Symbiosis

Scientist James Lovelock suggests Gaia, the place we call home, is generating the conditions for life of which human beings are a subspecies in the abundant diversity of nature. Life is further described by Lynn Margulis as a conversation, in other words she would say development is community ecology and evolution is community ecology over time. This is symbiosis, it's life as we know it (or ought to know it!), it's all about cooperation, interplay and the dance. Earth and life upon it is indivisible.

The questions that challenges those at the frontier, on the transformative edge, is how to describe something new with a language that is old? Or maybe it's the other way round life and symbiosis is not new, it's the everything. What's relatively new in this scene is homos sapiens and from there the use of language. So really the challenge is how to describe something old with a language that is new. Not only that, but how to participate, contribute and keep journeying on the invisible path whilst resisting dominant thought collectives that are unbalanced, rigid and too often violent?

Sometimes the metaphors needed to describe our new and emerging understanding of life are yet to be born from our creative universal consciousness. Nevertheless we must continue because in flowing in the dance new ways of being are possible. Be watchful in this process for loneliness, abandonment, and disapproval. The invisible path, unseen by the many, brings us back into community, into harmony and affinity with all life. Language can be tricky, it is not always necessary, sometimes silence is enough. Listen to the silence to know the invisible path, to feel a part of the community ecology, to sense your place of healing and to reconnect to the web of life.

Personal values and their relationship with wider society mores ...

Here are some word's on the subject of personal values and their relationship with wider society mores. As you read them you maybe reminded of your own lessons from life;

"I never succeeded in learning much from my school lessons, but with living I learned well ...
I learned that injustice is endemic and is usually made acceptable by being carefully ensconced in tradition.
I learned that all people respond to stories that elevate the human spirit and appeal to our deeper sensibilities.
I learned that without courage and without risk life will pass like sand between our fingers.
I learned that the wild places, the animals, the clouds and the small streams have in them a magic that can heal and comfort.
I learned that friends, true friends, are more powerful than the worst enemy and more valuable than almost anything.
I learned that persistence, the absolute determination never to give up, never to lose hope, never to succumb to cynicism, will always eventually lead to attainment.
I learned that nothing is worse or more dangerous to a man or the world he inhabits than believing beauty be anything less than a goddess.
I learned that I did not have to participate in a world of mortgages, pensions, cars, tedious work and boring relationships.
I learned that in giving we do truly receive, and that to belong we must serve something bigger than ourselves.
I learned that the worst slavery exists in peoples minds and their unwillingness to be self-critical.
I learned that I could have adventure, could love beautiful women, could love children, could find meaning, fulfillment, and joy.
.... if, if, if, if, if ... [I] took a course for the unknown." (p.36)

For more of Mac's story on the invisible path take a look at his book.

Straw Bale House

This straw bale hobbit house was built in woodland in Wales. It took 4 months to create and cost about £3,000. I love it. What an amazing home. My new New Year's resolution is to learn how to build one. Wow, the thought of being able to live in my own home, built out of natural materials and in harmony with nature blows me away. For more info check the link http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

Possibly the Best Christmas Music Video EVER!!!

Ouch! I'm getting a very bad 1980's haircut flashback and need to go and lie down for a while.

Copenhagen COP15

It's hard to wake up this morning and not be disappointed at what took place in Copenhagen. There must be, and are, positives to take from what happened. Obama named the need for trust. Trust between nations, trust between people. That there wasn't enough trust is possibly one of the contributing factors to the lack of agreement, the chaos and general failure to move forward on climate change. Obama also said the 'time for talk is over, it's now a time for action'. Well the world is watching. Not only that but if there are others like me, the world will move for change whether the politicians can negotiate and agree on targets, frameworks and policy's. Why? Because each of us knows what to do already and the time for waiting for a collective consensus, for a coalition of movement, for everyone to stand up and be counted together is over. We each have our own sense of knowing what to do, go do it! And as for COP15, the IMF, WTO, Davos, World Bank - it all may simply become irrelevant.

Hugo Chavez, took the time to look out the window at the conference centre, he could sense the seen and the unseen around him and this is what he said:



Barak Obama spent 13 hours at Copenhagen and this is what he said:



And finally Naomi Klein, activist and writer, observed Hilary Clinton in action and this is what she said:



We could get ourselves tied up in knots trying to figure out what the above and other well intentioned politicians, negotiators and commentators are talking about in an effort to determine what to do - or we can each go do what we know we need to do. Don't wait for someone else to tell you what to do!

Chuckie Chick gets festive and is visited by a beautiful golden angel ...

Oh the weather outside is delightful

And the fire inside is frightful,

All Chuckie chick wants to do is,

Play in snow,

Play in snow,

Play in snow!

