Annoying Acai Berry Issue

Sanity amid extremes

Sarah Palin

Mixmatch of Faiths in America

Winter Outlook

Best Places to Live

Where was Elna Hiding?

The Cardoba Mosque in lower Manhattan

ELNA'S PAGE: Opinion, Talk, and Commentary

THE CARDOBA MOSQUE PROJECT

SYMPATHETICALLY, we have listened to the voices of those who understandably oppose the Cordoba Mosque Project in lower Manhattan. Yet few seem concerned about who initiated this venture and why. After all, why would Muslims want to select such a controversial area, two blocks from the World Trade Center? Could there be a larger reason here?

EVEN THE NAME, Cordoba Project is controversial. Historically it refers to a hostile initiative in the 8th century AD when an imperialistic, evangelistic Islamic invasion from North Africa took over what is now Cardoba, Spain. Although the indigenous Spanish natives were enslaved under Muslims who ruled by the sword, something else happened. Under Muslim reign there arose an amazing renaissance of science, art, and culture that has sustained and prospered in various forms to this day.

The Cordoba Project in lower Manhattan is not supposed to be a place of worship. It is a community center with some spaces for prayer. Its official site explains itself as : A Muslim-led project which will build a 15-story world-class facility that promotes tolerance and reflects the rich diversity of New York City...providing a space for all New Yorkers regardless of background...a center of learning, art, and culture. It will have a 500-seat auditorium, a swimming pool, art exhibition spaces, bookstores and restaurants.

The Cordoba Project will be known by name as Park 51,its city address. Jeffrey Goldberg, correspondent for The Atlantic, says that such a project represents what Bin Laden feared most. After all, project initiator,Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf, is an enemy of Al Qaida. He says, Osama bin LadenÕs most dire enemies are Muslims. Al Qaida and a multitude of its affiliates have murdered thousands of Muslims.

Is it possible that this American Islamic initiative is offering to NYC another kind of renaissance, rising near the ashes of 911? It could be, on some level, a shared gift, offered to a great city for all it has suffered. That is what many of them say it is.

UNIVERSAL LAW:THE ENERGY RETURN:

WHEN AN ACCIDENT OCCURS on the highway, a police officer eventually comes upon the scene, helps victims, and seeks to determine the cause of the crash.

In our ordinary daily lives, we seldom think about causes. We just wonder why we have such lousy luck, or an amazing windfall. If things go wrong, we tend to pin the blame on a convenient culprit or scapegoat. We know is is not very smart to get into our car, go barreling through a stop sign, crash, and then have the nerve to blame the accident on the stop sign.

EVERY ACTION that we send forth returns to us in the form of an ENERGY RETURN. Einstein said :The kind of energy which goes out of us, that same energy comes back to us. So wherever the energy comes from, it always comes back to that same point it began in the universe.

We don't know exactly how or when our own energy will come back to us. Some of it is ripe and ready, some of it accumulates and is delayed. Some of it is a group karma expressed by : a club, a community organization, a religious body, a political party, a nation, or a bloc of like minded people. It can be karma left over from a past existence. No matter what, this Energy Return whether bad or good is inescapable.

Thought is energy. It is real and our thoughts have enormous power. Our thoughts come thundering back to us in some form that we might call good luck or bad luck. We rarely realize we have the power to create for ourselves a lighted, wonderful life.

OUR BODIES COULD BE SAID to be surrounded by a sticky electrical field that captures our thoughts and then sends them back to us. We become imprisoned within our own thoughts. If the thoughts are hopeful and expectant, amazing things occur. We often have no idea we have been nourishing ourselves with amazing thoughts. If we feel hurt, angry, wounded, or vengeful, we become all that. We can stay for quite a while in that cloud of depressing energy until eventually an exciting thought pushes through the thick fear and fog.

Historically this cause and effect has been called karma, an ancient Sanskrit word that simply means what Einstein said-that what we send out comes back to us. LIKE GRAVITY, IT JUST IS. If we surround ourselves with the light of trust and positive expectancy, those same good things come back to us. Through our thoughts we build our individual days the good or bad of which spills over into the family and the larger social order.

Einstein prized the power of the imagination. He said it was more important than knowledge. He said: Knowledge is limited to what we know so far. But imagination has no limits. It embraces the world, and all there ever will be, to know and understand.

