i got where i was going with a feeling of effortless calm.

It is amazing how much instinct and inner knowledge we possess.

I was able to take in the magnificent beauty around me, notice the little details, and truly just go with the flow.  It was no longer a fight or a challenge.

Of course in no time at all i would be looking down again, or catch my self thinking about it too hard, or trying to figure out a new technique, but then i would just acknowledge that and again let it go.

It was truly an incredible experience.  Meditation in motion, and one hell of a work out!

And our hour and 45 min "intermediate" trail was concluded with watching an incredibly alive and energetic fox frolicking before us.  Does it get any better than that?

Happy Winter to all!

That is all this is.  Just a good old fashion bitch session.