Showing posts with label human spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human spirit. Show all posts

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Silent Lucidity




I am spending my summer learning new things like making this video (my first ever), and loved this! And keeping my hands in the dirt growing lots of wonderful beautiful things. Life is good and rich!

Loving the life I have.

My life is Beautiful..............

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

What if?


What if you slept?

And what if,
In your sleep
You dreamed?

And what if,
In your dream,
You went to heaven
And there plucked
A strange and
Beautiful flower?

And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?


.... Ah, what then?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1772-1834


Friday, December 07, 2007

Who Killed Pat Tillman

"It was just unreal to even hear that this hero had died, It's like Superman. Just to hear that he died was just awful."



"Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press."'The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described,' a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators."The doctors – whose names were blacked out – said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away."

As the death toll from the war approaches number 4,000 the lies and corruption at the heart of this administration still persist. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, and each day I wake up to more breaking stories of yet more lies, I find it hard to grasp where the hell am I really. What happened to the America that I "thought" I lived in? It most certainly is not the current reality, and now questions befuddle my brain as I ask was it ever that America that television and Hollywood painted such a nice, warm picture of -

Some lines from the new Superman 3 movie -

Clark Kent: Yeah. Well, you know, things change. I mean, of course things change, but sometimes things that you didn't think would change

Jor-El: [Superman is remembering Jor-El's last message to him from the first film] Live as one of them, Kal-El, to discover where your strength and your power are needed. Always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son.



Superman: Listen, what do you hear? Lois Lane: Nothing. Superman: I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but everyday I hear people crying for one.


Lex Luthor: Do you know the story of Prometheus? No, of course you don't. Prometheus was a god who stole the power of fire from the other gods and gave control of it to the mortals. In essence, he gave us technology, he gave us power. Kitty Kowalski: So we're stealing fire? In the Arctic? Lex Luthor: Actually, sort of. You see whoever controls technology controls the world. The Roman empire ruled the world because they built roads. The British empire ruled the world because they built ships. America; the atom bomb. And so on and so forth. I just want what Prometheus wanted. Kitty Kowalski: Sounds great Lex, but you're not a god. Lex Luthor: [fixes Kitty with an icy stare] Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind. No, I don't want to be a *god*. I just want to bring fire to the people. And... I want my cut.
Kitty Kowalski: Sounds great, Lex, but you're not a god.

Lex Luthor: Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their powers with mankind.

links with chronological details of Pat Tillman's death

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11367
who killed pat tillman
http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=4143

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0313-20.htm

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2949768

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.allhatnocattle.net/1213%2520pat%2520tillman.JPG&imgrefurl=http://whitenoiseinsanity.com/2007/03/28/was-pat-tillman-murdered-on-purpose/&h=285&w=400&sz=29&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=VGdsxGjklU_ECM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpat%2Btillman%2Bcover%2Bup%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4DMUS_enUS234US234%26sa%3DN

http://columbiancokane.blogspot.com/2007/10/while-browsing-boston-blog-bostonist-i.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=473037&in_page_id=1770

http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/?s=pat+tillman



Pat Tillman's family deserves the truth, and justice. And so does America.

I remember Superman from my childhood always ended the show with the words....

"Truth, Justice, and the American Way."

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Heaven's not a place

you go when you die

it's that moment in life

when you actually feel

ALIVE





We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one
direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.




At the moment of insight


a potential pattern








of organized behavior



comes into being.

Rupert Sheldrake


The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret
recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was
psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will
remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.


Carl Jung






Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.
We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



Arthur Golden
It's time for greatness, not for greed. It's a time for idealism, not ideology.
It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action.


Saturday, November 03, 2007

Your Fear is All They Have

G. K. Chesterton said:

“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

"Life exists for the love of music or beautiful things.”

“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. "

"Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”



From a wonderful blog - "Brainsturbator" comes this story of nightmares and monsters and dragons.

http://www.brainsturbator.com/site/comments/your_fear_is_all_they_have/
Your Fear is All They Have


Aside from getting into all the hottest clubs for free, the best part about running Brainsturbator is the readers. They keep me in line and they ask me good questions. After the Colonia Dignidad article, I got a whopper: “Does there come a point where these investigations of yours become self abuse, what with these things you’re finding? Is it dangerous to pummel the mind with these facts for extended periods of time?”

Quick answer: hell yeah, it’s self abuse. I lose sleep, weight and hope for the future when I stare the abyss in the face like this. I can’t say my nightmares have gotten any worse, because they’ve been making me question my sanity since I was a kid, but the everyday world is a very different place.

But you know what? The everyday world always was a different place. Whether we subject ourselves to this horror or not, it’s still out there and it’s still real. And of course, the quick answer is superficial and misses the real meat—this is an important question to look at in some detail, so before I keep subjecting Brainsturbator readers to these nightmares, let’s examine why it is necessary, important, and ultimately—empowering.

Monday, October 29, 2007

The Secret Garden




And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic Harps diversely frame'd
That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual Breeze
At once the soul of each, and God of all....




The Secret Garden opens by introducing us to Mary Lennox, a sickly, foul-tempered, unsightly little girl who loves no one and whom no one loves. At the outset of the story, she is living in India with her parents—a dashing army captain and his frivolous, beautiful wife—but is rarely permitted to see them. They have placed her under the constant care of a number of native servants, as they find her too hideous and tiresome to look after. Mary's circumstances are cast into complete upheaval when an outbreak of cholera devastates the Lennox household, leaving no one alive but herself.

