LESSONS OF WAR

We exist in a cocoon of armchair observation. Well many do and I am one of them. Life,country,religion has never required of me that I must go to war. I am of a blessed generation living in a blessed area of the world. Whatever I could say,therefore,about war, about my deep idealism towards pacifism and yet my logical awereness of the need for reality in these issues, pales into insignificance when confronted with a sober,intelligent and 'objective' essay. An essay that can find these things in the midst of war:

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the stubbornness of love
the fierceness of moral clarity
the quietness of courage
the indivisibility of integrity and the importance of

a single dissenting voice

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My words are simply opinions. The words of Roger Cohen are insightful and clearly deeply-caring observations that have an authority which commands respect.

You can read his full 'essay' here:

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/opinion/24cohen.html?hp

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Let us remember,as we read, the emotional and intellectual trauma that lingers like a cess-pit stench even in the heart and mind of a trained observer when confronted by the horrors of war - and not least the 'intellectual gymnastics' (that offend every moral fibre of our being) performed by many who wage war.

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When someone attempts to encourage us to hate - or be intolerant - it is well to remember where that journey ends......

For so often, so tragically often, it is the children that pay the highest price for our foolishness

This young boy (13) was executed in Srebrenica. He was of the 'wrong religion' in the 'wrong place' at the 'wrong time'........ but there can never be a justification for the wrong that was done to him.

Did the previous picture of children parading in terrorist style depress you?

Are you just going through a 'depressive patch' in your life at this time?

Got that,'why do I bother feeling?'.

Well,hey,just think about grass (no not the smoking kind). It's summer and we keep cutting it...what if the grass said 'Oh,heck,why do I bother?'

If this comment doesn't inspire you then go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbUcfL9BQhk&NR=1

and watch this

His name is George Sampson, he's just 14...he didn't give up the previous year and won the contest his second year. He's a nice guy...and you should Google him to learn something of his life. Not such an easy life,but that didn't stop him.

There's inspiration all around, often in the most unlikely forms, for those who are willing to simply see.

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Lovingness is our natural state.

Hate,prejudice,intolerance....these are things that result

from conditioning or from a questionable "well-intentioned"

and misguided teaching.

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The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the
utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer
and richer experience.

Eleanor Roosevelt

"Jimmy taught us all to let anger and hate go, look deep
in your heart and the love will flow".

Sometimes somebody says something that hits right into our hearts.
The power of these words is hugely magnified,however,when you
consider that the family of 16 year old Jimmy Mizen say these words
at Jimmy's funeral.Jimmy was murdered just 500 metres from his home
and was an exceptional light of lovingness in his short life.

The above words have a power beyond death.

You can see more about this here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7464972.stm
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There are those for whom LOVE is the expectation that another
will bring them happiness.For these LOVE is reduced to a need.

There are others for whom LOVE is the sharing of their own
happiness. For these LOVE has become an ectstasy.

gg

"Here, the past always buries the future, not the other way "

Thomas L Friedman, New York Times columnist
An article observing the unprogressive attitudes in Middle Easterncountries.

It's so easy to 'rest in our past' than accept the challenge and
excitement of every new day. It's a trap we can all fall into!

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The clarity of One-ness
Worship is a wonderful thing for many people. It is uplifting.
It is inspiring.
Generally speaking, the more we put into worship - the
sincerity with which we pray, the enthusiasm with
which we sing, the studied concentration with which we
listen - the more we receive from it.

That's a basic law of life - the more we put into it, the more
we receive from it.

But I cannot help thinking that worship can be a self-rewarding
scenario and has little to do with pleasing, honouring, a
perception of God. Or it can be a ritualistic rhythm of conformity
in religio-politico societies.

Would it not be more 'self rewarding' to do an action of
kindness or display an ernestness of compassion without
placing upon another the 'burden of gratitude'?

Would this not be a truly worthy offering to any
perception of Divinity?

In other words, worship can be a 'strength builder', a
means of focusing. Yet worship in and of itself is not
a substitute. For a moment of kindliness,compassion,
unconditional lovingness is a melody of worship of
the highest calibre.

"If you do it to the least of my brethren,you do it unto me"

Islam re-orientating?
Since this blog started 7 years ago,I have on many occasions
protested the distortion of spiritual insights by so called 'religious
leaders/scholars/preachers/Immams'. I have particulary and specifically
tried to show that 'fatwas' and 'jihads' are,generally, socio-political
tools derived from highly questionable 'interpretations' of ancient
texts/quotations. This campaign for 'religious accuracy' has nothing
to do with a specific religion (see also my blogs on,for example,
The Vatican's distortions). It has to do with TRUTH. Spiritual TRUTH.

Today, here, appears an interesting report documenting efforts within
Islam by moderates to reclaim the beauty of Islam and transform it
from the religion of terror and oppression which Jihadists and power
hungry Immams have created into it's original concepts of lovingness.

Here are some excerpts from the well-worth-reading article:

"Back in the mid-1990s, Osama bin Laden had a problem, and it was Islam. He
wanted to say the Qur'an gave his followers license to kill innocents—and
themselves—in the cause of "jihad." That was how he could justify his global
campaign of terror. But that's not what the Muslim holy book says,
and that's not the way it was interpreted by any of the great
scholars and preachers of the faith.(see this blog as recently
as 22 April on this subject)
Once sympathetic publics in the Middle East and South Asia are growing
disillusioned
Momentum is building within the Muslim world to re-examine what had
seemed immutable tenets of the faith, to challenge what had been taken
as literal truths and to open wide the doors of interpretation (ijtihad)
that some schools of Islam tried to close centuries ago".