Astonishing the Gods

"Do you realise that you know more than you think you know? Do you realise that if you use all you know, and all the possibilities within you, that there is almost nothing that you can't do? More serious than that is this fact: if you use more than you know that you know, the world will be as paradise. What we know compared to what we don't know is like a grain of sand compared to a mountain. But what we don't know, our unsuspected possibilities, is immense in us. That is our true power and kingdom. When nations do amazing things, that is because they create from what they know. And that is a lot. When they do extraordinary things, that is because they create from places in themselves they didn't suspect were there. But when a nation or individual creates things so sublime - in a sort of permanent genius of inventiveness and delight - when they create things so miraculous that they are not seen or noticed or remarked upon by even the best minds around, then that is because they create always from the vast unknown places within them. They create always from beyond. They make the undiscovered places and infinities in them their friend. They live on the invisible fields of their hidden genius. And so their most ordinary achievements are always touched with genius. Their most ordinary achievements, however, are what the world sees, and acclaims. But their most extraordinary achievements are unseen, invisible, and therefore cannot be destroyed. This endures forever. Such is the dream and reality of this land. I speak with humility."

- Ben Okri, 1999, Astonishing the Gods, Phoenix, London, pp.51-52 -

Thou Gaia Art I

the earth quivers wherever I go

in these zones of ripeness,

and sends out gentle visible waves --

through all things it vibrates in me,

wherever I happen to be

on the drifting floes --

you are the riddle under my feet

the depth in me, wherever I am

you are everywhere --

for Thou Gaia Art I

- Heide Gottner-Abendroth -

Gaia: Goddess of our Time?

Whole Earth from the moon, Apollo mission 1968

"If we stand back from this pageant, and try to see a pattern in the progression of human history and the evolution of consciousness, we might seek help from the philosopher Owen Barfield. In his book Saving the Appearances, Barfield distinguishes three stages in this pattern which he calls ‘Original Participation,’ ‘Withdrawal of Participation’ and ‘Final Participation.’ The first, earliest, stage is the goddess-oriented, hunting, gathering and agricultural phase of human evolution, which enacts what he calls ‘original participation,’ and which he defines as ‘the sense that there stands behind the phenomena and on the other side of them from man, a represented which is of the same nature as man.’ (11) What this means is that nature and humanity did not stand in opposition and did not, therefore, have to be apprehended by different modes of cognition. In the goddess myths all creation shared in the sacredness of the source because all creatures were the children of the Mother, created from the same substance, and all related to each other in a non-hierarchical way. There followed the second stage of the pattern, initiated by the myths of the god whose transcendent divinity orders from beyond creation, by the breath, the word, or the moulding of the clay. This could be characterized by the long process of collective withdrawal of numinosity, or immanent divinity, from nature, and the dissolution of the human bond with nature - setting the outer and the inner world free from each other, so that each could be explored separately. This polarizes humanity and nature - nature becomes an other, an object without soul or spirit - an ‘it’ - as ‘it’ has been for the last three thousand years. Now, he says, is the time for what he calls ‘final participation,’ which recreates the old participative relation to nature, but in an entirely new way: through the Imagination. This involves a dual relation to nature, one in which our contemporary experience of nature as separate from us is honoured but transformed by a conscious act of participation in which our essential identity with nature is experienced at a new level. This would be, in the language of the image, the Sacred Marriage of Goddess and God which brings forth the Child, the new imaginative whole. So the world becomes again a Thou, but a Thou within a poetic vision, honoured through choice and love.
It seems possible to make sense of the resurgence of ‘Gaia’ through this pattern. For when Gaia was the Great Mother Earth and clothed in numinosity, humanity was her child, and participated in her immanent divinity. This was the last of ‘original participation.’ After the long process of opposing and, in this century, despoiling nature, it may be that our images are moving us towards the creation of a new mythology, ‘the mythology of this unifed Earth as of one harmonious being.’ ‘Gaia’ as a metaphor, still bearing the memory of the Goddess yet inspiring us through the imagination, may yet be returning us to the sacredness of Earth who ‘gives life and takes life away.’ This is the ‘final participation’ of which Barfield speaks, as configured in the words of a modern poet, in an anthology entitled Return of the Great Goddess: ‘...for Thou, Gaia, Art I’. (12)"

Jules Cashford GAIA: AN IMAGE FOR OUR TIME? Article for Caduceus, 1997.
http://www.julescashford.com/

Turtle Totem

The turtle has one home in the swirl of water and emotion and another in the steady grounding of the earth. In some traditions the turtle represents mother earth and is the personification of goddess energy. Mother earth is all we need. She will care for us, protect us and nurture us if we do the same for her. The turtle has a shell on her back for protection and to carry her home wherever she maybe.

North America is often referred to as Turtle Island by the indigenous peoples. The turtle can teach us to slowdown and go with the flow. To be careful in new situations and to be patient in reaching our goals. The turtle often shows up in our lives when it is time to retreat into our shells to give us time to consider our ideas and plans until we are ready to express them. In this way turtle teaches us to be adaptable and to find harmony from within.

The turtle may suggest you need to ask yourself the questions; am I seeing as I should? am I hearing as I should? Pay attention to ensure you do not miss opportunities.

