Friends. Sorry for not posting in awhile. Honestly, there has not been much going on. I am happy and blessed to be out here in Jamaica: although with summer coming there's an incredible temptation to sleep in the afternoons.
I'm teaching a class on World Religions and dialogue with Christianity. We had a lot of fun studying Buddhist poetry. After we identified some of the main themes and motifs, I had the students take a look at a few sample poems. They love paradoxes.
The next assignment was for them to compose their own poem with the same Buddhist themes and style. I know not everyone is a poet, so I didn't mark based on quality. Rather, it was about whether they could show me they knew what the themes meant.
There was a terrific response. They were so proud of their creative work: and very creative most of the poems were. They all wanted me to read theirs and see what they'd done. It was really nice as a teacher to get that kind of reaction.
My favourite was as follows:
"The many paths to enlightenment
Are like zebras
All different
Yet all the same"
The student made a black and white stripey border and did the poem in calligraphy. I am reluctant to give it back: it would be fun to keep.
Things are winding down as I look forward to returning to Canada on the 31st of this month. I'm gonna miss this place.
I hope, wherever you are, that you are well :>
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