Mindfulness

As I sat on the fresh-cut grass that was moist from the morning dew, I breathed in deeply and began to slowly take in my surroundings, utilizing one of the five senses at a time.

Dr. Dunn had ushered us outside to the large expanse of green lawn and instructed us to spread ourselves out and simply sit and observe: What are some of the things we see? Hear? Feel? And so on.

This was part of our lesson on Buddhism; when one sits in peace to find mindfulness in the present, he may finally learn to live with a new awareness.

It was no doubt a refreshing experience, and I noticed things that I usually would not have, such as a fly darting between the blades of grass, and the sound of an airplane soaring high above. My body and mind was at peace, and the light feeling lasted quite a while after the activity.

I feel as though out of the five religions we have studied and analyzed so far, Buddhism is the one I feel a connection to the most. Perhaps it is because of the fact that my grandfather is Buddhist (Pure Land, to be exact—I learned that while researching for our last project of the course earlier today).

We were assigned an Intra-Religious Diversity Project. Aiyana and I are to research and prepare a presentation comparing two different sects of Buddhism to one another: Pure Land Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. After much research, I learned plenty of new and fascinating material about Pure Land Buddhism, such as the fact that it is one of the most straightforward forms of Buddhism—followers must chant the name of the Amitabha Buddha as many times as possible in order to reach the Pure Land, a Heaven where one goes after death in order to work to attain Nirvana free of distractions.

Dance class today was very entertaining. Although I absolutely cannot line dance or Bollywood, I can, however, ballroom dance. It was tons of enjoyment waltzing gracefully around the room. If only school dances were balls instead—I would no doubt have fun spinning and prancing around.

Tonight was the VSA Talent Show, showcasing the many wonderful talents of the diverse amount of students here at Vanderbilt. From intricate dance routines to bagpipes and tuba playing, the show definitely outdid my expectations. It was very enjoyable.

Tomorrow is our last full day here at Vanderbilt, and we will be spending the earlier part of it visiting a Hindu temple, our last field trip for our World Religions course. I am of course excited; every holy place we have stepped foot on has been more than rewarding on so many accounts.

The ILC’s Maiden Voyage to Vanderbilt: Everyday a new Adventure

Out of all the time I have spent here at the Vanderbilt Summer Academy, I have found class to be the most interesting experience as it should be. The abnormal truth is that it’s getting even more interesting as we get closer to the end of the program.

I awoke very early for class this morning to gather at The Commons, two hours before our normal start time at 9:00AM, to eat breakfast and prepare for our field trip. We took a trip to the beautiful Greek Orthodox Church called Holy Trinity, and sat in on the service. Upon our arrival I was in awe of the sheer size of the church. When we moved inside the walls were adorned with beautiful pieces of artwork depicting, Jesus, Mary, and the 12 disciples. In the sanctuary itself, was a huge altar with paintings of the 12 disciples and Jesus along with other religious figures including the apostle Paul. For most of the service we stood with only about 15 minutes of total sitting time. The practices of worship include a lot of ritualism including bells, incense, specific chants, and songs; some songs and chants include a call and response format. The service also included help from the community with young church members having to carry the lanterns.

After the service was over, we were able to talk to the leader of the service and ask questions about Christianity and the Eastern Orthodox sect of Christianity. I learned that they shaped their sanctuary in the fashion of the ancient Israelite Tabernacle with three layers within the church, one being the holiest in which only priest can enter.

After we returned from our trip, we immediately switched tracks and got right down to Buddhism. We attacked the complicated idea of emptiness in one’s self, yet fullness in the spirit of all humanity. We talked about the ideas of inevitable death and samsara which is the cycle of life, basically reincarnation. We explored nirvana and the idea of being a bodhisattva or person that after becoming enlightened denies nirvana instead to come back to earth and help others reach Enlightenment. One example is the Dalai Lama.

Exploration is never finished in our World Religions classes. Using sources from YouTube to King of the Hill as tools, we are able to understand the concepts of these complex religious systems allowing us to be able to not only look at the religion from a historical perspective, but from the eyes of the people that practice it.

