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I love this poem by Alison Luterman.
I first heard this poem read to me during a silent retreat(the teachers give dharma talks, yogis listen).
Jesus Incognito
Don’t tell anyone, but I love Jesus.
I love his big dark Jewish eyes, so full of suffering soul,
like an unemployed poet’s, and his thick sensuous Jewish lips,
and his kinky curly hair, just like mine, uncontrollable despite conditioners,
and the way he always argues with everyone
and will go to hell for love.
He’s just like that Buddhist god Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion,
except his name is easier to pronounce.
When you’re in trouble it’s hard to remember to yell for Avalokiteshvara,
but “Oh Jesus!” arises naturally
every time a crazy driver hot-dogs past me on the freeway.
I know I should say the Shema when I’m about to die,
but will I be able to remember Hebrew at a time like that?
I don’t want to die saying “Oh shit!”
I’d like to leave my body consciously, like a Tibetan lama, sitting in full lotus
with my head turned toward where I’ll reincarnate next.
But let’s be realistic: I probably couldn’t meditate enough to become enlightened
in the however-many years I have left.
Jesus seems easier. All you have to do is love everyone.
Well, seems is the key word here.
Sometimes the more you try
to love people, the more you hate them.
Maybe it would be better to try not to love people, and then watch the love
force its way out of you like grass through cement.
Anything is better than organized religion.
I don’t like the singing in churches — all those hymns in major keys.
I don’t think religion should sound so triumphant.
It should be humble and aware of the basic incurable pathos of the human condition,
and in a minor key and sung in a mysterious ancient language, like Sanskrit or Hebrew.
Is it OK for me to love Jesus but not be Christian?
I could try to open my heart and give away all my possessions.
It’s not that different from being Buddhist, after all, except for a history
of witch burnings, the Inquisition, the subjugation,
rape, and pillage of indigenous peoples all over the world,
not to mention twenty centuries of vicious antisemitism. That’s a lot to overlook
to get back to a baby born among animals to a Jewish mother, Miryam.
And what about that other Mary, the sexy one? Jesus, I don’t believe you died a virgin.
I think you needed to taste everything human, to inhabit the whole mess:
blood, shit, flies, regret, envy, why-me.
I owe you and all the other bodhisattvas and sages
and newborn babies a debt of thanks
for agreeing to come back and marry yourselves
to our painful predicament again and again —
and I do thank you, bowing to the infinite directions.
Please share your journaled poetry with me, using the links below.
I had a wonderful evening of fellowship with my friend Melissa and enjoyed our dinner together at the new Japanese place in Black Mountain. I am going to say some good things and first I hope they read this and take this advice.
Change the name. It's called Sake - Sushi and all anyone is going to call it with that name is,
"The new Japanese Place" and after awhile that will get old.
Get rid of the garish food photos in the windows, and open the place back up.
One of the reasons to eat here is the view, and those pix are just not Black Mountain!
Overall, the meal was ok, just verging on good.
The plate appeal was high.
Above is the avocado salad, mostly a bowl of iceberg lettuce, cukes and a dressing I cannot identify the ingredients, aside from something orange, sesame and too sweet.
Ask for it on the side.
Our other starters were Harumaki, a Japanese style veggie spring roll.
They were good.
I passed on the dipping sauce, not knowing what might be in it, i.e. food dye , sugar and fish paste.
When the weather outside is frightful, the day becomes delightful with the new lantern digital file from Quietfire Design.
The files are in the Silhoutte Store and right now are on sale for 50 cents!!!
Suzanne shows us how to put it together in this video below.
Here is how it looks right off the mat.
On the back you can see the perforated lines- I have darkened them for the photo.
Follow Suzanne's suggestion to score them with a straight edge. It's important to get them right for the lantern to line up square when you fold it.
I don't like the way the perf lines look, so I put the cut line setting on sketch, put a pencil in the blade holder, let the Cameo mark the lines and score them on a score board.
The inserts are made of tracing paper.
I also removed the little cut outs by releasing the compound path.
I am, a brave girl, multi-media artist,facilitator,educator, advocate and nurturer with a major interest in fibers, paper and book arts and spirituality and the arts.
I reuse, recycle and use rejectamenta as much as possible.
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