Thursday, March 19, 2009

Moments of Zen


Why “Moments of Zen” you ask?  I stole it.  Complete and utter thievery from Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, although I have heard it was around before he signed on at the host.  Click on the Daily Show link below if you are interested in the origin.

More amusing definitions of “Moment of Zen”:

  • “I always took it as a snarky way of saying - "You having a bad day? Things get a little weird for you? You got nothing on these guys."
    A real moment of zen would, in theory, be a moment of clarity in which you became aware of the nothing/everything that makes the world go 'round and were somehow better for it.”
  • “I've always taken The Daily Show's "moment of Zen" a kind of simplified, shorthand, somewhat distorted version of same; i.e. here, in this weird or lame or otherwise remarkable video clip (or whatever) is an actual moment that transpired somewhere in the world today, and so forget the rest of the day's events and just imagine what it was like to be in that spot at that time.”
  • “Odds are, anytime you read the word “zen,” it has no relation to actual Mahayana Zen Buddhism. In this context, it could mean “insight” or “enlightenment.” Currently, the highest rated definition in the Urban Dictionary is “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”

So, for those of you who were afraid I was going to go all deep Buddhist mysticism on you, you are safe. 

I am a news junkie of sorts, but some days all I can take is the Daily Show version, which although it is played on Comedy Central is shockingly well done.  Just a warning, some may say it leans to the left, a lot.  If you are a Fox News fan, you may not want to check it out.  Of course, if you are a Fox News fan, you may not want to check out some or all of what’s going to be coming up in my blog.  But, if you are like me, sometimes reading or watching something from an opposite viewpoint helps you to question your own views, or in this case, laugh at them.

Are you fascinated by the Daily Show’s Moment of Zen?  If so, you can watch over a thousand of them from the link above- complete with descriptions in case you are picky about your zen.

This blog will be a glimpse into my own favorite Moments of Zen, from cooking red beans and rice to worm composting to causes that resonate with me.

Where do you find your “zen”?

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