Differing cultures,differing traditions,differing languages are all used by
the One God to disseminate spiritual truths that speak to the individual's heart
in a comprehensible manner. Conformity is not an option if you truly believe
in the awesome power of lovingness.Nor is any proclamation that does
not speak of love.

I wish all, who seek to speak with loving and compassionate hearts about a
perception of LOVE and healing as an active force in society,every success in
their endeavours to celebrate the differences that are the expressions of
uniqueness.

If one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him.

Mahatma Gandhi

(photo courtesy:http://www.themothersunion.org/worship.aspx)

Spring Flowers

slide show HERE

Today the country with the largest population in the world stopped for a 3 minute silence

in memory of all the

victims of the earthquake.

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"Our tears are the jewels with which we adorn the memories of those

we have loved and have lost.

Our heartache is the pulse of unfulfilled loving in this life's walk:

and one day

we will know the beauty of the tears

and the infinite joy of the heartache

for in that moment

we shall behold the indestructibility of Love.

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But for now,

let us weep together"

gg

In these moments the politics of a nation are irrelevant. Devastation

and bereavement on such a scale evoke compassion that transcends

all,all,barriers. Deepest condolences and heartfelt empathy to the

peoples of China who have been affected by this catastrophe.

A student aiding a classmate still in the ruins of a high school in Beichuan County.
Photo: Chen Xie/Xinhua, via Associated Press

if you haven't seen/heard this...you should,hehehehe. Go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJEacTZmd7I

THE ABOVE LINK HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED

so try this one instead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t-TC-PfDFY

(post updated 5th Nov 2008)

UN-prejudice
I am not sure that I understand all the intricacies of sex-change operation
needs.But then, I am only challenged to accept another person's character
and self-requirements.To be willing to accept the person as they are and as
they seek to be.

It seems as if humanity is really making some progress on the issues of
intolerance and prejudice.As evidence take a look at the truly wonderful
support these young people are giving to another young person:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354426,00.html

Ah, what we can achieve when we set the needs of others as a priority -
even above our own misconceptions, misunderstandings, or simply
lack of awareness.

The Reign of Confusion causes death

Last week, British teacher Daud Hassan Ali, 64, was shot dead in Somalia. His widow, Margaret Ali, said her husband was targeted by Islamists who "believe it is ok to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith".

" I was staggered to learn that the Quran does not say anything about punishing apostates and that its proponents use two hadiths instead to support their view. Hadiths are the recorded traditions and sayings of the Prophet which, in addition to the Quran, provide an additional source of Islamic law.
The hadiths which relate to apostasy are linguistically ambiguous and open to interpretation. Distinguished scholars told me that the hadiths actually speak about a death penalty for treason, not apostasy. And even then, they stressed the punishment is discretionary. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7355515.stm

Oh with what ease we take words and twist,distort or disorientate them to suit our own purposes.In case you misread, I show again:
The Quran does NOT SAY ANYTHING about punishing apostates
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SALES DRIVE?

In the face of falling revenues, membership, new-priest sign-ups, the VATPRC did what all sales organisations do - they organised a sales drive (otherwise called a Papal visit).

photo Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Newsweek

Speeches to the UN, at Yankee Stadium, to clerics about child Sex Abuse - all,of course, played to the tune of Vaticanus Harmonius Humilitatus.I,however, would be better able to contemplate the concept of 'sinners becoming saints'. or in this case cardinals becoming popes, if apologies were adequately made for ......Crimen Sollicationus (the present pope was in charge of thee department responsible for the issuance of this)

In the absence of adequate and suitable attention to this 'minor' (as in child) detail, the rest is simply a marketing road show (see duck rolling).

The church still has a very long way to go to catch up to the higher standard of morality currently shown by and in secular society. I doubt it can ever catch up

Duck-rolling,Rick-rolling, God-rolling


IT began with a duck. A while ago contributors to an anarchic internet message board called 4chan started fooling others by luring them to click on interesting-sounding links. The clickers thought they were going to get the latest video game news or pictures of hot babes or celebrity gossip; what they actually got was a picture of a duck on wheels. They had been “duck-rolled”.

Then an idle inspired prankster changed tack and replaced the duck with a video of Rick Astley singing his 1987 classic 'never going to give you up' creating the (so far) largest viral video on the net (You tube hits of 7m last month) - hence Rickrolling.

The whole principle of the prank is to take you somewhere you had not expected to go - whether this is a pleasant or unpleasant experience is entirely subjective.

This kind of reminded me of the track record of so many 'religions'. You 'click on God' and the network ends up taking you somewhere else entirely.

LOVE ROLLING, in the spiritual sense, is absolutely different. The whole purpose is to go where you had not expected to go, do what you had not self-wished to do, be what you had not thought yourself to be (thought being the operative word here).

UNCONDITIONAL LOVINGNESS is the biggest,best,most invigorating trip you'll ever take....when you 'clicked on the life url' you started the networking.

"That which we cannot change, we ignore" Gail Collins, New York Times columnist.

"When you meet a life circumstance that you feel you cannot change,
change your perception of it, change the way you view it. Then,the
'unchangeable life circumstance' has lost it's power over you, it's ability to
frustrate your spirit's pathway by clouding you with emotion.
A good way of achieving this perceptive mechanism is to seek out the
blessing in the life circumstance. Believe it,there always is one hiding
there somewhere. A blessing that reveals more of who you really are,
spiritually, than your consciousness had manifest to you". (gg.gallnas)

One cannot ignore 'earthquakes'. Events which shake the foundations of
one's existence/belief system/concepts.