Here is a film that I’d like to share with you. It’s well worth the time it takes to watch it and a powerful reminder of a part of who we are that seems to have been forgotten in the modern world.

Fire on the Mountain

Tomorrow is Ramadan (the Islamic holy month of fasting, feasting and prayer) and it is also the second month of my contract with myself. There is something significant in that, at least it seems so to me.

I didn’t plan for Ramadan to be the second month of my contract and in fact I wasn’t aware that it was coming, not in an active way but here it is; the lunar calendar, my calendar and the solar calendar all coinciding.

Now Ramadan is a tough time for me because it really calls to me. It calls to me in the way that it unites Muslims around the world for an entire month, it calls to me in that it asks us to set aside our desires and earthly pleasures for a month and to focus our awareness on that which is greater than ourselves.

You understand?

I want very badly to be part of Ramadan… and yet I cannot accept the fast such as it is. The idea and the purpose resonate with me but the method does not. I understand and respect the discipline that is required for one to take no food or drink from sun up to sun down but it doesn’t make sense to me.

It doesn’t make sense because the idea is so vitally healthy and the act is (as far as I can see) not healthy at all. First fasts should allow water; water flushes the poisons from our system (aiding the fast) and supports all of the body’s functions. Second not eating for extended periods shuts down the bodies metabolism following this with huge feasts is a sure fire recipe for fat gain (not simply weight gain) because it makes the body believe it is starving and triggers the natural response to store energy in the form of fat.

So I love the idea but dislike the method. My trouble with Ramadan reflects my more general trouble with religion as a whole, there are many good ideas tied up with a multitude of methods that range from useless to crippling.

I’ve asked myself why many times and I do not have an answer.

Peace

At the moment I weigh about 175 lbs which isn’t too bad at all. Actually this is a very ideal weight the problem is that I have a lot of excess flab still. I’ve reached one of those bottle neck points in my development. This is okay and to be expected.

Due to problems with pool access through World Gym I’ve been off of my schedule this week. I’ve taken it as a rest week. I also had my first deep tissue treatment on Monday. The man who does this work is a masseur and a chiropractor (with both Eastern and Western training) and he hopes to work on my back and my rounded shoulders.

So with his continuing help and my continuing weight lifting, taijiquan/tai chi chuan and swimming I hope to work on trading fat for muscle and both loosening and tightening my body.

One of the welcome side effects of this one going process is an increased mental flexibility. In the past a deviation from my schedule would piss me off and lead to a period of aggressively trying to make up for an missed workouts. Lately I’ve been more able to sleep when my body is tired, be with friends when the opportunity arises and generally move my schedule around while sticking to the overall program.

This is a welcome and necessary growth, and on we go.

Peace

i got a picture of khomeni i’m trying to paint into Bamba

im for cynthia mcKinney and barak Obama

i meditate  but i dont have a practice

socialist though im not on the blacklist

muslim though i dont go to mosque

christian but i dont wear a cross

hindu though im not from hindustan

talib but im not in the taliban

Mourid though im not from senegal

sidi ahmed, cheikh dieye, ibra fall

cant forget my master cheikh aly

who says to do and to have that first I have to

BE

We Americans are spoiled in many, many ways especially in sport. We have people like Michael Phelps, who just happens to have swum six times for six world records and six golds, and we expect to have people like him.

We dominate and some of us are proud of that in a sort of nationalist/racist way others don’t care. Maybe this is how it should be, maybe sport isn’t that important but here at work today I got a different view.

Taiwan was playing China and on the baseball diamond missiles and UN seats don’t matter. On the baseball field men play a boys game and countries are reduced to teams and sport matters.

I always want these moments to go the right way, I want sport to be fair in a way the world often isn’t. I want Taiwan to hammer China for all the missiles and spies and lies and pressure because that would be a measure of equality.

It didn’t happen today (8-7 China) but it could have and that possibility sometimes means everything

I came to work today and had complaints from two students waiting for me.

Now I could explain to you why these two people are in no position to complain about my teaching and how their complaints are baseless. I could do this using logic and simple observation but I don’t want to.

I could make jokes about how stupid these people are and they would be pretty funny to my coworkers who know these people because the jokes would be true. But I don’t want to do that either.

What I want is to free myself from caring at all about what these people have said. What I’d like is to care no more about these insults than I would care about compliments; I’d like to severe my need for the approval of others because this seems the only productive way to be free from the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual assault of the actions of others.

What steps can we take to free ourselves from being concerned about the actions of others?

Trying to be healthy, trying to be conscious… waking late, complaining, struggling… practicing leading my body and energy with my intention… chasing after worldly dreams, women with long legs and firm breasts, knowing the emptiness of physical beauty absent of love… tumbling, praying, cursing, looking for a fight, looking for a fuck… lost and found at the same time, all of this is one.

An old Canadian dude breaks it down.

Killah Priest

August and September 2008

Writing:
1 Finish Young Man and the Kings of the Sea _____
2 Write one letter to Ann, Greg, Crista and Jake _____
3 Send the ninja story to at least to publishers _____
4 create four new lessons using CELTA ideas _____

Health:
1 Eat a piece of fruit or a vegetable everyday ____
2 Eat pizza only twice a month _____
3 Don’t eat after seven PM ____________________________
4 Go to sleep before 1130 everyday _____________________
5 Don’t miss any workouts of any sort ___________________
6 Practice pushing hands once a week ___________________

Study:
1 Read Wideman book ____
2 Finish Energy Medicine ____
3 Review Chinese with Flashcards everyday ____
4 Practice three circles meditation at night _________________
5 Keep dream journal _________________________________

Home:
1 Buy a refrigerator ____
2 Clear out all garbage from the cabinets, table and closets ___

Social:
1 Talk to at least 5 women at Cave’s bookstore ____

Future:
1 Contact Diane Nash about caretaker job ______

Financial:
1 Send 20,000 NT$ home each month ____
2 Save 20,000 NT$ each month ____