Lozen

the trick is to play with time and not let it play with you

how do i add you as a friend on my last.fm?

Why didn't anyone tell me?!?! It was on the memo everyone was told not to show me.

I guess I'm confused (I know, I know, I'm just a simple Bhakti yogi) about how to apply this philosophy to what I see--which is just all this light... but there is light around individual people, and there is a web connection people, and yet it's not ALL light. Like, there's some individual control over it... All I know is that I said a prayer for someone and I watched while an orb appeared over his head just waiting for him to connect... but he didn't. I would call that a choice. So if our bodies fall away and there is only light, how does that change the fact that right now on this plane the light is separate, appears as individualized, and whether or not to let it flow through you apepars as a choice?

I have something like that off i-tunes, but what I've found is that most of the stations suck.

That's interesting. When I was in jail (well, just a holding cell) I had the same experience of finding a strength and resilience I didn't know I had... but what I found was that when I got out, I didn't feel relieved, I felt that I saw more examples of lack of freedom outside of the cell, I recognized it... It was like the veneer that was keeping me from understanding ways in which I could be controlled was gone and I noticed it everywhere. A little tiny bit of PTSD, I'm sure.

I think Atkins has been around too long to be a "craze," and I know my body does better without grains and sugar (except from fruit.) Whether I actually do what I should is another issue. I know too many people who get migraines from MSG to mess around with it.

I'm not a fan of aspartame or MSG, but I'm not convinced they're any worse than, say, regular sugar.

You know, I kind of see situations like this as presenting a physical appearance that is compatible with the internal. For example, when I dressed up for court. *I* knew I was innocent, but I also knew I wouldn't *look* innocent unless I dressed a certain way. And you do have some control over how you present yourself. Not in getting the apartment, but in creating fertile ground for opportunities to grow. Even when I was homeless I always had a place to stay... because I had faith. I dunno, hard to explain... I just think having the right mindset etc. will enable things to unfold in their own time without some kind of "competition" thing.

I did, but instead we found a two-bedroom flat in Summertown that was actually affordable. It even had a couch in the living room. 3-5 of us lived in it at any given time. And they actually let us out of our lease early, too. Scarcity is a mentality!

Where?

I don't think the idea of choice is abstract, convenient, necessary, good or beautiful. I think it makes everything harder. And I think what makes art great is when it rings true, not when it is a lie. I also don't think illusion would be an awesome creative game, or that love = no comprehensible reason. You lost me, Sean.

I like to think of the ideal solution as working with other people to create new resources, as opposed to competing over resources. I also think you get what you need and that there are plenty of apartments to go around.

At the Natalie Goldberg workshop, she was talking about writing her novel as practice. She said she didn't control the outcome, the characters did. She just watched it happen. She was no longer writing a book, writing was writing the book. Olympic athletes talk about this as well. They are no longer running, running is running. Martial artists too say the art is alive. Sculptors say they do not sculpt, they just remove the excess material. So what is it that is sculpting? Perhaps they are moved by a greater power... but it's still their CHOICE to sculpt. I question anything that implies there is no free will, especially because people often use that as an excuse to do awful things. And yes, you can control your dreams.

I have a choice in my dreams. I see the world as not at all predetermined, but with multiple options and a wide range of possible endings.

P.S. I don't think being underopinionated has to do with subject matter. We see it in the school system. I think women need safer environments than men do to express themselves. Traditionally, it was men who would keep the environment safe but so many just don't anymore. And I do think it's a problem. I've read a ton of studies I can quote on women doing more housework than men, even when both work full-time, and I'm okay with that *IF* the man is doing his job instead of just acting like another child... see topic of thread.

No I agree, I think it's ridiculous that women talk about not cooking, cleaning, being nurturing, etc. as if it's something to brag about. Then again I know a lot of men who brag about spending all day playing video games and getting wasted.

