Soundtrack:
Florence + The Machine - Rabbit Heart
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
A sense of humor is vital to any spiritual life and spiritual practice. I take it very seriously that I never take myself too seriously. On top of that is being able to see yourself from the birds eye perspective - if you are suddenly the straight man to the universe’s joke, laugh along with it.
Life is genuinely funny.
That being said, there was a persistent idea that kept cropping up in my head since my last blog post. You remember the wonderful place we are going to live? Yes, our future residence is all confirmed and they are wonderful people. They will even show me how to garden inside of old refrigerators, which isn’t something that I’ve always known that I wanted to do until I heard of it. Now that I know it exists, I realize that I was always meant to grow plants inside old refrigerators, and this planting straight into the ground business has been misguided from the get go.
I also remember that the guy I talked to told us of the lady who went crazy mad about the very idea of bulls being slaughtered for beef to the degree that she wanted to buy all the bulls (all the bulls!). I get it though. It is hard to look into those soft cow eyes every day and then suddenly we have to treat them like they are not alive. They are just product. It’s screwed up, but I’ve seen a lot of animal blood being a cook. And flipping out about it just makes you the person no one is going to listen to anymore.
I was thinking to myself, what animals do they raise on the farm again? Cows, yeah they’ve got cows. Horses, people like horses. Llamas, which produce wool and eat dried grass. Goats also eat grass, and produce milk. I was thinking this through, and it is all logical farm stuff to have these animals. Chickens lay eggs, which is where omelettes come from. Cool. Rabbits. Why do they raise rabbits? It’s exciting though, because I like rabbits. I have a pet rabbit, we have had pet rabbits for years. Why does a farm want to raise rabbits?
I asked the question out loud in front of some our close friends, Alan and Brandis, at a time when Amber was not around. My friends then looked at me in such as way that you look at a child as they try and piece together that the tooth fairy is a logical absurdity. With pity! My friends looked at me with love, and pity, when I asked why a farm would have rabbits. I said, “What do they raise rabbits for on a farm? I never found that out!” But to them I was a five year old kid saying, “Where does the tooth fairy even get U.S. currency? And what does she do with the teeth? Why do Irish nature deva’s even care about human dental hygiene?” (which is a plausible phrase for a 5 year old to say)
They told me it was possibly a farm that vendors directly to restaurants for rabbit meat. We looked up terms like rarebit and hasenpfeffer. Then we saw pictures, on Alan’s smartphone, of the typical rabbit breeds that are used for meat. Adorable! So adorable!
Then it dawned on me quite lucidly. My wife is the crazy cow lady! Not yet, but soon! Amber is going to flip, then try to buy all the rabbits.
Let me paint the picture a little more clearly. When we got our first pet rabbit, Brutus, I had an ulterior motive. I got tired of the amount of stuffed animals she owned, and seemed attached to. I was even confused, you see, because they weren't alive, and I did not like the idea of treating them as if they weren't just things. I got a pet, because it was about the same size as a stuffed animal, only alive. This put logical rightness to my world.
When I first put Brutus in Amber’s arms she thought he was cute and cuddly. She petted him, and he was very soft. Then he looked up and she looked into his eyes and… well, it wasn’t like that scene in Raising Arizona, but it was so close! She scrunched up her face and said, “I love him!” but almost in an urgent way, like this was so unexpected for her how intense she felt!
Do you remember Raising Arizona? Watch this and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, so I honestly don’t know what the rabbits are for at the farm, because I was focused on the task at hand of getting a place to live. Now that task is over, and we are moving there; at this moment the situation is surreal but very beautiful. And funny! I am looking down upon myself from the bird’s eye, likely the mischievous crow himself, and I see me playing the straight man to the universe.
We could get there and find out it is a bunny sanctuary, or maybe they are for pets. I don’t know. But here we are, and I’m not going to say anything to Amber, because I have been married for 6 years and I am smarter than that. One thing at a time. But it’s there! And it’s hilarious! It is coming!
I also have faith that everything will be fine, because everything is fine. It just is. Let us continue to another topic.
I’m done with my job! I know right? You didn’t know that was possible. Jobs are not like school semesters, as in you don’t matriculate from them. But I did!
Because I’m moving to San Diego, and … the thing. What this blog is all about. In a more realistic perspective, I’m choosing to do a lot of what I do now for free and in another state. This can be viewed as very inspirational to some of the people involved in Theosophy and the Theosophical Society - and some of these people have even said so directly to me. It’s a nice feeling.
