tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71742215849212054072024-03-06T07:21:04.772+09:00The Pious OneGeorgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-1996015982737690942010-09-04T14:18:00.001+09:002010-09-06T15:58:10.744+09:00Day 4<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Yesterday was my mother's 57th birthday. My wife and I got her an Amazon gift card. It wasn't for that much or anything, but it's hard when there's 5,000 miles between you. When you do one of these gift cards online, your only option is to send it through email. Again, it's the best way since we live so far away. After selecting the amount you'd like to make the gift for, they ask you to add your own birthday greeting. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">I started writing and then paused. What am I going to say that hasn't been said before? Am I supposed the write, "thanks for being a great mother and hope you have a happy birthday" or would something more personal and heartfelt be appropriate? The struggle for me is that I have always written gushy birthday cards and notes. I can make my mother, sister and wife cry in a matter of seconds with some words from the heart. If I continue going for the kill like that, doesn't it kind of lose it's effect?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">I'm having the same struggles with memorized prayers, but I digress. (That'll come later.)</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">I should say that my mother does in fact deserve one hell of a sweet note. Mothers and sons often have a close and special relationship and we are no different. It doesn't matter what country your from or what religion to adhere to. All sons cherish and honor their mothers. Islam, in particular, has very strong instructions for me and their mother. The Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) laid on some pretty solid words in terms of honoring our moms. I thought about quoting the one about 'Paradise being at the feet of mothers', but that's gross. My mom used to have corns down there. I went with this one, instead:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b><i>"And revere the womb that bore you, for God is ever watchful over you."</i></b></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b><i>(4:1)</i></b></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><b><i><br />
</i></b></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So rather than adding in some trite comment like "Happy Birthday" or "You're 57 years young", I'm going simply say this: I'm blessed to have wonderfully funny, close and modern family which, as it so happens, could not have existed without the grunt work my mother put into it. It is her masterpiece and I'm can't wait to see the final painting.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div></span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-29202873451115409412010-09-03T18:38:00.003+09:002010-09-05T09:07:57.171+09:00Day 3<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">E</span>piphanic moments are hard to come by for many of us. Sadly for me, I often allow my elation from such events to be swallowed as my mind concedes all too eagerly to the trivial distractions of my amplified secular life. By doing so, the pure joy of self-discovery becomes another hapless tick on my increasingly mundane existence. The balance of my psyche is askew and the longer I hesitate to level myself out, the harder it will be to find my much needed equipoise. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or, in other words, I need to give myself the space to enjoy the natural high of amazement.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As dejected as that sounds, I wouldn't characterize myself as a person who focuses on displeasure. I don't. I actually have avoidance issues and prefer to lap up felicity as much as possible, yet, in the back of my mind, there's a negative presence lurking about, poking holes in the thrill and excitement of life. This dilemma is not lost on me though. In fact, it's teachable for all of us. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The point of life is personal for all of us and no amount of religion, education or love is ever going to spell it out for us. The conundrum is this: If we don't allow ourselves to treasure an epiphany, a moment of bliss or a shot of absolute jubilation (sounds like a drink), then what is the point in ever searching for it? Some might say it's about the hunt, not the game. Well, perhaps, but hunting season only last for two months. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The reason we're here is not only transcendental, it's also exponentially beyond me. What isn't beyond me is the fact that all humans seek happiness. We crave it, fight for it and pray for it. It's time to really enjoy it while we can.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So why so much about epiphany and happiness? Last night, while listening to some lectures I tumbled across this song. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-L-GOHa5-YQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-L-GOHa5-YQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It encapsultaes the beauty of an epiphany -the moment a person sees the light of something he thought was doomed to darkness. Religious epiphany doesn't have to equate to conversion. That's too rigid for its mysticism and wonder. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The song by Yusuf Islam, i.e., Mr. Cat Stevens, makes the statements that Moses, Jesus, Noah, Mohammed, Adam and Abraham are messengers of Allah. Looking deeper into the religion, that is true. All of them are messengers of Allah and to go one step further, the decendants of Imran, the father of Maryam (Jesus' mother) who is also the most holy of women in Islam, and Abraham are the chosen people. The common thread that runs through these religions, to me, is always overlooked. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maybe I'm a bit behind the curve, but as a person who was raised in a Christian household, hearing these familiar names and stories really takes Islam from the reaches of the Arabian desert to a place that's much less foreign and certainly more accessible. </span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-8805796566005386582010-09-02T21:08:00.000+09:002010-09-02T21:08:21.057+09:00Day 2<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do I actually know about Islam? </span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is something that has actually been haunting me for the past week and especially for the past 40 or so hours. I don't know a thing about the real and true religion of Islam. Being an American in a time of religious strife and global conflict certainly allows for bits and pieces of the religion to be thrust upon me, but outside of sound bites, academic comparatives and the occasional glance at Al Jazeera's <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/">opinion page</a>, I don't have the slightest grip on the details of the religion. This project aside, that is not alright with me. I don't like being clueless.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Intellectual hubris is not my thing. I am the first to admit that I am not the brightest of men, but I will stake a claim under the curiosity column. Yet, how is it possible, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as a curious man,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> for me not to know more about a religion that is embraced by nearly a <a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_followers_of_Islam_are_there_in_the_world">quarter</a> of the world? To me, that sounds irresponsible.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But maybe I'm asking the wrong question, so allow me to change it. Considering my claim to inquisitiveness, how is it possible for me to accept only fragments of an entire religion and claim to have had enough? Sure, I wouldn't verbalize such a statement, but my actions and subsequent ignorant comments and conversations certainly have and perhaps even continue to illustrate my intellectual tolerance. If I don't actively seek to gain a broader and more accurate picture of any subject, regardless of category, aren't I subtly admitting an mental fill?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As commented </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(and <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-already-knows-everything-he-needs-to-know-abou,17990/">linked to</a>) a friend yesterday, there seems to be a growing segment of people (Americans included) who have allowed themselves to be educated only enough to their liking before an opinion is formed and espoused. Worse than adopting an ill-informed position on something, some people take their half-truths on the road with them to inform the peasants of their wisdom. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Take this <a href="http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=002198;p=1">email</a> for instance which carried the title, "<i>Can Muslims be Good Americans</i>?" Since it's a hate email, it naturally comes with a presupposition that "Muslim and "good American" can not co-habitat a sentence.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is the gist of it:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon God of Arabia.<br />
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Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)<br />
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Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).<br />
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Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.<br />
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Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.<br />
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Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and Destruction of America, the great Satan.<br />
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Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).<br />
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Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.<br />
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Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.<br />
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Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names.<br />
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Therefore after much study and deliberation....perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish....it's still the truth.<br />
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You had better believe it.</span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you want to read a good take-down of the claims made in the email, there are <a href="http://throwingstones.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/can-muslims-be-good-americans/">plenty</a>, but the point is that the author of this rant learned only enough so they could launch a childish tirade at a faith that clearly scares them. Just to give you an example of how pervasive this list was, if you were to enter the title of the email into the Google search box, it auto-completes the sentence. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The whole thing brings me back to the origin of wisdom and knowledge. Many people like to claim they are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/newt-gingrichs-ex-wife-go_n_676834.html">wise</a>, but how are we to be sure they are really pure in intent?</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"He has taught you that which [heretofore] you knew not."</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #400080;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">(Qur'an 2:239)</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br />
</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All faiths have their own ideas on this one. Christians believe their God to be omniscient while Buddhists are taught that it takes utilitarian observation and analysis to truly understand if something is in fact "wise". Regardless of faith or philosophy there are certain facts that I know to be true and, on this one, Mohammad can help.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; word-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If a person is given silence, he is given wisdom.</span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; word-spacing: 2px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; word-spacing: 2px;">And to that I'd like to add that a modest person understands the wisdom of silence.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; word-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px; word-spacing: 2px;">***</span></span></div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Aside from starting the Quran from the beginning (which was interesting considering Adam and Eve popped up like thirty pages into it--a fact that I did not realize), I'm really trying to focus on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/fivepillars.shtml">Five Pillars of Islam</a>. Since I'm new to this religion, I'm taking it slowing and trying to understand it all one step at a time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first pillar is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahada">Shahadah</a> which is essentially a statement of faith. It looks like this...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;">أشهد أن لا إله إلاَّ الله و أشهد أن محمد رسول الله </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #424242; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you're really good, then you'd recognize the text above is also written on the flag of Saudi Arabia.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphennudEkKc5ippFkdVNEbIf-2MZ4hyFqWYevJmD4r-GmyJoR9LN_AB7VLnfXHNChxHK6j_4wZYGL0g-B4W9_DSoCi2SLmWtuG3pCYeApXwuiCSAHpb6Rq4vVAkoGjwdmwSZw0Y9A0uN1k0/s1600/saudi-arabia-flag.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghyphenhyphennudEkKc5ippFkdVNEbIf-2MZ4hyFqWYevJmD4r-GmyJoR9LN_AB7VLnfXHNChxHK6j_4wZYGL0g-B4W9_DSoCi2SLmWtuG3pCYeApXwuiCSAHpb6Rq4vVAkoGjwdmwSZw0Y9A0uN1k0/s200/saudi-arabia-flag.gif" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.In English, it looks a little like this: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ashhadu Alla Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammad Rasulu Allah. </i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">Interestingly, reciting the Shahadah three times in front of witnesses is all it takes to convert to Islam (video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25F08YOthOk">here</a>). Of course, one must be totally sincere in doing it and fully understand the gravity of such a recitation. (It's not like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lFxWo_C2qs">Candyman</a>.) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px;">I plan on reciting this many times, but my sincerity will disqualify me at this point since I am not prepared to dedicate myself to Islam (or any religion for that matter).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">I'm really enjoying my studies so far and am really working on looking at the beauty that clearly thrives within Islam and Muslims and ignoring my cultural biases. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;">السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-large;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As-Salāmu `Alaykum</span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Peace and Mercy of Allah be upon you...</span></span></span></i></span></span></div></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-28270216501504368262010-09-01T22:11:00.000+09:002010-09-01T22:11:28.070+09:00Day 1<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back from break and fueled up. I made plenty of great contacts in the Korea(n) Muslim community (although most of them are not Korean) and although I can't change my schedule to go to mosque on Fridays, the weekend is also packed with worshipers and services. In fact, the mosque that I'm going to can hold up to six-hundred practitioners. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'll be heading there this Saturday after my Democrats Abroad meeting. They have service in Korean, Arabic and English. Great news.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><img 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" /></span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before I really get started, I want to get the whole Park51 mess out of the way. This past month I have watched and listened to my compatriots spit on the faith of over a billion people on this earth. I have coasted between embarrassment, anger, fear, pity and full-blown astonishment. It is clear that the debate has nothing to do with sensitivity or location. It's about two things: 1) petty election season politics and 2) xenophobia. The worst part of the whole thing is that the GOP and the conservative punditry out there has married the two and it has created a disgusting environment for Americans to exist in. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A new teacher arrived at my school this morning. He's a nice fellow from Hanover, PA. I asked him about how it was being back in America, expecting the typical answer that returning expats give which ranges from "I loved it" to "Man, Americans are fat." I did not get that response today, though. What I got was more grim.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"America is miserable. It's sick and only getting worse."