The Library of Alexandria...

Every so often, I run into a piece of history that I knew, sort of, but that I didn't know the "whole story" of.

I knew the Library of Alexandria existed and that it had been destroyed....and now I know how...

I watched a film last night on the city and culture that was Alexandria, that broke my heart. That a CHRISTIAN MOB would rush the library and destroy EVERYTHING was almost more than I could bear. It made me think of the horror I felt when the Muslims smashed he thousands of years old Buddhist statues.

But it was more than that. Not only did they destroy the library, they took a culture where women were respected and they plunged it back into the dark ages of oppression.

Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, who was her teacher and the last known mathematician associated with the Museum of Alexandria. She became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria in approximately 400. She taught MEN. This was her sin, well this and the fact that she wouldn't embrace Christianity. And she wouldn't embrace Christianity for many reasons, one of which was their oppression of women, their relegation of women to a second class citizen, one who could not teach. And for that she was killed.

In the movie it was kind of a romantic death, although we saw her dragged into the library and stripped naked. In the film, a man who was her slave, who had been in her school, smothers her so she isn't stoned to death. But the varying histories I've since read show that her death was so much more horrific. Some reports suggest she was flayed with ostraca (pot shards) and set ablaze while still alive, though other accounts suggest those actions happened after her death.

So many Christians have said to me that Christianity does not oppress women. That Christian history isn't that violent. But I know these are lies that one has to tell oneself to stay sane...I had to tell myself lies to remain in the right wing of fundamentalist Christianity in order to stay sane. And then one day, I simply couldn't do it anymore.

One thing I am believing because of our history, though, is that Islam could also grow up and grow through their violent tendencies given enough time. If we could do it, I believe they will do it also. I have to believe that to stay sane.

Our Exquisite 20th Anniversary Dinner

Tonight Jon and I went out for our 20th anniversary dinner at Italia Trattoria, which is a new restaurant in Browne’s Addition. Jon had Grilled rack of wild boar with braised faro, delicate squash and huckleberry balsamic. I had Grilled washimi flatiron steak, with roasted sun chokes, potatoes, brussels sprouts and porcini butter (I did taste, but did not eat the roasted sun chokes w/Brussels sprouts). His drink was a Zenzero, mine was a Pomedrop. They were excellent.

For dessert, I had TIRAMISU for the first time in my life. It was OMG good, so much so that when the waitress asked me how I liked it, I found myself speechless!!! Jon had Affogato which is espresso poured over vanilla ice cream.

The décor and atmosphere was fabulous. Our waitress, Maggie, was fantastic...

All in all it was a tremendously fulfilling and glorious evening…

Oh, and on the way home we stopped at Tully’s and grabbed a vanilla latte.

The only bad part of the whole evening was the thin ice all over the sidewalks. It made it so dangerous to walk!!! But we survived!!!

Reposting: Bowl of Saki, January 8, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Bowl of Saki, January 8, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The (limited) happiness of this world is something we cannot keep; it is just like the horizon - the nearer you go, the farther it goes. As soon as you get it, you see it is not the thing you wanted. That discontent continues its work till we have found and understood the manifestation of God, in which is hidden the Divine Spirit. God cannot be found in temples, for God is Love; and love does not live in temples, but in the heart of man, which is the temple of God. The true religion would be to recognize it is so and to tolerate, to forgive and to love each other.

There is a story told of Moses. One day he was passing through a farm, and he saw a peasant boy sitting quietly and talking to himself, saying, 'O God, I love you so; if I saw you here in these fields I would bring you soft bedding and delicious dishes to eat, I would take care that no wild animals could come near you. You are so dear to me, and I so long to see you; if you only knew how I love you I am sure you would appear to me!'

Moses heard this, and said, 'Young man, how dare you speak of God in this way? He is the formless God, and no wild beast or bird could injure Him who guards and protects all.' The young man bent his head sorrowfully and wept. Something was lost to him, and he felt most unhappy. And then a revelation came to Moses as a voice from within which said, 'Moses, what have you done? You have separated a sincere lover from Me. What does it matter what I am
called or how I am spoken to? Am I not in all forms?'

