Shabbat Thoughts

The last few shifts I've worked I've read a psalm or two in my car before going in. I've been trying to get closer to God. I no longer work on the Sabbath. Eventually I hope to attend services regularly but I'm not quite ready for that. The thought of going into a synagogue terrifies me and fills me with anxiety. For now I am content to do my best to light candles every Friday night and say some Jewish blessings. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that God's commandments are a gift. We are commanded to rest on the 7th day. Our lives are better with a Day of Rest.

What have I learned so far in my trip through Psalms? I can't quote lines but I know that God gave us commandments as a blessing and a map to life. Follow the commandments and you will have a good life. Commandments are simple life instructions. God blesses the righteous.

Whatever my troubles are, whatever's bothering me, every week I have a time set aside by God, for peace. I'm thankful for that and do my best to be deserving of the gift of the commandment of the Sabbath.

Sabbath Mind

One of my innumerable New Years resolutions is to observe the Jewish sabbath. To that end, I put in a request at work to no longer be scheduled on Friday nights or Saturday days. The GM honored my request, which I appreciate.

I'm not sure exactly how I plan on observing the sabbath. I don't plan on regularly attending services, at least not in the near future. I'm not going to go all-out and not turn on my computer or worry about things that might cause "work". What I am going to do is cultivate a more God-centered perspective on my day of rest. I'm going to refrain from thinking about my job or school. I'm going to focus on the Love of the Universe as well as the love of my life, my future wife. The sabbath is going to be about me and my betrothed, life and God.

Tires, Tebow, Jesus, and Hemingway

My Scion xA's been needing an alignment and a new tire for a few months now. The one tire was worn along its inside edge down to the threads. It was pretty bad. I amassed enough money over Thanksgiving weekend to finally afford the needed repairs. I figured it'd cost lost than $150 and it did. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take so I took a couple books with me:

I went to Vannoy's on 9th and had an excellent experience. I was immediately greeted upon exiting my car. The lady was friendly and informative. It didn't take long for one of the techs to come into the waiting area and inform me that I needed a new pad on the front driver side. I'm on a tight budget so since it wasn't of immediate importance I declined to repair it. Next time. I was afraid they'd be pushy as far as getting me to buy more tires than I came in for or to pay for miscellaneous other services I didn't know I needed. The tech only mentioned the brakes because what he was saying was true. I need front brake work. Once I said I'd pass he was courteous and back to work on the car. The alignment and tire mission took less than an hour and cost less than I'd expected. Sweet.

While waiting I first flipped through a magazine called Autoweek or something like that. Interesting. Sweet Porsche on the cover, of course. Then I turned to the books I'd brought. The New Testament was in my back pocket. I'd gotten it from a coworker over the weekend. I saw him catching a moment during the shift to glance at some lines in the prep room. I think he thought I was going to make fun of him but I asked him what it was and then told him I used to have one just like it that was green. He asked me if I wanted one because he just happened to have another in his bag. Cool, yeah, I'll take it.

The first Bible section I went to this morning while waiting for my car was Hebrews 12:12. Tim Tebow had something like that on his face when they played FSU and I was curious as to what it said.

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

Um. What?

I tried to find something meaningful in it and gave up. I flipped through some more sections, ones indicated in the front of the book for explaining things like love, charity, courage, trust, et al. Then I'd had enough and turned to the Hemingway book. The first thing I see there is:

On the booze boat Harry had the last sack over.
"Get me the fish knife," he said to the nigger.

DOLP!

Talk about a change in tone. It was too jolting. I only finished the chapter because it was only a page and a half. I was done with Hemingway after that. I don't mean done forever. It was just too big of a jump after piously reading scripture.

While preparing this post I realized that Tebow's face didn't say Hebrews 12:12, but Hebews 12:1-2.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

That makes a little more sense. Keep the faith. Play hard. Jesus is Lord. Go Tebow.

GreenPunk

Julian strode through the forest as if he owned it, which is ironic because he believes no one can own the land.

They think in images—prose is for them a code

My wanderings around the web which led me to this post, in reverse:

A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern. An idea or information pattern is not a meme until it causes someone to replicate it, to repeat it to someone else. All transmitted knowledge is memetic.

Meme

The only ones who actually wish to share the mischievous destiny of those savage runaways or minor guerillas rather than dictate it, the only ones who can understand that cherishing & unleashing are the same act—these are mostly artists, anarchists, perverts, heretics, a band apart (as much from each other as from the world) or able to meet only as wild children might, locking gazes across a dinnertable while adults gibber from behind their masks.

WildChildren

"Rebellion to tyrants
is obedience to God."
—Thomas Jefferson

Deoxyribonucleic Hyperdimension

Which I got to by way of Directory > Society and Culture > Cultures and Groups > Cyberculture.

Does anyone still use Yahoo's directory search? Does anyone remember when that's basically what Yahoo looked like? Remember when it was just a college project?

Exploring Yahoo's directory provides more opportunities for random finds compared to the more common keyword searches. The directories offer you avenues of exploration you may not have thought of otherwise.

On anarchism...

It seems that people are surprised and skeptical when they see the tattoo on my arm with the anarchy sign as part of the design. It seems most people think anarchism is stupid, an impossible dream, violent, ignorant of human nature, etc. I disagree.

Here's the definition in Infoshop.org's An Anarchist FAQ:

Anarchism is a political theory which aims to create anarchy, "the absence of a master, of a sovereign." [P-J Proudhon, What is Property , p. 264] In other words, anarchism is a political theory which aims to create a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. As such anarchism opposes all forms of hierarchical control - be that control by the state or a capitalist - as harmful to the individual and their individuality as well as unnecessary.

This is how I'd define anarchism: I'm not required to obey you. It ties in with the other symbol within my tattoo, the Star of David. The only thing I have to listen to is God. My anarchism is very much shaped by my Judaism. I believe that Jews are called by God to never bow to the state or anything other than God.

We need to remind ourselves that the System as we know it is not carved in stone. We all agreed to it. We can dismantle it. We can do whatever we want. We are fully grown homo sapiens. We have been given the powers of thought and speech and movement and a great will. Are you a follower or a leader? Do you take possession of your personal sovereignty? Or are you a Slave to the Machine You Built?

...slave to the machine, he types disdainfully on his computer. On his computer...