The Lenten Season

Ash Wednesday is one of my very favorite of all the Christian traditions. This day allows for imagining life and mortality a little differently and it marks the beginning of a 40 day period of introspection and deliberate lifestyle choices. It only takes 10 days to make a habit, right?

I have been thinking for some time now whether there was anything I would like to challenge myself to giving up in celebration of this annual age old tradition. None of my ideas struck me as very worthwhile. Until, on the Eve of Ash Wednesday (more commonly known as Fat Tuesday I am sure,) my roommate and I worked out a plan.

Thus, today marks the beginning of our eating project. This week, we are going to make a point to read the ingredients of everything we eat from our cupboards and do some research to find out where the food was made and how much energy it took to make it.

The following week we will try to purchase food that is only local and/ or in whole (non-processed) form. And over the next few weeks we will hopefully continue to refine our process of eating more sustainably.

missing:

spiral bound journal/piece of my memory. 6 x 9 in. hard cover. contains dreams and fanciful stories of many distant lands.

the intersection between genius, insanity, creativity and spirituality

The connection between genius and insanity is recognized by many and it seems to be a very fine line. A person who has enough creative genius, whether artistic, mathematic, or whatever (good question actually- how many types of genius are there and how are they classified?) might border the line between what we would deem unprecedented intelligence and ingenuity and neurotic tendency. Perhaps it depends on the day. I'm picturing Russel Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind".





I was on the train to the airport this morning at O dark:30
trying to stay awake when I started thinking
about this. A minute or so before the train stops people typically line up at the door to make a quick exit. There was one particular man this morning who I was fascinated by. He was in his seventies at least, and looked a tad bit shaky on his feet as he stood up at the door. As I watched, he reached into the pocket of his knee length winter coat and pulled out a rosary. He kissed it and crossed himself before getting
off the train. I was so struck by the act, whether he was giving thanks for the safe journey or blessing the day to come I will never know.

As I continued to watch, I saw him moving his lips to recite a prayer. And then it occurred to me, this man full of faith and fervor looked a lot like a man talking to himself in neurotic ramblings.



If genius and insanity and creativity seem to be so interdependent, should it surprise me that something like religion might fit into this mix?
After all, is spirituality not a creative recognition of that which we can only imagine? So should not those with the highest levels of creativity, and possibly even insanity be those with the highest amount of spirituality?

The man on the train will continue to serve me with a powerful image of faith and commitment to tradition. I am not proposing that religion is insanity, only that there seems a somewhat causal relationship between creative genius, insanity and the capacity for spirituality.

Is it permissible to say that religion is an intersection
between genius and insanity?

milk: how far have we come with civil rights?

I have been working diligently on writing my thesis question. The trick is to find something that within one sentence outlines a real world puzzle to be solved. I have found that it is an interesting way of framing the the things you think about every day.

Take for example, Oscar nominated movies. I watched Milk last night. About a San Francisco city supervisor who was working against the debilitating Briggs Initiative of 1978. The initiative was unsuccessful in its goal: to structurally legitimize discrimination based on sexuality by banning homosexuals and their supporters from working in public schools. It brings tears to my eyes to think of how close California was to revoking the rights of its citizens over something so harmless as sexuality.

Thank God that every year the human race progresses, thinks more, learns more, develops more, and hurts less.

And here is our puzzle to drive our thoughtful dissertation- if the above statement is anywhere close to accurate, how is it that Proposition 8 passed not 30 years later in California, changing the constitution to structurally discriminate and withhold civil freedoms? How is this progress?

Why can't we just let people live in peace with their rights intact? Let God be the judge of all of us for our lifestyles. We will see which sin is truly greater in the end- homosexuality, or purposely creating economic and social hardship for our brothers and sisters based on our own meager judgments.