"I have no quarrel with the Christ, only with his priests, who call the Great Goddess a demon and deny that she ever held power in this world.
At best, they say that her power was of Satan. Or else they clothe her in the blue robe of the Lady of Nazareth...
Truth has many faces and the truth is like the old road to Avalon; it depends on your own will, and your own thoughts, whither the road will take you, and whither, at the end, you arrive in the Holy Isle of Eternity, or among the priests with their bells and their death and their Satan and their Hell..."
-Marion Zimmer Bradley
Friday, December 30, 2005
Thomas Berry
Here is another good author. I just finished his book The Dream of The Earth.
It was Awesome.
"As a pioneer in the field of spirituality and ecology, Thomas Berry has created a quiet revolution. He is a monk, a cultural historian, an author, a teacher, and a mystic.
He sees his life work as waking us up to that sacred story. He calls us "mad" for the way we are despoiling our home, our planet, its beauty, and its living systems. He is a force that reminds us that we are living through the greatest extinction spasm of the past 65 million years. We are the ones responsible. Berry urges us to change our ways.
He reminds us that "we are not a collection of objects but a communion of subjects." His values are rooted in this sacred cosmology which includes the entire natural world. The mountains, rivers, birds, fish, all living organisms are not there for our use but for a union which is needed for us to become who we are. As Berry says, "I am not myself without everything else."
It was Awesome.
"As a pioneer in the field of spirituality and ecology, Thomas Berry has created a quiet revolution. He is a monk, a cultural historian, an author, a teacher, and a mystic.
He sees his life work as waking us up to that sacred story. He calls us "mad" for the way we are despoiling our home, our planet, its beauty, and its living systems. He is a force that reminds us that we are living through the greatest extinction spasm of the past 65 million years. We are the ones responsible. Berry urges us to change our ways.
He reminds us that "we are not a collection of objects but a communion of subjects." His values are rooted in this sacred cosmology which includes the entire natural world. The mountains, rivers, birds, fish, all living organisms are not there for our use but for a union which is needed for us to become who we are. As Berry says, "I am not myself without everything else."
Tibetan Monks
Happy Campers!!!!!!
The chanting of the Tibetan Monks is legendary. For centuries these devoted spiritualists have studied the art of meditation and vibrational medicine. They are masters of Mind-Body-Spirit principles.
They are so happy and fun loving! They find beauty and joy, and meaning in every little thing.
The depth of their chants is a truly moving experience. You can feel the sounds resonate right through the core of your being. It is awe inspiring to listen as they create multiple tones from deep in their chests.
One important principle of Buddhist meditation is to create an "Inner Smile". Try this. Set an intent of sending out compassion to everything and everyone you encounter, and hold that inner smile all through your day.
It takes a conscious effort and a degree of practice to keep it going all day, but this discipline will bring you great reward.
Namaste!
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Sam Harris
Sam Harris is the author of the international bestseller, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.
The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction.
Sam Harris is worth reading.
(My thanks to Adam Ash for recommending the book.)
The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction.
Sam Harris is worth reading.
(My thanks to Adam Ash for recommending the book.)
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Visions of Hope
The new year is here, and thus it is a time to reflect on the past,
and create visions of hope for the future.
I reflect here, on My Country.
We have divided and debated long enough.
My vision for the future is one of Unity.
Not unity of ideas, or beliefs, or politics,
Not a Unity of "Us" against "Them",
but simply the Unity of our constitutional foundation.
Let us join hands in The Great Melting Pot,
and celebrate our diversity.
Let us praise the Free exchange of ideas.
Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Speech
Freedom from Slavery
Let us pursue happiness in 2006,
and strive to build a better world for our children's, children's, children,
and beyond.
Let us each look into the eyes of our adversaries and search for common ground.
Let us fill our well with peaceful compassion from which all are welcome to drink,
and refuse to add fuel to the fires of hate.
We all want to win,
but win what,
and at what cost?
LOVE is the most powerful tool,
the most potent weapon,
the most meaningful path.
It requires the greatest of all discipline to do this.
LOVE is not a weapon for sissies, or cowards or hotheads.
It is the act of sheathing the sword in the face of the dragon,
of denouncing ego and pride.
More often than not, it requires the ultimate sacrifice.
Let us search for the hero's and heroines with the strength to wield Loves Power.
They are our great hope.
Let us find the hero within each beating heart
and create Visions of Hope for the future.
and create visions of hope for the future.
I reflect here, on My Country.
We have divided and debated long enough.
My vision for the future is one of Unity.
Not unity of ideas, or beliefs, or politics,
Not a Unity of "Us" against "Them",
but simply the Unity of our constitutional foundation.
Let us join hands in The Great Melting Pot,
and celebrate our diversity.
Let us praise the Free exchange of ideas.
Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Speech
Freedom from Slavery
Let us pursue happiness in 2006,
and strive to build a better world for our children's, children's, children,
and beyond.
Let us each look into the eyes of our adversaries and search for common ground.
Let us fill our well with peaceful compassion from which all are welcome to drink,
and refuse to add fuel to the fires of hate.
We all want to win,
but win what,
and at what cost?
LOVE is the most powerful tool,
the most potent weapon,
the most meaningful path.
It requires the greatest of all discipline to do this.
LOVE is not a weapon for sissies, or cowards or hotheads.
It is the act of sheathing the sword in the face of the dragon,
of denouncing ego and pride.
More often than not, it requires the ultimate sacrifice.
Let us search for the hero's and heroines with the strength to wield Loves Power.
They are our great hope.
Let us find the hero within each beating heart
and create Visions of Hope for the future.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Magical Moments
Last night it was was my turn to offer deep, prolonged, personal sacrifice to the Porceline God, after nursing my daughter through it the night before. In case it's been awhile, I must remind, that a certain coordination is required when one goes at this activity full tilt.
At the peak of my projectilepassions, the electricity went out.
Flashlights, candles, a family huddled around the fireplace for warmth;
telling stories,
making shaddow puppets,
and a really fun game with the whole family aiming thier flashlights for me each time I ran for the bathroom.
The juice came back on about three hours later. Dad and kids went off to bed. I stayed on the couch.
In the morning, I found my daughter sleeping on the floor next to me. She snuck out of bed with blanket and pillow because she felt that she should be near, to take care of me.
She put her hand on my forehead, gave me a cup of ice and said "Its almost over mommy. Tommorow your stomach will hurt, but you wont get sick any more. Here drink this."
"Thanks Doc." I replied with love and respect.
My son bounded down the stairs. "That was FUN in the dark last night! Can we do it again?"
At the peak of my projectilepassions, the electricity went out.
Flashlights, candles, a family huddled around the fireplace for warmth;
telling stories,
making shaddow puppets,
and a really fun game with the whole family aiming thier flashlights for me each time I ran for the bathroom.
The juice came back on about three hours later. Dad and kids went off to bed. I stayed on the couch.
In the morning, I found my daughter sleeping on the floor next to me. She snuck out of bed with blanket and pillow because she felt that she should be near, to take care of me.
She put her hand on my forehead, gave me a cup of ice and said "Its almost over mommy. Tommorow your stomach will hurt, but you wont get sick any more. Here drink this."
"Thanks Doc." I replied with love and respect.
My son bounded down the stairs. "That was FUN in the dark last night! Can we do it again?"
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
A Quantum Theory on Life
Do you know what’s great about Quantum Physics?
It brings together the ideas of religion, philosophy and science.
Quantum physics teaches that when we break up atoms to see what they are made of, we find these little energy blurbs called quarks. Quarks are made of pure energy. They are constantly blinking in and out. They might be blinking in and out of time, across the past and the future. They might be changing from positively charged energy to negatively charged energy. Or they might be blinking in and out of existence all together. We don’t know.
What we do know is that they are made of pure energy, and that everything that exists in the universe is created from this source.
Think about that. The air you breathe, the chair you sit in, the books you read, and you. You are made of this energy.
All of the universes in the heavens and everything within them are a giant dot pattern of these little vibrating blips of energy. Nothing separates this from that. We are all ONE.
So the result is that:
The atheists are right. Science does hold the answer.
Western religion is right. The eternal God does live within us all.
The Taoists are right. We are all ONE.
The worshipers of nature are right. The divine does exist in everything.
The theory of Yin and Yang states that First there was the Yin and the Yang, and from that sprang the ten thousand things.
If we interpret the yin and the yang as the blinking of the quark, then they are right too.
What we need to do is stop debating the differences between our ideals, and start looking for the commonalities.
When it comes to philosophical differences, I guarantee that you will not find two people on the planet whose ideals are identical. Everyone will have their own nuances and twists because we all see life from a unique perspective. No two people ever born were exactly identical to each other. We are all different. Every snowflake, every flower, every blade of grass has its own individual qualities, just as do our ideas.
So rejoice, and connect to the energy of the divine! We are all ONE.
The Human Virus
According to data from The United Nations, World Population Prospects, Anthropologists date human history back about 3 million years. They estimate that in these early hunter gatherer periods, the world human population hovered at around 10 million people. The population grew to about 300 million by A.D. 1, and then sprinted to one billion during the industrial revolution. The exponential growth of humans in the twentieth century was astounding. We entered the era with 1.6 billion souls, and exited with a count of over Six Billion People!
Deck the Halls with What?
We had a great Yule Party two nights past.
But last night, the gifts began to arrive.
First Little Bailey started vomiting, Then Natalie, then Alex...
If my calculations are correct, my family will be decking the halls within the next 24 hours.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
But last night, the gifts began to arrive.
First Little Bailey started vomiting, Then Natalie, then Alex...
If my calculations are correct, my family will be decking the halls within the next 24 hours.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
A life of Service and Compassion
I was watching the Barbara Walters special on Heaven, when my little boy got out of bed and wanted me to play.
"Not now honey. Go back to bed. Mommy wants to watch this show."
The Dali Lama was telling Babs about living a life of service and compassion. Heaven is right here and now for those who do.
His words made me stop.
I turned off the TV, went to my son and playfully cuddled under the covers. It was yummy good fun.
His smile made my heart glow, in that way only a mother knows.
Heaven.
Right Here and Now.
"Not now honey. Go back to bed. Mommy wants to watch this show."
The Dali Lama was telling Babs about living a life of service and compassion. Heaven is right here and now for those who do.
His words made me stop.
I turned off the TV, went to my son and playfully cuddled under the covers. It was yummy good fun.
His smile made my heart glow, in that way only a mother knows.
Heaven.
Right Here and Now.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Doctor Doctor Gimmie the News
When I arrived at 11:15 for my 11:15 appointment, the receptionist was on the phone instructing another patient to arrive on time for her appointment, and to call to reschedule if she was going to be late...
...
...
...
...
forty minutes later, I was still in the waiting room, and when I had the Gaul to say "excuse me, but, my appointment was for 11:15" the little blonde with the chart put her hand on her hip, rolled her eyes and indignantly said "We are running a few minutes behind."
"Three is a few my dear. That's expected. This however is unacceptable."
"This IS A Medical office." She said while rolling her eyes. "You can reschedule if you want."
(Add a piece of gum and some big ball earrings and she could have passed for Mrs. ZWhiggins on the Carol Burnett Show.)
"I will wait five more minutes, then I am leaving. I have a schedule to keep too."
So they take me in a room. The snippy blonde wants to get my pulse, weight, and blood pressure.
"I thought I was here to consult with the doctor about the results of my sleep study?"
"Im supposed to do this to everybody. And I have to ask some questions too." She said with a big case of attitude.
The questions were repeats of the ones that I had answered on a form I filled out the last time I was there. This was to be my last visit to this office, as the sleep study was complete, so I can not imagine how my current pulse had any revelance other than to show this woman just exactly how irate I was.
"Wait here the doctor will be in to see you in a moment."
I recalled that the Doctors office was in another building on the other side of town, and that I had never seen him here at the sleep clinic. I also recalled my phone call with the receptionist:
"The study results are in. Can you come in Monday so we can order your [stupid acme sleep contraption?]
"shouldn't I discuss the results with my Doctor before you purchase this machine? How do we know that I need it?"
"Oh....(sigh) you want to see the doctor?"
"Yes, Please."
Then there is a knock on the door. In walks a man in a white coat, stethoscope around his neck, medical chart in hand.
"Im here to go over your results."
He starts in telling me what's in the file, and getting me all buttered up to think I need his silly air machine.
He also wants to prescribe Parkinson medications to me for restless leg syndrome.
"How exactly does this medication react in the body."
"Well, we not sure, but it stops restless leg."
