Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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good morning all. 8 degrees farenheit here with clear blue sky and lots of fluffy white stuff on the ground. When I woke I looked out and saw Venus and a sliver of new moon rising near each other. too beautiful.
here's today's quote: The heart's message cannot
be delivered in words.
- Mu-Mon
Who is Mu-Mon?
Som time I'd like to chat with you all about the effect that water has on us - and mountains, too.
For me the greatest joy is besides diving into torquoise water - floating in torquoise water. something about the balances of water, air, fire & earth. When floating, I turn & look 360 degrees and all is blu/torquoise/lime green underneath, and blue above, and a very thin circle of earth all around the horizon. What is this? if any of you read Ken Wilbur, he has somewhere in one of his books something about this same floating joy.
I know nothing of mountains except I am drawn to them and would love to walk a high trail and come to a lake. Another kind of joy - to do with being up high - the air element?
Arlene
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Thank you, Souad, I look forward to reading your quotes. I've typed out the Edward Teller BinVa posted, and now have it on my desk. Hard to believe Teller had such a deep Spiritual center - goes to show NOT to judge folks...
We in Western Ma are expecting another snow storm - I love living here ( only the past 4 years) because living in Washington DC I missed the full four seasons - tho they got a doozy of snow last winter. So far our snow has been so dry it truly crackles as you walk on it, not much traffic in the rural area where I am, it's still all white, pristine. Lots of wind, the snow begins to resemble sand dunes with sparkling crystals in the sun. I grew up on the water, Woodmont CT, Alantic Sound, so still miss the ocean - sadly where I lived as a child is all developed with McMansions ;( Nice to be here in the rural woods
Hope everybody in the path of this new storm stays warm. 0 -
souad...you need to go see your Lake Louise...it is just breath taking
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well phooey on the advertisement right over Lake Louise
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this one is in the Canadian side of Glacier National park
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Souad, I've lived in the mountains and love to hike. Last fall I began the 500-mile Camino in Spain which goes through the Pyrenees. I do this every fall. Find a nice long trail and put one foot in front of the other. While I love living in cities, my fall "walk" means being outside and meeting new people. Last year, however, a patient died and I returned home early. I was about 2 weeks into the walk.
I also love water and have lived in the northwest US too (they also have mountains, as very good place to be--except the nearly constant winter Oregon fog.) I'm living in a similar climate now. Not much sun during the winter. Arrrrrgh
Yes, this thread is a comfortable place to hang out. Some threads get very unpleasant and I recently left two of those. Sad, most of the time it was fun, but it only takes one.
Lisa, love the pics. Thanks for sharing. Aaaah, looks warm.
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Lisa .. thanks for the pics! The lake looks so inviting.
Maya .. your yearly fall walks sound heavenly. And I would love to do that too.
Caerus .. I also have that quote typed and taped above my computer!
Bren
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Maya, we lived in Madrid, Spain for 4 years and our favorite places to
vacation were in Galicia and Asturias. I have never hiked the camino, but
I have taken the roads closeby, from France to San Sebastian all along the Northern
Coast of Spain to La Coruna and to Santiago de Compostela
...I don't have the little tilde or accent marks on my keyboard..
I loved the Bayona just about the Portugese border. There is a wonderful
parador on a little island there.
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While we were there the Caves in Altamira with the prehistoric cave
painting were still open to visitors..I also enjoyed Covadonga,and the
Shrine to Pelayo
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Love the pics!
I like looking up at mountains but I'm not so keen on going up the mountain. But water - I love looking at it, walking by it, riding on it, floating in it. It can be calming, invigorating and just plain fun.
And Lewing is right. The upper end of the Detroit River is beautiful. By the time it gets down to where I am however it has flowed past a lot of heavy industry and several sewer outfalls.
I'm enjoying reading but with such limited posting for newbies it's not easy to participate. I can't wait until the "trial" period is over.
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Sorry you're in try out mode River Rat.
Have some yummy cheese while you await the blessing by BC.org. We'll all still be here waiting. 
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Hello all - very late today, have been out & about, now holed up ready for the big storm moving our way. yesterday was over to the USA, which I can see across the river, to shop. You have such gorgeous cotton sheets.
The particularly thorny customs officer was irritated cause my friend who was driving hadn't removed her sunglasses, also gave him her birth certificate as well as her passport, which he really did not want, and after the grilling( how do we know each other?) as he handed us back our passports somebody dropped them onto the snow, and, amazingly he bent to pick them up but as he did my friend leans over to me & says "what an asshole" and I was just so thankful he was bent over & couldn't hear her loud whisper! we would have been there all afternoon.2 fat matrons on a crime spree. But the picture in Secondary, where you feel like a criminal, has changed from Bush to Obama and that makes me smile. oops better not get hot here!
today's was:
Freedom: there's none unless
you know the Self. But if you
know the truth, then you are free.