She is found by a group of soldiers and, after briefly living with an English clergyman and his family, Mary is sent to live in Yorkshire with her maternal uncle, Archibald Craven. Misselthwaite Manor is a sprawling old estate with over one hundred rooms, all of which have been shut up by Archibald Craven. A man whom everyone describes as "a miserable hunchback," Master Craven has been in a state of inconsolable grief ever since the death of his wife ten years before the novel begins. Shortly after arriving at Misselthwaite, Mary hears about a secret garden from Martha Sowerby, her good-natured Yorkshire maidservant. This garden belonged to the late Mistress Craven; after her death, Archibald locked the garden door and buried the key beneath the earth.


Mary becomes intensely curious about the secret garden, and determines to find it. This curiosity, along with the vigorous exercise she takes on the moor, begins to have an extremely positive effect upon Mary. She almost immediately becomes less sickly, more engaged with the world, and less foul-tempered. This change is aided by Ben Weatherstaff, a brusque but kindly old gardener, and a robin redbreast who lives in the secret garden. She begins to count these two "people," along with Martha, Dickon Sowerby, and Susan Sowerby, as the friends she has had in her life. Her curiosity is whetted when she hears strange, far-off cries coming from one of the manor's distant rooms.

However, Mrs. Medlock, the head of the servants at Misselthwaite, absolutely forbids her to seek out the source of the cries. She is distracted from this mystery when she discovers, with the robin's help, the key to the secret garden. She immediately sets about working there, so that the neglected plants might thrive. Dickon, who brings her a set of gardening tools and promises to help her bring the secret garden back to life, vastly aids her in her endeavor. Dickon is a boy who can charm the animals of the moor "the way snake charmers charm snakes in India." He is only a common moor boy, but he is filled with so much uncanny wisdom that Mary comes to refer to him as "the Yorkshire angel."

One night, Mary hears the distant cries and, flagrantly disobeying Mrs. Medlock's prohibition, goes off in search of their source. She finds Colin Craven, Master Craven's invalid son, shut up in an opulent bedchamber. Colin was born shortly before his mother's death, and his father cannot bear to look at him because the boy painfully reminds him of his late wife. Colin has been bedridden since his birth, and it is believed that he will become a hunchback and die an early death. His servants have been commanded to obey his every whim, and Colin has become fantastically spoiled and imperious as a result. Colin and Mary strike up a friendship, but Colin becomes furious when she fails to visit him because she prefers to garden with Dickon. That night, Colin throws one of the infamous tantrums. Mary rushes to his room in a fury and commands him to stop crying. He tells her that his back is beginning to show a hunch; when Mary examines him, she finds nothing whatever the matter with him. Henceforth, she will maintain that Colin's illness is only in his mind: he will be well if only he makes up his mind to be.

Dickon and Mary secretly begin bringing Colin out into the secret garden. On the first of these outings, the children are discovered by Ben Weatherstaff, who has been covertly tending the secret garden once a year for ten years. Ben has done so out of love and loyalty for the late Mistress Craven: he was a favorite of hers. Weatherstaff refers to Colin as "the poor cripple," and asks if he has crooked legs and a crooked back. Colin, made furious by this question, forces himself to stand up on his own feet for the first time in his life. After this feat, Colin's health improves miraculously: the secret garden, the springtime, and Dickon's company have the same rejuvenating effect upon him that they did upon Mary. The children determine to keep Colin's improvement a secret, however, so that he can surprise his father with his recovery when Master Craven returns from his trip abroad.

The three children, along with Ben Weatherstaff, spend every day of the summer in the secret garden. Only one other person is admitted into the secret: Susan Sowerby, Dickon's saintly mother. Susan sends a letter to Master Craven, telling him to hurry home so that he might see his son; she does not, however, specify why, in deference to Colin's secret. Master Craven complies, and returns immediately to Misselthwaite. His first act is to go into the secret garden; he does so at the behest of a dream in which the voice of his late wife told him that he might find her there. Just as he lays his hand to the doorknob, Colin comes rushing out and falls into his arms. Father and son are reconciled, and the miracle of Colin's recovery becomes known to all.

Themes, motifs and symbols
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/secretgarden/themes.html

Secrets
One can say that The Secret Garden is organized around the idea of secrets. Mary is a secret from her parents' associates; Colin is kept a secret by both his father and himself. Misselthwaite is full of hundreds of locked rooms which no one may enter; its servants are forbidden to speak of its history or of its current inhabitants. Colin keeps the portrait of his mother a secret from his servants, and, later, the secret of his newfound health from all but Mary, Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff, and Susan Sowerby. The secret of the garden itself is the most significant. One by one, each of the book's secrets are disclosed: disclosure is presented as an absolute good, for, in the economy of the novel, the content of a thing does not matter—only whether one thinks of it positively or negatively does. Thus the secret of Mistress Craven's death can be disclosed, provided one maintains that she isn't really dead at all; Colin and Mary can come to light, provided that they have become kind and healthy; the garden, too, may be unlocked, so long as it, too, is resurrected.

