i've recently moved into an awesome new apartment (more pics and stories to come). The entrance is on Piazza Risorgimento, here in Rome, but my bedroom window looks down on the walls of Vatican City and via Leone IV. This is the view from my window at 9am this morning:
Last Sunday crowd for the Vatican Museums on via Leone IV.
Those are people waiting in line to get into the Vatican Museums. On the last Sunday of every month, the museums are free. The museums are around the corner there on the right, uphill about 100yards ahead. i had forgotten how crowded it could be on these Sundays as i've been avoiding them for years.
Lineup for Vatican Museums, on Piazza Risorgimento.
When i first moved here, before i became a tour guide, i went to a free Sunday at the Vatican with my friend Simona. i love Simona for taking the time and effort to bring me there, but i also learned free Sundays are the wrong time to visit the Vatican - it's like being a cross between sheep and shivering penguins huddled together for the entire visit!
The line to enter the Vatican Museums stretching all the way to Saint Peter's Square, April 29, 2012. These people will be waiting about 3hours before they get to the Museums' entrance.
When i went outside to get my morning espresso i found that the crowds had only just begun as the museums had only just opened, and that they were getting much worse quickly.
View from the roof of my building at about 10am, you can see the crowd has gotten much thicker.
And remember, the entrance to the Vatican Museums is still at least 100meters further after that corner!
That yellow sign the people are looking at is the calendar and hours of the Vatican Museums. The entrance closed at 12.30, this photo was taken at 12.36pm.
All of these people are still waiting in line. If they were going to be able to enter the Vatican Museums (and it seems they are not), there is still about 45minutes worth of line ahead of them, and this is 5minutes after the entrance was scheduled to close.
Moral of the story? In my opinion, pay the 14euros to enter the Vatican Museums, or 18euros if you pay for an appointment so you don't have to wait in line. If you value your time even almost as much as you value your money, you will this is a much better value for you:-)
Almost two years ago i first found Ziggy Marley's song Love Is My Religion. Immediately i loved the song and thought it was the best expression of my own spirituality and religious beliefs. That inspired me to share that song, and also to share such a spiritually wise or personally relevant song every Sunday. This collection of Sunday Songs are meant to be open reminders to myself to develop my own health and spirituality.
Now i've found a new favorite: Mason Jennings' song,I Love You and Buddha Too.
It is performed here together with Jack Johnson and Matt Costa. Check it out, give it a listen, enjoy it. Then find the lyrics and my commentary here below.
* * *
"I Love You and Buddha Too"
Oh Jesus, I love You
And I love Buddha too
Ramakrishna, Guru Dev
Tao Te Ching and Mohammed
Why do some people say
That there is just one way
To love You, God, and come to You?
We are all a part of You
You are un-nameable
You are unknowable
All we have is metaphor
That's what time and space are for
Is the universe Your thought?
You are and You are not
You are many, You are one
Ever ending, just begun
Alright, alright, alright
I love You and Buddha too
Oh Jesus, I love You
And I love Buddha too
Ramakrishna, Guru Dev
Tao Te Ching and Mohammed
Why do some people say
That there is just one way
To love You, God and come to You?
We are all a part of You
Alright, alright, alright
I love You and Buddha too
Oh Jesus, I love You
(I love You, Jesus)
And I love Buddha too
Ramakrishna, Guru Dev
Tao Te Ching and Mohammed
Why do some people say
(I love You, Jesus)
That there is just one way
To love You God and come to You?
We are all a part of You
You are un-nameable
(I love You, Jesus)
You are unknowable
All we have is metaphor
That's what time and space are for
Is the universe Your thought?
(I love You, Jesus)
You are and You are not
You are many, You are one
Ever ending, just begun
Alright, alright, alright
(I love You, Jesus)
I love You and Buddha too
Alright, alright, alright
(I love You, Jesus)
I love You and Buddha too
Alright
* * *
(Thank you to AZLyrics.com for publishing the lyrics online:-)
i love the wisdom and openness of the lyrics. i don't know anything at all about Mason Jennings' background or life. But he respects everyone here. Instead of going with the New Athiest style of slamming Christians, this songs makes it clear: "I love You, Jesus."
The next word here is important to me: "And." Not "But." "But," would almost negate or excuse the previous statement, the love of Jesus. But here, wisely, Jennings sings that he loves Jesus AND Buddha. (In fact, there is not a single negative word in the whole song, which i also really like.)
And there are other important characters given homage as well: Ramakrishna refers to an influential Hindu teacher of the 19th Century, Gurudev is a polite way to address any Hindu teacher but may also refer specifically to Gurudev Singh, an important healer among the Western Sikh movements, Tao Te Ching (variously also referred to Lao tse, Lao tzu, etc., due to the difficulty of translating Chinese characters into Latin letters) is the founder of Taoism, Mohammed (also various spellings) of course is the prophet of Islam and the idea of calling God unknowable and unnameable reminds me of (correct me if i'm wrong..) Jewish tradition.
i haven't seen such an inclusive spiritual pantheon since South Park Episode 201!!
Image of Shiva, Tao Te Ching, Jospeh Smith, Stan, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Sea Man from "Super Best Friends," the 201st episode of South Park :-) (Since there is no Jewish character in this image, i list the characters from right to left to represent Hebrew language:-)
My personal beliefs suggest that the various religions of the world are simply translations of themselves, cultural adaptations each to help the various peoples of the world all understand the universal truths about God and the universe. i happen to love the sound and feeling of this song, but the message is really of the greatest value to me. Thank you Mason Jennings!:-)
i was walking through Trastevere, in Rome, with a friend. We decided to sit down on some church steps and enjoy our beers. It was my first night back in Rome after going on a traveling tour.When i looked up i saw this plaque here above, saying that the church had been built in 1501. And i thought to myself, "That's some crazy shit!"
Then i looked down and found what you see below.
Human shit!! Right there on the cobblestones!
Tempted to be disgusted and annoyed at the city, knowing the inevitability of it constantly being shitty, i instead decided, "i love this shit." And i looked up again at the church and thought, "i love all of this shit."
THAT is when i realized i was going to make a photo collection blog post titled, "i love the shit in Rome."
The following is the result of my walk home that night.
+-+Copia.jpg)
+-+Copia.jpg)
+-+Copia.jpg)
