Raccoon Diarrhea

Somebody who lives on or near this road has diarrhea. I could feel the sting just looking at the scat of.... What? A raccoon?  I found 2 tiny "cowpies" on our driveway, about ten feet apart. Somebody had to go and go badly. And then again. You know how that feels.

Food goes in our mouths; our bodies compost it; and the remains exit through the bottom of the torso.

The food that goes in my mouth is not me. The waste that comes out the bottom end is not me. How about that composting process? Is that me? The stuff i chew? The masticated mess that the stomach digests? Is that me? The slurry that enters the small intestine. Is that me?

When do the vitamins and minerals become "me"?

The body is constantly changing. Water in. Pee out. Is it ever me?

Ice Cubes on a Stick

Ice Cubes on a Stick

Taking a walk by the river, i was surprised to see icicles on the shrubs in a variety of forms--ice cubes on a stick, icicle fingers, and icicle drapery. Nature's artistry is amazing.

The river rushed by, just inches away--water in its liquid form--while i admired water in its solid form. Water appeared in many different bodily forms (solid ice), which only later, when i wasn't looking, would return to liquid form.

Our body appears to be solid, yet we know that it is 70% water. We don't pay much attention to the water flowing into and out of our body. We think, "Water. My body. Urine." and thereby fail to see the water-water-wateriness. Not different water. The same water in different forms.

And really, couldn't we say the same thing about all the people on this earth? Water in such a variety of forms.

Icicle Fingers

Watering with Urine

The flowerpots on the front and back steps are looking fantastic. Their flowers are blooming and their vines are flowing beautifully. I suspect the lushness is due to watering the plants with urine every morning, as i mentioned in my July 3rd post.

Now that Bill is out of his leg brace, he's still finding it convenient to pee into a jar in the middle of the night. He's still training his proprioception of his right leg and foot. Every morning a pint of pee waters one flowerpot, so each one is "watered" about once every two weeks.

When we fertilize our meditation practice with daily sitting, our meditation becomes fuller. Even lush, with calm.

Enriching the Earth (or Potting Soil)

from the Rich Earth Institute

My sweetie slipped while hiking last week and had to be carried off the mountain by 10 EMTs. The next day he had emergency knee surgery to reattach his quadricep tendon to his knee. He's now in a leg brace and on crutches for 6 weeks. This makes getting up to pee in the middle of the night very difficult.

His solution is to pee into a pint-sized glass canning jar (and then screw on the lid). By morning, i have about 2 pints to empty. Rather than flush the contents down the toilet, i use them to water the flowerpots on my front step.

While using urine as fertilizer may make you cringe, hundreds of people around here are collecting their urine at home for use in fertilizing selected fields--a project of the Rich Earth Institute.

Water comes into our system, via the front door of the mouth, and water leaves our system, via the trap door at the bottom.

By fertilizing our plants with pee, we can also fertilize our contemplation practice, and begin to see things as they really are.