Canadian girl out and aboot

One of the things that I continue to marvel at as I explore the world of agriculture is how everything is related. I was reading my own publication Alberta Farmer when I came across an article on how Argentine beekeepers were being affected by the soybean market. Many farmers have switched to growing soybeans, and cattle are now being raised in feedlots. This is creating problems for Argentinian beekeepers, who are no longer able to rely on fields of clover for their bees. These fields of clover were previously used on the cattle.

It reminds me all of the wheel of life, and how one shift can change so many other factors. It takes me back to science, and it takes me back to Buddhism. I think it's making me a better person.

Yesterday I received a press release sent from Ontario, informing me that a man from Newmarket was available for interviews. The man in question was the oldest man to have climbed Mount Everest.

Now, this is all very interesting, but isn't really of relevance to me as I'm two provinces away in Northern Alberta.

Furthermore, to add insult to injury, the press release contained the following quote, "Blah Blah was blessed by monks and llamas before beginning his ascent."

As I was feeling rather bitchy, I emailed the PR person to tell him that I was in fact in Alberta and that he'd spelled "llama" wrong.

PR person wrote back, "I thought it might be of interest and I looked up "llama". Our spelling is correct. A llama is a member of the camelid family."

I wrote back, "As far as I know, llamas do not give blessings. A lama is a buddhist monk. A llama is an animal."

Pr person- I'll advise the writer of the press release. I guess I learned something today.

( Don't click unless you've read Book 6 )

I've been really thinking about my connection to Buddhism lately. I feel very alienated from it, and I don't like that feeling. I haven't been practicing for a while, and haven't been working on exploring the path lately. I guess I've fallen off the path in a lot of ways.
In the past few months, I realize that I am having trouble balancing various parts of my life. I don't feel like I've been a very good activist. I want to be more involved in things and in good, solid conscious efforts. After reading "Grassroots", a guide to feminist activism, I felt a bit better about how I act as an activist through my daily activities. But I still feel like I'm not as involved as I could be.

My feelings about myself as a Buddhist and my sense of loss of my spiritual practice have been triggered by a variety of things-
1. Meeting and interacting with Ruth Ozeki, who I related to on so many levels. She is a Buddhist, and I realize that I feel like I'm missing that part of myself in my life.
2. Watching the movie "Samsara", which reminded me of how much I enjoy learning about Buddhism and deepening my own understanding
3. Reading "Dharma Punx" by Noah Levine. I'm loving this book so much. I intend to post a lot more about it later. I'd seen it a few times in the book store. Noah recently came here for a reading. The reading was co-sponsored by Pulp Fiction (one of my favourite bookstores) and the Radha Yoga Centre, which I'm also connected to. I was curious about the reading, but neglected to go. Instead, I just picked up the book. Now I really wish that I'd gone to see him read. Oh well, life is 20-20, right.
4. Realizing that I really miss travelling. In all honesty, I actually really miss Mongolia. I felt very alive when I was there and everything was so intense. I love living in Vancouver and I'm learning and growing a lot here. But I know that I need to go back overseas at some. I need to go back to Asia. At some point, I'm probably going to live there again, and I want to spend some time in Mongolia. Specifically, I need to write about that country. So little has been written, and there is so much there....



Yesterday, I took a different bus home from Raincoast, and ended up passing The Tilopa Buddhist centre. I immediately hopped off the bus, and tried to stick my nose in the door. It was closed, but I intend to go back at a later date.