I Got Got Got No Time

My third-year dorm neighbor laughed at me this morning when I told her I had to change my habits so that I wouldn’t fall behind.

“It’s really just a question of when,” she said with a smile.

Of course, she’s right. During orientation, we were told that although a class might only meet for three hours a week, it was standard practice that there would be nine hours of reading to do in preparation for the class time.

In fact, there’s so much reading that the semester is planned with a “Reading Week” in the middle. It’s a week at the end of October where there are no classes, so that students can ostensibly catch up. While that sounds like a relief, I am told that some professors assign more reading because there isn’t any class; so catching up is really just a figure of speech.

I discussed my lack of time with my husband, Stephen, who is keeping the garden harvested and the dog fed some 3,000 miles away. “I play Spider Solitaire before I go to bed,” I said. “Maybe I’ll stop doing that.”

He suggested that if I were to manufacture a day with 27 hours in it, my problems would be solved. (His perception of my abilities far outweighs what I am capable of.) Still, with that in mind, I wondered whether I could get up earlier or stay up later and get what I need to get done.

But what is it that I need to get done, you might ask? I would say reflection, reverence, being quiet and centered and connected to a spirit which is common to us all.

And I guess my plan worked, because instead of playing solitaire, I have written this reflection.

All is well here in Berkeley. It’s a warm, small, vibrant community of learning and reverence. I’m seeing and experiencing a world that is expanding and intimate at the same time. There’s a great desire among most of the people here to make a difference in the world, to connect with that which is divine in our lives and to reach out to others in love.

I know that to be true of many, throughout the country, the continent and the world.

Okay then, I need to do what for tomorrow's class?