Bodhisattva

I may have mentioned that this month I was focusing on Buddhism, because (of all the religions) it interested me the most. I may also have mentioned that (per my project requirements, which I had set upon myself.) I was also required to read one book per religion each month.

Well, being my first month and all, I wanted to start small. (With a children's book I could buy at Target for 30% off, apparently.) "Big Panda and Tiny Dragon" by James Norbury (he has other books that I presume are equally as charming.) This book is a delight, and I highly recommend it! I recall reading "The Tao of Pooh," in high school, and would say this is comparable, except perhaps even easier, and more cute. It's the tale of two friends, following a winding path through the seasons of a year together. Their road often goes nowhere, they get lost a bunch, and they drink a lot of tea- but that's kind-of the point of Buddhism, isn't it? To never become so focused on the end result that you lose sight of the journey. To always be present in the moment (hence why meditation is such an important part of the practice.)

Let There Be Light!

To bring you up to speed to where I currently am religiously, I consider myself Jewish. When I met my husband, he was Jewish. I was not Jewish then. Also, we both were/are Atheists. I had dated an Orthodox Jew (now THAT’S a wild tale for another post- mostly because he was also a cage fighter into MMA) towards the end of college, so it wasn’t anything unfamiliar. (Is it bad to admit that I’m actually leery of dating Christians?) I’m not trying to be religionist, if that's a thing you can be while dating. But I'm not sure if it is? Inclusion is necessary, but when you’re sussing out who you’re going to marry, you want to be sure you’re on the same page, in all of the ways. I think for me, it’s more about what Christianity has come to represent in America; it’s become this hateful, political, evangelical thing. And if I see a reference to Jesus Christ on your dating profile- it’s NEXT! (But that’s for another blog post, and maybe I’ll be proven wrong throughout the course of this project!)

In The Beginning...

So just to re-cap; there's now a new-and-improved pink project 2.0. I decided since Ivy and I were besties already, and since the spirituality section of my “wheel of my life,” had gotten the lowest score, (3/10), it obviously needed the most attention. And so it was time to go on a journey to discover (re-discover?) my spirituality.

I say “re-discover,” because I wasn’t always this creature devoid of all beliefs who stands before you now. (Well, to be honest, I kinda was.) Cuz I definitely took on the role of whistleblower as a precocious elementary school kid, sitting in the corner of my Sunday School (CCD) class, watching my teacher with narrowed, suspicious eyes. Whenever my hand started to slowly raise from the corner, you could practically hear the teacher’s eyes start to roll backwards.

“What is it THIS TIME, Colleen?”

“I’ve got some issues with the concept of hell. You said God is omnipotent, so He knows everything that’s going to happen in advance, right? So He already knows if I’m going to end up in heaven or hell. Well, if He loves his children SO MUCH, then why would He even create those of us who He knows are going to end up burning in hell? Why even create Lucifer, if He already knew how the story would end?”

The Pink Project 2.0

 Let me bring us back to the topic at hand- (I got a little off track in my last post with my "state-of-the-fine-arts-in-colleges address.") So here we are- currently trying to nail down exactly what my BBL project is. 

“It sounds like you’ve already finished your Pink Project, so now what?”

Welp, that was a shocking statement. But it HAD been an astonishing emotional clearing session with the fabulous Dana Evans. (What is emotional clearing? That sounds like a great topic for another blog entry!) I had channeled Ivy, and I mean, I HAD CHANNELED IVY. It was similar to Whoopi Goldberg channeling Demi Moore in that famous scene from Ghost. (That scene is kind-of gross if you think about it. Patrick Swayze was actually getting hot and heavy with Whoopi’s gnarly red manicured fingers that whole time.) Now that I’ve given away my age with a “Ghost” reference (any other Xennials in the house!?) Let me bring you back to my conversation with Ivy.