tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21665562408906140212024-03-13T01:34:53.915+01:00Siamese MirrorsVisiblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261079540110616341noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-42417212033625388222016-11-26T08:22:00.002+01:002017-06-13T23:35:42.686+02:00Where is that Love?<b>Greetings!<br />
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As many Visible blog readers couldn't but fail to notice</b>, the commenting facility has changed at Smoking Mirrors, Visible Origami, Reflections in a Petri Dish etc. This was due to happen anyway, but was brought forward because of recent and ongoing problems with Blogger's native comments system.<br />
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<b>Since the commenting system was changed a day or two ago</b>, there appears to be a general reluctance on the part of Vis' readers to submit comments through it.<br />
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<b>Ray B (who I am in touch with frequently)</b> wrote me to advise that the reluctance of people to comment most likely stems from a suspicion that the new comments facility is some sort of honey trap to get submitter email addresses, or that the blogs have been hijacked or some other other form of foul play.<br />
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<b>This, absolutely is not the case</b>. For the new commenting facility, all the system requires is for the "name" field to be filled in (whatever name you choose to provide, it doesn't matter).<br />
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<b>And that is all;<br />
You do NOT need to register for anything;<br />
You are not required to provide an email address</b>.<br />
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Just a name is all, whether real or contrived.<br />
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<b>As a for what it's worth</b>, the commenting facility is called <a href="https://intensedebate.com/">Intense Debate</a> and was created by a company as far removed from G00gle or Alphabet as you're likely to find; it was made and is maintained by <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> who are an all round bunch of friendly geeks. <a href="https://automattic.com/">Check them out</a>.<br />
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<b>So, less of the reluctance to comment, please?</b> Give Vis the feedback his work deserves. And when commenting, it will help for now if any comments are made via the blog post pages, rather than via the various blog home pages.<br />
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<b>Questions?<br />
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If you have any questions</b> or just want personal confirmation that Visible's blogs remain in friendly hands, you're welcome to email either of the elves;<br />
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<i>the3rdelf@lesvisible.com<br />
the4thelf@lesvisible.com</i><br />
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<b>Thanks for reading!</b> Now please get over to <a href="http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/2016/11/red-flags-rising-911-lies-and-holocaust.html">Smoking Mirrors</a> and give Vis some comment love.<br />
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<b>The Elves</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-78812783144245412932016-09-09T12:42:00.002+02:002016-09-09T12:42:59.352+02:003 goats, Sun Tzu and the emperors concubinesCracking the whip and prodding at the wild beasts with an upturned chair. Thrusting and parrying and moving towards them even as they growl and foam and bare their razor sharp teeth. Eventually they will tire and calm a little and return to their corner of the great cage. I have encountered few humans such as these, but it is known that a great many live in this feral state. They live in their own separate world and outsiders are recommended not to stray there. If they have strayed there, then it is recommended watch on them closely without venturing too near. Ultimately, some of these beasts have proven to be tamable. Able to plod in line in line on the masters orders, or even to march to an even beat. To be fed safely by hand and even wander free of chains and ropes for short periods of time. But can they be left to roam freely without bringing harm on themselves and all around them? Such is the view when seeing them from another paddock.<br />
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The weeks of feral communion go by, lurching between sunlit days with hot blooded humour with the occasional storm of darkness lashing. So it is when you find yourself surrounded by the pack. And the pack itself seems to be bound by the beastly law of the dominator. The dominant member gets up on his hind legs and urinates everywhere, bares his teeth and bites at anything that gets close, and stakes his claim in the universe. The underlings for their part say yes and follow, occasionally biting to the side to check their position in the hierarchy.<br />
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Traveling as one group and as one body. A pack that travels from place to place, brazenly laying to waste everything that it encounters. At the helm is a burly brute called Big Richard. We just call him Big Dick. Apart from his ability to dominate others his one distinct feature is to always take things further than his peers. Where any normal beast would step back having had enough, he will bare his teeth and step forward for more.<br />
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Around him and around them all the mountains grow deep creases and shadows that shade the day. Rocks break-off from their places at the top and roll down bringing others with them in a flurry. The wind becomes cooler and the damp becomes more cold. The light is sucked out from good things and the plants and trees all go black and die. The stars disappear behind heavy clouds and the sun and moon try to hide behind each other.<br />
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Such is the day of the leader of the pack. A similar day it is for those that follow. Always pushing against the boundaries of what is acceptable and proper until they falter and madness prevails and the sun and stars surrender and jump from the sky. The largest star falls into our midst and bitter is its name.<br />
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Landing in this world with a thud. Turning on the spot to see their comings and goings through our own great mirror. Each member of the pack carries their own burden of illness and suffering. Each member appearing dressed my own clothes. Following my manner, even wearing my own face. Turning around on the point of resistance. Resistance to life and the harsh hand of suffering. Flailing as it nails us to the spot. Nails us to whatever we wish to escape from. There with a clear connection to the resistance, watching the comings and goings through our own web of our own world. The reluctant resistor holds tightly to all that damages and dismays. Biting, and with a grimace falling harder that way. Thinking of them and that their way offers little hope of escape or relief.<br />
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The sea of waves and of discord upsets our idle and ideal dreamy view of life. It upends our vision of how we would like things to be. Wavy and rough is the nature of the surface events. Holding-on for dear life, and yet to fear not the proximity of death. The disruptor fallen, foiled and failed. For too long the breath and blood of devils. Now he is a patient in lifes hospital ward. Held with the arms tied to each other in a room of soft surroundings. It is imperative that we find the right doctor, who can nurse away this madness. For a dark afternoon this is how it is, but at the first moment returning to the known rythmn of life.<br />
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The pack moves as a tight band driven about by waves of the moment. The active part of whatever moment appears. They might be from the moon. Or was it Mars or from yet further still. In one direction anger bursts and great sparks crackle and flame. Then suddenly for no apparent reason there is an eruption of humour. Ha ha ha. HA HA HA. Then yet again a shift in to a dark mood of foreboding. And then a moment of earnest sobriety. It comes to refresh us like a cool wind in spring. Reminds us of what it is in life that really matters.<br />
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They frizzle and frazzle and move off in random directions, bouncing off everything that they encounter. One minute a gang of hoodlums out looking for trouble and struggle. The wind shifts slightly and they become just a group of naughty boys out looking for some jolly old fun.<br />
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The gamekeeper must herd them together and move them on their way. He walks in circles muttering to himself. A cloud of steam emanates from his head. His hair went grey and then white, and then started falling out. Anything that didn't fall out by itself he pulled out in frustration. Such is the effect of the pack. Eventually he will open the gates and let the beasts wander free. The weak must learn to be wary, and the strong to stand by their side. Of the beastly ones - it is our hope that they will grow thin, finding only the prey that they need. Perhaps they might learn to live off vegetables, or better yet on light and air and water and on a life that is attuned the right way.<br />
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The gates have been opened and the gamekeeper will chase the brutes out into the empty sky. Push against that I say ! Drown in the measureless air if you must. Fly around and bump into whatever you encounter until you find yourself bouncing off only images of yourself. Eventually they will tire and begin to move powered by strong economical movements.<br />
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The great hand of fate might gather them together and hurl them into the great emptiness beyond the sky. Beyond the boundaries of all places and into empty realm of space itself. That they might eventually see the grist of life, and their faces amongst it all. To travel together from constellation to constellation until they have visited every single place that unhappiness resides. In every single thing. To look closely at them all and take note. When enough is seen to turn and take the path home.<br />
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The path to return home is always a straight one. When leaving it was a little bent perhaps, choosing a route that takes in all of the sites to visit and experiences to be had. Taking the odd diversion and tangential detour. But eventually when enough is seen, turning about wherever one happens and beginning the journey home. And everybody knows where home is. Knowing home going home. A straight line to the heart. The very shortest route. Walking that way step by step by every step.igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-10577320131005338282016-07-16T08:26:00.000+02:002016-07-16T08:26:04.749+02:00These four walls<br />
It's just me here. Me, the earth and sky, and these here four walls. I have grown to know them all very well. To know every scratch and dent of their features. It brings me a great deal of pleasure to know them so intimately. Ever present they are – through the dark night, the morning light, the sun so bright, the evening twilight and again the dark night. The sun, the moon and stars in the sky - and these four walls, which I take wherever I go. Boundaries to my world, limits beyond which I rarely go. Stepping beyond the known, I will fall off the edge and into the abyss. So it might seem.<br />
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When moving the walls become thinner. As they become thinner one might take the opportunity to look through them. Look out and beyond our own cosy little circle of familiarity. Looking beyond our area of activity and out into the world and its endless multitude of things. But we must be be quick, for as we slow our movement and stop, those four walls will appear once again. They appear around us and grow dense so that nothing else can be seen. Nothing but this life reflected as all things around us. A reflection of a reflection of a reflection of life. Reflected onto these four walls.<br />
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We could tilt our head back and see the everyday Fatima sun. Look at the world beyond our own petty concerns. But alas there are not many who would make the effort to look that way, or even think of it. Instead it is so easy to let the head sag and see only the ground directly in front of the feet. With diminishing effort taking in a view of the stomach, the gravelly ground, the feet and everything that happens to be directly ahead. The small bit of path before us. That and the great earth that holds us up and catches us when we fall.<br />
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Those who didn't feel the calling to see the twirling Fatima sun might just hold their heads level of their own accord. Eyes horizontal and nose vertical – that alone is adequate and quite enough for the truest of true views. The clear face of life before us. Eyes horizontal and the back straight. As straight as straight can be. It will suffice and is in fact preferable. To be precise it is the recommended way for the clearest view of life. The wholly recommended way. The turning sun will shine out from all and any things. Even from these four walls.<br />
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If it is not the case already, one might consider ways of lessening the impact of the appearance of these four walls. Lessening the belief that they are solid and unyielding.<br />
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Lessening the belief of their being complete and unchanging. An investigation, of sorts, to reveal our response to them and any beneficial or deleterious effects that they might have on us.<br />
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These four walls, this magic circle, this ball and chain. To notice how they become lighter, more transparent, more clear as we move the most, but also when most still. To notice that there are other ways of making them transparent. Noticing how habitual patterns make them thick and dense and impenetrable. So too the how habitual moments make life less comfortable than it seems.<br />
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The observed life becomes lighter than the lighest hour of the day, and darker than the darkest hour of the night. One might let the mind withdraw its daily pattern for a minute. To fill the eyes with novel things, and to forget for a while ones cares and concerns. To look at so many of the other things that can be seen in life. Things that we might usually not notice. To take our usual way of not noticing things and hurl it far into the churning sea of life. To look and see everything even if it has been hidden by one wall or four.<br />
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When that is done, wandering without aim for a while and letting the walls languish. Wandering to and fro and filling onesself with the simple beauty of life. Letting life speak with no interference. The ponds and the weeds and the ducks and the sky. All quietly playing their part in the drama of life. When one has had enough of wandering then stopping. Gathering at a single unified point. The four walls might buckle and melt away at any time. With only the most gentle of coaxing. Indeed without being acted upon in any way.<br />
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Adding to this life a few ingredients as if a magical recipe. Mixed together like a stew, or any of the ingredients on their own will suffice. They appear as the stage on which life appears to play itself out, in its many scenes. Go and visit the blue dragons cave. Spend a season or two there. Get to know it well. After doing that, go and visit hell. Have a good look around while you are there. Meet its residents and watch how they operate and what motivates them. Look from outside and spend some time considering why it has always been so popular. You might even see your own shadow there. Catch it, hold it close and get to know it well. Meet its friends and enemies, for everybody is represented there, and usually they arrive together. Have pity on their ways and your own ways and mine. Meet the intent of life. Ride it life a horse and get to know your part. Then go out and meet time. Not merely the tales from the past or fables from the future. Meet the speed of life. The speed of lifes many players. The speed of the grass growing and the wind blowing and the stars that wander across the sky. Most of all, meet time as it is happening now. In everything encountered in the field of life at any given moment. If that is not enough, step outside of the flow of time. Find a spot beyond times domain. Or create a situation where you can grab a big lump of it, and let it pass by as slowly as you like.<br />
