tunnels of gates: April 2011

I added a "man" on top of the mountain.

I hid more beings and softened the moss

and I painted this new frog portrait. Kyle.

Man, so much happened last week. I saw the great Dan Savage (who identifies as Catholic) speak about gayness, bullying, and his It Gets Better Project, which he started in order to help reduce child suicide. Did you know President Obama contributed a video!? Amazing. I also went to a polyamory panel discussion hosted by the KU ECM (Ecumenical Christian Ministries). Polyamory, or “Polyintimacy,” as the leader of the discussion pointed out, is natural and, in the context of Christianity, is exactly what Jesus wanted us all to accomplish. The panel was made up of professors and students who all had experience with polyamory. Monogamy may not be the best for everyone, all the time, it seems. Most interesting was the discussion about jealousy in light of Dr. Denis Dailey’s notion that jealousy isn’t an emotion but a marker of possessiveness, dependency, and low self-esteem.

The topic of the conversation turned to “shame” and when it was time for questions and comments from the audience, I contributed Ram Dass’s idea that polyamory happens as a natural result of our spiritual practice. As the veil of our minds get thinner, and our separateness becomes more and more illusory, we fall in love more often. Feeling shame for falling in love all the time when you already "have one in the nest” is natural, too, but what we all may need to do is give up what Ram Dass calls our “deprivation model” of loving relationships...

I found out that I didn't get the summer research fellowship I applied for, but I will visit Japan with Leigh and her brother Andy this summer anyway.

I also M.C.ed the talent show with Leigh and Cat at our house “Witch Mountain.” I played the Japanese flute as my talent, as well as the drums for a stick juggler and sang the bass harmony for 6 verses of home on the range with Leigh and Cat.

I had my First Year Review, where a panel of 6 professors examined all of my work, critiqued it, and then decided if the body of work passes me into the next phase of my master’s degree. It did. I passed. Yippee!

At the talent show the Tibetans examined my painting Peekabddha and decided it was depicting Dewachen and asked “how did David know to paint this?" That made me happy. They also all sang “the song of compassion” for us as their talent, and then after the show taught us all traditional tibetan dance.

Nick Ray read to us an excerpts about nipple yoga from David Deida’s book “Instant Enlightenment," convincing me to order it off Amazon. I love David Deida. Nick Ray, as a spiritual teacher and yoga instructor here in Lawrence, joyously transmits pure awareness all the time, but saturday night's was particularly poignant.

Jacob and I went down to Raytown to pick up his stolen truck. The thief put in a new clutch and filled the truck with car supplies and tools, including two very nice pool cues! Jacob was very happy, and told me how fun it was to have, for once, a positive conversation with a cop.

The week ended with the greatest Hearts Of Space I have heard, including a piece by Eric Whitacre (TED) and all of us cuddling on the floor.