five rings...

I have to give props to a Dkos diarist for opening this wonderful window to me, of which I want to share with you all.

One of the amazing things about people who strive to become beautiful, amazing people everyday is that we are all over the world! And the diarist at Dkos (the Angry Rakkasan, “When Iraqis Fall Silent, http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/12/153122/49) drew attention to the bloggers in Iraq. There are fewer now, only 110 out of 212 are still blogging, yet nevertheless they are getting the message of humanity and its gifts out as often as possible. To see more, go to http://iraqblogcount.blogspot.com/ to see them all.

Tonight I am profiling an amazing endeavour by Kyubai, a compassionate man whose goal is to engage us in practicing all of the 7 virtues. His blog is called Five Rings and coined as the Virtue Experiment, his goal is for us to practice the 7 virtues in our lives daily and report on what differences it makes as well as the process that we are going through as we live them. As I am still searching for his definition of his web site, my interpretation of the

…five rings: is that we each have five rings, or pillars or facets if you will, of humanity that moves us forward each day

to make a difference in our lives, the lives of those who touch us as well as the world we live in.

His blog is http://kyubai-shin-shin.blogspot.com/

a.must.read.

For me, my five *rings*, or pillars, are—gratuity, acceptance, appreciation, affirmation and acknowledgement.

Gratuity—to be thankful and gracious for all things

Acceptance—to embrace all walks of life and experiences as contributing to our growth

Appreciation—to take acceptance to the next level by honouring the elements, whether it is a person or an experience, and how it contributes to our growth

Affirmation—taking appreciation as step further by committing to the very element

Acknowledgement—can be considered the pre step to all of the above, for it is important to openly acknowledge people in particular of their power and grace, and how it touches our lives

We as humans need to be in a tribe to a degree, and that can be many things and mean many things. Yet the most basic things that we need to give to one another is acknowledging our feelings and thoughts, accepting each other for who we are as humans, appreciate what we bring to the table for we are unique and have special gifts to bear, affirm the previous through verbal and action oriented commitment and be gracious for the opportunity for having each other in our lives, exemplified by our actions.

On the flip—what about the inability to formulate such loving pillars? Could it be that we are trapped in our masks and slowly having the *little soul deaths* for we are afraid to be our authentic selves? Or is it possible that some are just not able to achieve this, for it is not in their design?

Either way, it is our responsibility as beautiful creatures to challenge ourselves and those around us to aspire to five pillars of humanity. We all may not succeed, yet (to me) it is our responsibility to try with what we have.

question: what are your five pillars?

stay tuned… I will be featuring another Iraqi blogger tomorrow—an AMAZING 13 year old girl who lives in Denmark whose insight will startle you awake…