Collie's Bestiary

There's a fascinating chapter on the pleasure center and altruism center of the brain. The pleasure center fires up when we're, say, gambling — greed appeals to it, for example. Apparently these centers can't both run at once, though… and the altruism center is always overridden by the pleasure center if we get conflicting input. [...]

I have a new book club! I'm very pleased; I hope it works out well. The club is reading Sway: the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman. Very readable! I don't know if the examples of studies given are all completely accurate (I'm not going to research the book that [...]

Saturday's wonderful events weren't over yet, although I initially thought they were since we'd finished the planned ones. As an aside: I love celebrations! I love the planning, the decorating, the parties, and the gift-giving, where you choose something you feel is perfect for a dear friend. I deeply enjoy celebrating birthdays and the turns [...]

I've never been in such a super-heated, sensuously rich feeling, thick- and heavy-aired place before; nor have I ever literally poured off sweat like this — and I've lived in Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida. At one point I have to keep wiping my face over and over every minute or so, for the amount of [...]

[Fair warning: many parts of the sweat lodge ceremony are a sensory blur of memory to me; I'm writing the mental images I recall, but their order and accuracy is not a given. Further, if there are any errors noted here in how a sweat lodge is run, they are assuredly mine. Also, once more: [...]

In the Mountain's Shadow Drum-making & sweat lodge were simply amazing! A side note: this is mostly about me because I'm trying to be very careful with privacy issues — which is also why I'm avoiding using names . However, the woman who ran the drum-making seminar has a public website, so I'm happy to [...]

October the fifth is my birthday, but since I love birthdays and parties with friends, I tend to celebrate for the entire month. I try to plan several fun things to do during for the month, both for myself and with friends. This last October, on the first weekend, I spent with my Women's Spirituality [...]

Well, that was clumsy of me. Not only did I forget I had another posting scheduled, but of course, right after I get through chastising patronizing over-simplification of complex issues… I do it myself. How embarrassing. ;) A big thank-you to Velvetpage, whose critiques never fail to be both thought-provoking and courteous. With her permission, [...]

So in quick synopsis, as far as I can tell, people stick with harmful doctrines (such as religions which label you guilty simply on the basis of something completely out of your control, such as gender) because they truly believe the doctrine is correct, because they're refusing to be pushed into something they're not ready [...]

I have been asked why I put so much time and thought into my critique of WomanChrist. As one friend put it, at least the book suggests a more feminist christianity, so why do I not like it more? As I noted to the friend (in a very enjoyable and thoughtful discussion over lunch), I [...]