</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't doubt that current economic woes coupled with the midterm absurdity has made for a climate that is less savory than <i>The Wonder Years</i>, but what really concerns me is that this side of America has been hiding in plain sight for decades. The only difference is that the hateful have a forum now. Is America waking up from a dream or are they just in a nightmare?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am certain that this topic will come up before, during or after my time in the mosque and I will <i>not </i>defend my fellow Americans who have chosen to turn their backs on the most important aspect of our nation's founding. I know how my wife, my family and my friends feel about this situation and all of them are lined up with me. So, unless any new developments occur in regards to this issue, I plan on putting it aside this month. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">***</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I woke up this morning before sunrise and pulled out my paper detailing how to do my daily prayers of which must be done five times a day in the direction of Mecca. I was blown away by the time it took me to read the romanized Arabic. Luckily, the online <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=s3HfHhFmkWYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=quran&hl=en&ei=5ht-TJaKNYbQsAPfoYGgCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=quran&f=false">Quran</a> that I'm reading (as well as the hard copy I'm picking up this weekend after Mosque) has a nice English translation. There will be plenty more to come on that front. You know, the first day always takes some getting used to.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What I have discovered so far is that while reading the Quran, I can't separate the words from the followers. Generally speaking, Muslims hail from a certain geographical region and with each e-page that I e-turn I can't help but visualize them. I think about their clothes, their faces, their history and, yes, even some of the violence that a minority of them have committed against their fellow man. This is really wrong and intellectually I would never say or do anything that casts a negative shadow on the religion, but I'm starting to wonder if, perhaps, they have also been poisoned against others in the same fashion. Is there a "typical" Jew or Christian?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Allah said, "<i>there is a disease in their hearts</i>" --still learning the proper ways to quote the Quran-- and while he was talking about those who try to deceive Him, I can use it here. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's hard to live a life that is free from cultural perception and self-deception. In fact, it's impossible. We are scholars of the senses. Recognizing that, however, is only the first step. The "disease" seeps much deeper than what we see and hear and it poisons our hearts and eventually soils our souls. For someone to claim one thing like, "I support Park51 because Islam didn't attack us on 911, a few extremists did" and then visualize the negative physical manifestations of some Muslims while reading the Quran is a signal that maybe the heart has been polluted. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't know what it is, but it's sure to be an interesting journey and I'm thrilled to see what wonderful treasures Islam has to offer. </span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-70166831506287996942010-08-09T08:37:00.000+09:002010-08-09T08:37:29.206+09:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In case you're wondering what is happening with the Pious One, I figured I should let you know. I'm taking the month of August off to better prepare for my upcoming religions. I was a little frustrated with Jainism because I didn't have anyone to connect with and share in the religion. I don't want that to happen with Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Protestantism. So, this month, I am seeking out groups, buying texts and preparing for a smooth transition into Islam with will take place on September 1st. </span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-86567794867719999962010-07-30T20:58:00.000+09:002010-08-31T21:42:00.604+09:00Day 30<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jainism is finally done! I don't say that because I didn't like it. I did. In fact, I loved it. I say that because it was exhausting. Not knowing when the next meal is or where it's coming from is really eye-opening. I've lived a very pampered life and the whole time I never once realized the ease that has been provided for me. Sure, money has helped that, but how our civilization and modern society has evolved really created an environment for laziness, entitlement and avoidance. I can't say that I will always remember my physical pain from the month, but I will remember the lessons the taught me.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From what you experienced, what was the best part of Jainism?</span></b></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></b></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Easy. My mind was re-framed this month in terms of my relationship with animal life and the environment. We always hear that we need to clean up and protect the environment and that result should be enough to motivate people to do something. However, leading someone with a carrot only lasts for so long. What I learned this month was an entirely new way to envision my role in the cosmos. I really visualized the vehicles in which our souls are carried and how important the decisions we make with them are. I have a newfound responsibility on earth and it's not simply for ascetic and health reasons. It's because I am of this earth and could perhaps have existed in a different capacity before this life. </i></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What improvements, if any, did you witness in yourself?</span></b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></b></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>I don't know if I improved. I caved to temptation with alcohol and many times I got outwardly frustrated with Jainism, but if anything, I think I padded by increasingly bulky trove of patience. It's hard giving up things and it was even harder when people would ask, "What's the point?" It would be easy to give into that, but I didn't. Victory?</i></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What was the most annoying aspect of the religion for you?</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>Not buying anything was really horrible. Well, maybe it was the constant need to rely on my wife for stuff. I don't know. I'm not a big-spender, but it's hard being a burden to the one you love. </i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did you find that people were receptive to Jainism?</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></b></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Really receptive. In fact, I was amazed by the curiosity that many people had. I know that they wouldn't necessarily start to follow the creed, but people really opened up to the idea. In fact, I caught some of my younger elementary school students with Jain information in their bags and "<b>George = 자이나교 (Jainism)"</b> written on their notebooks. All ages of Koreans were into it. </i></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Would you ever consider becoming a Jain?</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Hmmm. Let's put it this way: I will always incorporate the lessons from this month into my life, my family and my future religion. But no, I don't think Jainism is the perfect fit for me. </i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Any last comments?</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>If anything came from this month, it was my "Bridges to Beauty" project. Depending on August rain, I will keep it alive. My wife and I are planning on making it more inclusive to the community in September. We all need to do a better job taking care of this world. We are at the top of this karmic chain and have the gift of reason. We need to use it well.</i></span></span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-52151968222161322032010-07-29T20:56:00.000+09:002010-08-31T21:45:51.610+09:00Day 29<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From what you saw and heard, what was the best part of Jainism for you? </span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>Jainism was a little out of my league. George and I spent many nights discussing different aspects of the religion, but I really had a hard time believing any of it. For me, the best part was George actually allowing his love for the earth materialize through his "Bridges to Beauty" project. I support his activism and passions, so this was great for me. Can I credit Jainism? Why not? </i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What improvements, if any, did you witness in your husband?</span></b></span></div><div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>Again with this one? Can someone else write questions? Alright, I'll play the game. He certainly became even more pensive this month. I know it was hard for him, but I'm proud of the thought he put into small things like taking care of our dog's smallest of emotions or even the spider that has now created a massive web in our bathroom window. Maybe it's this project or my training, but I'm starting to see a mature husband. That's a feat.</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What was the most annoying aspect of the religion for you?</span></b></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>That's easy. He couldn't spend any money or buy anything. Guess who had to do all of that? Sure, he got some stuff from students, but I was behind most everything. It makes me happy that we live in a time where there is equality in marriages because <b>this</b> could not continue.</i></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think of the nudity, face masks and shaved hair?</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 16px;"><b></b></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 16px;"><b><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>The nudity is tiring. I mean, he sits on our furniture like that. On the bright side, I did get to force him to shower much more than usual, so I liked that. He only wore the face mask a few times and in Asia, that's not really unusual. Many people where masks when they get sick. When you live in a city of 20 million, bacteria and viruses spread fast. The short hair was nice, although it wasn't technically "shaved". Personally, I prefer his hair a little longer. There's no character in short hair. I was proud of him though. He's had hair issues forever.</i></span></span></div></b></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you think Jainism looked different from Buddhism?</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sure. Jainism was very difficult, but honestly, I don't think George liked it as much. He says that he loves all of them, but I got the feeling that he was getting tired of the rules. With Buddhism, there were rules, but not as extreme. </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Would you ever consider becoming a Jain?</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nope. Not only is Jainism really hard to manage in any country besides India, but I don't believe a word of it. George was trying to get me all excited about the karmic levels and I liked learning about it, but there is no way that I could tell people I believe in that. It sounds too much like a movie plot. </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next month is Islam. Are you excited?</span></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>Well, I'm ready. I wouldn't day excited, though. We're both a little curious about what's going on in the Itaewon mosque and considering what's happening in America with all this mosque drama, I'm curious about what they are thinking. </i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b>Any last comments?</b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i>All of these religious adventures have been great for me. I didn't even know what Jainism was a month ago and now I at least have the background to understand who and what they are. I might not "feel" it like George claims, but I do "know" it and that has been great.</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-60798779036544190912010-07-28T12:33:00.000+09:002010-08-31T15:08:59.592+09:00Day 28<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was talking to my sister yesterday. That's usually a fun time as I've always had an unmatched ability to make her laugh. I think it's a mixture of our genes, similar sense of humor and the fact that when our parents divorced we were teenagers and we ended up sticking together at a time when many siblings grow apart. And as much fun as we can have together, we have never had a hard time sitting down and having a deep conversation. Humor and drama tweak the emotions in a very profound way, so bridging the gap isn't all that difficult. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yesterday, we were discussing raising children. She has a head-start on me and already has two children. My wife and I are waiting for a few more years to start popping those guys out. Still, we like to gab about how we're going to raise them and this and that. Being a Jain this month, one of the biggest concerns I have had is the soul of insects and animals. This wasn't a big step for me since I already had a real concern for all creatures. My sister, on the other hand, has always loved animals but feared insects. Sometimes her fear translates to anger which, of course, can lead to dead insects. I mentioned this inconsistency to her and suggested that I want to make sure that my children (as well as my niece and nephew) protect all forms of life. She agreed, but with a caveat.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"I know that they'll protect all lifeforms. I don't see them killing anything except mosquitoes I guess,"</i> she told me.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mosquitoes have been my biggest challenge this month. When I feel an itch on my bare chest my first instinct in the summer is to swat rather than inspect. I had to change that a lot and when I did inspect and find a mosquito, I would generally push him away from my skin and on his way. No killing. Even if he was loaded with my blood, I let him go on his merry way. Most people make the claim that mosquitoes do nothing for the earth, but that's not true. They are food sources for many insects and they also help pollinate flowers. What would the point be of letting the spider in my laundry room live is I made it a point to kill all of it's food? By killing mosquitoes, I'm potentially starving and killing other insects. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The point is that people make exceptions to everything. We make exceptions to our own rules and our own morals. People break their rules when it comes to eating well and exercise just like they break their own marriage vows and promises to their family. We constantly allow gratuitous desire to overtake sound judgement and we do so by excusing small infractions because for some reason we dilute ourselves into thinking they are somehow less damning than full-blown violations. If we start making excuses to break one part of a promise to ourselves, then what's to stop us from adding another exception in there? How big does a lie have to get before we realize that we're living it?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't kill mosquitoes because they are on the karmic cycle with and therefore my responsibility to protect. They have been in the past, but will no longer be the exception to my rule. No more exceptions.</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-70310540284000871682010-07-27T18:42:00.000+09:002010-08-31T12:33:51.255+09:00Day 27<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you know, I could not attend any services this month, so I tried to participate in several discussion boards and Jain debates. I learned some stuff, but not as much as I wanted. I did, however, get involved with <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">this fellow</a>.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>I did a bit of reading on the jains a few years ago, and it sounds like they're social parasites. They do no work, and wander around asking to be fed and cared for by others - a pretty nasty trick if you're in a very poor country. So, it's a typical religious social hack: "see me I'm all holy, feed me and care for me."</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Calling 'em like you see 'em, huh? You can't really do that with religion, though. Simply "reading on" them "a few years ago" doesn't really allow you to make wise cracks either, but this reveals something deeper. I've followed this guys comments for awhile (he's not the author of the blog by the way) and it's very clear that he is a straight up atheist and has no real tolerance for any sort of religion. If he wants to be an atheist then I'm totally fine and accepting of his prerogative, however, he is dead wrong in reducing Jain monks to mere beggars too lazy to work and take care of themselves. He will probably call religious people unreasonable, irrational, stupid, blind, gullible, ignorant, weak, scared or something else that's equally offensive.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His intolerance towards the religious has crippled him and rendered him utterly blind to the fact that even though it might not make perfect sense to him, it does in fact make perfect sense to the devout. Who is he to say otherwise? This is not a debate on the tangible. It's a debate of faith--that which cannot be seen--and while I also like to understand my life and most elements of this world through a scientific lens, it is beyond me to assert so sternly that someone else is doing it "wrong". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's more though. This guy opens up an interesting can of worms. Apparently, there are strong <a href="http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/27/intelligentpeople-more-likely-to-be-liberalatheists.html">connections</a> between liberalism, atheism, vegetarianism and intelligence. For the sake of this argument, let's assume that being religious doesn't mean you're unintelligent as many people (like the commenter above) assume. Judging by voting patterns and survey results, it's pretty clear that if you are in fact conservative in the US, you are probably a Christian of some sort and hold that belief system close to you. Good for you.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My problem with this fellow is that if he is in fact the atheist he has made himself out to be and the trends are in anyway accurate, he very well might fall under the banner of a progressive. Sure, some progressives have a smug sense of self-satisfaction, but one part of being progressive includes tolerance. In this case, however, tolerance for the religious is not a part of his political DNA. That, in my mind, makes his just as bad as people who don't tolerate marriage equality.</span><br />
