1 Jamal 165 B.E. (Baha'i calendar)
Soundtrack in my head:  Wooden Io, “The Racing-Light Mind”

I decided to use my vacation days this week.  This is usually the time of the year that trees in my neighborhood suddenly burst into green and more and more flowers appear.  Well, the leaves are growing quickly, but the thermometer this morning read 37 degrees, and my fingers feel chilly as I type this article.  I look at the radar widget I have installed on my computer, and I see that a big section of blue—meaning snow—is headed our way.  Ironic, since it was in the 70s last week.

But it’s not for the weather that I take the break, it’s for the break.  I need to slow down sometimes because I need to time to look at where I am and what I’m doing and why I’m here.

This is the eighth day of Ridvan, the twelve-day Baha'i festival that celebrates a turning point in the Baha'i Faith, the time right before Baha’u’llah was exiled from Baghdad to Constantinople, and the point where announced his mission.   The first, ninth and twelfth day of the festival are consider holy days in which work is supposed to be suspended.  I regret that I could not take off the first day, but this weeklong vacation will encompass the ninth and twelfth days.

This is a good time for me to think about The Different Drummer Soundtrack and where it’s going.  I originally conceived it to be about co-op living and my spiritual path of Mahikari.  And then I left Mahikari last fall and joined the Baha'i Faith.  

Since leaving Mahikari, I believe more strongly than before that I am spiritually called to live a simple life. Not Amish-simple or the Paris Hilton/Nicole Ritchie “Simple Life,” but simply consuming less. I got a lot of clarity when I left Mahikari.  I’ve been looking around me and seeing that in many ways I am indeed living my dream life.  That doesn’t mean I’ll hunt for my food with a bow and arrow, or live with the heat turned off.  I have my computer, I recently got a laptop, and I actually intend on getting an air conditioner this year, (largely because of my allergies).  I was recently elected the Finance Co-Officer for Madison Community Co-op, and I will have a more direct role in running the organization than I have in the past.  

I have had a bit of writer’s block lately, but I still think that the focus on co-op living and spirituality is a good place to start.  There is a lot that happens in this house and within MCC that is worth writing about.  I sometimes forget that.  I remember that I started keeping a journal in 1990 when I was on the Global Walk for a Livable World, and yet when I look back at those journals, I know that there are a lot of significant details that never made it into my journal pages.  So I should make sure not to make the same mistake with my co-op living.

As for the Baha'i Faith, it is something I’ve known about for nearly twenty years and yet it is still new to me, and I’m trying to find my place within it.  I do believe that, among the worldwide religions, the Baha'i Faith makes the most sense.  My decision to declare myself a Baha'i on November 19, 2007 was based on a spiritual calling that started the previous August (after a nineteen-year hiatus), and I feel proud to identify myself as a Baha'i. But while I know a lot about the Faith, I feel I have so much more that I have yet to learn.  I think that’s why I haven’t written too much about the Faith yet, but maybe that’s a good reason for me to write more about the Faith.  

So I think the overall purpose of this blog really hasn’t changed much.  In essence it’s about what I think God is calling me to do, and the implications thereof.  

I have another Different Drummer Soundtrack blog on Madison.com.  I’ve sorely neglected that page, and am grateful that Madison.com hasn’t thrown me off yet.  Oddly enough, just about every blog on Madison.com gets less traffic than this blog you are reading here, and I think it’s because Madison.com is still trying to decide what to do with Post and its bloggers.  It’s harder to find the blogs on the site unless you’re actually looking for them.  

At first I thought I was going to simply double-post my entries here on Madison.com, but it’s clear to me that my audience on Madison.com is very different than the one here.  I don’t think the Madison.com audience would be as interested in my personal musings on the Baha'i Faith, so I don’t post it.  I do think that postings about co-op life would be of interest--there are some two dozen housing co-ops here in Madison and are thus remarkably visible in this relatively small town.  I did just recently start a series of postings about issues with the Madison Metro bus system, and the article includes important perspectives and issues not picked up by the local mainstream press.  Perhaps there are other things about Madison that I can and should write.  

Anyway, I plan to do more with my vacation than write.  I’m going to take a trip to southwestern Wisconsin, probably this coming weekend, since I love the beautiful hilly areas in that part of the state.  I’ll probably visit La Crosse, Prairie du Chien, Dodgeville, Blue Mounds and maybe New Glarus.  It is supposed to get warmer by the end of the week, so I think I’ll still get a chance to enjoy the weather.