By now, you’ve all heard about the earth-wide movement (or lack thereof) that occurred yesterday, known as Boobquake.  Boobquake was begun by blogger Jennifer McCreight, in response to Islamic Cleric Hojatoleslam Kaze Sedighi, who publicly stated that recent devastating earthquakes were due to women exposing an excess of cleavage.

McCreight urged women everywhere to come together on April 26th to voice their opposition to this blame-game, by wearing low-cut blouses to the workplace and about town.  If there was no measurable increase in seismic activity due to the thousands of newly-opened blouse buttons across the World, perhaps people like the cleric would simply give it a rest, already.

Did Boobquake prove its theory?

One estimate is that over 200,000 women took part in the social experiment, in a fine attempt to prove Sedighi wrong.  The result?  According to the U. S. Geologic Survey, there was no greater instance of movement about the earth’s tectonic plates yesterday, although there may’ve been a number more auto accidents due to the increased gawking.

Did Jennifer McCreight (photo to the right – and a host of well-endowed women) prove, once and for all, that there are no direct correlations between the confident display of feminine sexuality and ongoing natural disasters?  Have we completely squashed the cleric’s argument?  I’m not so sure…

What about the flip side of sexuality-temblor interrelations?  What would happen if millions of the opposite sex were absolutely, completely, turned off sexually for the day?  Would the planet Earth, for one grand 24-hour period, take a respite from the shaking and quaking, flooding and thunder, fire and famine?  Would we all, for a time, enjoy an unprecedented level of symbiotic unison with Mother Nature?

What else could be done…

This is where the men of the World have their chance to also contribute to Jennifer’s unique social experiment.  We men can completely quell the sex-as-disaster-maker theory, as bandied about by Cleric Sedighi.  (Apparently it’s not enough to simply remind Sedighi that modest-dressing Iran has one of the most geologically active regions on the globe….)

We have to do more to knock Sedighi’s argument into the dust.  We have to absolutely break it apart and drive it to dust at our feet.  To the men of the World, I give you that opportunity.  I give you TubeQuake…

What is TubeQuake?

TubeQuake is a fairly easy concept, guys.  On July 15th, 2010, I am calling upon all men, in each nation, of each color and creed, each faith and persuasion, to wear the abhorrent equivalent of fashion birth control.  That’s right, I’m talking about proudly displaying, for all the lovely ladies to see, the traditional knee-length white cotton tube sock.  Sporty stripes are optional.

Regardless of what else you are required to wear that day, whether it be a 3-piece tailored black suit, shorts, jeans, coveralls, or what-have-you, complement it with your very own bright, white tube socks.  The newer the better, so as to draw undesired attention to them (and hopefully bring us one step closer to natural tranquility.)

Will the feminine stomach-lurching, eye-rolling and laughing reactions to this proud display of I-don’t-care-what-looks-good Manhood-gone-awry bring temporary peace to our World?  Will each guffaw, each sprayed-out glass of wine in the restaurants you visit bring our planet one step closer to healing itself?

Join me on July 15th.  Please let your boyfriends, husbands, brothers, fathers, cousins, nephews, friends and bromances know about TubeQuake.  Let’s grow this to 1 Million strong, and help completely prove that Jennifer was absolutely right…

Steve Woods

Join the TubeQuake Facebook fan page.

Hinamatsuri is an extremely old ceremony, filled with color and meaning.  Soft, red fabric is laid all over, especially on stepped tables.  On the fabric are carefully placed dolls, hundreds of them, thousands all over.  From Hello Kitty to miniature Kabuki or Geisha versions, the dolls are considered to be empty containers with a spiritually important purpose.

As people look over the dolls, remarking at their whimsy or beauty, prayers are quietly given, meant to summon into memory recollections of evil or undesirable spirits, situations and thoughts, tragedies and terrors.  The intention is to move that which has burdened you, your family or your community into one of the dolls.

Many of the dolls at the shrine, along with trinkets and sweets, will be placed upon tiny straw boats, and placed upon the waters of the Takano and Kamo rivers, to float away, along with the bad spirits, omens and thoughts.  More prayers are said as the participants silently watch the boats float away with their worries and fears.

Hinamatsuri provides the people of Kyoto and Japan an annual cathartic feeling, as they begin to positively look forward to a better year ahead….

“…you will cast all your sins into the depths of the sea…”  ~ Micah 7:9

In Jewish tradition, there is a similar ceremony, held around Rosh Hashanah, known as Tashlich.  Tashlich is a Hebrew word, translating as “to cast away.”  It is a rarity among Jewish ceremonies, believed to be so important to spiritual growth that it is observed even on the Sabbath.

In preparation for requesting forgiveness from ourselves, each other and God, Jews keep some bread crumbs in a pocket while pondering on all of the sinful behavior they took part in during the previous 365 days.  Tradition has it that as we open our hearts and memories in honesty, the crumbs will absorb our sins and grief.

It is important to do this quietly, alone, and over a long period, thinking of everyone we may have wronged, no matter how slight the act seemed to us.

To perform Tashlich, special prayers are read aloud as the bread crumbs are cast into a free-flowing body of water, such as a stream or river.  The movement of water is essential, ritually carrying the sin-filled crumbs from where they were thrown.

In Ancient Israel, lakes and rivers were few and far between, so small shallow wells (cisterns) were dug up and used.  Kurdish and Yemenese Jews immersed themselves fully in Mikvot (ritual baths) to clean themselves of their sins.  The Jews of Safed climbed upon their roofs and prayed over the Sea of Galilee below.  In Galicia, Jews prayed over tiny boats of straw, them floated them out onto the water with lit candles.  When the candles burned down, the boats (and sins) caught fire and were destroyed.

The concept of Tashlich has evolved in modern time to mean that we are not so much casting off our sins as casting off attitudes and behaviors that caused them.  It is committing oneself to work on bettering ourselves, to be more understanding, more accepting, more loving toward and caring for our fellow Man.

“Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.  But be sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.”  ~ Akio Morita

In many larger Nations, a formal period of self-imposed reflection, asking of forgivenes, and casting off of bad behaviors does not exist.  We leave it up to ourselves to realize on our own (or through friends, family or religious leaders) that this is necessary for us to grow and move forward in life.  Do we as a Nation, as a Society, run the risk of repeating our mistakes without this periodic introspection?

We tend to stand together in times of crisis, such as now, after the tragedies of Haiti and Chile.  We stand together in times of great loss, as great leaders pass away or are murdered before our eyes.  In War, we are both torn apart as family at the kitchen table and bonded for life with strangers on the battlefield. We miss no chance to join together in celebration.  In the moments of greatest trial and tribulation, we can become much closer, a larger global family.

I wonder about Hinamatsuri and Tashlich.  Are we missing something important in our desire to grow closer as a family, in that we do not reach out and join together to ponder our behaviors, to ask forgiveness of our loved ones, our friends, our co-workers and ourselves?  Should we endeavor to begin, as a Nation, as a global family, to partake together in these celebrations of thoughtfulness and emotional release?

