As an observer of life, I feel that most people are sleepwalking through life. They don't pay attention to the details of life and savor experiences to get a full range of their impact. As hard as I try to keep awareness alive,sometimes I do things in such a hurry, that I make mistakes. Case in point is my experience at the local library today. I got an automated message from the library that the book I had put on hold had arrived. So I went to the Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs. But my book was not there! The clerk told me that it is at Northwest branch in Pompano.
There are three libraries in Broward County with basically the same name that unless you pay close attention to, you will make a mistate. 'Northwest' in Pompano Beach, 'North Regional' in Coconut Creek and 'Northwest Regional' in Coral Springs. When I put the hold on the book, I clicked the wrong branch because I didn't pay attention.
I did not get upset with the clerk when she told me that the book was not there. I did not blame myself for making a careless mistake. I did not get aggravated for going to the wrong branch. I took it in stride. It was a learning experience in awareness.The lesson here for me is, SLOW DOWN, TAKE A DEEP BREATH; PAY ATTENTION.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
My Two Birth Days!
I have two birthdays. It is nothing miraculous, but just cultural.In fact, a doctor on my hospice team (from South America) and a nurse (from Haiti) also have two birthdays. For a western mind, it may be very hard to understand how one person could have have two birthdays. But it is more common than you think.
When I was growing up in India in the fifties, birthdays were neither mentioned or celebrated. My mom who neither read nor wrote English, followed an Indian Calendar. I never had a birthday party or received a birthday card or a birth day present. My wife thinks I was a bad boy, not true, just cultural. Never heard of Hallmark until I came to the US in 1981!
When I was registered in Elementary School, documents such as birth certificate, social security card,phone bill or utility bill were not required. None of these existed! My dad took me to school, and told the headmaster who my dad knew, that I was five years old and needs to be in school. So, the headmaster wrote my name on a book and told my dad to send me to school the next day, and that was my first day of school! No photos, no videos. We had no camera. As a matter of fact, there are no baby pictures of mine. I was 19 years old when my first picture was taken. No way of knowing what a cute baby I was!!
So, during the first 15 years of my life at home, there was no mention of any birthday. For the next 10 years in the Seminary, my "feast day" was celebrated but not birthday. By the way, feast day honors the Saint for whom a person is named. I was named after "St. Paul" and his feast day is June 29th. I still get sporadic feast day greeting cards from nuns in India, on June 29th.
The first time a serious need for a DOB arose, when I applied for a passport in 1981. In the passport application, I wrote down a date that matched the Indian Calendar my mother followed and that date was September 22! Again, no supporting document was needed for this. So, since 1981, in all official documents, my DOB is September 22nd. But I knew it was not the day I saw the light of day. So, when I went to India in 1986, I did some digging. The place to look is the church where you are baptized. In India, a baptism certificate takes the place of birth certificate for Christians.
I was baptized in my mother's parish church. And I found my baptism certificate in an old dusty ledger, at St.Mary's Church, Muttuchira, and viola, the exact date of my blessed birth, is October 6, 1950! I was baptized seven days later on October 13th. Baby baptism was the norm those days, for fear of going to limbo, should the baby die before being baptized. The pope recently removed limbo from the list of possible places for unbaptized babies!!
So October 6th is the day I celebrate my birth, thanking the Lord for giving me life, although I gracefully accept good wishes and presents starting on September 22nd!
When I was growing up in India in the fifties, birthdays were neither mentioned or celebrated. My mom who neither read nor wrote English, followed an Indian Calendar. I never had a birthday party or received a birthday card or a birth day present. My wife thinks I was a bad boy, not true, just cultural. Never heard of Hallmark until I came to the US in 1981!
When I was registered in Elementary School, documents such as birth certificate, social security card,phone bill or utility bill were not required. None of these existed! My dad took me to school, and told the headmaster who my dad knew, that I was five years old and needs to be in school. So, the headmaster wrote my name on a book and told my dad to send me to school the next day, and that was my first day of school! No photos, no videos. We had no camera. As a matter of fact, there are no baby pictures of mine. I was 19 years old when my first picture was taken. No way of knowing what a cute baby I was!!
So, during the first 15 years of my life at home, there was no mention of any birthday. For the next 10 years in the Seminary, my "feast day" was celebrated but not birthday. By the way, feast day honors the Saint for whom a person is named. I was named after "St. Paul" and his feast day is June 29th. I still get sporadic feast day greeting cards from nuns in India, on June 29th.
