{"id":1467,"date":"2008-07-13T07:51:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-13T07:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:13:01","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:13:01","slug":"festivals-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html","title":{"rendered":"Festivals of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>I notice how by some calculations this is the beginning of Obon<\/a>, the traditional festival of the dead in Japan.<\/p>\n

Feels particularly appropriate for several reasons.<\/p>\n

For one, today Jan and I will be making the big push to finish clearing out the house in Newton ahead of a cleaning tomorrow.<\/p>\n

For another, I\u2019m conducting the last service I\u2019m likely to do as minister of the First Unitarian Society in Newton, a memorial service for a long time and beloved member of the congregation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just put the amen on the eulogy and will run it out in a couple of minutes.<\/p>\n

And here is a pause where I\u2019m finding the enormity of it all for our lives washing over me.<\/p>\n

Sort of a double whammy, it feels like. If you add in the house cleaning, a triple whammy\u2026<\/p>\n

So, we\u2019re still in the bardo of change, but the weight is also shifted pretty heavily to our new life. We\u2019re quickly settling into our little three room apartment on the East Side of Providence, waiting on closing on the Pawtucket house. We think we\u2019ve found the grocery stores we\u2019ll be frequenting (until Trader Joe\u2019s comes in a couple of months\u2026). We\u2019re exploring local coffee shops and I expect a couple will end up being offices for me.<\/p>\n

Next weekend we hope to actually have a little time off, maybe drive around a bit of our new home state.<\/p>\n

Of course right now it\u2019s still the mad dash.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m hanging with ghosts\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I notice how by some calculations this is the beginning of Obon, the traditional festival of the dead in Japan. Feels particularly appropriate for several reasons. For one, today Jan and I will be making the big push to finish clearing out the house in Newton ahead of a cleaning tomorrow. For another, I\u2019m conducting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFestivals of the Dead<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I notice how by some calculations this is the beginning of Obon, the traditional festival of the dead in Japan.Feels particularly appropriate for several\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Festivals of the Dead\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I notice how by some calculations this is the beginning of Obon, the traditional festival of the dead in Japan.Feels particularly appropriate for several\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-13T07:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:13:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/bp0.blogger.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SHnwQ6RSZEI\/AAAAAAAABGI\/SEFOYn6x2ls\/s400\/obon1.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html\",\"name\":\"Festivals of the Dead\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-07-13T07:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:13:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"I notice how by some calculations this is the beginning of Obon, the traditional festival of the dead in Japan.Feels particularly appropriate for several\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2008\/07\/festivals-of-the-dead.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Festivals of the Dead\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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