On the other hand, I still need to eat and sleep somewhere. So we aren't thinking about that right now, because it is not yet time for that. That’s a matter of intuition and trust. For me that literally means when I localize my attention in that portion in the back part of my brain that tells me everything I need to do, it responds in a non-verbal way “Everything is fine! Don’t stress, this next part is really important so be absolutely present on what is happening in this moment.”
And I respond, “I don’t know if I know how to do that.”
And it responds, “You’re doing it now. Just notice that you’re doing it now, and you’ll be doing it a lot better!”
Do you remember Raising Arizona? Watch this and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, so I honestly don’t know what the rabbits are for at the farm, because I was focused on the task at hand of getting a place to live. Now that task is over, and we are moving there; at this moment the situation is surreal but very beautiful. And funny! I am looking down upon myself from the bird’s eye, likely the mischievous crow himself, and I see me playing the straight man to the universe.
We could get there and find out it is a bunny sanctuary, or maybe they are for pets. I don’t know. But here we are, and I’m not going to say anything to Amber, because I have been married for 6 years and I am smarter than that. One thing at a time. But it’s there! And it’s hilarious! It is coming!
I also have faith that everything will be fine, because everything is fine. It just is. Let us continue to another topic.
Last Days of Work
I’m done with my job! I know right? You didn’t know that was possible. Jobs are not like school semesters, as in you don’t matriculate from them. But I did!
Because I’m moving to San Diego, and … the thing. What this blog is all about. In a more realistic perspective, I’m choosing to do a lot of what I do now for free and in another state. This can be viewed as very inspirational to some of the people involved in Theosophy and the Theosophical Society - and some of these people have even said so directly to me. It’s a nice feeling.
On the other hand, I still need to eat and sleep somewhere. So we aren't thinking about that right now, because it is not yet time for that. That’s a matter of intuition and trust. For me that literally means when I localize my attention in that portion in the back part of my brain that tells me everything I need to do, it responds in a non-verbal way “Everything is fine! Don’t stress, this next part is really important so be absolutely present on what is happening in this moment.”
And I respond, “I don’t know if I know how to do that.”
And it responds, “You’re doing it now. Just notice that you’re doing it now, and you’ll be doing it a lot better!”
One of the nice things at the Theosophical Society that happened in my last days is that there was a staff meeting and the whole room of employees acknowledged I was leaving and that I will be missed. There are people there who I may be closer to than others, but it is like a family. I told them as much during the meeting. I said even though I am changing physical location, I am not going anywhere. I’m sure it sounds corny to some people who think of this whole spiritual thing as just a job, and they might not even know why I’m doing what I’m doing. But when I think of the Theosophical Society, and even every individual who is involved, and I honestly get this really warm feeling in my chest. It’s like a fire inside. And when I dwell on it, I know I’m capable of anything that needs to get done. I just don’t know yet what needs to get done. But that comes later.
I’m writing it down in part because I don’t want to forget it. For a Theosophist, he basically described what I’d like to be as an ideal. He has that ability, to show you the best part of yourself to inspire you further. That’s why he has so many titles and people following him, I imagine.
As formal as Tim and my relationship often is, we have gotten to know each other quite well, which is why I appreciated what he had to say. About a year and a half ago I became a part of a Partnership Program in the Krotona school of Theosophy. It is like an apprenticeship, and I was paired up with Tim Boyd and Pablo Sender. One day I will take the time to gush about Pablo, as he is someone I look up to and consider a close friend, but later.
The project I conceived of doing with Tim involved doing some writing piece about his teacher, Bill Lawrence, or as Bill’s students always called him: The Old Man. I once heard Tim give a lecture about the Old Man, and I was floored with what I could tell was only tip of the iceberg regarding Tim’s life with his teacher. It is one of those things where, during the lecture, you look around and realize you are the weird one because you are way too excited about the subject at hand. Everyone was interested mind you, I don’t want to give the impression that they weren't, but probably not as much as I was. (Or maybe they were just better at being less transparent with their emotions, now that I think of it.)
I talked with Tim a little about Bill after the lecture, but nothing came out of it at the time. Then later I was given this Partnership opportunity, so I thought I’d do something about the lack of Bill Lawrence material in the Theosophical archives. Tim’s brain became a sponge full of stories for me to squeeze.
It didn't take much effort. With Tim, once you get him talking about a topic he enjoys, just try stopping him. One interview kept getting extended, and I ended up with six interviews about an hour each. So, six hours of material.