Many people are suffering recently, sleeping outside in the rubble amidst terror-filled memories and dreams.  My thoughts and prayers are with the peoples of Haiti and Chile.  May their pain and sorrow, the terrible tragedy of life lived hard before all of our eyes, be moved away from them, away into the deep still oceans, to return no more…

Steve Woods

Please read previous postings on how to forgive, and how you can begin to make a difference in the World using Social Media.

When I put the colorful box down at the checkstand in the local supermarket, the cashier gave me a sideways glance, one eyebrow ever so slightly raised.  I’m not a Mexican Catholic; I’m Portuguese, very white, and very Jewish.  As the Rosca de los Reyes (Ring of the Kings) was rung up, I wondered how my fiancée’s mother would react to seeing me delivering it to their home….

Tonight is Twelfth Night, a tradition going as far back as the Middle Ages, with varying forms of observance all over Europe, South America and Mexico.  It is the formal ending of a span of time beginning on All Hallows Eve, commemorating the Fall harvest, and the full onset of Winter.   As this once-pagan holiday moved to more traditionally Catholic countries, religious overtones were given to this time, to include the birth of Jesus,  twelve days of Christmas tradition, and the commemoration of the arrival of the 3 Magii to help announce to the world that a child is born, and ending with the onset of Epiphany.

I am not looking forward to putting away the trappings of the Holiday season.  It’s quite a somber ordeal, removing all of the colorful, bright ornaments from the tree, the ribbons and bows.  Then comes putting away the tree itself, the stockings, candles, throws, pillows and decor.  And let us not forget the Hanukkah stuff!  Wistful, happy memories will be taken down and boxed up, hidden from sight once more, as our family once again faces another year of possibilities (and hidden challenges) ahead.

When I arrived at my fiancée’s parents’ house with the box of the ring-shaped multi-colored bread, Nadira gave me a funny glance, a slow grin spreading from ear to ear, glancing over at her mother, as she announced that I had brought something.  Her mother was both surprised and happy to see the box, asking if we were planning to come over on the 6th to celebrate.  Of course we would, I replied.  I suppose it seemed odd, to have a Jew bringing home a bread ring to commemorate a Christian holiday.  I believe in supporting the beliefs and culture of Nadira’s family, as they are a growing part of who I am, too.  It may be a difficult balance, but both Nadira and her family are worth walking that path.

In keeping with the ancient tradition of nightfall coming before day (as opposed to modern thought of day coming before night,)  Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day, which is celebrated Jan 6th until Midnight in many cultures.  In the Middle Ages, as part of the celebration, a bean and a pea were baked into rings of sweet bread.  The bread was then cut up and eaten by the celebrants.  Whoever found the bean was crowned King, and the new owner of the pea was their Queen for a day, overseeing the day’s revelries.

Long ago, the bean and pea in the bread rings were replaced with little statuettes of or trinkets relating to the baby Jesus.  The hiding of the object in the bread signifies the flight of Joseph and Mary from King Herod’s dictates.  The name of the bread itself, Rosca de los Reyes, or Ring of the Kings, commemorates the three kings who welcomed Jesus into the world.  Traditionally, the child that discovers the statue is to keep it and take it to church on Feb. 2nd, the Dia de la Candelaria, or Day of the Candles, otherwise known as Candlemas.  I am sure that there will be an equally fun and meaningful tradition to be found in the events occurring with Nadira’s family.  There usually is.

In Europe until its practice was banished in the 1500s by Queen Mary I, a Lord of Misrule was appointed, to preside over all of the Christmas celebrations.  All known conventions were to be turned upside down by this person.  The rich were chastened to pretend poverty, men pretended to be women, the young were to think of themselves as juvenile once again, all in jest and holiday spirit.  It was as time to experiment with being something other than the lot in life you found yourself in.

I had so much fun ending the year, that I find myself wondering why the rest of the year is not as full of frivolity.  I know I am a pretty easy-going guy, and do enjoy my share of entertainment and laughter.  When did the transition occur, pulling so much of my focus from the bright, shiny, fun objects encountered daily in childhood,  to self-discipline, bills and responsibility?  Just when did I grow up so damn much, and how to I reverse my serious lot in life?

It’s about high time that I became a lord of my own misrule.  It’s past due for me to turn things upside down a bit in my own life, in order to have fun and let more laughter in my days.  I found these eight life choices that I believe can help out quite a bit.

8 Methods to Find the Inner Child

1. Introduce more music into your day – I have begun listening to music far more often than I used to.  I try to have music on often, surrounding me, in the house, when I am cooking, cleaning, or plain relaxing.  Tex-Mex. Cumbia. Country. Rigaton. Hip-Hop. Classic Rock. Alternative. Pop. In the car or when others aren’t around, I’ll even sing out loud.  If you have heard me, my apologies.

2. Reinvigorate (and re-invent) your wardrobe –  I have been letting go when it comes to my wardrobe, but not in a bad way.  I have been allowing myself to be talked into colors, sizes, or cuts in garments I would not normally choose myself.  And guess what? I look pretty good in a lot of them!  Slowly but surely, color is making its way into my side of the closet.

3. Put recess back into your day – I do need to work on this one.  At work, I should take more breaks and go for walks.  I need to get outside more often with the kids and simply play. Climb a tree. Go down a slide. Throw a ball. Run. Collect rocks and leaves and sticks and memories.

4. Play board and video games – I’ve no problem with playing video games, but it tends to be alone.   Childhood so often is about socializing, and I need to take some more time and play the games my kids own with them, even if they kick my behind each and every time.

5. Explore new culinary adventures – I often eat at the same places, because I enjoy the food and atmosphere.  But if I think more like a teenager, I would be trying out strange, new places.  Hole in the wall joints.  Cuisine I cannot pronounce.  I have been quite a bit more adventurous in what I eat lately, thanks to the many dishes Nadira’s family has made (cow head, anyone?)  I’ve also been to a lot more interesting places, but I promise this year to look up and visit places I haven’t yet. So coworkers, beware!

6. Be capricious – I need to learn to be more impulsive.  I should do a better job of looking for opportunities to run away for a little bit of time with my fiancee, if even to the room for an hour.  I should take more chances in life, and be willing to let go of fears and experiment.  The purchase of the Rosca de los Reyes was an example of being capricious…

7. Go on a field trip – I used to love the field trips I went on when I was a child.  The journey there was half of the fun!  We get so stuck in our days working and taking care of things at home, that we forget to take the kids and simply go away for a time.  I am definitely going to have to figure out when we can take the kids up to the mountains or coast, on hikes and picnics.

8. Do some Arts and Crafts – We’ve been pretty good at incorporating artsy/craftsy projects at home.  We cut unique paper snowflakes, made Sculpey clay ornaments, helped the kids learn perspective in drawing, and introduced the girls to colored pencil and charcoal.  There is no shortage of bins full of craft items we could glue, sew, stick, sparkle or hang.  We will definitely have to do more of them!

As we grow up, it is so easy to put away those colorful reminders of our celebrated youth.  Little by little, year by year, we tend to store away happy, young  memories and look forward to our lives ahead.

