Asteroids of Wisdom

Asteroids

As the family watches episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, I am once again, out of the room, unable to handle the drama...  Never was able to - I Dream of Jeanie, I love Lucy, even Bewitched at times.  I had such difficulty handling the trouble these characters would get their family into, the drama they created, the seemingly insurmountable odds they were up against.  Star Wars takes that all to a new level!  My kids crack up because I had to leave, physically leave my seat during Big Hero Six!  

Well, that is my journey to figure out - in the mean time, throughout the film, little pearls of galactic wisdom are tossed to the audience like asteroids spinning into our stratosphere.   Do they land and implode, explode or fix themselves into the fabric of our galactic selves in recognition of their Truth?

On Mindfulness:A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph! Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless! 

On Meditation:Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad? Yoda: You will know... when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, NEVER for attack. 

On life as a reflection of our self-perceptions:Luke: I feel cold. Death. Yoda: [points to a cave opening beneath a large tree] That place... is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go. Luke: What's in there? Yoda: Only what you take with you. 

Over and over entertainment gives us clues, sparks our remembrance of who we are and how we are to support ourselves in this "otherworldly" human journey as spiritual beings in a time-space reality that enforces everything that we are not such that we get to a point where we must-

Yoda: You must unlearn what you have learned. 

I've been reading The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris.  It is a collection of stories/essays on her experiences and thoughts during a time in which she is an oblate within the Benedictine tradition.

According to the Benedictine website: http://www.osb.org/obl/ 

An Oblate is a lay or clerical, single or married, person formally associated to a particular monastery. The Oblate seeks to live a life in harmony with the spirit of Saint Benedict as revealed in the Rule of Saint Benedict and its contemporary expression.

I never knew a lay person, let alone a married woman could reside and participate in monastic living, practices, ritual.  I am fascinated and totally drawn in to her descriptions of liturgy, rhythm, monastic life.  I find it very compelling, feeling drawn into the spiritual intentionality and the practice of daily living as devotion.  I don't know if I could actually handle it, but very much want to try - when the time comes...when the girls are launched.  Until then, it fills my heart to know such an opportunity exists.  Oh, and until then, I also feel drawn to take up social dancing... A great way to prepare for those long periods of meditation and prayer.        Many paths, many teachers...

St. Frances of Rome.  Patroness of Benedictine Oblates.   

Growing Up

So come to find out this weekend, the tv show the 13 year old has been watching non stop on her tiny iphone 5 screen all this time is Grey's Anatomy.  I don't know if I'm relieved or uneasy...it's such a mature show...  Then again, it's not about a dystopian society with zombies or vampires which is much to be grateful for.

Then I find out that "I have a boyfrined"...  He asked her out by text... Oh, and he's moving in August to Deleware...  Perfect...  Oh, and his name is Will and he lives around the corner...on her bus...

Parenting teens is such a wild adventure - I say that tonite when things have been going much better.  Last week, I'd have said it was heart breaking - which it is.   To be the recipient of such disdain on and on is not for the faint of heart.  I realized that I put way too much into my relationship with her because when she dissed me - right on schedule, even when I know it is a phase etc. etc., my heart cried out "Noooooohhhhhhhh!!!!"  I literally felt so heart broken, sad, lonely.  Not a bit roughed up and bitter sweet, I was somewhat lost by it.  Too invested in that relationship - should be getting what I get from her from my adult relationships.  Learning to sort it out and create some healthy distance for both our sakes...