Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Thoughts on a Redemption...

I "do not pray that the land be recovered. [I] pray rather, that whatever is the desire of the land be heard" [quote by Norma Gentile]. I think Mama Earth wants her delta back again. She's only taking back what's rightfully hers. The creative process of flooding and silting and building up the land has been denied her long enough. Enough! May I be so courageous as to reclaim what is rightfully mine. ---Vim

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Katrina Liberates the Chickens...

This will be quick and not too well organized.
I am trying to be positive here about recent events.
There is so much distressing news today that it is a real challenge.
But I think I've got it!
I am on an earthquake forum which, needless to say, is focused on the recent storm.
A poster named Sheila recently reported this little bit of news from the stricken Gulf Coast.
The post hit me by surprise!
It's just a line, but it felt quite good to read it.
Here it is:

"One chicken farm in Mississippi was completely flattened but all the chickens had their first day of freedom in their little lives...just clucking around the ruins and having the time of their lives."

I owned chickens once.

The farm where I kept them had once been a mass-production egg farm.
Scrawny beat-up birds lived four to a cage with barely room to turn around.
Years later, I bought two dozen Rhode Island Reds and set them free to roam.
It was a sight to see!
They were happy and productive and free.

So the thought of these liberated Mississippian birds rings a bell for me.
And perhaps, in a sense, they symbolize the true potential of this whole disaster.
That which was caged is now free.
The "system" that has tied us down is being shown for that cage that it is.
Restrictive.
With the infrastructure in tatters, what good are all of the modern conveniences we've grown to depend on.
When it is just you and the clothes on your back.
When your identity is basically meaningless.
When your ATM card and credit cards are worthless plastic.
All your important paper work lost.
Jobs lost. Homes lost. No one caring who you are or what you've done in life.
Just you and the elements.
What are the basics?
Water, food, shelter, life, health, happiness.
The "system" has let us down, but there is a whole new way of living out there just waiting to be discovered.

Or is it... re-discovered.
This is the task at hand... the Potential...
Follow the chickens.
They have found it.
They are the teachers now.

---MORE LATER---


Monday, August 29, 2005

Hurricane Katrina: "Possible Insights" [BemO]

The following is an excerpt of a post by RML at BringEmOn.Org.
I read this yesterday and it still lingers today.
Therefore it I deem it worthy of posting here.
There is more to it and you can read it all by clicking here.
But this is the part that haunts me.
Here ya go...

IF YOU ARE GOING TO RAISE THE KUNDALINI, YOU START AT THE BASE. The word chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or disk and signifies one of seven basic energy centers in the body. Each of these centers correlates to major nerve ganglia branching forth from the spinal column. In addition the chakras also correlate to levels of consciousness, archetypal elements, developmental stages of life, colors, sounds, body functions, etc..

In the sometimes stuffy halls of Esoterica, it has been indicated that New Orleans is the Base Chakra of the United States. Without much imagination, the corollary between base-chakra energies (sex!) and New Orleans is quite the big easy. And, if one is to raise the vibration of the entire body, one must start with the transmutation of the base chakra. The raising is accomplished using energy vortexes(increasing the spinning to throw-off the effluvia) to "purify" the lowest vibration, so that the "new energy" can ascend all the way up to the crown (chakra).

This purification (NOT judgement) is not a mental exercise which can be debated and casually discussed over morning coffee. This is life-altering, emotionally shattering experience. Far in the past, this energy-raising initiation could easily result in death if the aspirant brought anything less than the Truth to the experience. The raising of this energy is for the Heart, nor for the mind. We will see ourselves as we really are. We will be revealed in total, not as disparate and disjointed entities, but as the conglomerate that we are.

Wish our brothers and sisters all the best. . . they will need it!


Many thanks for the post RML.
PHOTO is the symbol of the base chakra. It is known as Muladhara Chakra or Brahma Chakra.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

A Perspective on "Disasters" and Prayer...

An historic hurricane is bearing down on the vulnerable city of New Orleans. Prayers are appreciated, but HOW to pray is the question? Here are some thoughts. Comments are always appreciated.
-------
Can anything happen that is not agreed to on some level by those involved?
Isn't there a oneness to the consciousness of man?
I know, this is metaphysics and not all agree.
But do we really KNOW that this "disaster" is NOT a good thing.
Do we KNOW that the people of the area did NOT agree to it?
Like anything that happens… a divorce, a death of a loved one, loss of investments in the stock market... you name it...
Is it not possible that the souls involved have CALLED for change and this is the means to do it?
My prayers did not save a loving brother dying of AIDS.
My prayers did not save my marriage.
But my heart's desire was answered in those two losses.
I did not see it at the time.
But with the benefit of passing time and perspective, I now know that they were the prompts I called in, to take me to the next level in life.

