Days Twenty-six and Twenty-seven

Day Twenty-six: Choose What You'd Like to be Reincarnated As

Now, I know that the point of reincarnation is to move up in the cosmic world. You're supposed to be reincarnated as a higher life form so you're closer to Nirvana. Who doesn't want to be close to Nirvana?

What I really want to be reincarnated as is a boy. But only if when I die after being a boy, I get to remember both my lifetime as a girl and as a boy, so that I can compare them and make a fair decision as to which I prefer.

This is not to say that a being male is a higher life form, because it MOST certainly is not. However, I always want to see what it'd be like to be on that side. I love being female, especially because I get to wear pretty make up and get my way because I have awesome boobs. But being a boy seems pretty easy and fun. I always felt that I'd make a pretty good guy. I'd enjoy it, and I think I'd be nice without being the kind of guy who's stuck in "nice guys always finish last." Sometimes, though, I just want to be able to wake up ten minutes before I have to be somewhere and still look fine without wearing make up or putting on pretty clothes. Oh, and my clothes would ALWAYS fit and I wouldn't have to try on 17 pairs of jeans to find some that don't squeeze in all the wrong places and sag in all the others.

If I HAVE to be a higher life form, I would be a cat. Now, I know that a lot of you hate cats, but I happen to love them and I think they're a higher life form. Or maybe a horse! They're so pretty and wonderful. Kitties and horsies! Yay!

Day Twenty-seven: Don't Use the Words "Yes" or "No"

When I woke up in the morning and discovered this rule, I figured it was pretty much impossible. I don't talk that much during the day usually, except for that yesterday I sort of did. But I think I did okay not saying yes or no too much. When I remembered not to, I thought back to some of the most recent things I had said and discovered that I hadn't used them.

Mostly I forgot about it. Except for when I was texting Anailuj, and I used the word "indeed" a lot instead of saying "yeah" or "yes." I like to say indeed better, anyway. It's a good word.

I think it's pretty possible to get through a day without saying those all-powerful words. It's so convenient to have them, but if we didn't I think we would probably still survive as a race.

Day Twenty-Six: Choose What You'd Prefer to Be Reincarnated As (Anailuj)

I would definitely want to be reincarnated as a Humpback whale. Or dolphin. I'm a swimmer, and no one knows better than a swimmer that humans are just not made for the water. We're clumsy and bulky and we don't belong there. But animals like these ones swim more gracefully and with less effort than we walk on land. We evolved to be bipedal land animals, but they don't seem to have evolved to fit into any role, they seem like they were always the way they are, and their environment fits into them, not the other way around.
Whales are the biggest creatures on this Earth since the dinosaurs. But you don't see them rushing anywhere like a giant angry tank, or tearing into anything with big nasty claws and teeth. They just are. they swim around and sift through the water for krill and take care of their families. They travel together and sleep together. The whale's motto is Live and Let Be. Nothing bothers the whale. It's so immersed in serenity and what I'm pretty sure is all-knowingness, all of our stupid human troubles are just a blip on the cosmic map of the whale's world.
And have you ever seen dolphins play? They were made for play. It's their job. They don't know what work is, or hate. Even things that are necessary for them to stay alive, like catching fish, are just games to them.

Anyway, that's all assuming that by the time it's my turn to be reincarnated we haven't managed to wipe out all the dolphns and whales. And it's assuming I deserve to be reincarnated as a dolphin or whale. The whole logic behind the belief of reincarnation is that if you do well in this life, you chock up lots of good karma by fulfilling all your dharmic obligations, you come back as a higher life-form. But if you're crappy to other people and you never try to better yourself, you come back as a lower life-form, like a a snail, or a bacterium, or Shirley Phelps.
So here's hoping I do well enough to get to be a whale in my next life. Because I'm pretty sure whales get a lot closer to Nirvana, or the Atman, or Heaven, or becoming a Bodhisatva (or whatever you want to call the final state of peace for the mind, body, and soul) in their wise and wonderful pondering of the infinite nature of the universe than any human ever did.