Helping IS what we do best!

There are times in our lives when – even against our better judgement – we simply cannot resist helping others.

"The injuries we saw were too grave for the few bottles of antiseptic, gauze and waterproof tape we had: skulls shattered, bones and tendons protruding from skin, chunks of bodies missing. Some will die in the coming days, but for the most part they are the lucky ones"

(via)

Let us save the sermonising, politicking, judgementalism for later…..

For NOW, let us help in whatever way we can with a thought of gratitude in our heart that this did not happen to us and our families and friends.

gg

Now is the time…………

"Words are the tools with which we demonstrate our interest.

Actions are the tools with which we demonstrate our LOVE"

gg.

There is no better time than now to show we care enough to be more than we normally are, yet always have the potential to be.

.

Memory Lane

.

They said to me

. 
"GET A LIFE"
.

so I got one.
But it was faulty
so I took it back!
I was told
'The only thing that is faulty
is your perception....
Be who you are
not who everyone else wants you to be".

.

.
A rose is a rose, an oak tree an oak tree,
all have their unique place.
So do you
existence is incomplete
without YOU
being the special you that you are.

.

.originally posted here on 8th September 2001………what goes around, comes around…hehehehe

let your little light shine

gg

In Tsunami’s Wake, an Unexpected Second Chance

You can read the full article HERE

.

"In Thantirayankuppam, a man named K. Manipalan told me he had wondered right after the tsunami if the village would recover. Now, he said, he had concluded that in a strange way the tsunami was a good thing.

.

.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the disaster, he said, villagers would stand on the East Coast Road and light candles. The candles were as much to give thanks to the world as to remember the dead."

.

Happy New Year

Tick.Tock sounds the clock.

Clang.Cling does the bell ring.

With such symbols we mark our journey

Through this walk of relativity

We have named living.

.

Yet deep within us sounds the rhythm

Of a profounder pattern called infinity:

For in each life has been shown

The formula of lovingness

By which we have grown

Into a self-fulfilling awareness.

.

Behold the first time love

Embraced our walk

Toned our talk,

Honed our all too clumsy actions

Into an eternity-filled fraction

Of compassioned caring

And suddenly we awoke to sharing.

.

Behold that time when love

Encompassed our humanity

And the urges of the body

Surged into moments of ethereal ecstasy.

And where was time then?

Did the tick,the tock

The bell-ringing of the clock

Restrict the outward blossoming of our love.

.

Ah yes, the hours we mark

And in our secret silences

Know the truth of time’s remark

That all are special experiences

All are symbiotic melodies

That conspire to create a symphony

Of the lovingness that we are…

And always have been…

And always will be

.

So,come New Year

You hold no tears

For those whose love will shine.

So,come New Year

For you are but another sphere

In which we happily recline.

So,come New Year

And we with joyful hearts

Welcome all these special moments

When we may be truly who we are.

copyright Geoff Groom 2001

Fire in the hold - 5

Reinhold Niebuhr declared: “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”

.

.

Hallelujah! We've seen the light……..

Today is a wonderful day. A day for all thinking,believing people to celebrate. Today the following happened:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Pope has said he is "deeply disturbed and distressed" by the sexual abuse of children by priests in Ireland.

The Vatican said the Pontiff shared the shame felt by so many in Ireland

He said he shared the betrayal and shame felt by Irish Catholics after meeting senior bishops in Rome.

He now plans to write a letter to the Catholics of Ireland.

In a statement issued by the Vatican, Pope Benedict said he discussed the harrowing detail and cover-up of allegations against priests in the Dublin Archdiocese as detailed in the inquiry report with Cardinal Sean Brady and Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

"The Holy Father was deeply disturbed and distressed by its contents," it said.

via

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Which appears, at least appears, to indicate a total change of heart and purpose on behalf of the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger.

Readers of this blog will remember that many times we have referred to the document

Crimen sollicitationis

issued by this Prefect on 24th January 2001, in which persons reporting child abuse to civil authorities faced ex-communication.

