The expletives deleted have been deleted

On Saturday mornings, I go to the Treetop Zen Center. It's about 40 minutes from my home and so I have time to think, look at the changing scenery and listen to the radio. On my way there today, I decided that when I got home I was going to expunge some of my "political" rants from this blog. I had written last night that I was going to leave them be, but as I got to thinking about how many hits I was getting simply because I had written two posts with the words "rouge cou" (French for red neck), I thought it was time to put an end to that. A part of me thought something along these lines - if I can pull 'em in because of those words, maybe they'll read some other stuff. Not very likely, as much as I'd like it to be true.

On the first Saturday of each month, there is Fusatsu, the renewal of vows ceremony. I didn't know which vow we were to be focusing on this month and I was in for a surprise and yet another signal from the world that I should lay off writing about politics, for here's this month's precept:

"I vow to not criticize others while elevating myself."

On my way home today, I listened to opera on National Public Radio instead of talk radio. Keeping my finger from pressing the button that would change the station was like fighting an addiction. About two miles from my house, I noticed a sign for a road that I've never noticed before. I thought I had taken the wrong road. I got out my map and saw that I had not and realized I was disoriented. What else have I not been noticing while I've been listening to talk radio (and yelling back at them in my head)?

I decided that not only would I delete my entries about Palin, but the ones I wrote about the Clintons. What good do they serve? Pointing out others' hypocrisies does not further anything but more divisiveness.

I haven't completely culled all the political entries. I've left the ones where I've wrestled with conflicting feelings. But the ones where I've been writing from a place of fear and self-righteous indignation, they are gone (at least I think they are all gone). I will see a big dip in hits on this site. No matter. Arguing politics was never my aim.

Painting note: Agapanthus, Claude Monet 1920
At-one-ment with nature.