Rick Perry stood in a plastics plant earlier this week holding a postcard size piece of paper claiming that this was his new, simplified tax plan. The Governor of Texas wants to overhaul the current tax system, allowing Americans to choose paying a flat 20 percent on income or continue to file taxes as they have been.
Having grown up in America, where individual choices and freedom are valued above all, it’s difficult to imagine giving one’s freedom of choice up for anything. But when I spent three days of monastic life at Hokyoji, a Soto Zen temple in Japan, that was exactly what I had to do.
Meditation for a Zen monastic is not just the hour of formal zazen (meditating facing the wall in a meditation hall) each morning before dawn and each evening at dusk; meditation is meant to encompass all aspects of one’s life.
Meditation hurts. That’s what most surprised me. When I made the decision to study Buddhism in Japan in an experientally-based program that involved getting up before dawn most days to meditate, I expected the boredom and frustration of staring at a wall for forty-five minutes.
Perhaps the greastest hurdle faced by those just starting to exercise, beyond gym fees and planning workouts, is motivation. Sure, everyone who starts down the road has some reason to be there, but in an activity where results are usually only seen after a long-term commitment, sustaining enthusiasm can be an exercise in and of itself. This challenge of motivation is precisely the issue that the website “Fitocracy” was designed to address.
The latest GOP debate in Nevada left voters a little stunned after the heated exchange between Republican Presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. The debaters were unified, not on attacking the current administration, but on turning on one another. For the first time during the debates, Perry came across slightly stronger with his points and as a possible choice as the GOP’s hope, change, and future for 2012.
