"Sometimes it is only when something appears to be absent in our
reality that it is really present in our awareness".gg
(this blog,2001)
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wanderings in Wonderment - 01
Last Monday I drove for 250 kms. A beautiful early winter's sunny day.
I drove along pleasant roads with just light traffic in a far more luxurious
car than my childhood memories evoked. The journey was far from
uneventful as I travelled through the unending assault of magnificence
that is the nature of this,my adopted country, Sweden.
This journey began whilst the frost-fingerprints still lay upon the ground,
clothing everything in a mystical hue,hinting at the fine subtlety of nature's
intelligence.Most surely nature knows what she is doing and there is a
rationale of rest and rebirth that underscores all of her methodologies.
It was not long before I settled in to a kind of rhythm. It was like that
half-dreamy awareness that assumes dominance as you listen to some
great symphony or love song. A harmony enters into the consciousness.
The music of these meandering moments was a visual melody as,almost
at each swing in the road,new crescendoes of colour and form fraternised
with my feelings.
Half-toned frost shaded tree groups surrendered to large expanses of
sun-sparkled forests.Lush full autumnal green meadows capitulated to
white crested sunshielded slopes. From one forested area to the next
each forest seemed framed with it's own personality and within each
forest individual trees pronounced themselves with a vocabulary of
uniqueness that even as I travelled could not be ignored. Why was that
tree at that angle? Was that one Silver Birch flirting amongst that group
of Pine trees? The top two or so meters of that tree bent almost at right
angles to it's trunk?
Above me a clear blue sky to the west held that golden brilliance that is
the pivot around which all else functions.It's authority subdued by it's
lessened presence at this time of the year was nevertheless still evident
upon the small cotton-wool stranded clouds that dared to venture into
the western sky. Their timidity underscored by the grey-blue density of
the gathering storm in the eastern sky, creating a counterpoint, a descant
to the melody of the land.
The further I journeyed the more the rhythm and melody of nature rose
in volume within me. The feeling of not wanting this journey to end, of
somehow being adrift on a cloud myself, grew and grew within me.
I reached my destination quite a while before I reached the place to which
I was actually traveling. It was a recognition so powerful as to still remain
palpably present some 24 hours later.
We are surrounded,all the time, everywhere, with blessings of beauty
so enormous,so incalculable in their effect upon our inner self that it is
only whenwe have released the reality of their presence from our grasp
that we are overtaken by the sheer heavenliness of what we have experienced.
As our spirit sighs with the extravagance of all this individualised caress
of creativity we are simply left in wonderment.
Last Monday I drove for 250 kms. A beautiful early winter's sunny day.
I drove along pleasant roads with just light traffic in a far more luxurious
car than my childhood memories evoked. The journey was far from
uneventful as I travelled through the unending assault of magnificence
that is the nature of this,my adopted country, Sweden.
This journey began whilst the frost-fingerprints still lay upon the ground,
clothing everything in a mystical hue,hinting at the fine subtlety of nature's
intelligence.Most surely nature knows what she is doing and there is a
rationale of rest and rebirth that underscores all of her methodologies.
It was not long before I settled in to a kind of rhythm. It was like that
half-dreamy awareness that assumes dominance as you listen to some
great symphony or love song. A harmony enters into the consciousness.
The music of these meandering moments was a visual melody as,almost
at each swing in the road,new crescendoes of colour and form fraternised
with my feelings.
Half-toned frost shaded tree groups surrendered to large expanses of
sun-sparkled forests.Lush full autumnal green meadows capitulated to
white crested sunshielded slopes. From one forested area to the next
each forest seemed framed with it's own personality and within each
forest individual trees pronounced themselves with a vocabulary of
uniqueness that even as I travelled could not be ignored. Why was that
tree at that angle? Was that one Silver Birch flirting amongst that group
of Pine trees? The top two or so meters of that tree bent almost at right
angles to it's trunk?
Above me a clear blue sky to the west held that golden brilliance that is
the pivot around which all else functions.It's authority subdued by it's
lessened presence at this time of the year was nevertheless still evident
upon the small cotton-wool stranded clouds that dared to venture into
the western sky. Their timidity underscored by the grey-blue density of
the gathering storm in the eastern sky, creating a counterpoint, a descant
to the melody of the land.
The further I journeyed the more the rhythm and melody of nature rose
in volume within me. The feeling of not wanting this journey to end, of
somehow being adrift on a cloud myself, grew and grew within me.
