Sorrow and Joy, Carving

So I have this theory about camp. Because the thing, you see, is that there is a very limited amount of freedom, and when you have no car and are miles away from any sort of public transportation or civilization you start to get a bit stir-crazy sometimes. Cabin Fever as the pirates will tell you. And they will tell you, because contrary to what we all thought, pirates still exist and we all still love them and wish them the best success even though they may be possibly looting our cargo. Every person I talk is completely stoked that pirates still exist. And every single one of them roots for pirates over cargo ships from the U.S. or the U.K. of wherever they are from, every time. Because pirates are awesome and we from post-modern era, miss the swashbuckling, seafaring adventures, of a simpler time not crowded with white collar monotony and a boring 21st century world.

This last week at camp we just got done with a themed “Ninjas vs. Pirates Week.” I think I dressed like a pirate every single day, and it was glorious. At campfire we sang Pirate songs and us counselors pretended that our lives weren’t dull and drab and dresses up like the rogues of the day (just kidding about the dull, drab part but seriously—I wish I was a pirate.)

Anyways, as I was saying about camp you only get so much time. So that little time that you do get off is the best three hours you’ve ever had. Going into Gresham has never been so glorious as it is right now. Especially when you get a night off. Oh! A whole night! I am almost in heaven, right now, so content, sitting and watching some movie in the staff lounge, the slounge as we call it. So content sitting on the corner of a street in Gresham smoking a cigarette (just a metaphor if any of my family is reading this) and watching the sunset. I am actually listening to music. Music! Can you believe it? No, you probably can’t, unless you’ve worked at a camp or similar job. But believe me when I tell you that it is good.

I was reading the Prophet the other day by Kahil Gibran and there’s a section about joy and sorrow. He says that joy and sorrow are inseparable; you can’t have one without the other. The amount of sorrow that carves out your soul simply makes room for the joy. I think it’s like that. The amount of hard work or sorrow or grief just makes the amount of joy or relief you experience just that much better. That’s how it feels at camp at least, and I’m pretty sure that’s how life is as well.

Summer Camp in the Summer

As some of you might know, the past few weeks I have been working at a summer camp in the green trees of Oregon. It is a YMCA camp just outside of Gresham called Camp Collins. My good friend Colin also works there, interestingly enough, and he is also my boss. There is a river (The Sandy River) that runs through the bottom and a horse corral and a giant swing and a climbing tower and such things that make summer camps great.

I am a teen counselor which means I work with the teens, those between the ages of 13-19, with a certain look of angst in their eyes, and a certain amount of hormones in their developing, awkward bodies. I sleep on the front porch of a rustic cabin and there is quite possibly nothing better than spending summer nights sleeping outside (although occasionally I have to yell at my kids to be quiet because they are rambling on about high school things and quoting movies and laughing at fart noises, when I am trying to catch some z’s because I am sleep deprived and borderline drunk with exhaustion other than that it is good.)

We sing lots of camp songs and every second week with the teens, go on either a rafting or rock climbing trip. The last trip I went on we rafted the Deschutes River and one night a rattle snake crawled though our camp, forcing our raft guide to beat it with a paddle (for our safety of course) and then me and the other girl counselor, Caribou, proceeded to skin and eat it. Yes, that’s right. We skinned and ate rattle snake. I know, I am practically Bear Grylls. The worst part was that we cut the head off the snake and yet it’s body still writhed as we tried to peel it’s skin away from its insides. Right now Caribou is tanning the skin and going to make something out of it, perhaps a make-up case (that’s a joke by the way, because Caribou doesn’t wear make-up.)

It is good out here, although long days and hard weeks, and sometimes I feel apathetic and just tired in general. I am doing my best to breathe and unleash myself from the worries and distractions of everyday life and concentrate on the present moment. I am doing my best to be content and not get lost inside my head with all of these worries and philosophical dilemmas of existence. I am doing my best to be like the trees—growing slowly, planted by a river, letting the wind blow through my branches and not trying to be something I am not or rush the end result.