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<img alt="fundamentalists.jpeg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/upload/2010/08/fundamentalists.jpeg" /><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">People are always going to believe what they want. Sometimes, however, we drift into areas where others might not feel comfortable challenging such strong postulations, but just because no one is there is defend the other side, doesn't meant its wrong. </span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-65305034410698566392010-07-26T17:22:00.001+09:002010-08-03T18:40:24.750+09:00Day 26<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Confession time. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yesterday, I went to the park with some friends. Going to the park, forest, woods, grassy fields, creek, river, lake, beach, ocean or mountains is my absolute favorite thing to do and I'm up for it almost anytime of the day or year. Well, I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Before going to the park, my wife, one of her co-workers and I went to see <i>Inception</i>. Excellent film and even better <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JGHI4TAC5U&feature=related">score</a>. In fact, I can only think of a few scores that I like better: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o35abuR_oLo">The Mission</a>-my personal favorite, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bScWezhVLzE">Lawrence of Arabia</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMTrVgpDwPk&feature=related">Psycho</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h4n7NXSpMY">Last of the Mohicans</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxVaQUn7L4Y">Legends of the Fall</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoODzPtgXI">Rudy</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3RhbVP7cA">Cape Fear</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELKzmZK5Dec&feature=related">Born on the Fourth of July</a> and, of course, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qn7M6aLLHg">Jaws</a>. It made it into my top ten, so that's pretty good. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After the movie, my wife and her buddy decided to go to a wax museum. I'm not a fan of museums that don't include the names "history", "natural" or "national", so I decided to head to the park to meet some friends. We set up some shading tents, got the tunes roaring and started setting up some of the prepared food that we had brought. Before I knew it, I was tempted by my old friend, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makgeolli">makgeolli</a>. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img height="150" src="http://l.yimg.com/ne/promotion/korea100/food/sg/v_mak_01_v3.jpg" width="400" /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unfortunately, I let it win. All day we sat there; from 12pm to well past 9pm, drinking, laughing and having a ball. By the time I made it home, I was plenty drunk and went straight to bed. Apparently, my tolerance for booze has weakened over the past few years and it has certainly sat out the past few months, so let's just say that I was a mess. My wife, however, wasn't too angry or anything and helped me into bed. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Getting into bed wasn't the problem though. I woke up this morning at 2am and smiled a little because I thought that it was early Sunday morning. Of course, my alarm went off three hours later and the urgency of Monday landed heavily on my red crusted eyes. I was still smashed, but had no option but to go into work and teach. My first class doesn't have that many students in it and since it's the end of the term, they usually start to flake out. Not today. No, sir. All of them were in there and ready to learn. The problem was, I wasn't ready to teach. My hearing was all weird, my eyes were blurry and I felt like I had to poop every few minutes. I did in fact.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I taught my first two classes and then called it a day. I had to go home and sleep it off. Cancelling classes is easy in my position, so I didn't care about that and probably should have cancelled them all. I did care, however, that I had not only broken my Jain rules, but I did so in such an extreme way that I made my body sick which ended up interrupting my daily responsibilities. That was not very Jain-y of me. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or was it?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During my recovery yoga session and meditation this afternoon, I started to think about how sick I was early and how foolish it was for me to intentionally poison myself in the name of a cause--that being "fun". However, Jainism, to me, seems to be more of a punishment or mortification of my body and flesh than a beer. I'm certainly killing myself slowly by partaking in unhealthy habits and behaviors, but don't some of these rituals equate to violence against myself?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Regardless, I broke one of the rules and now am having to pay the price. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Karma.</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-59636705078060778212010-07-25T20:33:00.000+09:002010-08-03T17:14:47.361+09:00Day 25<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The very basis of Jainism is self-denial. Today is the start of my final week as a Jain and self-denial has been pretty darn hard. Denying myself the use of money, option of purchasing items, clothing, cooking, cursing, drinking, meat, fish and traveling have been pretty hard. In Korea, I'm often duped into eating meat even when I ask for no meat. At many restaurants, the owners will toss my request to the side and instead tell me that "it's better with meat in it" rather than respecting my wishes. It's been hard, but following the Great Five Vows has been rewarding thus far. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Self-denial is the act of denying things that the self wants. Denying the self is much different and just the other day, the queen of <i>living </i>in denial made her way into the headlines again.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rather than moving on or admitting her mistake, she dug in.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This woman lives in clear denial of who she is and what she really stands for. She is asking us to celebrate dishonesty and manipulation whenever she gets caught in a lie or deception. The Five Great Vows of Jainism are simple. They are a renunciation of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) killing living things, (2) lying, (3) greed, (4) sexual pleasure and (5) worldly attachments. Palin lives in violation of every single one of these. She kills animals <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://a11news.com/images/sarah-palin-hunting.jpg&imgrefurl=http://a11news.com/601/sarah-palin-trailer-trash/&usg=__BM69ZtGDI18xsB4g0ZQf8IA57bM=&h=339&w=249&sz=19&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=k3PkAqAyM-zlrM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=102&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPalin%2Bhunting%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D994%26bih%3D600%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=365&ei=s7BWTLPvA4amsQORtfTZAg&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=22&ty=59">unnecessarily</a>; she <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single/200911/sarah-palin-s-lies-updated">lies</a>; she's <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2008/09/05/sarah-palin-slashed-funding-for-teen-pregnancy-programs">greedy</a>; has <a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2008/09/01/4423693-palin-backed-abstinence-only-education">conflicting</a> <a href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/palin-on-sex-ed.html">ideas</a> on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSdFIDygFwM">sexuality</a>; and doesn't shy away from flashing her <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Palin+clothing&hl=en&biw=994&bih=600&source=lnms&ei=-rNWTJv1L4iosQOAucXZAg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&ved=0CBQQ_AU">material</a> assets.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The danger with people like her is that her modus operandi is easy to mimic and even easier to follow. Take her Facebook page for instance.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnOmQAbIYHUaZEA4h-axcrjXDS1sDx3ZzKyI2vwm0V_zMRAD9E-fT2CtlWVsX0MQ3DwF3duIY4tjMk7v2L36QxHhZElLO2zEqEHLZYuw5u_WJh2mljiUIvXLh-pJZiRXfTGR542Cm6bLm/s1600/sarp.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnOmQAbIYHUaZEA4h-axcrjXDS1sDx3ZzKyI2vwm0V_zMRAD9E-fT2CtlWVsX0MQ3DwF3duIY4tjMk7v2L36QxHhZElLO2zEqEHLZYuw5u_WJh2mljiUIvXLh-pJZiRXfTGR542Cm6bLm/s400/sarp.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Look at what Mark and Shirley said. They admire her "honest[y]" and what she "stands for". From a Jain perspective, she <i>represents </i>pure evil. From a Christian perspective, she <i>represents </i>the same. However, "<i>representing</i>" something and "<i>standing for</i>" something are much different. Palin claims to stand for a lot of things and that is what people like and attribute to her, but she actually doesn't represent any of those things. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I think there's a lesson in here though. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><img align="left" alt="H" border="0" height="32" hspace="1" src="http://www.onelittleangel.com/common/images/letter/H.gif" valign="top" vspace="1" width="35" />e who looks inwardly at the self revels in the self;<br />
He who revels in the self looks inwardly at the self</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I personally don't think Sarah Palin is evil. I do, however, think she's a dangerous leader insofar that she doesn't know her true self at all and that ignorance--whether it's willful or not--creates this faux-reality where she can represent some of the most evil and despicable ideals in this world, yet appear to be stand for what people think is admirable. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><b>Here's an example</b>: A person can stand for the idea of marriage and since they perhaps have been "happily" married for over forty years, people believe that it's true and rarely seek any more information. However, if you were to ask that person why he is "happy" or even his wife about the details of their relationship, another story might emerge. In fact, he might turn out to be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig">Larry Craig</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Sarah Palin claims that she stands for abstinence-only education. People see that and assume she stands for a more conservative approach to sexual education and some Christians might even believe that she is on their side. However, a closer look at that stance conflicts with the reality which is that she knew her teenage daughter was having sex in her own house and chose to do nothing about it until it was time to collect politically. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Living in denial is pretty dangerous, Sarah.</span></span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-41023597117297032332010-07-24T18:20:00.000+09:002010-08-02T19:05:23.628+09:00Day 24<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's my last Saturday as a Jain. My wife and I were going to go to a water park, but when the entire population of Seoul and the surrounding province also realizes that the rainy season is coming to an end, that makes for hellish traffic and even worse lines. I had a student who went to one of them last week and he said that he waited for two hours to take one of the slides. I asked him why he did that.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"I was with a girl and she wanted to ride it, so I had to wait,</i>" he told me.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Typical. I'd do the same thing for my wife, though. Part of becoming a Buddhist and Jain has been learning the value of patience. We have to embrace patience and its tests with enthusiasm, but that doesn't change the fact that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm shocked adults actually wait that long for something as pointless as a slide or a roller coaster. As a child, we don't know the value of time, so wasting it didn't seem like it was much of a problem. And I'm very well aware that when I have children, my wife and I are going to have to endure hours and hours of mind-numbing queuing just so our children can feel excitement for thirty seconds. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Still, why do adults do it? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After all, you're not learning anything from it, nor is it a new experience that could change you in any profound way. Aside from masturbation, drugs and alcohol, I think the thrill people seek from roller coasters and water parks is one of the highest forms of self-gratification we can find. And in some respects, it's worse because we waste so much time in preparation. <a href="http://www.jainworld.com/scriptures/ashtapahuda6.asp">Jain take</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The self is known with difficulty; having known it, it is difficult to constantly bear it in mind; for the man who does so bear it in mind, it is difficult to refrain from sense gratification.</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know my self well enough to know that the thrill I get from riding a roller coaster does not outweigh the time lost waiting for it.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>So long as a man does not know the self, he indulges in sense gratification; the yogi, averse from sense gratification, knows the self. </i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alright, but I know my self, yet would still go and waste all that time if my wife wanted to go. I won't lie and say that I am totally averse to sense gratification that I get from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_tower_(ride)">drop tower</a> rides and even if I were, is it wrong that I want to allow my wife to enjoy it?</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Some men knowing the self are forgetful of their true nature and wander about in the four states of existence; fools engrossed in sense-gratification. </i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I guess this is me. I know my self and still choose to do my best for my wife which, in some way, is gratifyingly satisfying. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What I'm getting at is that sometimes, we can't follow the path. Life presents itself in many different lights and creates all sorts of obstacles that are impossible to avoid. Next week, my wife's cousins are coming in town and they want to go to an amusement park. Next weekend also happens to be the start of the unofficial vacation week in Korea. Everyone will be at <a href="http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Lotte%20World&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=994&bih=600">Lotte World</a> and that includes me.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What are my options though? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1) Complain that these children are being too sense gratifying and suggest we all do yoga instead?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2) Pay for them to go with my wife while I stay at home doing something less gratifying?</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3) Go, but sit down and read scripture the whole time?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4) Wait in line with the kids, but skip out just before it's my turn so as to avoid gratification?