Parallel Lives of Colin, Mary, and the Secret Garden
A number of striking similarities between Mary and Colin are immediately apparent: they are both ten years old; they have both passed sickly, neglected childhoods; both are unbelievably spoiled; and both have been looked after by retinues of servants who have been ordered to obey their every whim. Both children have parents that have denied their existence and hidden them away like secrets. No one ever sees Colin or Mary: the English soldiers who discover Mary in her parents' bungalow declare that they never knew that "that pretty woman" had had a child at all. Upon first seeing Colin, Mary exclaims, almost identically, "I never knew [Master Craven] had a child!" The garden has been closed for ten years; up to the moment that Colin and Mary each enter the garden, they too are closed off—they have loved no one, and have been utterly unloved. Because it has been so long since anyone has tended the garden, it is impossible to determine whether its flowers are dead or alive. Similarly, both Mary and Colin have had no one to care for them since their birth, and their skin has become either waxen or stony as a result. Both of these words ("waxen" and "stony") connote lifelessness. The awakening of the secret garden both parallels and is the cause of Colin and Mary's own rebirth.

Eden, also called Paradise, was the garden in which the first humans created by God (Adam and Eve) lived until the time of the Fall. The "Fall" refers to the moment that God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for tasting of the Tree of Knowledge. The secret garden is connected with Eden through Martha's story of the divine times had there by Master Craven and his wife before her quite literal "fall"—before, that is, she fell out of the rose-tree to her death. It is also similar to Eden insofar as it represents a Paradise of innocence and ideality for Mary and Dickon. As in Eden, they enjoy a uniquely close relationship with God (who occasionally is referred to as magic, and as "the Big Good Thing") when they are within its walls. Their work in the garden is compared to the work of "nest-building," which of course has certain marital implications—it is as though they too have become Adam and Eve. Furthermore, their seclusion in the secret garden conjures up that enjoyed by Master and Mistress Craven. This echo is strengthened by the fact that Mary bends down and kisses the newly opened crocuses, just as Mistress Craven kissed her roses. The Eden-like quality of their time alone together in the garden is only strengthened by the presence of Dickon's docile "creatures," which recall the animals created by the Christian God to keep the first people company. Dickon inspires "rapture" in Mary, which implies both ecstasy and "a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to the knowledge of divine things" (Merriam-Webster). Dickon's intimate connection with heavenly nature brings Mary nearer to divinity herself.

Symbols
The Robin Redbreast
When Mary first sees the robin redbreast, the reader is struck by a number of similarities between them: like her, he began life as an orphan; like her, he finds a haven in the secret garden; like her, he began to seek out friendship once he lost his family and came to realize he was lonely. The friendliness of the little bird both helps Mary to recognize that she is lonely and to assuage that loneliness. This is significant in that Mary first befriends a wild creature, a distinctive part of the English countryside; the robin is explicitly described as being "not at all like birds in India." She thus makes her first connection with a part of the moor, not a part of the manor. The robin is a representative of wise and gentle nature—part of Chapter XXV is told from his point of view, as though to prove that animals really do have minds of their own. It is he who first shows Mary the key to the secret garden, thereby suggesting that nature itself is colluding with her wish to get inside. Later, the robin's building of a nest with his mate is compared to Mary's nest- building with Dickon in the secret garden.

Roses
The roses are Mistress Craven's personal symbol; they are mentioned whenever she is mentioned. The bower from which she fell to her death was covered with roses; when Mary first discovers the garden, it is still flooded with rose-trees and rosebushes, though none are in bloom. Dickon reassures her that they are not dead, and remarks, "There will be fountains of roses here in the spring." This foreshadows the way in which the resurrection of the garden will bring the spirit of Mistress Craven back within its walls—she exists wherever roses are in bloom. The tree from which Colin's mother fell to her death can itself be said to undergo a kind of resurrection: though it is the only thing in the garden which is wholly dead, it is soon "covered with new roses," so that the dead wood is no longer visible. The new roses symbolize both the children and the spirit of Colin's mother herself, which has come back to the garden to watch over her son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA_NHJL8EmE&NR=1
Winter Light by Linda Ronstadt - The Secret Garden

Is There Purpose in Nature?
by Dr. Mae-Wan-Ho
http://http://www.cts.cuni.cz/conf98/ho.htm
Organism and Pysche in a Particpatory Universe
by Dr. Mae-Wan-Ho
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/organis.php

The Doctine of Cycles
By Lydia Ross, M.D.
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gdpmanu/cycle-lr/cycle-1.htm
Man and Nature Allied in Cyclic Progress
There is a purpose in every important act of Nature, whose acts are all cyclic and periodical. -- The Secret Doctrine 1:640

Nature repeats herself everywhere. She follows grooves of action that have already been made; she follows the line of least resistance in all cases and everywhere. And it is upon this repetitive action of our Great Mother -- universal nature -- that is founded the law of cycles, which is the enacting of things that have been before, although each such repetition, as said, is at each new manifestation on a higher plane and with a larger sweep or field of action. -- Man in Evolution, chapter 13
Nature moves like a great wheel, ever turning round and round, so that as it goes forward in time and space, each of its spokes takes its regular turn in moving upward, forward, downward and backward. As the whole wheel of the universe rolls onward, every atom of it gains ground and experience, and also adds its impulse to the common urge forward. This evolutionary urge in mankind is naturally quickened, in greater or less degree, by mind and self-consciousness. Thus we are able to help things below us, as we in turn are helped by wiser, greater beings.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A Gnostic Tale - The Romance of the Sun and the Moon




The Romance of the Sun and the Moon

The moon was alone one evening, shining in the midnight sky. Although she was surrounded by myriads of tiny, sparkly stars, she felt as if there was no one to understand her. She eagerly searched the skies for a friend, perhaps a meteor, with whom to discuss the joys and sorrows of her life. But there was nobody.

On the other side of the world, the sun yawned and awoke to shine his light upon the blue-green temples of God. He heard the call to worship, and saw the waves of people bowing and praying. He felt full of good will and charity towards the masses of God's servitors. Perhaps they were not holy, but at least they were faithful.