The first time a serious need for a DOB arose, when I applied for a passport in 1981. In the passport application, I wrote down a date that matched the Indian Calendar my mother followed and that date was September 22! Again, no supporting document was needed for this. So, since 1981, in all official documents, my DOB is September 22nd. But I knew it was not the day I saw the light of day. So, when I went to India in 1986, I did some digging. The place to look is the church where you are baptized. In India, a baptism certificate takes the place of birth certificate for Christians.
I was baptized in my mother's parish church. And I found my baptism certificate in an old dusty ledger, at St.Mary's Church, Muttuchira, and viola, the exact date of my blessed birth, is October 6, 1950! I was baptized seven days later on October 13th. Baby baptism was the norm those days, for fear of going to limbo, should the baby die before being baptized. The pope recently removed limbo from the list of possible places for unbaptized babies!!
So October 6th is the day I celebrate my birth, thanking the Lord for giving me life, although I gracefully accept good wishes and presents starting on September 22nd!
Theological Thriller!
I just finished reading Dan Brown's latest novel - The Lost Symbol - It came out last Tuesday, I bought it the same day and read 100 pages a day and finished in five days. It is that interesting and gripping. I usually don't read fictions, but Brown's books are not just fiction. There is so much theology in it. For example this book begins with a statement at the beginning. "To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books."
How true that is! As an observer of life, I feel that majority of people are sleepwalking through life only to find out that their life is often a nightmare. Many people live very peripheral lives. Take for example the charge by Sarah Palin that Obama's health care reform has "death panels." Those words are not in the bill. They were used by a shallow politician to whip up political frenzy. It has nothing to do with reality, but to find that reality, one has to do some reading and reflection. There is a recommendation in the Bill for doctors to discuss with the elderly, 'end-of-life issues' which, as a hospice chaplain, I feel, is a GREAT IDEA. I deal with people who have never thought about death until the day of their death and the pain and trauma they go through while dealing with the inevitable. A smart president suggests that we do something that is smart and and the sleepwalkers twist it as something else.
As a matter of fact we currently have 'death panels" and they are called HMOs who won't insure you if you have a pre-existing condition, or drop you when they find out you have a condition they don't want to cover, and charge you huge sums until you go bankrupt. Now that is a death panel for you, but nobody sees it.
The Lost Symbol has great insights about God, our destiny as image of God, and the great role a community can play in our overall well being. In fact,after reading the novel, you will want to be member of a church or a temple.
How true that is! As an observer of life, I feel that majority of people are sleepwalking through life only to find out that their life is often a nightmare. Many people live very peripheral lives. Take for example the charge by Sarah Palin that Obama's health care reform has "death panels." Those words are not in the bill. They were used by a shallow politician to whip up political frenzy. It has nothing to do with reality, but to find that reality, one has to do some reading and reflection. There is a recommendation in the Bill for doctors to discuss with the elderly, 'end-of-life issues' which, as a hospice chaplain, I feel, is a GREAT IDEA. I deal with people who have never thought about death until the day of their death and the pain and trauma they go through while dealing with the inevitable. A smart president suggests that we do something that is smart and and the sleepwalkers twist it as something else.
As a matter of fact we currently have 'death panels" and they are called HMOs who won't insure you if you have a pre-existing condition, or drop you when they find out you have a condition they don't want to cover, and charge you huge sums until you go bankrupt. Now that is a death panel for you, but nobody sees it.
The Lost Symbol has great insights about God, our destiny as image of God, and the great role a community can play in our overall well being. In fact,after reading the novel, you will want to be member of a church or a temple.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
God Is Plural
I just finished reading The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown's latest novel that was released last Tuesday. I have never bought or read a book with such eagerness in such a short time. Five hundred plus pages...in five days. It is that interesting. I like this book for its mystery and thrill, but above all for its theology and philosophy of life. There is lot in it that is very theological.It talks about Noetic Science, the theory that people's thought has the power to effect change in the physical world. Brown talks about a new consciousness that is emerging for the better, despite all the doom and gloom around. The last word of this million word novel is HOPE!
I was really inspired by the idea towards the end that the Hebrew word for God - Elohim - is a plural. God is plural. God is a community. We find and experience God best,in a community setting. We are not meant to be alone; no man is an island. Feel the connection with others and you will automatically feel the connection to God.
If you think that you cannot know God or you don't feel God,look around. God is hiding in plane sight in the community that is around you, be it your family, your church your town, your country, your world!