No compass can orientate me here, only a pledge to love and walk the terrifying distances before me.

"For the next few miles I simply walk through the pastoral country of Chelser Park, Meadows of serenity. This landscape will take care of me. The open expanse of sky makes me realise how necessary it is to live without words, to be satisfied without answers, to simply be in a world where there is no wind, no drama. To find a place of rest and safety, no matter how fleeting it may be, no matter how illusory, is to regain composure and locate bearings. Picking up stones, I find myself adding to cairns."

Terry Tempest Williams (1995) Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape, pantheon Books, New York, p.12.

Statute of Woman and Man

Article I.
It is decreed
that life now has value,
that truth now has value,
and that offering our hands
we will all work
for true life.

Article II.
It is decreed
that all the days of the week,
including the grayest of Tuesdays,
have the right to become
Sunday mornings.

Article III.
It is decreed that,
from this very instant,
there will be sunflowers in all the windows,
that the sunflowers have the right
to open within the shadow;
and that the windows must remain open
all day for the green
where hope grows.

Article IV:
It is decreed that man*
never more will need
to doubt man.
That man will trust in man
as the palm tree trusts in the wind,
as the wind trusts in the air,
as the air trusts in the blue field
of the sky.

Man will trust in man
as a child trusts in another child.

Article V.
It is decreed that men will be free from the yoke of lies.
Nevermore will it be necessary to use
the shield of silence
or the armor of words.
Man shall sit at the table
with a clear gaze,
for the truth will be served
before dessert.

Article VI.
It is established,
for ten centuries,
the practice dreamed by the prophet Isaías,
and the wolf and the sheep will graze together
and the food of both will taste of dawn.

Article VII.
By irrevocable decree,
the everlasting kingdom
of justice and clarity
is hereby established.
And joy will be a generous flag
forever raised
In the soul of the people.

Article VIII.
It is decreed
that the greatest pain
has always been and always will be
not being able to give love
to whom you love,
knowing that it's water
Who gives the plant
the miracle of the flower.

Article IX.
It is hereby permitted
that the daily bread
have in man the sign of his sweat.
But above all
that it always have
The warm taste
of tenderness.

Article X.
It is hereby permitted
to any person,
At any hour of life,
The use of the white dress.

Article XI.
It is decreed,
by definition,
that man
is an animal who loves,
and that for that reason is beautiful,
much more beautiful
than the morning star.

Article XII.
It is decreed that nothing
will be obligatory or banned.
Everything will be permitted,
even playing with rhinoceroses
and walking in the afternoons
with an immense begonia in the lapel.

Only one thing is prohibited:
to love without love.

Article XIII.
It is decreed that money
nevermore will be able to buy the sun
of future mornings.
Expelled from the great coffer of fear,
money will be transformed
into a fraternal sword
in order to defend the right to sing
and the feast of the day that dawned.

Final Article
It is hereby forbidden
to use the word Freedom,
which will be excised from the dictionaries
and the treacherous swamp of mouths.
From this moment on
freedom will be something alive and transparent,
like fire or a river,
or like a seed of wheat
and its dwelling will forever be
the heart of man.

by the Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello (1964) translated from Portuguese to Spanish by Pablo Neruda and from Spanish to English by FTS.

* When you read or speak the word man also hear the word woman, in the sense of this poem it is my view there is no intended seperation.

The Unconscious Unknown

"Psychoanalyse helped me to understand some of the roots to taking an inner life properly seriously. And saying it is after all the thing from which all the rest emerges. Even though the work does not give it biographical space in the same way perhaps other artists do, it's that curious balance of saying without it it's nothing, on the other hand it's not on display."

"There is this serious element of the unconscious operating in a lot of this. It seems to me that there’s no other reason to be an artist."

"If I know what I know and you know what you know and I tell you what I know, who cares?"

"My instinct is that making work is about, I’m daring to go to something I don’t know and hoping that in going where I don’t know, you the viewer can go where you don’t know too."

"The route to meaning may not be direct."

"Just as you can’t make something beautiful or set out to, you also can’t set out to make something spiritual. What you can do is recognise that it may be there. It normally has to do with not having too much to say. There seems to be space for the viewer and that’s something that we sometimes identify as being spiritual, and it’s all about space."

Quotes from BBC documentary Imagine on Anish Kapoor (2009)

Hebers Ghyll Net

" ... in the ultimate dimension there is no birth and death, beginning and end, this and that, being and non-being. The ultimate dimension cannot be described in words and notions that by there very nature serve to cut reality up into separate pieces.
Of course to communicate with others we have to use words, ideas and notions. In the end, however, we have to remove all these notions in order for the true understanding to be possible ... As long as we are caught in notions, ideas and words, we cannot arrive at true understanding and we will not reach the ultimate dimension.
Using the teaching of interpenetration we can unlock the door of reality and get rid of our notions concerning the world ... You don't have to go on a long journey to discover this. You don't have to meditate on many subjects to obtain this insight. If you can perceive deeply the true nature of any mental form, whether wholesome or unwholesome, you can reach full enlightenment. Just shed light on one thing and you can understand all that exists ... We don't need to learn everything. If we learn one thing deeply, we can understand all the teachings ... All we need to do is transform our forgetfulness into mindfulness." (p.19)

Thich Nhat Hanh (2009) Indra's Net, Resurgence, no.256, pp.18-19.