I’m really looking forward to this year.  Oh sure, there are so many adult things that I believe will get accomplished.  I am also, however, willing to take the time to dig further into the portion that life has provided me, in a renewed search for that hidden, inner child.  I didn’t get to choose how my first childhood went, but that second one, well, that one is all up to me…

Underdog Day

It’s also officially Underdog Day, which got me thinking about why we love those that take on Herculean tasks, against what appear to be insurmountable odds.  Why when we look at an epic battle before us, do we so often root for the ones expected to lose?

Why do we love the underdog?

There are so many reasons we love the underdog.  They provide hope that we too can overcome incredible odds when we find ourselves facing them.  We imbue qualities of purity in purpose or rightness of cause to those that take on more than they can chew, and over and over see those individuals getting squashed under the dull, heavy machinery of progress, greed or ego.  We believe we’ve seen it so many times in our lives, that when the machinery is jammed up by someone loudly fighting back, we stop and stare, our fingers crossed.

Famous underdogs

Our history and mythology is littered with the successful upsets of the underdog.  Nelson Mandela. Mohandes Ghandi. Moses. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Cesar Chavez. David. Rocky Balboa. Cinderella. Clarence Darrow. Jesse Ventura. King Arthur. Joe Namath. James “Buster” Douglas. Horatio Alger. Pope Leo III. The Ugly Duckling. We love the underdog so much, that it has become commonplace for the leaders of any great struggle to diligently work hard to obtain the label.

We relate to the underdog

The Maccabees did not obtain the label of underdog because of their victory.  They hold that nomenclature only because we have agreed with claims that they were just that.  As Americans, we can relate to standing firm against a tidal wave of conformity, as our very Nation sprang from a need to break free of colonial conformity and unfairness.

The importance of the term

To this day, the media is played by both sides of the Palestinian-Israel struggle in an ongoing dispute to hold the moral high-ground of “the Underdog,” each eagerly pulling reporters down damaged alleyways, to review the aftermath of the latest atrocities endured.   More than winning any skirmish on the ground, the victory to be seen as the underdog is a sure method toward capturing the hearts and minds of the greater world.

Do we really just hate the “Overdog?”

We don’t really seem to love the underdog so much as we hate the group or individual they are facing off against.  It typically has a lot to do with perception about fairness.  How often do we sit down to a football game during a season when we cared little about the teams?  We sit down to enjoy, and see on one side a powerhouse team, lauded for victory after victory by the announcers, with an angelic two-legged pigskin launcher, tons of adoring fans, wheelbarrows of money on fire to keep the players warm, and blanketed in a brand new stadium that smells of caramel lattes.  We then turn our eye to the other team, astroturf still wedged in their facemasks from the last game, every other digit wrapped in bandage tape, huddled on old benches in the cold between two solemn Catholic priests busily shaking holy water at them and praying fervently.

Stop laughing, I know I am stretching it a bit.  I mean, who brings wheelbarrows to an NFL game?  The thing is, we never rooted for either team, and never gave a damn during the season who was winning or losing games.  But all things being equal, if we allow ourselves to perceive that one team has an unfair advantage over the other, we will automatically choose the underdog, hoping that a universal force of justice will prevail.

The strength of the underdog

The victory we commemorate each and every year in Hanukkah is a victory celebrated far beyond the Jewish faith.  The overthrow of the Hellenists allowed the survival of traditional Judaism, and events that led to the birth of Christianity and Islam. The Maccabees’ popular struggle led to other uprisings, and the eventual downfall of World domination by the Greeks.

Want to win any battle in life?  After choosing a righteous cause, you’ll need two things – persistence and the label of underdog.  It doesn’t matter how often you are kicked down in the pursuit of your dreams.  If you keep getting up day after day and fighting the good fight, if you allow others to see the purity of your purpose and the odds you are working against, little by little you will gain a following.  It doesn’t matter if they never knew your name before; if they don’t like who you are battling against, you have their support. People will laud your efforts, pat you on the back, slip you support when nobody is looking, and define themselves publicly through their relationships with you.  They will applaud and remember you, win or lose.

As we celebrate the day of those that stand against the greater world, I wish you a Happy Hanukkah.  Please have a peaceful evening, and use this time to re-dedicate yourselves to the good fight…

Hanukkah begins at sundown tonight, by Jewish tradition when you can see three stars in the sky tonight.  I have always loved the Jewish tradition that the days begin at night, when it is dark enough to see the twinkling and mysterious lights in the Heavens.  The tradition of nightfall beginning a new day comes from the book of Genesis.

It is often in our lives that our biggest, most meaningful changes occur when after the darkest of times, when it looks like all is lost.  So much we thought was permanent can be taken from us, over time or immediately, leaving us feeling helpless and beat down.  It’s also easy to find ourselves lying under the burden of problems we have brought upon ourselves through procrastination or bad habits.  During these times we pray for a little light in the distance, so we can begin our lives anew…

About Judea and Israel

Since its inception, the faith of the people of Judea has gone through changes.  A geographical trading hub and militarily strategic flash point, the land of Judea (now Israel) has maintained a cultural environment conducive to its peoples coming into contact with a variety of foreign concepts.  This contact has bred change among the Jewish faith, and in reply, from time to time, angry conservative back-lashes.  Because of this, Judaism has both expanded and contracted over time.

The Story of Hanukkah

The story of Hanukkah occurs 2,200 years ago, during a time when Judea was ruled by the Greeks, who were forcibly impressing their beliefs and culture on its subjugated peoples through a process known as Hellenizing .   Many progressive Jews, after examining Greek philosophy and culture, willingly moved to Hellenize their evolving faith.  To the more traditional practitioners of Judaism, this was entirely unacceptable.  Among the rank of the religiously disgruntled was Mattathias, a priest living in the small town of Modiin with his five sons.

The Greek ruler Antiochus IV, having been warned that the religious issues in Judea were getting close to all-out civil unrest (and possible war,) decided that what Judea needed was an even heavier dose of Hellenism.  Issuing decree after decree, Antiochus began to incrementally whittle away at a variety of basic Jewish practices, including the study of the Torah.  Unrest grew worse over the next two years, as Mattathias’ small band of resistance moved to the surrounding mountains to coordinate attacks on the Greeks.  With each new outrage against their faith, the resisters began receiving greater support from the Jewish population, both conservative and liberal.   By the time of our story, only the most liberal of the Jews still supported the Greeks, pushing for even more reforms of the faith.

Judah Maccabee (The Hammer)

During one particular attack, Mattathias and his sons were ambushed by Greek forces, and the elder was killed.  The survivors regrouped under Mattathias’ son Jacob, who by this time had shown himself to be an able tactician and warrior, earning himself the nickname HaMakabi (the Hammer.)  Thinking the resistance to Hellenism had been quelled, Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus be erected in the Temple.  To HaMakabi and his followers, (we know them as the Maccabees,) still recovering from their wounds, this was the last straw.  Something would have to be done to remove the Hellenists once and for all…

Three long hard years of fighting later, in 165 BCE, the Maccabees reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem, removing everything that had been placed in it by Antiochus and the Greeks.  The Temple was then cleaned up and prepared to be re-dedicated to the Jewish service of their God.  Among the items cleaned up and saved from the debris of battle was a special lamp which burned an eternal flame.  This lamp had previously been dutifully maintained by the Temple priests before they were turned out, the lamp’s light having been extinguished years earlier by the Greeks.