</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5) Go with the kids, wait in line with them and ride with them because that's what a good husband does for his wife and her family?</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's not a hard decision, but where does one draw the line between loyalty to others and the liberation of ones soul? My student ended up having a horrible time at that water park and he now regrets going. Would he have regretted NOT going even more?</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-56059147679757780302010-07-23T13:41:00.000+09:002010-08-02T17:45:47.906+09:00Day 23<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's around noon right now and I'm sitting quietly at my desk. The air is blowing in from the windows behind me and there's nothing that can upset me right now. About an hour ago, my wife and I went to the doctor. She needed a shot before our Vietnam trip in September and I was going to get my blood pressure checked. If you remember from a few months ago, I had somewhat elevated blood pressure. What I didn't tell you is just how high it was. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">145/88</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That's high and while I could go over and over all the nasty and unhealthy food and life decisions I've made in my past, it doesn't change the fact that my pressure was high. Not only is my health one of those things that I like to pretend is always good, but it's also something that I have liked to avoid thinking about. For a solid month, my wife had been trying to get me to go in and get my blood pressure checked and for a solid month, I made up excuses. Today, I couldn't make anything up and together we took our pressure. I also visited a doctor, but first we decided to use one of those machines located in the waiting room. She went first.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">109/69</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That's good. She's always had pretty healthy flow throughout her veins and even though some might say that's she's a little on the low side of the spectrum, it's better than being on the high side. Blood pressure naturally rises with age. She'll be fine. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now, it was my turn. Since I have a problem with my blood pressure, I am a little embarrassed by it. I can joke about it because I'm self-deprecating, but when it actually comes down to it, I don't want my health problems to be a discussion topic for other people. As I've mentioned before, Koreans are food snobs, so if they see a foreigner with high blood pressure, they will use that as ammo to repeat their "All Western food is unhealthy" mantra. Of course, as I was slipping my arm into the hole, a man in his early forties decided to stand directly behind me. I glanced back at him and gave him a look, but he didn't budge. Koreans don't care for <a href="http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/01/05/no-personal-space-in-korea/">personal space</a>.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="320" src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1vdtpic8j1qzof4ro1_500.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="284" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://www.roketship.com/">ROKetship</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was nothing I could do about it, so I turned back around, pushed the "start" button and waited as the air filled up the sleeve around my arm. I used to think I had a little trick for lowering my numbers. You see, I first noticed that my blood pressure was a little higher than normal back in college. My step-father has blood pressure issues and has a little tester at home, so one day while on vacation, I strapped it on. The results weren't great, so I started coming up with ways to cheat it. I thought that if I held my breath then the pressure of blood flowing would decrease and therefore lower my numbers. That was wrong and a doctor here in Korea told me that I was pretty dumb for trying that. </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"Why would you try to fool yourself?"</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I couldn't answer that question. Why do I try to fool myself? It's my health and my life. Foolishness.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The pressure around my arm slowly started to release and the numbers on the counter started dropping. I was nervous, my wife was worried and the douche face behind me was entertained. Finally the number stopped. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">119/78</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Victory. I was more than relieved and stood up immediately to share the excitement of my amazing results with my wife. The guy behind me sat down, so I made sure to stand directly behind him and watch his results. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">186/107</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He needs to take medicine. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You might be asking what this and Jainism have in common. Well, my diet this month has been healthy and minimal. I don't overeat, nor do I eat salty things. This diet and my Buddhist diet have been very healthy. I also weighed myself. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">144lbs</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That's down from 158. It's a big drop, sure, but not as big as during my Buddhist month where I dropped from 162 to 139. I need to be more aware of what I'm putting into my mouth and I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who need to do the same.</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-79423644997519930872010-07-22T13:51:00.001+09:002010-07-29T13:17:33.341+09:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today was a normal day for me. I ate some tofu soup for lunch and then a piece of bread that one of my elementary school students offered me for dinner. It was some mocha bread or something average, but it was enough. I'm taking my vitamins and exercising a lot, so don't worry. I think I'm pretty healthy. I find out tomorrow at the doctor, so we'll see, huh? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know that my wallet is feeling pretty good since I haven't spent much of anything this month. I did have to spend a couple times, but I have reduced spending by over 90%. It's been pretty great not worrying about checking accounts and cash. I've never been good at that stuff. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today was one of the first totally clear days with no traces of rain that we've had in Seoul all month, so after work I headed to the park to clean up trash. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm privately calling this clean-up effort "Bridges to Beauty" for the simple reason that my cleaning route weaves back-and-forth between the twenty-seven bridges that span the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_River_(Korea)">Han River</a>. Here are some of them so you can get an idea of how much cleaning I have ahead of me.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj97XNv1GrUdArLo0wmBgDgEAB6f9E8ewekzkUQCt2NF_3YmNdBDfznWnUprr0qpJsq9rUQDmjZvx7DNv-jiQnAZikCVwma88PoQnvKVNNo-GS5VWhazbEr1BT-wZUSnRBeegcpdjYuUlTT/s1600/Seoulmap.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj97XNv1GrUdArLo0wmBgDgEAB6f9E8ewekzkUQCt2NF_3YmNdBDfznWnUprr0qpJsq9rUQDmjZvx7DNv-jiQnAZikCVwma88PoQnvKVNNo-GS5VWhazbEr1BT-wZUSnRBeegcpdjYuUlTT/s320/Seoulmap.gif" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I started between </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banpo_Bridge">Banpo Bridge</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannam_Bridge">Hannam Bridge</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> today, but as I now know, it'll take days to clean it all up by my lonesome. Luckily, I have some time and don't really want to bother organizing a large group of people just yet. I have plans for that in the future, but not now. Now is just for me and the land. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I rode my bike there and parked it in a nice little cove between some tall bushes and a line of ginkgoes. Aside from my backpack, all I had with me was a trash bag, some super cool gardening gloves, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">my sunglasses, tunes in my ears and a nice set of Korean made metallic tongs designed for the very purpose of picking up trash. I was pretty excited to do it also. It was about seven o'clock when I got out there, so I had about an hour of manageable light.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I slowly made my way from one side of the first field to the next. There was a fair amount of trash to collect, but most of it was cigarette butts and plastic bottles. I thought about my own careless behavior when it came to disposal of butts. For years and years I casually and thoughtlessly tossed my butts wherever I was standing without even the slightest concern for where they landed, how long they'd be there or who'd be picking them up. This is payback or karma even and as a Jain, a need to escape this cycle. If I ever smoke again (and just for regular trash also), I will <b>never </b>throw it on the ground again. Picking up old butts with metal tongs in the summer heat isn't all too fun and it's not fair to other people or the earth.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cleaning the park was great, though. Doing something responsible for the environment is always a worthwhile endeavor and very important for a Jain (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bhogopbhog Pariman Vrata</em> )</strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>This vow restricts them from unlimited consuming of natural resources</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">...but the real story was in the response that I was getting. As a foreigner in Korea, there is a certain level of expectation that most people have of us. Sometimes they're about </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.rjkoehler.com/2010/07/28/most-itaewon-foreigners-losers-packs-of-black-men-roam-the-streets-looking-for-sex/">non-teachers</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and others times they're all about </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/24/world/fg-korea-teach24">us</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, but in the end, most Koreans see us as temporary "gap-yearers" looking for a good time, curious women and easy cash. Unfair sure, but that's the nature of the Korean beast. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While I was picking up trash, I had my earphones and sunglasses on and was 100% focused on the task at hand while impossibly trying to avoid stepping on insects. After ten or so minutes, I started to feel the long stares. Soon those stares got closer and turned into sporadic rounds of applause from runners and other park-goers. Finally, an older woman who looked to be close to seventy approached me, rested her arm on my shoulder and said "<i>Thank you</i>" in English. After a solid hour of scrounging for trash, I had gotten over a dozen "thank yous" in both Korean and English, a handful of "whys", three helping hands and even an offering of water and chicken. I turned down the chicken.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The response was overwhelming and it made me think of a couple things. One, I was astounded by the outpouring of appreciation and have decided that in August (after the rainy season subsides), I'm going to organize a very small but dedicated group of teachers and Koreans to tackle this project head-on. And two, why was I being thanked for cleaning the earth?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This concept baffles me in many ways. I understand Korean citizens were surprised that, as one of my students put it, "a foreigner would be cleaning something other than his motherland." I get that, but saying thanks to me for cleaning is odd. I did the same thing in the United States in college at <a href="http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/parks/sequoyah.asp">Sequoyah Park in Knoxville</a> and not a single soul said a word to me. Is it only because I'm a foreigner and doing something that other foreigners typically don't do or was it shocking for them to see someone who is clearly volunteering their own time to clean? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Thank you" is simply a verbal acknowledgement of appreciation and these Koreans clearly appreciated that I was cleaning up "their" land, but is it really theirs to thank for? Sure, political borders dictate that it is, but shouldn't we be treating the entire earth as ours? </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm not cleaning the park for gratitude. I'm doing it because I love this earth and all the creatures on it. Beautifying a park is such an easy way to show appreciation for this world and to tell the truth, the thanks that I got certainly did inspire me to do more, so it was not in vain. Imagine if we all thanked each other for cleaning the earth and together, we all mutually felt the satisfaction of helping in some way or another? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I bet we'd have a much cleaner and more beautiful world in which to raise our children. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On a side note, I ended up collecting about 40 liters worth of trash from about two acres of land. It was a win. I have the doctors appointment tomorrow. Wish my blood pressure luck! </span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-80197357025372574462010-07-21T20:29:00.004+09:002010-07-28T13:16:18.322+09:00Day 21<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I got to work this morning, it was nice and silent. No one was there yet which was a real treat. For the past two years, it's been just me in the office for a solid thirty minutes before the first soul walked though that door. I could quietly do some work and allow the morning to slowly take hold off me. I miss those days, but you can't stop the rain by complaining, so I enjoyed my time this morning. It's not that I like being alone all the time, it's just nice to have a moment to yourself outside of the house.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My routine changes every now and then, but it's safe to say that I'll get on Facebook at some point during the first few hours of my day to see what's cooking. Today, I saw that an old friend was getting ready for his bachelor party. I didn't even really know that he was getting married. I knew he was serious but that was it. In fact, several of my friends from college have also gotten married and each time I look at subsequent the pictures, I get a little sad. I've been in Korea longer than I was in college. I never saw that coming, but for some reason, I knew back then that something was about to change. I wrote this before heading to Seoul.</span><br />
<blockquote><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'll only post one time before I go, but I felt that a pre-Seoul update would be worth it.</span></em></blockquote><blockquote><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I left Knoxville yesterday, July 6th, after a week with great friends and family. It was different though. Sure, I'm leaving for a year, but there seemed to more than just that on everyone's mind. We are all leaving (at least most of us) and although it was unspoken, we all knew that we would never hang out in Tennessee like that again, let alone Knoxville. Yeah, we'll meet for homecoming or some other function, but the days of 'good clean fun', as we playfully called all excessive behavior, are over.</span></em></blockquote><blockquote><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not to fret though. I sincerly believe that we will all continue to remain close, despite the distance. Of course, time will tell and we all have a journey ahead of us, but we must remember the simple joys we all bring to each other...</span></em></blockquote><blockquote><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See you in Korea.</span></em></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And I was right. Most of that crew has not hung out in Tennessee like that again. I remember driving away on July 5th with a tear in my eye wanting to turn around and say goodbye again, but I had to go. I had to start my journey and it has certainly turned out to be one hell of a great ride. Still, every once and while, when I hear a special song or smell a certain smell, the memories of my past friendships come rushing back and the feeling is still as fresh now as it was when I was here for </span><a href="http://gromeiser.blogspot.com/2006/08/walkin-manfinal.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">only a week</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><br />