On some level we are all longing for change.
That is why we complain so much!
Have we listened to ourselves lately?
We WANT things to be different.
Should we pray away the MEANS to that END???
NO!
We can pray for the BEST possible outcomes.
And then accept that what is appearing under our feet is "the path" at the moment.
It is NOT a matter of "laying down and taking it."
It is a matter of pulling back and seeing things for what they are.
And allowing the changes to occur.
We are so afraid of being swept downstream and yet downstream is where we long to be.
I will pray for my fellow citizens in harms way.
And I will honor the outcomes for the sacred steps that they are.

Vim

On Second Thought...

...
Maybe this is a better way to say it.

WAR IS OVER!

...IF YOU WANT IT.
A thoughtful reminder from John and Yoko...

Thursday, August 25, 2005

PANIC!!! The Bad Guys are Winning!!! [Are they?]

Have been reading over some of the boards.
RMN/BringEmOn/Syzygy/GodlikeProd
Everyone seems to be in a panic today.
Looks like the bad guys are gonna pull it off.
Martial law looms before us.
US Troops where they don't belong.
And lies abound.

So when it gets like this I try to pull back and look at the screen.
Film screen, that is.
"WarGames."
Great flick!
Go rent it today!

So in this film, some computer whiz named David Lightman
breaks into a military computer named JOSHUA
and screws everything up so that WWIII appears to be imminent.
Missile silos are poised to go off all over the world.
Eventually, he gets into the main control room.
To fix things, Lightman suggests they play a game...
Global Thermonuclear War.
The scenerio is set up. Off they go.
The computer goes wild trying to figure out which combination of
attacks will result in him/it WINNING.
After all, winning is the name of the game.
The primary objective.

So is it real or game?...all this activity???
One of my favorite lines is when someones says,
"Look at the screen? Does it make sense?"
The 'realities' are mixed.
So the kid decides that the best way to TEACH this computer
the futility of it's endeavors
[i.e., the world and JOSHUA will be destroyed if it continues],
they distract JOSHUA with a game of Tic-Tac-Toe
Now everyone knows that tic-tac-toe is a boring game
that always ends in a tie.
So JOSHUA starts working on this puzzle.
Trying to win a winless game.

"Come on. LEARN, goddammit!" [Lightman to JOSHUA]

In the nick of time, JOSHUA figures out that there are some games that cannont be won.
He opts out of Global Thermonuclear War for a nice game of chess.
The computer concludes , "The only way to win, is not to play."

So this is what I say to myself when things get nasty out there.
Look at the screen.
Does it make sense?
There is an illusory aspect to everything.
If we are ONE with all things, and I believe we are,
are we that keen on destroying ourselves???
I have to shake my head.
I have to listen to JOSHUA.
The only way to win is not to play the game.

I think that is what Krishnamurti means [see yesterday's post].
"Don't feed it. Don't give it energy."
Get out of the fray, not as an escape, but as a forward and positive action.
Allow it to be without taking it in.
Let it work itself out or destroy itself as the case may be.
Contribute clarity, and fearlessness [not defiance], and calm.
But get free of the drama of it all.
BE a non-participating participant.
And be free!

[These ideas are still gelling in me. Will keep you posted.]

MORE MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM "WARGAMES"

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Whose Side Am I On??? A Gentle Reminder from a Gentle Man

Now I'm not so sure I should have written that about Jimi.
I mean... to be suspicious only contributes to the spirit/energy of suspicion.
And it would be nice to be done with that.
Oh, well...

I am rethinking and wishing for non-thinking after reading something I saved a month ago but am only now reading.
I am new to Krishnamurti.
Krishnamurti is new to me.
But what he says resonates quite well.

So I will post it here you see what you think.
This is an excerpt from Krishnamurti: A Biography, by Pupul Jayakar
The emphases in BOLD type are mine.
My thanks to Michael St.Clair for bringing this man and his teachings to my attention.
http://stclair11.blogspot.com/

-------

Thursday, July 21, 2005
HOW TO DEAL WITH THE EMERGING VIOLENCE
[Vim: Or anything else that bugs ya...]

There is one interesting thing about Krishnamurti that was both striking and educational for the people who attended his public talks. He never commented directly on violent events happening in the world. If asked, he actually said to people: "don't feed it. Don't give it energy." What did he mean by this?

During one public discussion a transatlantic passenger plane blew apart killing everyone on board. One would have expected that he say something to people about this tragedy. He said not a word. Not a single word or comment did he make. Krishnamurti saw our own mindless reaction to violent events as being part of the problem. He himself did not "react", and he advised others also, not to react. He often said to people: "When you react to violence you feed it and give it power, you make it happen." When in reality one had to withdraw the energy from thought, which is the source of all conflict.