The Eternal Light

Scripture called for the lamp to burn oil that had never touched by anyone but a Temple priest.  Finding oil containers in the Temple that had not been opened and used by the Greek soldiers proved difficult; however one small untouched urn was found, with only a single day’s supply of oil left in it.  The Maccabees decided that more important than awaiting more oil was the relighting of the eternal symbol of God’s love and kindness to the Jewish people.  The lamp was lit, among humble celebration (It was, after all, the Temple, and in the Holy of Holies.)  And as we all know from having heard the story of Hanukkah, the eternal flame miraculously burned for not one, but eight days.

Judah Maccabee instituted on the eighth day a new Holiday to commemorate the Hanukkah (or dedication) of the Temple, and the miracle of the eternal flame.

You Can Be a Hanukkah Story, Too…

The story of Hanukkah is a story about overcoming great odds, of reclaiming those things that are truly important, of re-centering.  It is a story of re-dedication.  So how can we use this 8-day holiday to rededicate ourselves to re-centering our own lives?  How do we go about determining what outside forces have taken over our inner spirit, and expel them?

The 9-candle menorah (known as a Hanukkiah) symbolizes the miracle of the eight days, with each candle lit one by one using the central candle, to mark each day of the Hanukkah festival. How about for each day, we all think about a way to refocus and center our energies, to ultimately relight our inner flame?  Here are eight great ways to do so…

1. On the 1st day, clean up your work area, whether it is an office room in your home, or your desk at work.  Put in a pile scraps of paper with phone numbers and tasks.  Throw out wrappers and unneeded paperwork.  File away everything that you finished.  Use file folders and labels to get better organized. Then stop, relax, and think about the possibilities for productivity.  Should you run to the store and purchase dividers, cups, trays and whatnot? New office supplies makes just about anyone feel good…
2. On the 2nd day, figure out how to use technology to get better organized.  Consider creating a Google Calendar and put in the little projects you need to get done, or use Outlook’s tools to help.  Use Excel, Word or Google Docs to write down the big projects and break them down into little tasks, so things don’t look so daunting.  Calendar the little pieces for completion, bit by bit.
3. On the 3rd day, begin figuring out how you can take better care of your health, without putting a crimp on your pocketbook or free time.  Can you afford a Wii Fit system to enjoy in the mornings or evening?  Can you visit websites that will show you how to eat more healthily? Can you throw out some of the junk snacks and replace them with healthier alternatives? How about replacing water for those sugary sweet sodas, and putting nuts in the candy bowl at work?  Look into it!
4. On the 4th day, begin looking around your home and see what you have failed to accomplish.  Using technology or a simple paper list, write down all of your unfinished home projects.  Now number them, with the least desirable projects first.  Start the first one.  Now.
5. On the 5th day, evaluate how you let interruptions creep into your life, especially when you are supposed to be relaxing.  Do you let your cell phone or home phone control you?  Do you constantly check emails?  Can you get away from Twitter or Facebook for an afternoon?  If not, then you have let something else control your life.  Think about taking some relaxing time on the weekends to simply stop it all.  Turn off everything that can communicate with or talk at you. Read a book, or go for a walk.  Go see a movie or eat a meal somewhere. But without interruptions.  When you are done, feel free to dive into social media, or turn on the phone again, but while you can, enjoy that tiny vacation…
6. On the 6th day, figure out ways to separate what is you do for a living from what it is you do for play.  Build those boundaries between office life and home life.  Make your home your own personal Holy of Holies, the untouchable place. Let the phone take messages.  Don’t check work email. Figure out ways to make your work stay there, so you can play and relax more at home.  Your heart will thank you later…
7. On the 7th day, figure out how to slow down the pace of that out of control thing you call your life.  How do you learn to prioritize what is needed to be done, so you can bit off smaller pieces each and every day?  Does everything need to get done now?  Do you stress things too much and need to find relaxation techniques?
8. On the 8th day, figure out how to say no to others.  Are you involved in too many things? Are you stretched too thin?  Can you give up some of what you are already giving time to, so you can focus on your own happiness too?  Sometimes saying no once in awhile does more for your friendships and career than saying yes too often…

Becoming a Light Unto the World Around You…

One of the traditions surrounding Hanukkah is after lighting the Hannukiah one places it outside, not inside.  This is so everyone passing by can see and be reminded of the miracle.  By working on quelling the outside influences in our lives, we can better grasp the lives we want to lead, and pull ourselves out of the darkness.  We can use the 8 techniques above to not only light the “house within,” but also in our greater happiness light the “house without.”  People will see the twinkling of a happier you, and remark on the miraculous, lasting changes they see…

Just in Case…

By the way, if you were looking for Hanukkah recipes and other traditions, and feel a bit let down… Here you go… Sheesh.

The time was 10:50 29 years ago, when he was taken from us amidst a hail of bullets, in much the same manner he entered the World…

At the height of World War II in Liverpool, during yet another German air raid, John Winston Lennon’s newborn cries were covered by the indiscriminate onslaught of bullets and bombs.  As Julia and Alfred Lennon held him, young John Winston Lennon’s aunt Mary ran through back alleys to reach the hospital, following the light provided by the explosions in the dark night.  Taking John’s little hands and covering them with her own, Mary made a silent promise to ensure John was always looked after, always cared for.

Not long after John was born, his father joined the merchant marines to help with the War effort, but wound up going AWOL.  Julie did her best to help her little family survive despite spotty checks arriving from Alfred  in the mail.  Aunt Mary helped as best she could.  A year later, in 1944, Alfred looked up his wife but found that she had moved on, pregnant by another man.

John’s aunt Mary, who had years earlier dodged bullets and bombs to get to him, was tired of what she saw as neglect of her young nephew.  Mary petitioned for and received custodianship of John.  Shortly thereafter Alfred arrived again, and during a failed attempt to take John with him to New Zealand, forced John to choose between himself and Aunt Mary.  John was incredibly torn, choosing his father, then Mary, in tears and distraught.  Alfred left his son’s life that day, not to be seen again for over 20 years.

Julia never gave up on her son, although she did not fight her sister in raising him.  She wanted John to be raised in a good, steady environment, and knew Maria and her husband George could provide it.  Julia visited infrequently, teaching John the banjo, and playing Elvis Presley records with him.  This was their biggest bond, the music they shared, the quiet times in each other’s company just listening.  The World was at peace.

Julia bought John his first guitar in 1957, and kept it at her place, because Maria did not support John’s wish to become a musician.  After Julia Lennon’s untimely death from a car accident one year later, Maria consoled John and helped him get into the Liverpool College of Art.  College was not for John, who spent his evenings with friends listening to a variety of bands in Liverpool and surrounding communities.  He dropped out his last year of college and pursued his first love, a career in music, a return to the place he shared with his mother…

John took guitar lessons but soon thereafter dropped them, finding them too constrictive to his creativity.  He began a band named The Quarrymen, meeting Paul McCartney during their second concert.  Despite his father’s statements that John “Will get you into trouble,” Paul maintained a belief in John’s ability, wisdom and heart.   From there they met George Harrison, (who convinced them he was needed for the band after playing for them on the top deck of a bus,) and eventually a young Ringo Starr.  They went through a number of name changes and settled on The Beatles.

