Author Archives: grethp

The Meaning of Giving

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What does it mean to give from your heart? Each of us will answer that question differently. However, I think we can agree that to give is an action not arising from the self but arising from the wish for others to be happy. This is what Shantideva has to say about giving: “All the joy the world contains has come through wishing happiness for others

All the misery the world contains has come from wishing pleasure for oneself.
“-Shantideva in A Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way of Life

So, in the spirit of the seaon. Here are pictures from the Angel Tree donations. Thank you Anthology customers. Thank you for giving from your heart.

The children and their parents at Angel House appreciate your generosity

Spirituality in Indie Bookselling

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There are several things I have learned from my time working in an indie bookstore. Some of them are pretty basic. Like, be nice, be helpful, be respectful, stand up to help a customer, greet everyone, up-sell EVERYTHING, take in what sells, try to get rid of what we won’t, smile, clean up behind yourself, help your coworkers, and the list goes on.

However, there many things in indie bookselling that can’t be taught. One of my favorite things about going into an independent bookstore is the wonderful customer service. I’m not talking about the person who asks you if you need help because it is there job. I’m talking about the bookseller who asks you if you need help because they WANT to help. This is the kind of bookseller who loves their job. They love the freedom of selling anything and everything under the sun. They treat Danielle Steele books with as much respect as Jane Austen books. This is the kind of bookseller that is 100% genuinely in the moment, selling books.

This is the kind of bookseller I strive to be. I’m not saying I’m always perfect. I have my moments when I don’t want to be at work and when I don’t want to sell another Danielle Steele book. I WANT to be the bookseller that loves my job. Generally, I do. However, it’s more than just loving my job. Even when I have a day when I don’t want to be here I strive to work as hard as possible and make my customers feel as special as possible. This is where the spirituality comes in. No matter what, the point for me is to be in every moment and try my best to help the customer be satisfied with the service we provide.

While providing excellent customer service is important I also find it imperative to work with the books on a spiritual level. I try my best to treat each book with respect, while keeping my eyes open for a variety of books for the bookstore. The point to me is to treat everyone and everybody with the same high standard as I would treat myself. This also means, relinquishing my idea of what is good and allowing the ideas of my co-workers to be just as valid and important. For a long time I felt as if I was the only one who could do a good job and I was the only one who could get anything done properly. This was the wrong idea to have. I believe that the most powerful people are the people who allow others to work at the same level, or an even higher level than themselves. By letting go of my control I allowed for an even higher standard of bookselling to take place.

By providing an open space for ideas as well as love for what I do I create a space for spirituality in bookselling. I believe this is the goal of indie bookselling. Big box bookstores don’t get it. They may provide a good selection of books, but they aren’t open to anything and everything that is available. They provide customer service, but because they are so large they can’t take the time to know each customer individually. Nor do they believe in what they are selling, they are working for the numbers and not the books. Indie booksellers don’t do it for the money. They provide books and excellent customer service because they LOVE what they do. They believe in what they sell, because they are selling the freedom to read anything from Danielle Steele to Jane Austen. They provide space for community and family, while promoting the love of books.

Love Poetry

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Just the other day Teresa asked me if I know of any good love poems. You would think that I would have an answer to that questioning considering I have an English degree. I can come up with a few big names like William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. However, the more I think about the answer to that question the less I know about love poetry. This subject has the potential to be diverse and never-ending. Are we talking about the love for another person? This could be a lover, a friend, a child, a mother, a father, a pet and the list doesn’t stop there. Or are we talking about love for the divine? This could be the love of God, Jesus, vast selflessness, Mary, Muhammad, the Pope, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the list goes on. There are so many types and ways of loving that it is difficult to pick a really great love poem. Essentially isn’t every poem a love poem? To express oneself to others on an intimate level is quite profound. This intimacy is true everlasting love stripped down and naked for everyone to see. So, without further discussion of love poetry, here is one of my favorites…

The Flea

by John Donne

John Donne

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,

Yet this enjoys before it woo,

And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our mariage bed and mariage temple is;

Though parents grudge, and you, we are met,

And cloisterd in these living walls of jet.

Though use make you apt to kill me,

Let not to that, self-murder added be,

And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since

Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?

Wherein could this flea guilty be,

Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?

Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou

Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;

’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:

Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,

Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

Historical Romance Anyone?

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When I choose a book to read I tend to gravitate to certain categories. I typically read fantasy, historical fiction, and Eastern philosophy. Then there are the books I avoid like the plague. Like historical romance. I know lots of you would argue that historical romance and historical fiction are very similar, if not the same. They both include swashbuckling heroes and maidens in distress. However, when I think of historical romance I think of a man violently ripping the dress off of a maiden in a moment of intense passion (hence the phrase bodice ripper). Therefore, I automatically come to the conclusion that historical romance lacks plot and alternates between sex scenes and fight scenes. I also have come to the conclusion that these novels include brutish men who have very little to no respect for women, and to make matters worse, I believe the women to lack intelligence or the will to respect themselves.

However, when I think of historical fiction I think of thick plot with various twists and turns. While historical fiction has some bodice ripping moments it tends to have fewer, and much more tasteful scenes. Historical fiction also includes independent women who are willing to put the men in their place (like in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander). The men also tend to have better roles in historical fiction. Men tend to have respect for women and they are still able to fight for their honor.