<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I searched through my Ipod library. I cruised through AC/DC, Ah ha, Al Green, Allman Brothers, America, Beach Boys, Beatles, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Billy Joel, Billy Ocean, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and then I spotted my selection: Bob Seger. I knew what song I needed. It's a song that I hold so dear to my heart. It is probably the song that my college friends and I listened to more than any other. I selected it and the guitar started playing. I sat there for a second and waited for the lyrics to start.</span></i></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cak5ccBCZ1E&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cak5ccBCZ1E&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></span></div><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The song continued and I didn't miss a beat. I wasn't walking alone during t hat song. I was walking with a wealth of memories of some of the greatest people I have ever met. I was walking with them and they were walking right along side of me; singing, playing, dancing and reminding me what is important and truly priceless in this world.</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And to be honest, nothing has changed. I still carry them and those times with me everywhere I go. My life now is much more complicated than it was then for sure, but even in their total absence for years, I have never really felt lonely. Again, I have a great wife, plenty of solid friends here and a ton of pre-college pals in addition to that early-aught crew, but I have always felt a pitted sensation when I think about the separation of our group. I know that Buddism and Jainism tell me that I should detach myself from people for they will only cause me pain, but I just can't do that totally. I'm a social creature. All humans are. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Perhaps I'm a victim of "</span><a href="http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2009/08/here-comes-sun-run-away.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">immigrant time warp</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">" and my affection gauge is a little whacked. Maybe my friends have grown apart a lot since I left or maybe they've stayed the same; I don't know really. I do know that I still view them as warmly as I did years ago and plan on jumping right back into the scene (albeit in a married sort of way) once we return. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I assumed all people were similar to me which is why I found a recent <i>Psychology Today</i> article titled, </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single/201007/are-americans-becoming-more-and-more-isolated-updated"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Are Americans Becoming More and More Isolated?"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> so surprising. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It argues, among other things, that we are becoming more isolated from others because we have moved away from our hometowns, friends and family in search of work which leads to loneliness. I disagree with that, but my mother often tells me that she was surprised that I was able to stay in a University that was so far away from her. At that point, I never thought about it much thought. Same as being in Korea. It's been a bunch of years, but I still think the last time we saw each other was very recent (eight months). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, maybe I'm different. Maybe I have a greater ability to detach myself from people and in a way I agree. I've always been a roll-with-the-punches guy and able to move from one group of people to the next, but therein lies the problem. I'm not moving on and staying detached. I'm just reattaching myself somewhere else. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The article started with two interesting questions:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Looking back over the last six months - who are the people with whom you discussed matters important to you?</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. How many friends outside of your household do you have that you see or speak to at least once a week?</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm going to answer question #2 first. I see maybe four or five a week (colleagues excluded) and talk to (SMS/Skype/Facebook/Email excluded) about the same each week. According to the stats, I'm pretty average. Adding in all the other mediums, I would increase to about nine to fifteen a week. Once I got married, I pretty much decided that my wife was going to be the one who I spent most of my time with. Isn't that the point?<br />
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The second question is where I bring in Jainism. Discussing important matters is, well, important, but defining that importance is the greater battle rather than simple finding a person to vent to. The concept of Jain detachment can be used in the real world. Lord Mahavir spent twelve years in the forest practicing </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aparigraha"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Aparigraha</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During that time he meditated deeply and tried to separate himself from his worldly desires. That's not really practical, but it can help us on two levels. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First of all, we can mediate before bringing other people into our desirous world of problems. While meditating, things really do become very clear and lucid. The universe that dwells within each of us is an endless and largely untapped well of wisdom and guidance. Any problem that is properly meditated on (or thought-out), may prove to not be a problem at all or might in fact prove to be more easily solved than originally thought. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The second part of this is that I don't think people need to use friends at sounding boards for venting frustrations. Friendship, to me, has more to do with mutual benevolence and shared experience than it does a cliff from which we loft complaints. I had a buddy in college that when I would ask how he was, he would respond, "</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm depressed</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">." Burdening people with your problems is not what a friend does, especially since we have the capacity to solve them on our own. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As for me, well, I love my wife, my family, my dog, my friends and all the people I have in my life. That's why they are still in my life. That said, I also have enjoyed the extreme nature in which Jainism has suggested that I severe ties with people. I know that sounds harsh, but it teaches you the value of yourself and the amazing capacity that we have within all of us to accept, evaluate and manage basic human problems. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rather than picking up the phone to whine, try sitting silently and thinking. </span></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-61570708639849152132010-07-20T09:56:00.000+09:002010-07-27T12:58:00.408+09:00Day 20<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Marrying someone from another country has its ups and downs. And while the ups are much more pronounced, the downs must also be considered. Fortunately, the downs are pretty minor and are mostly centered around food issues. As an American, I prefer a more tomato-based diet insofar that I like tomato sauces, ketchup, BLT's and tomato soup. As a Korean, my wife prefers a more pepper-based diet. Most Korean food</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">--and I mean almost every dish--</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is seasoned in a red chili powder which gives it a red shade. Sometimes these preferences lead us to disagree about what we want for dinner. I'm pretty tolerant of any sort of food, yet, whenever I'm really hungry, I want Western cuisine and similarly, she craves Korean. This month, however, I've pretty much had no choice. She's the boss. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Luckily for me, my palate has grown quite accustomed to Korean food, so it's not that big of a deal. Yesterday, however, was a special day in Korea. It's the day when everyone seeks out a specific dish to combat the heat.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq68FYB0m_NAOV3kcYqHPQyjSipTb2_hKcGmpjk9RiBqQB8uvGvv9V-ptFnCf1qWlC-Tx5KjIBcJu9n6Pk1EcDzwNZvAJRpGF2O-ON4GKEl_N7Kho_5IEKe_8_kXEFIshS2BnMLKWo04Q7/s1600/mei-1(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq68FYB0m_NAOV3kcYqHPQyjSipTb2_hKcGmpjk9RiBqQB8uvGvv9V-ptFnCf1qWlC-Tx5KjIBcJu9n6Pk1EcDzwNZvAJRpGF2O-ON4GKEl_N7Kho_5IEKe_8_kXEFIshS2BnMLKWo04Q7/s320/mei-1(2).jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samgyetang</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is a <a href="http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2923179">history</a> behind this soup and some <a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/07/20/2010072001108.html">health benefits</a> as well, but the amount of enthusiasm that Koreans have year after year for this dish is stunning. Since all of my food must be offered, I have very few options when my wife wants to eat at a certain restaurant. She would never force me to eat meat or something I didn't like (and I don't like this ginseng chicken dish by the way), but from the looks of the crowded restaurant we were in yesterday, I thought I might be alone on that one. But the more I think about it, I don't think I am.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As mentioned above, I have a very adventurous appetite. I've eaten every fruit and vegetable offered in Asia as well as live-octopus, whale, shark fin, crocodile, dog, pig face, cow intestines, kangaroo, ostrich, seal, eel, chicken heart, chicken feet, chicken gizzard, spiders, scorpions, silkworm pupae, cicadas and sea horses. Hell, I even tried <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urechis_unicinctus">this</a>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uyHYh9Hp5qbC0EYH1iirpqwOPL6EdOciv3KwNaUU6CkJb4N5VWCLorKv-v0EzPsYGc7tj2J-VMqtTwGKa9Dl3X909BC9pkVCV5kT85l71FaaUVXxXwJ4z1IYXphIXiQBM-Fd8pTPE_eR/s1600/2037829948_b1ed9dc957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uyHYh9Hp5qbC0EYH1iirpqwOPL6EdOciv3KwNaUU6CkJb4N5VWCLorKv-v0EzPsYGc7tj2J-VMqtTwGKa9Dl3X909BC9pkVCV5kT85l71FaaUVXxXwJ4z1IYXphIXiQBM-Fd8pTPE_eR/s320/2037829948_b1ed9dc957.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gae-bool</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Each time I eat a new (and rather odd) dish here in Korea, it always is accompanied by a long lecture about how healthy it is and why it's probably the healthiest in the world (and certainly much better than whatever they believe American cuisine to be). I had a student yesterday claiming that Korean ginseng is superior to all other ginseng and while it might be true (I have no knowledge either way), he only offered a because-because argument.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do Koreans like their food for health first and taste second? Or is it the other way around? Maybe it's just ingrained in their minds that three times a year, eating ginseng chicken is what is done. After all, Americans do the same thing at Thanksgiving. As my past blood pressure can attest to, I always preferred the tasty food rather than the health food and, to my detriment, my 27-year old clogged arteries paid the price. However, there is a lot of healthy AND tasty food in Korea. So why can't it be both?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the joys of doing these religions is that I get to participate in the actual worship. This was impossible for me this month as there aren't any Jain temples in Korea, but I did get to read about some of the rules while performing rituals in the temple. There are eight items to perform (<a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/8puja.txt">paju</a>). </span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> Naivedya symbolizes tasty food. By doing this puja, one should</i></span></blockquote><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> thrive to reduce or eliminate attachment to tasty food. Healthy</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><blockquote><i> food is essential for survival, however one should not live for</i></blockquote><i><blockquote> tasty food. Ultimate aim in one's life is to attain a life where</blockquote><blockquote> no food is essential for survival. That is the life of a liberated</blockquote><blockquote> soul who lives in Moksha for ever in ultimate blissful state.</blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Liberating myself from food is something that I have tried to master this month. I've been at this for 20 days and I can say that my opinion of food has changed a lot. At first, I wanted it because I couldn't have it. That desirous stage lasted a few solid days where I would find myself positioning in hopes of being offered something. After I broke that cycle, food became a simple annoyance. I needed it, but since I could get it for myself, I just got irritated by the whole thing. Now, I'm starting to realize that food has lost a lot of it zing for me. Essentially, the immediate gratification that some food offers isn't something that I'm seeking out anymore. My palate has calmed a bit and I think that some food that I used to consider gross and bland (healthy) has actually proven itself to be pretty tasty. </span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The very concept of what is and isn't tasty is learned from childhood. It's cultural and just like so many other aspects of our lives, we create barriers and stereotypes that limit our exposure with shallow demonetizations of what isn't "ours". I am not liberated from my desire to eat delicious food. That will take years and years of practice. What has happened, though, is that my palate has once again proven to me that it has an ability to change and adapt. Some food is both healthy and tasty and while I think it's foolish to write off something because it is delicious, the larger lesson here is that people should not be slaves to their own cultural palate. Liberation comes in many forms and the Jains have realized that. </span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">I have a doctors appointment on Thursday. Time to see if my diet has helped with my blood pressure. And even if it hasn't, at least I won't be worried when they tell me to eat more veggies and fruit.</span></i></span></pre>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-25581928884551157842010-07-19T16:47:00.001+09:002010-07-28T06:16:49.785+09:00Day 19<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lately I've been having the most vivid dreams and I'm not sure why. There doesn't appear to be any connection from one dream to the next, but this heavy amount of dreaming is taking a serious toll on my ability to wake up refreshed in the morning. Since I wake up quite early in the morning, I make a habit of changing my alarm sound every week so as not to allow my mind to subconsciously ignore the day's starting bell. It used to work well, but not so much anymore. My wife is actually having to jostle me from my slumber and I hate that. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today was no different. My alarm went off in the middle of a dream and it took me several minutes to even recognize that the music had blended in with the dream and changed its course. My wife, who is a pretty light sleeper, assisted with a firm push that basically sent me off the bed and onto the floor. I snapped out of it, but remained in a very groggy state until work, where I got a heavy dose of tragedy.</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Luckily, nothing happened to my friends or family, but as I was reading the Korean news, I came across this photo.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-weight: 300; line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A </span><a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/07/16/2010071600994.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">related article</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> described what had happened.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, tahoma, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 20px;"> </span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>A 20-year-old Vietnamese woman in Busan was last week stabbed to death by her Korean husband, who had a history of mental illness. She had got married just eight days before her death in a wedding arranged by an international matchmaking firm. </i></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you were to read the article, you'd get a better picture of the situation here in Korea. Due to many circumstances (gender imbalance, income gap, poverty, discrimination, face, mental illness, familial pressure) Korean men who live in rural areas are finding it very hard to find a Korean bride and are instead seeking them in SE Asia by-way of privately owned matchmaking firms. Seeking marriage in this fashion isn't evil unto itself, but when one factors in the strong sense of superiority and nationalism within Asian ethnicities, a simple spat can turn into something much more grizzly. They all seem to think they are the best and most worthy of respect from the rest. Koreans are certainly no different and, following suit, some of these men with $10,000 who purchase their bride tend to think that they are quite the catch. So much in fact that the Korean government has started mandatory <a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/07/12/2010071201030.html">classes</a> to teach these cross-continent bride-seekers...</span></div></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>... that it is wrong to think that they are buying a wife and to hide things about themselves.