Practical Love

Today, I made a video in defense of Starbucks. I am a big coffee fan, but that is not why I did it. I found out that Starbucks has been getting backlash for openly supporting same-sex marriage. I also found out that it was their support that help solidify the legislation in Washington state. I try not to be political, but so many have politicized the gay marriage issue. I support the people. Which, by the way, sums up my political views. There are people, American citizens, that have needs and desires that can easily be met. These needs don't directly effect me. But when you single out groups that you will give or deny rights to based on your own views, it indirectly effects me and all of us. We have come to an age of information. We are now informed of all the things going on around the world. When we see atrocities around the world, we get incensed. And we should. We still have racial and sexual inequality in this informed world; in this informed country. Sometimes I get ...

Artists literally pour their hearts and souls into their work. When you draw or paint, your skin, oil, sweat can actually become part of the piece. But these pieces are their interpretations of the subject. Their imagination and experience coupled with their sight are manifested on their medium. Singers, songwriters, dancers and all performance artists put everything out on the line because they do it live while you watch. It is all the expression of their interpretations and experiences and they put a lot of themselves into the piece. Their own emotions, their own thoughts and their own bodies make it into the show. They invite you to come. They sit in the wings nervously. "Will they like me? Will I screw up? Did they come?" Art happens. You meet them at the stage door. So nervous, they leave their make-up on. "So...what did you -" they barely get out and you say, "You look pretty!" (insert 80s style needle scratch here). The performers all know tha...

I want to continue to talk about how God is Love . It is such a simple phrase. It makes a great bumper sticker. Seriously, language is so important probably because it can often be misinterpreted. There are 8 major translations of the original Bible over the years which have been translated into over two thousand language variations. There are hundreds of revisions to those bibles as well. The Catholic Church, this past year, changed much of the words used in the Mass on Sunday. I found a list that someone made of the names of God. They came up with 524. It seems that we are continually trying to get the words right. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:14 These are two interesting and simple quotes from the gospel of John. It seems that the Word is important. We also find in the gospel of John, "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in Go...

I know I am writing about food again. The food blog is actually my wife, Cory's blog at http://coryography.wordpress.com  It is actually so much more and I highly recommend it. This would actually be a subset of the continuation of the self love post. It occurred to me today how dysfunctional our relationship with food is. It is not a surprise. The quality of food in the mass produced world of processed, high-fructose corn syrup laced food is crap. And every day we find out the food that we love is horrible for us ... and then it is good, but next week, it is bad again. My daughter, Celia, once asked as only a child can, "Why isn't all food good for us?" I will let you ponder that one. I am one of those persons who is blessed with the ability to eat anything I want and not turn into Sigmund the sea monster. I have always ate what I wanted, when i wanted it. Now that I have found out some not so savory information about my food, I have been more careful about the ...

You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere. Buddha You can try to practice love and loving your neighbor and those who wrong you, but if you cannot love yourself, you are going to struggle. Love is like a seed. It is planted inside of you and you need to water and feed it. The environment is very important. But how do we improve the environment? How do we virtually water this symbolic seed? What if you look in the mirror and fear that you are a fat, aging, unloveable person? What if that mirror shows you all your flaws? What if you are afraid that everyone else can see them too. What if you constantly remind yourself that you have not lived to your potential; you haven't contributed to the world; and your dreams have passed without a chance? What then? What if you believe that you have bad thoughts, bad ideas and must be a bad person? What if you look ...

I studied Hapkido for about five+ years and was always fascinated by the metaphysical aspect of the martial arts. The word "Hapkido" is Korean and means, "the way of coordinated power." Everything is circular and you use your ki or chi or lifeforce or strength to combine with your opponent's energy to redirect the force to your advantage. It is pretty cool. One popular martial art maxim is "be like water." I think Bruce lee explains it the best. Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend. The "be like water" princ...