The Tapestry is a program exploring faith and spirit that airs on Sunday afternoons and is hosted by Mary Hynes. It is an hour of inspiration.

On the June 27th program Harold Kushner was interviewed on latest book The Lord Is My Shepherd: The Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-Third Psalm. Although I haven't read the book I was very impressed by the interview and I will be keeping an eye open for it in the second hand book stores.

The 23rd Psalms is the shortest book in the bible, in HEBREW 57 words, and is also the most well known. Kushner said the Psalm is not literate, but poetry, and poetry is that which is lost in translation. Each of the fifteen lines is explained in a seperate chapter of his book.

This a story of a journey through the valley of the shadow of death, which is life. God's purpose is not to punish people for any transgressions, nor to prevent bad things from happening to those that are true believers, but rather to be there to comfort people and let them know that they are not alone. The world isn't fair, and not everything has a reason; stuff happens. Kushner explains that he stopped trying to justify or provide an explanation to people that have suffered a tragedy and simply made himself available as a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold.

Two of the greatest gifts that God has given us is resiliency and memory. These are two things that cannot be taken from us. Resiliency is what enables to recover from the shock and trauma of life's stress. Memory is what allows us to keep the lessons learned without having to relive the pain that it took to learn them, and also to relive the joy past their physical experience. Above all, resiliency and memory enable us in hindsight to see life as having been worth living regardless of what happens.

Life involves the experience of passing through the valley of the shadow of death, and then emerging out the other side. This is something that each of us has to do for ourselves, it is not something that is done to us, but at the same time it isn't something that we need to do alone. (This is where I had an insight that a relationship is reciprocal, and just as we have faith in God, God has faith in our ability to make it through this journey called life)

Gratitude is the fundamental feeling of religion. We should be grateful for what we get, and not suffer envy for what others have. What we get is a gift from God and we shouldn't show disrespect of this gift by wishing for more. (Kushner talked quite a bit about this but it started blending in with my inner thoughts and I will save those for a seperate article)

Kushner also talked about the meaning of the anointed as the feeling of being special, and that when you receive this gift from God you want to pass it on and make those around you feel special. This process is the potential within each and everyone of us to cultivate the inner Messiah. He mentioned that there are other theologians just as Harvey Cox from the Christian persuasion that are talking about this as an idea whose time has come.

Throughout this interview I noticed a subtle shift from being saved to being healed. Of how wisdom is something that we learn rather than being something that is given to us. And how all of this requires effort and commitment on our part which makes it different from the quick fixes which we have become accustomed to.

Harold Kushner is the Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in Natick MA. He is also a well known author and this book is among the top ten best selling religious books of the past year. This makes me feel that there are many others that found his message as heart warming as I did, and for this I am very grateful. In my experience it has been the Rabbis that have been the carriers of the wisdom and values of the Jewish people, and I think we all would benifit by listening to them rather than the politicians. The Rabbis are backed with thousands of years of tradition and that is yet another thing for which I'm grateful.

That last few days Luna has been a feature celebrity on the local news. Luna is an extremely friendly Killer Whale that broke away from it's pod about three years ago and settled in close to the little town of Gold-River on Vancouver Island. Luna has developed a strong attachment for humans and insists on being the center of attraction, and loves to rub up against boats, jump and frolic, have his back scratched, the kind of thing you would expect from an aquarium act but Luna is a natural. Luna is also very intelligent and has learned how to safely disable the rudders on boats so they can only go around in circles and not leave.

Canadian fisheries has a plan to relocate Luna to it's pod. They have allocated a half million dollars to build a holding pen and arrange for transport with a crane lift, etc. The problem is that the natives from the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation believe that Luna is the spirit of their departed chief who made a deathbed wish to reside in an Orca and a week later Luna showed up. So today they were trying to lure Luna back to the pod, and away from the fisheries holding pen, by escorting canoes full of tribe members chanting ceremonial singing, and luring with chocalate bars, which it appears Luna is particularly fond of. (like who doesn't like chocalate). The chief said they wanted to let Luna return in a natural way, and it didn't take no half million dollars, not to mention the potential trama that the government had planned.

The story is in progress and a Google New's search on Luna + Gold-River turned up over 300 hits and new stories are coming in all the time. I tell ya, this one is a real emotional roller coaster ride and it just keeps better all the time.

There are lots of great pictures of this as well. Yesterday I noticed the Vancouver Province had a full page color photo on the front page, and there are a few local sites that have entire photo albums.

I remember it was just about the same time that Luna showed up that James Tyman, who works with the indigo kids and the emissaries of light, said that Earth was being forced to make a choice between war or peace, and if the whales and dolphins went into hiding then the collective wish was war but if they were in sight and playfull then it was a positive sign. Vancouver is very solidly in the peace camp.

More updates to follow.  More >

I've been spendng a lot of time talking with Gus lately (Great Universal Spirit; we've been on a first name basis for awhile now), maybe it would be more accurate to say I've been focusing more on listening because I've oft suspected that Gus never does shut up. One of our games is communicating through the super cheap bin at the used book store. The other day the new entry that grabbed my attention was The Courtier by Baldesar Castiglione, first published in Italian in 1528, and translated into English in 1561. (tangent: This interesting site on coursework.info came up during the google for previous link). One of the reason the book attracted my attention was a recent reading of Stephenson's novel Quicksilver.

This morning while waiting for the kettle to boil I flipped open Courtier at random for a morning meditation, and found these following sentences underlined (used book, eh).

Hence, to talk little and to do much, and not to praise oneself for deeds that are praiseworthy, but tactfully to dissimulate them, serves to enhance both the one virtue and the other in anyone who knows how to employ this method discreetly; and so it is with all other good qualities.

...And the first and most important of these is that he should avoid affectation above all else,

...And I think that even as it is wrong to seek false glory or what is not deserved, so is it wrong also to rob oneself of a deserved honor and not to seek that praise which alone is the true reward of virtuous labors.

Woaaa, that was hitting pretty close to the personal. These comments were bracketed by some more general statements which are below.

And often these errors are covered with a kind of veil that prevents the one who commits them from seeing them unless he keeps in this a diligent watch; and, although there are many reasons why our eyes are wanting in discernment, it is by ambition [emphasis added by anonymous underliner] that they are especially blurred, because everyone is ready to put himself forward in that wherein he thinks himself to be knowledgeable, no matter whether it be true or not.

...

...if he will but keep in mind the motive that leads him to war, which is nothing except honor.

These were from pg 97 - 99 in my copy, and the book was sparsely underlined and these pages didn't stand out such as sometimes happens with a broken spine or dogear. Anyway a very good contemplation to think about while I do some morning chores.  More >