A Roll in the Universe

Keep reading enough spiritual, metaphysical or even psychology books, and you'll find that love is indeed the answer. Today, thanks to a dispute between two of Norway's largest TV stations, I was reintroduced to the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love". There is a lot of spiritual wisdom (and encouragement) in the lyrics: All You Need Is Love The Beatles (Lennon/McCartney) Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy. There's nothing you can make that can't be made. No one you can save that can't be saved. Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be in time It's easy. All you need is love, all you need is love, All you need is love, love, love is all you need. Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. All you need is love, all you need is love, All you n...

That's what it says on my Dove shampoo bottle: Respect and balance. Respect - an action. I admit I don't quite get "respect", what it means exactly, how to conjur it up automatically in myself. Generosity or gratitude seems easier. What I have observed about respect, though, is that it seems more universal than love because every living being recognizes it without fail. I have seen both animals and people with mental handicaps pull away when they were disrespected; they knew right away what was happening and didn't tolerate it. So what does that tell me about respect? That it's about not putting anyone else down, it's about not forcing your will or way onto someone else. It's all those good things: Listening well, being patient, having the attitude "live and let live", understanding that no-one else is exactly like you and still meeting the other as an equal. Respect is about acknowledging the rights of other living creatures to breathe the s...

Last night I went to the local marine museum. Exhibits range from the viking era to today's highly computerized ships. One exhibit is dedicated to the World War 2 experiences of the Norwegian merchant marine, who were torpedoed by German submarines as early as September of 1939. My grandpa sailed on oil tankers in convoys across the Atlantic for 6 years. That's how he came to meet my grandma. She was invited to a party at the Norwegian seaman's church in Brooklyn (New York) and he had shore-leave and attended the party. A small poster hangs in the museum exhibit, telling of the importance of the convoys across the Atlantic. For me, it is also a reminder of romance.

My friend Sravana blogged about a talk given by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson . If you like good old-fashioned enthusiasm, you'll enjoy Tyson. What's making me post about it here, is Tyson's explanation for why we often feel so small, so insignificant. About 10.5 minutes into the film, Tyson mentions a letter from a psychologist whose job was to explore "the effects of things that make people feel small". In the letter, the psychologist stated that a show showing a zoom-out from earth had illicit just that feeling in him. Tyson thought this sounded wrong because when he looks up at the universe, he feels large. Then it occurred to him that the letter-writer's problem was that his ego was too large to begin with.

I have started a new blog today, Budding Yogini . Purpose: A blog dedicated to purely spiritual stuff. Not that my spiritual life is separate from the rest of my life, but I thought I'd gather spiritual and motivational statements that grab my attention in one place. I didn't look at any astrological chart before I started. My mood was "Let's do this" after thinking about it for months. Interestingly, the chart for my first post does have several contacts to my natal chart including MC conjuncting my Jupiter, Venus conjuncting my Sun, and Mars conjuncting my Mercury.

Welcome to the first post of my new blog. This blog will be dedicated to spiritual/philosophical musings. "Budding yogini" (a budding female practioner of yoga) is what my yoga instructor has called me. Why this second blog ? I have always had a philosophical bent, and a need for theism. I have always sought to understand the spiritual side of life. This past year, such things have gained focus for me, as my astrology has faded away. I've been subscribing to a Zen page-a-day calendar, and will be musing on quotes that have caught my fancy there. I will also be musing on other quotes, spiritual sayings and the like. That is what this blog is for. For things that make me go "Hmmm" or maybe even "Wow!". Or that motivate me to try something I haven't tried before. And I may even tell you how I and my downward-facing dog are doing.

Wednesday, we had a departmental meeting in what normally is our coffee break room, which boasts a sofa suite and a coffee table and photos on the walls from parties, company picnics and the like. Each of us has his or her own coffe cup or mug, usually scattered on the coffee table and reused each day (washing is up to the owner). Yesterday I discovered that my coffee mug was missing. Probably scooped up with the rest of the dishes from the meeting and sent to the employee cafeteria. It annoys me. It's just a mug. It's not even pretty; it is plain white sporting only the black text logo of a fungus insurance firm (I kid you not), but it was given to me by a very friendly representative of said firm when I was new at my company, over 20 years ago. And I get a secret kick out of drinking out of something that has "hussopp" (literally: house fungus) in big letters on it. But what I've come to realize really bothers me is that, in spite of that coffee mug being my...