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While doing that listen for the voice of truth calling out from within. The voice of truth and all the other voices whose imperative is to call out their case. Brace yourself and, of the many voices calling out, start with the loudest. Let it call out as much as it likes. Give it as much time as is necessary to exhaust itself. One day it will fade, and when it fades follow it. Don't lose sight of it because it will lead you to a place that is not hell. Take a good look so that you know what it is like. It is not hell and there there are no four walls to be found anywhere. Follow the others as they arise and follow those that seem to come from someone else. Follow them until there are none left. Follow them and notice the ease with which you might stride across the universe and the equal ease with which you might stride back.igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-67660745302219721012016-05-24T11:39:00.003+02:002016-05-24T11:39:34.541+02:00Walking on the swamp monsters backIt is a difficult way to travel, tromping through the swamp. Probing the ground ahead with a long pole. Like looking for the truth amongst patches of unnecessary filling. Probing the ideas that might be found in the marshy depths. It is a precarious enterprise. But it is there to be found. Found by anybody who is prepared relinquish any and every thing to find it.<br />
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Hidden amid the marshiness and boggyness are patches of quicksand where you can sink and disappear before you know what is happening. Equally dangerous are the legends of scary things. Reported to be there, even though you can't see them. Even if no-one has ever seen them. Legends of monsters that will take your leg and pull you in, and colonies of poisonous bugs and slime that will eat you from the outside in. The legends create a pall of fear which causes misfortune from which few will escape. A sick idea that catches and infects its host. There are as many legends as there are places that the imagination may travel to. Shrugging off the legends as soon as we hear them. Shrugging them off and moving on. The search for truth is a serious undertaking and requires a constant vigilance. Unnecessary distractions are to be quickly and efficiently discarded. It is indeed a demanding task – and we must devote the best of our time and effort to its completion if we are to be successful at it.<br />
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Poking our probe into the slushy mush. What will we find here ? A sac of foul gas that erupts through the hole ? Perhaps it will be something semi-solid and unknown that we pierce ? On the path to truth we will have many opportunities to be surprised with what we find. Poking with our pokey stick, finding a path that traverses the densest matter and the thinnest and most vacant nebulae. Not knowing what we have found, knowing only that it is not what we thought that we were looking for. Eventually we will understand that we might never find what we thought that we were looking for. We will always find something different.<br />
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Prodding away at the ground before us. What thoughts and ideas dwell here. What ideas are this place made of. What ideas create this scene. What ideas make the trees and plants grow, and what ideas give off that foul gas that makes us wheeze. What ideas create the water of life and bring it to good use.<br />
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Prodding away at the earth, seeing what ideas it might yield. But there are those that extend beyond the earths realm. There are those that dwell in the sky. They travel lightly and lean on people as they pass. They are so light that their presence is often missed. There are others – finer still. They dwell beyond our regular sky, out in the depths of the distant night. In the depths of the galaxy. In the depths of beingness, where time has never intruded.<br />
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Poking and prodding amongst the ideas as they lay in terra and the firmament. Probing as we make our way through them. So many of them just don't hold the right consistency. Too hard - too hard, they become like rock and will not flex to fit with life. Will not flex to fit the reality as it presents itself. Too soft - too soft, like jelly they are flabby and falter when tested. Will not take the shape of anything unless they are poured into a container of some sort. Instead of holding firm they collapse when most needed.<br />
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If that weren't enough, there are other oddities by which we may be inconvenienced. So many of them are things that we would prefer not to encounter. Things that are oddly shaped and fit only for some perverse use. Flaccid, crisp or brittle, or otherwise of no use. Repellant and/or cloying. Lumpy as though filled with nails. Perhaps leading to harm and away from the truth. With so many faulty ideas, it becomes apparent how few of them are actually of any use. Even the good ones can bring harm if not well tempered.<br />
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Indeed how few of these ideas can match the simplicity and sure vision of the heart. The direct penetration of the source. How it is that the heart guides with certainty and the utmost skill, even in the most complex of situations. With the heart there is no random probing. No poking about here and there, looking to see what one finds. When probing with the heart just one look is enough. Right into the centre of it all. All of reality is pierced. Right into the crux of it all.<br />
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One can be sure that blood and tears will well up. As if rupturing an artery of it. As if pumping seeming endless amounts of fluid from deep within the earths bowels. Blood and tears squirting up and out, covering everything, there for all to see. Blood and tears and the truth behind everything that we have ever done. All that we have experienced. The truth behind everything that ever happened. The gritty grist of the mill of life. The truth behind all of the convenient explanations that the mind has ever produced. The truth behind the endless misinterpretations that have caused life to become a struggle. That have created pain and drama from otherwise innocuous events. The truth behind the moments moment, and the feeling that holds it all together and causes it all to eventually dissolve.<br />
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Belching forth like toxic gases, like flames leaping up and enveloping the self. Belching forth the ideas that we hold so dearly. Staying the course, holding firm the heart. Being steady and still, despite the urge to run. For there is nowhere to run to. Running would only lead to more time spent navigating the swampy marshes, and we have had enough of that. Oh how the heart desires to have solid earth beneath the feet, and yet to be surrounded by space. Never more than when knee deep in the gloop and goo of some boggy swamp. Never more than when surrounded by the ill conceived and unconsidered words of the world. Of all things informed by fear and unrequited pain and all of their various offspring.<br />
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Indeed to feel the solid earth beneath ones feet and be surrounded by space. To forget the earth and feel the space above and below, within and without, with no differentiation. On that day the swamp and all of its contents becomes but a memory. Consigned to the realm of the undifferentiated. Something that we once were concerned with, but now seems to strike no resonance.igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-5030726515923851302016-04-01T09:56:00.002+02:002016-04-01T09:56:28.113+02:00Off to Asuraland where the locals will put up a good fight<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 17.3333px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;">Following footprints over hill and dale. Wandering in every direction, like doodled arrows drawn on a page. Where the earth is soft there are clear footprints. Bigger than those of a human footprint, but with only three toes. Occasionally a bit of claw breaks off, and will continue growing by itself, even when detached. Through streams and across beaches the footprints go. Where there is concrete and hard ground one can only follow the trail of damage left behind. Uprooted trees, smashed buildings, litter and rubbish strewn about. Wasted and broken humans too. Slaves, pawns and peons, all crushed in the pursuit of the beasts single goal – whatever it is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Something dreadful has happened. A monster is on the loose. Rampaging and rollicking. How far its destruction will go nobody knows. I have a grand plan, however. I can do something about this. I will do what I can to stop this horror. If I find the monster I shall block its path, slow it down, terminate its progress. Bring to an end this dire episode here on planet earth. I will lead it away from everything that could be harmed by it. Whack it on the head with a wok, and run, dodging and turning suddenly to let it trip and fall into a ravine. It will fly unimpeded for a few moments before joining with the jagged rocks, the roaring torrent and hungry beasts below.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If that plan fails, there will be no choice but to bow and let him tear me apart. Offer my head and my sacrum. Allow the brute to bite through my face, chew off my flesh and crunch on my bones. Let it slurp as it eats my guts and organs. When it is finished it can lick my blood off the ground. May he sate his hunger, and therein follow a peaceful path.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But alas would this sacrifice of mine be enough, or be of any value at all. With me inside his stomach and he not stopped in the least little bit. What indeed of the parts of me that it cannot eat or devour or reach in any way. All I could do is watch as it devours the fleshy corpse, missing out on what is the most important part of me. The invisible parts</span><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;">. The beast devouring me and me watching, as if a king on a throne holding court with a slobbering monster. It is a strange world indeed. I could feed my flesh to this beast, and yet it will remain, free to maraud others. Others whom I wish to spare this type of bother. For it is my desire that they might live in peace, and see out their days in the way that nature intended.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Out on the trail the signs of the beasts passing become fresher and fresher. Perhaps I am imagining things but there seems to be the smell of brute in the air. A faint sulfurous perfume. Or is it some other awful thing. As the signs become fresher, I might pause to remember the shape of things before birth and after death. The background in which this blip of human life appears. Reacquaint myself with the feeling, lest I should find myself in that place in a more permanent way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I might reacquaint myself with it so that fear may no longer arise in my heart. Perhaps this will be my last event in my foray into the field of form and folly. Perhaps I chose this event a long time ago. Perhaps not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Finally it appears before us – the great slathering beast. It dominates the scenery and seems to fill the sky. Its unbridled aggression causes everything around it to wilt. But there should really only be sadness for it. It devours one thing after another, its appetite increasing with each one. With each one becoming all the more insatiable and more embedded in the monster form. Further and further from the gentle and yet more difficult course of following the true and gentle way. More and more becoming bound to more and more of the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Perhaps I can change the plan. Could I offer it a portal to step through. Guide it to learn to live in peace with all and itself. Perhaps I might go equipped with a reflective mind. To let monster see monster and be cured of monsterness. To let myself see the source of monsters in the monstrous minds imagination. Be cured of that and be cured of the afflictions of I and I-ness. Be cured of it and it be cured of me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I might lunge forth and act – do something that will alter the course of life, the universe and everything. For the better. Perhaps I might turn my back or retreat out of range. Let the scene unfold in its own way without any interference from me. In its own way, in its own time and with its own results, and accept the result as if I chose it. I did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If I were to battle with it it might merely create more chaos and havoc in the world, for mirroring the monsters monstrousness is the worst folly of them all. So it is that a decision has been reached. I will turn my back on the monster, although it might easily smite me down. Maybe we will be one step closer to that not happening to other inhabitants of this planet. But maybe not. Let it do as it will, although it might be to the detriment of all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>With a firm and clear mind turning away from the beast. A decision has been made, a course of action determined. Then just taking a peek over the shoulder to see what is happening. But the monster seems to have vanished. The smell of brute is now faint in the air and growing fainter. Before long it is but a memory. One may even wonder whether it ever existed, and how it was that it elicited such strong feelings. A mere memory, a figment of the imagination of the world. A reflection of the individual that sees it, a facet in the mind of minds.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>An illness it was – an illness begging for a cure. An illness and a cure, mixed into each other. A cure for my own illnesses. It is gone and we would have to work hard to find another illness of equivalent magnitude. That challenge has arisen and moved on, and it might not arise again. We might never again have such a clear view of what it represented. We might have to wait a long while until that particular face of ourselves is revealed again.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>At the end of this adventure turning to return to wherever it is that we came from. Following our own footprints over hill and dale. Through beach and forest, farm and vale. The time eventually comes when we can no longer see our own footprints. Mixed with the monsters and fading before disappearing altogether. It is hard to discern one from the other. Eventually coming to the conclusion that maybe they are one and the same.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Looking also for the path that we were treading before this whole episode began. That too has disappeared. Wherever we were going has disappeared, and been replaced with a new version of itself. Whatever we were doing is gone to. Gone gone gone. Wherever we came from has disappeared too. With everything all gone, stepping out to face the new day.</span></div>
igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-44484930117149719972016-03-03T09:02:00.000+01:002016-03-08T06:36:38.901+01:00Living with the unbelievable<div align="CENTER" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 4;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Falling
asleep at the end of a long day. Weary and worn, dusty, musty and
tired. Time seems to fall away, and in sleep there is no-one present
to watch its passing. Then a miracle occurs - waking to a fresh new
day. Every day is a fresh new day, but sometimes the freshness isn't
noticed. Every day is a fresh new day, but sometimes we miss it.
