Teaching Dance

With all the political debate brewing this election cycle, I am trying to drink it all in from a buddhist perspective. So far, I find that I am fascinated by the passion-drunk discourse certain topics create, mixing truth and fiction. In buddhist philosophy, final validation for truth comes from reason and logic in ways that are very close to the scientific method. Sometimes I wonder if people and candidates are really interested in reaching the truth of an issue or just enjoy picking sides and verbally 'duking' it out. Today, fact and fiction-believed-passionately are often conflated and confused. I remember in elementary school learning the difference between fact and opinion. This seems like a lesson we, as a collective, could revisit--at least for some of our politicians. Imagine this: before you stand two doors and you must go through one of them knowing that one will lead you to safety and the other to certain death. With you in the room are 100 people who have been...

Tree uprooted in park two doors down. Notice Buddha's favorite bench. Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene visited Ridgefield this past week. She knocked down two hundred trees in town and left most of us without power for a period of time. Luckily, the only damage was to 'things' and not 'people'. We are fortunate. I think it is appropriate as I write this on Labor Day to recognize the incredible work of all the people in the community and from communities far and wide that pitched in to help out our little town. First, there were the police, firefighters, city workers, and EMS who were out in the storm making sure we were all safe so the rest of us could afford to tuck ourselves away in our homes. When this tree fell and blocked the road around 7:45 am, it was cut and cleared away for emergency vehicles to pass within the hour. Keep in mind, the eye of the storm was passing around the same time someone was out their with a chainsaw clearing the way. Then th...