I reached my destination quite a while before I reached the place to which
I was actually traveling. It was a recognition so powerful as to still remain
palpably present some 24 hours later.
We are surrounded,all the time, everywhere, with blessings of beauty
so enormous,so incalculable in their effect upon our inner self that it is
only whenwe have released the reality of their presence from our grasp
that we are overtaken by the sheer heavenliness of what we have experienced.
As our spirit sighs with the extravagance of all this individualised caress
of creativity we are simply left in wonderment.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
"a problem is a solution awaiting it's time of birth" gg
"It is time to change and our problems can facilitate our solutions"
Neil YoungOh, those teenagers and kids.....
For those of you who have an insatiable appetite for BAD NEWS and a
pessimistic outlook for the human race----read no further.
"If your image of a philanthropist is a stout, gray geezer, then meet Talia Leman, an eighth grader in Iowa who loves soccer and swimming, and whose favorite subject is science. I’m supporting her for president in 2044.
When Talia was 10 years old, she saw television clips of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and decided to help. She galvanized other kids and started a movement to trick-or-treat at Halloween for coins for hurricane victims.
The movement caught the public imagination, Talia made it on the “Today” show, and the campaign raised more than $10 million. With that success behind her, Talia organized a program called RandomKid to help other young social entrepreneurs organize and raise money.
At randomkid.org, young people can link up with others to participate in various philanthropic ventures. On the Web site, Talia has organized a campaign to build a school in rural Cambodia, backed by children in 48 states and 19 countries.
Likewise, she’s working with schools in seven states to provide clean water for rural African villages. She is a frequent guest speaker at other schools, although she acknowledges she’s just a bit intimidated when she visits a high school.
“I’m only in middle school, so I see high schoolers as the big kids,” she said. “When I go to high school to pass out Unicef boxes, I see them as the big, scary ones.”
At a dinner a few days ago in New York, Talia was honored by World of Children, an organization that encourages youth activism and calls its awards the “Nobel Prizes for children.” If kids like Talia can accomplish so much, without credit cards or driving licenses, just imagine what adults could achieve." (source:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/opinion/16kristof.html?hp
and if you want to watch a good film about youthful enthusiasm/innocence/determination in the face of life's trials.....
"Saint Ralph" with Adam Butcher is another superb film from Canada
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
The 'real' DaVinci Code type scandal
Nag Hamadi,1946 Those scrolls are found.
How many have found their way to the secret vaults of the Catholic Church?
How many of the Scrolls have been allowed to be studied by modern academics?
Does 'The Gospel of Thomas:the secret sayings of Jesus", and other such scrolls, really threaten the fundamentals of the church - or do such documents more adequately reflect the way in which Christianity has been manipulated from within?
Can the institutionalised Christian Church survive the open study of ALL the scrolls documents from Nag Hamadi or must these remain 'protected from public view?'
"Unless drastic measures are taken at once,the greatest and most valuable of all Hebrew and Aramaic manuscript discoveries
is likely to become the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century."
-- Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective (Fortress, 1981), p. 24.
All that which is hidden shall be revealed (St.Mark's Gospel)
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Superior religions......... ?
........................................see post below......................................
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Flickr Tags: Saudi Blasphemy laws
Be aware of religious "rights"
"They undermine the standards codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the keystone of the United Nations, by granting greater rights to religions than to individuals, including those who choose to hold no faith – or who would seek to convert.
Another stark irony hangs over the UN special session this week. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's worst abusers of religious freedom, a fact recognized by the Bush administration when it named it a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act in 2004. The king couldn't hold such a conference at home, where conservative clerics no doubt would purge the guest list of Jews from Israel, Baha'is, and Ahmadis."
"The Saudis' dubious interfaith agenda at the UN" is the name of the article which discusses repressive and inhumane religious laws...and the rest of the article is here
It should be read regardless of what religion - or none - you hold.
But control-freak rules have always been the domain of insecure "faiths",and especially those sects,
religio-politico orgs that seek to control a state, a country....or a world
Personally,I think that religions should earn the loving respect of the world community. This they can do by upholding modern standards of human rights and by so demonstrating their LOVE for humanity as to be a catalyst for lovingness.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Obama on his Faith - 1
"And so, the biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass. Those are the conversations I'm having internally. I'm measuring my actions against that inner voice that for me at least is audible, is active, it tells me where I think I'm on track and where I think I'm off track. ...