The moon stayed alone, suspended in the sky with none to touch her. A tiny star whispered to her of a great being, the sun, who brought joy and light to the world. She listened with interest, for it seemed that once, a long time ago, she had seen a being such as this. Beautiful as he was, the sun seemed always just beyond her reach. She would visit the places where he had been, and would always find that he had just left. Those who knew him spoke of his wonder and his glory, and she felt unworthy to be in his presence.

Now the sun was unaware of her yearning, for he was too busy making the crops grow and warming the world. Those who wished his light had only to look upward to heaven and he was there, beaming down upon them.

The moon continued to follow the sun, always coming nearer to him, always hearing that he had just left that portion of the sky, or was just over the next mountain range. Where before there was despair, now she was ever more hopeful, for she knew that she was approaching his presence.

She came closer and closer, until one glorious day came when she stood before him, naked and unafraid. The world looked up and saw only blackness - in the middle of the day. But the moon stood mid-way between the sun and the earth, and all of his glory was for her.

His light blotted out all of her loneliness, all of her pain, all of her past. She stood bathed in wonder before him, and his light filled her soul.

She passed away from him full of light and joy, and though his light was too bright to remember, it was also too powerful to forget. She was dizzy with wonder. As time passed, it seemed that she once had been a being full of light, yet it was so long ago…


Such is the soul of man, dear one. It yearns of the glorious light of Truth, which destroys all loneliness and memory. The many lives of man are as many times as the moon see the sun - after each, nothing remains but a vague idea of a beauty one seen. And there is always the longing, and always the return.




Hedwig and the Angry Inch - The Origin of Love

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

What we still don't know - Are we Real?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyH2D4-tzfM

There is a fundamental chasm in our understanding of ourselves, the universe, and everything. To solve this, Sir Martin takes us on a mind-boggling journey through multiple universes to post-biological life. On the way we learn of the disturbing possibility that we could be the product of someone else's experiment.


The universe is still a place of mystery and wonder."
Sir Martin Rees

Are we alone?
Why are we here?
Are we real?

Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees investigates ...

All life on Earth is nothing more than an elaborate facade created by super-intelligent beings. Humans now exist in a computerized version of the world – a simulation that keeps us happy, while our powers are drained by our creators for use as fuel in their campaign for dominance in the ‘real’ world. This is the premise of the cult sci-fi thriller 'The Matrix'.

‘The simulation hypothesis, that we are currently living in a computer simulation, should be understood literally, it’s not just in a metaphorical sense whereby one could view the universe as a simulation, but literally we would be living in a simulation created by some advanced civilization in a computer they built in their universe. And everything we see and our brains themselves would just be parts of this simulation.’ Oxford University philosopher Dr Nick Bostrom echoes the thoughts of sci-fi writers and scientists alike. The simulation hypothesis is not sci-fi, it’s serious academic thought.

In Are We Real? Martin Rees navigates the extraordinary territory between science fact and science fiction. He reveals the logical steps that have led cosmologists and philosophers to the shocking conclusion that The Matrix scenario cannot be safely relegated to our storybooks. Whether it’s true or not, and it might be, here is a story that is altogether more serious and more deeply disturbing than any sci-fi fantasy could ever be.

Find out more @ Channel 4.



What We Still Don't Know: Are We Real? (2004). Duration: 48 minutes.
http://www.cam.ac.uk/science-festival/speaker-spotlights/speaker-spotlight-lord-rees
Sir Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, Kt OM FRS is a cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. Lord Rees is also a Patron of the Cambridge Science Festival.

As well as popularising his scientific areas from cosmology, including cosmic radiation background and galaxy formation, Lord Rees has written and spoken extensively about the problems and challenges of the 21st century, and the interfaces between science, ethics and politics. He is also one of three founders of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Now We Are Free



Even the smallest among us can affect the future.

Never think for a moment that you are not important.



The Everyman Who Exposed Tainted Toothpaste

Eduardo Arias hardly fits the profile of someone capable of humbling one of the world’s most formidable economic powers.

A 51-year-old Kuna Indian, Mr. Arias grew up on a reservation paddling dugout canoes near his home on one of the San Blas islands off Panama’s Caribbean coast. He now lives in a small apartment above a food stand in Panama, the nation’s capital, also known as Panama City.
But one Saturday morning in May, Eduardo Arias did something that would reverberate across six continents. He read the label on a 59-cent tube of toothpaste. On it were two words that had been overlooked by government inspectors and health authorities in dozens of countries: diethylene glycol, the same sweet-tasting, poisonous ingredient in antifreeze that had been mixed into cold syrup here, killing or disabling at least 138 Panamanians last year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/world/americas/01panama.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

read how one small man saved many and shook the world.

