Way More than Two Millimeters Off Enlightened

A blog...for those of us who strive to grow spiritually, but don't want to give up irreverence or our sense of humor on the way....

In the Winter 2007 issue of Tricycle (which I'm reading now for the first time - and by accident), there is an article called Above the Fray by Huffington Post blogger RJ Eskow. In it he quotes a Buddhist teacher who said, "In an awful lot of Buddhist groups everybody is pretending to be two millimeters off enlightened, but we're not. Even Thich Nhat Hanh talks in one of his books about how somebody stood up and called him a coward when he was giving one of his talks in the U.S. during the Vietnam War. He said he was livid and had to leave the hall."

This blog is for those of us who need to leave the hall more than occasionally. Or don't leave the hall when we should, though at least we have the grace to be embarrassed by our behavior. It's for those of us who admit we're more than two millimeters off enlightened and, for better or worse, are learning to live with that.

I can't speak about Buddhism, as I know virtually nothing about it. All I can speak about is my own experience as a vastly imperfect person trying to be a better human being. I hope you find something useful here. If not, move on and don't look back.

Thanks for listening.