A Word Portrait for 6.5 Billion...

The world's population is said to have surpassed the 6.5 billion mark today at 7:16pm EST [see article here]. Lest we get down on anyone, that's you and me that are part of that number. I heard that the planet has gotten crowded because everyone wants to be here for the big show. The transition. The end of time and life as we know it. Maybe so. If we all manage to hang on, there will be 7 billion of us by 2012. Will we get ourselves figured out by then. That remains to seen.

In honor of this great population milestone, I am posting this thoughtful poetic portrait of mankind, painted by one of my favorite writer-bloggers Gary J. Introne. Take the hand of your nearest fellow earthling and enjoy!

5. THAT SIMULACRUM OF LIVING I WITNESSED ANEW:

And just like that it was dark out and the cold winds were blowing and there was a white hoarfrost on everything and the entire scene was tinted by that white and the lame sun arose slowly like a too-heavy tomb of life encased in its own orb and the orange turned to yellow turned to white itself but a white too weak to prosper and the dead-seeming world lingered well past its prime as the depths of the day met the ice of the nights and soon enough everything was over and the entire length and breadth of creation had died and withered and rats scurried in early daylight seeking something anything new and the few birds left tried living as they’d done but found it hard and the shortness of days met the long lengths of night and the calendar itself - having drifted from joy - seemed staggered and sorry with its very own blight but along the reaches of the sour earth trailed mankind - tired and soiled and weary and done - and their souls as one all sought for the light and their souls as one tried reaching for that which they wanted (but had forgotten to ask for) and betrayed by emotions their tired heels wandered slowly amidst sorrow and danger and cold and deprivation and want - millions and hundreds of millions wandering between whatever seeking consort seeking comfort seeking all that once had made them glad but finding nothing instead but conflict and cant and the tiresome palaver of blemish and rant - FOR THESE ARE all mankind’s days and they are numbered and finished soon and as the death sinks into the earth so too do they themselves - like the shortness of days - wither and die before rebirthing again.

The Thanksgiving Story
blogged by
Gary J. Introne

Billion-Year-Old Carbon...

There is something Mother Earth does that I didn't notice until today. She catches soldiers when they die. It isn't a bad thing. It's just that she is there. And when his life begins to end and his body sinks down, it is she who gathers him up. As if to say:

"There, now. I will hold you. I will take your blood into my Self and love it well. Lay on me and take your rest. I am not going anywhere. I will stay here 'til they come for you. I will release you only reluctantly, but when the ceremony is finished, I will hold you again in my arms. To them you were a soldier. To them you were enemy and hero. To me, you are flesh of ash and blood of dust, water and carbon, and that is all. That is enough for me. Whatever you have done, whatever has been done to you, it matters not at all. You are my child."

We walk on her day after day, and eat of her fruits. She gives us breath and protection regardless of our ideologies. We don't always notice her. But she - to the very end - notices us...

Vim

And What of the Tyranny Within...

To be considered -- another timely thought by Krishnamurti...

. . . It is a most extraordinary thing that although most of us are opposed to political tyranny and dictatorship, we inwardly accept the authority, the tyranny, of another to twist our minds and our way of life.

-- J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known, p. 10

MORE WISDOM FROM KRISHNAMURTI

"Paedophile Panic: Alienation and Irrationality"

I have had this article on file for a couple of years. It points out less considered facets of the child porn issue and calls for a rational approach to dealing with offenders. It is always easier to point the finger, grab a rope, and hang people out to dry than it is to LOOK at what these issues are actually telling us about ourselves and the society we have created. I am posting quotes from this article for your consideration. As always, use your own discernment. There is more at the link provided at the end of the article. All sane and reasonable comments are more than welcome.
Vim

-------
“…Society’s irrational age-of-consent laws… are not aimed at protecting children from genuine sexual abuse, but rather at strengthening the power of adults, particularly parents, over children - thereby strengthening the flawed and often oppressive institution of the family…

“…The authoritarian, bourgeois agenda that stands behind the promoters - including of course Blair and his cronies - of the present hysteria about alleged child abusers is really directed at expunging remaining elements of youth rebellion from popular culture…

“…The reality is that child abuse, including sexual abuse, is fundamentally a phenomenon of a society where adults exercise untrammelled power over children, most often within the confines of the family, but also in some places that act as a substitute - the scandals of abuse in children’s homes are well known….