Every day is a fresh new day, but some days are fresher than others.
Sometimes there are parts of the previous day left-over, which create
a drag on it. For some there are things that are more important than
the now of being alive. All of the things that we believed were
important, and all of the things that were important to believe. The
yearnings of the future and the disappointments of the past, not to
mention all of the unresolved confusions and dramas that we drag
around. Together they conspire to make the day a bit grey, and create
an unease that hides in the background of all things.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Waking
to a fresh new day. It is slightly cool, and that adds to the
freshness. It is the type of freshness that seems to stave off
stuffyness of the head and eliminate restlessness and discomfort. The
type of freshness that brings with it alertness. The type of
freshness that one would find on the beach on a cold winters day, or
by a lake, or in the mountains at any time of the year. The freshness
of a forest, that stretches as far as the eye can see. The freshness
that comes after a true pause in time. A pause from the bubbling and
babbling listlessness that accompanies the pall of unease that is the
burdensome cargo of mind. The freshness that comes after having
passed beyond the realm of the mundane.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Whether
the restlessness is prominent or the freshness is prominent, stopping
whatever one is doing, wherever one is. Gathering ones-self and
turning ones-self to face whatever it is before you. Whatever it is
that most needs to be seen and done.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> On
the freshest of fresh days the things that need to be attended-to
gather together in a queue, and come forward one by one. But on
restless days they buzz around the room like flies - the necessary
things mixed liberally with the irrelevant and irreverent. They all
buzz with a similar volume, and the sound of each one drowns out the
sound of the other, and the sound of the other drowns out the sound
of the one. But of all of the things that need to be done, there is
always one that most needs to be done, and a few subsequent ones.
Identifying and isolating its voice in the crowd, and becoming close
to it. Listening to its needs and requirements and attending to them,
one at a time, each individually as they arise.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Taking
them one by one, the freshness is maintained. So too the swarm of
tasks is lessened, and with practice, those that most need to be done
are addressed and disposed-of. Open all of the doors and windows and
let in the fresh cool air. With all of the doors and windows open,
those things that serve only to be irritants are easily blown away.
The irritants, along with the frivolous and unnecessary - gone. Only
those that are of genuine concern remain.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> It
is a fresh new day on planet earth, and yet so many of the brightest
and most brilliant beings are distracted, detained or otherwise
occupied. They are unable to attend to the days activities, being
arrested by their distractions. With these beings diverted,
disassociated and disempowered, there is a form of dizziness that
prevails and spreads to all others. A communal headache. Such is life
in the cave that is the world of form.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> On
the walls of the cave shadows appear in the dim light. They seem to
reveal a depth of existence, a link to otherwise unknown places and
parts. They goad and menace anyone who is unfortunate enough to find
themselves in their world.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> The
shadows on the caves walls harass and irritate all of the other
beings until the time comes that something really must be done about
them. Even though they are only shadows on the wall, they give rise
to a malaise in the imagination and the mind. In frustration and
desperation one might swat and flail at the air and space around
them. But air and space, light and shadows are not particularly
bothered by being swatted at. Then one might spray various substances
and things into the atmosphere. It is the fragrance of flowers and
fruity things that they least like, and that causes them to run and
hide. The shadows find them frightening and repellent, and of them it
is the lavender that they are most frightened of. It causes them to
lose their tension and ability to adhere. They cannot bear its
fragrance, and the way that it lets light pass freely. Nice as it is,
a spray of lavender might help to rid the caves walls of annoying and
debilitating shadows for a but a while, but this is only a temporary
solution, and something more permanent is required to have them not
come back.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> For
a moment, in a fit of frustration and emotion, one might curse at the
first thing that one sees – the moon in the daytime sky. Vomit some
vile invective in that direction. Alas such displays of impotence and
futility really do not help. All they do is wear one out and annoy
the moon. The shadows smirk and gloat and get fatter and fatter.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Although
they have been a big problem for a very long time, there is only one
reason that the shadows have not been swept away and removed from
this earthly field. The one reason is that they weren't popularly
perceived as being a problem. Because of that no-one has seen the
need to devise an effective way of removing them and their influence
from this matrix and paradigm.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> No-one
ever asked them to go away and be a pestilence elsewhere. To go away
and find somewhere else to live. No-one ever asked them whether they
need help. No-one ever showed them another way of being. No-one ever
delved into the source of their unfortunate condition, to find out
what was wrong with them, and how to fix them. When they are fixed,
to sever their source of sustenance and carefully arrange conditions
and circumstances so that they do not return.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> We
might gather together and build a hospital for them. Make it a tall
hospital lit with pastel lighting, and filled with soft music. Put
the worst of them in sealed compartments from where they cannot
escape until they have mellowed somewhat. With the shadows safely
ensconced there we might quickly assess our world and do whatever is
required to make it uninhabitable to them. Populate all places
everywhere with finely tuned sensibilities and high minded ideas, all
ruled by love and gentleness. It is these that frightens them the
most.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Then
to give our own population the skills needed to navigate their ills.
To completely eradicate the condition that is distress without
insight, pain without resolution and power without compassion. To
spray every nook and cranny with lavender, and fill them with
gentleness, beauty and peace. But the most important and most
difficult thing is to arrange the conditions of clear and
unflinchingly attentive presence in all people. If that can be done
then the other tasks will not be difficult.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> If
not, then things will most likely remain as they have always been.
There are always days when the weather is fresh, but not everyone can
partake in that freshness. As it is, there are some who can
experience the freshest of fresh. Those who are lucky can do it
automatically, for it is in their nature. Those who don't experience
it naturally might need to discover the keys to freshness for
themselves. They might find them by accident, they might be given
them as if by chance. They might go out and look for them, find them,
adopt and absorb them. Some unfortunates might be led to the way of
freshness and still not be able to truly make it their own , or they
might just not care– a most sad situation.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="page-break-inside: avoid; widows: 129;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> Whether
anyone cares or not, each day arises as a fresh new day, ready for
its freshness to be seized and taken advantage of. It is a strange
world, where two people might stand next to each other, and yet have
a very different experience of the same moment. But that is how
things are. If they can meet in freshness, then they might find
themselves to be closer together. Closer together, closer to
themselves, closer to everything.</span></div>
igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-64808944117145134332016-02-04T06:36:00.002+01:002016-02-04T06:36:31.267+01:00Mostly stationaryThey have traveled across star systems and whole galaxies to visit us here. Traveled through every imaginable dream scene, every astro-physical feature, and every quirk and quark of inner and outer space. They have passed through all of the realms of what the imagination has to offer. Although it is a most beautiful place, it is not for the scenery that they have come.<br />
<br />
It is not for the coffee, the chocolate or the cream cakes. Nor is it for the snazzy paintings or the exquisite gardens. It is not for the creative flair or the breadth of the emotional response of the earthlings that live here. It is not even for Beethoven, Bach or Stravinsky that they have come. They have come because they want to see for themselves the strange things that are happening here on planet earth. They want to understand us, the human species, and how we function. They want to know about the scenery of our hearts and the voices in our heads. They want to know what motivates us and why we make the choices that we do.<br />
<br />
They have seen this planet of ours moving unevenly in the sky. It seems to be taking a strange course. Rolling on its axis, shuddering and wobbling. There appears to be a bit of a smudge around it and a groaning sound can be heard emanating from it – if not from its inhabitants then from the planet itself.<br />
<br />
These visitors have come such a long way, to find themselves arriving at a convoluted and deluded world. Every imaginable illness afflicts the inhabitants. There are many who are relatively well, but those most affected by madness seem to set the course for the society and culture. They turn their ailments and mind discharges into rigidly held beliefs, each inverted, perverted and converted into anything but the simple truth of life. The same rigid beliefs that are imposed on the populace and enforced by the most cruel and brutal perpetrators of belief systems who present themselves. A trap is created, from which few of those who are caught in it would break free. So thus the course is set, that all in the planet must follow. It is a very strange place, this planet earth.<br />
<br />
Great edifices have been constructed, dedicated to confabulation and discombobulation, with whole populations led away from any genuine and worthwhile purpose. Even those who stand quite thoroughly for good have been tricked and confused. In being led the opposite way they also take many others with them.<br />
<br />
The worst thing is that it all seems acceptable – okay and alright. Even as the rebellious members awaken from their slumber of souls, they find that each and every person is actively holding and maintaining the whole edifice that holds them captive on whatever spot it is that they stand. The rebels are trapped as much as any other. Together as a group they hold their great tangled prison together, and have refined it to the point where it appears as being so natural and normal that no obvious alternative way of organising their lives is known.<br />
<br />
Our interstellar anthropologists might be tempted to pack-up their notebooks and kinship charts and find another lonely planet to observe. They needn't go far, for there are others in the vicinity that would suit an idle academic purpose. But they have a special calling for this earth, this lump of rock and its captive population.<br />
<br />
They could hide in the clouds, or further up in the sky, and watch from there. They could set up their living quarters within the earth. They could even dress like the natives and walk unnoticed among the crowds. Apart from the difficulties in being immersed in an atmosphere of flummoxedness, this close view is the best of them all. It is the view that we would choose if we were to undertake such a study.<br />
<br />
In the crowd, the flummoxedness becomes much exaggerated, to the detriment of all. Everyone is so nice and so harmless, and yet the planet shudders from the combined effect of their presence. All are so beautiful and seem so good, and yet ill winds blow and troubles prevail. The lowest result is gained from the highest potential.<br />
<br />
Flummoxedness has, it would seem, become the primary way of being. The natives all busily toil away, not seeming to make much progress in life. For the passage of every one or two thousand years, and for all of the endless effort and activity, things still seem to remain more or less the same. The surroundings and styles shift and change, but the whole purpose of everything remains somewhat skewed towards a vision of individual hopelessness set against a backdrop of permanent collective decline.<br />
<br />
Perhaps we could all learn to fly. Perhaps just flying a bit at first, then increasing the length of our voyages, eventually flying beyond the day and beyond the night. Through the milky way and into the dark rift. We could search and search to find where it is that we came from. Searching the many places and searching empty space too. To find where we truly come from. Finding tribes and civilisations where hundreds and thousands of years have passed in undisturbed calm. Where balance and harmony were found aeons ago, and where peace and sanity have been allowed to flourish.<br />
<br />
Out there in the furtherest reaches of the sky, the ailments that ill the heart remain the same. After having departed the home planet and leapt across vast reaches of space and time, the heart isn't helped one bit in curing its afflictions. So it should be addressed during its transit across the sky, if not before. Even when passing through bumps and turbulence it can be tended-to and returned to its state of wholesomeness once more. So too of those who traveled so far to visit us here. Both they and we not wishing to arrive nor depart in anything but prime condition.<br />
<br />
Here on this earth, the people look up into the sky with all of the strength that they can gather. Stars and planets and moons for as far and as long as the eye can see. Seeing all of the phenomena that there is to see, it appears that no-one is home, and that it is home to none. That is what the eyes see, and what the scene seems to say. A big vacant space until the end of eternity. That and us. Us and only us. How strange it is that such a thing would be.<br />
<br />