Looking for, ... It's interesting, the most powerful political moments for me come when I feel like my actions are aligned with a certain truth. I can feel it. When I'm talking to a group and I'm saying something truthful, I can feel a power that comes out of those statements that is different than when I'm just being glib or clever"
You can read part of this interview which originally appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times in 2004 here.
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Sunday, November 09, 2008
Christian contradiction
just in case there are some folks smugly smiling the 'I told you so'
thing over my last posting,I thought I would update with another event
from yesterday
you can read more HERE
Islam struggling to survive
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.
Comments have appeared previously in this blog concerning
the 'hijacking of Islam', and there is no doubt that the honour
and purity of Islam suffered a grievous wound on 11th September
2001.
The integrity of Islam,however,received a mortal blow at Beslan.
Throughout this blog,over these years, I have sought to demonstrate
the contradictions within faiths of all kinds and have especially sought
to counteract the amazingly distorted proclamations of many religions
that were based upon spurious and dubious interpretations of old
(and somewhat mystic) writings.
My main argument with Islam is the deafening silence of the Imams
and persons of high,even royal,influence within the Islamic world on
the subject of jihadist violence based,not on the Koran, but on extreme
interpretations of not always clearly translated hadiths. In the absence
of outrage at the murder of innocents, the imprisonment torture and
execution of even children..in the absence of that outrage,
silence becomes approval!
It appears that Islam is now beginning to understand it's loss of influence
in the lives of ordinary,decent,compassionate & peace loving Muslims
(which are,by far,the great majority of Islam and for whom I have love
and respect). In India,yesterday, 6000 muslim clerics issued a FATWA
against terrorism. Amongst it's words were:
"Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed,
murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form"......... the fatwa
written at the Darul Uloom Deoband, India's foremost Islamic seminary.
The Darul Uloom is one of the most revered Islamic centres in the world.
Here,at last, an authoritative and respected centre of Islamic knowledge,
has made a clearly unambigious (?) declaration...yet as with so many of
these 'fatwas' there is always an inherent stumbling block (as there also is
in many so-called Christian pronouncements). In this fatwa it is found
in the word 'unjust'
Why is it always so hard to simply say 'The One God is a God of
unconditional lovingness and violence against each other is a
denial of that lovingness,ergo,is not from God" ?
Is this too much to expect from any "religious expression" ?
.
Comments have appeared previously in this blog concerning
the 'hijacking of Islam', and there is no doubt that the honour
and purity of Islam suffered a grievous wound on 11th September
2001.
The integrity of Islam,however,received a mortal blow at Beslan.
Throughout this blog,over these years, I have sought to demonstrate
the contradictions within faiths of all kinds and have especially sought
to counteract the amazingly distorted proclamations of many religions
that were based upon spurious and dubious interpretations of old
(and somewhat mystic) writings.
My main argument with Islam is the deafening silence of the Imams
and persons of high,even royal,influence within the Islamic world on
the subject of jihadist violence based,not on the Koran, but on extreme
interpretations of not always clearly translated hadiths. In the absence
of outrage at the murder of innocents, the imprisonment torture and
execution of even children..in the absence of that outrage,
silence becomes approval!
It appears that Islam is now beginning to understand it's loss of influence
in the lives of ordinary,decent,compassionate & peace loving Muslims
(which are,by far,the great majority of Islam and for whom I have love
and respect). In India,yesterday, 6000 muslim clerics issued a FATWA
against terrorism. Amongst it's words were:
"Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed,
murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form"......... the fatwa
written at the Darul Uloom Deoband, India's foremost Islamic seminary.
The Darul Uloom is one of the most revered Islamic centres in the world.
Here,at last, an authoritative and respected centre of Islamic knowledge,
has made a clearly unambigious (?) declaration...yet as with so many of
these 'fatwas' there is always an inherent stumbling block (as there also is
in many so-called Christian pronouncements). In this fatwa it is found
in the word 'unjust'
Why is it always so hard to simply say 'The One God is a God of
unconditional lovingness and violence against each other is a
denial of that lovingness,ergo,is not from God" ?
Is this too much to expect from any "religious expression" ?
Saturday, November 08, 2008
In God's name........?
Researchers at Oxford University have compiled a list of the
top 10 most irritating phrases.