Journey into wholeness

"As we are all spirit beings having a human experience, perhaps it is time for us all to reclaim our power and awaken our own inner shaman or teacher? Everyone of us has the ability to communicate with Spirit in a myriad of ways. Although it is appropriate at times to seek assistance and advice from others as part of our growth and healing process, nothing and no one can make you better without your willing participation (both consciously and subconsciously) to release the cause of the problem. True healing involves uncovering the myth of who you are and what you are not. You could spend a lifetime searching externally for many things - perfect health, true love, lots of money, inner happiness, etc - to fill the void within and make you whole again. Yet, each and everyone of us has the potential to heal and be healed at anytime - the two go hand in hand, for when you heal another you heal yourself ... when you heal yourself you heal the world. There is no separation. Such is the wisdom of our ancestors, if we will only listen. " (p.17)

Karen Sawyer (2008) 'Healing the Soul: the way of the shaman', Caduceus, issue no.75, pp.14-17

Things I find on a typical walk. AKA - Unexplained mysteries ...?

1. Mushroom (foreground) disguised as a GHOST !

2. Bucket in a tree, random ?

3. Chuffer train on the bench to nowhere?

What can we do?

'The most important thing we can do in these times is manage our energies so that we can host and act from a position of peace and clarity.'

- Meg Wheatley -

the day chuckie chick became an emu

Sad times in the gardens of wheatlyness ... the jungle that had grown over the summer months was set upon by Seth and his voracious gardening tools!! No one or thing was spared, including the crest of chuckie chick, oops. Is he not happy about the new situation ... the garden got a brand new no.2 haircut and so did he. In the process he went from a chick to an emu look-a-likey, ho hum.

Just when I thought I knew which way to turn ... doh!

Here's summat to think about ...

“I've learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

- Maya Angelou -

Desiderata Updated

"Tread gently on anyone who looks at you sideways.Have lots of long lie-ins. Wear sturdy socks, learn to grow out of medium underwear and if you must lie about your age do it in the other direction:tell people you’re 97 and they’ll think you look fucking great. Try to catch a trout and experience the glorious feeling of letting it go and seeing it swimming away. Never eat food that comes in a bucket.If you don’t know how to meditate at least try to spend some time every day just sitting. Boo joggers. Don’t work out, work in. Play the banjo. Sleep with somebody you like. Eat plenty of liquorice allsorts. Try to live in a place you like. Marry somebody you like. Try to do a job you like. Never turn down an opportunity to shout ‘fuck them all!’ at the top of your voice. Avoid bigots of all descriptions. Let your bed become to you what the Pole Star was to sailors of old… look forward to it. Don’t wear tight underwear on aeroplanes. Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? He’s a mile away and you’ve got his shoes. Clean your teeth and keep the company of people who will tell you when there’s spinach on them. Avoid people who know the answer. Keep the company of people who are trying to understand the question. Don’t pat animals with sneaky eyes. If you haven’t heard a good rumour by 11am, start one. Learn to feel sorry for music because, although it is the international language, it has no swearwords; if you don’t count Wagner which in my opinion is one long one and should be avoided at all cost. If you write a book, be sure it has exactly 74 ‘fucks’ in it. Send Hieronymous Bosch prints to elderly relatives for Christmas. Avoid giving LSD to guide dogs. Don’t be talked into wearing a uniform. Salute nobody. Campaign against blue smarties. Above all, go to Glasgow at least once in your life and have a roll and square sliced sausage and a cup of tea. When you feel the tea coursing over your spice singed tongue,you’ll know what I mean when I say ‘It’s good to be alive!’ "

- Billy Connolly -

She's got a point ...

"Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers.

You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely.

All you really have that really matters are feelings.

That's what music is to me."

- Quote attributed to Janis Joplin -

To new beginnings ...

Stages

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence.
Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.

- hermann hesse -

Desiderata

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe; no less than the trees and the stars, you have the right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God whatever you conceive Her to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

- Max Ehrmann (1927) -

Muppet Fun

Thought for the day

To know as we are known

In Silence

“Traditional disciplines aim at revealing the prerational ground of our knowing and our living, the ground of love from which truth arises. As such they are alien to many academics, not simply because they are not practiced, but because the prerational always contains the risk of irrationality which academics rightly fear. But if we would teach a truth whose totality is beyond the mind’s capacity to capture or conceive we must risk disciplines that break the mind’s dominance. Even more we will find our rationality enriched and expanded by the power of prerational love. The risk we feel is not really the risk of error; it is the challenge of transformation that comes as we allow ourselves to be mastered by truth.” (p.117)