The kingdom of God is Within You

For the past few weeks I have been reading a book called The Kingdom Of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy. It is one of those books that you read and then later on when you are in conversation say something like “This book changed my life.” It is one of those kinds of books. This book was one Mahatma Gandhi’s biggest inspirations for his peaceful overthrow of the British Empire. Much of it has to do with the doctrine of Non-resistance to evil and the law of love as taught by Christ. It was banned in Russia (although at that time, what wasn’t banned in Russia) and continues to be the sort of book that persons in authority and government cringe at. It is an obscure book that not a lot of people have heard about, probably for good reason. It is also in the anarchists reading list, which may I just say is pretty bad-ass.
The basic point of the book, as best as I’ve come to grasp because there are many, is that true Christianity puts an end to all government. We do not need the government. In fact there are many times when social systems, class hierarchies, religious dogma and so on stand in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ. The two cannot co-exist. Ever since Constantine adopted Christianity as its state religion, we have begun to notice that whenever the Christian faith aligns itself with power structures of the day, things begin to go horribly wrong.
Tolstoy believes that the Kingdom of God will be ushered in by us, as believers, when all men take part in these five commandments of Christ: 1. Live in Peace with all men. 2 Be Pure. 3. Take no oaths. 4. Resist not evil. 5. Renounce national distinctions. He goes on to explain how true Christianity, the true gospel is hindered by church authorities, the government and so on. When we align ourselves with a nation over our fellow Christian brothers in another part of the world, when we kill the innocent simply because our country says it is in our best interest, when we swear allegiance to men rather than to God and when we worship the same idols of wealth, success, fame, power, revenge and so forth, we remove ourselves from the Kingdom of God. Tolstoy says, “The Christian doctrine shows that the essence of his soul is love—that his happiness depends not on loving this or that object, but on loving the principle of the whole—God, whom he recognizes within himself as love, and therefore he loves all things and all men.
This is a great book, and has some of the most accurate ideas and thoughts regarding true Christian living. We do not need governments or worldly possessions, all we need are the brothers around us—true Christian community, Loving God, loving others.

The Kingdom of God is Within You

For the past few weeks I have been reading a book called The Kingdom Of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy. It is one of those books that you read and then later on when you are in conversation say something like “This book changed my life.” It is one of those kinds of books. This book was one Mahatma Gandhi’s biggest inspirations for his peaceful overthrow of the British Empire. Much of it has to do with the doctrine of Non-resistance to evil and the law of love as taught by Christ. It was banned in Russia (although at that time, what wasn’t banned in Russia) and continues to be the sort of book that persons in authority and government cringe at. It is an obscure book that not a lot of people have heard about, probably for good reason. It is also in the anarchists reading list, which may I just say is pretty bad-ass.

The basic point of the book, as best as I’ve come to grasp because there are many, is that true Christianity puts an end to all government. We do not need the government. In fact there are many times when social systems, class hierarchies, religious dogma and so on stand in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ. The two cannot co-exist. Ever since Constantine adopted Christianity as its state religion, we have begun to notice that whenever the Christian faith aligns itself with power structures of the day, things begin to go horribly wrong.

Tolstoy believes that the Kingdom of God will be ushered in by us, as believers, when all men take part in these five commandments of Christ: 1. Live in Peace with all men. 2 Be Pure. 3. Take no oaths. 4. Resist not evil. 5. Renounce national distinctions. He goes on to explain how true Christianity, the true gospel is hindered by church authorities, the government and so on. When we align ourselves with a nation over our fellow Christian brothers in another part of the world, when we kill the innocent simply because our country says it is in our best interest, when we swear allegiance to men rather than to God and when we worship the same idols of wealth, success, fame, power, revenge and so forth, we remove ourselves from the Kingdom of God. Tolstoy says, “The Christina doctrine shows that the essence of his soul is love—that his happiness depends not on loving this or that object, but on loving the principle of the whole—God, whom he recognizes within himself as love, and therefore he loves all things and all men.
This is a great book, and has some of the most accurate ideas and thoughts regarding true Christian living. We do not need governments or worldly possessions, all we need are the brothers around us—true Christian community, Loving God, loving others.