BURMA BLOGGERS RISK ALL: Internet geeks share a common style, and Ko Latt and his four friends would not be out of place in cyber cafés across the world. They have the skinny arms and the long hair, the dark T-shirts and the jokey nicknames. But few such figures have ever taken the risks that they have in the past few weeks, or achieved so much in a noble and dangerous cause. Since last month Ko Latt, 28, his friends Arca, Eye, Sun and Superman, and scores of others like them have been the third pillar of Burma’s Saffron Revolution. While the veteran democracy activists, and then the Buddhist monks, marched in their tens of thousands against the military regime, it is the country’s amateur bloggers and internet enthusiasts who have brought the images to the outside world. Armed with small digital cameras, they have documented the spectacular growth of the demonstrations from crowds of a few hundred to as many as 100,000. On weblogs they have recorded in words and pictures the regime’s bloody crackdown, in a city where only a handful of foreign journalists work undercover. With downloaded software, they have dodged and weaved around the regime’s increasingly desperate attempts to thwart their work. Now the bloggers, too, have been crushed. Having failed to stop the cyber-dissidents broadcasting to the world, the authorities have simply switched off the internet. Now Ko Latt and his blogging comrades have abandoned their keyboards and gone underground, sleeping in a different place every night, watching and waiting to see if the democracy movement has been truly crushed or is simply on hold. “When things were hot on the streets, we were not the main worry,” Ko Latt says. “But as the situation cools down, they will follow us. They know who we are, they know we are bloggers, and I am afraid.” * * * The regime responded, first by blocking individual Burmese blogs, then, last Wednesday, by blocking all of them. But the overseas sites were beyond its reach, so on Friday it switched off the internet altogether. Now e-mails can be sent only within Burma; the only pages that web browsers can view are those of the official websites. The only solution now would be to dial up ISPs overseas but the cost of international calls makes this prohibitive. As Superman puts it: “Now Burma is like the Stone Age.” The bloggers held out as long as they could, and if there is ever a monument to the heroes of the Saffron Revolution it should certainly feature a statue of a skinny boy in a T-shirt and thick glasses hunched over a computer and a digital camera. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2563937.ece

THE MONK'S TALE: "We cannot turn back now. Whether it takes a month, a year or more, we will not stop." With his russet-red robes pulled around his knees, rocking back and forth on a low, wooden stool, the senior monk spoke quietly but determinedly. Over the past few days, the monk has seen many of his fellow Buddhists rounded up and carted away as Burma's military regime brutally cracked down on anti-government protests, trying to suck any oxygen away from the flame of revolt. Pools of blood stain monastery doorways, memories linger of monks as young as 15 being clobbered over the head with truncheons and rifle butts. But in the now-tranquil, tree-filled courtyard in central Rangoon, it is not of these atrocities that the monk, in his early sixties and wishing to remain anonymous, wants to speak. It is the atrocities which the Burmese people have suffered. The people are living under rulers busy enriching themselves with natural gas, timber, diamonds and rubies while spending less on health care per head than nearly any other country on earth. They are living in poverty more akin to sub-Saharan Africa than Asia. "As monks, we see everything in society. We go everywhere, to ask for our food and we see how people live," he says. "We know that they give to us when they themselves do not have enough to eat, because there is no work and the costs of living are so high. We also see how the wealthy live. We see how everything is getting worse and worse." And that is why he is adamant that the fight must continue. "We have already lost too much and the people cannot continue to suffer as they do," he explained. "We knew well the risks before we started. It is up to us. We have to see this through to the end, whatever the end will be." Inside the monastery, for now untouched by soldiers, a group of monks are gathered around a television, apparently glued to a gymnastics display. But on closer examination, the soundtrack is not a sporting commentary about back-flips and balance beam routines; it is in fact the Democratic Voice of Burma, broadcasting reports from exiled journalists in Oslo, Norway. In this way, the monks can monitor the current backlash against the junta and how the world is – or is not – responding but can quickly flick the covert soundtrack off should the military's prying eyes come calling. Some of the monks are taking refuge in this temple now that their own temples have been blanketed in coils of barbed wire and sealed off from prayer. These precious religious sites now have the air of military camps. Gone is the scent of incense burning in worship, now it is the smell of stale cigarette butts, discarded by soldiers at the temple entrance. Tin Shwe Maung (not his real name), a monk in his early twenties, recalled the moment that soldiers stormed into the gleaming Shwedagon Pagoda on Thursday. The government admits to a death toll of nine that day, but Western diplomats put it much higher. "I was sitting with about 30 monks on the ground, praying at the place of the old brass Buddha. The police appeared very suddenly. There were definitely over 100, perhaps as many as 200. Carrying riot shields, truncheons and bayoneted rifles, they spread across the compound in front of us, some beating their shields, others aiming their guns," the young monk said. "Without any sort of warning, they charged at us, firing over our heads with real bullets. Some of us got up and ran but they caught many monks and beat them with their truncheons and rifle butts. One monk they beat very badly, smashing his head. He was only 15 years old, he had just joined the monastery." Another raid came after midnight, and more monks were carted off in police vans. "They are not in the normal prisons but in military and police camps. We hear that they are barely feeding the monks, nor are they allowing them contact with the outside," Tin Shwe continued. "I became a monk because of my love for peace and my love for Buddha. My heart is so full of sadness. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3015276.ece

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Freedom

Charlie Daniels:
A brief candle; both ends burning
An endless mile; a bus wheel turning
A friend to share the lonesome times
A handshake and a sip of wine
So say it loud and let it ring
We are all a part of everything
The future, present and the past
Fly on proud bird
You're free at last.

written en route to the funeral for his friend, Ronnie Van Zant of the band, Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Clarence Darrow:
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.

Dorothy Thompson:
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.

Eugene V. Debs:
Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.






























Sunday, November 26, 2006

This is as I, will dream it to be...



I saw the horses that carried the souls of those who thought they were sick and dying ride into the clouds their tails streaming behind them...and as they began to touch the darkness beyond the clouds their tails and manes became as brilliant multicolored fire, with their hoofbeats becoming a deafening roar...then I heard the laughter of the children they had once been rise above the sounds...and they called "look oh brothers and sisters, truely the weight of the illusion is lifted from us"...and the ramuda of lights became so many as to not be countable, streaking across the heavens so brghtly that even the sun could not dim their brightness...

