Saskatoon, Karma and Charlie Sheen

I leave tomorrow morning at nothing o'clock for my gigs this weekend in sassy Saskatoon. You can find all my tour dates on this convenient webpage. It's always the first link on my blog. The links are on the left side of the page, about midway down.

The Saskatoon gigs are as follows:

• March 17, 2011 (Thu) 7:30 PM McNally Robinson Booksellers 3130 8th Street East, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
• March 18, 2011 (Fri) 11:30am-1pm University of Saskatchewan Room ARTS 146 Saskatoon, SK, Canada
• March 18, 2011 (Fri) 2:30 pm Meditation at the Multi Faith Centre at Rugby Chapel, 1121 College Dr., Saskatoon, SK (old church on west side of St. Thomas More College on College Drive)
• March 18, 2011 (Fri) 7:30pm Introduction to Meditation at Ken Sailor's House 422 10th St. E., Saskatoon, SK, Canada
• March 19-20, 2011 (Sat & Sun) 10am-3pm Zazen at Ken Sailor's House 422 10th St. E., Saskatoon, SK, Canada (Dharma talk & discussion at 3pm each day)

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I've been seeing a lot of nonsense about karma regarding the recent disasters in Japan. There's a webpage going around that supposedly lists dozens of Facebook status updates saying the earthquake and tsunami were karmic retribution for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Now Glenn Beck is saying it was some kind of message from God. Pat Robertson has apparently learned his lesson and is keeping mum about what he thinks.

The people who post these things about karma haven't got a clue in the world. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you cannot ever know someone else's karma. You can't even figure out your own.

I've often talked about how I can see karma operating in my own life. When I say that I am not referencing things like natural disasters and so-called "acts of God." I'm talking about how, when I act out of anger, angry action seems to come back to me, often from sources other than the object of my original anger. Same with greed, jealousy and all the rest. I am not talking about things like, I dunno, a bucket of soup falling on my head from a third floor window after I stole a copy of Penthouse from the newsstand or whatever. Get those kinds of ideas out of your heads, people!

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And finally, Charlie Sheen. The other night a friend in Tokyo called me up. She was pretty shaken up by the stuff going on over there and she wanted to talk about anything but earthquakes and nuclear meltdowns. So I ended up sending her a bunch of videos about Charlie Sheen (including this one I just found. Jeez, talk about "bi-winning!" Hubba-hubba!).

Charlie's stuff didn't make the news much over in Japan. I don't think Two and a Half Men ever showed over there. So all Sheen is known for is his long dead movie career. He's not very newsworthy. Anyway, the videos seemed to cheer her up a bit and got her mind off of stuff she couldn't do anything much about anyway. So Charlie Sheen has provided a valuable public service! And I'm not even joking about that.

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As for all the panic talk about those nuclear reactors, can I ask everybody a favor? Just PIPE DOWN WITH THAT SHIT FOR A MINUTE. OK? Because the uninformed panicky garbage you spew out over the Internets travels to people who are really, personally affected by it.

I don't care if you think the politicians over there are lying. EVERYBODY thinks the politicians over there are lying. That is not an original thought or in any way unique. No one in Japan believes anything they hear from the government. They don't need your dire predictions of disaster based on what you learned by watching the movie The China Syndrome on VHS back in 1986. There is plenty of that out there already. Trust me. Plenty. So shut up.

See you in Canada!