Discovery

A group of sleepy-eyed students boarded two vans at 7:30 AM this morning to attend morning Mass at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church here in Nashville, Tennessee.

I did not know what to expect with this being my first time ever stepping into a church; however, what I experienced and observed was far beyond what I had anticipated.

Inside, the chapel was just intricate—delicately carved pillars rose up towards the wooden ceiling above, and the sweet smell of incense filled the air. A natural light filtered in from the grand windows high above the walls, making visible the thick smoke of the burning candles.

The service was intriguing, as well as a bit strenuous for us student visitors. We all stood and sat when appropriate as a sign of respect; the majority of the time, the worshippers (therefore, we as well) stood. I learned later that one stands in the house of worship because he is in the presence of a king: Jesus Christ.

After much reading from the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, the priest offered the worshippers receiving Communion blessed bread and wine— the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We students did not receive Communion, of course, because we are not of Greek Orthodox faith. However, it was definitely a ritual worth seeing.

Learning about Christianity, or any religion, for that matter, is so incomparable when one actually has the experience of standing-- even watching worship-- in a holy house. It is satisfying in a way, enlightening in a way, and no doubt beautiful. I have learned to appreciate and respect culture—the different beliefs people hold to their heart and the varying traditions people perform in faith.

Tonight was our last sign out night, so our proctor group, along with some other friends, decided to head over to CABANA for dinner and/or dessert.

I ordered a cream cheese brownie with vanilla ice cream (similar to what Aiyana had) and contemplated on how far all of us have come here at VSA.

We only have a couple days left here at Vanderbilt, and the three weeks seemed to have flown by. We have developed friendships that are simply heartwarming, and met great individuals who will no doubt go far to be successful in this world.

However, we have also discovered something about ourselves, whether it be something profound, such as the discovery of a passion for engineering, or something less substantial, such as the discovery that I cannot dance (my Arete class is Dance Around the World).

Although our parting may be tearful, we must all learn to live in the moment, because there are not many left here.

…Today's lesson on Buddhism has taught me well.

The Greek Orthodox Way

Going to bed late and waking up early are not a great combination for the average teenager. We’re normally tired 45 percent of the day without waking up earlier than normal. However, we are all strong “troopers” as our professor likes to say. We all met up to have some boxed breakfast, which was an assorted muffin, an orange, Greek yogurt (*wink wink*), and juice. We then carpooled to The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

The building is rather large. Inside, it’s beautiful. The intricate wooden frame designs were beautifully carved. Dozens of framed paintings hang on the walls. Windows let in light throughout the chapel. But the most unique and stunning design was the center of the room, which was like a dome, except not on the ceiling, but on the wall in the front of the room. Painted on it were the 12 apostles. An alter with Jesus Christ on the cross is on a table in the middle of the room, in front of the wall. A small divider with paintings on it surrounds the dome, with a small opening where the Father could be seen.

However for the majority of the service, the Father’s back was turned to us, as he chanted from the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. The service is nothing like I’ve ever heard of before. Almost the entire service is spoken by song. The writings in the Divine Liturgy are sung and chanted by voices behind the wall in both Greek and English. Occasionally, the Father would turn to us and shake a small instrument shaped like a church with a burning coal and incense inside, and bells connected to it. Also, we learned that worshipers stand for about 90 percent of the entire service. We stood as well as a sign as respect, but a few of my classmates were close to passing out from a combination of both standing and the pungent smell of incense.

After the service, we asked a few questions with the Father of the Church. He explained his robed outfit, the style of the church, and a few more questions. Everything at the Church is either a symbol for something in the Holy Bible, or a replica/dedication to the original Church.

I can truly see now how Muslims believe that Christians practice idolatry (however not all Christian sects do, and not all Christians believe they do so). Almost every prayer ends or contains the words “the Holy Trinity” or mentions the Lord and Jesus Christ together. It does seem like they worship two gods.

The artwork decorated throughout the Church is very unique. All the paintings are of people with solemn expressions. They all have the same body and face style and structure as well.