"What causes restless leg?"
"We're not sure."
"So you are just treating the symptoms without any knowledge of the cause or any data on the long term effects of this drug?"
"It seems to work."
He wants to tell me about how all people stop breating for certain amounts of time while they sleep, and where I fall within the range, and how this "Forced Air Breating Machine" will make me feel rested and young and wealthy and even popular!
I on the other hand, simply wanted to know about my heart condition...you know, the reason my doctor sent me there in the first place.
He didn't know nothin bout that Scarlet.
I then notice the name tag hes wearing: Physicians Assistant.
O.K. Now, I'm Postal.
I got up to leave.
"Please forward the results to my primary physician."
"wait, don't you want your machine?"
"No thank you. I've wasted enough of my time today."
"O.K we'll send it to him."
"Her." I corrected, with a forced burst of hot air.
...
...
...
...
forty minutes later, I was still in the waiting room, and when I had the Gaul to say "excuse me, but, my appointment was for 11:15" the little blonde with the chart put her hand on her hip, rolled her eyes and indignantly said "We are running a few minutes behind."
"Three is a few my dear. That's expected. This however is unacceptable."
"This IS A Medical office." She said while rolling her eyes. "You can reschedule if you want."
(Add a piece of gum and some big ball earrings and she could have passed for Mrs. ZWhiggins on the Carol Burnett Show.)
"I will wait five more minutes, then I am leaving. I have a schedule to keep too."
So they take me in a room. The snippy blonde wants to get my pulse, weight, and blood pressure.
"I thought I was here to consult with the doctor about the results of my sleep study?"
"Im supposed to do this to everybody. And I have to ask some questions too." She said with a big case of attitude.
The questions were repeats of the ones that I had answered on a form I filled out the last time I was there. This was to be my last visit to this office, as the sleep study was complete, so I can not imagine how my current pulse had any revelance other than to show this woman just exactly how irate I was.
"Wait here the doctor will be in to see you in a moment."
I recalled that the Doctors office was in another building on the other side of town, and that I had never seen him here at the sleep clinic. I also recalled my phone call with the receptionist:
"The study results are in. Can you come in Monday so we can order your [stupid acme sleep contraption?]
"shouldn't I discuss the results with my Doctor before you purchase this machine? How do we know that I need it?"
"Oh....(sigh) you want to see the doctor?"
"Yes, Please."
Then there is a knock on the door. In walks a man in a white coat, stethoscope around his neck, medical chart in hand.
"Im here to go over your results."
He starts in telling me what's in the file, and getting me all buttered up to think I need his silly air machine.
He also wants to prescribe Parkinson medications to me for restless leg syndrome.
"How exactly does this medication react in the body."
"Well, we not sure, but it stops restless leg."
"What causes restless leg?"
"We're not sure."
"So you are just treating the symptoms without any knowledge of the cause or any data on the long term effects of this drug?"
"It seems to work."
He wants to tell me about how all people stop breating for certain amounts of time while they sleep, and where I fall within the range, and how this "Forced Air Breating Machine" will make me feel rested and young and wealthy and even popular!
I on the other hand, simply wanted to know about my heart condition...you know, the reason my doctor sent me there in the first place.
He didn't know nothin bout that Scarlet.
I then notice the name tag hes wearing: Physicians Assistant.
O.K. Now, I'm Postal.
I got up to leave.
"Please forward the results to my primary physician."
"wait, don't you want your machine?"
"No thank you. I've wasted enough of my time today."
"O.K we'll send it to him."
"Her." I corrected, with a forced burst of hot air.
The First Woman President of The United States
I predict that the first woman to be elected President of The United States, will be a widow.
The country seems ready for a "Mrs. President", but I do not believe that it is ready for a First Husband.
Also, I know the country is not prepared for an unmarried, sexually active woman to step into the role of Commander in Chief,
Therefore, the first female President will have to be a widow. A loyal older woman who is determend to carry on the work of her dear departed husband.
Yes, the country would sympathetically embrace that.
Only then will they elect the first "Mother of our Country."
The country seems ready for a "Mrs. President", but I do not believe that it is ready for a First Husband.
Also, I know the country is not prepared for an unmarried, sexually active woman to step into the role of Commander in Chief,
Therefore, the first female President will have to be a widow. A loyal older woman who is determend to carry on the work of her dear departed husband.
Yes, the country would sympathetically embrace that.
Only then will they elect the first "Mother of our Country."
Sunday, December 18, 2005
King Kong
I went to see King Kong tonight.
I saw Kong as a metaphor for the power of nature, and the desire of man to control it. It was so sad, on so many levels. Humans think they have a right to conquer nature, and then when they realize that it is beyond their power to contain, they bring out the war machines. Alas, in times of crisis, it seems that fire power is the only response we have.
Isn't there a better way?
I saw Kong as a metaphor for the power of nature, and the desire of man to control it. It was so sad, on so many levels. Humans think they have a right to conquer nature, and then when they realize that it is beyond their power to contain, they bring out the war machines. Alas, in times of crisis, it seems that fire power is the only response we have.
Isn't there a better way?
Hypnoshop
I dropped my daughter at a party and decided to run into Kohl's and do a little holiday shopping. I'm not a big fan of shopping, because I don't like the crowds and I usually can't find what I'm looking for. This trip was no exception.
Around six, me hubbie rings up my cell phone wondering where I was.
"Just doing a bit of shopping. Im heading for the checkout line right now. I'll be home soon."
The checkout line looked like Advance sales for a Beatles Reunion Concert. Ugggh.
When my turn finally came the clerk said "Did you find everything today?"
"Almost. I was looking for a little cream mock neck to go with this sweater, but you were out of my size."
"They are having a sale next door at Marshall's. I think they have some left over there." Offered the jingling girl in the fashionalbe elf hat.
So, I thought, I'll just run in real quick and see.
Lo and behold, they had all sorts of things that I liked! It was a motherlode moment of fashion gem mining. I got so caught up in the muzacal Christmas carols piping through the store speakers, and all those little red tags reading: Was 500.00 Now, 20.00, that I lost my head. I was under the hypnotic spell of the Great Abominable Snow Retailer, wandering the labyrinth like a zombie on prozac.
My cell phone rang and jarred me back to reality. "Honey, are you all right? We were worried sick. You said you were coming home over and hour ago."
"Oh, I'm SORRY Baby, I just lost track of time. Im heading for the checkout line right now..."
Around six, me hubbie rings up my cell phone wondering where I was.
"Just doing a bit of shopping. Im heading for the checkout line right now. I'll be home soon."
The checkout line looked like Advance sales for a Beatles Reunion Concert. Ugggh.
When my turn finally came the clerk said "Did you find everything today?"
"Almost. I was looking for a little cream mock neck to go with this sweater, but you were out of my size."
"They are having a sale next door at Marshall's. I think they have some left over there." Offered the jingling girl in the fashionalbe elf hat.
So, I thought, I'll just run in real quick and see.
Lo and behold, they had all sorts of things that I liked! It was a motherlode moment of fashion gem mining. I got so caught up in the muzacal Christmas carols piping through the store speakers, and all those little red tags reading: Was 500.00 Now, 20.00, that I lost my head. I was under the hypnotic spell of the Great Abominable Snow Retailer, wandering the labyrinth like a zombie on prozac.
My cell phone rang and jarred me back to reality. "Honey, are you all right? We were worried sick. You said you were coming home over and hour ago."
"Oh, I'm SORRY Baby, I just lost track of time. Im heading for the checkout line right now..."
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Pro Choice
Wearing a burqa isn't a choice if doing the opposite gets you killed.
-This was paraphrased from the comments over at Twist Fasters blog.
-This was paraphrased from the comments over at Twist Fasters blog.
Progressive Liberals and Regressive conservatives
I have often heard the word Liberal curl from the mouths of conservatives with such disdain that the label has indeed become associated with a negative connotation.
The word conservative brings to mind powerful, responsible businessmen with grey hair and dark suits. It brings visions of boardrooms and sermons, and hard line decision makers.
But the word liberal paints the picture of a blue collar activist treehugger.
I think it is time to change the vocabulary.
Liberals are also called progressives. The antonyms of progressive are:
regressive
throwback
declining
deteriorating
failing
regressing
retrograde
returning
reverting
unmodernized
inactive
conservative
Yikes! That does not sound like a group that I want to be associated with.
Maybe we should call the liberals Progressives, and call the Conservatives Regressives. It fits better. The liberals want to move forward while the conservatives what to fall back on the old values of the past.
Its natural for people to fear change. We all do. But we really need to get beyond politics of fear if we want to create a better world.
Step one is to use language that accurately reflects our beliefs.
Lots of people like the idea of being frugal and conservative, but I don't think they would like being labeled as Regressive.
Join me, and write about Progressives and Regressives instead of liberals and conservatives. It might change a few minds.
The word conservative brings to mind powerful, responsible businessmen with grey hair and dark suits. It brings visions of boardrooms and sermons, and hard line decision makers.
But the word liberal paints the picture of a blue collar activist treehugger.
I think it is time to change the vocabulary.
Liberals are also called progressives. The antonyms of progressive are:
regressive
throwback
declining
deteriorating
failing
regressing
retrograde
returning
reverting
unmodernized
inactive
conservative
Yikes! That does not sound like a group that I want to be associated with.
Maybe we should call the liberals Progressives, and call the Conservatives Regressives. It fits better. The liberals want to move forward while the conservatives what to fall back on the old values of the past.
Its natural for people to fear change. We all do. But we really need to get beyond politics of fear if we want to create a better world.
Step one is to use language that accurately reflects our beliefs.
Lots of people like the idea of being frugal and conservative, but I don't think they would like being labeled as Regressive.
Join me, and write about Progressives and Regressives instead of liberals and conservatives. It might change a few minds.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Narnia Fun
My daughter and her friend made the local TV news this morning, for their snow creation: Aslan, The Lion King of Narnia.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Maiden, Mother, Crone
We all aspire for long life, spending billions of dollars on healthcare to increase our lifespan.
Yet,
We do not value old age. We fear it. We fight it. We shun it.
For women, there are three symbolic stages of life:
Maiden, Mother, Crone.
The maiden stage is innocence, youth, physical beauty, and mating.
The Mother stage is about nurturing your inner circle (self, spouse, family, friends and home)
The Crone stage is about offering your accumulated gifts, talents and wisdom to the community.
It seems to me that the Crone is the stage of life we should aspire too.
being "sexy" is just so shallow and temporary in comparison.
Women are always lamenting that men don't love us for our minds...Well, maybe they would if we put on a little less makeup, and honored our Grandmothers as the sage leaders and healers that they are.
Keep your creams and facelifts: I am proud to have a few crows feet highlighting my eyes when I smile.
Friday, December 09, 2005
John Lennon: gone but not forgotton
Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
by: John Winston Lennon
Monday, December 05, 2005
Yule Tide Greetings!
The darkest day of the year is fast approaching. It comes in the third week of December, usually around the 21st to the 24th. The shortest day of the wheel of seasons, when the sun rises and sets in a mere ten hours.
The trees are bare and offer no fruit, and the cold winds lash at burning cheeks. It is easy to see that many early peoples in the northern hemisphere could have felt hopeless during this time of year.
Thus the celebration of Yule.
Yule is the day on the agricultural calendar of the ancients, that marks the birth of the Sun, The Light of the World: The time when the days quit getting shorter, and begin to grow again.
The lore is the old sun dies, and the new Sun God is reborn of the Goddess as the Divine King. It is a symbol of hope during the lean cold of winters rule.
The celebrations would include a festival of lights, to symbolize the growing light of the sun. Fur trees, Holy, misletoe and anything evergreen were brought to the celebration and decorated with dried fruits, as a symbol of the coming spring.
Food and Drink were offered in a lavish display of feasting. This was a sure sign of confidence that warm weather and lush crops were on the way, for to do so otherwise, during a time of rationing, would be suicide.
So light your lights, decorate your tree, put on a grand fattening up feast, and celebrate The Light of The World!
(Or you could just hop a plane to Florida.) LOL
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Citizens of America
During his traditional holiday rant my dad bellered
"In MY day, the newspapers called people citizens! The Citizens did this, The Citizens said that...Now they all call us CONSUMERS!"
Hmmm, the old bird actually gave me pause for thought on that one.
"In MY day, the newspapers called people citizens! The Citizens did this, The Citizens said that...Now they all call us CONSUMERS!"
Hmmm, the old bird actually gave me pause for thought on that one.
Once Upon a Time...
