Inner Space

Margaret and I met at 8:15 to walk the Dish. It was freezing and we were both still sick, but we were undaunted. (Margaret had a really impressive cough.) Walking those hills felt like wading through cement, but the air was great and the views particularly wonderful. We beat our best time by seven minutes and felt infinitely healthier than when we started. We had coffee at Starbucks then went our separate ways for a few hours.

Then we went to the movies. Margaret wanted to see Enchantment. For about the first 3 minutes, I was thinking I'd never let her pick the movie again, but after that, I really enjoyed it. (Most people on my f-list would hate it: it was a cheerful fairy tale with a happy ending.)

Then we went to her house for dinner. She made vegetable curry with chutney-- which oddly seemed very Thankgsgivingey. I had a slice of pecan pie and she had a slice of pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

Our colds we reasserting themselves, so we called it a night quite early, and I for one went right to bed.

Today is Rene's yartzeit.

Anyone got an update on papabear62?

A legal reference site called hieros gamos... there's a lawyer joke in that somewhere...

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"

- Corrie ten Boom

Rashi and other medieval scholars kept cats, who prevented mice from nibbling on valuable manuscripts and chased away invisible demons. *My* cat, on the other hand, is a little demon who nibbles on valuable manuscripts!

Isn't she adorable?



( Pangur BanCollapse )

1. cold mountain:
   My favorite novel. It's about redemption. The odd numbered chapters are about a soldier traveling home during the Civil War, the even numbered chapters are about a woman learning to survive while all the men are gone, and there's one chapter about someone else... I won't spoil it for you... anyone can be redeemed and anything can be a catalyst for redemption. The writing is beautiful; each word seemed full of significance. Inman's encounters with people on his journey are absolutely fascinating, and one encounter makes me cry whenever I think of it (even now). Inman is supremely competent in the world and is trying return to paradise and Ada is trying to learn how to survive and make her way in the world; the different spiritual journeys of a man and a woman. I like that romance does not equal redemption in this story. Ada's friendship with Ruby is very important and Frazier portrays that friendship beautifully. Ruby likes one of Ada's rings; Ada puts it on Ruby's finger to let her play with it (symbolizing their bond), and when Ada and Inman are reunited, Ada's first words to him are: "No matter what happens between us, Ruby stays."
2. elves:
   Remember Sam's awe upon first seeing elves? I feel the same awe at just the IDEA of elves.
3. halloween:
   My favorite holiday. Maybe because it's the twilight between the wondrous summer and (groan) winter. Maybe because I still believe in magic and Halloween is about witches and spells and magic. Maybe because it's my mom's favorite holiday.
4. laughing:
   I bet it could be made the basis of a great spiritual practice. It's also the essence of being a woman. How many times have you sat with a group of women and LAUGHED at the most horrendous personal tragedies? You laugh, you live.
5. not being sensible:
   I've struggled to figure out "what is the sensible thing to do" most of my life. I shouldn't have. Round peg in square hole. Now I need to remember who I am and be wild and crazy. Well, maybe wild and crazy is beyond me...
6. raphael patai:
   He wrote some cool books, including The Hebrew Goddess. Oddly, when he and Robert Graves, another very cool writer, co-authored a book, they produced one of the most boring volumes I've ever picked up.
7. shadai:
   A very old Hebrew name for God. It means breast. And I'm comforted by anything that suggests the divine is at least partly feminine.
8. talmud:
   This is the unfinished and evolving core of much that is Jewish. (Torah is more central, says this Reform Jew.) I want to know what's in it. Even if custom has enshrined a certain practice or idea, the Talmud includes other opinions and points of view from rabbis of many different eras. In addition to learning a little more of the enormous tradition that is Judaism, learning to study Talmud would teach me a rigorous way of thinking about Jewish issues, and, when I find stuff I hate (which I will) it'll also reveal counterarguments that I could never come up with. People of all stripes quote Talmud and I want to be able to pull a volume of my shelf and check when I wonder, 'does it really say that?' But basically, Judaism is exciting to me and I know learning Talmud (in the right environment) would be fun.
9. trees:
   Trees are people. Don't YOU love walking among them and feeling their power?
10. yichudim:
    It means "unifications," mystical (kabalistic) intentions/prayers for unification of the masculine and feminine aspects of the divine. The division of God and the Shechinah is a metaphor for all kinds of exile, and with the intention represented by yichudim that we say before doing something, our actions can create unity and wholeness in the divine, in ourselves, and in the world. Conversely, our actions can also exacerbate division and brokenness. My user name, yechidah, Hebrew for the highest level of the soul which is beyond even our own knowledge of it, is probably related to yichud.

Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.

*groan* That was way too much like a test. All that writing and explaining-- even though it was about stuff I'm interested in. (How can I expect to write about the interviews I hope to do if writing that was too much work?)

This was originally yechidah, my spiritual journal, but someone gave me a year's subscription with lots of icons, so it is now my default journal.

The icon here is a picture of me and my best friend, René Lovall, of blessed and laughter-filled memory, who went ahead of me on November 22, 2004.

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