The haunting passages are back...

I haven't been blogging for a while because I'm not at home and I don't have regular access to the internet. But I've got lots to blog about, when I get round to it, including (1) a strange half-awake dream, (2) a realisation that a friend deeply needed the experirence of wholseomeness and that I'd been focusing way too much on the duty side of things, and (3) a colleague of H. who explained his preaching routine to me and who deliberately toned down the exhortations because he was wearing out his parish (basically he spends one week teaching, two weeks reflecting on real life issues, and one week exhoruitng the parish to do something with their faith).

But anyways... there I go opening the catechism of the catholic church at a random page. Art 909 pretty much sprang out:

"Moreover, by uniting their forces let the laity so remedy the institutions and conditions of the world when the latter are an inducement to sin, that these may be conformed to the norms of justice, favouring rather than hindering the practice of virtue. By so doing they will impregnate culture and human works with a moral value."

Why should the rats have all the fun?

I'm a bit evangelistic about... Regena Thomashauer (whose message I adapt as I go because diamonds are not my best friends). Seriously... cheesy or not, that woman is inspired. So let me quote from her last newsletter:

"I recently read about this fascinating study that was conducted around 20 years ago called Rat Park. The researcher surmised that most of the studies done on addictions were incomplete because they didn't take into account the quality of the lifestyles the rats were living. So he had one group of rats in their small isolated cages, while he built a rat nirvana, dubbed "Rat Park," for the other rats. It was spacious; it had many common areas, places to play, mate and have fun. Rat boyfriends, Rat girlfriends, Rat childcare, Rat exercise, Rat catered meals, Rat cheerleading, and Rat support. We are talking ideal rat conditions. Think Canyon Rat Ranch, 24/7. Both sets of rats were given access to both plain tap water and water laced with morphine. What do you think happened?

Yup. The rats in isolated cages became hooked on the morphine. Chose it almost every time.The rats in Rat Park? Went for the tap water. That's right. Even when they laced the morphine water with sugar to make it sweet (and let me tell you-rats love sweet stuff!) they went for it once in a while, but for the most part they drank the plain tap water.

But how does this apply to us as women, Mama? Think about it. Many of us have put ourselves in our very own isolated cages. Having been raised to "do it ourselves." Whether it's earning our own money or raising our children alone, or moving to a new city without knowing anybody, or getting into a routine of working long hours and going home so exhausted we don't want to pick up the phone or connect with anyone. Well, my loves, maybe we CAN do it alone, but it's not really the way a woman is designed.

Like our little rat friends, we thrive in community. Actually, we thrive in community when it is loving, supportive, and uplifting. If you're lucky enough to have that in your life, congratulations. It's certainly not the norm. I had a taste of it in college, living with my girlfriends, always together, part of each other's everyday lives, every decision, every celebration, every challenge. And after graduation? Isolation. And so began my pursuit of creating a human woman nirvana in this crazy day, and this crazy age. I mean, c'mon. What option did I have? We are designed for pleasure. If we aren't living a fulfilled life, we're gonna get our pleasure somehow. Unfortunately, overeating, overspending, antidepressants, and alcohol are poor substitutes for what we truly are searching for: careers we are passionate about, bodies we love and appreciate, a legendary love affair, time to create, a thriving bank account, a healthy, hot sensual life, and connection with our children [or add your own drem]. So, what's the solution? Community. And Pleasure."

That's an adventure

They're going to Burma, wearing brand new adventure shoes sewn by kids somewhere. You point out that nearly all tourism grants legitimacy to the regime, brings in hard currency, and that the locals a re so scared of the secret police that they'll never have an authentic rapport to you. Now you've broken the pleasantness. But nevermind. Soon they'll be going back to Paris and their two weekas in climatised coaches funded by, and funding the dictature will have turned them into Burma experts. The population really wants contacts with the West, they tell you...

Overheard on the phone

Dany: Saying the rosary, it's like typing up your bibliography. It's boring but strangely soothing, in a way.

The Local Icon of Christ: [speechless]

The big sin meme: too busy

In the last few weeks, I've been on the receiving hand of people being "to busy" to interact with me when I needed them. It hurts to realise just how low I rate on someone else's list of priorities. Low, very, very low...

But if I'm being honest, I have to acknowledge that I have been even less considerate than these guys towards nearly evrybody in my life. I had every desire to be available, and mostly they understood, but I realise just how infrequently I've given someone the gift of my time and full attention.

I think it is my responsibility to structure my life so I wont' be "too busy". The much touted virtue of hospitality requires it.

A clean slot

I've realised that I would rather say "it's forgotten" than "I forgive you". In human, day-to-day relationship, we never really know what forgiveness means. But a clean slot, that's pretty clear.

I can't remember where I read it, but someone wrote that forgiveness implies treating the offender as if the offense had not taken place, their status fully restored.

Obvioulsy, I'm not thinking about the implications of such a statement in each specific case, and I am not advocating that someone remain in an abusive relationship as a result of repeatedly restoring the offender's status.

But forgiveness, as a word, is just too vague: it can mean anything. I wish I could find a good book about it.

Intensity of the monetarised economy

I need to read my economics textbooks all over again. I'm not sure what the formal terminology is for the intensity of the monetarised economy, i.e., the process of bringing more and more of life under a monetary system.

The day-to-day economy of Moldova, for example, hardly used any money back in 2001. Where I live, without money you simply don't eat. This is valid even if you eat at a soup kitchen, which is ultimately funded by people who have jobs in the formal economy, either via donations, or via taxes.

In our apprehension of Mammon, I think we need to take into account just how intensely monetarised our daily-life is. It's one thing to be concerned about money in self-sustained rural Moldova where you don't need it, and it is another to be concerned about money in some parts of county Durham where you need it to live.

I'm just upset because the introduction of a monetarised economy on the shore of lake Victoria meant that the Nile Perch became internationally profitable and now countless Western mothers have blogs with pictures about how to cook filets of Nile perch.

Of course, the population on the shores of Lake Victoria which produces them does not work in the fish-processing factories and cannot afford the fish. It can barely afford the fishs' heads, if it's got any bit of money that is. And to get it? Well, there's always prostitution.

In fact, the whole situation is even worse... The fish heads need smoking, and as a result many of the area's trees have been chopped off. What's more, in order to transport the fish to Europe, investors look for the cheapest planes... Russian planes... which, on their way from Russia to Africa bring over discarded Russian weapons for whover happens to want them, and we know who that is.

This fish is the evilest thing on the planet, I promise. I know I'm only blogging about it years after everybody else blogged about Darwin's Nightmare, but this is just unbelievable.

Here are two statements from the documentary's director:

It is, for example, incredible that wherever prime raw material is discovered, the locals die in misery, their sons become soldiers, and their daughters are turned into servants and whores.

It seems that the individual participants within a deadly system don't have ugly faces, and for the most part, no bad intentions. These people include you and me. Some of us are "only doing their job" (like flying a jumbo from A to B carrying napalm), some don’t want to know, others simply fight for survival.