The term fairy tale brings to mind a children’s story, but the truth is that these tales are in fact, parables of history.
Some feminist researchers have interpreted these tales of “the persecuted heroine” as a negative influence on young girls, citing that the women in these stories need a man to “save them.” While it is true that this could send the wrong message to our youth, a deeper meaning behind these tales points to the liberation of women, and leads to a beautiful concept of harmony and balance. It is a spiritual teaching that calls out to us from the ancient past. It is a lesson that will not die, even though it has been suppressed, repressed, persecuted, attacked, and twisted for centuries.
In olden times, it was common for all religious teachings to take the form of parable. We all know that the New Testament stories of the shepherd and his flock are not lessons in animal husbandry. They are parables for religious teachings.
Fairy tales are the same. In order to decipher them and find their message, we need only grasp the concepts behind the Olde ways, and remember these people and their history.
The fairy Tales and children’s songs that have survived over the centuries tell the story of the persecution of Pagans by the European Theocracy, and preserve a history that would otherwise be lost, if spoken of openly.
Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel are examples of oral folk stories that carry the hidden history of Earth Based Matriarchal world view of pre Christian Europe. These maidens were pricked with needles, subjected to evil spells, fed poisoned apples, demoted from places of status, or condemned to servitude. The maiden in the parable is not of the thousands of women who were burned, or tortured by the church; the Maiden is the symbol of the BELIEF SYSTEM that was under attack.
The “Wicked Step Mother” is the character who enters the story and wreaks havoc in the formerly peaceful life of the maiden. The stepmother is a woman of great power and standing who wants to take over, and supplant herself in place of the maiden. She loathes the maiden, and everything her spirit represents The stepmother is the symbol of the violent censorship of the rising patriarchy. She is not the real mother, The Great Mother, The Earth Mother, she is a false mother, who is trying to step in and take over.
The Maiden draws her wisdom from her connection to nature. This is the basis of all Matriarchal religion. It is a theology built upon observation of the natural world and the cycle of the seasons. Often these tales tell of forest animals or forest people, like dwarfs or fairies, who come to her aid, when the stepmother attempts to harm her.
When you read a tale of a young maiden, being poisoned, or locked away by the wicked step mother, while she waits for her hero to save her so that they can take their place as king and queen, you are hearing the history of how patriarchy wiped out matriarchy, and how the "mother church" sought to destroy the theology of The Divine Couple and usurp their sovereign rule. The message is everywhere, once you learn to see it.
The core message is always the same: The kingdom is in ruin, even nature is dying, and all will be destroyed unless the Maiden frees herself from the clutches of evil, often in the form of a step mother, witch or wolf. Once she calls upon her allies of the forest, her prince appears and they live happily ever after. Its not that he saves her, but that she holds true to the purity of her values. This is what drives him to seek her out.
When we look at the old hero myths, we always find that the hero seeks the maiden at the tree of life, where he is rewared with the fruit of knowlege. (The apple, pumpkin, basket of fruit for grandma, etc are all symbols of this idea.) The reason for the hero is simply that Earth Based religions work in harmony with the Prime Biological Imperative: to mate and create new life.
This passing on of DNA is our link to eternity. Its natures way. So its not a question of the helpless girl being saved, its a matter of the maiden holding on to her values, and thus she and the prince are both rewarded with the gift of each other, the result being that the kingdom comes to life again and they all live happily ever after.
Rumplestiltskin and the Grail Story of King Arthur both require the seeker to “Name the helper.” In other words, the seeker must be aware of a secret truth before the wish is granted. This secret is what makes the failing kingdom whole again.
The Little Mermaid enters a pact with the witch and attempts to conform (grow legs and walk on land) in order to unite with her prince.
The Three Little Pigs must unite and build a house strong enough to keep the wolf at bay.
Little Red Riding Hood is about not being fooled by the wolf disguised as the grandmother. It is interesting to note that the girl in the story wears red. The red robe was a symbol of the Essenes, worn by their highest ranking women priestesses. Jesus was a member of this priestly group, and there is a direct correlation between the traditional robes of the Essene women, and the robes worn by the Cardinals of the Catholic Church. Further, it must be noted that in olden times, a “Woman in Red” was a sign of a woman who held high office as a spiritual leader. The symbolism is ironically, quite different today.
The examples are ample enough to fill volumes of books. So rather than bore you with any more, dear reader, I will bid you good hunting as you seek the deeper meanings in the fairy tales you encounter, and live happily ever after.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Remember:
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away."
but by the moments that take our breath away."
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Iraq Pull Out
Words are such a powerful thing. The way we say things is just as important as the meaning behind the message. For example, telling guys "pull out" goes against the grain of the male psyche, even when its just a conversation about politics.
Maybe it would be better to ask them to "Ejaculate" our forces from Iraq.
That might get the boys excited.
Maybe it would be better to ask them to "Ejaculate" our forces from Iraq.
That might get the boys excited.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Without Gays, Humans would be Extinct
I am not gay, nor am I scientist or credentialed philosopher. I am just an average woman who claims the right to think her own thoughts, and develop her own ideas. I don’t presume to ask that you agree with me, but I do hope that if you venture to read this, it will lead you to create some new thoughts of your own.
My hobbies involve animal rehab and mythology. A weird mix to be sure, but a mix that has led me to an interesting theory: The survival of the species is dependant on the Gay and Lesbian population!
The seed of this strange little thought came when I was blogging with a wonderful musician and poet, who happens to be gay, and I posed the following question:
I’m curious…
I have done a bit of study into what we call The Prime Biological Imperative: Which basically means that males are instinctively driven to spread their seed, and females are driven to find a long term mate, and that both of these contradictory strategies are used to ensure survival of the species.
When one is Gay, there must be question, deep in the mind, about giving up the ability to pass on DNA. In addition, I wonder which forces are stronger…the male drive to spread seed, or the female drive to pair?
One might assume that each individual hashes this out, but when I look at all the things we do, as an unconscious part of this imperative, I suspect that being gay does not free one from those instinctual bonds.
For example: I always tell women that the reason they wear make up, is not to look pretty, but because when a woman is sexually receptive, her lips and cheeks swell and redden. It’s a signal to men. Make up is just a tool to get seed spreading fella’s to pair up and hang around!
When a husband or wife separate for a day or two, for out of town trips or whatever, the male will always instigate sex on return. Why? Not because he missed her, but because he knows that, other males had potential access to her, and if he makes love to her, his sperm will kill off the other sperm.
There are many examples of this in scientific literature, but I have never read anything about how it effects the gay/lesbian population.
Any clues?
The response from my insightful friend was, “I can say from experience, the male gay culture is built around sex, and judgment of physical appearance is harsh. It’s a superficial culture.”
So I started thinking about homosexuality in the animal kingdom, and what role this plays in the survival and propagation of various species, and why it might be a “superficial culture.” If homosexuality exists in animals and humans, and has existed for all of history, then it must serve a purpose as a function of the Prime Biological Imperative (PBI).
There have been many studies, which show how we are sexually attracted to people with beautiful features. This type of visual selection ensures that only the best DNA is passed forward. The stereotypical male often puts little if any focus on “beauty”. So, since we know that a certain percentage of gay people do pass on their DNA, maybe we can surmise that this harsh “judgment of physical appearance” by the bachelor bonding groups, serves an important function in the overall survival of the species.
After all : “In animals in which “bachelor groups” form, such as bison, gazelles, antelope, sage grouse and Guinean cocks-of-the-rock, it is not uncommon for same sex pair bonds to form and last until one or the other member of the pair departs the relationship and breeds.” So maybe, that small percentage of the gay population that breaks off and breeds, is the key group that stimulates the striking beauty of the male physique.
You know what the girls always say: “All the good looking guys are either married or gay!” So basically, Gay men are the influence responsible for keeping all men attractive enough for women to be willing to mate with.
As for lesbians, I think there is a different PBI. I think that this goes WAAAAY back to our ancient ancestors. Very early societies were much like deer herds, where women and children formed the core group, while the males stayed off to the side in bachelor hunting groups, thus females would pair up as partners and parents. Women learned to rely on each other, trust each other and nurture each other, as only women can. Some found that they had little need for men.
In the book Who Cooked the Last Supper, Rosalind Miles states: “At no point in prehistory did women, with or without children, rely on their hunting males for food…Meat from the kill comes in irregularly and infrequently…women regularly produce as much as 80 percent of the tribe’s total food intake, on a daily basis…In the myth of Man the Hunter, he invents the family by impregnating his mate and stashing her away in the cave…But in contradiction to this Big Daddy scenario, a mass of evidence shows that the earliest families consisted of females and their children, since all tribal and hunting societies were centered on and organized through the mother. The young males either left or were driven out.”
So it makes sense that women would form same sex pair bonds to ensure the survival of each other and their offspring, and that men would create same sex pair bonds, focused on physical attraction, to ensure that they could get some access to that magical link to eternity called DNA.
What really amuses me about this little, amateur theory of mine, is that the social persecution of the religious homophobics to “convert” Gays, is also just a function of the PBI. Their misguided and judgmental efforts for conformity actually serve to keep the Gay DNA in the gene pool!
Now, I don’t know if my idea has any real merit, or if someone smarter has already thought of it, but I do know that we are all who we are for a reason, and that there is a divine purpose for everything.
What do you think?
My hobbies involve animal rehab and mythology. A weird mix to be sure, but a mix that has led me to an interesting theory: The survival of the species is dependant on the Gay and Lesbian population!
The seed of this strange little thought came when I was blogging with a wonderful musician and poet, who happens to be gay, and I posed the following question:
I’m curious…
I have done a bit of study into what we call The Prime Biological Imperative: Which basically means that males are instinctively driven to spread their seed, and females are driven to find a long term mate, and that both of these contradictory strategies are used to ensure survival of the species.
When one is Gay, there must be question, deep in the mind, about giving up the ability to pass on DNA. In addition, I wonder which forces are stronger…the male drive to spread seed, or the female drive to pair?
One might assume that each individual hashes this out, but when I look at all the things we do, as an unconscious part of this imperative, I suspect that being gay does not free one from those instinctual bonds.
For example: I always tell women that the reason they wear make up, is not to look pretty, but because when a woman is sexually receptive, her lips and cheeks swell and redden. It’s a signal to men. Make up is just a tool to get seed spreading fella’s to pair up and hang around!
When a husband or wife separate for a day or two, for out of town trips or whatever, the male will always instigate sex on return. Why? Not because he missed her, but because he knows that, other males had potential access to her, and if he makes love to her, his sperm will kill off the other sperm.
There are many examples of this in scientific literature, but I have never read anything about how it effects the gay/lesbian population.
Any clues?
The response from my insightful friend was, “I can say from experience, the male gay culture is built around sex, and judgment of physical appearance is harsh. It’s a superficial culture.”
So I started thinking about homosexuality in the animal kingdom, and what role this plays in the survival and propagation of various species, and why it might be a “superficial culture.” If homosexuality exists in animals and humans, and has existed for all of history, then it must serve a purpose as a function of the Prime Biological Imperative (PBI).
There have been many studies, which show how we are sexually attracted to people with beautiful features. This type of visual selection ensures that only the best DNA is passed forward. The stereotypical male often puts little if any focus on “beauty”. So, since we know that a certain percentage of gay people do pass on their DNA, maybe we can surmise that this harsh “judgment of physical appearance” by the bachelor bonding groups, serves an important function in the overall survival of the species.
After all : “In animals in which “bachelor groups” form, such as bison, gazelles, antelope, sage grouse and Guinean cocks-of-the-rock, it is not uncommon for same sex pair bonds to form and last until one or the other member of the pair departs the relationship and breeds.” So maybe, that small percentage of the gay population that breaks off and breeds, is the key group that stimulates the striking beauty of the male physique.
You know what the girls always say: “All the good looking guys are either married or gay!” So basically, Gay men are the influence responsible for keeping all men attractive enough for women to be willing to mate with.
As for lesbians, I think there is a different PBI. I think that this goes WAAAAY back to our ancient ancestors. Very early societies were much like deer herds, where women and children formed the core group, while the males stayed off to the side in bachelor hunting groups, thus females would pair up as partners and parents. Women learned to rely on each other, trust each other and nurture each other, as only women can. Some found that they had little need for men.
In the book Who Cooked the Last Supper, Rosalind Miles states: “At no point in prehistory did women, with or without children, rely on their hunting males for food…Meat from the kill comes in irregularly and infrequently…women regularly produce as much as 80 percent of the tribe’s total food intake, on a daily basis…In the myth of Man the Hunter, he invents the family by impregnating his mate and stashing her away in the cave…But in contradiction to this Big Daddy scenario, a mass of evidence shows that the earliest families consisted of females and their children, since all tribal and hunting societies were centered on and organized through the mother. The young males either left or were driven out.”