IMAGINATION is a formidable tool. If we neglect to create fabulous thoughts, we neglect to have fabulous happenings. Imagine the oil crisis suddenly solved. Imagine the stock market soaring to former heights. Imagine you as your best shining self. Imagine you in a job you love or with that special person.

It is a great time, astrologically, for us to practice The Energy Return. Sending out five or more fabulous thoughts a day is not as trivial as it sounds.

FROM ELNA: Where I was for the past month:

FOR ME EVERYTHING STOPPED LIKE A CLOCK in mid March. My website showed no more daily comments. The date just stayed on the Signs Studio 2000 front page as if etched in granite.

It was St. Patrick's Day--the afternoon. I hadn't left the house that day nor had my son James. There seemed to be so much to do. I finally decided to take a break and bring some snacks up to the studio where I work. I had both hands full as I walked across the balcony that overlooks the dining room.

MY SON LOOKED UP and saw that my left foot seemed to catch lightly onto something. Like a stroke of lightning I came down on an unforgiving hardwood cherry floor. It was not pretty. Luckily I held my shoulders and head high enough off the floor. I told Jamie to call 911. I knew it was serious because I felt if I didn't hold onto my hip, it would separate from my body. The pain was a fifteen.

Ten minutes later, the EMT men came and saw that they couldn't extricate me from my clothes due to the pain of the slightest movement. THEY ASKED FOR SCISSORS and began to cut my clothes off me, first my LIGHT outer layer, then my tee and underclothes, finally my slacks. They wrapped me in something and tried to get me into a metal container to hold me together. I pleaded for them to allow me to keep my hand on my left hip so it would stay on me. They said,"Sure" and then lifted me over the balcony railing down to the living room floor and out the door to the van. The cold air was jarring.

It was quite a tumultous ride to the hospital. I remember trying to detect when the next red light would be, knowing we would have to come to a sudden stop, and I might lose consciousness.

Among the flashing lights, the noise, and the hubbub of the emergency room, I vaguely remember being given some pain medicine.It worked enough to get me down to X-ray and onto the table. The X-ray people really know how to handle such situations seamlessly.

THE NEXT AFTENOON I WAS WHEELED INTO THE operating room for a partial hip replacement, complete with a large round metal sphere that "held my body together". Then eventually I was sent back to a shared hospital room.

Berkshire Medical Center is an excellent teaching hospital in western Mass. Every person went out of their way to be of help. As much as I detest those pumping boots they put on you to prevent leg clots, I tried to tolerate them. Finally my left foot felt as if someone was taking a small wooden mallet and hitting it in a pulsing motion. I called for help. They took me down to X-ray again to see if a blood clot was the problem. But no. As soon as they took me out of the pumping boots, my foot stopped feeling hammered. They didn't put them back on. Consequently, I stayed relatively sane for the rest of my stay.

Naively, I thought I was going home after four days. But no. I was going to be sent immediately to rehabilitation at a state-of-the-art- nursing facility in Lenox. I stayed there for two weeks. I had to learn all the hip precautions--serious stuff because you don't want to undo what the surgeon has done. I had exercises morning and afternoon as well as daily massage of the hip area. The rehab team were young women, dedicated to their work, but who had humor and vitality that spilled over onto others who joined the group in various stages of disability. What great people.

I am home now. I hear the birds again. I see the house as I had never seen it before The family has me set up in the studio with a mini refrigerator and water cooler so that I don't have to go down any stairs. There's something about your own bed, your pillow and tape player nearby that plays ocean waves wafting you into sleep, that cannot be matched. To each his own.

A Universal Truth: The Ethic of Reciprocity

Most world religions can trace their roots to one of the great religious bodies listed below, all of which share the same groundwire of truth. We commonly refer to it as The Golden Rule:

BRAHAMANISM/Hinduism:"This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you." Mahabharata 5:1517

BUDDHISM: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18

JUDAISM: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man."_Talmud,Shabbat 31a

CHRISTIANITY: "All things whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets" _Matthew 7:12

ISLAM:"No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself." _Sunnah

TAOISM: "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss." _T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien

ZOROASTRIANISM: "That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself." Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5

Other faiths restate this rule including The Baha'i faith, Shintoism, Sikhism, Egyptian texts and others. To some, it is simply a karmic truth. What we send out, we receive back in its own time.