</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The current case is an interesting one for sure and will probably require new government <a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/07/21/2010072100843.html">regulations</a> designed to protect both the brides and grooms from fraudulent matchmaking firms. Still, this poor Vietnamese woman has lost her life and when it gets down to it, only the man is directly guilty. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/mentally-ill-korean-grooms-apply/story?id=11177251">Or is he</a>?</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"I committed the murder after hearing a voice from a ghost," </i>he told police during the investigation<i>. "He told me to kill my wife." </i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's going to be hard to jail a man who has been in and out of mental institutions over f<a href="http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20100716155124.aspx">ifty times</a> in the past five years, but if there is no punishment, then the diplomatic ties between Vietnam and South Korea are certain to suffer. It highlights the fine line that we walk when we don't call a murder by its name. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a Jain, killing of any sort is wrong and while I was reading scripture today, I came across the concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santhara">Santhara</a> or "voluntary death by fasting." This, to me, seems to conflict with the very foundation of what Jainism is, but I am in fact wrong on that front.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Santhara is the Jain practice of voluntary and systematic fasting to death. Jain texts say it is the ultimate route to attaining moksha </i>[liberation]<i> and breaking free from the whirlpool of life and death </i>[karma]<i>.</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's suicide and even though Jains call it by another name, there's no disputing that it's an intentional death. Personally, I've never really seen a problem with thoughtful people who have decided to end their life. Whether it be because of terminal illness or a similar situation that <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080619074031/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7605448/football_season_is_over">Hunter S. Thompson faced</a>, I don't think it's my place to tell people what they can and can't do. Remember, live and let live? Or to quote Paul McCartney, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK2hKzZss5Y">Live and Let Die</a>". </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun -- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax -- This won't hurt. -</i>Hunter S. Thompson</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the things that I so love about some of these Indian philosophies is that they are practical and rarely engage in spiritual duality. This is a clear blurring of the lines which creates and almost excuses extreme behavior. They claim that normal depression-induced suicide is hasty and emotional and while I agree that only the weak commit suicide, I also believe that people who kill <i>themselves </i>in the name of a "cause" are less martyrs than they are convenient fishers of pity. Dying for a cause is noble. Killing yourself for a self-defined cause is an excuse for quitting.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We can dress up the word "suicide" all we want, but it boils down to a very simple fact that dying by your own hands for your own benefit is no more noble than killing a person for some sort of gain. I would never dream of condemning a religion for such an act as I believe "live and let live" is more powerful than my simple opinion ever will be, but sometimes we've caught to call 'em as we see 'em. The Korean man who saw a murderous ghost instructing him to kill is the same as the Jain who wants to believe that forced starving equates to liberation. It's lipstick on a pig to me.</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-451410019122455842010-07-18T12:26:00.002+09:002010-07-23T13:02:43.921+09:00Day 18<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The rest of yesterday went well. I meditated on my foolishness and tried to see beyond this simple provocation in hopes that I could avoid it in the future. It wasn't difficult just like most things and luckily, I'm able to give myself the time to really sort my thoughts and balance impulse with sensibility. Of course I apologized, but we all know that an apology is empty without action.</span><br />
<blockquote><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Me</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I'm sorry, honey."</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wife</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You love me, so I know you're sorry. That's not the point, though..."</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She's certainly right and sometimes a little too succinct. It saves time for sure, but there are very few people left who will indulge my fluff and bullshit. We talked about it and I shared with her my thoughts about what she said yesterday before heading into class and together we ended up having a great conversation on wisdom, knowledge and how we can grow together. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Towards the end of the conversation, we started discussing the source of what we know to be right and wrong or, simply, where wisdom originates. I am firmly in the camp that believes we know what is right and wrong only if we detach ourselves from the stereotypes of ourselves, gender, race, family, religion, society, culture and country. My wife, however, prefers to believe that wisdom is found in the Christian idea of God and teachings of Christ. Luckily, she's flexible on this a little and can listen to others. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I tried to explain what Jains think about the idea of a creator and creation. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinasena">It's hard</a> to articulate, though.</span><br />
<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression."</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Interesting point, but one that a stoned high school student could and has made tons of time. It's a chicken and egg argument essentially. Was raw material first or Earth? It continues:</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>If you declare that the raw material arose naturally you fall into another fallacy, for the whole universe might thus have been its own creator, and have risen equally naturally. If god created the world by an act of will, without any raw material, then it is just his will made nothing else and who will believe this silly stuff? </i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I think that's what's called "faith". </span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>If he is ever perfect, and complete, how could the will to create have arisen in him? If, on the other hand, he is not perfect, he could no more create the universe than a potter could. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>If he is formless, actionless, and all-embracing, how could he have created the world? </i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's where it gets really Indian.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Such a soul, devoid of all modality, would have no desire to create anything. If you say that he created to no purpose, because it was his nature to do so then god is pointless. If he created in some kind of sport, it was the sport of a foolish child, leading to trouble. If he created out of love for living things and need of them he made the world; why did he not make creation wholly blissful, free from misfortune? Thus the doctrine that the world was created by god makes no sense at all.</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nothing like a discussion on the logics behind a creator, right?. Nothing is ever solved nor does anyone win. It's a waste of time, but interesting nonetheless. This is what time (related to the universe) looks like to the Jain.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikUrHLpsDw6IHtSSpNk7lX3Vv7Er7Vs3fRFHOOgK3zVmpqtVis1VQHoYO5FqplKusc84GPlVYJxHQuqYmLieuMwjsB9krlLs03PEZTnksW13O6EBnUH3diKpLVyLq4fbbtVfi3DfMRnsNb/s1600/Jain_Cosmic_Time_Cycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikUrHLpsDw6IHtSSpNk7lX3Vv7Er7Vs3fRFHOOgK3zVmpqtVis1VQHoYO5FqplKusc84GPlVYJxHQuqYmLieuMwjsB9krlLs03PEZTnksW13O6EBnUH3diKpLVyLq4fbbtVfi3DfMRnsNb/s400/Jain_Cosmic_Time_Cycle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-73483372033614523412010-07-17T12:34:00.000+09:002010-07-22T08:36:28.965+09:00Day 17<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Right now my spectacularly intelligent wife is studying away her Saturday in a Spanish class. I'm impressed by the forward-thinking prerogative she so often lives by. One day, I hope that trait will be somehow passed onto me, but so far I seem to be pretty good at living for the moment. It's raining really hard today and just a few moments ago I got home from bringing the wife to class which means that I am in fact buck naked having just removed my soaked clothes from my drenched body. They're lying in a pile next to the laundry room being thoroughly inspected by my dog for interesting odors. I doubt he'll find anything.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since we woke up late, we didn't get a chance to eat so, like usual, it could have been an eighteen hour no-food marathon. Luckily, I have started to game this system a little. During the week, my students offer me a lot of stuff. Sometimes it's fruit smoothies and other times it's Korean breads filled with bean paste. It's better than it sounds. Well, today, I remembered that one of my first grade students had offered me a treat last week that I had forgotten all about.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivEO5LTgLBV2_CWX3AWPjHltVAFdBqeRkSBlyNs-HH4DNWyStY2LUoqLgi5Wlkj99dkvj0zmJdUw8MST_dYcdaTeIBZncySdGbq2mVGw3hddlePZ1ZvcaesMmRtupAIOW-TCsMqGXBU_FC/s1600/%ED%95%B4%EB%B0%94%EB%9D%BC%EA%B8%B0%EC%B4%88%EC%BD%94%EB%B3%BC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivEO5LTgLBV2_CWX3AWPjHltVAFdBqeRkSBlyNs-HH4DNWyStY2LUoqLgi5Wlkj99dkvj0zmJdUw8MST_dYcdaTeIBZncySdGbq2mVGw3hddlePZ1ZvcaesMmRtupAIOW-TCsMqGXBU_FC/s200/%ED%95%B4%EB%B0%94%EB%9D%BC%EA%B8%B0%EC%B4%88%EC%BD%94%EB%B3%BC.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chocolate-covered sunflower seeds might not sound all that appealing, but since I played baseball as a kid, I was used to the innards and chocolate is fine with me. Unfortunately, my stomach has become pretty sensitive this month and loading it with junk like 해바라기 초코볼 (Sunflower Chocolate Balls) isn't going to do much more than gratify my taste buds and stimulate my bowels. Neither of those really get me going, so I think I'll just snack on a few while I'm writing about the miniature doghouse that I created for myself by being a selfish husband. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Learning selflessness is hard for anyone. I picked up some good tips from Buddha that helped me visualize how my stubbornness or anger can affect those around me. Jains combine selflessness with their very broad understanding of Ahimsa (non-violence) and is pretty clear on the nature these tendancies and how easy it is to get sucked into them.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>A man is seated on top of a tree in the midst of a burning forest.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>He sees all living beings perish.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>But he doesn't realize that the same fate is soon to overtake him also.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>That man is fool.</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know what I need to do, but I still choose to ignore it. Today, I ignored that fact, acted foolish and got the wife a little peeved. I usually try to drive her to class whenever possible and even though the rain was pounding down on Seoul, I offered to give her a ride to her class. As you may remember, we only have one motor-scooter and because of safety issues stemming from rain-driving, we only have one full set of rain gear. Being the <s>southern</s> gentlemen that I so proudly am, I gave her the entire suit and happily offered her the protection of my umbrella as I escorted her to the scooter. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sounds nice, right? Well, once we got in the scooter and started riding to her class, the skies really opened up and doused the city. After a mere ten seconds, I was totally soaked. As we made our way there, I started becoming more and more irritated by the entire situation. I started running through all the other ways that she could have gotten there. Without realizing it, I was subtly shaking my head and making louder-than-usual scoffing sounds. When we pulled up to her school, she got off the bike and turned to me.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>"Offering to do something for others and then acting like its an inconvenience is hypocritical and just plain mean-spirited. You should meditate on <u><b>that</b></u>, honey."</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She didn't shout, nor did she say anything rude. She simply stated the fact that I already knew but chose to ignore. It's easy to be a fool. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Time to meditate.</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-64812616593403744642010-07-16T17:37:00.000+09:002010-07-20T22:02:21.920+09:00Day 16<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here I am, the halfway point. I've followed the rules as closely as possible and have done everything I am supposed to do. I read scripture every day, avoid killing any form of insects or animals, walk carefully, strut naked whenever legal, abstain from flesh, detach myself from my body (hair), speak correctly, meditate daily, only eat when offered, spend no money, reflect on my soul and try to pass as little judgement as possible. I'm doing as much as I can to transform myself into a lay Jain and I've gotta admit that it is hard. The respect that I have streaming from my heart for these followers can't be seen through text, but the brilliance of their sacrifices and dedication can be seen by anyone who dares to open their eyes (like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoU0i4B3GnE">Kucinich</a> did).</span></span><br />
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</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While doing research for Jainism, I have stumbled across the same introduction to the religion over and over again: non-violence is the highest religion. </span></span></div><blockquote><img align="left" alt="A" border="0" height="32" hspace="1" src="http://www.onelittleangel.com/common/images/letter/A.gif" valign="top" vspace="1" width="35" /></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">man who is averse from harming even the wind knows the sorrow of all things living. . . . He who knows what is bad for himself knows what is bad for others, and he who knows what is bad for others knows what is bad for himself. This reciprocity should always be borne in mind. Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live [at the expense of others]. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against wind is called a true sage who understands karma.</span></i></blockquote></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; line-height: 18px;"><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In short be who understands the nature of sin in respect of all the six types of living beings is called a true sage who understands karma.</span></i></blockquote></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is essentially a more complex golden rule and while I'm not yet at the point where I am willing to claim that 'The Golden Rule' is the common thread behind every religion (Jainism has taught me the true complexity of spiritualism), I am honest enough to say that some people would do just as well to adhere to that timeless creed than to any religion. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Non-violence is important to everyone, but there's more behind it as expressed through this quote from :</span></div><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Live and let live.</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love all ‑ Serve all.</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We all know the first part of this concept and since it has become an fairly common idiom to English speakers, we even use it in everyday speech. The second half is actually the more important part on which the entire message hinges. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's a certain southerner in my family who used to lecture me about accepting people who were different from me. </span><br />