“The skillful anthropologist does not rush into a village imposing the received concepts of social science on its people and life patterns. Instead, he or she spends much time in silent, receptive listening for the other’s reality.” (p.120)

In Solitude

“We have hidden ourselves behind the barriers of impersonal knowledge because we do not want to be found out. The knowing self is full of darkness, distortion, and error; it does not want to be exposed and challenged to change. It seeks objectified knowledge in order to know without being known. If we can learn this lesson from the discipline of silence, we will be lead into the disciplines of solitude where this evasive knowing self can be brought out of hiding to be transformed by truth and love.” (p.121)

“Solitude opens us to the heart of love which makes community possible; life in community manifests the love we touch in solitude. Community requires solitude to renew its bonds; solitude requires community to express and test those bonds … most of us in our daily lives exist neither in solitude or community but somewhere in between … this is the vacuousness of mass society and of mass education … in this half-lived middle ground, our solitude is loneliness and our attempts at community are fleeting and defeating. We are alone in the crowd, unable to touch the heart of love in ourselves or to touch others in ways that draw out the heart." (p.122)

"Community, I have claimed, is the nature of reality, the shape of our being … community is not the collective identity of the crowd that cancels out all selfhood. Nor is it a mystic merger into a single, cosmic self. Instead it is a network of relationships between individual persons, solitary selves, each with an identity and integrity … In solitude we come to know ourselves as we are, to know ourselves as we are known by love.” (p.122)

“In solitude we do not gain more knowledge of the world, about what is ‘out there’, but we gain something far more valuable; knowledge of what is ‘in here’, of who it is that knows … The entire objectivist agenda, which insists on locating all problems and solutions ‘out there’ somewhere … But as we face ourselves in solitude, we are slowly freed from the stranglehold of our dependencies and darkness and from the destructiveness of our objectifying life. “ (p.123)

“The freeing and healing discipline of solitude requires that we simply stay with it, confronting ourselves with patience, bearing the pain that comes as we withdraw our projections from the world and find their source in ourselves. As we do so, solitude eventually offers a quiet gift of grace, a gift of acceptance, of compassion, for who we are, as we are. As we allow ourselves to be known in solitude, we discover that we are known by love.” (p.124)

Parker J. Palmer (1993) To know as we are known: education as a spiritual journey, HarperOne, New York.

This week

You don’t have to keep doing the same old same old.
Move towards more of what you love.
Move towards more of what you want.
You only have to agree to change.
Everything around you will then start to shift.
Profound change is ultimately incremental and process orientated.
Radical change happens when incremental change stops working.
Expect radical change.
The more you live in your authentic soul’s life, in your heart’s desire,
The better it is for everyone.
Action taken under stress relieves stress.
Stand in a loving place and speak your truth.
Speak of your hopes.
Speak of your fears.
Love yourself.
And be kind to others in your story.
Get ready to clear out what is not needed.
Carry your hopes and your dreams.
Action taken under stress relieves stress.
We are each responsible for our own lives and outcomes.
Our souls are aching for us to be true.
True to our dreams, our visions, our hopes.
What is your soul aching for?
Take a tiny step towards it.
Let go of the things in the past you no longer need,
And go for your dreams.
Talk to the souls of other people.
Talk to your own soul.
The mess is causing the fears.
It is the mess we are afraid of.
Start to take steps to clear the mess.
You needs aren’t many.
You are not asking for the world.
You need to take care of yourself.
You need to help your soul get to where it wants to go.
Action taken under stress relieves stress.
Take a stand for yourself.
Take action to move towards the change you want.
It doesn’t have to be a big change.
It does mean you have to stand in your truth.
Yes it’s that easy.
If you continue to stand in your truth,
You will continue to change the world.
You have to take action to move past the wound.
Don’t be afraid.
Take action.
There before you is a fork in the road.
You are going to have to choose whether
You evolve, stay the same or devolve.
Stand in a quiet place where you can hear you soul’s whispers.
Say yes to give yourself permission to move towards your dream.

Thirty Three Tiger Facts

1. Tigers are the largest of the big cats.
2. Wild tigers are at the very top of the food chain.
3. There were originally eight subspecies of tiger, the Javan, the Bali, the Caspian, the Indochinese, the Sumatran, the Bengal, the Siberian, and the South China tiger.
4. Unbelievably three of the eight subspecies are now extinct. The Bali tiger met its demise in the 1940's, the Caspian in the 1970's and the Javan in the 1980's. (Yes you read that right--the 1980's!)
5. The tiger is the most endangered species of big cats.
6. Tigers are an umbrella species, which means to save the wild tiger we must also commit to saving its habitat and prey.

7. It is impossible to count how many tigers are left in the wild but experts estimate there to be less than 6000.
8. The tigers saliva is antiseptic and comes in handy for cleaning their wounds.
9. An adult wild tiger is a solitary animal and will establish its own territory, which can cover over 100 square miles.
10. A tiger will circumnavigate its territory every few days.