John’s music career with fraught with controversy, often from thoughts he shared that were divergent from society’s norm.  He commented often against organized religion, jingoistic foreign policies, civil rights abuses, and always war.  These comments, of course, caused a backlash wherever he went…

• Because he did not care whether his friends were gay or straight, John was derided as a Homosexual during a time when gays and lesbians were undergoing political persecution.
• Because he was open to all possible political thought in solving the many crises he saw, he was labelled a Marxist, Trotskyist, Communist and Socialist when McCarthy was holding court to imprison those with “Anti-American sentiment.”
• Because John wanted to celebrate his open, physical love with Yoko Ono, he was called a sexual exhibitionist and deviant by a Society trying to squelch open sexual expression.
• Because he questioned organized religion’s ability and desire to create a better world, he was called an Atheist, and many a religious family limited their children’s exposure to his music.
• Because he was anti-war as a means to resolve problems between peoples, his FBI files grew considerably as he was watched ever more closely.

It would seem that John was trying to be everything that the greater Authority did not want him to be, exactly when they did not want it.

Tired of growing up in a divisive World, and seeing the terrible effects of war everywhere as he toured, John began to believe that our circumstances could be changed simply by changing our minds.  He began to write songs expressing a desire for nations to cease the quarreling, and to move toward greater peace and harmony.  The album Imagine was released in 1971, and the title song soon thereafter became an anti-war anthem.  The song Happy Xmas (War is Over) was released in December of the same year.  The album’s many topics included upholding women’s rights, pushing for better race relations, and asking for peace in Ireland.

From the moment John Lennon was brought into the World, someone reached out across the dark void of human madness to hold him, to protect him.  When his mother died, again someone stepped up to support him.  Despite his anger and confusion at the greater World around him, John always had supporters.  In each waking moment, he wanted his music to push us all to find each other in the darkness too, to reach out and hold each other.  Before he was taken from us, John Winston Ono Lennon worked diligently and creatively to persuade us all to find the hands of those weaker than us, and to hold them close in protection.

10:50 p.m.  There is a certain rhyme to the days of our life, isn’t there?  A deeper meaning that can be found (or created) even from the moment we are taken away from the World.  When John was taken from us, the face of the clock in the lobby of the Dakota apartment building symbolized John’s message.  The big hand covered the little hand, a symbol of protection and love. A contract between the youngest (and weakest) of us, and those that arrived beforehand and made their own place in the World.

When asked, Yoko Ono stated that there would be no funeral for John.  Some were angered by this choice, and some said that Yoko likely did not want there to be a public spectacle made over John’s life.  I would prefer to think that Yoko refused to say farewell to her love, to allow John’s presence to disappear from the World, so that he would live forever in our hearts and minds.  To this day, Yoko expresses her love for John as a living entity, commemorating and celebrating his message of peace and unity.  Recently she invited the public to join her in re-enacting the famous bed-in anti-war protest that she and John held in 1969 at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam and again in Montreal.  It was during the latter bed-in that they recorded “Give Peace a Chance.”

Bless you, John.  Thanks for your message.  With the loving help of Yoko, may we remember you each and every year, commemoriating both your birth and loss by working diligently toward the day when no child comes into the world knowing the sound of war.  May our lives become together rhyming lyrics, and may we never awaken from the poetry of that song…

You can follow Yoko Ono on Twitter.  She tweets messages of love, will follow you back, and from time to time does respond…

The story of Husayn Ali

Takur, near Tehran, Iran, where Husayn Ali was born

Husayn Ali was born on November 12, 1817 in Tehran, Iran, to the home of an aristocrat, a government minister, who could trace his own ancestry deep into ancient Iranian nobility. Raised in wealth, Husayn did not receive a regular public education, instead learning to ride horses, write calligraphy, handle a sword, and the recitation of romantic poetry.

In Husayn’s culture it was believed that precocious children likely would not survive into adulthood, so his family was quite concerned over him. He more than made up for his outspokenness in intelligence and wisdom beyond his years. Despite his inexperience, even learned Muslims could be found consulting with him regarding intricate religious matters; not because Husayn knew the answer already, but because he had a mind for figuring these complex issues out.

The puppet show

We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces. ~ George Buchner

What strings pull us around our lives?

Husayn once wrote that as a child, he was brought to watch a puppet show, one of the popular forms of public entertainment at the time. As often happened, the puppeteer had crafted this performance to make a public statement, the story being about the political motives and greed of a corrupt king’s court. Husayn was both bothered and intrigued by the performance; however, what happened after the little curtain was drawn and the other children were leaving played an important part in shaping Husayn’s mind and future. Husayn noted the puppeteer stepping out from behind the curtain and leaving the premises with a big box under his arm.

Curious and unafraid, Husayn asked the man what was in the box. “All this lavish display and these elaborate devices,” the man replied, “the king, the princes, and the ministers, their pomp and glory, their might and power, everything you saw, are now contained within this box.” The concept that all of the tapestries of life, those material items struggled toward, that we all-too-often witness the lives of others being destroyed over, could be rendered lifeless and carried away. All could be lost at the very gates of death, at the end of our live’s performance, as we too are boxed and buried. As these thoughts coalesced in little Husayn’s mind, he suddenly viewed all of our lifelong material struggles as nothing more important than children’s playthings, mere past-times, we playing the role of puppets to unknown masters.

What drives our lives?

We are no longer puppets being manipulated by outside powerful forces: we become the powerful force ourselves. ~ Leo Buscaglia

It's not a bad goal to have...

A desire to have a strong, loving and committed relationship with our significant other. A need to see success in our children’s lives, to know they will be secure in their futures. The ability to retire in relative comfort, with a roof over our heads and not a worry about money. A desire to attain notoriety in our field of endeavor, to be seen as contributing. A wish to be loved by others, whether in a small office or on the big screen. A brand new Mustang convertible is always good. There are millions of hopes and dreams we all have, sharing more than a handful of them with most. Sometimes these dreams are directly in competition with someone else’s. Where did these hopes, desires, and dreams come from? Who pulls our strings?

When Husayn’s father passed away, the very desirable and financially secure ministerial position he held was offered to Husayn, who turned it down to pursue a life of charitable work, wishing to put to good use his belief that the pursuit of wealth and title were nothing compared to the care of others. He worked diligently to improve the lives of the many poor in the surrounding community, earning him reverence and the title of “Father of the Poor.”

Who pulls our strings?

Men are not great or small because of their material possessions. They are great or small because of what they are. ~ James Cash Penney

Wait! Don't run off just yet!

Before you hit the Close Window button on your browser, I’m not on a soapbox today. There’s nothing wrong with buying a lot of cool things and keeping them. I’m staring at twin 27″ screens, when I could’ve done this sort of work on a simple 15″ one. There’s a whisper quiet brandy new PC under my desk, running Windows 7. My shiny (but not so new) iPhone is always within arm’s length. I own way too many weird ties and an assortment of coffee cups. But bear with me for a bit…

We have to work to survive, so we work. For most of us, it means the job you did not dream of as a child, because the income was nice, the benefits pretty decent, we had a family that prefers food on the table, and there’s a decent retirement plan on the horizon. We’re busy after work driving our children to appointments, baking something for fundraisers, getting our garages ready for the next yard sale, and trying to keep ahead of the impending Christmas shopping rush. Basically treading water, right?

