This last Wednesday the weather was gorgeous outside. I had a training meeting over lunch, so afterwards I decided to get outside and take a nice walk around the office building where I work. On the way back into the building I saw an older/middle age couple starting toward the door (not unusual, as one of the business in the office building is a home mortgage business) so I got ahead of them and opened the door. [Read more...]
Apr 19, 2009
Plow Pose (Halasana)
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Lately in my home practice I’ve been concentrating on Shoulderstand (Sarvangasana) and Plow Pose (Halasana). I’ve been starting off in Shoulderstand and lowering my feet to a chair for Plow, but today I lowered my feet all the way to the floor. Still need to work on coming out of the Plow with control, but this is a milestone for me.
Apr 18, 2009
Who get to decide what ‘faith’ means?
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Faith and religion are different things to different people. I’ve come to the conclusion that dictionary definitions are pretty useless to define faith, god, religion. The dictionary definition is only, at best, a snapshot of different ways people use a word at a particular point in time. And at worst, it shows the biases of the editing committee, or whoever writes those definitions. Therefore the dictionary is a useful guide, but not an authority.
And words like faith and religion, which are highly emotionally charged, have many different (possibly even contradictory) meanings to different people. [Read more...]
Apr 14, 2009
Nirvana?
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Is it what happens when you have a big blood clot pushing on your brain’s left hemisphere?
Anyway, this is an incredibly fascinating video.
Apr 14, 2009
Kudos to the Unorthodox
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For those who still identify with religious mythology, but don’t believe their myths should be interpreted literally. And who really respect those who do not identify with their myths. I hope the rest of the religous world some day catches up.
Apr 8, 2009
Numinous
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I’ve just gotten back from my first yoga class in a couple of weeks. There has been so much going on on my usual yoga days that I’ve hardly had the chance to go.
Wow, I’d missed it. I was starting to get stiff again, and I was also missing that stress relief.
Yoga is my spiritual practice. The time when I can let go and not worry about petty distinctions like whether or not an atheist can be described as ”spiritual” or whether the numinous can ever be described in theistic terms. All metaphorically, of course.
The Numinous. I love that word. It’s the sensation that I get when I contemplate that I’m a bunch of protein and fat and muscle and matter–but with thoughts, feelings, and consciousness. And a conscience, for that matter. It’s all so humbling and empowering at the same time it just blows my mind. An all-natural spiritual wonder.
Apr 4, 2009
Atheists and Religious Believers Talk Past Each Other
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I hear this from time to time. The believer says there is a God. The atheist says there is no God because there is no scientific evidence for God.
Here is my observation: For the most part the believers do not care about logical or scientific evidence. They are going to believe anyway, and if they are presented with evidence they can’t rationalize they will just admit they don’t understand all that scientific or philosophical stuff. [Read more...]