We continued our discussions on Buddhism. Although yesterday I posted that the idea of not being attached to anything because of the lack of existence was depressing, our professor explained how truly liberating their beliefs are. Buddhism teaches about living in the now and taking advantage of the moment. Only focus on now, what you’re thinking about at this moment, what’s going on this moment. It teaches you to respect your life and live it to the fullest by not constantly worrying about the future. Embrace every moment in the now. Be joyous about the time you have right now.

So I forgot to mention my arête class for this week! I am learning how to fence! We have already learned footwork, parries 1-6 (attack and defense saber positions), and the rules of attacking. We fenced our instructor yesterday, and today we fenced a partner. I did pretty well surprisingly! The suit is heavy and hot, and the helmet smells like sweaty men, but it was pretty fun using the saber. I can now say that I’ve fenced before! I’ll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Tonight was the last sign out of the program. 16 of us ate out at a semi-fancy restaurant called Cabanas. I only got dessert, but it was delicious. I had a cream cheese chocolate brownie with raspberry filling and vanilla ice cream with strawberries. Though the food was superb, the charges were ridiculous. I guess we pay an arm and a leg for the nice and fancy ambiance?

As for what we did later tonight, I’ll have to post it tomorrow. Let’s just say we have a surprise for Malika, our proctor. I don’t want her to find out exactly what it is yet since she sometimes reads our blogs, so I shall inform you all in my next post. So excited!

Scientology and Xenu the Alien

Julia and I presented our Minority Religions Project today. We did our religion on UFO religions, but just focused on the group of Scientology. I had always thought that Scientology was a religion for scientists about science…makes sense right? Well I learned a lot about what it truly is and how crazy it is. No offense directed to the followers, of course. This is all based off of various sources off the internet, not just one biased site.  You can believe whatever you want to believe.

I had first heard of Scientology through the South Park episode which surprisingly accurately portrayed Scientology. The religion was created by science-fiction write L. Ron Hubbard. He wrote a self help book called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health which was designed to help alleve unwanted emotions, fears, and psychosomatic illnesses. It is the best selling self-help book of all time and has sold over 21 million copies. This book became so popular, and he had so many fans, that over time he created an entire faith. Soon, the Church of Scientology was created. Their scripture is Hubbard’s book.

This is the real story. This is what they believe. An audio is available online of Hubbard actually telling the story of Xenu: “the-history-of-xenu-as-explained-by-l-ron-hubbard-himself-in-8-minutes”. 


This information is not disclosed to the church's members, though, until they reach a certain rank in the religion. Okay so the most interesting part of the whole religion is the mythos. This is their actual serious belief: that 75,000,000 years ago, there was a galactic federation made up of 76 planets. The planets were severely overpopulated. An alien named Xenu was a leader of the federation and his idea to solve the population problem was to kidnap billions of people and put them on the planet Earth, which was then called Teegeeack. He used the excuse of income tax inspections to gather the people, then poisoned them to paralyze them and put them into aircrafts which resembled modern day airplanes, but with rocket motors. He then flew the people to Teegeeack and dropped them off near a volcano, and detonated bombs to kill the people. But each person contains a spirit called a theta, which can live outside the body. In order to keep the spirits on Earth, Xenu brainwashed the spirits and confused them. The spirits then wandered the planet until they found humans (probably the cavemen years later?). Xenu was banished to a desert planet where he lives to this day.

Scientologists believe in God, though there are no doctrines or scriptures of Him. God is the Eighth Dynamic, which is infinity. He is revealed personally through an individual by becoming steadily more and more spiritually aware. They believe that the only true essence of a human being is the soul, theta, and can leave the body but still control the body when a scientologist reaches the position of Operating Thetan. They can then control life, though, matter, energy, space and time, because they have become one with God, who is infinity. They believe that every being has a theta from a past life. Through auditing, a people can recollect past experiences to help identify past disturbances that are obstacles current and future happiness and spiritual enlightenment.