- The Upanishads
Hindu tradition....
Thanks Lisa for the lovely pics - and you and Maya2 have been lucky to be able to explore the - for me - exotic places like the Pyrenees. I have really BAD bunions for which I'm soon getting surgery so I can someday get to go on a few trips and hike in these kinds of places.
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From the Wisdom of the East Calendar:
When you lose,
don't lose the lesson.
- Dalai Lama
Have a gret day, all.
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Souad, that is wisdom. I hope you are dug out from the storm.
I can imagine that your friend made you nervous on that border crossing. Those officers have the authority to disassemble your car if they think you might be concealing something......and they don't reassemble it for you either. Most of the time we've crossed they've been very pleasant but a couple of times we've had to bite our tongues.
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Morning all!
Arlene .. I really like Tuesday's quote. There truly is freedom in knowing our Self. We don't have to pretend anymore to be something we're not.
Sorry you had such a run-in at the border. I can just picture two ladies running amok on a crime spree! Too funny.
Hope everyone has a great day,
Bren
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I always hate border crossings in cars..one time I took my 3 boys on a cross country trip and
was entering Canada at the Detriot MI crossing and they must have searched my car for
weapons..this was before 9/11 I mean really. They asked me three times if I had firearms
in the car...it took an hour..I felt sorry for the cars behind me...little did they know..
We live right near two border crossings in Mexico, now that can be a nightmare.
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You have to wonder what gets into their heads - I mean, Lisa, - you do look like an ordinary person....did you have weird hair/tatoos/a messy car - skinhead children? You never know what's going to happen on a crossing. If i cross with my partner, and we have, many times, because he got medical procedures at a US hospital, we are hauled into Secondary every single time, because he had voluntarily given up his Green Card.....but then, when we wallk back to our car and get our keys back, the officers are great - big smiles and wishing us a nice trip.
What happens at the mexico crossings?????
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souad..mexican lines are loooonnnngggg...a couple of hours...with little kids trying to sell stuff car to car on our way back..dogs for drugs, lots of secondary checks..
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I have a border guy who Flirts with me!!! He is soooooo nice. For some reason, I seem to get the same guy a lot.0
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Good for you Molly...there were a couple of one person checkpoints on the Canadian/Us
border who only wished us a good day and waved us through..
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From the Wisdom of the East calendar:
Man is not born free.
He is born to free himself.
- Nanak
Nanak? I find this one perplexing.
Lisa - I finally got it, have puuzzled over this - southern California Lisa?
Molly - Flirting ? - a Canadian? maybe he knows he lives near you and is on his own??? or is it the US guy who flirts. LOL
I have seen one of ours - the norotrious Bruno - he wears long twirly mustaches as he is a reenactor (war of 1812) and actually looks quite good until you know his personality. Twice I've got him when bringing back vitamins from the US - they are so much cheaper over there - and he starts looking through all his books and questioning me about what's in the stuff and trying to figure out if I'm trying to import a banned substance and getting me to admit that in fact I do not know what I am ingesting ....but then, next group is a bunch of young females all giggling and he's the centre of attention in his uniform and twirly mustache ....oh ....gaggggg me
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I've been watching this thread for awhile and have always admired the thoughtful discussions here! I noticed River Rat's thread a few posts back... she summed up quite easily where I am at in my spiritual self... "I haven't quite decided I'm an atheist. I consider myself agnostic. I like to think there's something bigger than myself but I have no idea what that thing is. The closet I've come is that the spark of humanity that infuses most of us is what is sacred to me, that and nature."
I just thought that was so beautiful and succinct!
I would like to share a funny story that I know you ladies would appreciate.
My dear sweet mother has taken my whole BC thing pretty hard (I was often consoling HER at dr's appts... and would usually end up making her giggle as I (sometimes inappropriately!) tend to find humor in every situation! Anyway... I hadn't had my surgery yet (so didn't know the stage,etc) and my mother had gotten into the habit of asking all her friends, co-workers, people at the senior center, grocery store clerks, etc .. if they would mind "saying a little prayer for my daughter who has breast cancer". Well... one lady replied to my mother, "I'm sorry, I can't. I'm an athiest... but I will definitely send some positive thoughts her way!" (My mom and I both actually had a good chuckle about that.)
So after my surgery.. when my lymph nodes were clear, clear margins, everything went well. My mom said, "Look... all the prayers worked!!" ..... and I just couldn't help myself... of course, I replied...
"Au contraire, mother! It wasn't the praying that helped..... it was those positive thoughts from your athiest friend!!"
