Guru

Yesterday was my day off. My Mom and I drove to the Valley of the Sun. We went to the Gilbert Temple. The Temple was beautiful and wonderful in every way. I love going. Afterward we visited my sister-in-law. For lunch. She's AMAZING at cooking. Like we were unworthy of such delicious food. Lot's of driving. I like long drives. Which is good because I finally got my car when we got back yesterday. It was in the shop for 10 days. I was especially happy to get it back because my David Bowie cd was in it. Busy day.

Last night I went to institute. I wanted to see all my friends. I like seeing my friends. I wasn't too fond of the class though. Some people said some hurtful things. Political things, mostly, but some self-righteous things too. I don't think they realized they were being hurtful, but it was enough to put me in a bad mood. I might've reacted in immature ways. In fact I'm sure I did. I didn't make a scene or anything, but I made things awkward for some of my friends because I was being super moody and sour.
I'll probably give it another chance next week though.

Then I go to Ellie's movie night. We watched Kumare. A documentary about this guy who pretends to be a guru and gets a following but its all a big lie. They do some rituals where they "feel the blue light." In reality though, there is no "blue light."
In the end the guru, Kumare, decides he feels more connected with people as a guru than he ever did before. Even though his religion and teachings are a sham, he felt real love. Wowzers.
It made me think about how much of religion is just empty, meaningless rituals and hysteria. And how much people want to believe in something (in this case the power of self and the "blue light").  I think about hysteria a lot. All these people are doing these rituals and you don't want to look like you're not feeling it, so you do them. You pretend to be a follower. The people in the documentary seemed like they really and truly believed in Kumare though. Even though in the end he told the truth to his followers that it was all a big joke, the religion and friendships was a huge positive influence on them. I recommend this documentary. I don't watch too many. But it was super fun to watch. Another fun fact is it was in Phoenix, with some parts in Tucson.
Ellie always has the best movies. Hanging out was fun too.

Misha said he'd provide me dinner sometime. I decided to give him no notice and at 11pm I'm like, "Misha! feed me!" Well he whipped up this wonderful meal. It was made from leftovers in this fridge and he just made it up as he went along. But it was wonderful and delicious. I ate well yesterday. I love Misha, he's like a brother to me. He showed me some cool music. And I told him about the El Ten Eleven concert on Saturday. Turns out he loves El Ten Eleven, but had no idea about the concert. He told me I could find a better job. haha. I get that a lot.

Ellie made me a Foster the People mix cd. It is glorious! I've never listened to them. Besides that famous song on the radio. But it's super good! I love music. I love listening to new music! I love listening to my old favorites!