There are also those who believe that love, partly expressed in this simple "golden rule" written above, is the titanic power that holds the atom together and makes the universe work.

A NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN once broadened this universal rule by making it limitlessness, declaring the oneness of life. "All things are our own relatives. What we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really me." _Black Elk

AMERICANS MIX AND MATCH FAITHS

THE BEST-RATED PLACES TO GO

The National Geographic Traveler Magazine just rated the best places to go in the world. 437 experts reviewed 133 places to make their decisions.

Here are some of the BEST RATED PLACES: The beautiful Fjords region of Norway ranked first all by itself. Many placements were tied for third, fifth and sixth place. Amazingly Vermont was ranked fifth along with three other beauty spots ( above the Bavarian Alps and the Scottish Highlands of UK.) The Oregon/Washington Columbia Gorge Region ranked sixth along with Yorkshire Dales, UK, and the Scottish Highlands, ETC.

OUR OWN "Berkshires, Massachusetts, USA,"was ranked seventh so this news quickly hit the front page of our local paper. We were tied with the Douro Valley of Portugal, the Engadine Region of Switzerland, and Wales in the United Kingdom. Can you imagine ranking above Tuscany, Saltzburg, Maine Coast, and the Ring of Kerry which were all ranked on a second list entitled "Places Doing well".

Also on the "Places doing Well" were: Cappadocia, Turkey, Pantanal, Brazil, Central Copenhagen, Denmark, the Northern Coast of California and finally, Cape Cod.

There was a third list of Places with Troubles like the northern Coast of Honduras, Agra (Taj Mahal) India, Long Island (Hamptons to Mautauk,NY), Pyramids, Egypt, South Beach,FL, Venice, Italy, Crete and Greece. Tahiti came after Venice, and The Great Smokies came after the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Place with the most trouble: Chesapeake Bay, Maryland/Virginia.

Worst Rated Places included Grand Bahama, Bahamas, St.Maarten/St Martin, West Bank, Bethlehem, and at the very bottom Costa del Sol,Spain. Some of these places are still popular but that wasn't how they were judged. Some seemed to steep in neglect or have other negatives.

CRITERIA FOR JUDGING: The highly qualified experts were asked to rate according to the following six criteria: 1.Environmental and ecological quality (perhaps suggesting a smog-free sustainable environment that has a future) 2.Social and cultural integrity. 3.Condition of historical and archeological sites, 4. Aesthetic Appeal 5.Quality of Tourism Management 6.Outlook for the future.

FINDING SANITY AMID EXTREMES

THE RECENT House vote on health care reform was close and had to plow its way through extremes of opinion and passion. Every day we humans try to survive in a living zone of opposites. This is never more obvious than in the fields of politics or religion.

YET NO MATTER how outrageous,irrational, or off-the-deep-end these extremes may appear,they are essential in the scheme of things. They define boundaries that expand or contract with the times. These boundaries help us gauge where we stand between A and Z.

PERSONS WHO ARE SMACK IN the middle are often called moderates or centrists. Many tend to be cool, cerebral and rational. Most like to carefully consider both sides of an issue. Since they reject impulse, they take their time to decide and are accused of vacillation. If they are not called wafflers, they are called fence-sitters or Independents.They might even be called an Independent majority who quietly find value on both sides.

MANY middle grounders find themselves placed in civic positions where lucid judgment and mediation are urgently sought. They seem to be able to hear both sides, try to integrate opinions, and allow sanity to prevail.

PERHAPS SANITY isn't warm and fuzzy, but I get a shocking high from it. It is so rare it makes me feel giddy. I am inspired by it. Perhaps it is hard to recognize and needs defining. Those sane ones are not clueless. They are seldom harassed by the press and most probably live their lives in relative peace.

NEWS MEDIA feel it must chase the extreme stories as well as the breaking news of the day. It makes us read and watch. Every day such stories administer mini-shock treatments to the masses, rousing multitudes from stupor and haze. The news has become a daily adrenaline rush or drug. The public can't get enough of it.

Whatever works.We can always turn the dial.Just so we know.