So it makes sense that women would form same sex pair bonds to ensure the survival of each other and their offspring, and that men would create same sex pair bonds, focused on physical attraction, to ensure that they could get some access to that magical link to eternity called DNA.
What really amuses me about this little, amateur theory of mine, is that the social persecution of the religious homophobics to “convert” Gays, is also just a function of the PBI. Their misguided and judgmental efforts for conformity actually serve to keep the Gay DNA in the gene pool!
Now, I don’t know if my idea has any real merit, or if someone smarter has already thought of it, but I do know that we are all who we are for a reason, and that there is a divine purpose for everything.
What do you think?
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Thanksgiving: A Native American View
by Jacqueline Keeler
I celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.
This may surprise those people who wonder what Native Americans think of this official U.S. celebration of the survival of early arrivals in a European invasion that culminated in the death of 10 to 30 million native people.
Thanksgiving to me has never been about Pilgrims. When I was six, my mother, a woman of the Dineh nation, told my sister and me not to sing "Land of the Pilgrim's pride" in "America the Beautiful." Our people, she said, had been here much longer and taken much better care of the land. We were to sing "Land of the Indian's pride" instead.
I was proud to sing the new lyrics in school, but I sang softly. It was enough for me to know the difference. At six, I felt I had learned something very important. As a child of a Native American family, you are part of a very select group of survivors, and I learned that my family possessed some "inside" knowledge of what really happened when those poor, tired masses came to our homes.
When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, they were poor and hungry -- half of them died within a few months from disease and hunger. When Squanto, a Wampanoag man, found them, they were in a pitiful state. He spoke English, having traveled to Europe, and took pity on them. Their English crops had failed. The native people fed them through the winter and taught them how to grow their food.
These were not merely "friendly Indians." They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary -- but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect. Among the Dakota, my father's people, they say, when asked to give, "Are we not Dakota and alive?" It was believed that by giving there would be enough for all -- the exact opposite of the system we live in now, which is based on selling, not giving.
To the Pilgrims, and most English and European peoples, the Wampanoags were heathens, and of the Devil. They saw Squanto not as an equal but as an instrument of their God to help his chosen people, themselves.
Since that initial sharing, Native American food has spread around the world. Nearly 70 percent of all crops grown today were originally cultivated by Native American peoples. I sometimes wonder what they ate in Europe before they met us. Spaghetti without tomatoes? Meat and potatoes without potatoes? And at the "first Thanksgiving" the Wampanoags provided most of the food -- and signed a treaty granting Pilgrims the right to the land at Plymouth, the real reason for the first Thanksgiving.
What did the Europeans give in return? Within 20 years European disease and treachery had decimated the Wampanoags. Most diseases then came from animals that Europeans had domesticated. Cowpox from cows led to smallpox, one of the great killers of our people, spread through gifts of blankets used by infected Europeans. Some estimate that diseases accounted for a death toll reaching 90 percent in some Native American communities. By 1623, Mather the elder, a Pilgrim leader, was giving thanks to his God for destroying the heathen savages to make way "for a better growth," meaning his people.
In stories told by the Dakota people, an evil person always keeps his or her heart in a secret place separate from the body. The hero must find that secret place and destroy the heart in order to stop the evil.
I see, in the "First Thanksgiving" story, a hidden Pilgrim heart. The story of that heart is the real tale than needs to be told. What did it hold? Bigotry, hatred, greed, self-righteousness? We have seen the evil that it caused in the 350 years since. Genocide, environmental devastation, poverty, world wars, racism.
Where is the hero who will destroy that heart of evil? I believe it must be each of us. Indeed, when I give thanks this Thursday and I cook my native food, I will be thinking of this hidden heart and how my ancestors survived the evil it caused.
Because if we can survive, with our ability to share and to give intact, then the evil and the good will that met that Thanksgiving day in the land of the Wampanoag will have come full circle.
And the healing can begin.
Jacqueline Keeler, a member of the Dineh Nation and the Yankton Dakota Sioux works with the American Indian Child Resource Center in Oakland, California. Her work has appeared in Winds of Change, an American Indian journal.
I celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.
This may surprise those people who wonder what Native Americans think of this official U.S. celebration of the survival of early arrivals in a European invasion that culminated in the death of 10 to 30 million native people.
Thanksgiving to me has never been about Pilgrims. When I was six, my mother, a woman of the Dineh nation, told my sister and me not to sing "Land of the Pilgrim's pride" in "America the Beautiful." Our people, she said, had been here much longer and taken much better care of the land. We were to sing "Land of the Indian's pride" instead.
I was proud to sing the new lyrics in school, but I sang softly. It was enough for me to know the difference. At six, I felt I had learned something very important. As a child of a Native American family, you are part of a very select group of survivors, and I learned that my family possessed some "inside" knowledge of what really happened when those poor, tired masses came to our homes.
When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, they were poor and hungry -- half of them died within a few months from disease and hunger. When Squanto, a Wampanoag man, found them, they were in a pitiful state. He spoke English, having traveled to Europe, and took pity on them. Their English crops had failed. The native people fed them through the winter and taught them how to grow their food.
These were not merely "friendly Indians." They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary -- but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect. Among the Dakota, my father's people, they say, when asked to give, "Are we not Dakota and alive?" It was believed that by giving there would be enough for all -- the exact opposite of the system we live in now, which is based on selling, not giving.
To the Pilgrims, and most English and European peoples, the Wampanoags were heathens, and of the Devil. They saw Squanto not as an equal but as an instrument of their God to help his chosen people, themselves.
Since that initial sharing, Native American food has spread around the world. Nearly 70 percent of all crops grown today were originally cultivated by Native American peoples. I sometimes wonder what they ate in Europe before they met us. Spaghetti without tomatoes? Meat and potatoes without potatoes? And at the "first Thanksgiving" the Wampanoags provided most of the food -- and signed a treaty granting Pilgrims the right to the land at Plymouth, the real reason for the first Thanksgiving.
What did the Europeans give in return? Within 20 years European disease and treachery had decimated the Wampanoags. Most diseases then came from animals that Europeans had domesticated. Cowpox from cows led to smallpox, one of the great killers of our people, spread through gifts of blankets used by infected Europeans. Some estimate that diseases accounted for a death toll reaching 90 percent in some Native American communities. By 1623, Mather the elder, a Pilgrim leader, was giving thanks to his God for destroying the heathen savages to make way "for a better growth," meaning his people.
In stories told by the Dakota people, an evil person always keeps his or her heart in a secret place separate from the body. The hero must find that secret place and destroy the heart in order to stop the evil.
I see, in the "First Thanksgiving" story, a hidden Pilgrim heart. The story of that heart is the real tale than needs to be told. What did it hold? Bigotry, hatred, greed, self-righteousness? We have seen the evil that it caused in the 350 years since. Genocide, environmental devastation, poverty, world wars, racism.
Where is the hero who will destroy that heart of evil? I believe it must be each of us. Indeed, when I give thanks this Thursday and I cook my native food, I will be thinking of this hidden heart and how my ancestors survived the evil it caused.
Because if we can survive, with our ability to share and to give intact, then the evil and the good will that met that Thanksgiving day in the land of the Wampanoag will have come full circle.
And the healing can begin.
Jacqueline Keeler, a member of the Dineh Nation and the Yankton Dakota Sioux works with the American Indian Child Resource Center in Oakland, California. Her work has appeared in Winds of Change, an American Indian journal.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Quiz: (for smart people only)
Q: The two preceding posts might seem quite different in voice and philosophy, but they are not. Can you figure out the connection?
Spirit Teacher
When we come across certain animals in our lives it can be an indication that they are put in our path to give us messages from Spirit.
"What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach the children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother.
Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know, the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.“
~Chief Seattle~
***Part of the Role for the two-legged beside whom Red Tailed Hawk flies is that as Guardian of the Earth Mother. To hold an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things, and will have an inner reverence for all life.
To be involved in making the world a better place, encouraging and educating ~Others~ to do the same.
"What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach the children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother.
Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know, the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.“
~Chief Seattle~
***Part of the Role for the two-legged beside whom Red Tailed Hawk flies is that as Guardian of the Earth Mother. To hold an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things, and will have an inner reverence for all life.
To be involved in making the world a better place, encouraging and educating ~Others~ to do the same.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Friday, November 18, 2005
BRILLIANT !!!!!!
Sand + Lightbox + Orchestra + Korean Genius = AMAZING
This Google Video is Brilliant !
http://gvod.blogspot.com/#113177271659550883
This Google Video is Brilliant !
http://gvod.blogspot.com/#113177271659550883
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Who would you be?
I came across a blog that asked women what man they would be if they could come back and live another life. Most of the responses were movie stars. (Imagine that.)
What was really funny, is that I posed the oppositie question to my husband. He found it quite difficult to think of an answer. For that matter, I struggled more too. Most of the women I admire overcame a great deal of adversity. It was a tough trick thinking of one whose life I would want to live.
I did eventually come up with a few names. What about you? Who would you be?
What was really funny, is that I posed the oppositie question to my husband. He found it quite difficult to think of an answer. For that matter, I struggled more too. Most of the women I admire overcame a great deal of adversity. It was a tough trick thinking of one whose life I would want to live.
I did eventually come up with a few names. What about you? Who would you be?
Always a Good Read
Today I am adding
Adam Ash to my blogroll. Adam describes himself as "Your daily entertainment scout. Books, thoughts, laughs, and links from a lit-crazy NYC writer."
He tirelessly scours the net for thought provoking content, posting excerpts from books, mags, and rags, on politics, religion, feminism and sex. In addition, he offers a weekly dose of poetry to calm the soul and feed the spirit.
While some of his posts reflect on deep philosophy, often the content is racy, sexually explicit, and edgy.
It's not the kind of blog Aunt Bea would be reading to the ladies club in Mayberry, but for the rest of us, it's dandy literary candy!
Here is an excerpt of his work:
"THE QUESTION is not really why do you blog? But, which blogs do you read? What blog community do you count yourself in? I think blogging is a quest for community more than expression. I blog to put what I think out there, but mostly to share what I read. Look at my blogroll, those are my faves. I grab from them and over a 100 other places to put the most interesting stuff in front of you -- and in front of myself. Of course I have my own predilections: I like sex, dope, books, philosophy, futurism; I hate Bush; so you're going to get a lot of that. I also go off on my own rants, like the bit about marijuana that starts my long post about it a few posts down. There's a bunch of bloggers I love and count myself among (even though they don't necessarily know me), and it's my sincere hope that in reading what you read here, you will eventually end up reading the bloggers I love, too"
Monday, November 14, 2005
Modern Medicine
I went for my annual physical last week. It played out like this:
Scheduled with receptionist who confirmed my insurance
Saw Nurse
Saw Doctor
Met with Doc. Assistant re: RX, and test scheduling
Sent to lab to have blood drawn by a nice chit chatty lady
Scheduled pap test with OBGYN receptionist
Saw OB nurse
Saw OB Doc
Pap sent to lab to be tested by someone I will never meet
A computer calls me to say my "Pap results fall within normal limits. Press 1 to repeat this message."
Sent to riverside hospital for mamogram
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Sent to waiting room 1
-Greeter takes me to waiting room 2
-Met with Mamogram tech
- Results are sent to a doc I will never meet
Sent to Saint Anns Hospital for X-Ray and Echo Cardiogram
-Greeted by Welcome desk
-Sent to sign in desk
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Sent to Echo cardio receptionist
-Met with Echo Tech.
-Echo results were sent to a doc I will never meet
-Sent to X-Ray receptionist
-Met with X-Ray tech
-X-Rays sent to another doc I will never meet.
Sent to third doc for sleep apneia test
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Greeted by receptionist
-met with nurse
-met with Doc
This doc schedules me for a sleep clinic at another location with other techs.
Took RX to pharmacy
pharmacist tells me the drugs my Doc ordered are not on the list of meds approved by my insurance company and that I should get on the internet, print off the list of approved drugs and take the list to my doc asking him to write a new scrip.
So far, we are up to 28 people, not including the insurance people, the sleep clinic people, or the computer who called me and gave me the only useful information so far. This list also excludes many of the behind the scenes people who work for these institutions.
Does anybody wonder why health care is unaffordable?