It’s a difficult economy right now, and I’m starting to look at the Christmas list with a bit of tredipation. I likely won’t be spending quite as much as last year, and am feeling a twinge of guilt about it. But you know what? I’m starting to ask myself why I feel bad about it. Do I have to spend every cent I have in the malls purchasing more of those trinkets to eventually store in the boxes in my garage, or for my kids to toss in the closet with the ghosts of Christmas past? Are the unknown forces that drove my father and his father going to drive me too, or will I take a new path in life?

The dangers of stepping through unknown Gates

The World is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Downtown Tehran, early 1900s

In 1844, a young man by the name of Siyyid Alí-Muhammad changed Husayn’s life forever. Siyyid referred to himself as the Báb, which meant “the Gate” in Arabic, and proclaimed that all faiths served a single God, and therefore must come together in unison. Siyyid made sure everyone understood that he wasn’t that person, but that he would soon come. What the Báb taught rocked Iran’s nobility and faithful, and his renown spread quickly, with Husayn becoming one his most ardent supporters. To the clerics, supported by and controlling the government, it would appear a movement was afoot, and fears slowly grew that they might someday lose power…

Four years after Siyyid introduced his new philosophy, Husayn found himself a captive of the government, being tortured for his support of the Báb, as his captors repeatedly beat the soles of his feet with long wooden rods. It was only the start of many such episodes in his life, as he was either chased to or sent to a variety of prison locations, ending up over 2,800 km from his place of birth.

What will be the legacy to my children?

It’s a bit daunting, the concept of figuring out what drives my life. But I don’t want to be known affectionately in the future by my children as the guy that once got them the Wii Mario Cart game. I want to be known as the guy who taught them how to freely say “I’m sorry,” upon discovering they wronged someone. I’d much rather be remembered as the man that taught them loving acceptance of the wonderful variations of humanity around them, than the guy who brought home a piping hot cheese pizza every Friday night. That said, I also want to enjoy a nice pizza and beat their cheerful little butts on the Wii once in awhile.

It’s a balancing act, isn’t it? To be a good parent, to remember to teach the lasting life skills in a patient manner, while still providing the many material objects that my kids (and I have to admit that I) drool over in the store. I have to build the Gate through which they’ll cross from idealistic, angst-filled teens to loving and decent adults. And I have to help them walk that sometimes tortuous path.

Cutting the Strings

My desire to exit the game is greater than my desire to remain in it. I have searched my heart through and through and feel comfortable with this decision. ~ Barry Sanders

Prison in Akka, Israel. Husayn's cell in upper right corner.

In 1850 the Báb was killed, along with a number of his most ardent supporters by government forces and the powerful clerics. Although Husayn was spared execution, he was sent off to a prisons in Tehran, Adrianople, Istanbul and Akka, each place progressively worse. And in each of these fetid, smelly, dark places he received revelations, divine images telling him things he had difficulty understanding or accepting.

According to the visions, Husayn was the chosen one spoken of by the Báb. A year after arriving in Baghdad, Husayn took leave from his family and followers, and went up into the nearby mountains of Sulaymaniyyih for 2 years, to consider in solitude how to accept this mantle, and what he must do. When he returned, he began writing a number of religious books, and with renewed vigor the Bábi community rapidly embraced him as a leader.

Ten years later, in 1853, Husayn officially proclaimed himself to be the Bahá’u'lláh, the chosen one that the Bab referred to, the promised one he believed was to be found in all scriptures, who had now come to unite the faiths in brotherhood. And he was once again sent off to prisons in faraway lands.

I have some cutting to do...

I’m not going to be around forever. Duh. To be a better parent to my children, I have to intensify my focus on them, to listen to the voices in my head that tell me to take the time and teach, to slow myself and them down, to offer both toys and wisdom. I have to cut some of the strings in my life, too. I have to cut the string that says I have to spend all of my hard-earned money each month. Or the big ol’ credit card stringie. I have to cut the string that says I have to always get that new, shiny thing even though the old thing still works. The watch every football game string (that’s a painful one…) Oh, there are a variety of other invisible strings pulling me around, and I will have to take some time examining (and cutting) some of them too… But I know my kids and fiancée are worth it…

Staying out of the box

In 1867 Bahá’u'lláh penned letters to all of the leaders of the great nations including Emperor Napoleon III, Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Tsar Alexander II, Emperor Franz Joseph, Pope Pius IX, Sultan Abdul-Aziz, and the Iranian ruler, Nasiri’d-Din Shah, telling them that he was a messenger of God, and exhorting them all to join God’s plan in putting down their arms and working together in peace and unity.

Even more than being a good parent to my children, I want to be a good citizen of the World. I want to understand, to embrace the varieties of existence around me. I believe as long as I keep my eyes (and mind) wide open, I just might be able to stay outside of that little box for awhile…

Bahá’u'lláh and the Bahá’í Faith

And suddenly, like light in darkness, the real truth broke in upon me; the simple fact of Man, which I had forgotten, which had lain deep buried and out of sight; the idea of community, of unity. ~ Ernst Toller

As a result of angry response to his letters to World leaders, Bahá’u'lláh was finally exiled to the prison city of Akka, Israel, to join the murderers, theives and political prisoners sent there by the Ottomans. It was believed that Bahá’u'lláh and his followers would die there, and that the new faith would soon crumble without his continued presence.

Within months of arriving under harsh treatment, Bahá’u'lláh and his follower’s treated the sick and suffering in silence, an act which led authorities in Akka to lower restrictions against them, including finally allowing visitors, who travelled hundreds of miles to see their religious leader. During this time, Bahá’u'lláh began laying out the essentials of the Bahá’í faith as it is known today, creating a roadmap of how the World could come together. After having accomplished so much in sharing the message he had received, after having lived as an exemplar of spiritual philanthropy, Bahá’u'lláh died peacefully in 1892.

We can all live together, regardless of faith...

In case you were wondering, I’m not a member of the Bahá’í faith. I am a very liberal Jew in the Reformist tradition, reaching out to and learning from the words embodied in a variety of faiths. I can see many merits in the Bahá’í philosophy of unity and caring for each other, and have noted these same exhortations in a variety of religions. I can see the value of Bahá’u'lláh’s desire to see all of us control our own destinies, ignoring those that tell us to live meaningless lives in pursuit of things that tarnish with time, and erasing the many boundaries that have been constructed to separate us from one another.

In celebration of the birth of the founder of their faith, Bahá’í houses of worship and national centers near you are holding special programs, artistic performances tonight, as well as offering to the public food and refreshments, kindness and fellowship. If you are up to it, feel free to step through a new Gate and join them. You just might find out a way to stay out of that box too…

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The Swallows of Capistrano

In Capistrano, the swallows have been there since March 19th, seven warm months of chirping, nestling together, preening themselves and their new children in temporary but comfortable homes.  They have spent their days looping the skies in rapid flapping dances, and watching the visitors with tiny eyes, as they are led through the Mission.  It’s now time for the swallows to return to their second home, until next year….