That being so, the visitors will eventually pack-up their things and return to their place in the sky. They have seen all that they need to see here, and all that they want to. They have seen more than they wanted to. They have reminded themselves of how things can be, and that is all that is needed. Back to their world they go, with their kinship charts, their lists of objects, and their renderings of complex cultural conventions. They have seen our world, what is done by the human species, and why and how it is done. They have seen all of the subsequent results of everything that is done too. It is a priceless education to them, for they can see it all without having to partake in it. They can confidently say to their young ones – 'if you do that, then this is how things will be'. Having seen the evidence, who amongst their young would feel compelled to try for themselves.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-46100061078222580802015-12-28T09:45:00.003+01:002015-12-28T09:45:49.206+01:00The last few days of the bad old ways<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Trekking across the last few days. Guided by a plumb-bob, compass and the lamp of the heart. A map of the earth, the sun and stars above us, the shape of the horizon, the shrubs and trees around us and the rocks beneath our feet. With poles for support, ropes and all adventure equipment, for surely we will occasionally find ourselves in an awkward spot, and need added resources to extricate ourselves. Informed by the weather as it rolls in from every direction. Sometimes tiring and dragging our feet, sometimes marching stoutly through the thickest most tumultuous of times. Sometimes bounding and bouncing from boulder to boulder. So it is, trekking through the last few days.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It has always been the last few days. Certainly for as long as I or anyone else can remember. Since the moment of birth. Since before the moment of birth. Since the birth of the moment. It never started and never ended. It has always been the last few days and always will be. For one never knows really. One never knows and furthermore cannot accurately presume or guarantee the continuation of this dream form nor any of its constituent parts. Not another moment can be guaranteed, nor indeed can one predict when the drama will end and all of the players go home. </span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Trekking through the last few days is much like traveling through an uncharted region. Always finding new scenes upon which to rest ones eyes, taste and experience. New scenes and dreams and friends and teams. The heart becomes a bit softer and the life a little fresher. The feeble and fluffy dreams fail and fade, and those built on rock and the true firmament manifest themselves. Wherever it is that we rest, roots quickly work their way into the soil and solidity of whatever it is that supports us, whatever lies below. There making our nest.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pulling ones roots out from the earth, and for a while being like a bird or a cloud. Held back by nothing in particular. Held back by the hand of fear. Held back by the untamed black beast, but only after having refused to make its acquaintance with it. Held back by not being curious. Held back by successive generations of conditioning and programming that together define and limits of the world and all of reality. Held back by a solidified identity from which but a few will turn and walk away from. The many faces of fear, hidden in every thing that blocks our path. Impeding our flow.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Turning and walking away, the dream that holds everything together weakens and fades. The atoms forget what it was that they were to form and cease holding hands and everything becomes empty space. Everything returns to the state of the primordial broth. All of those who have tickets and invitations to the spectacle that is the last few days realise that all is not as it seems. It may as well be the first few days, or any few days from the middle. It might even be a taste of life without days. The moments moment and the scenery from either end of ones nose. Turning and walking from the dream, it is not a long time passes before realising that we cannot walk far. We cannot leave it entirely behind us, as we need it as much as it needs us.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Turning and walking from the last few days. Walking into the many and abundant days. What a fine thing they are. Days of manyness and abundance. Climbing into them to taste them as they are. To revel in their fulsome and fertile fecundity. Walking through them day after day. Looking for others to share in the endless bounty of life. Looking for those less fortunate or less well positioned than oneself so as to help them with their needs and set them free.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the last few days there is so little need to suffer. As little need as in the first few days. Except there is somewhat more experience in the life of form and in this form of life. Really really really it is just a matter of which way one chooses to look. What one chooses to face, what one chooses to view. Whether one chooses to see what one looks at, or even to register it at all.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The fortunate and less fortunate stand on different sides of the railway tracks, the fence or the hedgerow, or whatever else they choose to place between themselves and each other. But they face the same direction in that they are in this journey of life together. The last few days or the many abundant days, it all depends on how they choose to perceive this apparition of life. Which way they happen to look. In most ways it is indeed that they do look the same way. Seeing the same game, the same characters, with different perspectives on the roles they play. Most forgetting to look through that to see what is really happening, and who and what is doing it.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the last few days each taking their place from which to view it. Taking on their role in which to participate in them. These last few days between birth and death. One might travel to the far end of the universe and find that the view remains approximately the same. One might travel from one edge of the seat to the other. One might travel from one end of the mind to the other. Travel from one end of the nose to the other. When all has been seen and examined, it is hard to distinguish between this and that. Hard to distinguish where one thing ends and the next one begins. From where the form stops and the idea that created it starts. A projection played outwards in all directions. The last few days between death and life.</span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="page-break-inside: avoid; text-align: left; widows: 4;">
<span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Eventually the journey through the last few days must come to an end. We have walked in one big circle and found ourselves at the beginning once again. It is the first few days after all. The many and abundant days also. Everything that ever happen all neatly recorded in the annals of life. Each moment dripping with poignant content. At the same time appearing as but a ripple through space. A ripple in time. The moment when the sky looks at itself.</span></div>
igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-57403217754315991192015-11-28T08:40:00.001+01:002015-11-28T08:40:01.976+01:00Omega travels through the alpha beta predator world<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In a far corner of space, a forlorn planet. On a good day it is a resplendent opal, an orb of goodness that spreads in every direction. But it has become somewhat bedraggled, as planets go, and has lost some of its lustre. It is sick and sad and searches for a cure to its ills.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is trapped in solitude, even when surrounded by others. It seems cut off, isolated in space, exiled from all good sense, quarantined even. Quarantined to stop the spread of its plague. Its complement and cargo includes a population of undesirable entities. There are a great many entities there that are fine and good. They are in fact the majority by far, and yet there is a malaise that permeates the society as a whole. Struggling to awaken to the day, struggling even to remain alive. It has what would appear to be an infestation – a parasitic population that has bloomed and become toxic. A parasitic population that threatens the survival of its host.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There are many populations living within its biological realm, each having the power to do some harm, and the power to do some good. As with all populations, this power waxes and wanes with the ebb and flow of time.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Those who walk on this world often seem to have trouble seeing life in proportion and perspective. From the human view point it is sometimes not easy to see their position in historical time, much less cosmic time. It is difficult to see the scale and depth of time that makes their ventures and known history seem slight. Nor is it easy to see the timelessness in which the whole drama plays itself out. Sometimes the timelessness is seen but they forget what they have seen, as it can be difficult to remember. Difficult to remember because there is no thing that it can be related to.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There is a legend of an evolution of species - a hypothesis, a theory, a myth - of sorts. There is some evidence that seems to support such a thesis, but looking at the sad case of the human race as a collective it might seem that very little progress has been made in a very long time. Looking at the course of history of the human race in general it is sometimes difficult to see such a theory as being plausible.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The population is divided into various and tribes and cults and sects – each with their populations overlaid and mingled with the others. Quite apart from the languages of words, they all seem to speak a different language of life.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Each has their field of interest and their arena of action. Each has something in which they derive great pleasure in life. They also have their field of pain in which they feel most acutely the sharp edge of life. Some have more of the one than of the other. Some have more of the other than of the one. Bunged-together into the same matrix they bump and grind and inevitably some form of unease ensues.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A bunch of people all thrown together into the meatgrinder of life. It churns away and before long someone emerges who has decided that they shall be the leader of all of the others. None of the others had noticed any need to be led, nor agreed in any way to such an imposition being put upon them. Shortly after the emerging and proclaiming of leadership, a bunch of toadies, sycophants and followers appear. They emerge as if by some form of spontaneous generation..<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As soon as this group emerges a fight breaks out. There is snarling snapping and biting as these brutes determine that they should prove their leadership potential and abilities should they be required to exercise it. They bark and bite and tear at each other – it is their way of presenting their credentials. They viciously attack a few innocent bystanders, as it might influence their place in the hierarchy. It might raise their status and place in the pack. The whole planet lurches and bleeds a little bit more. A few passengers fall off, and a few jump off in dismay.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It has been like this for a very long. It has been a long journey, this tribe on this planet, and little progress has been made. If its passengers could be coaxed to behave a bit better, and care a bit more, then conditions might be a bit different.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But we are stuck here and these are the conditions in which we must live. The time of the predatory hierarchy. Something has clearly gone wrong. The species seem to have abandoned wisdom, and wisdom has abandoned them. So it would seem. The whole tribe is left to fend for themselves. Worst of all is that the brutes who impose themselves as leaders and set the course are but a very small part of the population.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is not just in the social sphere that these ills are seen. Whole species and genera have given up hope for life in this planet. Toxic growths of matter appears everywhere, the light is dim, and the plants that bear fruit and flowers are reluctant to appear.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For all of the millenia that have passed since humankind first appeared on this planet, the same story has prevailed. Even with the passing of aeons and the cycles of yugas the situation remains the same. It is a sad story, and it is the human condition. The planet is dulled as it bumbles through space.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Amongst its inhabitants there are many who will work to make it a better day. Among its complement there is an array of artists and adepts who will ease the burden of the journey for all who fall into their sphere of influence. Artists, anarchists, acrobats and alchemists, altruists and adepts of every type. Not merely many but perhaps even most of the population. They will forget about themselves and work for others instead. They do so, and the smell that emanates from the leader of the pack eases by degrees. The leaders, their followers and all of the sub-members. The stench of their collective imprint is diminished by gradations, and smidgens of gradations.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The planet has been on a bent course for a very long period of time, and it will be a long time before it can be returned to its true course. So it seems – one would need to be very wishful to see otherwise. But then who knows...<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
igor@luminouslaboratoryoflife.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11285423664696079852noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-30094830652305956592014-09-15T18:25:00.002+02:002015-08-03T21:05:42.699+02:00The 3rd Elf's in a PickleThe Third Elf (that's me) is in a bit of a pickle and needs some help (don't we all?) I'll keep this short as I can, because there's so much more interesting stuff to read elsewhere.<br />
<br />
For those who don't know me (which is 99.9% of people who reads Visible's blogs) I've been his web <strike>master</strike> elf for around 4 years; for those with longish memories I came on board with Visible as the (non) entity known as "Sim" (that was when Smoking Mirrors was, in a sense, a <a href="http://smokingmlrrors.blogspot.com/2010/12/the-royal-lizard-emporium-of-feckless.html">darker place</a>) - and for reasons I can barely now recall, I changed name at some point to what it is now, Visible's 3rd Elf.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I've not only f*cked up, but in recent days I've been f*cked over too - the most pressing consequence of which is I have a little over 48 hours in which to find a place to live. This is something which is as non-negotiable as it is pressing.<br />