Then I saw the elders sitting in the circles of the world, saying "what must we do to stop the suffering?" and into their circles the Owl flew to rest on the centerpole of the lodge. Many said "It is the Owl, great mystery is upon us", while others said "It is the Owl, disaster is near", and while still others said "It is the Owl, someone will be plucked from the illusion"... Then the Owl spoke, and as he did the smoke in the lodges began to churn and become two, side by side pictures of what was to come. "I am Owl, the watcher of all dreams, and I have a message. Both of these paths are possible, but only one will be chosen"...In the smoke shapes formed events, on one side was the decimation of a planet and its peoples...Wars fought with clubs and sticks and even humans feasting on others as all other food became tainted with the foulness of the wars. Disease and pain were rampant, as was cruelty and suffering...

In the other smoke was a planet of plenty and Spirit where it's peoples created all they needed as easily as thinking it, where creation was honored and life within the illusion was recognized as a step, not a destination. The animals had voices and the people heard and understood their wisdom, and the Spirits of those who had left the illusion gave wisdom to those still within. In this illusion the trappings of time were recognized as simple reminders to live to the fullest, and they held no fear for those there. Again the Owl spoke. "If you would live in the first world, you have only to continue as you are. The prophesied times are upon you, and you have chosen to dream this lesson into your world... But, if you would live in the second world, you have only to rechoose your dream. Once chosen, it will change the path of the prophesies, and your intent in every action will create the new illusion..."

I saw the elders in the circles begin to choose, some in the first direction, others in the other, until all had made the choice, and while I could not understand why any would choose the first, I knew that Creator had a reason for the choice. Then all at once I saw the very fabric of the illusion multiply into two, not as one and a new one, but two old ones that were close together. They merged and the rules of creation changed, where each could manifest their destiny according to their chosen intent, with a single thought...And once again they split into two, the two illusions mirroring the events of the smoke shapes. I stood in a lodge in the second illusion, as I had chosen, with the other elders that had done the same. The Owl slowly looked at us all once more, and flew off... We stepped out of the lodge to see a bright sky full of fiery horses thundering across the sky, and riding all upon them were the Spirits of those who had thought they were sick or dying, each flaming with energy and health so intense, that the sun grew brighter from their energy as they passed...and as we listened above the sound of our own joyous hearts, we could plainly hear their voices sounding like children reborn, as they flew overhead ... and laughed...

This is as I saw it, this is as it was. This is as I, will dream it to be...

- Mitakuye dysasin ... nake nula waun -

Saturday, October 14, 2006

As a Little Child



Verily I say unto you
Whosoever
Shall not receive
the kingdom of God
as a little child
he shall not
enter therein
Mark 10:15



All of us children are born natural mystics. Then someone (TPTB as they are called on the internet), someone takes us and molds us into logical adult robot vegetables. Just like this song –


Supertramp--The Logical Song

When I was young, it seemed that life
was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the
birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully
watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I
could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There
are times when all the world's asleep,
the questions run too deep
for
such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I
know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.

Now watch
what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
liberal, fanatical,
criminal.
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're
acceptable, respecable, presentable, a vegtable!

At night,
when all the world's asleep,
the questions run so deep
for such a simple
man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it
sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.


But something wonderful has happened to me. I’ve thrown off my logical thinking cap and I have become a “child” again. I giggle to myself all throughout the day as I find magic and hidden secrets everywhere. And hidden beneath that bible verse above is exactly what Jesus was trying to say to us.

Some of my most beloved “childrens” books now become deeper, richer and more wonderful. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Narnia Link



Children enter a “magical” hidden world through an old wardrobe. I’m giggling with glee as I write this. That magical world is all around you, it’s hidden. But you can find it if you search for it as a “child”.

And even Harry Potter, as the story begins, Harry is clueless and lives in a “muggles” world. A very sad world indeed. But then Harry is whisked away and discovers hidden in plain sight are portals to worlds full of magic and discovers that he himself is “magical”.

I’ll be writing later about some of the magical worlds I have discovered hidden in plain sight. But for now my “muggles” world is calling me back.

Monday, March 06, 2006

The Exit Door Leads In


I haven’t written anything on here in quite some time. Life has lots of noise and lots of doorways that lead nowhere. It’s so easy to get lost and lose yourself.

I’ve been searching all over the internet to find the way, the quick fix, the door that will lead me back to that incredible moment of heaven that I experienced. And then I ran across an old article, a biography about one of my favorite authors, Philip K. Dick.

If you are not a sci-fiction fan you may have never heard of him. But if you like movies, you might be amazed at how many of his books have been turned into movies; Bladerunner and Total Recall are just two that I can think of at the moment. Many of his works mirror the world we live in today. I just finished reading “Radio Free Albemuth” this weekend, and it’s all about mind control and nationalistic thinking. I won’t spoil the ending for you, in case you’ve never read it and want to. But it ends on a note of hope.

One of his short stories that has never seen the light of day was written for the very anti-establishment, psychedelic, tripping, early Rolling Stone Magazine. It is simply called “The Exit Door Leads In”.