During the talks and discussions Krishnamurti focused on the untapped resource of the human being to know peace, which was to have a mind free of conflict and violence. He considered that this world would only know peace when the mind was quiet and free of fear. When dealing with violence he suggested, seeing it for what it is and letting it go. The violence of thought was as real as the act itself. When he said: "You live such violent lives." He meant inwardly, individually, personally in the way people think and live.

During his talks he actually carried people away from the mundane world and into a world of peace. This peace resonated in his voice as passionate and something we must all demand of ourselves. He insisted that we accept nothing less, no compromise and that to do this would mean walking away from the world. He even suggested one has to leave the violence to destroy itself, and that "opposing violence" was, in itself an act of violence. He said the two have the same root, the same cause ... the cause being personal fear and the solution being the complete ending and absence of fear.

"Indira Ghandi was shot by two of her security guards October 31 at 9:20 A.M., as she was walking from her residence to her office. Riddled by bullets, she fell mortally wounded to the earth, surrounded by growing things. She fell close to the grove of kadamba saplings she had planted that rainy season, after the June tragedy in Punjab.

"Krishnaji sat through the day in my sitting room overlooking the garden; he had watched the trees and the birds, hardly speaking and eating little. At four in the afternoon he had felt Indira's presence and had commented on the need for silence within the mind to enable her to be at peace. I could see that he was deeply moved. Late the next night he was to say, "Don't hold memories of Indira in your mind, that holds her to the earth. Let her go." His hand made a gesture towards space and eternity."

From - Krishnamurti: A Biography, by Pupul Jayakar
Krishnamurti.org

Is Jimi Hendrix rolling over in his grave?

Orwell said something like this:
"Whoever controls the past, controls the future.
And whoever controls the present, controls the past." [1984]
So, I think I saw this yesterday.
Our 'friends' at CNN offered a brief video called "Jimi Hendrix Revisited."
I don't know why Jimi is all the rage lately.
I think it's because Hyperion Books is pushing the new Hendrix biography,
"Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix" by Charles R. Cross.
But anyways, there he is, shredding his guitar in a little window
and there's the lure to 'click here' and watch this little synopsis of his life.
So I do it.
I click the button.
And up he pops.
A little black screen to the left,
a description of the piece to the right:
"CNN's Miles O'Brien profiles the late Jimi Hendrix."
Now, what's that banner across the bottom say?
"With your guidance he found his path...Go Army.Com."
A young black man gazes contentedly to the left in his brand new fatigues.
An implied celebrity endorsement?
Looks like a possibility.
Within the piece, O'Brien first summarizes Jimi's career and early death,
then returns to Jimi's early years with:
"It was the Army that first helped Hendrix escape his impoverished background in Seattle."
He follows with Jimi's early R&B era saying:
"Later, after being discharged, he paid his dues as a back up guitarist touring with.....[on the the rest of the story].
Maybe I am making too much of this.
Probably am.
But still, these thoughts came to me and I want to write them down.
Jimi joined the Army to escape poverty.
But he was not too keen on serving the country that turned a blind eye TO that poverty.
He spent most of his time trying to figure out how to get out.
Eventually he implied that he was gay, so they got rid of him...early.
It seems Jim Morrison used a similar tactic and got similar results.
Jimi did NOT believe in war as a means of solving modern problems.
The implications that he did, is not a true represention of his beliefs.
"Machine Gun" was written in protest of the VietNam conflict.
Check out these lyrics:

"Machine Gun, yeah
Tearing my body all apart
Machine Gun, yeah
Tearing my body all apart
Evil man make me kill ya
Evil man make you
kill me
Evil man make me kill you
Even though we’re only families
apart..."

And his "Variations on the Star Spangled Banner"
demonstrated, as the late Al Aronowitz suggested,
that it was OK to love your country, yet hate your government.
So, there is the Jimi of history
and there is the Jimi of re-written history.
Or at least that potential is front and center,
to make Jimi appear to say what he never said,
to endorse something he never endorsed,
to be something he never was.
Did CNN and the U.S. Army intentionally place themselves around Jimi?
Are they implying "Join the Army and when you get out, you can play music and be a rock star just like Jimi?"
Are they suggesting that Jimi would approve?
Only THEY really know what their intentions were.
I am only stating what I saw and how it felt,
and maybe I'm out of line,
but I just wanted to set the record straight so Jimi can settle back down in his grave
and Rock-In-Peace!

Monday, August 22, 2005

Sunday, August 21, 2005

In the Beginning

Well, it isn't the beginning.
It's the middle of the second act.
And in we walk and down we sit and do we really know what's happening?
Of course not.
But we nudge the guy next to us.
What happened?
He give his synopsis.
And we try to work in what we're seeing with what he said.
Need more info?
Ask the others in the room.
Eventually, we'll all KNOW what's going on.
Those of us who just GOT here, that is.
The rest have the whole thing to work with.
Or DO they?
Anyways, welcome to the theatre.
We'll start out and see where we end up...eh???
Vim