Elna Nugent, Lenox, Ma

The above piece was published as a Letter to the Editor in the Berkshire Eagle Nov.11.2009

WINTER LOOKOUT

TODAY,AS I WRITE THIS, it's spitting snow and it's 34 degrees. Next week we are supposed to get temperatures in the 60's. This is typical of changeable New England weather. But today reminds us of upcoming January and February.

Those months can be quite exhilarating with their cold, clear, sunny days, and ski slopes buzzing with activity. But the past three Januarys have been gloomy, overcast, and bleak-- the sun returning in mid-February, if we're lucky. Long dark days can wear on you after a while.I haven't had a winter getaway for years due to my husband's long illness. Who knows, something may beckon that is affordable, (which, of course, is a joke.)

LAST AUGUST, after Jack died, Our youngest son, James, moved back home to help me with the house and property. He was lucky to get a part time job here in town. With winter looming, he sealed up a section of roof that was leaking. During heavy rains I used to wake up to large drops of water hitting cheek or chin.

YESTERDAY, James brought home some cut wood to patch up the small deck outside the studio (where I paint and write) Last spring the ladder sank right through the boards as he was painting the studio. The rest of the deck is okay because it is protected by a substantial overhang, but the deck was built many decades ago.

James also toted home extra wood for the fireplace.I am storing up wood, not only for a warm fire on damp sleety days, but to have on hand for electrical blackouts which are an emergency in 0-20-degree weather.

At a sale at Macy's, I bought a new slow cooker so we can have savory chowders, soups and stews all winter. I am checking tag sales for a sturdy card table that can support a large jigsaw puzzle, not just for us, but to amuse friends and family when they come and visit by the fire and eat popcorn. Reminds me of childhood days.

I GET RESTLESS AND ANTSY just before winter courses and workshops begin. I need mental stimulation as if it were a deep, basic need. It is a downright addiction. Not funny. I will be fine as soon as the winter catalogs come out and I can find something to dig into. Sometimes I feel like a crazed gardener foaming at the month in anticipation of seed catalogs.

Two weeks ago, I finished a course on Verdi operas. The teacher played tapes and CD's of what he considered to be the greatest singers of Verdi arias, past and present. Wow. I was floored, Not a response you'd expect from someone who hated opera until age thirty-six.

I also take a "Headline News" class that is offered every season. It is such fun. It can get heated and often hilarious in debate. Am looking forward to the next one, even though we have to hold the class in a museum, where the chairs look like pieces of art but are achingly uncomfortable after sitting an hour.

FOR MORE THAN HALF MY LIFE,I have lived in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Gorgeous area. I had been born and raised twenty-three miles north of Boston and deeply loved the sea. When I married Jack (who was working at GE at the time) we lived out here in Lenox and raised four children. I learned to love the mountains as well.

The Berkshires form a tourist haven for music, art, ballet,and theater lovers..also museum addicts, skiers, and those drawn to outdoor sports. But the big draw is Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In summer, we are inundated with New Yorkers and Bostonians and so many others who have been coming here for concerts in huge numbers since the early 1930's

The summer season closed with the yearly James Taylor concerts and the Jazz Festival. The cars that come in for James Taylor back up through two towns and beyond the toll booths at the Mass Pike exit. James Taylor lives just over the mountain from us. I have often painted October Mountain about which he sings, and that painting is the cover of my new book. (See Home Page)

It's 10:00 am and my son just took off for the hospital to visit an acquaintance who had been diagnosed with cancerous brain tumors and has only a week or two to live. These past weeks have been difficult for James. Knowing he will soon lose this person is one thing, but he is also dramatically reminded of his own mortality. He does remember listening to his mother often say "Remember, life is an ongoing, continuous journey, with pauses here and there called births and deaths. Life continues on, whether we want it to or not".

THE ANNOYING ACAI BERRY ISSUE:

I NEED TO SHARE my personal experience and opinions regarding the frustrating Acai Berry issue. I do not sell this product or know anyone who does, so I have nothing to gain by discussing it on this site.

I had wanted to test the relevance of the Acai berry but was put off by the scammy-sounding aggressive online advertising. I had decided to forget the whole thing despite the acclaimed benefits. But two weeks ago I was in our local market (not one of the chains) when I spied in the health food section a jar of Acai berry "powder." The dosage was one level teaspoon once or twice a day in juice or water. Since I take no prescriptions or medications except for a one-a-day vitamin, I considered it.