Mating and home-building skills

Where is your second home, that special place you find yourself needing to return to often?  What little corner of the Earth holds a familiar, comfortable nest for you and yours, and why do we need our escape spots?  Is it perhaps a deep-rooted need to show to loved ones our ability to find shelter anew, to provide sustenance in strange places? To prove our worth as a mate?

Nobody really knows why the swallows return to Capistrano every year.  It’s thought that the swallows likely made their choice to settle there long before the mission was ever created, thousands of generations earlier.  Perhaps they originally settled nearby, only moving over to the mission after it was built, seeing a great location for building their special nests.  By any account, the new babies born in Capistrano soon learn to see the Mission as their home, and they remember it well.

A welcoming nature

After Mission San Juan Capistrano was created, a town formed up nearby.  Legend has it that as the birds settled in under the roofs of the new buildings, residents began chasing the “filthy birds” away.  The local priest, Father John O’Sullivan, felt sorry for the birds and invited them to settle inside the safe confines of the Mission.  His welcoming attitude brought more and more birds each and every year in gratitude.

For my family, I think it is the trees of Sequoia that bring us back, and holds our continuing affections when gone.  They are like thick walls surrounding and protecting us; yet when we raise our heads we see the sky above, and remember we are still outdoors.  The trees are like beautiful brown and green nails, hammered into the mountains by a God bent on restoring all of our lives through natural beauty.

In Capistrano, the visiting birds were well known locally, only gaining national attention in the early 1900s when birdwatchers began following their return to study them.  The swallows brought incredible notoriety to the Mission, as throngs of tourists, after having heard the story of the annual migrations, began to stream in.  The income allowed the Mission to be restored and kept up, a reward perhaps for Father O’Sullivan’s welcoming arms.  Mission San Juan Capistrano houses Father Serra’s Chapel, the oldest building in California still in use.

The “other” home for the swallows

So where do the swallows reside during the colder Winter months?  This question has evaded people for decades.  Jose de Garcia Cruz, also known as Acu, was the bellringer for the Mission for quite awhile. Thought to be one of the last of the Juaneno Indians, the local indigenous people, Acu had his own story.  A highly religious man, Acu believed that the swallows made their way across the waters to the Holy Land, returning with twigs in their beaks, used to float in the ocean when tired.

I have often wondered when camping in our special place, are we loud, noisy marvels to the beers, deer and squirrels?  Do they often wonder where we go, what mythical place we return to after our temporary, noisy hiatus in their back yard?

Recent investigation using modern techniques to follow the birds led to the discovery of where the famous swallows call home when not at Capistrano.  Their Winter home is the city of Goya, Argentina, 7,500 miles from Capistrano.  The swallows leave Goya every year on or about February 18th, flying for 30 successive days at an incredible elevation of 2,000 ft.  They fly that high to take advantage of wind currents and to avoid predatory birds.  When they return to Goya, they have flown a distance almost equal to circumnavigating the Globe.

Have you made your plans for a return this year?

Sequoia is only half a tank of gas away, calling to us each and every year, when the Sun’s warmth lingers long enough for pleasant mountain days, yet the mornings are crisp enough to make the coffee seem incredible, the bacon heavenly.  How far away is your special haven, and have you made plans to return yet?  Take your family, and show them that your love drives you to provide for them, to care for them, anywhere you are.  That you will always be there, that no matter where life brings you, you’ll always return to their welcoming nature…

It was a cold, hard, bitter Winter in 1692.  Many of the tiny lonesome towns along the Eastern seaboard had spent the Summer before fighting off attacks on their borders by neighboring Indian tribes, suffering heavy losses.  The Rye harvests had not been plentiful, as the Summer was a wet one.  It seemed that the shutters were drawn tight against a variety of forces outside.  It was during this time that 10-year-old Betty Parris began to act strangely.  Her father Samuel and mother Elizabeth had moved there only 4 years earlier, Samuel having taken the position of village minister, removing his family from the dangers of their farm in the wilderness. A normally bright, outgoing youngster, Betty took to hurrying about the house, hiding behind and under furniture, seeing hallucinations, and worse.  She would suddenly fall upon the floor in pain, twisting and contorting her body, much to the dismay of those around her.

Arriving at the same time as Betty Parris’ alarming condition was Memorable Providences, a book written by the then-noted Boston-based minister Cotton Mather.  In his book Minister Mather exhorted his readers to be on the lookout for signs of those that had been “bewitched.”  Many of the symptoms Mather described matched young Betty’s, as well as Ann Putnam and Mercy Lewis, playmates of Betty.

It wasn’t long before leaders, some having read and shared the warnings in Memorable Providences, began whispering that witchcraft was beginning to poison the tiny community of Salem Village.  The Parris’ servant Tituba was pushed to use an old “remedy,” baking a rye cake using the urine of the three afflicted girls, and feeding it to a dog that was believed to be associated with dark forces, based on his continued unfriendly behavior.

The girls began to emotionally feed off of each other, contorting and screaming in the presence of certain individuals, naming them as Satan’s tormentors, including the servant Tituba herself.   What made matters worse and sealed the fate of so many others, was that after having denied any involvement, Tituba acquiesced under pressure, saying she and other townswomen had flown around on brooms.  Tiny Salem Village was now in an uproar, a full-scale battle it seemed against Lucifer himself.

As the months progressed, the girls stated they say witches flying through the air and the spirits of townspeople assaulting them.  Those accused were left to languish under terrible conditions in jail, and many soon admitted guilt just to get out, many receiving harsh punishments and even expulsion from Salem.  Four-year-old Dorcas Good was arrested after accusations that her spirit had bitten the girls.  Dorcas watched and screamed from between her jailhouse bars as her mother was also carted off and subsequently hung.  Dorcas stayed in jail for 8 long months, and ultimately went insane.  As the seven girls enjoyed larger adoring audiences and perfected their fine art of physical demonstratives, the jails began to fill…

On October 12, 1692, Massachusetts Colony Governor William Phipps, after returning from England and hearing about the ensuing chaos in Salem, appointed five judges to find out what was going on there.  Unfortunately, he stacked the new Court with adherents of Cotton Mather, who listened closely to the testimony of Betty Parris and cliqué.  What made matters worse was a belief that the Devil himself was behind the previous, still-smarting military failures against the neighboring tribes.  Many of the judges,military leaders themselves, may’ve wished to deflect anger at them towards others, by supporting the accusations of witchcraft.

By late 1692, so many respected members of the community were put in jail by other townsfolk that educated people began to question the proceedings.  It just didn’t make sense, as the behavior of the accused were witnessed by nobody but the now-famous girls. Cotton’s own father Increase Mather wrote a very public plea, stating that it “were better that ten witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.” Increase Mathers personally wrote to Governor Phipps entreating him to stop allowing spectral evidence in Courts, and to stick with solid, factual evidence.