The philosophy of REDUCTIONISM that has spurred the advances of modern medicine has run amok. It has reached a critical mass of reducing everything within the system. Balance is the key to all things. Western medicine must balance itself with HOLISTIC principles and put an end to this insanity.
If all of these people were trained as holistic wellness providers, I would have preventative healthcare twice a month year round. Studies show that prevention care is less expensive and more effective than crisis care.
Scheduled with receptionist who confirmed my insurance
Saw Nurse
Saw Doctor
Met with Doc. Assistant re: RX, and test scheduling
Sent to lab to have blood drawn by a nice chit chatty lady
Scheduled pap test with OBGYN receptionist
Saw OB nurse
Saw OB Doc
Pap sent to lab to be tested by someone I will never meet
A computer calls me to say my "Pap results fall within normal limits. Press 1 to repeat this message."
Sent to riverside hospital for mamogram
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Sent to waiting room 1
-Greeter takes me to waiting room 2
-Met with Mamogram tech
- Results are sent to a doc I will never meet
Sent to Saint Anns Hospital for X-Ray and Echo Cardiogram
-Greeted by Welcome desk
-Sent to sign in desk
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Sent to Echo cardio receptionist
-Met with Echo Tech.
-Echo results were sent to a doc I will never meet
-Sent to X-Ray receptionist
-Met with X-Ray tech
-X-Rays sent to another doc I will never meet.
Sent to third doc for sleep apneia test
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Greeted by receptionist
-met with nurse
-met with Doc
This doc schedules me for a sleep clinic at another location with other techs.
Took RX to pharmacy
pharmacist tells me the drugs my Doc ordered are not on the list of meds approved by my insurance company and that I should get on the internet, print off the list of approved drugs and take the list to my doc asking him to write a new scrip.
So far, we are up to 28 people, not including the insurance people, the sleep clinic people, or the computer who called me and gave me the only useful information so far. This list also excludes many of the behind the scenes people who work for these institutions.
Does anybody wonder why health care is unaffordable?
The philosophy of REDUCTIONISM that has spurred the advances of modern medicine has run amok. It has reached a critical mass of reducing everything within the system. Balance is the key to all things. Western medicine must balance itself with HOLISTIC principles and put an end to this insanity.
If all of these people were trained as holistic wellness providers, I would have preventative healthcare twice a month year round. Studies show that prevention care is less expensive and more effective than crisis care.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Whew! This one too me all day to write...
Wax Philosophic
By Kelley Bell
In old Europe, the individual was taught to believe that their personal worth was naught. They understood themselves to be insignificant parts of the whole. Just imagine a poor illiterate serf walking into one of the grand stone churches, during the middle ages. The massive scale of the walls, combined with the ornate trimmings, and holy reverence; the walls themselves spoke, loud and clear, to the impoverished masses:
You are tiny. You are irrelevant. GOD is ALL.
Behind this message, was the conflicting idea that each individual had a chance for redemption. The lowly serf could earn entry into the gates of heaven by taking a vow to Love God, by means of committing loyalty to the Church.
The Clergy taught these people that their lives were meaningless without God, and the Church was partially right. People who joined, found that there was indeed a spiritual component to life, that added a fourth dimension to the human experience. The dogma of the church brought meaning, order and hope in the form of entertaining stories and moral parable.
The Church served a purpose. It made it possible for the ignorant uneducated toiling masses, to enter the world of philosophy, and reap the rewards spiritual consciousness, without paying the price, of a lifetime of study. It also served a political purpose, as it used the pulpit to organize communities into coherent cooperatives of social order.
Along comes Renee Descartes, the mathematical philosopher, with his concept of The Mechanical Universe. The world, and everything in it, he argued, could be explained in terms of a machine, like a clock.
Clocks were a very new thing, and watching a clock tick off the seconds was an amazement; a changing force in society. Descartes mused on a Reductionist platform that turned the world on its ear. Illness was not a function of evil spirits infecting the unrepentant sinner in need of exorcism, but simply a function of a machine whose parts were broken. He did not need the church to explain the world to him; he claimed that he could figure that out for himself, through scientific observation of the machine.
This was a HUGE SHIFT for humanity, and a severe demotion for The Pope!
Secular Humanism was born from this idea. Secular Humanism is a Renaissance era philosophy of self-realization. It. advocates reason over religion, centering on the values, capacities, and worth of the individual. Scientific thinking flourished from the seed of this radical new worldview. Modern Medicine departed from spiritual shamanism, and turned to the mechanics of the body, looking at each piece and part of the machine. The philosophy of Reductionism took hold in the Age of Reason.
The Wax Argument was Descartes proof that "what I thought I had seen with my eyes, I actually grasped solely with the faculty of judgment, which is in my mind." He describes a piece of wax, its shape, smell, color, etc. Then he heats it with a flame. The wax changes, but he realizes that even though it is now liquid, it is still wax. His senses are describing something completely different from the solid, yet in his mind, he knows that it is still wax. Therefore, he concludes that he cannot use his senses to interpret the world. (Thus, we have the famous term, "To Wax philosophic.")
Descartes would love the more modern experiment where a scientist created a pair of glasses from two prisms, which caused him to see everything upside down. After about a week of wearing his Prism Spectacles, his brain figured out a way to reinterpret the data, and he suddenly began to see everything right side up, even though he was still wearing the glasses! When he took them off, his brain made him see everything up side down again. Slowly, over a period of days, individual objects, like cars and trees would flip back upright in his topsy turvy vision, and then eventually the whole world righted itself again.
What does this tell us about the way we perceive the world? It should tell us that our perceptions could be flawed, that nothing is concrete. It should teach us to question and test all of our beliefs, and then test them again.
The time has come for humanity to once again test its topsy turvy views, and turn things up side down. The mechanistic thinking of Descartes was wonderful in its era, and led us to where we are now. But what was once hailed as a grand new view of the universe, is now just another flawed system of thinking. Modern medicine would not exist without Descartes, but a mechanist view of the body is now revealed to be an oversimplification of living systems. The old mechanics of primitive machines have been replaced with nano chips and lasers. The world has changed, as it must. We must change with it. We can no longer hold on to our Reductionist, Mechanistic views, any more than the people of the Middle Ages could hold on to their supernatural views.
Plato's Theaetetus defined knowledge as “justified true beliefs”. One cannot be said to "know" something just because one believes it. A sick person, who believes he will get well, just might recover, but that does not mean that the belief is responsible for the healing. The belief lacks justification. Knowledge, therefore, is distinguished from belief by justification. We must use this questioning and justification principle to solve our problems, and that means reevaluating everything we believe.
I believe that we stand now at the beginning of a new age, a time when we are embattled in a war of ideas, struggling to determine which ones will stand up to Plato's Theaetetus, and which ones will diminish. Letting go is hard, as Galileo and Bruno could attest. These progressive thinkers were imprisoned and burned at the stake for daring to challenge the model of the cosmos promoted by The Church. The Church felt threatened, because such a shift of ideas would diminish its power. So the Church fought back. The violence we are seeing today mirrors the violence of the Inquisition. The people in power fear new ideas because they know that the power base will change. They cling to the old and push extreme fundamental views with violent fervor. It is violence based on fear.
We fear change. We fear the unknown. We fear any idea that threatens our beliefs. It is part of the human condition. Just as the abused child will emphatically defend the neglectful parent, society also clings to what it has known, without regard for what is best.
Religion has fought against the forces of secular humanism for centuries, to the benefit and detriment of us all. Both models have served humanity, and both have failed. Both have limitations. Here lies the dichotomy of the human condition. While we fear change, we also have a deep drive to expand our minds, solve problems, and go beyond all limitation. Maybe that is why we cling so desperately to God, for death is the ultimate limitation, and in our minds, we must transcend.
Systems Theory and Quantum Physics will be the next step of transcendence. Systems Theory teaches that we are all part of the whole. The tree can not live without the birds who eat its fruit, the bees who pollinate the flowers, the worms who till the soil, or the oxygen breathing mammals that surround it. The tree can not be seen as a mechanical thing in a Reductionist model. It must be seen as part of a huge interdependent living system. Quantum Physics teaches what the things in the system are made of, at a sub atomic level. Here we learn that everything is made from the same basic stuff: Atoms and electrons, and energy. We learn that this energy is not solid, not static, but dynamic. We learn that matter is not even a thing at all, but a probability, and oh, how that changes our perceptions of the world!
As science explores these realms, new ideas will filter into our shared perception of reality, and alter our belief systems. Our prism spectacles will not only turn things upside down, but inside out, and upside in. We will accept science as a way of explaining the Universe, and with this knowledge, we will again ask the age-old questions: Why are we here? What is our purpose? What is the origin, structure and meaning of life?
When we do this, we will find new answers, answers that will, (hopefully,) promote a peaceful cooperative, for a sustainable environment, with reverence for the human need to be part of a community. We will create new spiritual beliefs, built upon the synchronicity of science, and the epiphany of human experience. We will restructure our communities by replacing hierarchal models of control, with philosophies that flow in harmony with nature. This is the feminine principle. It is a model for humanity that tells us that we are part of the universe, just as the universe is part of us. It teaches that we are no more or less important than any other living thing, in spite of our limited point of view.
The time is near when we must leave the house of Our Father, and venture into the world on our own. We must find our own path, build our own home, give birth to new ideas, and watch the world evolve once again.
By Kelley Bell
In old Europe, the individual was taught to believe that their personal worth was naught. They understood themselves to be insignificant parts of the whole. Just imagine a poor illiterate serf walking into one of the grand stone churches, during the middle ages. The massive scale of the walls, combined with the ornate trimmings, and holy reverence; the walls themselves spoke, loud and clear, to the impoverished masses:
You are tiny. You are irrelevant. GOD is ALL.
Behind this message, was the conflicting idea that each individual had a chance for redemption. The lowly serf could earn entry into the gates of heaven by taking a vow to Love God, by means of committing loyalty to the Church.
The Clergy taught these people that their lives were meaningless without God, and the Church was partially right. People who joined, found that there was indeed a spiritual component to life, that added a fourth dimension to the human experience. The dogma of the church brought meaning, order and hope in the form of entertaining stories and moral parable.
The Church served a purpose. It made it possible for the ignorant uneducated toiling masses, to enter the world of philosophy, and reap the rewards spiritual consciousness, without paying the price, of a lifetime of study. It also served a political purpose, as it used the pulpit to organize communities into coherent cooperatives of social order.
Along comes Renee Descartes, the mathematical philosopher, with his concept of The Mechanical Universe. The world, and everything in it, he argued, could be explained in terms of a machine, like a clock.
Clocks were a very new thing, and watching a clock tick off the seconds was an amazement; a changing force in society. Descartes mused on a Reductionist platform that turned the world on its ear. Illness was not a function of evil spirits infecting the unrepentant sinner in need of exorcism, but simply a function of a machine whose parts were broken. He did not need the church to explain the world to him; he claimed that he could figure that out for himself, through scientific observation of the machine.
This was a HUGE SHIFT for humanity, and a severe demotion for The Pope!
Secular Humanism was born from this idea. Secular Humanism is a Renaissance era philosophy of self-realization. It. advocates reason over religion, centering on the values, capacities, and worth of the individual. Scientific thinking flourished from the seed of this radical new worldview. Modern Medicine departed from spiritual shamanism, and turned to the mechanics of the body, looking at each piece and part of the machine. The philosophy of Reductionism took hold in the Age of Reason.
The Wax Argument was Descartes proof that "what I thought I had seen with my eyes, I actually grasped solely with the faculty of judgment, which is in my mind." He describes a piece of wax, its shape, smell, color, etc. Then he heats it with a flame. The wax changes, but he realizes that even though it is now liquid, it is still wax. His senses are describing something completely different from the solid, yet in his mind, he knows that it is still wax. Therefore, he concludes that he cannot use his senses to interpret the world. (Thus, we have the famous term, "To Wax philosophic.")
Descartes would love the more modern experiment where a scientist created a pair of glasses from two prisms, which caused him to see everything upside down. After about a week of wearing his Prism Spectacles, his brain figured out a way to reinterpret the data, and he suddenly began to see everything right side up, even though he was still wearing the glasses! When he took them off, his brain made him see everything up side down again. Slowly, over a period of days, individual objects, like cars and trees would flip back upright in his topsy turvy vision, and then eventually the whole world righted itself again.
What does this tell us about the way we perceive the world? It should tell us that our perceptions could be flawed, that nothing is concrete. It should teach us to question and test all of our beliefs, and then test them again.