These are,apparently,as follows:
The top ten most irritating phrases:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science
(this list as published in the Daily Telegraph ).
Personally, the one that irritates me the most is that one
which implies that one person or another (usually clerics
of whatever faith,but occasionally politicians) has some
'special relationship', elitist position, unique insight, into
God's will for humanity.I find it irritating because,more often
than not, their claim is refuted by their actions!
If it isn't loving,forgiving,compassionate,enduring,......it almost
certainly derives it's origin from a human source that is somewhat
disconnected from it's divine linkage.
'
'
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Come fly with me...............
The other day I got an e-mail message saying simply this: Rosa Parks sat in 1955. Martin Luther King walked in 1963. Barack Obama ran in 2008. That our children might fly.
from an article by one of my favourites,Roger Cohen,NYT.Wednesday, November 05, 2008
President Elect Barack Obama
HuffingtonPost.com had a fantastic election page also with various 'election data widgets' from other sources,like MSNBC,DailyKos,
Google,CNN,etc. So I was 'stuck' at HuffingtonPost.com for all my data. Here's their headline,up at 04-05 am Swedish time
Sunday, November 02, 2008
One of US.......USA and world
for more of these pictures (from AP and Ghetty) of Obama in the rain
go to HuffingtonPost
I guess it's not hard to see who I support.
.Wednesday, August 13, 2008
An important 'insider' perspective
Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. He was born the son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family.
Now, at 30 years old, he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and is seeking asylum in the United States
You can read the full interview/story here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html
It is a very interesting article
.
.
Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. He was born the son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family.
Now, at 30 years old, he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and is seeking asylum in the United States
You can read the full interview/story here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html
It is a very interesting article
.
.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Indivisibility of Integrity
In the article mentioned in the previous blog entry,Roger Cohen used a very
interesting phrase 'the indivisibility of integrity'
Indivisibility: incapable of being divided,split,seperated
integrity: "One can describe a person as having integrity to the extent that everything that that person does derives from the same core set of values. While those values may change, their consistency with each other and with the person's actions determine the person's degree of integrity.
Some commentators stress the idea of integrity as personal honesty: acting according to one's beliefs and values at all times" Wikipedia
Thus it was well said that 'by their fruits ye shall know them",in other words a person's actions manifest their core values, their personal beliefs,their honesty, their respect for others.
Here is a fool-proof system for assessing the validity of another's words, be it a priest,politician,guru,imman, - indeed anyone.
It is in our actions and inter-actions that we define our own self-belief, our own self-standard. Therefore it was also said "to thine own self be true". Compromise your standards of self and you cease to be yourself but become shaped and formed by the desires and/or standards of others.
We have only ONE responsibility in life. To be the best 'self' that we can be as defined by our OWN standards.
When we allow our spirit to speak to our consciousness - and this voice is heard above all other voices - we bear only the fruits of lovingness
.
.
In the article mentioned in the previous blog entry,Roger Cohen used a very
interesting phrase 'the indivisibility of integrity'
Indivisibility: incapable of being divided,split,seperated
integrity: "One can describe a person as having integrity to the extent that everything that that person does derives from the same core set of values. While those values may change, their consistency with each other and with the person's actions determine the person's degree of integrity.
Some commentators stress the idea of integrity as personal honesty: acting according to one's beliefs and values at all times" Wikipedia
Thus it was well said that 'by their fruits ye shall know them",in other words a person's actions manifest their core values, their personal beliefs,their honesty, their respect for others.
Here is a fool-proof system for assessing the validity of another's words, be it a priest,politician,guru,imman, - indeed anyone.
It is in our actions and inter-actions that we define our own self-belief, our own self-standard. Therefore it was also said "to thine own self be true". Compromise your standards of self and you cease to be yourself but become shaped and formed by the desires and/or standards of others.
We have only ONE responsibility in life. To be the best 'self' that we can be as defined by our OWN standards.
When we allow our spirit to speak to our consciousness - and this voice is heard above all other voices - we bear only the fruits of lovingness
.
.
Friday, July 25, 2008
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:
.
the stubbornness of love
the fierceness of moral clarity
the quietness of courage
the indivisibility of integrity and the importance of
the fierceness of moral clarity
the quietness of courage
the indivisibility of integrity and the importance of
a single dissenting voice
.
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:
.
.
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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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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.
Monday, July 14, 2008
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:
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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