This story throws a great light on this question, and teaches that it is only the ignorant who accuse one another of a wrong conception of God. It teaches us how gentle we ought to be with the faith of another; as long as he has the spark of the love of God, this spark should be slowly blown upon so that the flame may rise; if not, that spark will be extinguished. How much the spiritual development of mankind in general depends upon a religious man! He can either spread the light or diminish it by forcing his belief on others.

Very often a person thinks that other people should believe in and worship his God. But everyone has his own conception of God, and this conception becomes the stepping-stone to the true ideal of God.

Nature teaches every soul to worship God in some way or other, and often provides that which is suitable for each. Those who want one law to govern all have lost sight of the spirit of their own religion. And it is in people who have not yet learned their own religion that such ideas are commonly found. Did they but know their own religion, how tolerant they would become, and
how free from any grudge against the religion of others!

A Yoga Journey...

or, what happens when an overweight, asthmatic, inflexible 57 year old woman takes up Yoga...

I have to say, I've wanted to do Yoga practically from the moment I laid eyes on someone performing a posture. I thought, "Oh, yeah!!! That is for me."

But I procrastinated as I raised 6 children, thinking, I have time. And then, this year, it hit me. I DON'T have time. The time is now.

I watched a few youtube Yoga videos and thought...I will never master this. But never isn't usually a word that intimidates me, so I began a journey to find a DVD that I could use that didn't kill me. *grin*

I ended up with 3 that I felt I could manage and on August 21st I began...

I had just read a post on Spirituality that talked about 40 days...how it takes 40 days to set up a spiritual practice, to set up a habit, to establish a pattern, so my first Yoga became a 40 day challenge. I also took one day a week off of my Yoga, so as not to overtax myself.

My first 40 day challenge was a smashing success, physically. I lost 10 pounds, making this year's weight loss a total of 35 pounds, and I lost 4.5 inches overall. And I learned a few things about myself...

I learned I CAN get up at 5AM to do something. If you knew me very well, you'd know how truly crazy that thought is.

I learned that I have REALLY lost a great deal of flexibility in my life and that this Yoga stuff is truly challenging. I have since adopted a few props (2 yoga blocks and a strap) to help me when the going is too far for me to reach. LOL

Mostly I learned that I feel really different when I do Yoga, even when I don't feel, necessarily, like I'm getting that more flexible. I feel different at the core, where body stability begins (I think) and this changes my confidence level, how I walk, and how I feel overall. And it's a good feeling.

I have had body image issues all of my life, even before I knew what that meant. It has probably affected me on so many levels that I'm not even aware of, because I don't talk about it. I can't talk about it (except to one friend, just the other day and it was breathtakingly painful).

I took on this Yoga challenge in my life to try to help change how I feel physically, and how I feel, mentally, about my physicality. I don't know, yet, if I will succeed at this, but I do know I'm committed to continuing this Yoga challenge in my life until I regain some of what I have lost.

I am in a new, 60 day, challenge now, and I hope to make this a part of my life for always...

This touched me this morning...

Trying to Be Thoughtful in the First Brights of Dawn

I am thinking, or trying to think, about all the
imponderables for which we have
no answers, yet endless interest all the
range of our lives, and it's

good for the head no doubt to undertake such
meditation; Mystery, after all,
is God's other name, and deserves our

consideration surely. But, but -
excuse me now, please; it's morning, heavenly bright,
and my irrepressible heart begs me to hurry on
into the next exquisite moment.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Swan)

From an egroup I am on:

The Fable of the Porcupines

It was the coldest winter ever - many animals died because of the cold.

The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.

This way they covered and protected themselves;

But the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other

After awhile they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen

So they had to make a choice:

Either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together

This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion

But the most important part of it, was the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

Moral of the story:

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.

It's not always what you say...

It's often how you say it...

I had an experience last week of being told something that really hurt me. But it wasn't what was said (which I had actually expected), it was how it was said to me. It amazes me that people in relationship say things in such hurtful ways, but there it is, leaving me emotionally frozen in time, not knowing which way to move, afraid to move any direction for fear of making it worse. I hate being frozen. Sigh.

Also, this isn't in just the hurtful moments, in the past few weeks it's happened in some more casual moments also. People that don't think and say things in hurtful or demeaning ways. Sometimes in front of friends, which makes it doubly humiliating and hurtful.

Just saying, be careful how you speak to people. If you care about them even a little.