Based on this lengthy description of historical romance versus historical fiction, it is safe to assume that I would never ever in my life pick up a historical romance. However, a few weeks ago I was looking for good fiction that I could escape in. When I am looking for something high caliber I tend to use a website called fantastic fiction (fantasticfiction.co.uk). I type in a title that I enjoyed (like Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley). At the bottom of the screen there are books that either the author or other readers recommend to the fans of that particular book.. One of the books that popped up at the bottom of the screen, when I pulled up Mists of Avalon, was called Through a Dark Mist by Marsha Canham. I proceeded to find the book in the store, in the (GASP) historical romance section. My first thought was that this book had been misshelved, and was not actually a historical romance. I proceeded to inspect the book. I discovered that Marsha Canham has written several historical romance novels and has won historical romance awards for her writing. Well…I decided to step out of my reading box and try Through a Dark Mist. I was pleasantly surprised. I am now halfway through the novel and while it does have many bodice ripping moments, it also has a thick plot as well as a woman who thinks for herself, and a man who respects the woman he loves.

The moral of this story is that we should not refuse to read something based on its designated category. I believe that everyone should read outside of their comfort zone. You may discover wonderful worlds waiting for you and heaps or reading material to make your life rich and thought provoking.

New Beginnings and Old Lives

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I Will Say I Want It All

If you ask how much do I want,
I’ll tell you that I want it all.
This morning, you and I
and all men
are flowing into the marvelous stream
of oneness.

Small pieces of imagination as we are,
we have come a long way to find ourselves
and for ourselves, in the dark, the illusion of emancipation.

This morning, my brother is back from his long adventure.
He kneels before the altar,
his eyes full of tears.
His soul is longing for a shore to set anchor at
(a yearning I once had).
Let him kneel there and weep.
Let him cry his heart out.
Let him have his refuge there for a thousand years,
enough to dry all his tears.

One night, I will come
and set fire to his shelter, the small cottage on the hill.
My fire will destroy everything
and remove his only life raft after a shipwreck.

In the utmost anguish of his soul,
the shell will break.
The light of the burning hut will witness
his glorious deliverance.
I will wait for him
beside the burning cottage.
Tears will run down my cheeks.
I will be there to contemplate his new being.
And as I hold his hands in mine
and ask him how much he wants,
he will smile and say that he wants it all - just as I did.

Sometimes this life feels as if it has been stretching on into forever. Sometimes it feels as if it is just beginning. For me this poem by Thich Nhat Hanh is exactly that. The heart begs to be held and sheltered from the world. Yet, it has to be pushed violently into a world that is new in each and every moment. Recently I have forced myself into situations that push my limits. I like to remain in my shell and watch the world go by. I only attack the world when I know I will be victorious (and it is truly an attack). By putting myself out in the world without attacking I feel vulnerable. I feel as if each moment my hut burns down and the searing reality that there is no hut to begin with pushes its way into my tiny space. The space where I keep my bleeding and open heart. I think it is important to let other people burn down our huts. It is a constant reminder that we cannot rely on a physical space to contain and shelter us from the world. We have to remember that we live for the benefit of all beings. We live for ourselves and the joy of others. If we experience someone who truly loves us, we let them burn our hut down. Or, we burn down our loved one’s hut. Sometimes the steps we take are painful yet important to how we conduct ourselves with loving kindness. If we can face times that feel as if not only our hut but our entire construction of reality has burned down we will be able to be in the moment with a clear mind. For me the message is to live openly and honestly with dignity. Let that hut burn down a thousand times over. Let me experience the liberating joy of having my hut burn down each and every moment.


Clear Mind

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Being able to attain a state of being where the mind is clear from thought is an interesting premise. It would seem that we are constantly thinking and projecting our egos onto the world. There are some people who believe that it is feasible to clear the mind and live in a higher state where we are no longer separate from the rest of the world. In my experience, the people who believe this to be true are enlightened or darned close to enlightenment. Most of the time I cannot even conceive of a time when my mind can be clear. Personally, it is helpful to read about the experiences of others and what they believe the clear mind to be. My interpretation can differ in many ways from the interpretation of wonderful poets. However, there is a certain quality in the words used that have a common ground with my idea of the clear mind….

Be a bud sitting quietly on the hedge.
Be a smile, one part of wondrous existence.
Stand here. There is no need to depart.
- Thich Nhat Hahn

To Have Done Nothing
by William Carlos Williams

No that is not it
nothing that I have done
nothing
I have done

is made up of
nothing
and the dipthong

ae

together with
the first person
singular
indicative

of the auxiliary
verb
to have

everything
I have done
is the same

if to do
is capable
of an
infinity of
combinations

involving the
moral
physical
and religious

codes

for everything
and nothing
are synonymous
when

energy in vacuo
has the power
of confusion

which only to
have done nothing
can make
perfect

Watching the moon
at dawn,
solitary, mid-sky,
I knew myself completely:
no part left out.
- Izumi Shikibu

A Coat
by William Butler Yeats

I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.

Through these words the poets express that life is limitless in its possibilities of experience. Life is open to interpretation and the answer that we seek is not always the answer that another seeks. Maybe this is the way to enlightenment. We have to experience life the way we initially see it to be. Then we change our perception and open our minds to a groundless reality where we are connected to everything and nothing all at once.

Happy reading Anthology friends!

What Now? Read of course!

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This December I graduated from CSU with my Bachelors degree in English. After all the hype has died down from this happy occasion and the Holiday season, I find myself thinking ‘what shall I do now’? I will not be venturing on in the world of academia until this fall. That means I have more than half of a year to work at this wonderful bookstore and pursue whatever activities I find interesting. I have thought of doing numerous things with my time off, but the thing I want to do most is READ. I did read quite a bit for class, but we all know that reading for class and reading for pleasure are not the same thing. So… here is my reading list for this winter, spring and fall:

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Cave in the Snow by Vicki MacKenzie
Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind
The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
Wishin and Hopin by Wally Lamb
The Hour I first Believed by Wally Lamb
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

This is an extremely short list. If you have any book suggestions please leave a comment. Please remember to shop at your local, independently owned bookstore. Thank you for reading and have a Happy New Year.