I Just Finished Registered for School

I am taking the plunge.  I want to attempt to get into the certificate program for Web Development and Design at College for Creative Studies (CCS).  This program is less about the tools and has a significant design emphasis.  Before you can get into the program - you need to have taken a college level design class.  I decided to try to understand the competition by signing up for the design class at CCS.   Starts in June on Wednesdays.  Back to homework.  I now the class with be a stretch but it should be interesting.

Nature and Hallucinogens

Monday there was an article in the NY Times titled "Seeking Medical Uses, Doctors Tune Back In to Hallucinogens".  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html?scp=1&sq=hallucinogens&st=cse

No I am not going to try to sign myself up for the study - but I did like some of the comments made by one of the psychologists who participated in the study.

"...an improved outlook on life after an experience in which the boundaries between the self and others disappear......I wasn't any longer attached to my performance and trying to control things.  I could see that the really good things in life will happen if you just show up and shar you natural enthusiasms with people.  You have a feeling of attunement with other people."

Wonder if you can get the same experience from smelling the blossoms that are flowering currently?

Where is the Soul

I am currently reading the book, "The Hero's Journey" by Joseph Campbell.  I now know he was very popular in the 70's and 80's but I had never heard of him.  I am finding the book quite insightful and starting yesterday - I began underlining passages in it.  Now I NEVER underline in books, just like I never write notes in books.  But there were quite a few comments I wanted to refer back to.  So today, as I read I see the passage

          "Joe, what kind of meditation do you do?"  I said, "I underline sentences."

I guess I am following in his footsteps as a type of meditation.

The next paragraph has the following quote:  The seat of the soul is there where the inner and the outer worlds meet.  The outer world is what you get in scholarship, the inner world is your response to it.

I don't think about the soul much but to read two passages about it in one evening is a coincidence.   The other book (my purse book) that I am reading is "The View from Castle Rock" which is stories by Alice Munro.   In the story recounting her ancestors coming to Canada from Scotland, the character is asking where the soul leaves the body at the time of death.  Most say it hides in the lungs and leaves with the last breath.  The joke is that one character was so dirty it emerged from his "arsehole" with a large explosion as he died.

That definitely made me laugh and you have to laugh when you start thinking about the where is the soul - what is it that makes you who you are and what is important to you.

Finally Getting Out with My Camera

Trying to get pictures of the tulips before the rabbits get them.  This one was whole in the morning - my the afternoon the rabbits had destroyed it.

MidTown Saturday

After the club walking practice on Saturday - Frank wanted to go down to the Detroit Public Library main branch to look for a specific book he couldn't find at the local library.  After that - a trip to the DIA.  I was surprised to see a weaving demo at the library.  I knew one of the weavers.  It was good to see so many people stopping and asking questions.

Took a few pictures at the library which is a beautiful building with great ceilings and stained glass windows.

Then across the street to the DIA.  A very interesting photo exhibit from the 50s of pictures taken in Detroit.