Regrettably, this present PR exercise is not exactly a meaningful 'mea culpe'. I do not read how Cardinal Ratzinger himself accepts the responsibility he has – if only by the document named above – in the 'cover-up' that is by far the worst aspect of the Church's role in all of this.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe 'the light has shone'. But I am mindful that doctrine states a relationship between forgiveness and repentance……

gg

Nobel Peace Prize speech: December 2009

"So let us reach for the world that ought to be - that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. Somewhere today, in the here and now, a soldier sees he's outgunned but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams.

Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that - for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth".

President Barack Obama: Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, 10 December 2009

Background noise…….

The problem with so many who claim to speak for God is simply that.

It has been my life experience that those who 'talk with God' in actual fact spend most of the time….listening.

gg

Charter for Compassion

You can sign the charter HERE  if you wish

fire in the hold…..flame 2

via

belief is in the eye of the beholder…

It would be nice to believe that the 'terrorist jihad movement' was, at last, starting to be rejected by the innumerable 'leaders' within Islam on moral or religious grounds.

Take, for example, the following:

"three of Saudi Arabia’s most influential radical clerics — Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, Ali al-Khudair and Ahmed al-Khalidi (once described by Osama bin Laden as “our most prominent supporter”) — have disowned Mr. bin Laden. Another, Salman al-Awda, has excoriated him, asking, “How many innocents have you killed?”

Abu Basir al-Tartusi, an influential Jordan-born cleric living in London, now uses the Islamic concept of “covenant” between Muslims and their hosts to condemn jihadist bombings in Britain. In Qatar, the high-profile televangelist Yusuf al-Qaradhawi has advanced a “jurisprudence of jihad” that forbids the killing of most civilians. And from his prison cell in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif — the founder of the Egyptian insurgent group that produced Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri — has declared that the jihad against the West must be abandoned."

from HERE

This seems to be enlightened progress. It seems to be a more thorough understanding of the original words of the Koran.

It would be nice to believe that.

However, what is far more believable is that the revulsion felt by the overwhelming mass of moderate, temperate, loving and compassionate muslims throughout the world is beginning to have an effect upon the extremists.

Furthermore, the jihadist, one caliphate, insurgence within the muslim world has done more harm to Islam by simply illuminating the lack of a basic, unmodified, unadulterated ' doctrinal code of Islam' .  It's one of those 'where you stand dictates what you see' relativity issues. In one islamic country, this way: in another, that way.

Islam is not a unified faith and the schisms of moral revulsion rising to expression within the mass of decent law-abiding muslims, these schisms

are becoming tradition shattering tsunamis of tolerance.

We learn slowly…..

If we can only love those we agree with we are emotionally and intellectually dyslexic in our understanding of what love means

gg.

.

Matthew Shepard  and James Byrd Jr paid an appalling price to help our hearts read the meaning correctly…

.

self-appraisal

"Ninety-four percent of college professors believe they are above average teachers, and 90 percent of drivers believe they are above average behind the wheel. Researchers Paul J.H. Schoemaker and J. Edward Russo gave computer executives quizzes on their industry. Afterward, the executives estimated that they had gotten 5 percent of the answers wrong. In fact, they had gotten 80 percent of the answers wrong"  David Brooks, NYT

It seems that the old saying  "to thine own self be true" has undergone a hyper-transformation.

Maybe it's good to simply ask oneself, occasionally, 'what if everything I believed was wrong and the opposite was true".

Often it is only when we meet the opposite of something that we can really define the something…

.

.

Mehdi Karroubi – "fire in the hold"

Readers of this blog will often note my lack of conciliation on the subject of politicised religion. I have a fundamentalist, simplistic view about this: when politics and religion mix, the innocent suffer and the 'religious org' clearly distances itself from concepts of higher morality, ethics and, yes, even it's own oft stated dogmas about the nature of God.

I have often bemoaned the absence of the 'voice of moderation and tolerance' in the Islamic world in the face of fundamentalist jihadist atrocities, often dismayed by the hijacking of a 'noble religion' by a fringe of power-hungry individuals.

