Lipstick Smear

I know that once again I am shouting into the wind but here goes anyway. The economy is in the tank, we're about to invest trillions of dollars in a failed mortgage company, our troops are dying everyday overseas, hurricanes and natural disasters are plummeting our countryside, health care and insurance continues to be a disaster, job losses are escalating, state and city budgets are being slashed, homicides continue unabated, our food chain is being contaminated, etc., etc.

Yet the biggest stories of the week was whether Obama was making fun of Palin in his lipstick comment and McCain's six hundred dollar shoes and seven houses.

You can put lipstick on the media, but it is still a waste of time!

Not wishing to be cast as one, who can't play along in the spirit of the times. Let me say this to Sarah Palin - if you had spent more time reading books instead of attempting to ban them; perhaps, you would know that dinosaurs did not roam the earth 4,000 years ago.

Back to School

Fall semester has begun and here I am back at Union Theological Seminary for some additional studies. I am already swamped with reading and writing assignments. Still can't help but to reflect how the academic world has changed since I was last a full-time student (1977).

Back then you prepared yourself with pencils, pens, binders, note papers, required text books, a backpack, and maybe a "tape" recorder and a typewriter. Today, in addition to and/or instead of those items, a laptop computer is an absolute necessity plus a "digital" recorder, access to the internet and an email account, a printer, documentation software, a "PDF" reader, and a cell phone; just to name a few paraphernalia. Cost differential from about a hundred dollars to over a thousand. Tuition and other fees have also increased exponentially.

Yet, as I look around at my fellow students, it is the norm to take class notes on a laptop, to converse with the professor via email, to attend lectures that are presented via video or tutors (professor not present), download assignments and readings from the internet, acquire research material from libraries around the world via the web; all while "texting" on a cell phone or listening to the latest musical release on a portable player, the size of a pack of gum.

Can this "old dog" adjust and manage to acquire the education desired to be awarded a Master of Divinity degree. Well, as goes the old saying "Am going to give it the old college try". To tell the truth, am enjoying the intellectual stimuli and the beautiful campus.

Buddhist - Reflection 01

The lotus flower is a traditional Buddhist symbol of purity. A lotus is born from the mud at a bottom of a lake but blossoms above the water as a stainless flower that brings pleasure to all that see it. In a similar fashion, all beings are born in the ocean of suffering with impure bodies and minds, but if they train in mediation they can attain a completely pure body and mind, and bring peace an happiness to all who meet them.

The quality of life depends not on external development or material progress but on the inner development of peace and happiness. Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. If we first establish peace within our minds by training in spiritual paths, outer peace will come naturally; but if we do not, world peace will never be achieved, no matter how many people campaign for it.

Visualize the ocean with a multitude of waves. Imagine that the self is one wave on the ocean, and surrounding us are many, many other waves. If the wave looks deeply within one's self, there will be a realization that ones being there depends upon the presence of all the other waves. Raising up and going down, being big or small depends entirely on how the other waves are. Looking into one's self, you touch the whole, you touch everything - you are conditioned by what there is around you. A wave is made of many other waves yet there is to be the realization that the wave is also made up of water. It is also important to touch the water, the foundation of one's being; and to realize that all the other waves are also made up of water. One thing contains everything. With the energy of mindfulness, one can see deeply.

Computer Crashed !!!!!

Early last Saturday, in accordance with my morning routine, I turned on my computer. To my dismal, after a couple of minutes, I received a message that the system could not be initialized due to a corrupt operating systems file. A joke right - never had any indication of a problem - computer only four years old (okay, I know in dog/computer years that is really 28) - so let's turn it off and on again. Same problem. Again. Same problem. Again! Again!! Again!!!. What to do? Of course, I have not done a backup since the beginning of time. Was going to order/buy another computer but had not got around to it. Seminary studies start up again in two weeks and a computer is an absolute must. Stomach now churning, beads of sweat dripping off forehead, dry mouth, feeling faint - what to do, what to do? Since when did we become so dependent on this piece of hardware. Thankfully, I just purchased an iPhone so at least I could still get my emails and connect to the Internet.

So, I call Dell for support. Ha, ha, ha. After an hour of trying to connect, got someone in India. I could not understand the representative and had to wait another fifteen minutes to connect to another rep. He laughed when I told him how old my computer was and said (what did I expect). What happened to product reliability? Then he said that I would properly have to wipe my memory and disk storage completely clean and reinstall the operating system; of course losing all my existing programs and data in the process. Yeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not willing to throw out the baby with the bath water, I starting calling around to the various computer "fix-it" doctors and geeks. Typical pricing ran $100 an hour, would take four to six hours, and it would be two to three days before they could work on it. All that time without a computer and for that pricing could buy a new one! Finally, found someone who agreed to come right out and look at it. Nice young man (college type) showed up and after an hour of trying this and that concluded that he had to take m computer to the shop to save the contents and reinstall the operating system.

Finally, got the system back on Tuesday evening and was so pleased to get my "baby" back (please forgive the personalization). Total charge was $200 but I got a break as he spent more than two hours on the restoration. What is the morale/lesson to be learned from this experience. I guess is not to become so dependent on a machine, backup your data and programs on a regular basis, do not put all your eggs in one basket (if affordable, have a second computer available).