11. Tiger stripes are individually as unique as the human finger print.
12. The tigers most developed sense is its hearing.
13. A tiger can spend up to eighteen hours sleeping.
14. Tigers can swim and like to cool down by sitting neck deep in water holes.
15. Tiger cubs are blind at birth.
16. Tiger cubs can stay with their mother for up to 2-3 years.
17. Tigers do not purr.
18. Like the domestic cat the tigers claws are retractable.
19. A tiger's night vision is six times greater than a humans.
20. Most tigers are orange with black stripes and a white underbelly and jowl.

21. The tiger is revered in Chinese mythology and is said to have magical powers.
22. Yin and Yang is sometimes represented by a Yin tigress and a Yang dragon.
23. It is believed that when a tiger dies its spirit enters the ground and becomes amber.
24. It is also believed in Chinese mythology that the tiger can take human form.
25. Tiger populations are being cut off as their territories shrink and the corridors which join them together are being destroyed.
26. The demise of the tiger is due to loss of habitat and the use of tiger parts in traditional Chinese medicines.
27. Tiger parts are also used as trophies, trinkets and aids to ward off evil spirits.
28. The main users of illegal animal derivatives are, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.
29. Tiger powders and potions can be bought all over the USA, Europe and the UK.

30. There are now more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild.
31. The tiger has only one predator...MAN!
32. A group of tigers is called a Streak.
33. Tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre, the fruit of the Slow Match Tree being favoured.

A message from an indigenous Elder

"If you're coming to help us,
don't waste your time.
But if you're coming because your
liberation is bound up with ours,
then let us work together."

Could this message apply to any collaboration
between any forms of living matter?
What would happen it we all could find
a point of co-existence, whatever that maybe.

As Satish Kumar says, "You are therefore I am".
Without you what am I?
I need you as much as you need me.

What is your view on education?

"I think the great thing is to awaken the child, the mind of the child, the imagination of the child, to give it a light, to respect, not spoil, its own identity, and it will soon finds its way, because life itself is a process of educating the universe. Well, that is not the modern trend, it's all to rational now, and of course this is not education, it is blinding, this hubris of the mind, of the rational. It is a kind of not loving, of not caring. When the human being loses interest in the child, s/he is in great peril because more and more children are being thrown into schools, into the hands of professionals. People give them money and material things instead of giving them what they want - our love and imagination. That is, awakening their imaginations to the experience of love. Once you've done that you can leave it, it will take care of itself. The education of the parents is really the education of the child: children tend to live what is unlived in the parents, so it is vital that parents should be aware of their inferior, their dark side and should press on getting to know themselves. To the extent to which they emancipate their shadows, they set their children free to be themselves. So in this sense, it is the education or re-education of the parents which should be our main concern."

- Laurens van der Post - A Walk with a White Bushman - 1986 penguin Books, p.49 -

Finding our destiny, as explained by Paulo Coelho

OK, let me state upfront, generally I enjoy reading Paulo Coelho, however, the other day I get a Warrior of the Light email written by Paulo on the subject of having patience and courage to wait for your life's purpose, your destiny to be revealed. This I am ok with, but his story to support his claim I am less easy with. Apparently "our destiny is manifesting itself in a way we are not able to fully comprehend. Jorge Luís Borges wrote a masterly short story about this issue. He describes the birth of a tiger that spends a great part of its life in the African wildness but ends up being captured and taken to a zoo in Italy. From then on, the animal thinks his life has lost sense and there is nothing left to do but wait for the day he dies. One fine day, poet Dante Alighieri passes by this zoo, looks at the tiger, and the animal inspires a verse – in the midst of thousands of verses – of "The Divine Comedy." "The entire battle for survival that tiger went through was only so that it could be at the zoo on that morning and inspire an immortal verse,” says Borges."

Someone please explain to me why a tiger should lead a life so far removed from its innate nature and might I humbly add its purpose (destiny) so that one human being, even if they happen to be a person of huge poetic presence, can wander by and be inspired to write a verse on purgatory or hell for the benefit of other human beings. How anthropocentric is that???? First why can't Dante use his vast imagination or might I add his or someone else's life experience to inspire his poetry? Two, if you asked a tiger what they would chose; death or a zoo? - hum, I'll leave you decide on that one. Three, the tiger's battle for survival, for what, to be the walking dead for another day in a zoo - am I missing something here? I can't see how any form of cruelty or incarceration of an animal for human entertainment or even for the purpose of transcendent poetry is valid. The tiger has a far greater intrinsic right to be left alone to be a tiger, whatever that might be, than to serve some human benefit (in my opinion).

Ulysses

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known,-- cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honor'd of them all,--
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
to whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,--
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me,--
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads,-- you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

- Alfred Tennyson -
First Published 1842

If I get another text asking me how do I feel .... ggggrrrrr!!!

Sometimes I hate texts and emails. It means no eye contact, no body language, no listening to tone or intonation and no touch. It is such a one dimensional form of communication.

