A day with the Dalai Lama

Yesterday, I went to Qwest Field to be part of this group of people who danced an improvisational meditative score for the Dalai Lama. Our group was made of lots of dancers of all ages, shapes and sizes, mainly from the UW and the Seattle theater and contact improv community. It was a gorgeous day, and we all wore bright yellow, orange and/or red tops. It was a blast.

So, here are some pics of the Dalai Lama's Seattle visit that I took with my cell phone. They are not high quality, but they give you a sense of how crowded the stadium was and what an amazingly gorgeous day it was. I got to sit up on top of Qwest Field in the sun with an amazing view of the Space Needle and downtown Seattle, all the while listening to this amazingly wise man, who spoke incessantly about humanity rather than religion to a stadium crowded with people.




Finally, here are some of the key points that I brought home with me at the end of the day:

1) We need complete disarmament, which can only be accomplished through inner disarmament;

2) Women's role (which the Dalai Lama kind of pronounced as "women rule", which is awesome) is now more than ever key for spreading compassion. He said: "Some women are trouble-makers, but men are real trouble-makers", referring to what history teaches us in relation to men's role in creating and perpetuating structures of violence. In a nutshell, it is now key for women to take roles of leadership aimed at creating societal structures rooted in compassion;

3) Compassion is a secular value and a biological necessity. We are all born from a mother, not a lotus (or, for Westerners, under a cabbage) and are physically, emotionally and socially built to rely and depend on others as well as take care of others.

I loved it.

A time for crafting, meditating and dancing

So, as I have stated before on this blog, my dissertation is all written and, for the last few days, I was computer-less (or computer-free?) because my powerbook needed repair. With all this time suddenly on my hands (i.e. free from real hard work and obsessive internet surfing), I have developed a strong yearning for doing crafty things with my hands and doing something about my spirituality.

I have started knitting furiously again after over a year and am determined to move up the ladder, from being able to knit exclusively (stripy) scarves to introducing hats, socks and crochet into my repertoire. My mom - who, by the way, has made me four sweaters (plus a couple for herself) over the past two months (!) - has promised to give me hands-on workshops when I go back to Italy for Christmas. I recently found out that I suck at learning from knitting manuals, alas.

Here is a picture of my mother with one of the first scarves I made for her:



Please note that she was brave enough to model this for me in the middle of August in Southern Italy.

On the spirituality front, I have been reading two Buddhist books by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. To my own surprise, I find that simply reading about these teachings soothes and calms me, almost like a bedtime story. Oh, and yeah, tomorrow I will be part of a group of 300 people who are going to dance an improvisational score for the Dalai Lama's Seattle appearance at Qwest Field.