Teaching and Being.

So... yeah, teaching... I have been back teaching for a couple of weeks. New classes, same material, but with more time to do it. So it is great. In this time I have found the best teaching aid ever: The Crocodile Dentist Game. Someone left it in James' class and my students picked it up and started playing with it. I kept it in class and have been using it a lot. The basic gist is that you press down a tooth and it stays down, then the next person does it, and the next as well until someone hits the trigger tooth with changes every time. Then the croc "bites" you. Doesn't hurt, but does surprise you. I go around the room with it and the bitten person has to read, or answer the question. They love it. Some of the girls even do "dun DUN dun DUN" sounds from Jaws when it gets near them or their friends.

So... yeah being... I have been reading Eckhart Tolle's The Power Of Now and A New Earth and they have truly brought together a whole lot of what I have thought about over the last few years in my spiritual life. Mainly about the peace and joy of God, which is found essentially by being present with God in the Now as in right here where and when I am which is always the same: here and now. Because really where else would you be? I picked them up after hearing his interview on NPR's Speaking of Faith, which I found intriguing. His ideas seemed to mesh with thoughts I have had after reading such disperse books as The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, Dune (the serise) by Frank Herbert The New Testament, The Perrenial Philosophy by Adolus Huxeley, Why Is That So Funny? by John Wright and also several movies like Kung Fu Panda, The Empire Strikes Back and I Heart Hucklebees. Moreover, and more importantly I know exactly what he is talking about and can feel the truth in it. So I have been be-ing more... more humble... more aware of the life, and the Christ within me and God around me than I was before over the last few days. It is amazing. I highly highly recommend both books. Peace!