It is, therefore, with great respect and admiration that I read today of the continued principled stand of the 72 year old mid-level Iranian cleric, Mehdi Karroubi.

When threatened with an 'inquisition style' inquiry he stated “It will be a good opportunity for me to talk again about crimes that would make the shah look good,”

More recently he stated “If only I were not alive and had not seen the day that in the Islamic republic, a citizen would come to me and complain that every variety of appalling and unnatural act would be done in unknown buildings and by less-known people: stripping people and making them face each other and subjecting them to vile insults and urinating in their faces,” he wrote in his letter to the nation. “I said to myself, ‘Where indeed have we arrived 30 years after the revolution?’ ”

( above quote VIA).

.

I am not Muslim, but that does not stop me recognising the courage and determination of a man for whom his faith means more than his life.

.

I am reminded that it was Gandhi who said "even if you are the minority of one – the truth is still the truth"

The measure of the truth of Islam in Iran shall be seen in the manner in which this 'Islamic Revolution' handles the accusations of improper behaviour , human rights abuses, rape, sodomy, murder ,levelled against it by one of it's formerly highly respected own…

.

. Technorati Tags: Mehdi,Karroubi,Iranian,cleric,inquisition,Islamic,Muslim,Gandhi

Windows Live Tags: Mehdi,Karroubi,Iranian,cleric,inquisition,Islamic,Muslim,Gandhi

Blogger Labels: Mehdi,Karroubi,Iranian,cleric,inquisition,Islamic,Muslim,Gandhi .

.

.

are you 14 years old?

Well check out what happened to 8 other 14 year olds on this day less than 100 years ago. Not so long ago in human history we did not have the choices, freedoms and economic security that most of us can now enjoy, at least in Europe.

In memory of Senghenydd

.

.

consciousness demoted

"The work demonstrates that we are awash in social signals, and any social science that treats individuals as discrete decision-making creatures is nonsense. But it also suggests that even though most of our reactions are fast and automatic, we still have free will and control.

.

.

Many of the studies presented here concerned the way we divide people by in-group and out-group categories in as little as 170 milliseconds. The anterior cingulate cortices in American and Chinese brains activate when people see members of their own group endure pain, but they do so at much lower levels when they see members of another group enduring it. These effects may form the basis of prejudice.

.

In other words, consciousness is too slow to see what happens inside, but it is possible to change the lenses through which we unconsciously construe the world"

Extracts from an article by David Brooks, NYT, about 'social cognitive neuroscience'. See the rest HERE

Peace is….

Peace is, first and foremost, an attitude of mind and emotion. In order for peace to be translated into a physical reality there has to be a willingness to recognise the formula of understanding of the needs of each other.

When we are willing to adopt an attitude of mind and emotion that celebrates the uniqueness of each individual, then we have the tools to progress to a physical enabling of peace.

gg.

This blog writer congratulates President Barack Obama on the award of the Nobel Peace prize.

It is a long time since an American President has 'set the world' on a pathway of hope in the possibility of truly peaceful co-existence and shared responsibility for that co-existence.

Not all 'actions of peaceful intent' produce immediate result. However, this writer feels that Obama's contribution and leadership in shaping attitudes and emotions that are conducive to future peace certainly warrants this Peace award.

The voices of reason

 

When He - Albert Einstein  (often regarded as the father of modern physics and an acknowledged massive contributor to the understanding of modern science and the universe in which we exist)   said this…..

"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth

about this man – who was born 140 years ago today -

Then I take notice – and find out more about Mahatma Gandhi

(Time magazine named Gandhi the Man of the Year in 1930. He was also the runner-up to Albert Einstein as “Person of the Century” in 1999)…

.

.

Technorati Tags: Einstein,science,universe,Mahatma,Gandhi,Time Magazine,runner,Person of the century

Windows Live Tags: Einstein,science,universe,Mahatma,Gandhi,Time Magazine,runner,Person of the century

Blogger Labels: Einstein,science,universe,Mahatma,Gandhi,Time Magazine,runner,Person of the century