<br />
<br />
Back to where I was, which is nowhere much; 48 hours is all I've got to try get myself installed somewhere - and if this is going to happen, it's going to cost me money that I do not have. (Right now, an <i> ice-cream</i> would cost me money I don't have; one indicator of how badly the f*ck up has been).<br />
<br />
I am NOT asking for a donation (or donations, whichever - alright, the buttons in this post might <i>say</i> "donate" but I haven't got time now to customise things much); what I <u>am</u> asking is if any person(s) reading might consider making a <i>loan</i> or loans to me - via those "donate" buttons) so that I can weather this storm. How big a loan? Hard to say exactly, but securing even the most modest of somewheres is likely to be north of £500 (£750?, damned if I know) once any deposit is factored in. My hope is that maybe a few £5.00 and $10.00 combined will see me make that. Sorry not to be more certain on that particular need, but as I write, I've had little time to research this.<br />
<br />
Thank you, if you can help: this first button should work fine for any currency...<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick"><br />
<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="EQJ654HP5PXFA"><br />
<input type="image" src="http://lesvisible.net/SIAMESE/PAYPAL.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal – The safer, easier way to pay online."><br />
</form></div><br />
<br />
... and this next button will be better still if you have the option to pay GBP sterling:<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/send-money-online"><img src="http://lesvisible.net/SIAMESE/STERLING.png" alt="PayPal" title="The 3rd Elf's Pickle Jar"></a><br />
<span style="font-size:80%;"><i>the3rdelf@lesvisible.com</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:80%;">- clicking through via that last image link will mean zero fees if Sterling is paid (because my own bank is in the UK) - <u>plus</u> PayPal will not take the usual 4.9% commission.</span></div><br />
<br />
The email address to use is <i>the3rdelf@lesvisible.com</i> - and anyone who can help, please will you also email me so we can talk about me repaying you?<br />
<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, even if I'm fortunate enough to get a place, I am going to be without a cellphone or a laptop - so if anyone, anywhere, has some old (possibly forgotten, never used, but functioning) hardware tucked away in a drawer which they could spare, it would help massively if they could send it to me...<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><a href="https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/send-money-online"><img src="http://lesvisible.net/SIAMESE/hardware.png" alt="vintage laptop and cellphone" title="This would do it :-)"></a></div><br />
<br />
Please <a href="mailto:the3rdelf@lesvisible.com?Subject=Hello%20Martin" target="_top">contact me</a> and I'll provide the address (assuming there is one). Or if you want to write and just tell me I'm a dick, or anything else, that's fine, too.<br />
<br />
This has been enormously difficult to write; most likely it's too long (while at the same time not saying enough); or it's too short, while saying too much. Whichever way, thanks for reading and thank you again if you are able to help this stricken elf at this particularly challenging and uncertain time.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:85%;"><i>I've had the privilege of working for Visible for 4 years. It's an unpaid role - when I first started working for Vis he had no money to speak of (and I suspect the same pretty much applies today). Let me clarify something there; it's an unpaid role because those were the terms that <u>I</u> set and I wouldn't have had it (or will have it) any other way. It's unpaid (in the conventional sense) because before I even started working for Visible, he'd already given me something which I couldn't begin to put a price on; I've never worked for Vis "for free"; everything I've done (and still hope to do) has been payback. For me to ask <i>Visible</i> for help now simply doesn't jive; I set out my terms to him in 2010 and I'm not going to breach them. This is why I'm casting the net elsewhere - and that's to anyone here who might be reading this.</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
Thank you again. I'll update within 48 hours if there's anything to update on, and I'll update after 48 hours if I can.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-31456271800456179452014-07-08T02:40:00.001+02:002014-07-08T12:11:16.616+02:00A Few Notes About Visible<center><blockquote><br />
Much gratitude to whoever found you Les Visible, and got you to hospital. Thank you too, Susanne for being, among whatever else you might be to Visible, a staunch friend to him.<br />
<br />
</blockquote></center><br />
Vis; what a horrible, horrible thing to happen; it would be bad enough if it had happened in the company of others and in a "safe place"; that you hurt yourself badly while alone and isolated (and in near freezing temperatures I guess) - and then had to wait many hours, and in a lot of pain, for help which might not even arrive, must have been challenging, and then some. I'm truly sorry for what you've gone through (going through) and I'm just one of thousands+ who I know will be wishing you well.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://innersites.com/feet2fire/index.html">James Jancik</a> has created a <a href="http://innersites.com/visible/f2f.meditation4les.mp3" title="Healing Meditation for Visible from James Jancik"><img alt="Get Well soon, Les Visible!" src="http://lesvisible.net/MEDIA/IMAGES/GetWellSoonVis.png" style="display: none;" />healing meditation for Visible</a> - it is so worth listening to, and more than once. Thanks James and sorry it's taken me an age to get it linked to.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile - and this is for Mouser, or anyone else who has been in touch with Vis; what does he need, or will he need? Has he got a laptop with him, or access to one? If he hasn't and is going to need one, please let us know and I hope we can arrange to get one out to him. Any other equipment he needs, fresh clothes or whatever? Would he like some visitors? Yes, no? And if yes, let's get that sorted - perhaps we could crowd fund something...? Of course, if he's in grumpy mode then visiting him might not be a great idea. Mouser, give us any feedback please.<br />
<br />
Maybe a chat-room here on the page could yield something positive; if Vis isn't going to be posting for a few days (or more?) then we might at least chat among ourselves. Who is up for a chat room? I might just put one up anyway, even if I end up talking to myself.<br />
<br />
Finally, sorry again James it's taken me hours to get the meditation link up - am having all manner of computer problems here; likewise sorry Guldur, Dawn, Est I've not been able to acknowledge your mails yet.<br />
<br />
<br />
God bless Les Visible - and thank you God that Vis is <a href="http://lesvisible.net/MEDIA/MP3S/AA/I%20Am%20Alive.mp3" title="Visible - I Am Alive"><img alt="Get Well soon, Les Visible!" src="http://lesvisible.net/MEDIA/IMAGES/GetWellSoonVis.png" style="display: none;" />alive</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center"><blockquote><div style="background-color: #000365;"><br />
<span style="font-size:115%;"><b>GET WELL SOON, VIS</b></span><br />
<i>Real time chat if you want to send Vis a get well message or to talk about the best way we're going to get a laptop or tablet (plus whatever else he is going to need) to him. Registering for chat takes 5 seconds and it all happens within the confines of the box below. If you've registered before but can't remember your password or username please drop a line to the3rdelf@lesvisible.com.<br />
<br />
And just to keep things simple, if you're known as (e.g.) "Patrick" when commenting on Vis' blogs, then please register as "Patrick" in the box below.</i><br />
<br />
<!-- Begin ShoutMix - http://www.shoutmix.com --><br />
<iframe title="visible" src="http://www.shoutmix.com/?visible" width="500" height="550" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto"><br />
<a href="http://www.shoutmix.com/?visible">View shoutbox</a><br />
</iframe><br />
<!-- End ShoutMix --><br />
<br />
</div></blockquote></div><br />
<br />
<div align="center"><img alt="Get well soon, Visible" src="http://lesvisible.net/MEDIA/IMAGES/GetWellSoonVis.png" width="210" height="210" /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-79529725224824458132014-05-01T13:44:00.000+02:002015-09-14T02:22:38.300+02:00Hearts In BloomHello everyone!<br />
<br />
Dropped in to share a song I wrote some time ago.<br />
<br />
I was doing my breathing excercises and had a quick flashing daydream where it was wintertime. I could see Christmas lights all around, and it felt like everything was falling apart and coming together at the same time. There was this electric tension in the air. I could see signs of revolution (RE-evolution) and wild and crazy things going on all over the place.<br />
Cycles of time spinning together and colliding and rumbling apart.<br />
The breath of the universe doing its work.<br />
The vision took me through different time periods, through Native American prophecies and dreams, past distant stars and constellations, and then all the way back to Mother Earth.<br />
I saw Johnny Cash exploring the depths of Nickajack Cave, exploring the depths of himself.<br />
I saw tall beings harvesting for souls, black water rising over mountaintops, strange lights in the sky, the sun going mad.<br />
I saw myself. In different times. Driving in the dark. Wild deer running across the road. And then I saw myself through the eyes of the deer. I was looking at myself, gazing through my memories.<br />
Everything was connected. Everything had its place.<br />
<br />
It was just a glimpse. Just a flashing vision. It lasted maybe a couple of seconds. And then it was over. The feeling I got from the whole thing was very positive and empowering. I had the sense that humanity was finally going to shine in full bloom and take some very important step. In the daydream the chaos and mayhem felt like a golden opportunity for everyone. A chance to rise up and be the ones we have been waiting for. Be the change.<br />
<br />
I started writing the song as soon as I finished doing my excercises. It pretty much wrote itself.<br />
The song is called "The Breaking Wheel / Man Oh Man". At the time I wrote it I dedicated it to the work of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.halfpasthuman.com">Clif High</a>. Seemed appropriate. Later on I was listening to Visible's radio show and pondering about sending Les a link to this song. Then immediately after that thought had crossed my mind I heard the words "deer" and "headlights" in the song that plays during the intro/outro of the radio show. Those words play a role in my song as well.<br />
<br />
My friend Ville (the singer of the band) quickly put together a kind of a test video for the song. At the moment our band is called Crown of Leaves. We used to be known as Sandhya for a while. The name is prone to change. We'll see. I have written all of the songs that are in english and I play acoustic and electric guitars. We are currently bringing in new members to the band and starting to rehearse new songs and fine-tune the old ones.<br />
<br />
So here's the song. Hope you guys enjoy it.<br />
<br />
<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FBnFA4_lHtY" width="560"></iframe></center>
<br />
<br />
Here's one more. It's the first song I ever wrote.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='560' height='315' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XTYAQdAy6xE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
You'll find more rehearsal videos on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCh3jrMm5faBAMBTM1u5bVA">YouTube channel</a> or by checking my own <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDs07NmQmAuVFx2hPeZkkxg">YouTube channel</a>. Some of the songs are in Finnish and most of them include just me and our singer Ville.<br />
<br />
We will be posting more videos and better versions of the songs once we get the new members in and fully acclimated.<br />
<br />
In the meantime,<br />
Keep On Rockin In The Free World! <br />
Thanks much.<br />
Mahalo.<br />
<br />
<b>Jarno Mikael<br />
Finland</b>Mikaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12965693966654582721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-87860956485482038402013-08-03T04:47:00.000+02:002014-03-15T02:26:20.447+01:00Poems & a Dance Tribute for Neil Rogers by Erin Parsley<br />
<center><iframe width="550" height="309" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1dR7yoSX4H8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><br />
On July 10, 2013 I presented a solo performance entitled LUMINOSITY in Chico, California at the Living Light Studio. <br />
<br />
In this video is an excerpt, which was dedicated to our beloved Neil. <br />
<br />
Poems ~<br />
~ Dearest Neil<br />
~ Unbreakable<br />
~ Life Song (inspired by his comment below)<br />
~ Journey Home<br />
<br />
Dance ~<br />
~ Peace (music by Asa)<br />
<br />
Given with love,<br />
Erin Parsley<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Anonymous said...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.visibleorigami.com/2013/01/dancing-in-darkness-where-angels-fear.html#comment-3739549564816479498"><span style='color:#afeeee;'><i>This post reminds of rumi for some reason,<br />
Maybe it is because it is written from the place where rumi would rest his head and dream into the great everywhere,,,<br />
And when the instrument is finely attuned,it plays heaven through us all,it plays our deep deep humanity,our love as it truly is as it naturally occurs,,<br />
<br />
Lovely post,,respects neil</i></span></a><br />
<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.erinparsley.com/2013/02/rest-in-peace-neil-rogers.html">Rest in Peace, Neil Rogers</a></center>Erin Parsleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12668734966667527412noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-31100651789890637052013-06-18T11:17:00.000+02:002013-06-18T11:18:49.365+02:00Neil's Poems, Read by Patrick Willis<br />
<center><iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/opq7xSQrkXE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opq7xSQrkXE" class="noplay">Watch and comment on YouTube, too</a>.</center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-15170116960830598502013-05-28T00:34:00.002+02:002013-05-28T00:34:51.729+02:00For Neil; and for Those who Miss HimDear Neil<br />
<br />
It's beyond time any of your poems graced lord visible's blogs,,,<br />