The short diplomatic answer to the above question is, "I'm doing fine thanks." Which means fuck all. In cricket terms that is like dotting the ball. It's the blandest of the bland.

The long honest answer to the above questions is, "I'm not feeling my best, no strike that I'm fucked off and angry. A week of being on my own is lonely. A week feeling ill with a possible case of swine flu has left me physically wiped out and without much energy. A week feeling rubbish and not seeing anyone makes me unhappy.

As I know only too well this time will pass. I was reminded by a good friend to 'sit tight', wait, more has to happen before it is possible move on. Aaaahhhhhh, a hate being betwix and between, especially when I don't feel so good.

To quote the last three lines of a very timely and accurate poem called 'Going Wild' by Maryse Arnold;
"Fuck being reasonable
it's too late for that
i'm going wild."

Playtime Anyone?

It's scary ... but worth it! I think ...??? Ask me again in a few more months.

What does the not knowing have to teach us?

As Richard Rohr describes in his article titled 'Grieving as Sacred Space' - the opposite of control is not non-control or giving up. The opposite of control is actually participation - he calls it "the contemplative stance." What Rohr means by liminal is the space betwixt and between. It is when you have left the "tried and true" but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are finally out of the way. It is when you are in between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer. It is no fun.

IF YOU ARE NOT trained in how to hold anxiety, how to live with ambiguity, how to entrust and wait-you will run-or more likely you will "explain." Not necessarily a true explanation, but any explanation is better than scary liminal space. Anything to flee from this terrible "cloud of unknowing." Those of a more fear-based nature will run back to the old explanations. Those who love risk or hate thought will often quickly construct a new explanation where they can feel special and again in control. Few of us know how to stay on the threshold. You just feel stupid there-and we are all trying to say something profound these days.

EVERYTHING GENUINELY NEW emerges in some kind of liminal space. It feels aimless: "Which group do I belong to? What side do I take in the conversation?" One risks looking not just stupid but actually uncaring or unaware if one does not take sides. One should have a meaningful place to stand, after all. It does settle a bit of the dust, the floating dust of fear and anxiety. It is a hard place to be-a narrow road that few walk. It is so humiliating and unsettling these days to neither wave the unifying flag nor have a clear answer either-even about the flag waving.

TRUE SACRED SPACE grounds us around one undeniable Reference Point that is bigger and beyond any of us. It is the "tree of life", the axis mundi of all primitive peoples. This magnetic north is never doubted in sacred space, even if it cannot always be named, accessed, or even understood. Such alignment situates us correctly in the universe-with a clear reference point outside the individual ego, the cultural mood, and one's passing feelings. Sacred space is by definition liminal space. Because we are not in control and not the center, something genuinely new can happen. Here we are capable of seeing something beyond self-interest, self-will, and security concerns. True sacred space allows an alternative consciousness to emerge.

WE MUST TEACH people not to get rid of the pain until we have learned what it has to teach us. Not what it has to teach others! This is liminal and transformative space. Much of our understandable anger is actually disguised and denied sadness. Life should not be this way, but it always has been for most of humanity.

THE PREFERRED LANGUAGE of both the Christian and the Muslim mystics is the language of darkness. They are most at home in the realm of not-knowing. Often, therefore, it was called "luminous darkness." In such darkness, things are more spacious, freer, and more open to creative response.

Listen, for example, to Hafiz, the Persian poet mystic:

Don't surrender your loneliness
So quickly.
Let it cut more deep.

Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can.

Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
My voice
So tender,

My need of God
Absolutely
Clear.

So instead of giving people answers, of being drawn into the problem-solution disempowerment trap, lead people to the dilemmas of life, to their threshold of non-control, to the point of participation.

For more on this article click on http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1266.htm

Please don't put people in boxes ... it's not big and it's not clever!

"The variety of human nature is so great that we do a profound disservice to the human race and our culture by thinking that with a quick and convenient label we can explain a person in their entirety. People are not 'in boxes,' yet they must cultivate their awareness of mind, body and spirit to reach their full potential and expand their consciousness enough to make positive contributions to the world."

- Thom Hartmann (2004) The Prophet's Way: A guide to living in the now, Park Street Press, Vermont, p. 180 -

Too tired for a tiger !!!

In life there is

a time to work,

a time to eat,

a time to play,

a time to rest and

most importantly

a time to sleep.

The trick is to know

when each time has come.

Loss

The pain is so visceral and real
It knocks me off my feet and
My knees weaken and fall away
Beneath me as my body sinks
Inexorably to the ground below.

My hands touching the soft wet
Ground grasp at the leaves
For the purchase that might steady
My shaking body, as my soul
Spirals into a blackened confusion.

Lost in its own anguish, screaming
Its own agonies in the unanswerable
Cross examination of the mind,
My physical body abandons itself to the
Emotional realm in an endless continuum

Of turmoil, wrecking waves of
Anxiety over my psyche time and
Time again, as distant thoughts echo
In and out of reality trying to rescue
Me from the abyss they call insanity.