The time has come for humanity to once again test its topsy turvy views, and turn things up side down. The mechanistic thinking of Descartes was wonderful in its era, and led us to where we are now. But what was once hailed as a grand new view of the universe, is now just another flawed system of thinking. Modern medicine would not exist without Descartes, but a mechanist view of the body is now revealed to be an oversimplification of living systems. The old mechanics of primitive machines have been replaced with nano chips and lasers. The world has changed, as it must. We must change with it. We can no longer hold on to our Reductionist, Mechanistic views, any more than the people of the Middle Ages could hold on to their supernatural views.
Plato's Theaetetus defined knowledge as “justified true beliefs”. One cannot be said to "know" something just because one believes it. A sick person, who believes he will get well, just might recover, but that does not mean that the belief is responsible for the healing. The belief lacks justification. Knowledge, therefore, is distinguished from belief by justification. We must use this questioning and justification principle to solve our problems, and that means reevaluating everything we believe.
I believe that we stand now at the beginning of a new age, a time when we are embattled in a war of ideas, struggling to determine which ones will stand up to Plato's Theaetetus, and which ones will diminish. Letting go is hard, as Galileo and Bruno could attest. These progressive thinkers were imprisoned and burned at the stake for daring to challenge the model of the cosmos promoted by The Church. The Church felt threatened, because such a shift of ideas would diminish its power. So the Church fought back. The violence we are seeing today mirrors the violence of the Inquisition. The people in power fear new ideas because they know that the power base will change. They cling to the old and push extreme fundamental views with violent fervor. It is violence based on fear.
We fear change. We fear the unknown. We fear any idea that threatens our beliefs. It is part of the human condition. Just as the abused child will emphatically defend the neglectful parent, society also clings to what it has known, without regard for what is best.
Religion has fought against the forces of secular humanism for centuries, to the benefit and detriment of us all. Both models have served humanity, and both have failed. Both have limitations. Here lies the dichotomy of the human condition. While we fear change, we also have a deep drive to expand our minds, solve problems, and go beyond all limitation. Maybe that is why we cling so desperately to God, for death is the ultimate limitation, and in our minds, we must transcend.
Systems Theory and Quantum Physics will be the next step of transcendence. Systems Theory teaches that we are all part of the whole. The tree can not live without the birds who eat its fruit, the bees who pollinate the flowers, the worms who till the soil, or the oxygen breathing mammals that surround it. The tree can not be seen as a mechanical thing in a Reductionist model. It must be seen as part of a huge interdependent living system. Quantum Physics teaches what the things in the system are made of, at a sub atomic level. Here we learn that everything is made from the same basic stuff: Atoms and electrons, and energy. We learn that this energy is not solid, not static, but dynamic. We learn that matter is not even a thing at all, but a probability, and oh, how that changes our perceptions of the world!
As science explores these realms, new ideas will filter into our shared perception of reality, and alter our belief systems. Our prism spectacles will not only turn things upside down, but inside out, and upside in. We will accept science as a way of explaining the Universe, and with this knowledge, we will again ask the age-old questions: Why are we here? What is our purpose? What is the origin, structure and meaning of life?
When we do this, we will find new answers, answers that will, (hopefully,) promote a peaceful cooperative, for a sustainable environment, with reverence for the human need to be part of a community. We will create new spiritual beliefs, built upon the synchronicity of science, and the epiphany of human experience. We will restructure our communities by replacing hierarchal models of control, with philosophies that flow in harmony with nature. This is the feminine principle. It is a model for humanity that tells us that we are part of the universe, just as the universe is part of us. It teaches that we are no more or less important than any other living thing, in spite of our limited point of view.
The time is near when we must leave the house of Our Father, and venture into the world on our own. We must find our own path, build our own home, give birth to new ideas, and watch the world evolve once again.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Thought for the Day
"As Joseph Cambell said, “Follow your Bliss”. Exploration has risks, and I think they are worth it. But as I mature, I realize the memories of a thousand adventures mean little without friends and family to share your excitement."
-Garnet of The Glittering Muse
-Garnet of The Glittering Muse
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Elder's Meditation
"The honor of the people lies in the moccasin tracks of the woman. Walk the good road.... Be dutiful, respectful, gentle and modest my daughter... Be strong with the warm, strong heart of the earth. No people goes down until their women are weak and dishonored, or dead upon the ground. Be strong and sing the strength of the Great Powers within you, all around you."
--Village Wise Man, SIOUX
The Elders say the Native American women will lead the healing among the tribes. We need to especially pray for our women, and ask the Creator to bless them and give them strength. Inside them are the powers of love and strength given by the Moon and the Earth. When everyone else gives up, it is the women who sings the songs of strength. She is the backbone of the people. So, to our women we say, sing your songs of strength; pray for your special powers; keep our people strong; be respectful, gentle and modest.
Oh, Great One, bless our women. Make them strong today.
(My thanks to The Magical Maggie for passing this on to me and my blogger friends.)
--Village Wise Man, SIOUX
The Elders say the Native American women will lead the healing among the tribes. We need to especially pray for our women, and ask the Creator to bless them and give them strength. Inside them are the powers of love and strength given by the Moon and the Earth. When everyone else gives up, it is the women who sings the songs of strength. She is the backbone of the people. So, to our women we say, sing your songs of strength; pray for your special powers; keep our people strong; be respectful, gentle and modest.
Oh, Great One, bless our women. Make them strong today.
(My thanks to The Magical Maggie for passing this on to me and my blogger friends.)
Saturday, November 05, 2005
The Great Rudy Round-Up
I stepped on to my back deck with my little Rudy Bird on my shoulder, like I do every afternoon, to gaze at the trees, take in the air, and enjoy a moment of quiet serenity before the "Hour of Chaos" begins.
Every mom knows about The Hour of Chaos: The kids spring off the school bus, friends run through the house like a horde of midget Vikings, homework is protested, the kitchen is raided, snacks are served, puppies get loose, messes get made, rough housing resumes, boo-boos are band aided, and then I have to put on my commander hat and get it all under control before the hubby gets home.
The game is for the children and I to be sitting quietly at the table, going over schoolwork or doing a craft in a very "Ozzie and Harriet" sort of way when Daddy walks in the door. Picture the Cat in the Hat, and you will then comprehend "The Hour of Chaos."
So, I'm on my deck, "zenning" on the calm before the storm, when a gust of wind whooshed, and took my Darling cocktail by surprise. Rudy has never really learned how to fly. He sometimes flaps his wings and hops about, and even occasionally glides from his perch down to the ground, but flying? No, he has never gotten the hang of THAT whole business.
The gust hit, he spread his wings for balance, and it took him aloft like a kite in a hurricane.
"Squalk SQUALK!!!" (Scientific Translation: Mommy! HELP! I'm FREAKIN OUT HERE!)
He landed, rather clumsily, I might add, way up atop my neighbors roof, looking like Wiley E. Coyote testing his new Acme Flying Kit.
I ran out the gate after him, and of course, let my puppies get loose in the process. They burst into the street. The school bus arrived, and all H#ll broke loose.
Kids are streaming off the bus, puppies and children are running amok, traffic is stopped, the bird is squalking, and I am doing my best impression of Barney Fife.
I like my neighborhood, and all my neighbors, save for one or two. But dear Rudy ended up on the worst of all possible spots. This was the house that I'm sure you remember: the one all kids know, the one with the grumpy old man who hates kids and pets, and any sort of disturbance. Its that guy who turns out all his lights on Trick or Treat night, and pretends not to be home. It was the house of Boo Radley, and it seemed, no one was home.
The children gathered with fear in their eyes. The other neighbors all came out to see what was amiss.
"Should we get a ladder?"
"What if HE comes home?"
"Oh, of all the places that bird could have gone!"
We decided to wait while the children chased the puppies. "Maybe he will fly down."
Maybe, that is, if he knew how to fly.
For two hours, we waited, as a parade of onlookers came and went. One man said "You know, I could marry a woman like you. I love the constant drama around your house."
"Uh, Thanks, happy to entertain."
No one had Boo Radly's phone number or knew how to contact him. AND NO ONE wanted to climb on the Radley Roof.
Finally, as the sun began to set, I knew that I could wait no more. So I did what any sane person would do...
I panicked and called 911!
"911 Emergency."
"My bird is stuck on my neighbors roof."
"Um, This is the Sheriff Ma'am. We aren't trained for bird rescues."
"It's The Radley House."
"We'll send a squad car right away."
The Sheriff arrived, we extended the ladder, and the crowd watched with anticipation as I wobbly assended, wondering if I would succeed or end up ass-ended.
Just then, Boo Radly came out! He had been in there all along. He strode across the lawn like a rhinoceros in his bathrobe, commanding to know that was going on.
The Sheriff intervened, and soon Boo and the Sheriff are working together like Laurel and Hardey to steady the ladder and save the bird.
Amazingly and to the delight of all, our quest succeeded, the bird was saved, the puppies corralled, the children calmed, and we did it all before my hubby got home.
Boo even helped put the ladder away, bless his heart.
Every mom knows about The Hour of Chaos: The kids spring off the school bus, friends run through the house like a horde of midget Vikings, homework is protested, the kitchen is raided, snacks are served, puppies get loose, messes get made, rough housing resumes, boo-boos are band aided, and then I have to put on my commander hat and get it all under control before the hubby gets home.
The game is for the children and I to be sitting quietly at the table, going over schoolwork or doing a craft in a very "Ozzie and Harriet" sort of way when Daddy walks in the door. Picture the Cat in the Hat, and you will then comprehend "The Hour of Chaos."
So, I'm on my deck, "zenning" on the calm before the storm, when a gust of wind whooshed, and took my Darling cocktail by surprise. Rudy has never really learned how to fly. He sometimes flaps his wings and hops about, and even occasionally glides from his perch down to the ground, but flying? No, he has never gotten the hang of THAT whole business.
The gust hit, he spread his wings for balance, and it took him aloft like a kite in a hurricane.
"Squalk SQUALK!!!" (Scientific Translation: Mommy! HELP! I'm FREAKIN OUT HERE!)
He landed, rather clumsily, I might add, way up atop my neighbors roof, looking like Wiley E. Coyote testing his new Acme Flying Kit.
I ran out the gate after him, and of course, let my puppies get loose in the process. They burst into the street. The school bus arrived, and all H#ll broke loose.
Kids are streaming off the bus, puppies and children are running amok, traffic is stopped, the bird is squalking, and I am doing my best impression of Barney Fife.
I like my neighborhood, and all my neighbors, save for one or two. But dear Rudy ended up on the worst of all possible spots. This was the house that I'm sure you remember: the one all kids know, the one with the grumpy old man who hates kids and pets, and any sort of disturbance. Its that guy who turns out all his lights on Trick or Treat night, and pretends not to be home. It was the house of Boo Radley, and it seemed, no one was home.
The children gathered with fear in their eyes. The other neighbors all came out to see what was amiss.
"Should we get a ladder?"
"What if HE comes home?"
"Oh, of all the places that bird could have gone!"
We decided to wait while the children chased the puppies. "Maybe he will fly down."
Maybe, that is, if he knew how to fly.
For two hours, we waited, as a parade of onlookers came and went. One man said "You know, I could marry a woman like you. I love the constant drama around your house."
"Uh, Thanks, happy to entertain."
No one had Boo Radly's phone number or knew how to contact him. AND NO ONE wanted to climb on the Radley Roof.
Finally, as the sun began to set, I knew that I could wait no more. So I did what any sane person would do...
I panicked and called 911!
"911 Emergency."
"My bird is stuck on my neighbors roof."
"Um, This is the Sheriff Ma'am. We aren't trained for bird rescues."
"It's The Radley House."
"We'll send a squad car right away."
The Sheriff arrived, we extended the ladder, and the crowd watched with anticipation as I wobbly assended, wondering if I would succeed or end up ass-ended.
Just then, Boo Radly came out! He had been in there all along. He strode across the lawn like a rhinoceros in his bathrobe, commanding to know that was going on.
The Sheriff intervened, and soon Boo and the Sheriff are working together like Laurel and Hardey to steady the ladder and save the bird.
Amazingly and to the delight of all, our quest succeeded, the bird was saved, the puppies corralled, the children calmed, and we did it all before my hubby got home.
Boo even helped put the ladder away, bless his heart.
Friday, November 04, 2005
The Winds of Change
Change is the only constant.
In The United States of America, the winds of change are beginning to howl.
A new era is approaching. An era that will challenge the constitutional principles on which this country stands.
Be ready.