I would find out from his office assistants that he would be in this Bill Lawrence daze the rest of the day after our interviews. He would be cheerful, and thinking, then he would tell them to stop working and listen to some stories. The Chief of Staff came by to talk about something important, and Tim would just say, “Sit down. That can wait. Listen up and you might learn something.”
Even though I have six hours (which translates to about a hundred pages) when I mention to Tim that we might want to fill in some of the gaps with more interview material, his face lights up. He says, “Okay. If we must, we must.”
I did write an article from some of the material as I planned. It is here. And currently, I am working on making it all into a book. It is a wonderful story, but it is all Tim’s intellectual property as far as I’m concerned. I will finish it, hand it to him, and hope he does something with it.
So yeah, from a man who has known some great people, and is considered highly valued himself, it is nice to be thanked and encouraged. I think a Bill Lawrence quote or two is entirely in order. From the mouth of the Old Man himself:
“In the twinkling of an eye, make your selection and change your life’s direction, in the twinkling of an eye.”
“It’s a good life, if you just don’t weaken.”
“I know I am a spark from that eternal flame.
I know I am a grain of sand on this beach of life.
That I am related to a blade of grass,
Correlated to a leaf on a tree,
I am a part of the Universal All.
What can be denied me?”
President Tim Boyd
Tim Boyd, the National President of the TSA (ergo my old boss), and now International President of the Theosophical Society in Adyar, wanted to have a one on one with me in his office as soon as he got back from India. In our meeting, he said some very nice things. He said that I am one of those people who does not try to take the spotlight, yet the evidence of the work I do is apparent. I do not always take credit for it, but every project or aspect of the work I've touched gets done successfully because of my efforts. When I am on the job, the situation is handled well and no one needs to worry about it.I’m writing it down in part because I don’t want to forget it. For a Theosophist, he basically described what I’d like to be as an ideal. He has that ability, to show you the best part of yourself to inspire you further. That’s why he has so many titles and people following him, I imagine.
As formal as Tim and my relationship often is, we have gotten to know each other quite well, which is why I appreciated what he had to say. About a year and a half ago I became a part of a Partnership Program in the Krotona school of Theosophy. It is like an apprenticeship, and I was paired up with Tim Boyd and Pablo Sender. One day I will take the time to gush about Pablo, as he is someone I look up to and consider a close friend, but later.
The project I conceived of doing with Tim involved doing some writing piece about his teacher, Bill Lawrence, or as Bill’s students always called him: The Old Man. I once heard Tim give a lecture about the Old Man, and I was floored with what I could tell was only tip of the iceberg regarding Tim’s life with his teacher. It is one of those things where, during the lecture, you look around and realize you are the weird one because you are way too excited about the subject at hand. Everyone was interested mind you, I don’t want to give the impression that they weren't, but probably not as much as I was. (Or maybe they were just better at being less transparent with their emotions, now that I think of it.)
I talked with Tim a little about Bill after the lecture, but nothing came out of it at the time. Then later I was given this Partnership opportunity, so I thought I’d do something about the lack of Bill Lawrence material in the Theosophical archives. Tim’s brain became a sponge full of stories for me to squeeze.
It didn't take much effort. With Tim, once you get him talking about a topic he enjoys, just try stopping him. One interview kept getting extended, and I ended up with six interviews about an hour each. So, six hours of material.
I would find out from his office assistants that he would be in this Bill Lawrence daze the rest of the day after our interviews. He would be cheerful, and thinking, then he would tell them to stop working and listen to some stories. The Chief of Staff came by to talk about something important, and Tim would just say, “Sit down. That can wait. Listen up and you might learn something.”
Even though I have six hours (which translates to about a hundred pages) when I mention to Tim that we might want to fill in some of the gaps with more interview material, his face lights up. He says, “Okay. If we must, we must.”
I did write an article from some of the material as I planned. It is here. And currently, I am working on making it all into a book. It is a wonderful story, but it is all Tim’s intellectual property as far as I’m concerned. I will finish it, hand it to him, and hope he does something with it.
So yeah, from a man who has known some great people, and is considered highly valued himself, it is nice to be thanked and encouraged. I think a Bill Lawrence quote or two is entirely in order. From the mouth of the Old Man himself:
“In the twinkling of an eye, make your selection and change your life’s direction, in the twinkling of an eye.”
“It’s a good life, if you just don’t weaken.”
“I know I am a spark from that eternal flame.
I know I am a grain of sand on this beach of life.
That I am related to a blade of grass,
Correlated to a leaf on a tree,
I am a part of the Universal All.
What can be denied me?”
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