And nothing could be more important today than for all of us to open and find the secret door that will lead us all back to the Garden of Eden. We hold the key.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Blue child



I picked this picture because that is the exact shade of blue that my daughter decided to color her hair when she was 14. I can still remember being in Sally Beauty Supply and having her running up to me with a box of blue hair dye. I was appalled, no way, no way are you dying your hair that color. Everyone will make fun of you. She threw a 2 year old tantrum and fell on the floor crying. Deciding that this was one battle that wasn’t worth all this war, I relented and gave in. She ended up with “psychic blue” hair and was instantly recognizable for blocks. She sang in the choir, and I still remember cringing in my seat in the audience as she sang her heart out, with that vivid, bright blue hair standing out like a beacon.

In the movie “Hildago” Viggo Mortensen's character was called by his Native American Mother “Blue Child”. He is a child of a new heart and a new view of the world. He can see farther and deeper. These children see deep into the future and the past. It is a great movie
Link to movie



Many of you may have heard of the coming of the “Indigo Children”.

“The Indigo phenomenon has been recognized as one of the most exciting changes in human nature ever documented in society. The Indigo label describes the energy pattern of human behavior which exists in over 95% of the children born in the last few years … This phenomenon is happening globally and eventually the Indigos will replace all other colors. As small children, Indigo’s are easy to recognize by their unusually large, clear eyes. Extremely bright, precocious children with an amazing memory and a strong desire to live instinctively, these children of the next millennium are sensitive, gifted souls with an evolved consciousness who have come here to help change the vibrations of our lives and create one land, one globe and one species. They are our bridge to the future”

My youngest, born in 1984 is one of these children. She was a gift to me on my 37th birthday. I constantly tell her that she is the best birthday present I have ever had, and she is. She is a beautiful child born with a heart so big that it amazes even me. She struggled through the tortuous structured school criteria. When she was in 3rd grade I was summoned to school and told that she needed to be placed in Special Ed classes and her teacher was convinced that she had ADD and needed to be put on drugs. I struggled mightily with this, here were all these ‘educated” people convincing me that all she needed was a pill. And that she was flawed.

She wasn’t flawed. They were. I relented and took her to a child psychologist. And God intervened and we met one of his angels. After numerous tests, I was told by this angel that I had a precious gift. She didn’t need drugs; she just needed our patience and understanding. I willingly gave it. It was a battle all through the school years but I won and so did my child. It took her 5 years instead of 4 to get through high school but she did. She was labeled as having a “math” disability. She believed it.

So we focused on what made her happy and her eyes light up. And that was animals and nature. She has an uncanny ability to heal any sick or injured animal. And over the years our home has been full of them. We presently have 4 dogs, 4 birds, 2 fish tanks and a guinea pig. She has brought home more injured birds, rabbits, squirrels than I can remember. She healed them all and released them. Funny thing is they all still come back to see her. One spring a little chickadee with a missing foot was tossed out of the nest. She found him; hand fed him and then released him that summer. He still lives on our front porch in a nest box she made. He has raised several generations of babies and never leaves. She calls him “Cheep” and he adores her.

My math disability child has now entered college and has decided that God has sent her here to save the earth and all of its animals. She is majoring in Environmental Science. And all of her required classes meant lots of math, and lots of science. I was so afraid for her, afraid that she would fail and it would break her heart. But my “flawed” “math disabled” child has made the Dean’s List every year. She has a perfect, flawless grade point average.

And there is no doubt in my mind, or my heart that she will help save this earth and our friends, the animals. God has sent his special “blue” angels here to help all of us.

She is my gift. And I am so full of love and gratitude that my heart is filled to bursting.

And in these terrible times of doubt, fear and pain, all one has to do is look at these children and see the beauty of their souls. Hope is all around us.

If you would like to read more about Indigo Children I recommend Spirit of Maat’s articles here: Indigo Children

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Coal Holders


We Are The Coal Holders

Ever since the beginning, there's always been the guy who’s job it was to carry the last hot coal. (Remember?)

See, when the tribe moved on, someone had to carry the last hot coal to start up the next fire at the next campsite. They needed this fire to cook with, sleep near, talk and sing around. Now, many of these coal-holders, over time, became folk singers.

Later on, some went electric. Some even became rock and roll singers, punkers and rappers. Hey, different tribes, different instruments. But the job itself has never changed.

My dad was one of these guys. And a lot of his songs were pretty damned hot!

We are Woody’s coal-holders. We do this to keep our present day tribe warm, fed, and informed.

Sometimes it gets real cold out there (Have you noticed?) and it seems like a chilly wind is just going to blow us all off the map.

A lot of people are feeling the effects of the chill; no food, no shelter, no singing, no rights. And other people are chilling inside; no warmth, no joy, no song, no tribe.

Coal-holders are real important right now!

They will be the ones who will make it possible to build the next fire. They will be the ones to serve up our next hot meal or our next warm talk. And though it seems that there are no bonfires burning just yet, I do feel that things are warming up!

- Nora Guthrie and everyone here!


Do you think God created the universe and then just disappeared? God speaks to us every minute of every day. Most of us are listening to so much background noise that we don’t hear him at all. In the recent tragedy involving coal miners, God was all over the place. 13 miners trapped, 12 lost their lives and 1 survived. Go look up 12 around 1 on the internet. How many disciples including Jesus were there? The 12 who lost their lives spent their last minutes writing letters to their families and loved ones. Letters of faith and love. “I’ll see you on the other side” – “It’s just like going to sleep”. Coal miners are the backbone of this country. They are the real Americans, the ones who work hard at dangerous jobs. And they have been victims of heinous “big business” tycoons who have treated them worse than dirt. But they survived and continue to bring that coal up from the depths of the earth. They are some of the most heroic people in this land. And sometimes they reach for the stars like Homer Hickam http://www.homerhickam.com/miners/

God wants us to know that he is always with us, and to remember that “We are the Coal Holders”. And the world needs us now, light up your fire, get that coal hot, sing it out to the world. Sing it!