Our country has been led by "The Ol' Boys Club" for the past two centuries, but women, and people of color are infitrating the power structure, and influencing policy more than ever before.
This shift is part of the natural order. It will bring a much needed balance to the lop sided, agressive, ethnically abusive, patriarchal history our country.
The voice of the people will be heard. The values of a multicultural tapestry will be woven deep into the fabric of our laws.
Women will offer a matriarchial kindness and motherly wisdom to our policies.
It will change the face of our nation.
In the long run, it will be a positive change.
But be ready, for change does not often come without strife.
In The United States of America, the winds of change are beginning to howl.
A new era is approaching. An era that will challenge the constitutional principles on which this country stands.
Be ready.
Our country has been led by "The Ol' Boys Club" for the past two centuries, but women, and people of color are infitrating the power structure, and influencing policy more than ever before.
This shift is part of the natural order. It will bring a much needed balance to the lop sided, agressive, ethnically abusive, patriarchal history our country.
The voice of the people will be heard. The values of a multicultural tapestry will be woven deep into the fabric of our laws.
Women will offer a matriarchial kindness and motherly wisdom to our policies.
It will change the face of our nation.
In the long run, it will be a positive change.
But be ready, for change does not often come without strife.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Who Said this?
"I know that spirituality is never serene; meditation never silent; peace is never peaceful."
-Pete Townshend, from his blog: The Boy Who Heard Music
Nicely said Pete.
-Pete Townshend, from his blog: The Boy Who Heard Music
Nicely said Pete.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Urgent: Take Action Now
If you are against cruelty to animals, please click
HERE and follow the links to sign the petition.
WARNING: Link shows graphic photo of Dog Abuse.
Thank You
HERE and follow the links to sign the petition.
WARNING: Link shows graphic photo of Dog Abuse.
Thank You
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Culture of Life
Let’s say that we decide to promote a “Culture of Life.” We value life, we protect life, and we work hard to cure all human disease and illness.
Let’s assume that we are successful in this venture; that all our walk-a-thons and telethons and fundraisers enable our talented Scientists and Doctors to find cures for every known malady.
Human kind achieves its goal; the utopian ideal of perfect health and immortality!
Then what?
Massive over population, food shortages, eco systems being wiped out as billions of people swarm the planet like a plague of locusts.
Past wars over oil and religion will be remembered as petty skirmishes when compared to the epic battles over water, land and food.
Population growth is already at an alarming rate. Over fishing in the oceans is at the point where even the most common food fish are on the verge of extinction. Rain forests are disappearing. Entire cultures of people are starving.
If you read the Natty Bumpo stories about the early American frontier, you will note that the author describes the autumn sky as being “filled with so many migrating birds that they blocked out the sun.” I have never seen a sight like that. What I have seen is that each year the migrating flocks become smaller and smaller.
In China overpopulation is such a serious problem that laws are in effect, restricting each family to only one child. The results are tragic. Baby girls are killed, aborted, or abandoned by the thousands.
Folks, if you really believe in a culture of life, then you must think long term.
The actions we take now will determine the future for all mankind.
Live a life of passion and service,
and when your energies wane,
Welcome Death,
for it is the door that makes room for life anew.
Let’s assume that we are successful in this venture; that all our walk-a-thons and telethons and fundraisers enable our talented Scientists and Doctors to find cures for every known malady.
Human kind achieves its goal; the utopian ideal of perfect health and immortality!
Then what?
Massive over population, food shortages, eco systems being wiped out as billions of people swarm the planet like a plague of locusts.
Past wars over oil and religion will be remembered as petty skirmishes when compared to the epic battles over water, land and food.
Population growth is already at an alarming rate. Over fishing in the oceans is at the point where even the most common food fish are on the verge of extinction. Rain forests are disappearing. Entire cultures of people are starving.
If you read the Natty Bumpo stories about the early American frontier, you will note that the author describes the autumn sky as being “filled with so many migrating birds that they blocked out the sun.” I have never seen a sight like that. What I have seen is that each year the migrating flocks become smaller and smaller.
In China overpopulation is such a serious problem that laws are in effect, restricting each family to only one child. The results are tragic. Baby girls are killed, aborted, or abandoned by the thousands.
Folks, if you really believe in a culture of life, then you must think long term.
The actions we take now will determine the future for all mankind.
Live a life of passion and service,
and when your energies wane,
Welcome Death,
for it is the door that makes room for life anew.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Happy Hallowen!
Whew.
Trick or Treat is over, and the kids are finally in bed.
It was a night of frollicking frightful fun for all.
Our house was the party place for the grown ups, and check in place for their kids. We had a huge crowd.
We put up our castle
Made a cauldron of Dry Ice
Had a moving Ghost
Did Bobbing for Apples
played flashlight tag
Had a neighborhood pot luck buffet in our garage (Miss Lori's Ghoul-lash and Bloody chicken were to die for)
and I was a big hit doing single card Tarot readings in my Gypsy outfit.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Decadent Tranquility
Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhh (Im jumping up and down)
I just found the COOLEST BLOG!
It is full of fractle images and yummy verbage.
It is called Decadent Tranquility, and you can link to it from the "COOL LINKS" on my sidebar.
GO
Do it now.
Go ON...GO Skeedaddle on out O' here and Check it out.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
I just found the COOLEST BLOG!
It is full of fractle images and yummy verbage.
It is called Decadent Tranquility, and you can link to it from the "COOL LINKS" on my sidebar.
GO
Do it now.
Go ON...GO Skeedaddle on out O' here and Check it out.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Sad but true
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)
Friday, October 28, 2005
Raising the Vibe
I had a great conversation this morning with a dear friend and fellow Wise Woman. She is a massuse and Reiki Master.
She and her son were painting the walls of their living room. They chose white to "reflect as much energy as possible." (Like John Lenon and Yoko Ono did in the Dakota.)
She is adding artistic touches by painting Reiki symbols all around, and decorating with spiritual objects and gifts found in nature.
While they are painting, her son is laughing and laughing and laughing.
Mom says "What are you laughing about?"
He replies "See, that's the whole problem with the world Mom, Everybody thinks that you need a reason to laugh. You of all people ought to know better. You know that laughter raises seretonin levels in the brain, and releases all those yummy endorphins that make us feel good, and helps the body heal itself. You paint those Reiki symbols as a way of creating positive energy, well, that's what I'm doing too!
LAUGH with me Mom! Come on! Laugh into all the walls!"
And so they did.
They literally painted their home with laughter!
Talk about a good vibe.
So today, I am making it my thing to add a little laughter wherever I go. And I will laugh today, even if I do not have a socially acceptable reason to do so.
You might want to try it to, my cyber friends...and pass it on to three other people, and ask them to pass it on too. It sure beats passin the flu!
So, get out there and laugh with your family and friends. laugh for no reason at all. Spread some joy, and have some fun. It's not as hard as you might think. Go on...Give it a try.
Love,
Kel Bell
She and her son were painting the walls of their living room. They chose white to "reflect as much energy as possible." (Like John Lenon and Yoko Ono did in the Dakota.)
She is adding artistic touches by painting Reiki symbols all around, and decorating with spiritual objects and gifts found in nature.
While they are painting, her son is laughing and laughing and laughing.
Mom says "What are you laughing about?"
He replies "See, that's the whole problem with the world Mom, Everybody thinks that you need a reason to laugh. You of all people ought to know better. You know that laughter raises seretonin levels in the brain, and releases all those yummy endorphins that make us feel good, and helps the body heal itself. You paint those Reiki symbols as a way of creating positive energy, well, that's what I'm doing too!
LAUGH with me Mom! Come on! Laugh into all the walls!"
And so they did.
They literally painted their home with laughter!
Talk about a good vibe.
So today, I am making it my thing to add a little laughter wherever I go. And I will laugh today, even if I do not have a socially acceptable reason to do so.
You might want to try it to, my cyber friends...and pass it on to three other people, and ask them to pass it on too. It sure beats passin the flu!
So, get out there and laugh with your family and friends. laugh for no reason at all. Spread some joy, and have some fun. It's not as hard as you might think. Go on...Give it a try.
Love,
Kel Bell
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
impermanance
A group of Tibetan Monks create a Sand Mandala. Like life, the complexity and beauty are amazing. When the project is done, they simply let the wind blow it away.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Let the ribbing begin!
My husband just sent me this joke in honor of my afore mentioned driving experience:
I was riding to work yesterday when I observed a female driver cut
right in front of a pickup truck, causing him to have to drive on
to the shoulder to avoid hitting her.
This evidently angered the driver enough that he hung his arm out
his window and "flipped" the woman off. "Man, that guy is stupid," I thought to myself.
I ALWAYS smile nicely and wave in a sheepish manner whenever a female
does anything to me in traffic, and here's why:
I drive 48 miles each way every day to work. That's 96 miles each day.
Of these, 16 miles each way is bumper-to-bumper. Most of the bumper-to-bumper is on an 8 lane highway.
There are 7 cars every 40 feet for 32 miles. That works out to be 982 cars every mile, or 31,424 cars.
Even though the rest of the 32 miles is not bumper-to-bumper, I figure
I pass at least another 4000 cars.
That brings the number to something like 36,000 cars that I pass
every day.
Statistically, females drive half of these. That's 18,000 women drivers!
In any given group of females, 1 in 28 has PMS. That's 642.
According to Cosmopolitan, 70% describe their love life as dissatisfying or unrewarding. That's 12,600.
According to the National Institute of Health, 22% of all females have
seriously considered suicide or homicide. That's 3,960.
And 34% describe men as their biggest problem. That's 6120.
According to the National Rifle Association, 5% of all females carry weapons, and this number is increasing.
That means that EVERY SINGLE DAY, I drive past at least one female that has a lousy love life, thinks men are her biggest problem, has seriously considered suicide or homicide, has PMS, and is armed.
Flip one off? ........ I think not..
I was riding to work yesterday when I observed a female driver cut
right in front of a pickup truck, causing him to have to drive on
to the shoulder to avoid hitting her.
This evidently angered the driver enough that he hung his arm out
his window and "flipped" the woman off. "Man, that guy is stupid," I thought to myself.
I ALWAYS smile nicely and wave in a sheepish manner whenever a female
does anything to me in traffic, and here's why:
I drive 48 miles each way every day to work. That's 96 miles each day.
Of these, 16 miles each way is bumper-to-bumper. Most of the bumper-to-bumper is on an 8 lane highway.
There are 7 cars every 40 feet for 32 miles. That works out to be 982 cars every mile, or 31,424 cars.
Even though the rest of the 32 miles is not bumper-to-bumper, I figure
I pass at least another 4000 cars.
That brings the number to something like 36,000 cars that I pass
every day.
Statistically, females drive half of these. That's 18,000 women drivers!
In any given group of females, 1 in 28 has PMS. That's 642.
According to Cosmopolitan, 70% describe their love life as dissatisfying or unrewarding. That's 12,600.
According to the National Institute of Health, 22% of all females have
seriously considered suicide or homicide. That's 3,960.
And 34% describe men as their biggest problem. That's 6120.
According to the National Rifle Association, 5% of all females carry weapons, and this number is increasing.
That means that EVERY SINGLE DAY, I drive past at least one female that has a lousy love life, thinks men are her biggest problem, has seriously considered suicide or homicide, has PMS, and is armed.
Flip one off? ........ I think not..
Man O Man
The truth comes out.
In spite of my feminist streak, and my perfect driving record, the fact is, when my husband is in the car with me, I drive like an idiot.
I don't know what comes over me. I turn into this entirely different person; a helium head with naturally blonde hair.
I'll spare you the details, but my son has a bruise, my front yard is a mess, the curb in the middle of town has my rubber on it, and the jokes from my family will be rubbed in for a good long time.
Geesh.
;(
The laugh of the Day
Jon Stewart is crackin me up as usual:
To see the video, click this link
">Link http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002486.html
To see the video, click this link
">Link http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002486.html
ICAN
I was listening to the C-SPAN Washington Journal discussion about U.S. control of the internet governing body, ICAN.
ICAN creates domain names like .com, .net, and is considering .xxx. They nixed the .xxx idea after a horde of conservative Christians wrote letters of complaint against the domain.
(It seems to me that they would support this idea as it would make it easier for them to filter the content coming into their computers.)
Anyway, other countries are requesting that ICAN be put under international control, but the U.S. is not budging.
What I found most interesting was the broad based opinions of callers to the show who were saying
"Freedom Rules"
"God Bless the U.S.'
