tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34508915327168372422012-01-30T13:26:37.582-08:00Pseudo-Sermons of a fellow traveler.Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-50833677456245256202012-01-30T13:26:00.000-08:002012-01-30T13:26:37.593-08:00

  Archetypes are a necessity. For ideas to thrive through time, we have to use devices such as development of icons, cliches and archetypes in order to weave the story between and keep the listener or reader or student engaged. Not all archetypes have to be dissected for deeper meaning; rather, perhaps they just need to be uncovered. For instance, I don't believe in Angels as pronounced "

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-69984899920902975902011-08-14T18:50:00.000-07:002011-08-14T18:51:33.599-07:00

Summer Evening by Edward Hopper I have yet to see the recent film Tree of Life, and hear it was booed at Cannes, but from the preview it seemed like Terrence Malick was trying to portray some moments that are simply understood and sensed. Some do this with the subject of Deja Vu, and only poets like William Carlos Williams can nail it in language, with the surrealists doing it on canvas best, in

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-85776435426139234732011-06-20T12:22:00.000-07:002011-06-20T12:22:30.604-07:00

Someone asked me if i have abandoned this blog and the truth is that I tend to compartmentalize my thoughts and essays thematically in a kind of dis-organization and this blog, based on my spiritual processes has gone to the backburner as I have become more existentialist. I refuse to think that where i am is where I will remain nor that I have any truths or answers that are absolute. I fully

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-74473389902371248742010-09-12T18:44:00.000-07:002010-09-12T18:45:08.658-07:00

I am fortunate to have gained literacy that was cultivated and articulated by the support of my sphere and grows daily as I allow. But mine is a language among many, and the strength of one does not predict fluency in another. Sometimes it is our true native tongue that we discard for another, or let two compete and choose, preventing the enrichment of another that would come from participation

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-68348197208345373422010-08-17T08:58:00.000-07:002010-08-17T08:58:37.434-07:00

A few years ago, middle-aged women everywhere wanted to move to Tuscany. It was scenic, it evokes romance, there's the possibility of great food, and a chance to find some strapping man who worships you. Diane Lane looked fabulous doing it, and between work shifts, attending to the children, trying to be creative with tired conversations with one's spouse or one's friends, that was the escape.

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-11382910467234758132010-07-16T13:16:00.000-07:002010-07-16T13:24:56.838-07:00

I believe in the Shekinah, the Buddha, our vibrating strings and the forbidden forest. I am primarily a humanist and philosophically an existentialist. That might qualify me as "grounded" or maybe non-spiritual, but to me, whose only definition matters, it means that I compartmentalize according to how I want to believe and express myself according to what is important to me. It is

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-44045848779750830942010-06-21T10:47:00.000-07:002010-06-21T12:20:47.399-07:00

I'm not sure how focused my thoughts are about this, and so much with relationships is weighted by baggage and expectations that it's hard to say i'm carrying a light of truth through most of it more than anecdote. But I believe in tribes. Ancient, scattered tribes; those which go beyond just thinking band A or cuisine B is cool. I've been thinking a lot about family, really. http://

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-65583541273965678872010-05-24T07:48:00.000-07:002010-05-24T07:49:11.992-07:00

I've feel ill and no one can diagnose it. I've been eating too much, ignoring my health, lamenting on the loss of beauty and time and pining for decades past. I wasted so much of life and feel ill-equipped to raise my daughter the right way, to encourage by example. A slogan I've read is that "your child might not listen to what you say, but they watch everything you do". So if i lay around

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-80251433119883042912010-05-12T13:32:00.000-07:002010-05-12T13:32:15.268-07:00

I'm not sure if life is beyond breath, and i don't know if what we perceive as spirits are more than what we hope to see- some form of eternity, immortality. But there are greys and shades that don't fit into neat boxes in every corner of life, so I have to be open to the possibilities. But I remind myself of life and death quite often- life is fragile and a slave to time and space. Do we pause

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-35758145672817461322010-05-04T11:41:00.000-07:002010-05-04T11:41:35.586-07:00

