Random follow #118 - @DalaiLama_in_NZ

Religion, faith and spirituality.  All areas that you will find on social media with varying and different views and levels of discussion.  In previous times people would counsel that you didn't want to discuss one of three topics - religion, politics or sex.    Well social media certainly breaks all three of those guides and today ot is the turn of religion to get some shine.

@DalaiLama_in_NZ is a twitter account established to spread the word and encourage people to engage with and possible learn more about His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.  He will be here visiting New Zealand for a few days in June 2013.

I for one have a certain fascination with all things spiritual but especially the areas of meditation and mindfulness.  Also the dedication, perspiration and total dedication needed to become a monk.

 His Holiness will be visiting us in June and no doubt he will receive much coverage via the usual media sources.  However branching out to twitter (which is probably a very different communication method than what is usually used) is a very cool risk to take.

As always we need to take a look at what sort of tweets are being published - 

"With money you can't buy wisdom, you can't buy inner peace. Wisdom and inner peace must be created by yourself."

"Had a great day filming yesterday. So encouraging to hear such inspired questions, ranging from the heart to financial state of the world :)"

The @DalaiLama_in_NZ account itself is curated out of New Zealand and tbh a lot of the tweets to date have been in search of getting some media coverage.  But as the visit gets closer and the Dalai Lama graces these shores you can be sure this twitter account will be the one to follow to get up to date and timely information on His Holiness' whereabouts.  So even if you only follow this account for the couple of months that it will be valid for - then it will probably be a follow well spent.

And just a couple of closing thoughts from myself - the Dalai Lama is a progressive, forward thinking and open to ideas kind of guy.  Yes, he does have to work within the framework, boundaries and governing rules of Buddhism yet he still retains his true personality and lets that shine through.

I for one would totally give whatever it would take to meet one of the true great minds of our times.  And who knows - maybe one day it might happen?

Random follow #101 - #revtalk and @RevChrisHuriwai

There are many interesting people from many diverse and interesting walks of life.  It is via social media that our worlds intersect and a certain amount of both richness and depth is added to our every day lives.  I must admit that I was quite taken aback when @PhidMcAwesome recommended @RevChrisHuriwai as a kiwi tweeter worth following.

Not because @RevChrisHuriwai is not a good tweeter but more from the view that I never took Phid as being quite so broad minded.  But I must say I am pleased for both of those facts.  That Chris is a great tweeter and also that Phid has a broad mind.

So what does a maori Anglican priest tweet about?  Well to be fair - everything under the sun.  There are very few topics that are out of bounds or that will not be discussed (within a fair amount of reason of course).

Television - "Shes after the money...don't trust her! #ShortlandStreet"
X-Factor - "So that's 'It Only Happens' down...wonder how long until 'Sweet Darling' and 'E I Po' make an appearance. #XFactorNZ #MaoriMuch"
Current affairs - "Oh no, I wish Twitter had a 'I was joking' button. I know Jason was the one on What Now... #FailedComedian"

One thing I personally know about Anglicanism is that it allows room for the individual to shine while maintaining and preserving the form and function of the church.  I for one admire and enjoy that if I go to a particular denomination of church that I have a pretty good idea of the layout of the service and the procession thereof.  And yet with all the formality the person that is the priest is given the latitude to share their journey, ideology and philosophy of Christianity as they see it.

@RevChrisHuriwai is not afraid to weigh in and share his opinions on the matters of the day.  And having both access to social media and the knack of being able to write a good tweet  means Chris is onto a winner,  And these are but a few of the topics that he tweets about - marriage equality, Maori spirituality, ANZAC day and pretty much all sorts.  Such as -

"If 'bad' can go from meaning 'bad' to meaning 'good,' surely 'Gay' can go from being derogatory to meaning 'Awesome' #GayMeansAwesome"

And it amongst all the tweets there are of course the obvious religious type tweets.  He is a man of the cloth of course -

"The Good Word - "I never thought all my father's stories about his growing up would come in handy...but they have! #PricelessSermonMaterial"
"I absolutely love Anglican Choir Dress! #ThatcherFuneral"

And he also has an absolutely BRILLIANT sense of humor as well -

"When #MarriageEquality passes into law, can my wife and I divorce and get Gay Re-Married? Our first wedding just wasn't fabulous enough..."

@RevChrisHuriwai is one of five Anglican ministers who use the hashtag and contribute to the twitter discussion via #revtalk. Revtalk.co.nz is more than just a hashtag though.  It also a pulpit, come website, come platform for sharing their vision online.  Whats great about this site is that the Revs are able to give a diverse range of view points of the topics and having more than one means the content is fresh, updated often and usually quite challenging as well.  And not just to you the reader but amongst their group too.

If your timeline is need of a lift or some inspiration then I can totally recommend either @RevChrisHuriwai or the #revtalk as being worth a follow.