"Other countries are not ready for control of the internet"
Yadda yadda yadda
I sometimes wonder if we are really as free as we think we are.
One example of my doubt:
When protesters attended Republican events this year, they were sent to fenced in areas off to the side that were labeled "Designated Free Speech Zones."
Sounds kind of hypocritical to me, saying we are a nation that protects free speech, then putting people in CAGES.
I also listened to a New York Times reporter who highlighted how secretive this administration is. He said that we have no reporters embedded in the bases of Iraq, reporting on what's really going on. He said that we have no data showing how many sortees our Air Force is sending out each day. He said that they report "Insurgent" deaths, but do not define what an Insurgent is. He said that if you read the Arab press it becomes clear that many of these "Insurgents" are just ordinary people: civilian women and children! He mentioned a lot of things that are being kept hidden by our government.
It seems like everything is a game of seeing how little they can reveal.
John Bolton got snuck into his position when congress was out of session, Harriet Meyers is the invisible judge...
The whole WMD intelligence hoodwink...
The election itself was questionable.
With a track record like that, I am not surprised that other countries don't want the U.S. to control the internet.
When I look at Islamic control of the Middle East, I can not help but compare it to the Christian influence of the U.S.
We wave our flag and talk about freedom of religion, but when it comes down to it, the Christian majority is doing everything possible to squelch other views.
Are we really as free and diverse and open as we are told we are?
I wonder.
ICAN creates domain names like .com, .net, and is considering .xxx. They nixed the .xxx idea after a horde of conservative Christians wrote letters of complaint against the domain.
(It seems to me that they would support this idea as it would make it easier for them to filter the content coming into their computers.)
Anyway, other countries are requesting that ICAN be put under international control, but the U.S. is not budging.
What I found most interesting was the broad based opinions of callers to the show who were saying
"Freedom Rules"
"God Bless the U.S.'
"Other countries are not ready for control of the internet"
Yadda yadda yadda
I sometimes wonder if we are really as free as we think we are.
One example of my doubt:
When protesters attended Republican events this year, they were sent to fenced in areas off to the side that were labeled "Designated Free Speech Zones."
Sounds kind of hypocritical to me, saying we are a nation that protects free speech, then putting people in CAGES.
I also listened to a New York Times reporter who highlighted how secretive this administration is. He said that we have no reporters embedded in the bases of Iraq, reporting on what's really going on. He said that we have no data showing how many sortees our Air Force is sending out each day. He said that they report "Insurgent" deaths, but do not define what an Insurgent is. He said that if you read the Arab press it becomes clear that many of these "Insurgents" are just ordinary people: civilian women and children! He mentioned a lot of things that are being kept hidden by our government.
It seems like everything is a game of seeing how little they can reveal.
John Bolton got snuck into his position when congress was out of session, Harriet Meyers is the invisible judge...
The whole WMD intelligence hoodwink...
The election itself was questionable.
With a track record like that, I am not surprised that other countries don't want the U.S. to control the internet.
When I look at Islamic control of the Middle East, I can not help but compare it to the Christian influence of the U.S.
We wave our flag and talk about freedom of religion, but when it comes down to it, the Christian majority is doing everything possible to squelch other views.
Are we really as free and diverse and open as we are told we are?
I wonder.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
I Wish
I gaze at the heavens
with wonder and awe.
and Wish upon a shooting star,
But tonight, LOL, I Wished upon a Rock Star
In Cyberspace.
http://boywhoheardmusic.blogspot.com
That's right folks, Pete Townsend has joined the blogosphere!
He is writing a book and posting it online. It's good stuff. Sometimes he tells the story, rather than showing it, but overall, his concept is solid. He thinks about Einstein and Black Holes, and that deep primal B flat sound from outer space. He muses on religion the meaning of life, and seeks balance between serious philosophy and light hearted fun.
Just like me.
The difference is that he has an audience, while my voice just fades into the vast emptiness of cyberspace.
So,
I Wished upon his blog.
It seems so corny and so shallow, I know,
yet,
I hit the comment button
and I wished...
The same wish that we all wish,
when we stand in the shadow
of a bright and blazing star
To be noticed and given a nod,
by one with the power
to aim the spotlight.
To be touched for one nanosecond.
and taste a drop of the sweet nectar of public acceptance.
To hope that it will rub off
and provide the fuel
to break out of obscurity
So that my Voice could be heard
So that I could use the fleeting moments of my little life
to fufill a greater purpose
To create change
against hypocrisy,
violence,
war,
inequality,
racism,
greed,
and the destruction of our environment
just to name a few.
To spread a little laughter
a little joy
a little wonder
To break free from the rut of the mundane,
To plant the seeds of my soul, and watch them grow.
Maybe he will see it.
Maybe others will.
Maybe Maybe Baby...
"It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone eventually."
ahh,
I Wish...
with wonder and awe.
and Wish upon a shooting star,
But tonight, LOL, I Wished upon a Rock Star
In Cyberspace.
http://boywhoheardmusic.blogspot.com
That's right folks, Pete Townsend has joined the blogosphere!
He is writing a book and posting it online. It's good stuff. Sometimes he tells the story, rather than showing it, but overall, his concept is solid. He thinks about Einstein and Black Holes, and that deep primal B flat sound from outer space. He muses on religion the meaning of life, and seeks balance between serious philosophy and light hearted fun.
Just like me.
The difference is that he has an audience, while my voice just fades into the vast emptiness of cyberspace.
So,
I Wished upon his blog.
It seems so corny and so shallow, I know,
yet,
I hit the comment button
and I wished...
The same wish that we all wish,
when we stand in the shadow
of a bright and blazing star
To be noticed and given a nod,
by one with the power
to aim the spotlight.
To be touched for one nanosecond.
and taste a drop of the sweet nectar of public acceptance.
To hope that it will rub off
and provide the fuel
to break out of obscurity
So that my Voice could be heard
So that I could use the fleeting moments of my little life
to fufill a greater purpose
To create change
against hypocrisy,
violence,
war,
inequality,
racism,
greed,
and the destruction of our environment
just to name a few.
To spread a little laughter
a little joy
a little wonder
To break free from the rut of the mundane,
To plant the seeds of my soul, and watch them grow.
Maybe he will see it.
Maybe others will.
Maybe Maybe Baby...
"It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone eventually."
ahh,
I Wish...
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
A Halloween Tradition
Bobbing for apples is an ancient Halloween tradition.
The idea is that the girl who can bite the apple using only her mouth will be the next to marry. (This ties in to the old Adam and Eve thread. ie. The girl with the fruit from the tree of life weds with the hero.) If she could bob the apple on Halloween, she would then go look in a mirror where she would see the face of her lover revealed.
Another custom, was for a girl to peel an apple, being very careful to peel it all in one long ribbon. She would then throw it over her left shoulder. The shape of the peel on the ground would form the letter of the name of the man she was destined to marry.
Halloween may have evolved into a costume wearing fun nite, but it began as a celebration of the harvest, and preparation for the long cold dark days of winter.
The spook aspect comes from the idea that as we shift from the days of warmth to the days of cold, the veil between our world and the spirit world is thinned. Costumes were donned to ward off the spirits.
So have fun with the costumes, but take a moment to celebrate the harvest of your life. Think about snuggling in for the great dreamtime of winter, and reflect on the seeds that you plan to sow in the coming spring.
And don't forget the apple ladies...It is the symbol of feminine wisdom and marriage.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Horse
Look Again.
The Frog is now a Horse.
Sometimes we need to chage our perspective to see the whole picture.
People are creatures of habit. We develop these habits, and our system of beliefs, through our experiences in life. It's human nature. However, it is important to realize that our perspective can be limiting. What we see as absolute truth, often is only one side of the whole.
Step back and look at the world from a fresh perspective. See the world with new eyes.
As Dr. Wayne Dyer says "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Sunday, October 16, 2005
A Great Halloween activity project for the kids
This year, we decided to gather lots and lots of boxes to make a haunted castle.
I will post photos of the finished project next week.
Gotta say...the kids are having more fun with the cardboard out of the dumpster than they do with any of their store bought toys!
International Healing and Light Expo
We had lots of fun soaking up the exhibits at the IHL Expo. Its so nice to spend the day in a place where everyone smiles!
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Thought for today
A philosopher, is basically just a physicist who can't do math.
-Copyright Kelley Bell, 2005
-Copyright Kelley Bell, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Got the Time?
The speed of light is constant.
Einstein figured out that time is not. He said that as we approach the speed of light, time slows down.
Earth is moving at about 6000 mph.
So, if earth began moving at the speed of light, time would stop.
If time stopped, would we become eternal, or would we cease to exist?
If we could go faster than the speed of light, would we go back in time, or regress in age?
When I think of Carl Sagan, and the "billions and billions" of planets in the universe, I wonder...What are the odds that there is a planet or a star ship out there somewhere that IS moving at or above the speed of light?
Einstein figured out that time is not. He said that as we approach the speed of light, time slows down.
Earth is moving at about 6000 mph.
So, if earth began moving at the speed of light, time would stop.
If time stopped, would we become eternal, or would we cease to exist?
If we could go faster than the speed of light, would we go back in time, or regress in age?
When I think of Carl Sagan, and the "billions and billions" of planets in the universe, I wonder...What are the odds that there is a planet or a star ship out there somewhere that IS moving at or above the speed of light?
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Here's a concept to chew on
If you have read this post:
">Link
You know the alternative version of The Tree of Life story (ie: Adam & Eve: Original Sin, The Fall of Mankind, etc.)
But this is an interesting concept to add:
Some teachings about Adam and Eve focus on the guilt a woman bears for original Sin, and accordingly, the stereotype of "a good woman" is one who is obedient and subservient.
Others focus on how God created Eve as a companion for Adam.
What a coincidence that women are seen as sex objects and playthings!
The Muslim Quran eliminates Eve from the story all together. She is not even mentioned. It is split up into several different chapters as the story of Adam, God and The serpent.
How are women treated in Muslim society? They are covered up and hidden completely.
Makes ya wonder, don't it?
">Link
You know the alternative version of The Tree of Life story (ie: Adam & Eve: Original Sin, The Fall of Mankind, etc.)
But this is an interesting concept to add:
Some teachings about Adam and Eve focus on the guilt a woman bears for original Sin, and accordingly, the stereotype of "a good woman" is one who is obedient and subservient.
Others focus on how God created Eve as a companion for Adam.
What a coincidence that women are seen as sex objects and playthings!
The Muslim Quran eliminates Eve from the story all together. She is not even mentioned. It is split up into several different chapters as the story of Adam, God and The serpent.
How are women treated in Muslim society? They are covered up and hidden completely.
Makes ya wonder, don't it?
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Sunday, September 18, 2005
A matter of Perspective
Mother Nature, though she be a harsh mistress, has but one goal: to nurture growth and new life in a state of harmony and balance.
World human population hovered at about ten million for many centuries. In recent decades, our numbers have shot up to a mind boggling six billion people! Scientists predict that we could reach numbers of up to 14 billion before the end of the next century.
This rate of over population is out of balance with nature. She will correct the problem for us, of that there is no doubt. She will use all forms of natural disasters, and most likely will gift us with a pandemic virus, in order to bring our species back into a state of harmony.
It sounds cruel, I know, but in truth, it is a form of kindness, that will not only ensure the survival of our species, but of all other life on earth as well.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Cold Remedy
In the west, our doctors refer to the "common cold".
In Asia, the practicioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have discovered five different types of colds.
A common home remedy for colds that the Chinese people have used for hundreds of years is a recipe of Asian pears cooked in rock candy.
Slice the pears
add water and rock candy
cook on the stove till syrup thickens
Eat the pears and sip the warm syrup.
It breaks up the flem and alleviates symptoms.
Its the Asian version of Chicken soup.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Cough gag sneeeeze hack
I felt sick enough this morning
that I could barely drag my haggard carcass out of bed
Sick enough that making coffee seemed like an exhausting chore
but
not sick enough to allow myself to stay in bed.
So I muddled through
wishing I could just pour yesterdays Joe into an iv bag
I was late, sluggish, worthless and lackadaisical.
If I cant be well, I would rather be really sick
instead of living in the guilt ridden sludge of in between.
that I could barely drag my haggard carcass out of bed
Sick enough that making coffee seemed like an exhausting chore
but
not sick enough to allow myself to stay in bed.
So I muddled through
wishing I could just pour yesterdays Joe into an iv bag
I was late, sluggish, worthless and lackadaisical.
If I cant be well, I would rather be really sick
instead of living in the guilt ridden sludge of in between.
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