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Hello SusansGarden, I love your story. I come from a family spanning from atheist to Buddhist to traditionally religious. I haven't had a problem with the atheist, Buddhist or moderately religious members. The only problem has been with my one sister who insists on repeating that "God won't give you more than you can handle." I used to just tell her that I didn't believe that way. Finally the last time she told me that I told her, "I don't believe God gave me cancer. I believe that if God exists She is love and goodness, not cancer so please don't blame Her for my cancers." I think I finally shut her up. She sputtered but I haven't heard that again since.
I can commiserate with you on consoling your mother and also on the "sometimes inappropriately" part. I have a rather dark sense of humor which can be jarring but after the open mouthed gape my mom does get the giggles.
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We sound like we have a lot in common, RR! I have been surrounded by people from many different religions as well.. a lot of it in my work, oddly enough. Worked at one company that had many Mormons and quite a few workers from a "Bible School" that was very conservative and literal about the bible (women couldn't cut their hair, wear pants?) ..and I always enjoyed picking their brains and having healthy debates with a few of them. One of MY favorite things to do was refer to God as a "she/woman" to them. So your response to your sister cracked me up!
Since my diagnosis... I too have heard a bit of the "God won't give you more than you can handle", etc. I also had my sister say (when she found out I didn't "need" chemo ) that "she had no doubts I wouldn't because I had so many people praying for me". And again, I couldn't help but say to her.. "What about Elizabeth Edwards? Are you telling me that she didn't have enough people praying for her?"
I mean.. I appreciate people wanting to help... if praying for me helps them.. that's cool. But I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the notion that there's a God who chose to help me and NOT her? You know what I mean?
I just think I got a disease... I'm doing all I can to combat it...and like every other bump in the road I've had... whether it's a pothole or a huge boulder..I'm gonna move forward and see what comes next.
I'm glad you can giggle with your mom too! When I get together with my sisters..we always end up giggling... and it's almost always about something inappropriate!
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from The wisdom of the East calendar:
Attain complete emptiness,
Maintain steadfast quietude.
All things flourish
But each one returns to its root.
This return to its root means tranquillity.
- Tao Te Ching
it's fun to see how much taoist thought has begun to pervade our culture. the little symbol on the bco page, for instance, for Dr. Wiess' blog - a pink and green yin/yang symbol - all things flourish then return to their root. grenn and pink go round in a wheel, dissolving into each other.
And we are at the point of winter where yin may be turning to yang - the point of stillness i believe having been the winter solstice.
have a lovely day, all...
have a lovely day, all-
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Just a rant about cancer. Why do so many people want to blame our cancer on something like god, our thoughts, our lack of positivity (word?).
I am wholly and fully blaming industry. All those unknown ingredients in our food. Our poluted environment. Water bottles, childrens toys and all the other things made with haremful ingredients. The gasoline we inhale when walking down the street or under the path of an airplane. Those green lawns that got that way by use of chemicals. All the bad chemicalscoming out of high fat frying - which is practically everything when it is fast food. Tar ponds left over from industry.
I blame big corporations who put the almighty $ ahead of our health and the health of our world.
End of rant.
There was some anger in that statement. So I'll take a deep breath, empty my mind and return to my root. I really do feel as if I flourish when I meditate. Very lovely. Thanks Souad
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Here is a video in praise of evolution by Ben Hillman I hope you enjoy!
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I'm with you Molly, I was contaminated with lawn chemicals when my neighbour back in the States just had to have that "perfect" lawn. Seven years later, yup, breast cancer. I looked up chemical contaminations on the internet and found that the cancer usually shows up 7 to 10 years later. Got me!
We rarely spoke after that, and I was glad to move. I had been careful all my life about my health because I'd seen several family members go slow and awful, but I couldn't control my neighbour's actions. Lawn chemicals are legal. Make that poisons are legal!
Even Robert Kennedy asked: "If there's a god, why are there poor people?" (This may be paraphrased) Maybe he had doubts too. And I ask, if there's a god, why do people die of horrible diseases? Genocide? Murder? Yes, we all will eventually die, but if there was a loving god, would it not be merciful?
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Lisa: Sorry I missed your earlier post. My husband and I were living in Santiago when I received my questionable mammogram and returned to France for treatment. My fav part of Spain (that I've seen) is the Santiago area (if memory serves that is Galicia). Except while walking the Camino--because of the rain.
I've been to Finisterre or lands end. It's beautiful and easy to see why people centuries ago thought it the end of the world. Nothing before you but ocean. Do you suppose they ever thought one day people would fly over it? Well, maybe Da Vinci.
Sadly, never got to Madrid--except the airport. Fantastic! Beautiful! But not enough signage. Estoy perdido.
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From the Wsdom of the East calendar:
True friendship
is stronger than stone.
- Mongolian proverb
I've changed my name to flannelette. souad belongs to a different life.
Have a good day, all.
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