A Native American mystic

Next time I'm home I'll get the quote, but there is an astonishing passage in a Puritan diary I have that describes a Native American mystic who tries to purify the religion of his people, and also discourage alchohol use.

Irritability Quotient

My IQ was high yesterday. That's my Irritability, not my Intelligence. I've been on a low carb diet to lose weight, which is working, but I have not started any kind of relaxation, meditation, centering, calming practice to address my grouchiness.

Sandwiches

The Meeting I visited yesterday has a project where young Friends make sandwiches once a month for a shelter.

Inner Lightning, or Inner Lightening

This is silly, but it occurred to me to think about these names for the blog. "Lightning" sounds sort of scary and dramatic; probably most people wouldn't want the sort of epiphany Inner Lightning suggests, at least not more than a few times in their life. Inner Lightening though seems like something I need all the time.

Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary

I think I've mentioned this on this site before. The web site Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary
has wonderful (somewhat academic sounding, but still wonderful) meditations on the Bible, non-violence, and theology based on the thinking of Rene Girard.

This morning a passage on imitating Christ struck me. As long as we imitate our neighbors, we will be mired in conflict.

I am thinking about how internet addiction, which I have fairly badly, is a stumbling block for me. Is internet browsing a search for rumor, fashion, the latest human models to imitate?

What about Hitler?

I'm reading a book, "What about Hitler?", which tries to answer the question pacifists often get. I'm a little worried that the answer amounts to "we have to be nonviolent but be open to the fact that it might not work", but I'll see. It's odd to me though that people assume that a violent response to tyranny/oppression etc. is guaranteed to work better than nonviolence. We *can* lose wars. Anyway, more thoughts later.

Florida Avenue Meeting

My older son and I traveled the Metro to Dupont Circle to visit the Florida Avenue Friends Meeting in DC. It took us a while to find it, as I somehow thought it was visible from Connecticut Avenue, and didn't take the hint of the name that it is, in fact, on Florida Avenue. We couldn't stay for Meeting, but had a nice chat with the fellow in the office. My son was impressed with the building - he told me expected it to "be in an old house or something"!