After reading the pleadings from Increase Mather and a growing list of others, Governor Phipps (a Christian himself) overrode the influence that certain Christian religious leaders held over the court system, declaring that spectral or dogmatic evidence would no longer be admitted in the Massachusetts court system as a means to prosecute others.  Governor Phipps dissolved the 5-judge Salem tribunal, pardoning and releasing the accused.  These overdue acts helped to push our still-new legal system firmly into the principle of legal neutrality, that we all deserved to live our lives under laws based not on another’s dogma or beliefs.  The wisdom of this big step ultimately led to the incorporation of the concept of “freedom of conscience” into our Bill of Rights 99 years later.

Remember that bad harvest the Summer before Betty Parris’ hallucinogenic outpourings?  Research has shown that the Summer was unusually damp, particularly around Rye harvest time, Rye being the staple of food used in Salem.   Convulsive Ergotism can be brought on by consuming Rye that has been stored under these conditions, as fungus often forms and spoils the grain.  The townspeople of Salem at the time were unaware of this issue, or of potential consequences of eating spoiled grains.  Regardless, you ate what you had, in order to survive a bitter Winter….

Research has shown that Rye fungi are particularly harmful to the human mind when eaten. The hallucinogen LSD is derived from Ergot-based fungi, and the symptoms that Betty exhibited (fits, hallucinations, convulsions, etc.) are completely in line with the consumption of Rye fungus.

It is believed that after the original symptoms had passed (the bad grain had been eaten or tossed,) Betty had begun to realize that the townsfolk were seeking a reason for the fits she and her friends had suffered through, and that the popular reasoning was witchcraft and its effects.  Betty and her friends, along with four other girls, formed a clique and began wielding a frightful, new-found power — accusation.  It was only through the sheer fortitude of others that saw through the ruse that the girls were finally stopped.

Over nineteen people were accused, jailed, and hung.  Hundreds were imprisoned for a time. Many of those that were accused lost landholdings that ultimately seemed to benefit those that accused them. Few dared to question the authority of the newly-appointed court, especially after watching John Proctor and his pregnant wife’s very public example after John questioned the court’s decisions.  (See the movie The Crucible to learn more…)

Freethought Day is to commemorate the decision made by Governor Phipps to end the stranglehold that certain belief systems had previously held over our legal system.  It is a reminder to keep the legal system free of stereotyped biases against others, so that justice can be served, and nobody can be made a scapegoat in order to deflect the true root of the problems we encounter.

The conditions for intolerance and hate are ever-present, growing in dark, damp places.  In our Information Age, look over what you are fed with a careful eye, balancing what you partake of on a daily basis, lest you lose you hold on reality.  Never, ever be afraid to make a stand against what you see as an injustice in the lives of those that surround you, no matter how sweet or innocent the accuser may seem to you….

Today, like many other days on Twitter, I glanced over my new followers, and saw one telling the World that I could rapidly gain tons of new followers with little or no effort, by simply visiting a website and providing my login information….

This year in Taipei, Kung Tsui-Chang returns to Taiwan from college in Australia with an ancient purpose. The 79^th lineal descendant of Confucius, Kung will oversee ceremonies as the Sacrificial Official at the Confucian Temple. This temporary title is ancient, held exclusively by male descendants; however, with the passing of the Gender Equality Act in 2004, someday we shall see a woman holding this post and overseeing the celebrations on this momentous day. Although Kung is 24 and has only recently procured a job in Taiwan, he will likely follow in his departed grandfather’s footsteps as Senior Advisor to the Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou.

“With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow – I have still joy in the midst of these things.”

Born on October 18, 551 BCE to a family that had recently fled the turmoil in the Song Province of China to the community of Qufu, Confucius grew up in extreme poverty and hardship. As a young man, he took on menial tasks such as herding livestock, while fervently studying Daoist philosophy and the lute. He learned the value of hard work and perseverance, qualities that would take him far later in life…

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.”

In his twenties Confucius began formulating his own personal philosophies, quietly expressing them to those he engaged in conversation. A group of devoted followers, or disciples, began to form around him. Enjoying his wisdom, they encouraged Confucius to go into politics, in order to more greatly help others in need in the community. Confucius was said to be a man of few words, living his life in a relatively unassuming manner, until an injustice pulled him to speak up politically on behalf of those he served. When he felt a need to express his thoughts at the temple or Court, he spoke strongly, albeit choosing his words with great care.

“Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.”

At the age of fifty, Confucius’ wisdom and political talents were recognized, and he was appointed Minister of Public Works for the Province of Lu. He did well at this position, and was promoted to the position of Minister of Crime. His pursuit of justice in this position offending many in power, and Confucius found himself forced into exile, his faithful disciples by his side on his travels, many of which became the stuff of legend and myth.

“I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.”

In 484 BCE Confucius was able to return to Lu, founding the Ru School of Chinese thought. Although surrounded by a populace still held apart by an iron-clad ranking system, Confucius never refused a student based on societal status. All that a student needed to take part in learning was a deep desire to do just that. Considering himself to be a transmitter of ideals long-established before him, Master Confucius added to the traditional belief that our lives were predetermined, the additional warning that we are all responsible for our actions and treatment of others. The statement that he was merely passing on ancient and obvious values made his philosophy easy to accept; however, much of what Confucius taught was radical, an extreme departure from previous streams of thought.

“To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.”

Confucius’ philosophy centered around the concept of Ren, or “compassion,” a philosophy lived best through self-deprecation, casting off self-aggrandizement for the mantle of simplicity in thought, action and speech. The society that embraced Confucius’ line of thinking was one wherein the most humble of men and women, the ones whose lives were lived in support of those around them and the greater society, were to be the most respected. Confucius taught that those in power must not oppress those they served, nor take them for granted.

Confucius began writing his most famous works: the Book of Songs, Book of Documents, and many others. It was during this latter period of his life that Confucius began to associate himself with an even deeper sense of spiritualism. He collaborated with many authors on a variety of spiritual topics, earning his position as spiritual leader and predecessor to countless Chinese philosophers, religious leaders, historians, scholars and teachers. Despite the largely-held belief of the time that knowledge was imparted to the people by wise ancient Spirits, Confucius held fast to the philosophy that true wisdom was achieved through voluminous study, discussion and experience. It is this ethic that has forevermore fastened the label of Sage under his visage and memory.

Although largely ignored by the masses during his 72-year life, only after death was the value of Confucius’ wisdom truly noted. By the end of the 4^th Century BCE, it was agreed that had Confucius’ wisdom been duly recognized during his lifetime, he would’ve been a king. Confucius’ influence on Eastern culture has been compared by scholars as comparable to that of Socrates on Western civilization. Confucianism was China’s state religion until 1912, with the birth of the People’s Republic of China.

“Since you yourself desire standing then help others achieve it, since you yourself desire success then help others attain it.”

There are a variety of methods to gain a following in one’s life, whether at work, at school, at play or here in social media. The one that contains the greatest reward is in supporting those you meet on your journey, helping them to grow and connect with others. Take guidance from Confucius himself, and be modest and supporting in your statements and actions, treating all equally. Make your friends successful; help them get a foothold in life, and they will follow you through any storm or fire….