<br />
You wrote so many (nearly a thousand!) - that within the Visible sphere, you became a part of the furniture; like an ancient but sturdy chair, or favorite comfy sofa, you were reliable, dependable, familiar and always appreciated.<br />
<br />
I'm republishing a few of your poems here,,, just three - but I think these three alone go some way toward capturing your warmth, intelligence, sincerity and impish sense of humor.<br />
<br />
Wherever you are now Neil, I hope finally, you found your Peace.<br />
<br />
<br />
with love,,,,,,,<br />
<br />
Sim<br />
<br />
<blockquote><em>old man kirwan<br />
heart of all truth<br />
mighty lord visibles<br />
rivero too<br />
john lash and bho<br />
nina and charles<br />
sign of the times<br />
free acre isles<br />
old mr silber<br />
dublins and life<br />
rixon stewart,mr tsarrion<br />
farrakhans height<br />
the life of us all<br />
filled with compassion<br />
lets get the job done<br />
the people to action<br />
<br />
..peace..</em><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:85%;"><b><i>From</i></b></span> - <a href="http://www.visibleorigami.com/2011/09/when-in-course-of-human-events.html?showComment=1316336965338#c300761949782905785"><font style="font-size:85%;color:#8b8815;">Visible Origami</font></a></blockquote><br />
<br />
<blockquote><em><u><b>To all you awake people out there</b></u><br />
<br />
Something had touched them,<br />
had been poured through them<br />
Like an elixir of precious gems<br />
A cup of profound awakening<br />
No amount of words could do justice<br />
They could only suckle on the teet of ever expanding<br />
And let their thoughts wander into the divine Everything<br />
To learn as children do<br />
To live as children <br />
open and in love forever ready to play<br />
To live to the fullest of every moment <br />
To give with every inch of their heart<br />
In full abundance of all that ever could be<br />
Through all that ever was<br />
They had become love,<br />
Not an easy task these days<br />
But somehow that is what they had become<br />
Respondent only to the harmonic calling<br />
That resonates and fills them full of themself <br />
And that was beautiful in every sense,,,,<br />
<br />
..peace..</em><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:85%;"><b><i>From</i></b></span> - <a href="http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/2012/08/crocodile-swines-and-gang-banging-end.html?showComment=1345729869772#c1984556156335345203"><font style="font-size:85%;color:#8b8815;">Smoking Mirrors</font></a></blockquote><br />
<br />
<blockquote><em>you mr visibles<br />
are a master<br />
and have learnt the art of the internal apostrophe also the comma<br />
and the full stop.<br />
<br />
.peace.</em><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size:85%;"><b><i>From</i></b></span> - <a href="http://www.zippittydodah.com/2009/12/what-if-everyone-just-kept-their-mouths.html?showComment=1261525995474#c8802850410761484948"><font style="font-size:85%;color:#8b8815;">Reflections in a Petri Dish</font></a></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-31544185124517167862013-04-27T09:53:00.001+02:002013-12-31T14:18:14.161+01:00Change For a DollarWhile it's had 2 million views, that still leaves plenty more millions of people who haven't yet seen <em>Change For a Dollar</em>; possibly the best film short ever made? Or the best short film ever made, whichever. Either way, it might be the best 606 seconds you'll spend today.<br />
<br />
<center><iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9DXL9vIUbWg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><br />
<br />
On the subject of dollars, Visible's <i>songs</i> are available for a dollar (that doesn't buy all of them - they're a dollar <i>each</i>).<br />
<br />
Due to a current lack of popular demand, there's unlikely to be a song on today's Petri Dish (the boss has spoken). He never said anything though, about not putting up a song anywhere else, so I'm going to spoil myself with one of my very favorite Visible songs:<br />
<br />
<center>Visible sings: <a href="http://lesvisible.net/MEDIA/MP3S/GIC/Prevail.mp3" title="Visible - Prevail"><img alt="God in Country by Les Visible" src="http://lesvisible.net/LVDC/AlbumArt/God%20in%20Country.jpg" style="display: none;" />♫ Prevail ♫</a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: 75%;">'Prevail' is track no. 6 of 11 on Visible's 2001 album 'God in Country'</span></i><br />
<a onclick="window.open ('http://visible-lyrics-siam.blogspot.com/2013/04/prevail.html','popup','width=360,height=500,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://visible-lyrics-siam.blogspot.com/2013/04/prevail.html"> <span style="font-size:80%;">Lyrics</span></a> <span style="font-size:80%;"><i>(pops up)</i></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lesvisible.com/p/god-in-country.html"><img src="http://lesvisible.net/LVDC/AlbumArt/God%20in%20Country.jpg" alt="God in Country by Les Visible" title="God in Country by Les Visible"></a></center><br />
<br />
Isn't that beautiful? Lordy, this blog post is simply <i>bursting</i> with loveliness!<br />
<br />
<br />
Don't forget, if <u>you</u> would like to post anything here on Siamese Mirrors, drop Vis an email - and if he's not too busy writing his new book, planting his cantaloupe or crying into his beer then he'll "authorise" you. Good morning!<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-34017691521694788212013-04-09T17:17:00.002+02:002014-03-15T21:44:15.720+01:00Contributors Sought...Welcome to the revamped Siamese Mirrors...<br />
<br />
Visible's readers (which means you!) are invited to write your own blog posts here, on <a href="http://siamesemirrors.blogspot.com/">this site</a>. All you need to do is drop Vis a mail telling him that you'd like to be a contributor and you'll then get the necessary invite. If you don't know Vis' email address, then mail me instead via <a href="http://www.lesvisible.com/p/contact.html">this page</a>.<br />
<br />
Your posts can be about anything - provided they are reasonably "on-topic" (whatever that is); but in the first instance, we're hoping that you might write a few lines about <a href="http://www.erinparsley.com/2013/02/rest-in-peace-neil-rogers.html">Neil Rogers</a>; your favorite "Neil" poem or characteristic, or anything else about the man which amused, inspired or informed you. A list of his poems will be available, on request, for this purpose.<br />
<br />
So, Erin and The Gardner, Est, Niijii, Pierre, Nina (hello!?), Denny (hi-hi!), all the Daves, Jen, Mouser, Rob in WI (hi!) and the thousands of other Vis readers out there - whose names would fill this page, but which I'm struggling to recall anyway - please do make contact with Vis or myself. Our operators are waiting to take your call.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now I got writer's block (which is why Visible writes and I just lurk). For now, have a feel good video, and feel good.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><iframe width="462" height="346" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cbk980jV7Ao" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><br />
<br />
Love<br />
<br />
<br />
SimUnknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-57114829327347432222011-02-10T15:34:00.000+01:002013-04-07T09:28:25.051+02:00The Love and how to Reach it.<center><embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v2/IssuuReader.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" wmode="transparent" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" flashvars="mode=mini&documentId=110211130112-6a156d70c96844feb5efa2da6ba012ca" style="width:550px;height:389px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed></center>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11745780775285210206noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-90803423559595266172011-01-16T23:06:00.000+01:002013-04-07T11:27:38.546+02:00True Community-Why and How?Over the past year, I have been getting to know a group known as “The Community”. About 20 individuals live closely together in two houses, on 5 acres with gardens, outbuildings, storage areas and a classroom; there is also a sister group in New Mexico of about 30 individuals, where they have achieved almost total self-sufficiency. The group’s Teacher is a student of Gurdjieff who has created a framework for community around his teachings and modified the ideas around movement and dance, for the purpose of awakening and channeling vital energy, to include a running focus. As part of this process, Yo has taken some very ordinary humans and turned them into world class champion runners, specializing in winning “ultra-marathons” (races of 50 to 100 miles).<br /><br />Every dinner is prepared by a small team and then eaten together as a group in the evening. Everyone eats the same food as everyone else, with no exceptions. There are daily/weekly schedules of work and recreational activities – everyone has a role and plays their part without objection. If someone decides they don’t want to be a part of the daily routine, they will leave the group. Bottom line, I have found this group to be an inspiration, and they have formed a very successful community through their daily practices of ego surrender and an unwavering focus on service to each other.<br /><br /><br /><em>“...tens of thousands of small communities all over the world are trying to experiment with new ways of life, but most of them are failing...There is a need to associate... but unless a group or community has a higher purpose it is not possible for it to have equilibrium. If it is not a work group, it cannot maintain itself, because then the disruptive forces have nothing to balance them...if people say that there is something to be done, and if they all know that for it to be done it requires a community, then it can work...”</em><br /><br /><em><u>Needs of a New Age Community</u>, J.G. Bennett, 1977</em><br /><br /><br />About 2.5 years ago, I decided I wanted to join a “community” that was centered in the place founded by my Teacher. I spent over $100K building a home at the Farm and was so busy with that project and running my own business in another State that I failed to notice something really important – the “community” I thought I was joining wasn’t any kind of cohesive group organized around the teachings at all, but more like a loosely organized “neighborhood”. After months of observation, and then being confronted with a basis for comparison through "The Community" described above, I suddenly realized there was no organized focus on living or learning the teachings, very few scheduled work activities with full participation expected from all the beneficiaries of the labors of a core group, not even agreement from many of the residents about why they were even living there (other than cheap rent!), and membership in the School our Teacher founded is no longer even required to take up residence. Our teacher even talked about the exact situation that has evolved since he passed on:<br /><br /><em>“...a group does not mean just an aggregation of persons on the ‘objective’ level. An aggregation of persons does not constitute a group. When an aggregation of persons on the ‘objective’ level has a cause or an interest held in common, and provided that they are all working for a purpose or cause or interest, there will emerge out of that aggregation of persons a ‘group spirit’. But an aggregation of persons where all are at sixes-and-sevens with each other will never form a group – never!”<br /><br />--Excerpt from <u>Membership Letters</u> by Vitvan</em><br /><br /><br />Why is any of this relevant or even important here at Siamese Mirrors? Because I believe Les Visible has the right ideas about forming a group of like-minded individuals who are no longer interested in playing a mindless part in the current scheme of things – a group of capable, functional people who want a better, more sustainable existence and who want to feel like they are part of something with a higher purpose. Les outlined some good ideas about forming a “working group” in the post labeled ‘<u>Getting Serious About Our Potential</u>’ on 12/15/10:<br /><br /><em>“... a residential community with artistic and agrarian aspects devoted to a general consciousness raising and melding for the purpose of unveiling potential and realizing it, as well as having a good time... a teaching environment and a learning environment, without any specific or hierarchal separations as to the roles or importance of them... this community will possess living areas and the usual amenities along with a commercial kitchen and the various spin-offs that come out of it. It will have some land for growing things and various educational and recreational possibilities... This community should not only be self-sustaining but show a certain amount of profit in every available area...”</em><br /><br /><br />The vision as described by Visible appears to have potential to succeed, because it will be started from individuals who share similar viewpoints and clear awareness about the present worldly scheme of things along witha desire for a more spiritual existence, who will be working together to create something fresh and real. There are those of us who are very aware of a strong spiritual influence which is making us clearly see that things are not as they should be. It is past time to start cooperating with this Force and become its instruments of power and constructive change. However, as Bennett discusses in his book, it is not enough to form a viable community where the participants ‘tolerate’ each other and “live together because they have an interesting and diversified life. Beyond that, it is necessary to give all of us the confidence that there is a ‘higher power’, a spiritual power working in the world with which we can cooperate, that is helping us, that is concerned with the future of mankind...”<br /><br /><br /><em>“Man didn’t come into this world for nothing. Man is an extraordinary achievement that has required long and difficult preparation. This achievement is not complete. It would be quite a considerable cosmic disaster if this experiment with man on this earth were to fail, and for this reason much is being done to prevent this experiment from failing – not because man deserves to survive, but because he is really needed.” (J.G. Bennett, Page 89)</em><br /><br /><br />In closing, I would highly recommend the referenced book by J.G. Bennett and general study of “Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way” to anyone who is truly interested in learning what it really takes to build a successful “community”. And, for those of us who have expressed an interest or feel drawn towards helping Les Visible make his vision a reality – each of us should ask ourselves, “what can I do right now to get this started?” The tire-kickers over at The New Shangri-La don't appear to be going anywhere, they probably just signed up to see what was going on – we need to form that “core group” that Visible talks about NOW.<br /><br />As Vitvan once said, <em>“the greatest boon in treading the path is to have the support of a group. Preserve it and cherish it if you ever get it...!”</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-85279103559146345962011-01-11T20:49:00.000+01:002013-04-07T13:31:39.149+02:00Spiritual Basis of Nonviolent Communication<center><b><u>A Question and Answer Session with<br />
Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.</u></b></center><br />
<b>Is spirituality important in the process of Nonviolent Communication?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I think it is important that people see that spirituality is at the base of Nonviolent Communication, and that they learn the mechanics of the process with that in mind. It’s really a spiritual practice that I am trying to show as a way of life. Even though we don’t mention this, people get seduced by the practice. Even if they practice this as a mechanical technique, they start to experience things between themselves and other people they weren’t able to experience before. So eventually they come to the spirituality of the process. They begin to see that it’s more than a communication process and realize it’s really an attempt to manifest a certain spirituality. So I have tried to integrate the spirituality into the training in a way that meets my need not to destroy the beauty of it through abstract philosophizing.</em><br />
<br />
<b>What does God mean to you?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I need a way to think of God that would work for me, other words or ways to look at this beauty, this powerful energy, and so my name for God is “Beloved Divine Energy.” For a while it was just Divine Energy but then I was reading some of the Eastern religions, and Eastern poets, and I loved how they had this personal, loving connection with this Energy. And I found that it added to me to call it “Beloved” Divine Energy. To me this Beloved Divine Energy is life, connection to life.</em><br />
<br />
<b>What is your favorite way of knowing Beloved Divine Energy?</b><br />
<br />
<em>It is how I connect with human beings. I know Beloved Divine Energy by connecting with human beings in a certain way. I not only see Divine Energy, I taste Divine Energy, I feel Divine Energy, and I am Divine Energy. I’m connected with Beloved Divine Energy when I connect with human beings in this certain way. Then God is very alive for me. Also talking with trees, talking with dogs and pigs, those are some of my other favorite ways.</em><br />
<br />
<b>How did you develop Nonviolent Communication?</b><br />
<br />
<em>Nonviolent Communication evolved from my attempt to get conscious of what this Beloved Divine Energy is and how to connect with it. I was very dissatisfied with clinical psychology because it is pathology based and I didn’t like its language. It didn’t give me a view of the beauty of human beings. So, after I got my degree I decided to go more in the direction of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.<br />
<br />
I decided to look at this side and ask myself the scary question, “What are we and what are we meant to be?” I found that there was very little written about this in psychology. So I took a crash course in comparative religion because I saw they talked more about this question. And this word “love” kept coming up in each of them.<br />
<br />
I used to hear the word love as many people use it in a religious sense like, “You should love everybody.” I used to get really annoyed at the word love. “Oh yeah, I’m supposed to love Hitler?” I didn’t know the words “New Age Bullshit” but I used what was my equivalent then. I tried to understand better what love means because I could see it had so much meaning for so many millions of people in all of these religions.</em><br />
<br />
<b>What is it, and how do you do this “love”?</b><br />
<br />
<em>Nonviolent Communication really came out of my attempt to understand this concept of love and how to manifest it, how to do it. I came to the conclusion that it was not just something you feel, but it is something we manifest, something we do, something we have. And what is this manifestation? It is giving of ourselves in a certain way.</em><br />
<br />
<b>What do you mean, “giving of ourselves”?</b><br />
<br />
<em>To me, giving of ourselves means an honest expression of what’s alive in us in this moment. It intrigues me why every culture asks upon greeting each other, “How are you?” It’s such an important question. What a gift it is to be able to know at any given moment what is alive in someone.<br />
<br />
To give a gift of one’s self is a manifestation of love. It is when you reveal yourself nakedly and honestly, at any given moment, for no other purpose than as a gift of what’s alive in you. Not to blame, criticize, or punish. Just “Here I am, and here is what I would like.” This is my vulnerability at this moment. To me, that is a way of manifesting love.<br />
<br />
And the other way we give of ourselves is through how we receive another person’s message. To receive it empathically, connecting with what’s alive in them, making no judgment. Just to hear what is alive in the other person and what they would like. So Nonviolent Communication is just a manifestation of what I understand love to be.</em><br />
<br />
<b>Nonviolent Communication came out of your desire to manifest love?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I was also helped by empirical research in psychology that defined the characteristics of healthy relationships and by studying people who were living manifestations of loving people. Out of these sources I pulled together this process that helped me to connect with people in what I could understand is a loving way.<br />
<br />
And then I saw what happened when I did connect with people in this way. This beauty, this power, connected me with an energy that I choose to call Beloved Divine Energy. So Nonviolent Communication helps me stay connected with that beautiful Divine Energy within myself and to connect with it in others. And certainly when I connect that Divine Energy within myself with the Divine Energy in others, what happens then is the closest I know of what it is to be connected to God.</em><br />
<br />
<b>How do you prevent Ego from interfering with your connection with God?</b><br />
<br />
<em>By seeing Ego as very closely tied to the way my culture has trained me to think, and trained me to communicate. And how the culture has trained me to meet my needs in certain ways, to get my needs mixed up with certain strategies I might use to meet my needs. So I try to remain conscious of these three ways that the culture has programmed me to do things that really aren’t in my best interest, to function more from Ego than from my connection with Divine Energy. I have tried to learn ways for training myself to be conscious when I’m thinking in these culturally learned ways and I’ve incorporated these into Nonviolent Communication.</em><br />
<br />
<b>Then you believe that the language of our culture prevents us from knowing our Divine Energy more intimately?</b><br />
<br />
<em>Oh yes, definitely. I think our language makes it really hard, especially the language given to us by the cultural training most of us seem to have gone through, and the associations “God” brings up for people. Judgmental, or right/wrong thinking is one of the hardest things I’ve found to overcome in teaching Nonviolent Communication over the years. The people that I work with have all gone to schools and churches and it’s very easy for them, if they like Nonviolent Communication, to say it’s the “right way” to communicate. It’s very easy to think that Nonviolent Communication is the goal.<br />
<br />
I’ve altered a Buddhist parable that relates to this question. Imagine a beautiful, whole, and sacred place. And imagine that you could really know God when you are in that place. But let’s say that there is a river between you and that place and you’d like to get to that place but you’ve got to get over this river to do it. So you get a raft, and this raft is a real handy tool to get you over the river. Once you’re across the river you can walk the rest of the several miles to this beautiful place. But the Buddhist parable ends by saying that, “One is a fool who continues on to the sacred place carrying the raft on their back.”<br />
<br />
Nonviolent Communication is a tool to get me over my cultural training so I can get to the place. It’s not the place. If we get addicted to the raft, attached to the raft, it makes it harder to get to the place. People just learning the process of Nonviolent Communication can forget all about the place. If they get too locked into the raft, the process becomes mechanical. Nonviolent Communication is one of the most powerful tools that I’ve found for connecting with people in a way that helps me get to the place where we are connected to the Divine, where what we do toward one another comes out of Divine Energy. That’s the place I want to get to.</em><br />
<br />
<b>Is this the spiritual basis of Nonviolent Communication?</b><br />
<br />
<em>The spiritual basis for me is that I’m trying to connect with the Divine Energy in others and connect them with the Divine in me, because I believe that when we are really connected with that Divinity within each other and ourselves, that people enjoy contributing to one another’s well being more than anything else. So for me, if we’re connected with the Divine in others and ourselves, we are going to enjoy what happens, and that’s the spiritual basis. In this place violence is impossible.</em><br />
<br />
<b>Is this lack of connection to Divine Energy responsible for violence in the world?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I would say it this way: I think we have been given the gift of choice to create the world of our choosing. And we’ve been given all of this great and abundant world for creating a world of joy and nurturing. To me, the violence in the world comes about when we get alienated or disconnected from this Energy. How do we get connected when we are educated to be disconnected? I believe it’s our cultural conditioning and education that disconnects us from God, especially our education about God.<br />
<br />
Walter Wink writes about how domination cultures use certain teachings about God to maintain oppression. That’s why Bishops and Kings have often been closely related. The Kings needed the Bishops to justify the oppression, to interpret the holy books in ways that justified punishment, domination, and so forth.</em><br />
<br />
<b>How do we overcome this conditioning?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I’m often in between people in a lot of pain. I remember working with twenty Serbians and twenty Croatians. Some of the people there had family members killed by the other side and they all had generations of poison pumped into their heads about the other side. They spent three days expressing their rage and pain to each other. Fortunately we were there about seven days.<br />
<br />
One word I haven’t used yet in speaking about this is the word “inevitability”. So many times I have seen that no matter what has happened, if people connect in this certain way that it is inevitable that they will end up enjoying giving to one another. It is inevitable. For me my work is like watching the magic show. It’s too beautiful for words.<br />
<br />
But sometimes this Divine Energy doesn’t work as fast as I think it should. I remember sitting there in the middle of all this rage and pain and thinking, “Divine Energy, if you can heal all this stuff why are you taking so long, why are you putting these people through this?” And the Energy spoke to me, and it said, “You just do what you can to connect. Bring your energy in. Connect and help the other people connect and let me take care of the rest.” But even though that was going on in one part of my brain, I knew joy was inevitable. If we could just keep getting connected to our own Divine Energy and to each other’s.<br />
<br />
And it happened. It happened with great beauty. The last day everybody was talking about joy. And many of them said, “You know I thought I was never going to feel joy again after what we’ve been through.” This was the theme on everybody’s lips. So that evening the twenty Serbians and twenty Croatians, who seven days earlier had only unimaginable pain in relation to one another, celebrated the joy of life together.</em><br />
<br />
<b>We gain this connection to each other by knowing God?</b><br />
<br />
<em>Here again I want to stay away from intellectualizing about God. If by “knowing God” we mean this intimate connection with Beloved Divine Energy, then we gain every second as experiencing heaven.<br />
<br />
The heaven I gain from knowing God is this inevitability, to know it is inevitable, that no matter what the hell is going on that if we get to this level of connection with each other, if we get in touch with each other’s Divine Energy, it’s inevitable that we will enjoy giving and we’ll give back to life. I’ve been through such ugly stuff with people that I don’t get worried about it anymore, it’s inevitable. If we get that quality of connection, we’ll like where it gets us.<br />
<br />
It amazes me how effective it is. I could tell you similar examples between the extremist Israelis, both politically and religiously, and the same on the Palestinian side, and between the Hutus and the Tutsis, and the Christian tribe in Nigeria. With all of them it amazes me how easy it is to bring about this reconciliation and healing. Once again, all we have to do is get both sides connected to the other person’s needs. To me the needs are the quickest, closest way to getting in connection with that Divine Energy. Everyone has the same needs. The needs come because we’re alive.</em><br />
<br />
<b>How do you get enemies to recognize that they need to give to each other?</b><br />
<br />
<em>When you get people connected at that level it’s hard to maintain those “enemy” images. Nonviolent Communication in its purity is the most powerful, quickest way I’ve found to get people to go from life alienated ways of thinking where they want to hurt each other, to enjoying giving to each other.<br />
<br />
When you have a couple of people facing each other, Hutu and Tutsi, and their families have been killed by each other, it’s amazing that in two or three hours we can get them nurturing each other. It’s inevitable. Inevitable. That’s why I use this approach.<br />
<br />
It amazes me how simple it is given the amount of suffering that has gone on, and how quickly it can happen. Nonviolent Communication really quickly heals when people have experienced a lot of pain. This motivates me to want to make it happen even more quickly because the way we’re doing it now still takes a while.<br />
<br />
How do we get this done more quickly with the other 800,000 Hutus and Tutsis, and the rest of the planet? I would like to explore what would happen if we could make movies or television shows of this process, because I’ve seen that when two people go through the process with other people watching, that vicarious learning, healing and reconciliations happen. So I would like to explore ways to use the media to get masses of people to go quickly through this process together.</em><br />
