I consider myself to be quite open as far a religion, philosophy and culture go. I was raised as a Lutheran, like a typical Lutheran(i think), in my 30's I really don't participate in my church as much as I should. My wife has a magnet on our refrigerator with a picture of Jesus and a caption that says "quit using Jesus as a excuse for being a narrow minded bigoted asshole" which is to say that we have a real problem with some Christians that seem to think that they have a patent on salvation and have the one and only "true way". I mean isn't there something in the bible about "judge not lest the be judged". In my absence from our church life I find myself looking at and noticing the similarities of all the worlds major religions. I personally like to study many Buddhist teachings. It goes well and is not exclusive of my christian upbringing. I see Buddhism as kind of an every man's believe only what you see to be the truth on your search for truth kind of religion. I really believe that all of the major religions are good and those that follow and interpret those religions teaching honestly are good and "saved" people. I don't look down upon or disbelieve the goodness of Native Americans, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or any number of other religions.
So when my nephew comes out of nowhere with a statement about Buddha being a fat false God. It kind of threw me for a loop. I didn't say much at the time. I really just wondered where an 11 year old learned such a thing. So I haven't figured out yet whether it came from my sister or one of the teachers at the church studying the ten commandments. I don't know whether to say anything at all. I mean he's really just learning all the things that I learned at his age being raised in the church. He'll turn out okay too right? The other part of me wants to force him to research a few other religions before passing judgment on Buddhists for worshiping false idols. I mean Buddha was not a God and did not seek to be "worshiped" in that way. He taught people to search for there own truth inside themselves, and believe only what they find to be true. I don't see it as worship of a "false god" or in conflict with my Christian beliefs at all. Well I just needed to get that off my chest I'm sure the discussion could go on and on so more on that in the future.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ready to Drop out
OK, so I'm pretty well laid up today due to some muscle spasms in my back and neck. Probably due to my awesome lifestyle of going to work and standing mostly in one spot, on concrete, for about 10 hrs per day, and then going home and vegging for the rest of the day.
Anyway being in pain always gets me thinking about better ways to live this life.
U know, the rat race herd of sheople[combination sheep + people] that most of us participate in.
What a waste it all seems if you sit for a minute and think about it. Why the heck is this way the norm? Why do we all fall in line trekking off in our cars every morning to go to jobs, running here and there for god knows what. A lot of us go into debt to get: our houses, our cars, our education? Then we spend the rest of our lives as slaves to the lenders. We spend all our energy working for rich people or companies to get some money to pay off our debts to other rich people or companies (banks).
And a lot of us have to spend our time making money at jobs that are horrible for us and that we hate.
Why not just stay out of debt. Most of us leave high school with little or no debt. Work at something and learn how to live. Why not spend our time working for ourselves, our own food, shelter, transportation, other needs.(Needs, another topic, what are real needs? will discuss this further in the future i promise.) I mean why do I spend 40 plus hrs at work working for money to pay for stuff when i could be working to provide the stuff that i need more directly. If I need food, why not spend a good portion of the day gardening and raising animals that provide food? If I need shelter and heat for the shelter why not spend another significant part of my time building energy efficient shelter and come up with a sustainable way to heat and power that shelter?
In times like these all I can think about is how great it would be to have a simple life where my responsibilities didn't really include money and debt. I wake up and do chores taking care of a few animals perhaps milk a cow or goat. Gather some eggs from the free range chickens. Feed the animals and the dog that watches over my small herd. Plant and weed the gardens that grow enough food to last my family the whole year long. Gather some wood that keeps my very efficient house warm on the coldest days. My whole day would be spent living and learning with my wife and children, working/providing for real needs as opposed to money. which doesn't rank very high on the list of needs if you have no debt and can provide every thing else for yourself. As you can see my work and responsibilities would be many and varied and infinitely more satisfying.
At least that is what I spend a good portion of my time dreaming about these days.
Days like these, I'm ready say the hell with it.
1. Sell the house and get out of debt.
2. Save up some money and supplies.
3. Find a cheap piece of rural land somewhere.
4. Buy it and put a cheap shelter down and or start building practical efficient home.
5. Get animals, chickens for eggs a cow or goats for milk
6. Live! Meals are cooked from scratch, food is gathered or harvested, The land is paid for the house is built and powered off the grid cheaply.
I mean really! Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Please tell me!
Anyway being in pain always gets me thinking about better ways to live this life.
U know, the rat race herd of sheople[combination sheep + people] that most of us participate in.
What a waste it all seems if you sit for a minute and think about it. Why the heck is this way the norm? Why do we all fall in line trekking off in our cars every morning to go to jobs, running here and there for god knows what. A lot of us go into debt to get: our houses, our cars, our education? Then we spend the rest of our lives as slaves to the lenders. We spend all our energy working for rich people or companies to get some money to pay off our debts to other rich people or companies (banks).
And a lot of us have to spend our time making money at jobs that are horrible for us and that we hate.
Why not just stay out of debt. Most of us leave high school with little or no debt. Work at something and learn how to live. Why not spend our time working for ourselves, our own food, shelter, transportation, other needs.(Needs, another topic, what are real needs? will discuss this further in the future i promise.) I mean why do I spend 40 plus hrs at work working for money to pay for stuff when i could be working to provide the stuff that i need more directly. If I need food, why not spend a good portion of the day gardening and raising animals that provide food? If I need shelter and heat for the shelter why not spend another significant part of my time building energy efficient shelter and come up with a sustainable way to heat and power that shelter?
In times like these all I can think about is how great it would be to have a simple life where my responsibilities didn't really include money and debt. I wake up and do chores taking care of a few animals perhaps milk a cow or goat. Gather some eggs from the free range chickens. Feed the animals and the dog that watches over my small herd. Plant and weed the gardens that grow enough food to last my family the whole year long. Gather some wood that keeps my very efficient house warm on the coldest days. My whole day would be spent living and learning with my wife and children, working/providing for real needs as opposed to money. which doesn't rank very high on the list of needs if you have no debt and can provide every thing else for yourself. As you can see my work and responsibilities would be many and varied and infinitely more satisfying.
At least that is what I spend a good portion of my time dreaming about these days.
Days like these, I'm ready say the hell with it.
1. Sell the house and get out of debt.
2. Save up some money and supplies.
3. Find a cheap piece of rural land somewhere.
4. Buy it and put a cheap shelter down and or start building practical efficient home.
5. Get animals, chickens for eggs a cow or goats for milk
6. Live! Meals are cooked from scratch, food is gathered or harvested, The land is paid for the house is built and powered off the grid cheaply.
I mean really! Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Please tell me!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
New year
Some of you may know that I spent a rather large portion of time and money at ISU studying in the health and human performance field. I did not matriculate from that program but it is none the less a theme in my life. And in the face of a new year I find myself focused again on that skill set mostly to affect my own degrading physical fitness. That is to say life changes have managed to put several ten's of pounds back on my body and i need to do something about it. So I've placed our spinning bike in the living room where it will sit and remind me that i need to do more moving and less sitting and standing in one place. We'll see how that works : )
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