May
Health
I define ‘health’ as balanced opposites in constant motion.
For example, the health of a body depends on eating a balanced meal (of alkaline and acid), eating (then the opposite of that ^-^; ), resting and exercising, getting dirty and getting clean, exposing the body to hot and cold, etc. The ‘motion’ comes from doing them every day, every week, every so often, like seasons maintaining a pattern.
The health of a spirit comes from the balance of talking and listening, being curious and being passive, teaching and learning, looking into your self, and looking into others. The motion comes naturally, if balanced, the motion is smooth.
The health of a community depends on a balanced share of power, giving and receiving, conservatives and progressives, women and men, young and old. The motion is the living diversity, always shifting towards a balance.
Yin and Yang
The differences between progressives and conservatives in America is something I think about often. It seems to me the two are to far apart to ever exist together harmoniously. I feel like there are two Americas.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:21 amAnne, it amazes me too. It’s kinda neat though, how such different people can be under one banner. America is interesting, a cultural salad bowl and the only country to only know democracy (well, not counting the British time, but that was before America was USA).
May 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pmAnne, maybe the ‘two americas’ are not in motion. It’s the same people doing the same things, not much sharing of ideas between the two maybe?
May 8th, 2008 at 4:39 pmI know that to some extent I live in a liberal bubble. I know many who live in conservative bubbles. I get so mad with some of the rhetoric from the right that at this point in my life I just want to avoid them. I don’t know what place anger has in my life. I’m not comfortable with it and if I could just ignore attitudes of say the religious right I would. But they are my inlaws. And it is so hard for me to reconcile this. They say things at Christmas that burn through me all year long. To argue is to make them stronger to feed the cycle of one-upmanship. I just want to be at peace. And it’s not just family it’s radio, television, politics…etc. I just struggle to understand how something outside of myself, in my larger community, can affect me so much personally.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:00 pmWhoa..Sorry..way to much purging over the internet here..I am just personally going through something involving the funeral of a lifelong free-thinker and their (our) overly zealous religious family.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:12 amAnne, my brother retold me the story of a hard working ant and a fun loving grass hopper. In the summer, the ant worked hard and collected food, while the grass hopper played music and had fun. When winter came, the ant had plenty to eat but the grass hopper was hungry.
The moral of the story, as Geoff says, is that both the ant and grass hopper made a choice, and as long as they are happy with their choices, the choice itself is not to be judged.
Happiness is difficult to find…
If they are happy, well, that’s good. If you are happy, I think you can brush it off . you find what you look for. good luck Anne, we’re all in this together.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:22 am