Mysteries of the Sandman, 1st Day of Hagwinter, 525 M.E. (Helios): With the passing of the five Days of the Hammer, the Universal Solar Calendar enters into Hagwinter, the second of the year's two winter seasons. Hagwinter will continue until the end of the year, and then we'll enter Childwinter, the other winter season, of the year 526 of the Modern Era.

Regarding the change of season, Zen Master Dogen taught that winter does not become spring, just as Autumn doesn't become Hagwinter. Autumn is always Autumn; Hagwinter is always Hagwinter. It's always the present moment, and there are present moments in Autumn and there are present moments in Hagwinter. It's the mind that moves.  

The deepest transformations in our loves come down to something very simple: We learn to respond, not react, to what is going on inside us." - Tara Branch, Radical Compassion 

I find it ironic how evangelical Christians caught up in the MAGA movement accept the persecution and deportation of immigrants and the excessive cruelties of ICE as compatible with their faith. They think immigrants getting eaten by alligators is funny, and share memes of the Stable Genius in a jet defecating onto crowds of Americans below. Just like Jesus would have. 

No, Jesus would not have - I'm just messing with you. Jesus said the first commandment is to love God (i.e., not the Stable Genius) with all your heart, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. "There is no other commandment greater than these," he said (Mark 12:30-31). Side note: was Jesus saying the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament were obsolete, they we should only focus on loving God and loving our neighbors? If so, could it be argued that posting the Ten Commandments, say, in schools, courthouses, and public spaces, is un-Christian?    

"True love for our neighbor will be translated into courage and strength," the Dalai Lama promised. "The more we develop love for others, the more confidence we will have in ourselves." 

Even Jim Morrison of the Doors noted that one of the four way to get untangled, presumably from the grasping clutches of greed, hatred, and delusion, is to love your neighbor, at least "until his wife gets home." Jim was a complicated dude.

After missing my alternating-day walk on last weekend's No Kings day, I made up for it today with a 9.3-mile Harrison.