Obama

After volunteering for 5ish hours, we got to see...

BARACK OBAMA!!

It was exhilarating!

Untitled Rumi

You are an ocean in a drop of dew,
all the universes in a thin sack

of blood! What are these pleasures
then, these joys, these worlds,

that you keep reaching for, hoping
they will make you more alive?

The Change We Need.

This is my t-shirt that we made Monday night with SFBO. I can't wait to see him in office. We need him if our country has any hopes of climbing out of the hole that we've been digging for the past eight years.

Vote November 4. Vote for change.

There's really nothing quite like it.

There's nothing quite like having a good conversation with a friend over fondue (and drinks...and cake)

I had fun tonight. We should do this more often.

It's been a long time!

I'm not posting anything deep and meaningful, so you may want to move on. :)

What's been going on:

I bought Rumi: the book of love, and I haven't had time to read/reflect on anything, unfortunately.

I may have burned a bridge that was already pretty rickety, but I don't think it was worth rebuilding or maintaining. Is that bad?

I have a confession: I am thoroughly enjoying the book that my global futures class is reading, The World is Flat. How weird is that?! haha

I am so ready for the semester to be over! I'm ready to travel, to be home, to work, to swim, to be away.

That's all I've got for now, I'm sorry! :)

Just a Pondering or Two

I'm currently reading Eat, Pray, and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/eatpraylove.htm). So far, it is an excellent book!

Anyway, in the first part, Gilbert is describing time when she was questioning why she was married to her husband. Every night, after he was asleep, she would go into the bathroom and cry. During one of these sessions, she hears God speak to her for the first time. After painting this scene, she goes on to describe how she views God. This is the part that really grabbed me.

"And while I do love that great teacher of peace who was called Jesus, and while I do reserve the right to ask myself in certain trying situations what indeed He would do, I can't swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God."

Ok, so that is established. I completely agree with that. Spirituality is personal; therefore, each person experiences it differently.

But, here is my favorite part:

"God is an experience of supreme love."

That's just fantastic! I whole-heartedly agree!

Synergizing Religions

First the background:

I was sitting in my Art History class a few weeks ago, looking at slides of Islamic art and architecture (which is beautiful by the way), and I had a very interesting thought--I should read the Quran! Ok, so I put it on my list of books to read. The next day, I was talking to my sister on the phone, and out of the blue, she said that she bought a Quran that day. How ironic that two nice, Methodist girls decided to read the Muslims' Holy Book!

So, I brought the Quran back with me after Thanksgiving, and I started it today. Random? Yes!

Here are three things that I've learned so far:

#1: The word "Qibla" came up about six times during my reading, and I had no clue what it meant. It turns out to be very elementary: it is simply the direction in which a person should pray. Ok, easy enough.

#2: I had no idea that the Quran would reference so many Old Testament stories such as Adam in the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, Moses in the desert, etc. It also had the Virgin birth of Christ to Mary.

#3: This is my favorite:
"And they say: 'None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian.' Those are their (vain) desires. Say: 'Produces your proof if you are truthful."
"Nay--whoever submits his whole self to Allah and is a doer of good, --he will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."

--Surah 2: 111-112

I love the inclusiveness of those verses.