"The whole spiritual journey might be summed up as humble hope." Thomas Keating

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Let's stay scared

One of the meetings I attend just emailed members an article about the coroner's report on Amy Winehouse.  It is a very unpleasant reminder that we must work our program and continue to grow spiritually.  We either grow or face very unpleasant consequences.

Coroner: Amy Winheouse drank herself to death


LONDON —Soul diva Amy Winehouse died with empty vodka bottles in her room and lethal amounts of alcohol in her blood — more than five times the British drunk driving limit, a British coroner ruled today.
Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying the singer died of accidental alcohol poisoning when she resumed drinking after weeks of abstinence.
"The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said.
The singer, who had fought a very public battle with drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. An initial autopsy proved inconclusive, although it found no traces of illegal drugs in her system or signs of injury.
Pathologist Suhail Baithun told the inquest into the singer’s death that blood and urine samples indicated that Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" prior to her death. The level of alcohol in her blood was 416 milligrams per 100 milliliters, he said — a blood alcohol level of 0.4 percent.
The British and U.S. legal drunk-driving limit is 0.08 percent.
Such levels of alcohol intake could have stopped her breathing and sent her into a coma, Baithun added.
Police Detective Inspector Les Newman, who was called after a security guard found Winehouse, said three empty vodka bottles — two large and one small — were found in her bedroom.
Winehouse’s doctor, Dr. Christina Romete, said the singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death. Prior to that, Winehouse had stayed away from drink for most of July, she said, although she had been swerving between abstinence and heavy alcohol use for a long time.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Live humbly, love recklessly

Live humbly, love recklessly

I saw this slogan on a subway poster this morning.  Checking the url on the poster it turns out its for a church, which doesn't particularly thrill me, but the slogan is definitely a keeper.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Glad Gethsemane - how soon I forget

This morning a friend asked me about my understanding of Fr. Ed Dowling's concept of Glad Gesthmane. To put it briefly, this is viewing painful events as opportunities to give to others.  Everything we do sends out ripples, either positive or negative.  I think Mircea Eliade said that when we speak we either bless or curse.  (Boy, is that one I remember far too seldom!)  

My favorite examples of Glad Gesthemane come from extreme situations.  People like Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent their time in German concentration camps helping and supporting other prisoners.  An AA I knew too briefly came to our meeting in his last weeks, saying his only wish was to die sober.  He gave us the tremendous gift of his courage.

The concept, however, applies to the small, everyday things that bother and irritate us. These are the spiritually dangerous times.  As a friend likes to say, it's not the elephants that kill us, it's the mosquitoes.  I find daily irritations a wonderful opportunity to complain and spread the negativity.  I should be viewing them as opportunities to, at the very least, share perspective (humility) and make clear just how small the small things are.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Some thoughts on the passing of Steve Jobs

Since Steve Jobs died on October 5 we have all heard a great many opinions about him and what he meant.  Clearly he was an economic and cultural force for the last several decades.  Virtually all the obituaries and commentaries I have seen have been flat out hagiography.  They look to his immense creativity and his business skills and generally stop there.
There is another side, however.  An essential part of Jobs' marketing genius was his exploiting one of the spiritually damaging aspects of a consumer society: the tendency of people to define themselves to themselves and others through their possessions.  I use a Mac (which I do) so I am cool.  I have an iPod, cool.  An iPhone, cool.  An iPad, very hip and cool.  You get the idea.
In my opinion this is one of the most spiritually damaging forms of materialism.  To put it in terms of the 7 deadly sins, the quest for pleasure and fulfillment through the aquisition of wealth is gluttony; the quest for self definition through material goods is avarice. Few people would admit to being small minded enough to define themselves through their iPods, but in point of fact many do to a greater or lesser degree.
Our recovery is based on humility and love.  Neither of those is compatible with avarice.  To be clear, I am not trying to take anything away from the immense positive side of Jobs legacy.  His advocacy of good design and ease of use helped change technology for the better.  Let's not lose sight, however, of the fact that he did expose (and exploit) one of the dark aspects of our time, our culture, ourselves.

This bowl is broken

A friend of mine recently mentioned that a Buddhist teacher once, while holding his favorite (intact) bowl, said "this bowl is broken."  That is to say, look at it as already past, lost, broken and you won't be attached to it.

I need that kind of reminder a lot.  I remember when I first heard the AA bumper sticker "an expectation is a premeditated resentment."  What, aren't we supposed to have any expectations.  I twisted with that one for years before realizing that the answer was a simple 'yes.'  We can look to the future and plan, but to expect is to attach yourself to an anticipated outcome and attaching yourself is a dangerous thing.