In the words of Woody Guthrie -

Heaven

It’s after my work tired and weary, I lay down to rest my eyes,
I see this world change in a whirlwind and heaven flies down from the skies;
I see rising up from my wreckage, cities and mansions so bright
I see my friends eyes and their faces lit up with a bright shining light.

I walk through the sunshiny factory where dresses and shirts are both clean;
A brother and sister are singing at work as they watch all the wheels;
No smudge clouds of smoke hid my valley, my sight it is clear for miles;
The mountains are all dancing happy, the trees are waving me smiles.

There are no sickly faces about me, the children are healthy and gay;
Not one homeless soul is around me, not lost, nor cripple, nor lame;
The street laid in finest of plastics, the atom is laboring as well;
No airships are crashing here by me, no dead ones in burning hotels.

No fast cars collide nor turn over, no death curve along my new road;
No cheaters, no gamblers, no robbers, no graveyard, no prisons, no jails;
No gasbombs, no brass knucks, no billies, no battles ‘tween worker and boss;
No patrolman, no officer, policeman, to ride into crowds on his horse.

The last labor battles are ended, they’re shown on the screen and the page;
The workhand is happy at building his world like the play on his stage;
Profiteers are gone and forgotten, except in my history and book,
My friends all have jobs here in heaven and sing as I stand here and look.

I am sawing the finest made fiddle, I am touching the richest skin drum;
I am blowing the sweetest of woodwinds and blowing the deepest of horns;
I dance to my music I’m making, and the world joins in with my dance;
Science and hope cures the fevers, not one grain is blowing by chance.

Every hand works in hand with the other, and not for power nor greed;
Every hand works to its fullest ability and is paid in its deepest of need;
No cancer, no tuberculosis, no paralysis nor asylums are here
No bowery, nor skid row of homeless, no eye that is blinded by tears.

If you can only see with me this vision of heaven I dreamed,
Then you can take new faith in working with comrades and friends
And when I woke up from my sleeping and looked down my raggedy street,
I go back to work with my vision and I drink down the bitter and sweet.

I know as you hear such a dream, friend, you will not pass it along;
I do not expect you to sing it as I do, nor to sing such a curious song;
I wrote down this song for my own self, and sing it now to my own soul,
But if you’ll sing songs of your dreamings, then you will reap treasures untold.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Row, Row, Row Your Boat


Row, Row, Row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream……….

Anne Sexton : Life into Art

A story, a story!
(Let it go. Let it come.)
I was stamped out like a Plymouth fender
into this world.
First came the crib
with its glacial bars.
Then dolls
and the devotion to their plastic mouths.
Then there was school,
the little straight rows of chairs,
blotting my name over and over,
but undersea all the time,
a stranger whose elbows wouldn't work.
Then there was life
with its cruel houses
and people who seldom touched -
though touch is all-
but I grew,
like a pig in a trenchcoat I grew,
and then there were many strange apparitions,
the nagging rain, the sun turning into poison
and all of that, saws working through my heart,
but I grew, I grew,
and God was there like an island I had not rowed to,
still ignorant of Him, my arms and my legs worked,
and I grew, I grew,
I wore rubies and bought tomatoes
and now, in my middle age,
about nineteen in the head I'd say,
I am rowing, I am rowing
though the oarlocks stick and are rusty
and the sea blinks and rolls
like a worried eyeball,
but I am rowing, I am rowing,
though the wind pushes me back
and I know that that island will not be perfect,
it will have the flaws of life,
the absurdities of the dinner table,
but there will be a door
and I will open it
and I will get rid of the rat inside of me,
the gnawing pestilential rat.
God will take it was his two hands
and embrace it.

As the African says:
This is my tale which I have told,
if it be sweet, if it be not sweet,
take somewhere else and let some return to me.
This story ends with me still rowing.

- "Rowing" by Anne Sexton, from The Awful Rowing Towards God

This rowing is very hard. Just when I think I have everything figured out. I realize I don't. And then the hardest part is I realize I am all alone. I can't bring anybody with me. I have to row this boat all alone.

I have been hitting my daughters over the head with all the wonderful new things I have discovered. Filled with enlightment and joy, I just want them to get on the boat with me. Go here, read this, listen to this. A shock to realize that they weren't listening at all. Then I had a vision of my little girl self patiently nodding my head to my mother who loved and strived her whole life to be what she thought God wanted her to be, and tried to make me come with her. My eyes glazed over, my ears grew plugs. Nodding my head, yes mother dear. But the whole time not listening at all. And I realize now that I can't make my daughters get in the boat with me. Only I can row, and row, and row.

It's lonely.

And now I realize, my mother was too.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Are you Alive?



Santa brought me a very unexpected gift this Christmas. He helped me find the hidden doorways to the secret of my very own being.

I discovered that I was asleep, and a journey has begun. A journey to discover my heart.

Just like Jules Verne in a Journey to the Center of the Earth. I have embarked on a journey to the center of me. Into my own earth or heart.

And with each new day I feel more alive than I ever have. I feel the earth and stars as they move. I feel myself dancing with them in this lovely game of life.

Each day brings me more magical discoveries. Old things become new treasures that I find along the way. I collect books and I become so attached to them that I find it hard to part with any of them.

One that I have kept and treasured for many years is "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury. How wonderful to go back and find this treasure, and read it now with new eyes. Here is a link to someone who says it much better than I ever could. Link