"...Indeed, what the internet is doing is bringing a painful social dysfunction out into the open, a dysfunction that has lain until now largely hidden by precisely the semi-mythical figure of the man in the dirty mac.

“…Blanket age-of-consent laws, that do not prevent actual abuse but rather criminalise consensual relationships that defy an authoritarian social norm.

"...No matter how much ruling class reactionaries howl with rage against ‘paedophiles’, this is a problem endemic to an oppressive, alienating society that deforms and stunts the lives, including the sex lives, of large numbers of people.

"...Alienated, stunted and regimented personal lives, along with perhaps previous experience of being abused, lead a certain number of people to seek easy gratification with children over whom they often have too much power.

"...Those who are unfortunate enough to be afflicted with a sexual orientation to children incapable of effective consent are suffering from a dysfunction. And of course that dysfunction has different levels of seriousness. Those whose sexuality leads them to compulsively and actively seek sex with children are no different in principle from any other kind of mentally ill person who is a danger to themselves and others: compulsory treatment in hospitals should be used when necessary.

"...It would be a damn sight more rational to treat people who merely view such material as milder sufferers from a psycho-sexual dysfunction - best treated, while respecting their confidentiality, with a view to rehabilitation - than to destroy their lives with prison, the ‘sex-offenders register’, naming and shaming, etc, in cases where no actual physical crime against another person is alleged.

“…As Rod Liddle courageously wrote in The Guardian, ‘No matter how vile we may consider the sexual predilections of paedophiles, we should not be in the business of putting people in prison for simply looking at things’ (January 14, 2003). Liddle concludes: ‘The law should be above the blind, howling, rage of Rebekah Wade’s moronic vigilantes. But there is the whiff of Salem about it all.’”

There certainly is.
Ian Donovan

Paedophile Panic: Alienation and Irrationality

For Mother Earth

Mother earth is safe
No one need rescue her
She is perfectly capable of her own release
From the fullness of who she is she moves, acts, sheds
From the integrity of her system, she purges herself
Fever, chills, sleep
Her body functioning perfectly in the circumstances that she finds herself.
Her lovers looking on
I am perfectly safe
I need no one to rescue me
I could save myself should the need arise
From the perfection of who I am I take my steps
I follow her lead
I shed what is no longer needed and cease useless functions
Sever and disconnect
I allow mother her down time
Resting and solitary
I accept my own discomfort
For her, anything
That which was upside down, rights itself
She can do no other
I right myself along with her
We don a new hat, a new role
Together, we become
I whisper my thanks to her and wish us both well

Krishnamurti on The Violence of Obedience...

I guess the quiet ones are not off the hook. There is something in passivity that may be as deadly as a more aggressive approach to life. I like this piece by Krishnamurti. Actually, I do NOT like it, because it is just one more bright light glaring upon one of my hidden places. Oh well, this is life... to see... to learn... to know oneself well. Read this and see what you think. And if it rings true, let me salute you in your attempts to understand and bring your life back into order. Wish ME luck, too. --Vim

Have you thought about violence? There is physical violence and there is the violence of obedience--are you obeying and therefore being violent? Do you understand what I mean? When I obey you and suppress what I think, that suppression will burst out one day. So there is physical violence and violence brought about through obedience, the violence of competitiveness, of conformity. When I conform to a pattern I am violent--you see the connection?

When I live a life of fragmentation--that is, when I think one thing and say another--that is fragmentation and that also breeds violence. I may be very quiet, gentle, do all the work I am asked to do, but I flare up: which indicates there has been suppression in me. So violence is not just physical violence, it is a very complex question. And if you have not thought about it, when you are faced with violence you will react most unintelligently.

Krishnamurti
Beginnings of Learning
p. 185

A Valentine Treat at the Gallery...

In honor of Saint Valentine's Day, I have another gift for you at the Gallery. Stop on over and check out the artwork of abstract artist, friend and fellow Gemini, Antonio Puri. May you find love under every rock that your curiosity turns over. It's THERE!!!
Vim

THE ARTWORK OF ANTONIO PURI
VIMALA's GALLERY BLOG

Me and my shadow...

Evil is only a shadow cast by a very bright light on the very real object that we are. It is verification of our own existence. It is evidence of our dimension and depth. Shaped by our substance. Nothing to be feared. It is proof of our own divinity. There is dark and light everywhere. And where in the physical world of experience has darkness ever taken down light? Even the tombs are only dark until they are re-opened. What star has burned out to the point that there is no more starlight? Who ever really dies?

photo by Gary J. Introne