Creed in Progress

I try to model a way of living to my students and for my children.  Plus I believe in keeping it simple.  In attempt to crystalize my way of life, I've started rewriting these personal rules.

1.  Fight another's loneliness.  What to step up and be an hero? Make them smile.  Look into the eyes and connect.  We will all have days of desperate loneliness: you and me included.  Loneliness that appears to have even a chance of becoming unending makes people violent to relationships, themselves, and to others.

2.  Stand up for yourself.  Refuse to be mistreated.
Call it out simply, directly, and the soon the better.  Niceness is only an option but be cognizant of rule 1. Some possible things to say:
You are  acting ________.  
I'm not interested in this _________ in the future and so it needs to stop now.
This behavior is unacceptable and needs to change if we are going to continue _________.

3.  Listen to yourself.  Listen deeply to your words and observe your actions.  Listen quietly to what makes your soul slightly resonate.  Move so your words and actions come from those quiet resonant moments.   Use those moments to have long term goals.  Working on those long range goals give meaning to the daily grind.
    (A slight P.S. on listening deeply to oneself:  Its alright to learn scary things about yourself.  We can work it out together. Self discovery sounds like it shouldn't be do terrifying but it often can be. Its worth it long term.)

4.    Commandment 11:  Don't be a prick.  So you know it.   So what.  Repeat steps 1 -3.
      "Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water."

What do you think?  Would you recommend something different?

Kindness is Water

"The important thing, that which we cannot live without, is kindness.  Kindness is water, religion is like tea.  It's a great luxury. it increases the savor of life, and is wonderful if we have it.  But kindness is the starting block of every life.  We should ground ourselves in the people around us before immersing ourselves in text and notions of the absolute."

-Pico Iyer, paraphrasing teachings from the Dalai Lama

How to create

Despite the tired old claim that Necessity is the Mother of Invention,
it's usually Observation and Imagination that deserve the credit.
                                                   
   -- The Te of Piglet, pg. 160

 Not tolerating intolerance is not the same thing as intolerance itself.

the Animal and the Diabolical self

"Finally, though I have had to speak at some length about sex, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the centre of Christian morality is not here. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute." --C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

shake, rattle, and roll

"The spiritual crisis, when it visits our lives, is the moment of profound change. It is the moment when we may come to the root of our pain, the source of our existential dilemma. We do not need to fix it, we do not need to run from it, we do not need to fear it. We do not need to do anything. In doing nothing we are left with an acute awareness of all that is occurring. An acute awareness of all that is occurring is, after all, what we are... We are in conflict. Stay with that fact. That conflict is vibrating; it is shaking our world. Let our world shake. Let it tumble down. Whatever is left standing is Life itself. Life is not in conflict.
Now, shall we live?" 
~Steven Harrison, Being One~

change, slowly but change still

 Elder Oaks:

"On the subject of public discourse, we should all follow the gospel teachings to love our neighbor and avoid contention. Followers of Christ should be examples of civility. We should love all people, be good listeners, and show concern for their sincere beliefs. Though we may disagree, we should not be disagreeable. Our stands and communications on controversial topics should not be contentious. We should be wise in explaining and pursuing our positions and in exercising our influence. In doing so, we ask that others not be offended by our sincere religious beliefs and the free exercise of our religion. We encourage all of us to practice the Savior’s Golden Rule: “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

When our positions do not prevail, we should accept unfavorable results graciously and practice civility with our adversaries. In any event, we should be persons of goodwill toward all, rejecting persecution of any kind, including persecution based on race, ethnicity, religious belief or nonbelief, and differences in sexual orientation."