<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Different strokes for different folks," <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">he would say</span>.</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He usually used it while we were arguing about politics and threw it in there only to end the conversation without having to prove anything. People unfortunately misuse God in this way as well. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTq4Mb3OXckTmWVEBQxzmu5SZvO9xP6XLQh7WbMQWDBumBjnPD_hMP5Rk7T2x1Xluc2XjmTb6kCedyxLhwpaqyLHwj0sHB1NYjUT9NvWdtWQdzX3bp2LuzWXHdHDq9Hl4YB516ljNt9RDZ/s1600/then-a-miracle-occurs-cartoon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTq4Mb3OXckTmWVEBQxzmu5SZvO9xP6XLQh7WbMQWDBumBjnPD_hMP5Rk7T2x1Xluc2XjmTb6kCedyxLhwpaqyLHwj0sHB1NYjUT9NvWdtWQdzX3bp2LuzWXHdHDq9Hl4YB516ljNt9RDZ/s320/then-a-miracle-occurs-cartoon.png" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The problem with saying it was a "miracle" is that the conversation stops there. Nothing more (or less) can be added. It's a deflection. The same goes for people using idioms like "different strokes for different folks" and "live and let live." They use them usually as deflections or cheap show-stoppers, but have essentially divorced themselves from what it means to live and let live. They have omitted love.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One could easily alter the expression and make it "love and let live", but Olivia Newton-John ruined that one with an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-iR5mPkDI0">awful song</a> that has nothing to do with what I'm saying. For people to truly live and <i>let </i>live they must love unconditionally. They must love other humans as they love animals and insects. They must love the earth as they love their own soul. We should love not because we're told to or because our soul will transmigrate in a certain direction. We should love because every single one of us want the same thing in life: peace.</span><br />
<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All beings hate pain, therefore one should not hurt or kill them.</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After meditating this evening, I think I got a clearer picture of what the Jain approach to "live and let live" actually is. I think we need to switch the whole thing around.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Serve all</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love all</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Live and let live</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We should all strive for love, but not the love that we can feel personally. Rather, we should first strive for others' love and not for own. Once everyone else knows love then we can enjoy the emotion with them in its pure form. This scenario is the only way for us to truly live and let live. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's not an deflection or a cheap way to make yourself appear open-minded. It's the only way to achieve peace.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The question is, how easy is it to put into action?</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-4938225846626540562010-07-15T12:31:00.005+09:002010-07-19T15:35:01.950+09:00Day 15<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I went to bed last night feeling great. I had a superb meditation, did an extra-long yoga session and finished it off with a bike ride into a cold shower. It's rare that I get to accomplish that much in a single evening, but since I don't work tomorrow morning or evening (I still gotta head to the elementary school), I can stay up a bit later. So, I did and finally hit the hay around 2am. Korea is much more of a late-night country than, say, America. Six hours later I was up and ready to head down to the park for some cleaning. I hopped in the shower, DIDN'T grab a bite and opened the door. </span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RAIN!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course it was raining. I turned on the weather.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RAIN!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I looked at about a dozen or so forecasts online.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RAIN!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RAIN!<br />
RAIN!<br />
RAIN!<br />
RAIN!<br />
RAIN!<br />
CLEAR -nice</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RAIN!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">RAIN!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's looked like rain is not only is store for today, but for the entire weekend. Great. You might recall from my Buddhist month that rain was supposed to be one of the greatest days for reflection and meditation. For Jains, rain is not supposed to be a hindrance. Waiting for the rain to stop is the same as waiting in vain for something that is unknown. Bad weather is ceaseless in the life and if we can only do good for ourselves and the world when the weather permits, then we're bound to miss a lot of opportunities for liberation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I thought about this concept pretty hard and as much as I wanted to follow the words of the Lords, walking around in the soggy grasses of a flooded Han River picking up trash just didn't appeal to the modern and--dare I say--civilized person in me. I decided to call the whole thing off and rework my day. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What to do... </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Read scripture? Meditate? Troll around people eating in hopes of being offered some food? Nah. That's boring and I've been doing that for the past two weeks. I've been really careful about not wasting my time these days, but on a day like today, I simply had nothing to do and it occurred to me that aside from this project and reading, I have pretty much nothing else to do inside on a rainy day. Can I allow myself to be super lazy and just watch mindless TV?</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Should I <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/sbe45/sbe4556.htm">exert</a> myself more?</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>It is said that two definitions of exertion are given; but in what does the exertion of the virtuous consist, and how is it defined? Some say that it consists in works, and the pious in abstention from works. Men appear divided into two classes from this point of view.</i></span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alright, so as a pious follower, I am to abstain from doing anything. Figuring out what that means is hard though. Well, from what I can gather, exertion which "leads to works" will only lead me to fall into the traps of desire. The opposite of that is "exertion not leading to works". </span></div><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>As a tortoise draws its limbs into its own body, so a wise man should cover, as it were, his sins with his own meditation. He should draw in, as it were, his hands and feet, his mind and five organs of sense, the effect of his bad Karman, and every bad use of language.The virtuous exert themselves with regard to the distant end One should live indifferent to one's own happiness, calm, and without any attachment. Do not kill living beings, do not take what is not freely given, do not talk false, treacherous speech! This is the Law of him who is rich in control.</i></span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That does bode well for boredom. I think I'll just read a book and listen to the rain fall. Man, Jainism is not for the weak. </span></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-84372947083543123612010-07-14T18:28:00.000+09:002010-07-19T09:56:46.771+09:00Day 14<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The rainy season is certainly upon us here in East Asia. It's pretty rough this summer as well. In fact, this entire year as been marked with extreme weather. Seoul got slammed with a heavy snowstorm and winter blast last January which pretty much stayed with us until mid-May. Spring didn't really even happen and now I'm getting soaked every time I step outside the house. A lot of rain isn't a big deal, but when you have two jobs and a wife that likes to move around the city, wetness becomes more of a problem. However, tomorrow is supposed to be clear and I'm thrilled because I also happen to have a couple days off. The question now is, what should I do?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well, I've been thinking a lot about organizing a group of people to clean up the Han River banks and surrounding parks. I use the parks down there a lot and have always been a little irked by the amount of trash that builds up. I'm planning on going down there by myself tomorrow morning with a couple jumbo trash bags and get started, but how much can one person do? Like Buddhism and Christianity, Jainism tells us that compassion is paramount and that we need to do things that help others in private and without fanfare. I agree with this to a point, but doesn't there come a time when assistance is needed? I fully agree that most problems in the world come from people focusing on others too much rather than what they need to do for themselves.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Fight with yourself, why fight with external foes?</i></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> </i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>He who conquers himself through himself, will obtain happiness.</i></span> </blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yet, changing the world to make it possible for others to be happy requires a group effort. Let me illustrate a point here. What make people want to help more: A photo of an oil rig or a bird covered in slick?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0HGcovir3aK6SnR9-rlBxYqpcMvcc6iwqEtkI5IuZdnbIAaWXufBmVaqX3rYsi61CcYoX-LBrwrMtkH1qxyMKwH86qfVIVlBWAroKFT63YBoUjSOsB_waqWv7RzMBDFBZ18yJqLzASD_/s1600/oilrig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0HGcovir3aK6SnR9-rlBxYqpcMvcc6iwqEtkI5IuZdnbIAaWXufBmVaqX3rYsi61CcYoX-LBrwrMtkH1qxyMKwH86qfVIVlBWAroKFT63YBoUjSOsB_waqWv7RzMBDFBZ18yJqLzASD_/s320/oilrig.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWQqr6a-Fp4AyfbdpKO-v0wZ8zcPfyk3ckM-6WXZWYeYhezyATWGDff_Vkt7KT36smrgTBmc9eeMsdZ-sqGsNoYZ568bBI7OD7Ok0-fxo8B8Ew5fCqO4o6PCH3pPbiYEtAtXYOsrS8XYX/s1600/obama_bp_kill_birds_oil_spill_gulf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWQqr6a-Fp4AyfbdpKO-v0wZ8zcPfyk3ckM-6WXZWYeYhezyATWGDff_Vkt7KT36smrgTBmc9eeMsdZ-sqGsNoYZ568bBI7OD7Ok0-fxo8B8Ew5fCqO4o6PCH3pPbiYEtAtXYOsrS8XYX/s320/obama_bp_kill_birds_oil_spill_gulf.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course, most people will look at the oil rig and think 'energy' while people look at the bird and think 'disaster'. Disasters make people feel compassion and a desire to help others and while helping others in need is always a great thing to do, it misses to point</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. We should look at that oil rig and see 'disaster waiting to happen' and feel the urge to progress past their use, but since we don't spend time fighting with our own conscience and rather waste energy battling and posturing with others, we refuse to see this. If we truly asked ourselves how we could prevent seeing birds covered in oil, a very simple respond would be offered and that would be to change our energy policy, but we don't operate like that. We'd prefer to fight with external foes for the sheer sake of it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How about these images?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaXg_B-IaK6LOM9byr6BDkiaVMdPYQWvagcbrdQT0WMwMasjxblwC8_NLnN-2VbIKXlfrrTkABYg1-tJm9c6UzdsKI1_01DfwEQKwRTIjZH2moAmC_jG7KOF2LEcogEQOHToWor7LzCb_h/s1600/tailgating-by-a-espncdndotcom2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaXg_B-IaK6LOM9byr6BDkiaVMdPYQWvagcbrdQT0WMwMasjxblwC8_NLnN-2VbIKXlfrrTkABYg1-tJm9c6UzdsKI1_01DfwEQKwRTIjZH2moAmC_jG7KOF2LEcogEQOHToWor7LzCb_h/s320/tailgating-by-a-espncdndotcom2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Looks like fun, right? Who doesn't like tailgating?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTE6y4tsSpUZVPHJHkN4lwb-k1cjP75BPaPSbb_AMKXzEq7f_LAQOKc19nvlUFyxSnAUnjaLi_F1SvQqaRGsEdzjnbIRodpaipMPaSITwGzeuZO7T8By8XEXXBn2bBLr-lu6EJsuhyphenhyphene6i/s1600/UGA-game-trash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTE6y4tsSpUZVPHJHkN4lwb-k1cjP75BPaPSbb_AMKXzEq7f_LAQOKc19nvlUFyxSnAUnjaLi_F1SvQqaRGsEdzjnbIRodpaipMPaSITwGzeuZO7T8By8XEXXBn2bBLr-lu6EJsuhyphenhyphene6i/s320/UGA-game-trash.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The people who have to clean this up don't. Showing pictures of trash and oil-covered birds is good because it gets people to think compassionately and act on that emotion, but why must it always come so late? Just like when I had my blood pressure issue a few months ago, it was only after being scared into living healthily did I change. Cleaning dirty birds is great, but after we clean them, where do they go? They end up back in the same high-risk area surrounded by oil rigs just ready to leak again (<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/07/national/main6653016.shtml">27,000</a> to be exact).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's unfortunate that we do this to ourselves. I believe that we know internally that we're causing damage to ourselves and our world which is why the Jains believe that we have the capacity to make the right decision before it becomes a catastrophe. Humans are what they are and until people start fighting with themselves first, we will have to continue acting on outcomes rather than intuition. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm still going to clean up the river tomorrow and I'm also going to promote is on some websites and forums. Not because I want credit, but because this is how people operate. Rather than reusing their cup, it's easier to throw it away. If I get enough people involved then maybe they will start pressing others to start thinking in the same manner and only then can we--as people--start making good decisions internally before reacting to the bad ones externally.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-59725827810373789452010-07-13T12:38:00.017+09:002010-07-17T12:03:03.169+09:00Day 13<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm fully used to not eating when I want at this point and scooting nude around the house like a naughty toddler is actually pretty nice. I don't think about clothes all that much which was the point, but the downside is that my laundry is piling up. My wife and I are weekend laundry washers and since Koreans don't use driers, the whole process takes hours and hours for a single load. Sure, clothes tend to last a bit longer, but there is no such thing as doing a quick load on this peninsula. It's an ordeal and one that I haven't been on top of at all this month. Right now, I'm wearing a light blue polo with khakis (I'm at work) and neither of them have been washed since their last appearances. Luckily, I have a lot of socks and boxers. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This evening I'm tutoring a new student. I'm not a fan of tutoring at all, but my wife asked me to do this as a favor since it's for one of her old students' daughters. The little girl is six years old and probably has no real grasp on any aspect on the English language. One of my British friends used to teach her last year, so it's safe to assume that she has a slight accent. I'll fix that though. With kids this age, the teacher must be entertaining and educational. I hate to say it, but edutainment is crucial and, perhaps unfortunately, I've grown quite good at that game. It's a must in the Korean English educational world and even though I dispute its effectiveness, mothers and school administrators believe that English must be fun. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, tonight I have some "fun" English activities in mind that are sure to convince the mother that the $50/hr I charge is worth it. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of this, of course, makes me think of not only my language education (which was not terribly entertaining), but my religious education. I never went to any officially religious schools. My grade school was secular, but you could tell from the fact that there was like two Jews and very few Catholics that it had a closed-door waspy vibe. My high school was Christian-lite, but always remained unaffiliated. That pretty much leaves my church and since </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I've only been a member of one, I can only speak from that experience. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My Sunday school tried to teach me the fun parts of Christianity, but they did so in a very boring way. I learned nothing, hated all of my teachers and usually tried to spend as much time in the bathroom as possible. I even started drinking coffee for the sheer sake that it took time to mix as many packages of cream and sugar into a styrofoam cup. I remember one single lesson from my entire decade-plus in attending those classes. I bet you remember this one as well... </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Zaccheus was a wee, little man</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>And a wee, little man was he</i></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>He climbed up in a sycamore tree</i></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>For the Lord he wanted to see</i></div><i><br />
</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><i>And as the Savior came that way</i></span><i><br />
</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><i>He looked up in the tree</i></span><br />
