Thoughts: How you see it
ENC: When they talk about THIS, it keeps you from hearing about THAT
In this section of The World According to Brother Ian, called the Emperor’s New Clothes, we take a peek at the things around the world that people don’t seem to know about, but should.
Just a few years ago on the CBC, someone was asking Gore Vidal in Montreal if he thought the divisive politics in the States would lead to a revolution. He said people have to be truly angry to have a revolution, and that he felt that Americans are, in his words, “Merely grumpy.”
I would tend to agree…and a big player in what you & I see in the chart below.
I’m pretty sure if folks knew, with certainty, what GMO food is doing to their guts, what pesticides are doing to the plants & bugs we need to have a sustainable shot at a planet that can continue to feed our kids & their kids, that we’re running out of drinkable water, that continued population growth is crowding out our chances to make enough food, that we have more than a few very-fixable problems….I’m pretty sure people would work hard to make it change, make good things happen.
You can only be grumpy if you don’t really know. Grumpy won’t get the job done. The social will, the political will, the community will to change this will come from yelling, at the top of your voice – “This IS important!” and to tune out the silliness on the right hand side of the chart.
But you can’t make it happen if you don’t know there’s a problem.
It starts here. Now.
Poetry: Open me, close me
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
~e. e. cummings
What you see is what you get….sometimes.
I hope you find new people & new ideas & new ways to see the way it all works….good place to start (if you don’t know him already) is Randall’s xkcd webcomic….he gets it, and has fun getting there.
Here’s the link to the one above, and his site….be careful, you’ll get lost in the archives, or just hitting the ‘random” button, which is poetry in & of itself.
Thoughts: An open door to clarity….
“Being vulnerable doesn’t have to be threatening. Just have the courage to be sincere, open and honest. This opens the door to deeper communication all around. It creates self-empowerment and the kind of connections with others we all want in life.
“Speaking from the heart frees us from the secrets that burden us. These secrets are what make us sick or fearful. Speaking truth helps you get clarity on your real heart directives.” ~ Sara Paddison
Art by Denise Daffara
www.denisedaffara.com.au
Wordplay: Back in the day, when words were words….
It was fun to run into this list of 20 words that are rarely (mostly never) used any more.
Most of them sound like the idea they convey, I think – see what you think & feel when you hear these (click on the picture, to start):
Thoughts: A silence in which another voice may speak
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak….
~ Mary Oliver
Writings: Remember to celebrate (maybe this will help)
I know you think monks just sit around thinking up jokes & stories to make their point, which is hard because they don’t get out into the world enough (some monks, you know).
But it’s really not like that – here’s one of my faves:
+++++++
A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript.
So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up. In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.
The head monk says, “We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son.” So, he goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn’t been opened for hundreds of years.
Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing, “We missed the “R”, we missed the “R”. His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.
The young monk asks the old abbot, “What’s wrong, father?” With a choking voice, the old abbot replies, “The word was CELEBRATE!”
Writings: Sometimes, you come in first, together. Right, Sara?
Sara Tucholsky isn’t gonna forget.
It was cool to hear this story from a few years ago – heard it then & want to share it now – that shows what happens when the right people do the right thing at the right time. And don’t tell me you’re not a softball fan – this story is for people-loving people fans, too.
Way to go!
See if you agree.
Writings: Lighten for a moment, with Sarah Norrad
Lighten for a moment beautiful one.
Place down those shackles, tethers and bounds.
Allow all your responsibilities to release too.
For this special moment,
just be free.
The sun has risen and is touching us with her light.
We have grown and are touching the world with our own.
Lighten for a moment dear one.
This work is done more easily,
if we saw it not as heavy but as light.
Place down those shackles, tethers and bounds.
Let the wrestling match with life become a sweet dance instead.
For the sun has risen and is touching us with her light.
And we have grown and are touching the world with our own.
~ Sarah Norrad
Thoughts: A voice singing, without words
Listen intently to a voice singing without words. It may charm you into crying, force you to dance, fill you with rage, or make you jump for joy.
You can’t tell where the music ends and the emotions begin, for the whole thing is a kind of music—the voice playing on your nerves as the breath plays on a flute.
All experience is just that, except that its music has many more dimensions than sound.
It vibrates in the dimensions of sight, touch, taste, and smell, and in the intellectual dimension of symbols and words—all evoking and playing upon each other.
– Alan Watts