I guess I see the "don't ask me, I'm just a girl" thing as a distinct lack of confidence which is actually explained quite well in books like Reviving Ophelia (note that the book, written by a die-hard feminist, still makes the point that girls brought up in traditional religious families don't have the same issues with lack of confidence.) And although education can make women more assertive and confident, there are plenty of overly-PC and very aggressive women who are well-educated who have lost a part of themselves and think that being successful means acting less feminine. This isn't to say that I'm opposed to education because it can really open doors for both men and women; I just think that popular culture (often exemplified in the university) can really confuse universal truths and make things more complicated than they need to be... For me I see as distinctly feminine is not about pink and flowers, cooking or not cooking, speaking or not speaking but about being open and receptive.

So communication needs to be oblique to be feminine? That's news to me. Being reticent to speak one's mind could have just as much to do with a lack of confidence or one's personal style of verbal expression as it does about gender. If I were to categorize women as evolved or unevolved (which I'd rather not do), I'd rather base judgement on whether their words tear people apart or bring people together than on how many words they use or how oblique their communication is. The false dichotomy is between communication subtly or overtly. I don't think women need to choose between one or the other.

I believe this is a false dichotomy. One can share wisdom through example and also through words. Some of the best storytellers in many different traditions are women. And historically, women have given counsel to the men. Sometimes in groups, sometimes individually. The men usually made the final decisions but the women were not afraid to give their perspective. Thinking of movies... in 300, the Queen was asked for counsel and was not afraid to give it. And in many ceremonies it is the men who would ask for help from the women. The women were not afraid to give it. They did not say "Um, I'm not really sure." I think the whole "I dunno, I'm just a girl" thing is far from what being a woman is...and I don't think sharing ideas and thoughts is limited to men and unevolved women.

choose the light hugs

If I may... I think feminism started out for some really good reasons and ways of empowering women--getting the vote, equal pay for equal work, etc. but instead has gotten so extreme that women feel that they need to be more masculine to be valuable. Traditional women's work like baking, child care, etc. is considered almost sinful in some circles and many women (feminists) try to never cry, be agressive, have tons of noncomittal sex and not know how to cook. I think you can be a strong, capable woman without being a woman trying to be a man. But I agree with the part about men lacking male role models, virtues and self-respect instead. All cultures used to have rites of passage but now it seems limited to certain ages where it is legal to drive, buy tobacco and porn and drink. I guess that's why I'm so into Initiation Camp, because instead of the description-not-prescription writing of people like Roberty Bly they are actually teaching the skills that we have lost. I don't really know what men do during their Quests but I know that they are different when they're finished, and I know that most (not all) of the men I know outside of camp have a little boy inside them that needs to die (as a male friend of mine put it.) There is a natural agression that boys have which can be channeled when true men become protectors. Just like girls need to learn to stop being divisive, and true women bring people together, hold the whole family together. Just like trying to suppress femininity is wrong for a woman, so is giving into PC crap for a man. And I don't think being a spiritual seeker puts anyone "above" fulfilling their duty as a man or a woman. As far as the guy with the chair, I don't think being rude makes him more of a man. Now there was a guy at a community meeting here who, when asked if he needed help pulling up chairs, said "I don't want to make that decision for the group." That's PC to the point of absurdity, to want a group to come with consensus over chairs. Being able to make decisions and be a leader is manly. Fighting over a chair, or arguing over whether men or women are more oppressed, isn't. And I think what many women are looking for isn't someone who won't give them a chair, but someone who is a good, strong take-charge leader. And I think it's more of a physiological thing than anything; even women that don't have children have similar instincts. You can't say men and women are different and should be treated differently and then say that women and men should be treated the same in divorce and that women and men are equally violent. And I don't think the lack of propriety and respect for women and making dumb jokes about cooking makes you any more manly. Just a woman's perspective... Oh, and I'm not a feminist but my fingernails are not done and I refuse to wear high heels.

1. sean omlor is really hot 2. and he does really good web design and graphics work 3. oh and he writes these really kick-ass long posts quoting tons of people every once in a while