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<div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>And he said,</i></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>"Zaccheus, you come down from there"</i></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>For I'm going to your house today</i></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>For I'm going to your house today</i></div></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Until today, I had no idea who <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacchaeus">Zaccheus</a> was. All I knew was that he loved trees and insisted on sitting in them. Maybe this song inadvertently affected me because I also love sitting in trees. But that's the point: I attended Sunday school classes for years and never took anything away from it. And it's not for a lack of trying. I was all over Vacation Bible School and have the hand-decorated tote bags to prove it. The problem was that the classes were boring, the teachers were small-minded and the subject matter was limited to lessons about Jesus. It was essentially an exercise in bullshitting ones way through a class. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don't think the idea of a Sunday School is a bad one though, I just feel like that time could be spent better. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back in the Motherland (UK), they have decided that <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3654263.stm">world religions must be taught</a> in all public schools. They claim it would foster a more caring and tolerant society.</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>It envisages pupils "appreciating the sense of wonder at the world in which they live, and their response to questions of meaning and purpose", while "recognising that knowledge is bounded by mystery".</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am aware that some American schools teach a few things about other world religions, but the lions share doesn't even bother. Can you image what the conservative faction of America would do if we proposed such a thing? I personally didn't know a thing about world religions (or Christianity) until I picked up a book in my spare time. There are thousands of religions and spiritual traditions around the world and even if we trimmed the fat, there are at least twenty that a majority of the world follow. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wouldn't it be wise if each individual religion took some time and tried to educate their followers in other religions? Imagine if we actually understood each other and the reasons why practitioners do the things they do. We'd have a much more openly diverse and accepting world. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is a Jain doctrine called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekantavada">Anekantavada</a> which clearly states that there is always going to be a multiplicity of viewpoints on spirituality. While I was a Buddhist, I came across a parable called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant">Blind Men and an Elephant</a>" which is common in many Indian religions. (The Jain version is <a href="http://www.jainworld.com/education/stories25.asp">here</a>.)</span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The story says that six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant's body.</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A wise man explains to them:</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all the features you mentioned."</span></span></blockquote></blockquote><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mahavira once told a follower who was curious about the nature of the soul this:</span></span></div><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The soul is permanent as well as impermanent. From the point of view of the substance it is eternal. From the point of view of its modes it undergoes birth, decay and destruction and hence impermanent.</span></span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The religion itself teaches that there are other ways of thinking and while I'm sure most Jains prefer their methods, this doctrine prevents confidence turning into intolerance. </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGxi5RIsC2Y0ClOYE2B1qCy3FDxKjdUGMJL09JrCzK4favmxXW3ZepEuW26C9F1y9nwzjDAm5OXu6PxRCSvnYI3ZZhStSAb6rR4uXEd7zkuxh__lckVbV1vz4F6VuteHAMhRTV0WpX3us/s1600/bootyism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGxi5RIsC2Y0ClOYE2B1qCy3FDxKjdUGMJL09JrCzK4favmxXW3ZepEuW26C9F1y9nwzjDAm5OXu6PxRCSvnYI3ZZhStSAb6rR4uXEd7zkuxh__lckVbV1vz4F6VuteHAMhRTV0WpX3us/s320/bootyism.jpg" /></a></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The sad part is, I bet many people could describe what Bootyism is rather than Buddhism. We all could use a little </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Anekantavada I think.</span></span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-45952810087669110262010-07-12T12:58:00.000+09:002010-07-14T14:33:34.664+09:00Day 12<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have a short week this week, so I'm in pretty high spirits. On top of that, my wife surprised me with tickets to Vietnam for six days in September, so that'll be pretty fantastic. We've already got the guest-house lined up and I'm eying a few Vietnamese-style motor scooters that we'll rent while we're there. I think a few insects might be in trouble down there, but I'll be a Jew that month, so it doesn't matter now does it? </span></span><br />
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</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm getting used to this walking around nude business. I get home, shed the clothes and that's it. Done with it until tomorrow. The only part I don't like it when my dog stares at me though. I feel like he knows that I'm doing something different, but since he can't say anything I don't really care. He's naked, too. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">***</span><br />
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</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This morning I was in class and like every Monday morning, my curious students ask me how my weekend was and if I learned anything new about Jainism or life. For some reason they believe that I am much smarter than I actually am and apparently all spiritual questions must be directed at me rather than their priest or resident monk. I'm actually not an authority on anything at all. I wish I could say that I'm a jack of all trades (and master of none), but I have a feeling that only the latter part applies to me. I try to make myself interesting though. At least my wife loves me, right?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yesterday, I was thinking about how humans are primed for God, gods or a certain deity that has been relevant to their own existence on this rock. We're primed through our friends, family, culture, schools and even language. In the English language for instance, we have a lot of expressions that include the word "god", however, there are no such expressions in Korean. Why? Perhaps because Korea was traditionally a Buddhist nation and America has certainly been dominated by Christians. We don't even realize that we've been primed for a certain religion most of the time, either. It just happens.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That priming pretty much restricts the depths of spiritualism many humans will allow themselves to venture into. I asked a Catholic student, a Buddhist student and an agnostic student whether they preferred a practical religion or a notional religion, but before I did that, I tricked them a little. I randomly listed qualities of each type of religion without identifying their origins. Students discussed why they liked what they did and even defended their position. Then, after they had fully supported their own reasoning, I revealed which trait went with each type for religion and again, I asked them which one they preferred. All of them changed their position and went back to their original (and primed) point of view. That is what priming does to our minds. It limits us.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I used to hear people say, "I'm spiritual, not religious..." and I always let it go because I too used to use it when I didn't want to get into a conversation about my personal take on religion. I have yet to call someone on that, but I have a feeling that their statement could be changed around to say, "I'm spiritually inept, not religiously fervent." Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I'd love to hear someone discuss spirituality without discussing religion. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or maybe I have this all wrong.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I was in the third grade, I had a teacher named Inka Goell Odom. She was a German-born immigrant who used to tell us stories of her house being bombed during World War II. Being the age that I was at that time, I never thought much about it, but Goell (her maiden name) is certainly a German name, but it might even be an </span><a href="http://www.babynamescountry.com/meanings/Goel.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">old Hebrew name</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. (Then again, it might be an </span><a href="http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/goel"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">old Jain name</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as well, so who knows?) I wonder what the actual details of her departure from Germany were. According to the Yellow Pages, she still lives in the same house she did when I was nine, so I guess I could give her a ring and ask her. I won't though. She might not remember me and that would be embarrassing. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Either way, she fittingly taught European history and focused heavily on the arts and cultural scene of Western Europe. We discussed everything from Monet and Mozart to Robert the Bruce and Henry VIII. In fact, it was in her class that I first watched <i>Amadeus</i>. And while she sounds like she might be all about the Battle of Hastings (1066) and Magna Carta (1215)--both of which she taught me--she had another side to her. Whenever our class was asked to sit quietly, she wouldn't trust us to actually do it, so she would have us meditate. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of the other classes would be going wild, but not us. No sir. We had to sit in a tantric circle chanting "</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5T6VQcRub4&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oooommm</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">" over and over again. I clearly remember how odd I felt that it was. Why are we doing this? Why can't I play? However, after doing it several times a day for nine months, I started to see the value in it. It was calming. Technically, I have yet to do any Oooommm-ing for this project, but I really dig meditation. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maybe, that is what I could call being "spiritual, not religious". Of course, the problem is that it </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">religious. Tantra is a form of worship and is part of many religions! I do it everyday as a Jain. Just because you don't know it's religious doesn't mean that you can claim detachment from religion. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or maybe there's something bigger at play here. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maybe, it's that every religion offers a little of what we need. I know this to be true and so do most people. Yet, w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e sometimes refuse to allow ourselves to listen to others and especially other religions. Religion is not a competition. It's a way to define, explain and comfort our souls. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div></div></div>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7174221584921205407.post-54532268610445153872010-07-11T14:34:00.001+09:002010-07-13T16:46:36.017+09:00Day 11<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I took a good look at myself in the mirror this morning. I've lost a bit of weight, but since everyone has been offering me a whole lot, I've haven't really had to go without meals for a real long period of time. Something odd has happened though. Since shaving my head (which is growing tremendously fast by the way) I've had more of an urge to exercise. Maybe it's because I look manlier than usual or perhaps I'm channeling the GI inside me, but I'm just in the mood to work out. I'm sure I'll get burned out soon. I'm never great at keeping the routine up. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">student</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> who is depressed and "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tired of being alive". He's having a tremendous amount of difficulty at work (long hours, poor pay, no respect) and just doesn't see anything on the horizon for him to look forward to. The sad thing is is that he is one of my most enthusiastic students who is always ready to engage in a great discussion following a sometimes complicated lecture. He has a cool confidence that radiates off him which changes the trajectory of the class itself. As a teacher, he is the student that we all want. He's smart, witty, ballsy and possesses a brilliant self-deprecating sense of humor that is quite rare for Koreans.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Still, he is depressed and I shouldn't take this lightly. No one should. But in Korea, depression is far too often ignored and mislabeled as work-related stress. Since depression often goes undiagnosed here, students and adults alike take to throwing themselves off buildings. Putting the books down or taking a day off of work doesn't cure depression. Neither does quitting your job. It takes help from friends, family and maybe even doctors. There isn't a single cure and realizing that is half the battle.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During my Buddhist month, I had a student who was having a lot of trouble deciding whether or not to move to Vancouver for a year. She was worried about culture shock and friends and missing family and all of that stuff. Normal things to worry about, but she was considering skipping the entire adventure because she would miss her "life". She was raised a Buddhist, so I referred her to some Buddhist text about making decisions and personal strength. It really helped her and she moved to Canada. Of course, I have no idea how she is doing there, nor will I ever see or hear from her again, but she claimed that the Buddha's words helped her. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The next month (as a Catholic) I faced another situation where a student was very anti-Christian. He would always scoff when the faith was mentioned and offered very typical arguments when some of my Christian students would discuss Jesus. To me, it sounded like something bad happened to him and he decided to blame God for it. I really don't like it when people disrespect other peoples' faith, so I stepped in there and expressed what I think about the phrase "God is Love". He listened and since he was a Christian in high school (before being conscripted to the military), he knew the books I was quoting from. The next month he wasn't in class. Eventually he came by and told me that he couldn't take my classes anymore because he had gotten involved with the church again. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This month, I face another problem and what I tried to do was to refer him to some Jain texts. I tried a few, but since Jainism is a solo venture of the soul which teaches that the world is a cursed place full of suffering and pain, I find that the message doesn't sit well with him. I can offer him a lecture or methods of liberating himself, but many of those messages just don't sit well with him. I can tell him that happiness comes from within, but what happens if someone feels empty already? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's what it boils down to: People are primed for their own religion. They navigate their own spirituality and life using it as a compass. It's hard to deprogram their minds and reset to it to another show. Yet, welcoming them back into the fold is easy. I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">t simply takes a little nudging to get them back into it. That's what happened with the first two students. They were lost in this burning world (You like how I mixed Catholicism with Buddhism there?) and a simple push in the "right" direction set them back on course.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They were easy. This fellow, however, has no religious priming and therefore sees no value in it. My problem is that while I have been primed for a Christian God to swoop in and save the day, I'm not so sure he looks the same as I remember. His image is not as simple as the old wise man in the clouds. What I mean is that I also don't know what religion he needs to hear, but maybe that's the point. He's not primed for religion. He's primed for a humanist approach and I need to be flexible with that as well. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Religion is a great thing and it helps billions of people every day. However, there are a whole lot of people that haven't been primed for it and while some followers might try to save the day with their own faith, that is really do different than the mislabeling and misdiagnosing of depression that goes on in Korea. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The world is complex. There are no quick-fixes. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's a second part to this, so stay tuned...</span>Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132740516219585697noreply@blogger.com0