baptism

We Earthlings are blessed with an abundance of water. Water covers 75% of our fine planet and makes up about 78% of the human body. Perhaps because I was raised in a family where a sailboat has always been one of our prized possessions, I have a natural connection to and adoration for being around and immersed in H2O. To me, the term, "holy water" is redundant: all water is holy, whether it's "officially" blessed or not. I was baptized as an infant in the Catholic church. Water was sprinkled on my forehead in a rite practiced to save my soul from limbo should I die as a baby. Now, in adulthood, diving into a lake or pool is like being baptized in the best way. Natural, immediate, present-moment connection to the universe!

Here in Austin, there is a special place called Barton Springs in which thousands are baptized and re-baptized all summer long. Some brave souls even take dips in the natural spring-fed body of water in the chill of winter! According to the City of Austin, Native Americans called it the Sacred Springs and went there to heal their wounds. Spanish friars believed to be the first European settlers in Austin set up three temporary missions at the springs in 1730 before they moved to San Antonio. Devotees relish swimming in the expanse of spring water that averages 68 degrees year round and is framed by century-old pecan trees. Those who plunge down under the diving board to look at the main spring, which pumps an average of 27 million gallons of water a day, say that the pulsating action reminds them of a steady heartbeat.

It is a soulful, beautiful place where sunbathers, readers, yogis, snorkelers and floaters of all ages cohabitate in harmony. Admission is $3 for adults, but it's free from 9 to 10 o'clock each night for brave night swimmers. I went there last night with my roommate. As I stood at the edge counting down to jump in, I really wanted to chicken out. All my poetic notions about Barton Springs baptism of 2008 dissolved into the cool evening air. But, I did it, and I screamed, and I swam my heart out and warmed up after about 5 minutes. And it was wonderful.

the home stretch

From your first day at school you are cut off from life to make theories.
-Taisen Deshimaru

twenty days left this year
sun is setting on the third grade
my heart is filled with nostalgia
my mind with annoyance
thinking (just SHUT UP!!)
and then sweetness returns.

I will cry on the last day
I will write an epilogue on the plane to Boston
and read Anna Karenina all the way to India
I will spend 24 hours
straight
up in the air.

stop making up theories
teaching theories
writing about theories.
opting instead for
the bountiful yellow wildflowers
under a big, grey blue Texas sky.

nothing's better than
raspberry shaved ice
practical world travel
and creative completion.

perrito perdido

My parents found a lost Chihuahua last weekend and have not been able to find its owner. If you are interested in adopting her, please call 512-388-2159.

science vs. religion

Last night, I saw Expelled. I entered the theater not knowing what the movie was about nor how controversial it has become in the science community. It featured Ben Stein (of Ferris Bueller fame) traveling around the US and Europe investigating why several prominent American scientists lost their prestigious university professorships for mentioning the term "intelligent design" (ID) in classes or writings. The film concludes that they were promptly ejected from academia by "big science," the powerful Darwinian evolutionists who [erroneously] consider ID to be the same as creationism.

My favorite athiest, smarmy Brit Richard Dawkins, had a prominent role in the film. Apparently, his cooperation and interviews only occurred because he was never told what it was all about. He wrote a blog called 'Lying for Jesus?' in which he bashes the film rather humorously: "The whole tone of the film is whiny, paranoid -- pathetic really. The narrator is somebody called Ben Stein. I had not heard of him, but apparently he is well known to Americans, for it is hard to see why else he would have been chosen to front the film. He certainly can't have been chosen for his knowledge of science, nor his powers of logical reasoning, nor his box office appeal (heavens, no), and his speaking voice is an irritating, nasal drawl, innocent of charm and of consonants."

Apparently, Dawkins and another of the scientists interviewed for the film, PZ Meyers, went to a screening in Minneapolis and PZ was, ironically, expelled from the movie theater. Somehow, the security didn't notice Richard Dawkins, who was able to enter the theater and watch the movie in its entirety.

Though it exacerbated my headache, I enjoyed the film. It wasn't the best thing ever, but it was thought-provoking and mildly entertaining. I had been of the opinion that intelligent design was a fancy new term for creationism, but I came away thinking perhaps there is a noteworthy distinction. Creationism is the idea that the Judeo-Christian God created the cosmos in six Earth days, and everything else from the Book of Genesis is literally true. Intelligent design is much more vague: a higher intelligence had a hand in creating everything in our world. The film debunked Darwinism, not to say that natural selection is invalid, but that it may be an incomplete theory. After all, Darwin published in the mid-1800s, and there have been a couple scientific advancements since then.

There were two parts I had trouble with: (1) Stein's visit to a former concentration camp in Germany in which he makes a large leap between Darwinism and Nazism, and (2) the use of a snippet of John Lennon's Imagine whose lyrics, "nothing to kill or die for/and no religion too," conveyed, in the context used, that 'no religion' automatically equals communism.

Still, I think it's worth a watch, because it gets people thinking and talking about science and religion. Are they at war? Are they mutually exclusive? Can they somehow be merged? Most importantly, how did life begin? Even though this is an answerless question and always will be, it's crucial because it forces us all to ponder life's meaning -- and to remember the importance of loving and accepting others, no matter their views and beliefs.