April 10, 2009
An Afternoon With Two Gracious Ladies by JEAN ANKER
JEAN AND MAVIS
Had the good fortune to spend the afternoon with two gracious ladies Mavis and Eve. They are both octogenarians, which is s hell of a lot better than being octomom (sorry I couldn't pass that up). Anyway, each day we observe the sunrise or merely stumble out of our bed roll and slog our beverage of choice we are on an unavoidable path, like it or not we are growing older each day. Not a damn thing to do with that one.
That reality hits harder each passing year and I for one have reached an age where I no longer lump everybody over 40 into one gelatinous mess. Sorry, but that is what I used to do. Now I find that there are nuisances associated with aging: Seventy year olds are different from eighty year olds and eighty is tough even for the toughest of us. To spend time with 2 feisty, interesting eighty year olds is like meeting someone on a mountain trail who promises you that there a waterfall up ahead.
I have already described Mavis, who never beats around the bush. Eve is also very direct, which I admire. So anyhow Mavis, Greg and I were having interesting conversations about health and life and rocks when Eve arrived a little later. Eve is an actress who had just been working in New Orleans, but things hadn't gone so well. Mavis took the position that it was probably best in the long run for Eve's health that she didn't end up having to work 20 hours a day for a slave driving director even though it might have been a real coup for her professionally. Then Mavis asked Eve whether she believed in free will or pre-destination? Eve thought it was a little of both. So that is where I would like to end this session. Are our lives predestined or do we have free will and therefore create our own destiny?
Posted by chicks at April 10, 2009 10:29 PMJean - I am going to think about your question for a bit prior to answering. i just wanted to quickly jump in and say I LOVED this post - it was funny, sweet, touching, and personal.
Lauren
Posted by: queen lolo at April 11, 2009 01:45 AMI have to say both predestination and free will are true.
When I was a teenager I had a vivid dream that I remembered upon awakening. It was nothing extrodinary, me and some friends throwing around big cardboard boxes. A couple of years late I worked in a warehouse and one day the scene from the dream which I remembered played out in front of my eyes whwn we wer moving some boxes around. How could I have seen that scene in a dream two years before? For me it seems to say that the future is set and will occur according to plan. It must be that freewill, or the sense of it, is part of that plan because certainly I feel that I make choices that afect out comes in my life. I've always wondered if you knew enough about me and how I thought and felt could you accurately determine what my choices would be? And even if they could be certainly determined by some intelligent entity didn't I still have freewill in the moment of decision?
Jean,
Last month President Ikeda was sharing some guidance he received from President Toda. An interesting subject matter was about destiny.
Josei Toda says, "Only you can unlock your own destiny!"
Changing karma as I see it is unlocking my own destiny.
I see karma as my habits. I am willing to change my habits to create a more positive environment for myself and those around me.
I was raised by an older couple, and it was more like best friends to me; someone you can trust to show you the waterfall ahead, and not just talk about the waterfall ahead.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick at April 14, 2009 10:23 AMHi Jean,
I loved the waterfall analogy! Of course that's probably because I was there on that mountain trail with you. Funny but I don't think we would have really wanted someone to actually take us to the waterfall...we just needed the hope of it to continue putting one foot in front of the other on our own journey.
I know what you mean though Patrick and appreciate the thought.
I'll get back to the predestination thing whenever it is that I'm predestined to have an intelligent thing to say about it.
Bill
Posted by: Bill at April 15, 2009 03:43 PM