Whilst wrestling the never-ending darkness
I cannot cede the fight to this loss.
At my core, the essence of my being
All that remains is that lonely fight
Back to the light of living and life.

To go on is not a betrayal of love
Nor does it deny the past its
Rightful place in my memories. Of all that
Has been and all that will come
What does remain true is love.

Love is ...

Love is where
Where is Love

Love is here
Here is Love

Love is when
When is love

Love is now
Now is love

Love is what
What is love

Love is you
You are love

Love is why
Why is love

Love is all
All is love

Love is how
How is love

Love is being
Being love

Love is …

What did I learn today?

I have learnt that there are times when I need to ...

step up my game,
reach out,
stay focused,
pull up my sleeves,
take a different path,
show a little heart,
smile,
stand up and be counted,
take one for the team,
dig deeper,
and deeper again,
listen to the hard to hear stuff,
be humble, less proud,
ask for help,
keep going,
and see it through to the end.

There are unexpected
and unforeseen rewards to be found
around the corner,
always.

Oh yeah and really importantly,
say thank you.

THANK YOU

Whoever said sport isn't an art form, hasn't seen this ...

Move over Damien Hirst ... Vaughanie's moving in!

Butterfly days are not here just yet ...

"Take time to Sit Quietly. Connect to your higher soul. Breathe. It will calm down inside if you know every thing happening around you is all part of your path and all part of the process of becoming. Think about a cute little caterpillar ~ it you told her that she was going to weave a cocoon, and tuck herself into it and evolve, she'd probably say, Nope, not me, I don't wanna do it. Literally, the caterpillar dissolves itself, it’s stout little solid body and loses a bunch of legs into a bunch of gooky, sticky DNA juice and protoplasm while in the cocoon. It reconstitutes itself (after a while) as a winged butterfly, less legs, lighter on its feet and with a whole new diet ~ pollen instead of leaves.

The forces taking place now are the forces of evolution in your life, similar to the butterfly. Like that caterpillar, you are in the process of evolving. You are on the middle part where you let go of the old life and the new life isn't here yet. It can feel like a gooky, sticky mess of protoplasm inside your cocoon or world. The butterfly is not yet formed BUT you can't go back to being a caterpillar any more either. You have to trust the process and keep moving forward.

Focus on the THINGS YOU ARE CLEAR ABOUT, that is the path through the process of change. The parts you are NOT clear about, put those in a pile in the corner and don‘t worry about them. Easier said than done, I know, but that is the best approach to take with the unclear pile.

The BEST thing to do is to distract your MIND and give it some tasks it can focus on (see, do and work on the stuff you are CLEAR about). Even if all your mind can focus on is how nervous and anxious you are ~ see how your fingers are nervous and drum, how your leg wiggles or you feel short of breath. Distract that busy and crazed working mind of yours with a job to do to keep it focused on what it CAN do something about rather than the uncertainty before it.

You DO have to work to both create and see the underlying story that supports your dream. It is a good week to keep your mouth shut and observe what other people say and do. You are going to see wounds and delusions flapping around all over the place. We all have wounds and delusions. This week, they are hanging out to dry on the wash line and the neighbors are talking.

So be gentle and kind with yourself and others this week. We are all combinations of gooky sticky protoplasm, brave bold dreamers, the heroes and heroines of our own life’s journey and hanging out on earth to help each other evolve as our wounds and delusions hang on the line to dry out. We are all going to be a bit of a mess. At the same time, we all know, with quite a bit of clarity, what we want (at least in some part of our life) for the next chapter. Move towards the clear part in your life. Put the stuff you don’t know what to do with in a pile. Give others hankies if they cry. (Gonna be a lot of tears this week). Say “there, there” and pat hands as needed. Distribute hugs. Big, big evolutionary week. You are leaving caterpillar life behind (wave so long to it!) and moving toward becoming your own butterfly."

- Anne Ortelee - Interpreting the stars for this week -

The road not taken ...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost (1874 – 1963)

Message update ...

Did the other stuff wait? NOPE. Did the other stuff get in a truck? Kinda did for the best part of the day. Did it F*&£**g back up? In a manner of speaking, can you hear the beeps ... and see the boxes crashing down !!! The one small ask for the 'other stuff' to wait went unheeded ... joy unbound ... and the consequences were deeply unsettling to say the least, and yet not wanting to sound unappreciative or ungrateful for the lessons the Universe in it's ultimate wisdom is choosing to send my way, I know the 'other stuff' came from a place of love. Can I do without the judgement? YUP. Did I learn anything? SURELY DID ... good stuff too, although it may take awhile to sink in.

1. Think about what I want as opposed to what I don't want. We're back to the dopeness versus the wackness.

2. Separate stuff out, label it, put it on a shelf and bring things out one at a time.

3. Even when all around feels overwhelmingly rubbish, find the positives.

4. Be more aware of the consequences on others and act with greater responsibility.