Answering JStray's question: What do you want out of life?
What anyone else wants, really. I want to have a satisfying, interesting, and sustainable means of support. I want a home, important work, and community. want passionate friendship, good sex, and intimate conversation. I want to exercise my creativity. I want to be healthy. I want other folks to be able to get those things because I am extremely empathetic, and because I'm tired of the violence in my neighborhood which makes me feel unsafe. (So, it really all comes down to my own comfort. ;) Protecting my family, friends, and community comes into it, too: I want my sister's babies to be able to live good lives, too, and unless drastic measures are taken, this won't be possible. The number of ecological disasters on the horizon alone is enough to make this clear to me. And these are all intimately connected with political, social, and economic problems that boggle my mind. I get overwhelmed if I think about it for too long. I'm tired of being overwhelmed, sad, angry, and depressed about it all, so I'm trying to structure my life in such a way that I am channeling that energy into positive action rather than self destruction. I think I'm doing a pretty good job.
What am I currently working on?
All of the above, but specifically: I'm looking for right livelihood. I'm tired of doing work that feeds my belly but not my soul. If I'm going to survive, my work must be creative and life affirming. I want to leave the world a better place. I'm not sure how I'll do that. I've narrowed it down to being a teacher or counselor/therapist of some sort. Perhaps I'll combine the two and be some sort of pastor. Whatever I choose, I will keep on making art. Art is indispensable to me for so many reasons, and I would like to use my artistic and creative skills to serve my vocation.* In order to figure this out, I am doing the following: volunteering to teach art and literacy at Second Start (an adult literacy program in Oakland), taking a class on Ecological/Environmental/Community Art that is centered around doing an environmental art project that I hope will be community art as well, working at paid jobs that give me experience in the fields I am interested in or otherwise serve my basic needs beyond my need for money, working with a therapist to see my own needs more clearly, continuing to commit to a sustainable lifestyle in a personal and global sense, and last but decidedly not least: talking with people about what we do and believe when faced with these problems.
*vocation: I mean vocation in "a calling to a life path" sense rather than in a more mundane job or career sense.
I am dedicated to being true to the path that is set before me. I'm in the process of articulating what that path is, so I can't be as specific as I'd like. Maybe someone reading this will have a suggestion for some existing belief system that might fit? If you'd like an idea of the grand scheme, here's some stuff I believe in, in no particular order:
--It is necessary to do proper self care in order to be in a condition to meet my responsibilities.
--I have a responsibility to do my best to live in harmony with the rhythms of the universe I am a part of including: earth's bi*osphere, ecosystems, and animal communities. (please remember humans are animals)
--Because most humans are living in a way that is out of harmony with the universe as I can see it, I must live in service to the above responsibility.
--There is universal energy that is a part of everything that encourages right action, enables growth, and seeks balance. This energy is ineffable and unconscious. Though it is not necessary to believe in or be aware of this energy to be effected by it, intentions that are in line with the flow of this energy are aided.
I guess what I'm trying to articulate these days is how to live in service to my responsibilities. One of the biggest challenges of my life is balancing my activism with my practical needs. The other is to choose the way I can be most effective in service to my vocation.
There you go,
jstray. I did my best to be brief. I hope I was clear. Now I'm pooped. Live long and prosper. ;)
What am I currently working on?
All of the above, but specifically: I'm looking for right livelihood. I'm tired of doing work that feeds my belly but not my soul. If I'm going to survive, my work must be creative and life affirming. I want to leave the world a better place. I'm not sure how I'll do that. I've narrowed it down to being a teacher or counselor/therapist of some sort. Perhaps I'll combine the two and be some sort of pastor. Whatever I choose, I will keep on making art. Art is indispensable to me for so many reasons, and I would like to use my artistic and creative skills to serve my vocation.* In order to figure this out, I am doing the following: volunteering to teach art and literacy at Second Start (an adult literacy program in Oakland), taking a class on Ecological/Environmental/Community Art that is centered around doing an environmental art project that I hope will be community art as well, working at paid jobs that give me experience in the fields I am interested in or otherwise serve my basic needs beyond my need for money, working with a therapist to see my own needs more clearly, continuing to commit to a sustainable lifestyle in a personal and global sense, and last but decidedly not least: talking with people about what we do and believe when faced with these problems.
*vocation: I mean vocation in "a calling to a life path" sense rather than in a more mundane job or career sense.
I am dedicated to being true to the path that is set before me. I'm in the process of articulating what that path is, so I can't be as specific as I'd like. Maybe someone reading this will have a suggestion for some existing belief system that might fit? If you'd like an idea of the grand scheme, here's some stuff I believe in, in no particular order:
--It is necessary to do proper self care in order to be in a condition to meet my responsibilities.
--I have a responsibility to do my best to live in harmony with the rhythms of the universe I am a part of including: earth's bi*osphere, ecosystems, and animal communities. (please remember humans are animals)
--Because most humans are living in a way that is out of harmony with the universe as I can see it, I must live in service to the above responsibility.
--There is universal energy that is a part of everything that encourages right action, enables growth, and seeks balance. This energy is ineffable and unconscious. Though it is not necessary to believe in or be aware of this energy to be effected by it, intentions that are in line with the flow of this energy are aided.
I guess what I'm trying to articulate these days is how to live in service to my responsibilities. One of the biggest challenges of my life is balancing my activism with my practical needs. The other is to choose the way I can be most effective in service to my vocation.
There you go,
jstray. I did my best to be brief. I hope I was clear. Now I'm pooped. Live long and prosper. ;)