I was really inspired by the idea towards the end that the Hebrew word for God - Elohim - is a plural. God is plural. God is a community. We find and experience God best,in a community setting. We are not meant to be alone; no man is an island. Feel the connection with others and you will automatically feel the connection to God.
If you think that you cannot know God or you don't feel God,look around. God is hiding in plane sight in the community that is around you, be it your family, your church your town, your country, your world!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Publishing my Book
I have always wanted to write a book; but I put it off because, I had pledged to myself that if I did not have anything new to say, I am not going to cut down more trees just to repeat what others have said. But I think I have something old to say in a NEW way, about God, Religion, Life etc. Since I am not famous, no publisher will accept my manuscript. So, I am publishing it myself through IUniverse, a great self-publishing company.
The title is "Batteries are Included: Sermons for an emerging church." The first sermon is titled: "You Divine DNA!. The whole premise of the book is that we are not merely humans condemned to live a life of misery and struggle in this world, but we are equipped with an innate power,given to us by the creator, but either we don't know we have it, or those who know, don't use it. Once that power is unleashed in the way it was intended, our lives will change and blossom.
Writing a book is hard work. But it is a challenge worth undertaking. So, stay tuned.
The title is "Batteries are Included: Sermons for an emerging church." The first sermon is titled: "You Divine DNA!. The whole premise of the book is that we are not merely humans condemned to live a life of misery and struggle in this world, but we are equipped with an innate power,given to us by the creator, but either we don't know we have it, or those who know, don't use it. Once that power is unleashed in the way it was intended, our lives will change and blossom.
Writing a book is hard work. But it is a challenge worth undertaking. So, stay tuned.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Public Option in Health Care Reform
I used to "worship" President Obama. But I am losing hope. It looks like he is trying to please every body. Someone who tries to please everybody, ends up pleasing nobody. This is time to show some leadership.
In June,the president said that the public option is necessary for any meaningful reform. "Any plan I sign must include....a public option" he said last month. Now he is back pedaling because the Republicans are making too much noise. Also some democrats called he "blue dogs" are against a public option. The insurance companies don't want the public option either! No surprise there. Any reform without a public option will be like putting lipstick on a pig.
This is the time for the democratic party to stand together as a party and for the president to show some leadership. If the party cannot enact health reform with the public option in it, with super majorities in both houses and the control of the white house, the democrats do not deserve to be in power. I will not vote this party again.
I have written to the white house and to the Secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sibelius, about my frustrations with them. Please write or call the white house and your representative. We need health care reform now and we need to cover ALL Americans.
In June,the president said that the public option is necessary for any meaningful reform. "Any plan I sign must include....a public option" he said last month. Now he is back pedaling because the Republicans are making too much noise. Also some democrats called he "blue dogs" are against a public option. The insurance companies don't want the public option either! No surprise there. Any reform without a public option will be like putting lipstick on a pig.
This is the time for the democratic party to stand together as a party and for the president to show some leadership. If the party cannot enact health reform with the public option in it, with super majorities in both houses and the control of the white house, the democrats do not deserve to be in power. I will not vote this party again.
I have written to the white house and to the Secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sibelius, about my frustrations with them. Please write or call the white house and your representative. We need health care reform now and we need to cover ALL Americans.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
My Blog Name: PaulintheNOW
People have asked my why did I chose the name PaulintheNOW. During the past 30 years of my life, I have heard numerous sermons and lectures about the importance of living in the present. I have read many books about the need to live in the moment. I had a poster in my bathroom that read: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, today is the most important day in your life." But none of it worked until...
I read Eckart Tolle's book "The Power of Now" and began consciously practicing the message of that book. The fact that yesterday is a "realized Now" and that tomorrow is an "imagined Now," hit me hard. ...Another contributing factor is my job as a hospice chaplain. My constant involvement with death and dying gives me a true appreciation of life and it constantly reminds me that this moment is all I have.....
Living in the moment brought a new peace to my life; it showed in my interactions with society and one day a good friend in my men's group named me Paulinthenow. It gave me more inspiration and challenges me to live the meaning of my name.
I read Eckart Tolle's book "The Power of Now" and began consciously practicing the message of that book. The fact that yesterday is a "realized Now" and that tomorrow is an "imagined Now," hit me hard. ...Another contributing factor is my job as a hospice chaplain. My constant involvement with death and dying gives me a true appreciation of life and it constantly reminds me that this moment is all I have.....
Living in the moment brought a new peace to my life; it showed in my interactions with society and one day a good friend in my men's group named me Paulinthenow. It gave me more inspiration and challenges me to live the meaning of my name.
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