<br />
<b>Have you encountered any cultural or language barriers to this process?</b><br />
<br />
<em>This amazes me how few and how little they are. When I first started to teach this process in another language I really doubted that it could be done. I remember the first time I was in Europe I was going to go first to Munich and then to Geneva. My colleague and I both doubted that we could get this through in another language. She was going to do it in French and I would be there for her to ask me questions if something came up. I was going to at least try to see if we could go through translators. But it worked so well without any problems, and I find the same thing everywhere. So I just don’t worry about it, I’ll do it in English and you translate it and it works very well. I can’t think of any culture that we’ve had any problem with other than little things, but not with the essence of it. Not only have we had no problem but also there are repeated variations of people saying that this is essentially what their religion says. It’s old stuff, they know this stuff, and they’re grateful for this manifestation, but it’s nothing new.</em><br />
<br />
<b>Do you believe a spiritual practice is important for practicing nonviolence?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I recommend in all workshops that people take time to ask themselves this question, “How do I choose to connect with other human beings?” and to be as conscious as they can about that. To make sure it’s their choice and not the way they’ve been programmed to choose. Really, what is the way you would choose to connect with other human beings?<br />
<br />
Gratitude also plays a big role for me. If I express gratitude when I am conscious of the human act that I want to express it for, consciousness of how I feel when the act occurs, whether it’s my act or someone else’s, and what needs of mine it fulfills, then expressing gratitude fills me with consciousness of the power that we human beings have to enrich lives. It makes me aware that we are Divine Energy, that we have such power to make life wonderful, and that there is nothing we like better than to do just that.<br />
<br />
To me, that is powerful evidence of our Divine Energy, that we have this power to make life so wonderful, and that there is nothing we like more. That’s why part of my spiritual practice is just to be conscious of gratitude.</em><br />
<br />
<b>How basic is this need to give to one another?</b><br />
<br />
<em>I think the need to enrich life is one of the most basic and powerful needs we all have. Now another way to say this is that we need to act from the Divine Energy within us. And I think that when we “are” that Divine Energy that there is nothing we like more, nothing in which we find more joy, than enriching life, than using our immense power to enrich life.<br />
<br />
But when we are trying to meet this need of ours to “live” this Divine Energy, trying to contribute to life, there is a request that goes with it. We have a request for feedback from whichever creature whose life we are trying to enrich. We want to know in fact, “Is my intention and my action being fulfilled?” Was there fulfillment?<br />
<br />
In our culture that request gets distorted into our thinking that we have a “need” for the other person to love us for what we’ve done, to appreciate what we’ve done, to approve of us for what we’ve done. And that distorts and screws up the beauty of the whole process. It wasn’t their approval that we needed. Our very intent was to use our energy to enrich life. But we need the feedback. How do I know my effort was successful unless I get feedback?<br />
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And I can use this feedback to help me know if I am coming out of Divine Energy. I know that I am coming out of Divine Energy when I value criticism as much as a thank you.</em><br />
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<u><b>Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.</b></u>Erikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11745780775285210206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-24206317430171869322010-12-24T09:58:00.001+01:002013-05-01T05:32:46.360+02:00Helen Thomas Does Zion.<center><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Snordster" target=_blank>Patrick Willis</a> narrates:<br />
<a href="http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/2010/12/helen-thomas-and-zio-ogres-from.html"><i>Helen Thomas Does Zion</i></a><br />
<iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oo2VtNOWYSA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Visiblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261079540110616341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-63651844626672338542010-12-24T09:58:00.000+01:002013-05-04T01:52:43.501+02:00The Royal Lizard Emporium of the Feckless Doom.<center><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Snordster" target=_blank>Patrick Willis</a> narrates:<br />
<i><a href="http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/2010/12/royal-lizard-emporium-of-feckless-doom.html">The Royal Lizard Emporium of the Feckless Doom</a></i><br />
<iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W-4q_2_Csic" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Visiblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261079540110616341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-38833501836375281822010-12-24T09:57:00.000+01:002013-05-04T01:54:03.660+02:00Les Visible's Big Ticket Item.<center><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Snordster" target=_blank>Patrick Willis</a> narrates:<br />
<a href="http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/2010/12/how-can-so-many-people-be-so-incredibly.html"><em>How Can So Many People Be So Incredibly Blind?</em></a><br />
<iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W2ooZoksO74" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><br />
Visiblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261079540110616341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-14178603871657131572010-12-15T15:23:00.005+01:002013-04-07T12:02:00.397+02:00Getting Serious about our Potential.Inasmuch as this is a personal posting, with wider application of course (grin), I thought I would put it here at Siamese Mirrors. I want to outline what I am going to be engaged in for the next several months and invite anyone who may be interested in participating at whatever level may be useful. I would like to ask only those competent in the areas of concern to respond so I don’t have to go through a lot of vetting. It’s important that everything come off in as professional a manner as possible.<br />
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The point of my efforts is to help initiate the flagship prototype of The New Shangri-La. What that is, is a residential community with artistic and agrarian aspects devoted to a general consciousness raising and melding for the purpose of unveiling potential and realizing it, as well as having a good time. It’s a teaching environment and a learning environment, without any specific or hierarchal separations as to the roles or importance of them. We want a casual freedom with respect for the disciplines offered.<br />
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Ideally, this community will possess living areas and the usual amenities along with a commercial kitchen and the various spin-offs that come out of it. It will have some land for growing things and various educational and recreational possibilities. The intent is to start off with a core group that has been vetted for the purpose and then see where that takes us. This community should not only be self-sustaining but show a certain amount of profit in every available area. I’m being very general because specifics can come later. I’ve got a number of viable ideas that will insure self sufficiency and profit. I’m pretty secure about the concepts in hand and have a great deal of faith in those who will be a part of it. The community will have residence spaces for all full time residents and guest locations for everyone else who only wants to come and see and check it out as a prelude to joining or being an occasional visitor.<br />
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We’ll start small with between half a dozen and two dozen people and keep it that way until it gets rolling. The prototype should probably remain at an optimum number. Its purpose is to present a template for those wishing to do it in other locations. The prototype will probably be in Germany or a very nearby country. Third world efforts will come later but would not be ideal for a prototype.<br />
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I’ve decided to work at funding this effort based on my own artistic works. To this end a commercial website is presently being constructed by a professional in the field. It will offer for sale 3 books in the beginning, with more to follow, as well as some blog compilations; ‘best of’ kind of thing. There will be audio books, electronic PDF copies and hard copy (actually quality paperback) offerings of the same.<br />
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13 musical CDs will be offered from a companion site which will take care of all CD pressings, sales and shipment and take a fee for this service. Five more CDs are in the process of being recorded and an American band is going to be recording the music to some number of songs already in release and I will add the vocals and send them back to them for backup vocals and mix-down.<br />
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A collection of my New York TV shows is going to be digitized and also offered for sale. There are a few other items under consideration but we are going to draw the line at T-shirts and coffee mugs (grin).<br />
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Certain people are going to be investing capital in bringing this entire construction about and they will be remunerated by a percentage of the pure profit from the sales of the items with a grace period of several months before that goes into operation. Never kill your project by too much of anything too soon. Slow and easy makes for rapid and sure.<br />
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Here’s what is needed if you are interested in being a part of it.<br />
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A professional book editor who understands the flow and impact of a literary work within its genre. Two of the books are of a type of occult crime thriller, which is a vehicle for the transmission of ideas about what has been going on in the world, Dostoyevsky, Orwell and others have used this medium to get certain ideas across and so have many more. The other book is a non-fiction work dealing with living on this planet at this time.<br />
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Competent proof readers with a wide knowledge of English; there are already several people who have offered their services in this regard.<br />
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A half a dozen people who enjoy reading novels for entertainment and enjoy crime thrillers and all sorts of works with wide commercial appeal. I need you to tell me what you liked and didn’t like. Please do not offer your services unless you are the sort of person who routinely curls up with an entertaining book and know what it is that makes it an entertaining book. I’m not looking for people who read the classics, although that is fine too. I’m looking for people who go to the bookstore and buy works by Thomas Harris, Cormac McCarthy, Michael Connolly, Irvine Welsh, Brett Easton Ellis and any writer who has wide commercial appeal in the contemporary sense. My intention has always been to write gripping, can’t put it down, fare and the first book delivered that to a lot of people but some of you are squeamish and don’t get that I am using these books as vehicles for something else.<br />
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A few people who read a lot of self help and spiritual books and have an abiding interest in this field.<br />
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Small investors and/or patrons are welcome in order to defray the cost of bringing the books out in print. The start up shouldn’t be that large since I am intending to use this company because I have already seen how fine their work is and because they will handle mailing the books out and getting them to distributors.<br />
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This is the company- <a href="http://www.lightningsource.com/default.aspx">Lightning Source</a> and here is a <a href="http://www.lightningsource.com/NewsItem.aspx?id=CST109">news release</a> about them.<br />
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A competent studio engineer who can do professional mastering of songs and albums.<br />
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That about does it. Most of the work is already finished and just needs editing, proofing, mastering and the like.<br />
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I have several large websites that have offered free advertising because they support this work and that is a big gift since it will bring these products before the attention of tens of thousands of people every day.<br />
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I realize a lot of people want to help but please don’t offer your services unless you have the chops in any particular area. Investors and patrons are immune to this restriction (grin).<br />
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If I don’t invite you to help out in the beginning here, please do not be angry with me. There are a lot of offers to consider and I want to keep the whole beginning initiative small, except for investors and patrons (grin). Heh heh...<br />
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Anyway, there’ll be all kinds of transparency and other people besides me will monitor expenses and inflow. No one is going to get taken except, possibly, to another planet.<br />
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If you have any questions then please comment. If you have other concerns or offers please email me at <a href="mailto:lesvisible@gmail.com">lesvisible@gmail.com</a><br />
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Thank you for the time you took to read this post.Visiblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261079540110616341noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2166556240890614021.post-32324919756118501702010-11-25T16:54:00.000+01:002011-03-07T22:52:42.716+01:00Cooking the History Books: The Thanksgiving Massacre.<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/218480-Cooking-the-History-Books-The-Thanksgiving-Massacre"><em>Is All That Turkey and Stuffing a Celebration of Genocide?</em></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0