Being secular but spiritual in a landscape of wonder

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Mendalla said:
I am in an odd space myself. I value mysticism but practicing meditation and such has never gone especially well for me. The closest I come to mystical experience is occasional moments of spiritual insight when I'm out in nature or appreciating creative or scientific insights.
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Hi Mendalla:

You are mystical enough, if you ask me.:)

There is one-sided rationality, but there also is one-sided mysticism. One onesidedness is as psychologically or spiritually unhealthy as the other.
 
Kimmio said:
Instead of coffee time it'd be the Mad Hatter Tea Party in the narthex!:D

I understand the effects of hallucinagens are similar...I didn't have a sheltered youth, but I would rather become good at meditation (which I am not)...because once you take the drug you have to wait for it to leave your system how ever long that takes. And I think that's more dangerous.
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Yes, I too favour the traditional approach over pharmceuticals. The danger with taking drugs to achieve a mystical high is that one tends to think that the pharmacology does it, rather than one's innate capacity for mystical enlightenment, and runs into danger of becoming addicted to the drug.

When one achieves a spiritual high by conventional means, then the high is ascribed to one's innate capacity for a spiritual high. If if one becomes addicted to that, it's a positive addiction.:)
 
It really comes down to envy, Kimmio, at least on the Ontario side. Lots of us would rather be on the Left Coast, I suspect, while the BC side envies us for living in the "locus of power".
 
Neo said:
View attachment 49 I'm no stranger to Howe Sound, this was my commute home just last night. I skipped the ferry and took the water taxi home.
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what. a. commute *falls over* :3

when you've missed the last ferry, where did you have to stay? i guess in the Summer it could be kinda romantic, sidle up to your sweetie and watch the stars and listen to the hoots of the Greys & Saskis...
 
Mendall said:
It really comes down to envy, Kimmio, at least on the Ontario side. Lots of us would rather be on the Left Coast, I suspect, while the BC side envies us for living in the "locus of power".
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I don't know how giving a shout out for another Brantfordian becomes fodder for a BC v ON rivalry. Unless somebody else feels threatened.

If I wanted to be on the West Coast I probably would not have purchased a summer home and land in Northern Newfoundland.

I went to school at VST on the UBC Campus. It was a nice place to visit.

I like sunshine. It might get snowy and blowy in NL. I was in BC one November when they managed only 23 hours of sunshine for the whole month. No you don't have to shovel rain. By that token human beings aren't ferns either.
 
revjohn said:
I don't know how giving a shout out for another Brantfordian becomes fodder for a BC v ON rivalry. Unless somebody else feels threatened.

If I wanted to be on the West Coast I probably would not have purchased a summer home and land in Northern Newfoundland.

I went to school at VST on the UBC Campus. It was a nice place to visit.

I like sunshine. It might get snowy and blowy in NL. I was in BC one November when they managed only 23 hours of sunshine for the whole month. No you don't have to shovel rain. By that token human beings aren't ferns either.
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I was joking. It was a little friendly ribbing. There are a lot of Ontarians here. My best friend moved to Toronto...there's definately a friendly rivalry between the two big cities. I wasn't aware of it before I moved here. I didn't mean to make a big deal. I would love to go to Newfoundland...and NB and NS and PEI.
 
Kimmio said:
You are a heck of an interesting senior, Hermann! I mean that in the best way. I love it!:) Not that I am interested to try that...but I love your enthusiasm. How would that idea go over at church? ;)
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The world is here for us to experiment with

In the past, various authorities have told us what experiences are valid and which are verboten. Which sexual positions are valid and which are verboten. Which etcs are valid and which etcs are verboten.

We are taught to fear what we are told is verboten. We are taught not to fear what is accepted.

So, we live in a country where one of the most horrific drugs is available relatively unregulated, alcohol, which has further devastated our aboriginal populations...

Different places of worship & religions use different means...

There are some aboriginals who use things like peyote & LSD & ayahuasca

There are some places of worship that induce similar effects by things such as fasting, dancing, speaking in tongues, self-flagellation, etc

Timothy Leary said that the drugs weren't the point, but, rather, they were yet another tool.

The world is here for us to experiment with, to play with...if you want to think of it in this way, g_d has put hidden treasures everywhere for us to find and wants to play with us -- its up to us to find the various keys. And not everyone is going to find the same treasures (or even find them palatable) -- but they aren't going to know that by just yakking aboot it...they've got to find out for themselves (which, in sombunall cases, means help from people who have experienced it before).

'follow your bliss'

'deep end -- dive deep'

'c'mon in, the water's fine'

*watches Ekky Tolle meditate by*

(i think that part of the thing aboot being a senior -- yes, as you get older you get SMARTER -- is that you discover what is important--things like friends-- and what isn't--things like social mores and physical perfection)
 
Kimmio said:
I was joking. It was a little friendly ribbing. There are a lot of Ontarians here. My best friend moved to Toronto...there's definately a friendly rivalry between the two big cities. I wasn't aware of it before I moved here. I didn't mean to make a big deal. I would love to go to Newfoundland...and NB and NS and PEI.
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Please.

Don't make things worse by equating Ontarians with Torontonians.

Some of us are very proud not to be from Toronto.
 
Mendalla said:
It really comes down to envy, Kimmio, at least on the Ontario side. Lots of us would rather be on the Left Coast, I suspect, while the BC side envies us for living in the "locus of power".
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I think BC' ians sometimes feel excluded from the rest of Canada, like we're black sheep....which we kind of are... But it's not a huge deal... on WC we're a minority, so it's kind of fun that Inanna started this thread to share BC/ 'Cascadia' with people.
 
Kimmio said:
:oops: I'm looking for a foot in mouth emoticon here somewhere.
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Not really necessary. Just pointing out that there are folk in ON who don't consider Toronto to be the centre of the universe.

It too is a nice place to visit.

For the most part it is where ON send their tax dollars to die.

I suspect many in ON feel about Toronto the way many in BC feel about Vancouver or the Lower Mainland,

I suspect many in NL feel the same way about St. John's.
 
revjohn said:
Not really necessary. Just pointing out that there are folk in ON who don't consider Toronto to be the centre of the universe.

It too is a nice place to visit.

For the most part it is where ON send their tax dollars to die.

I suspect many in ON feel about Toronto the way many in BC feel about Vancouver or the Lower Mainland,

I suspect many in NL feel the same way about St. John's.
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Probably true. The older I get the more I am beginning to feel that way about Vancouver a little. It's the most expensive city in Canada two years in a row...yet, Victoria's the capital of the province. Rather humble by comparison (still high cost of living though).
 
Dale Chihuly, blown glass artist from Seattle:

http://www.chihulyworkshop.com/

Wow!

http://photos.oregonlive.com/photo-essay/2012/05/chihuly_garden_and_glass_museu.html

And one of his installations on Georgia Street in Vancouver:

http://www.vancouverfountains.com/?p=101

The Vancouver one's nice...but not as impressive as one of his installations, a 30 ft!!! blown glass chandelier (flying spaghetti monster?) that made it way far away, to Victoria and Albert Museum in London:

http://cruises.about.com/od/europeancruises/ig/London--England/london040-jpg.htm
 
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