feelings

We must do things these days

Posted at March 5, 2010

Not sure why I’ve chosen to post this today.

I am troubled, deeply, by the billions of people worldwide who will go to bed tonight hungry, fearful for their safety, or sick from disease. These days, it’s not worth mentioning the statistics concerning how many people live on less than $2/day. I even hesitate to use the word “statistics,” since it cheerfully allows us to ignore the very human lives behind the numbers. We know that it’s bad.

feelings

Comments

Losing old gods, finding nature

Posted at January 26, 2010

I recently headed back to Colorado for a wonderful weekend of R&R with my girlfriend and her family. We went skiing at Crested Butte, an absolutely amazing mountain way out in the center of the state. Here’s what happens when I ski:

1. I fall down. This happens a handful of times. During this particular trip, I managed to stay vertical 95% of the day, even completing a blue square run without dropping.

2. I come closer to completion. Allow me to explain: When I’m sliding down the side of a mountain fast as hell, staring out into the distance where other peaks look back at me, feeling the warmth of the sun and listening to the whoosh of air past my ears, I really do find a little slice of heaven.

I’m guessing that this is a not-too-foreign experience for those familiar to strapping slippery boards to their feet and shooting down a hill. I relish these moments as I coast towards the base of the mountain. I use religious language to describe these times. Increasingly, I am not alone.

Bron Taylor’s “Dark Green Religion: Nature, Spirituality, and the Planetary Future” describes the “replacement” or at least supplementation of traditional religions by more sensory forms of spirituality. I want to read this book. I grew up around trees and I feel a very deep connection to nature. Here’s a very important piece of an interview with Bron Taylor on Religion Dispatches:

feelings, writings

Comments

Five myths around disaster relief

Posted at January 19, 2010

Edward Brown, relief director for World Vision, debunks five myths around disaster relief. I offer my thoughts on each point in place of Brown’s remarks. This came in the form of a Facebook note:

feelings, nonprofit, politics

Comments

Poorism

Posted at January 4, 2010

Ode Magazine, which I once subscribed to, ran a story this past April called “Slum tours: Traveling off the beaten path” detailing the rise of what some have dubbed “poorism”, or traipsing through the slums of this planet for an alternative travel experience. Coming from Ode, I figured that this would be a hit piece – I was wrong. The author actually did some “pooring” in the favelas of Rio. According to the article:

Hotels.com drops the ball

Posted at November 30, 2009

AWESOME UPDATE: I posted this entry at 12:07 pm. At 1:34 pm I received a phone call from Hotels.com saying that they had tracked down the booking agent who processed my bad booking and were refunding the money immediately. I’m not going to accuse Twitter, Facebook, and a blog of ensuring the abnormally quick turnaround, but I certainly won’t deny the possibility. Thanks for fixing this, Hotels.com.

Read more on Hotels.com drops the ball…

feelings

Comments

Proof of Mozart

Posted at November 10, 2009

I needed to learn a bit more about Meister Eckhart, so I Googled him last night. That led me to Eckhart Tolle, and to Paul Tillich, and then finally to Karl Barth this morning. I guess you could call it a theologian binge. In my readings, I happened upon this interesting quotation by Barth:

Health care debate actually making Americans sicker

Posted at November 7, 2009

flickr user stevenbrisson

New research shows that the past few months of debate (often more like shouting) over the reform of the health insurance process has actually worsened our nation’s already-fragile health. I should probably disclaim what I just wrote and what I’m about to write by saying that this research was conducted by me.

feelings

Comments

Dream of failed suicide?

Posted at November 2, 2009

I had a very interesting dream last night. For starters, please acquaint yourself with the idea of interfaith work, which I blog about often. If you’re already up to date, awesome.

Read more on Dream of failed suicide?…

feelings, interfaith

Comments

President Obama and the Nobel

Posted at October 10, 2009

The announcement threw me for a loop, but after reading President Obama’s comments on the matter, I was unconfused and relaxened. Is that a word?

In any case, I’m not going to not reproduce the speech here in its entirety:

feelings

Comments

La Figlia che Piange – T.S. Eliot

Posted at October 2, 2009

O quam te memorem virgo…

STAND on the highest pavement of the stair—
Lean on a garden urn—
Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair—
Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise—
Fling them to the ground and turn
With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:
But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.

feelings, writings