How are we DOing?

Starting again from zero, are we?  Hmmm? Octavius?

Well, not quite. Today, the eighth of an August month, demands the completion of an octave.  All the commitments of the former failed experiment still abide.  They consist of the following:

1) Wash a dish, make a wish. The kitchen sink must remain totally clear of all dishes, silverware, pots, pans, garbage & the rest.
2) Hang a rag, bless a nag. Towels must be hung and, when wet, unfolded.
3) Forward march! Abandon starch. 

Moreover, since last blogging, we have added:

4) Never make a visit to the bathroom without making an extra effort to make an extra contribution to leaving more order & neatness there than existed when we entered. 
5) The kitchen table recapitulates the altar of the temple.  Constantly mind to keep it neat, simple, orderly and free from clutter.
6) Every book has its nook. Never leave a book out. Always send it back to its home after using.
7) Touch no paper more than once.  This includes documents, mail, class plans, etc.

That brings us to the octave. Tommorrow we will adopt task #8, which will bring us around to a new DO.  But this will DO for now.  "Sufficient unto the day ..."

Poor Day Four

Dirty dishes in the sink this morning.  Wet towels all bunched up on the stove handle and bathroom drying racks.  Ate cookies and milk for breakfast this morning.  A poor day four.  Back to the "DO"ing board.

Day Three revolves around "ME"

Day Three. He began the struggle to maintain a no-starch diet, not only to embark upon another upaya, but mainly because his current passion for pizza, pasta and pan is so exacerbating his A.S. that one could say that this soporific, petrifying diet is literally killing him. Hence, breakfast consisted of a sausauge and spinach omelette, instead of the usual cookies and milk.

Pray for him, O Unknown Friend. Pray that he has the strength to charge through the fire of ME* and to land safely upon the shore of FA**.

* MI = Midterm Exam
** FA = Fourth Ascesis

Wash a dish, make a wish. Hang a rag, bless a nag.

On Day-One (DO) he began to keep the sink clear by making a wish each time a dish was done.  Then, on the second day he repeated eagerly (RE) by initiating the practice of always hanging a wet towel flatly, and while doing so, to send a mental kindness to a person whose manifestations irritate him.

The Five Being-Obligolnian Strivings

The Five Being Obligolnian Strivings are one of the Being Partkdolg Duties of our Work, along with Conscious Labor and Intentional Suffering. These five strivings are exercises that are meant to be actively pursued by all Seekers.

The Five Being Obligolnian Strivings of Ashiata Shiemash

First Striving: "To have in their ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for their planetary body."

Second Striving: "To have a constant and unflagging instinctive need for self-perfection in the sense of being."

Third Striving: "The conscious striving to know ever more and more concerning the laws of World-creation and World-maintenance."

Fourth Striving: "The striving from the beginning of their existence to pay for their arising and their individuality as quickly possible, in order afterwards to be free to lighten as much as possible the Sorrow of our Common Father."

Fifth Striving: "The striving always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of the sacred Martfotai, that is, up to the degree of self-individuality."