Administriva: If you sent a comment and i didn't receive it, i apologize- even though i have gmail, blogspot sometimes fails to tell me such things. Some people have "religious experiences" of profound clarity or a peek into perspective and perhaps other worldliness that effects them spiritually. I tend to have revelatory experiences. I'll be sitting in a mundane situation and feel the abundance

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-13390502958065704232010-04-27T09:01:00.000-07:002010-04-27T09:01:32.400-07:00

A STRANGE PROCESSION OF HYPOCRITES. I can't stand hypocrisy in others, especially willing hypocrisy. And yet, I don't readily identify it in myself. Since 2004 when people started obsessing about the color of a state- red or blue, and began generalizations and assumptions about the worth and intellect of the residents, I became a vocal critic of those who would declare themselves progressive or

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-2419639290165389042010-04-25T18:25:00.000-07:002010-04-25T18:25:00.457-07:00

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. Henry David Thoreau  We can be engaging in activities that we have not named. I do not formally meditate, for instance. I've tried several times, and have succeeded in guided meditation once, but I lack the discipline to shut off self-awareness and being truly alone and conscious of meditat-ing comes in

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-313683807606632242010-04-16T08:32:00.000-07:002010-04-16T08:32:30.050-07:00

What is the human being? In church as a child I was reminded of the temporary nature of being as "dust to dust", reaffirmed by the band Kansas and made obvious by losing important people in my life whose ghosts too soon faded. I've been told we're clay at birth and molded through time and experience, but I don't believe that. I think that any newborn has knowledge and is rather a magnet or a

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-19970475494748196192010-04-14T13:36:00.000-07:002010-04-14T13:41:28.100-07:00

Being a Sociologist, which I'm not afraid to say anymore, means that I can critically dissect society in an informed way. Being a natural Sociologist means I've been doing this all my life, at least I thought so. But what i'm finding is that I've been not so much dissecting as classifying, which is a completely different thing. We define ourselves based largely on how we define others- this is

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-49620967366693480602010-04-07T13:41:00.000-07:002010-04-07T13:41:58.145-07:00

I've been confronted by several things spiritually these past few weeks that have made me look deeply within myself and think about who I am. I'm continually humbled and amazed by life and feel unworthy and blessed. I'm impressed by the magic in life and grow through the challenges. And I realize i'm being vague, but examples are only meaningful when they touch the language within me. I became

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-25858790720782491012010-03-24T06:46:00.000-07:002010-03-24T06:47:17.165-07:00

We're all creative. Even the most stoic, Borg of a person creates, but the term has been co-opted as an image of a nymph dancing in a field with a tambourine, or some french dude with a mustache painting in a striped shirt. No. I remember a sitcom from the 80's called "A Different World" and the protagonist, a math-geek had to take a poetry class and ended up writing a love poem that made women

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-41394185816092457012010-03-22T08:27:00.000-07:002010-03-22T08:28:24.035-07:00

I am grateful that I attended church yesterday and learned about Malvina Reynolds. I'm going to be listening to her words of wisdom and teach Fia the lessons she gave. Here's an excerpt: THE SOUL BOOK by Malvina Reynolds You have been directed to look inside yourself for the meaning of life, for your soul. You may find nothing there. Because the soul is not inherent. The soul is something we

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-43279064599833363062010-03-15T08:26:00.000-07:002010-03-15T08:26:12.032-07:00

 Winslow Homer's "Fisherwoman" This week at church, the sermon was about perceptions of being alone: is it loneliness or solitude, and the value of solitude. What was most interesting was the statement that in being still, silent and alone in solitude, we can best feel connected as a co-habitant of earth and a member of life. This is about as new as Buddha sitting under a tree, but we need to be

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3450891532716837242.post-86634660054682155922010-03-08T13:20:00.000-08:002010-03-08T13:42:34.364-08:00

Welcome to my Spiritual blog. I am almost *counts on fingers* 36 years old. I've been part seeker and part drifter for most of it, anchored to few special friends and loved ones, and trying to make sense of everything to the point of being neurotic. I was born in the 1970's into a Catholic faith very unlike the one we'd see today. Instead of denying families services, or children the hope of

Maurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03689312067317312485noreply@blogger.com1