karen armstrong

karen armstrong is a religious scholar. i don't mind her, she makes sense almost always. she's quite heady. i suppose i want to feel more when i'm thinking about God. but there's nothing wront at all about being brainy about God and i find that she is...

she has started the incredibly interesting charter for compassion, the website is the 2nd listed. and the first link is a short interview with her on her thoughts on God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EC9D8bq0VA

http://twitter.com/TheCharter

there once was a monk

once upon a time there was a monk who took a vow of silence. he was to be silent almost always, except he is allowed to speak 2 words every 10 years. after his first 10 years of silence he met with the father who said to him 'what would you like to say?' the monk said

food terrible

he went back into silence. after another ten years he met with the father. the father said 'hello, what would you like to share?' the normally silent monk said

bed lumpy

and after another ten years he shared with the father these two words

i quit

the father said, i'm not surprised, i thought you might be unhappy, you've done nothing but complain for the past thirty years...

Goddess

there is a God and she hook my ass up! ~kathy griffin

faith in writing

some words of wisdom from elizabeth gilbert...

if you decide to write, then you must do it, as Balzac said, 'like a miner buried under a fallen roof.' become a knight, a force of diligence and faith.

as the great poet Jack Gilbert said once to a young writer, when asked for advice about her poems, 'do you have the courage to bring forth this work? the treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.'

a change of view means a change in the outer expression of life. ~eric butterworth

longing

longing

i am not sorry for my soul

that it must go unsatisfied,

for it can live a thousand times,

eternity is deep and wide.

i am not sorry for my soul,

but oh, my body that must go

back to a little drift of dust...

by Sara Teasdale

when shall we celebrate life?

i can't quite remember which faith tradition says 'we cry when you are born, and we dance and celebrate when you have passed.' the pain and work in this life begins when we are born, for there is much room for learning and growing. and then... peace and rest when the deal is done. some say until the next go round.

then, some say when the deal is done, you won't be comin' 'round no more. so live and celebrate... now.

who knows for sure?