The Church of Scientology is greatly persecuted against. A group called Anonymous is a main critic group of Scientology. They protest in front of Scientologist churches and research facilities while wearing masks like those worn in the movie “V for Vendetta”, in order to protect their identity. The controversies around the church include: free speech violations—like trying to control the media when the audio of Hubbard on Xenu was released—and the infamous Tom Cruise video on Youtube; human rights violations, including suspicious deaths, torture, human trafficking, and deliberate separation of families; being a brainwashing cult; illegal actions such as harassment, slander, libel, and extortion of those who challenge, defy, or leave the Church of Scientology; and questionable tax exemptions and bogus educational and charitable organizations. Scientology courses are also known to be extremely costly, and many courses are needed to advance. These are all accusations made by critics of Scientology. Hubbard was actually investigated by the IRS, and found guilty of tax evasion, and was part of an investigation of stealing donations for the church, lying about putting it into Central American charities, and actually put the money in Swiss banks.

This is honestly the strangest religions I have ever heard of, and but I am glad that I had the chance to find out more about it, and share it with the class with the help of my partner, Julia.

Although Scientology is a strange religion, no religion makes my mind twist and turn more than Buddhism. I thought that Hinduism was a mind trip, but Buddhism is five times more intense. The most interesting idea of Buddhism is that you don’t exist and nothing around you exists. You and what you see is all an illusion by your spirit that is deluded into thinking it’s something it’s not. There is no you, no essence of you, and there is no self, because you are always constantly changing every moment. Therefore, the only true thing is the spirit. We also got into dreams and the subconscious which just freaked me out. If I believed in Buddhism and just suddenly realized that everything is a lie and an illusion and nothing, not even me, exists, I would be pretty depressed. But Buddhists find it liberating because it frees them from attachments, emotions, and passions.

Our activity tonight was supposed to be attending a local Tennessee baseball game at the Vandy baseball field, but the game location was switched to a faraway place. So my friend Kristen taught Julia and I and a few others how to knit, while we watched the cute movie: "The Iron Giant". Knitting is so much harder than it looks. My original plan was to knit a scarf, but the only knitting needles left at VSA are small ones, so a scarf is a bit over ambitious for the size of my needle. Because of the size and amount of difficulty there is in knitting, I changed from making a scarf to a versatile square that could possibly turn into a coaster? I am determined to get this knitting thing down, even though I had to start over 14 times, and am about to start over again when I am done typing this post.

We have to wake up early tomorrow for a field trip. Talk more about it in tomorrow’s post. Adios for now!

Oh, Holey Night!

This morning I was up relatively early preparing for our Minority Religions Project presentation. After refreshing my brain with the core beliefs and practices of Scientology, I met up with Aiyana and headed down to the Commons for a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs.

After displaying our poster and discussing the UFO religion with the class, we hurriedly moved on to a lecture about Buddhism, the last of the five major world religions we are studying.

I learned a handful of interesting aspects about this religion: the Eightfold Path, which is essentially the eight ethical principles one must follow in order to become enlightened, and the Middle Way, which is the Eightfold Path (the “direction” that requires man to neither torture himself nor overindulge—it is the balance between the two). I also learned an interesting Buddhist concept that “everything in the world is emptiness”, therefore, nothing exists; we are simply reflections of the people around us. It is a mind-boggling concept, but something very interesting to look into as well.

Another outing—a baseball game—was scheduled for our evening activity today. Unfortunately, the game was moved to a different venue that was not walking distance from our location (in another city), therefore we were given a couple of hours of free time instead to suffice for the cancellation.

A group of friends and I decided to take up knitting, so we spent those plentiful minutes learning how to master the art. We could not have made it through the tedious (only at the beginning) process without our friend Kristen. She is such a kind and patient person; she was more than happy to aid us through our frustration with unruly knots and confusing loops. Although my to-be scarf is a bit “holy” (props to Kristen, once again, for this pun!), I really enjoy knitting and now have something to occupy myself with on the long plane ride home in a few days.

I must rise bright and early tomorrow morning—we have a field trip scheduled to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, and we must arrive early to sit in on some morning prayers.