Annadel State Park

 Since Jack London State Park was closed in Glen Ellen, I took a hike in Annadel State Park. It was a beautiful isolated park; I met four individuals the entire day. Unfortunately with the State budget crisis, parks like this are in danger of closing.

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

One cannot life the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will in the evening become a lie.  –Carl Jung.

Fr. Rohr’s states that there are two parts of life. The first part of life is to define yourself, your ego. In this part you build your strength, claim your successes, delineate your boundaries of what is right and wrong, identify with your tribe and who your tribe is not. It is a dualistic stage of right and wrong, black and white, belonging and not belonging. You create your container, as it were.

The second part of life is holding what your container was made for. It entails breaking down what you built up in the first part of life, for you now contain what is right and wrong, what is black and white, the in-group and the out-group. It is not either-or, it is both-and thinking, the Tredwayean way of looking at life. This comes about through Grace, Mystery, God, Sin, Shadow, or “necessary suffering.” This part of life is not a logical syllogism, but holds the tragic sense of life, which can only be understood with faith, not reason. It creates people who are patient, compassionate, and loving because they have come to be patient, compassionate and loving to themselves that they can respond accordingly. St. Ignatius of Loyola, would say that both parts of life are opportunities to see God in all things, who works all things for good. While one might disagree with parts of it, Rohr says if the book is not helpful, discard it, but it is worth reading and considering.

Learn and obey the rules very well, do you will know how to break them properly. 

–the Dalai Lama

Mariah's Bday

Happy bday, Mariah. Nino loves you!

Sequoia Williams

Goodbye Sequoia. Thank you for being the kind, thoughtful person that you are.

Dolfin chocolate noir

Happy Bday Nikky. I am proud of you!