How Language Changes

There’s a line from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens that has me thinking about how language changes over time, not just in word choice, but in the very meaning of the words.

From the last paragraph, about Ebenezer Scrooge: “He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived up on the Total-Abstinence Principle ever afterwards…”

I’d love to discuss this with a high school class!

Maureen

From Quiet to Chaos

I’m back from San Diego, feeling deeply quiet, plunging into the chaos of Christmas. The next three weeks are completely booked, with baking scheduled, shopping to finish, wrapping, an airport run, a couple of birthdays to tuck in, and a Christmas caroling party with a crowd sardined into our little house.

The trick is to maintain the quiet. My preference would be to return to a month of silence – instead, I launch straight into Christmas.

May it be a deeply peaceful Christmas, underneath the chaos.

Maureen

On Nelson Mandala’s Death

I was in a Buddhist retreat session when Rinpoche received a text informing him that Nelson Mandala had died. He immediately began to practice, and then spoke about him for a little while. It was exquisitely beautiful.

This may be retreat-influence talking, but while I feel grief, my greatest emotion is glory. What a glorious man. What an example of who we can be, every one of us. Not President of South Africa, but deeply compassionate. This is what human beings are capable of. This is who we can become. This is what we are meant to be.

Maureen