Random Thoughts on the Vernal Equinox

Happy Vernal Equinox! It occurs March 20, 2008 at 1:48 AM EDT, and that's the 19th out West.

Tomorrow is Sun-Earth Day -- see NASA's Web site for information.

I walk during my morning break and at lunch. There is a bail bonds office in an old Victorian near our building, and in warm weather, they put their two budgies out in a cage on the porch. I hadn't seen them for months, and yesterday, I was on my walk, and I heard the unfamiliar calls of non-native birds. The budgies were back! I told my friend that spring is here, since "the bail bondsman's budgies are back." Say that five times fast.

I saw a robin hovering and plucking berries from a bush today. You rarely see songbirds that large hover. Interesting.

My friend and I were discussing the word "grok" today. A few months ago, I decided that I needed to do my part to keep it alive. The Wikipedia says:

To grok (pronounced /ˈgrɒk/) is to share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. In Heinlein's view of quantum theory, grokking is the intermingling of intelligence that necessarily affects both the observer and the observed.

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, to grok is to "to understand profoundly and intuitively."

That made me think about the following description of "namaste" that I found on this blog:

Namaste can mean many things, from Sanskrit literally it means, "I bow to you," but in global discourse, many things. My favorite is probably, "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace, When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."

Understanding, respect, peace, love. Aw, shucks.

Good night,
Sylvie