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Home from work sick today... had to call out because I was throwing up this morning. Have stopped at the moment, after drinking much gatorade and going back to sleep for several hours. Still don't feel 100% well, but doing better and can't sleep anymore.

On a more positive note, if you are interested in Christian mysticism and liberal christianity, read this: http://www.davidchandler.com/writings/WhoAreTheQuakers.htm

Very very interesting stuff. Thanks to rialian for pointing them out so frequently. I definitely am beginning to see what you mean. Some of their stuff about staying quiet and listening for the inner voice of God, what they call "leadings", reminds me of the concept of Des'tai wrapped in Christian filters. It's not about right or wrong, or God's will, so much as it is about finding the best possible Path.

Hmmm....

There is a hawaiian saying that "All knowledge is not found in the same school". Normally, I interpret this as a reminder that whatever school of knowledge you follow there is benefit in learning from the truths of other schools of knowledge. Today, I think I might have found a corollary meaning.

Just because another school of knowledge does not hold a particular truth you feel strongly about, and in fact may teach the opposite of that truth, does not mean they are without value. That knowldge is simply not found in their school. Other knowledge may be, and you could still learn from that.

Synthesis

My thoughts are presently merging nonviolence with another subject I have studied. Sustainable Development. There is no real connection between these topics, but the synthesis of the two that comes to mind is quite interesting:

Sustainable Peace.

More thoughts later.

Transformation

I wake from dreaming with an image in my mind I wished to record before it is lost:

A caterpillar, slowly building a cocoon around itself. Then for a time it seems to stagnate, the cocoon changing little. Yet within, great changes are occurring... something new is forming within the shell of the old, till at last its time comes and it breaks free, transformed into a butterfly.

Change is like that. We build up structures in our lives, in our societies, in our organizations... and then for a time these structures dominate, crystalized and unchanging... yet beneath the surface, things may be stirring... undergoing a metamorphosis and renewal.. dying and growing and changing... till at last, they break free from the shell of the old order and emerge fresh and transformed into the world.

How much groundwork was required beneath the surface, while the old order dominated, before the thirteen colonies declared independence from England?

Too often we seem to forget this groundwork, and believe the visible transformation is the extent of the change that has been gone through. A person may reach a breaking point and divorce himself from negative influences he once invited into his life, and people will applaud that transformation, but rarely will they acknowledge the changes that led up to it... the minor conflicts and introspection and learning experiences that, while not the ultimate catalyst of the transformation, nevertheless played a critical role in making it possible.

Great change may not be immediately visible, though by this I do not mean it is being purposely hidden. The new order takes shape and comes alive beneath the husk of its former self. When it is ready, it will emerge into the light.

Back to sleep now... work in the morning, and hopefully I'll be able to go today. Feeling better now.