View from the Turkey House (Article) - 12/12/2020 11:11:33 AM
A very interesting story in the articles section. You write very well of your young life and moving from the block house to the turkey house. I recall the houses of my youth as well. What makes your life interesting is how dysfunctional parts of it were. I'm sorry to hear that, but still interested in what you have to write about it.
Ron
My Christmas Letter (Article) - 12/9/2020 8:36:54 PM
Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas.
Mindfulness--is it mindless or a panacea (Article) - 9/1/2019 8:43:45 AM
I agree with Tygo. Your article is concise, yet very broad in scope and easy to read and understand. It does not contain the repetition promoters of various mind altering programs profess. Frankly, I have not heard of mindfulness. But I have not been in the market for some kind of a personal "cure" for a very long time. I am very aware of meditation the way that you describe it.
I probably practice a personal form of meditation by taking time out three or four times a day to just vegetate and not think about anything in particular, preferably out in the sun getting a little vitamin D. I am quadriplegic so I have a machine that gives me a bicycle-like exercise for my legs and a back and forth exercise for my arms at the same time. I use that for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night, primarily to flex my arms and legs and pump blood that doesn't get moved any other way. I watch news on TV at the same time, so wouldn't call it any kind of meditation.
I haven't read any how-to books on any form of meditation. I learned stretching exercises as a part of school sports, eat sensibly, and always got enough exercise until I couldn't anymore. As a result, I have no mental/physical condition that requires me to actively focus on curing it. I feel sorry for those who get caught up in all kinds of meditative fads like diets and never find anything that works for them.
I once visited a Hare Krishna commune and found that the poor people there were caught up in a terrible cult and actually held captive by ritualistic chants for hours at a time and doing slave labor the rest of the time.
Ron
Mindfulness--is it mindless or a panacea (Article) - 9/1/2019 6:23:10 AM
A huge amount of knowledgeable, practical information summarized in a short article, presented clearly and objectively. So many "revolutionary, great new ideas, techniques, etc." that are published for diet, business, relationships, and so on are simply more of the same with different packaging, as you state. And yes, they can be useful, but very deceptive at the same time. I hope a lot of people read this, can learn from it, and appreciate the effort you made to write it. It's a very nice "reflection." Thanks, Tygo.
GRACISM (Article) - 8/15/2017 5:25:14 AM
While I am an atheist and will probably never read the book, I applaud what Rev. David A. Anderson has done by writing of his experience and remedies for division or exclusion of people from the finer aspects of life.
As a man with a severe disability (I am quadriplegic) who has spent much of my life working and living in diverse communities I am working very hard, like David, to get people to see the other side and have compassion and fellowship with those who are different. I read a small book in graduate school called Stigma. It pointed out how certain things can stigmatize a person, similar to the red dot test.
Two nights ago and five houses away in my quiet neighborhood, a drive-by shooting occurred, involving people from the house being fired on, firing back. A 60-year-old man, a 30 year immigrant from Nigeria, was sitting in his garage like he often did next door, enjoying the warmth of a Houston summer, when one of the bullets struck him and killed him, an innocent bystander.
My brother wrote me yesterday from his white enclave in Bristol Indiana, that I should, "move away from there." This morning on the news I heard that 124 hate groups and started up since 2014. There is nowhere I could move to that would be safe from hate. After 35 years here, I'm staying put. The neighborhood is actually getting better as houses are being renovated and values are going up.
Ron
