Do I hate Dogs?

It often seems that people think I don't like dogs because I've never had one. Also refused to allow the dogs of my daughter and son-in-law to get in bed with me. So if we're watching the grandkids while they're gone that means I'm sleeping on a cot by myself. But I am offended when people say I hate dogs because I think the best thing for a dog is not to live with me who is not going to pay the attention that a dog should get. Somehow people who go to work and leave their dog home barking all day are considered dog lovers. Or people who don't train their dog so they really can't stand the dogs behavior and it stays out outside all the time are also considered dog lovers. But someone who gave his college roommate's dog water when they forgot, and trained it not to jump on me so I could let it spend time with me, somehow gets labeled that I don't like dogs. 

Several times in this blog I've thought about being labeled an atheist with my current understanding of the world. I haven't come out to most people, so that hasn't happened. But I do wonder if that's what people will label me. It's interesting because I think of it a lot like the dog hating label. But just like I don't think the dog thing is a binary choice between liking and not liking dogs, I see the same way about labeling someone an atheist. I suppose I could say I'm just not interested in the God a person has described (not interested in agnostic). This came up recently after an assassination attempt on the former president. “He thinks he was handed a gift from God. He can’t believe it,” the unnamed source said to the Post. That is OK for his personal experience of faith but not so great if other people see it as a sign of God's action. “When one tries to imbue God's providence or God's blessing on a certain event like this,” Amanda Tyler says, “where lives were lost and lives were forever altered, that is very problematic theology.” I am just not interested in the concept of God where God helps or blesses some people and lets others be injured or suffer. 😔

Death Preparation

This appears to be the third time I've written in this journal about my diagnosis with prostate cancer. The doctors have made it very clear that they are working to extend my life, not to get rid of the cancer. Twenty years has been mentioned and online it sounds like clearly I have five years as at the moment as I am vigorous and healthy. While it's clear to me that I may die from this cancer, it's not "freaking me out" as one close friend had boldly inquired. In February I took inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh, The Most Wonderful Moment of Your Life, and thought about Thomas Merton's comment before his accidental death. In March I added how I had formerly feared having a heart attack but how yoga and Buddhism stilled those fears. I added how Geoff Dawson said "even life and death in itself is a rhythm" and Jane Hirshfield's image of us being like a cricket on a branch floating down the river towards the rapids. I titled that entry, Ready for this Moment. I recently had a financial plan prepared by a computer online that didn't me any more time than that. So I am clearly in the sunset portion of my life. One of my doctors said I am young for my age. So I keep checking in to see if I am really as calm as I seem to be. I don't have a bucket list except to be present to my my wife, grandkids, daughter, and family and friends. I would like to get rid of a lot of junk to go out cleanly so my wife and daughter don't have to sort through so much junk that I've accumulated. I'm also feeling a little bit freer with money. I've always been a little tight and My preparation for retirement has paid off in that the financial plan says we have plenty that will outlast us.

I was surprised and pleased to find that two years ago I blogged the Buddhism and Wholistic Health talk on May 1, 2022, by Geoff Dawson, Ordinary Mind School of Sydney. My blog entry title was Radical Sense of Acceptance. I am following the path on the HealthyMinds program app. I decided to search for change on this blog and found this perfect word for this change I am going through.

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Keep in mind that most men are around 70 when diagnosed with prostate cancer. Over, say, five years, many of these men will die from other medical problems unrelated to prostate cancer. Men with prostate cancer that is localized to the prostate or just nearby have a high long-term survival rate for their prostate cancer. Almost all will survive their prostate cancer for longer than five years -- and well beyond for many men. Prostate Cancer Survival Rates: What They Mean- WebMD 

Great Elephant Migration Across America

“We all know if we've got a dog or a cat how much personality exists, it's an uncomfortable truth to imagine that the whole of the animal kingdom has tons of personality–that (all animals are) beautiful people–because it would mean we'd have to change our behavior, but seeing animals as beautiful people, seeing mountains as deities and rivers as our veins, that it's a beautiful perspective,” Ruth Ganesh, trustee, Elephant Family USA, co-organizer of The Great Elephant Migration

It is a commonplace perspective across India that has fostered a coexistence between humans and wildlife. A perspective not shared in the West.

Great Elephant Migration Across America Begins In Newport, RI

Chadd Scott, July 5th, 2024

Are We in the Middle of a Spiritual Awakening?

It’s also important to note that spiritual beliefs have been part of American faith since the earliest days of colonization. “Colonial Americans were especially eclectic when it came to their beliefs about the supernatural,” Fuller writes. “While less than one in five belonged to a church, most subscribed to a potpourri of unchurched religious beliefs including astrology, numerology, magic and witchcraft.”

Still, I was most moved hearing from Brent Wright, an Indiana-based hospital chaplain, who also believes that we’re in some kind of transitional period. When we spoke, he said, “Those of us who are living right at the cusp of this shift are the ones bearing the burden of the cultural assumptions that came before us that we’re breaking out of, but then bearing the uncertainty of what does this mean?”

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He talked about the profound, transcendent spiritual connection he experiences through his work with patients. “I can look in their eyes and they look back and whatever our conversation is, whatever the content on the surface of the words, there’s a spiritual connection,” he said. “There’s a togetherness and aliveness that is profoundly rooted in the fact that we are both simply human beings and we’re here right now and I care.” I can’t think of a deeper, more meaningful experience than that.

Are We in the Middle of a Spiritual Awakening?

Jessica Grose, July 3, 2024