the other secret

While blog hopping, I came across a pagan blog which boldly debates The Secret. Songs of Unforgetting has valid points and I’m sure there are many others who are in agreement. When I saw The Secret, I felt it only reminded me of something I already know, but I also wondered about those suffering in a way they could not ever have asked for. Some people probably think I’m just being a grouchy old woman when I ask, “how did a tiny baby who is in the process of starving to death ask for what ‘they got’?” Let me ask anyone critiquing my point of view how they would explain to the children in the picture below why they are dying of hunger?

Though I think we can bring on various circumstances by our thoughts, feelings and lifestyle, we also get dealt some cards that are unrelated to the law of attraction. Something in our soul may be learning some lesson, but I will never look at a suffering baby and blame it for it’s situation.

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do you want the good news or the bad first?

Nah, the bad news isn’t really that bad. The only reason I can even joke about it being bad news is I am poor as a pauper yet buying a book or two a week lately. My most recent waiting for me at Amazon.  Amazon knows how to get the attention of book-a-holics like me. Today a book by Caitlin Matthews is taunting me.  On top of that, I have the penny pincher on one shoulder saying, “Buy another book and you will go bankrupt. Be strong. Resist.”

The book junkie on the other shoulder wants a fix. Today it reminded me how much we loved hearing a reading from “The Celtic Spirit” at church on Candlemas of 2005. The book-a-holic is the same demon that forces me to buy the Dunkin’ Donut coffee or finish a whole bag of m&ms in one sitting.  Right now it is whispering the long list of reasons why I need this book. Yes, the penny pincher has a good point, but I like more of what the book junkie has to say.

I didn’t buy the book yet, but the darned “search inside the book” feature at Amazon is showing me excerpts and I fear I will be going off the wagon soon. Oh, hell, I might as well go buy it now and just save myself the trouble.

everything i wanted to know about lent, but was afraid to ask

I spent 44 of my 45 years on this planet as a Christian. Somehow I managed to be a Christian for all that time who didn’t know what Ash Wednesday meant.  All I knew about Lent was it arrives  with Easter. As for the ashes, I grew up a member of the United Church of Christ so we didn’t practice the Ash Wednesday ritual. Still I’m a Christian and you would think I would know.

One great thing about the internet is the information right at our fingertips. Enter a word into the search box at Google and voila! Everything we wanted to know about the pre-Easter traditions are just waiting to educate us. Here’s what I learned.

Infoplease’s explanation of Ash Wednesday was short but very helpful. It reminds Christians of death. It also tells them to feel sad about their sins and the need to be a better person.

As for Lent, the forty days should be spent with prayer and penance and, also, preparing for Easter. Since I’m still Christian according to the “books” (as a member of a local UCC church), I could still follow this practice. I’d like to, but perhaps by mixing in something Pagan. I always liked the abstinence idea at Lent, but rarely, if ever, gave up anything. Though I’m a week late, I’d like to do something with that concept. Infoplease explains the fasting that took place in the early years of Christianity. Fasting would be a waste for me; I wouldn’t last 4 hours, never mind 40 days. What else can I do?

I’ll take this to my paper journal and get update here after.

from the 10,000 names for your baby blog book

No, there isn’t such a book, but I’m sure someday there will be. Picking a name for a weblog can be very challenging. You can spend weeks trying to figure out the perfect title.

It’s sort of like picking a name for a baby. Not just anything will do. Would you pick your newborn’s name out of a hat? I doubt it. Would you just jot down the first name you thought of on the birth certificate?

You can’t expect a weblog or a child to get very popular with a name like Igor. On the other hand, if it takes nine months to name your blog, you’re probably not ready to name a baby (or have a baby for that matter).

By the way, Follow Your Gnosis is the name of this blog. Why?

Why not? Here’s dictionary.com’s definition of the word gnosis. I had some other ideas, all related to the word gnosis (since this a spiritual journal). There was Sticky Gnosis (which I got from “sticky notes”) which reminded me of those little green buggers on the cold medicine commercials. The other idea was Pink Gnosis (from “pink notice”), but it sounded like something about to be fired for having conjunctivitis.

Anyhoo…I ended up reading web pages full of cliches and proverbs looking for words like “know” and “nose”. I knew I wanted to spin something from them by rearranging with the word gnosis. When I saw “follow your nose”, I was inspired to name this blog Follow Your Gnosis.