2013

New Year enters 2013

 

Aye, and what is time
but the marking of a memory upon life's walk.
And what is a memory
but a time-stamped experience
a beat of creativity
that is the rhythm
of our eternal spirit's talk.

The dialects of our lovingness
paint the clouds
shape the snowflakes
mark the moments with a tenderness
of compassion and of caring

Aye, and what is this life's walk
if not a wondrous journey
blessed by sharing
And what is this 'now' moment,
this second standing before our eyes
if not another gift of enlightenment,
a glimpse wherein we realise....
we are all one.

That which we do or give to another
we do most surely likewise to ourself.
                                                                                   ©geoff groom

My beloved India..

Still hiding behind your so-called 'traditions' that are no more – and no less – than the chauvinistic behaviours of boy-men. Still hitting your children.Still treating your women like slaves and denying them basic human rights.

After all these years, even after the leadership of an amazing man,M.K.Gandhi, still you resist the inevitable recognition of the dignity and rights of women.

For Shame,India. For Shame.

You desecrate the beauty of your spirituality, the sanctity of your specialness. This horrendous crime is merely a reflection of attitudes and behaviour patterns.An extreme reflection, but a mirrored image nevertheless.

 

via Healing the Planet

 

one-ness in flight

The first meeting

With such moments are life's great treasures of friendship and caring revealed to the consciousness and the river of lovingness,which flows through all of us ,carries us to a paradise of caring and sharing

Adam's snake-003

there is a green hill……..

Words are too small to carry this pain…

"Is this the world we created?
We made it on our own
Is this the world we devastated
Right to the bone?
If there’s a God in the sky looking down
What can he think of what we’ve done
To the world that he created?   "                                   Freddie Mercury

I think,therefore I am not

The report, "Freedom of Thought 2012", said "there are laws that deny atheists' right to exist, curtail their freedom of belief and expression, revoke their right to citizenship, restrict their right to marry."

The IHEU - which links over 120 humanist, atheist and secular organizations in more than 40 countries - said it was issuing the report to mark the U.N.'s Human Rights Day on Monday.

According to its survey of some 60 countries, the seven where expression of atheist views or defection from the official religion can bring capital punishment are Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

The 70-page report lists no recent cases of actual execution for "atheism" -- but researchers say the offence is often subsumed into other charges.

In a range of other countries - such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait and Jordan - publication of atheist or humanist views on religion are totally banned or strictly limited under laws prohibiting "blasphemy".

In many of these countries, and others like Malaysia, citizens have to register as adherents of a small number officially-recognized religions -- which normally include no more than Christianity and Judaism as well as Islam.

Atheists and humanists are thereby forced to lie to obtain their official documents without which it is impossible to go to university, receive medical treatment, travel abroad or drive.

via

snake medicine

Joseph Campbell + Schopenhauer+oneness

Now you can be forgiven for thinking that this is just philosophy. But it actually happens all the time.

Check THIS OUT for a more recent instance

A rebel WITH a cause

Unconventional and apparently lacking in respect for 'the way things were', this is the man who

almost went personally bankrupt a number of times setting up Live Aid.

In the 3rd verse of this song he wrote:

"

play with the toys of war
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
That the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain cackles with the problems and the hows and whys
And he can see no reasons 'cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, die?

The worldwide concert raised $283 million in 1985, in economic worth terms just under £1 billion at today's value.

shhhh! It happens

remember……..

via

moments of reality

“I’ve seen a lot of hardcore people on a battlefield.

When the bullets start flying,

there are no atheists out there.”

Lt. William G. Haneke   (read his amazing story here)

 

love it, love it, love it

inner rays

Artist: Ruth Ward (Heavenly Stained Glass) created this window for a school in Milton Keynes

Ubuntu

the poverty of affluence

change is sometimes appallingly slow

Despite promises to reform their textbooks, the Saudi education system continues to indoctrinate children with hatred and incitement

via

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear.
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

(from the film South Pacific).

Celebrating differences, not condemning them

In remembering the tragic and horrific death of Matthew, that became a symbol

against hate crimes, we also think of the young people who are suicidal

and desperately unhappy because of their sexuality.

It's good to see that there are some Christians who are more concerned with compassion and

understanding than in hiding behind ritual,dogma and literature.

check Timothy out here

one-ness radiance

Get Well soon…..

via

Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited Malala in the hospital and delivered a simple message: "We refuse to bow before terror." He also noted that the Taliban lack respect for the "golden words" of the Prophet Mohammed -- "that the one who is not kind to children is not amongst us."

You are in our thoughts and in our hearts,Precious One..as are all Muslims who are repelled by this un-Islamic action.This is not the real message of Islam.

street wise

talking to ourself

ideological shortcomings

Icons - religious

A friend in Poland has been working with Icons for many years.

you can find her and her work HERE on Facebook

Emancipation Proclamation – Happy Birthday

Emancipation Proclamation 150 years ago

 

(worth noting:

"In the War of 1812, British raids along the Chesapeake Bay encouraged thousands of slaves to escape to freedom. For more than a decade after the war ended, the American government pursued compensation from the British, contending that the laws of war protected slave owners from enemy depredations.

The irony of a humanitarian law that protected slave owners rather than slaves was not lost on European critics."   John Fabian Witt professor at Yale Law School and the author of “Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History.” via   )

responsible adult

Mars discoveries

Character

9/11 Pieta

9/11

 

 

Remembered

with

sadness

eschatology…the last days

 

If you look back into the archives of this blog – which has now been blogging for 11 years (since certainly 6th September 2001) -  you will often find criticism of religious institutions. Understand please, these are not criticisms of faith in God (however or whoever you perceive him/her to be).

These are criticisms, observations of discernment,which seek only to cast light upon contradiction or hypocrisy and permit a light of truth to shine upon all that is hidden.

In the last decade we have witnessed the breakdown of the power of religious institutions of differing sects, denominations, creeds. This from within not as a result of some external force. Islam is involved in a civil war within itself, Judaism is stained by the behaviour of the State of Israel, Hinduism in practice continues the disgrace of the caste system decades after Gandhi wished it would die tomorrow if it did not discard the caste system. Christianity is tortured by contradictory doctrine and a deeply conflicted comprehension of what Christ actually said and did.

Yet, all of these share much that is good in common, reflecting what Jung called 'archetypes of the subconscious'. They also share much that is undesirable and downright disgustingly wicked.These institutions are, after all, in the 'spiritual business' and often have little regard for the instructions of the CEO.

Watch out for this documentary coming to your screens soon…but don't simply limit your understanding of it to the Vatican and the present Pope, please.You can find this atrocity in every religion to some degree or other, wherever men lose sight of faith and substitute habitual ritual.

clicking on the image will take you to the YouTube trailer for this documentary

the power of compassion

Sometimes, some folks get despondent about this world.Often pessimism can creep into our lives like a draught coming under the door. Well, If you sometimes doubt the innate goodness and lovingness that is the dominant factor in this world, check out this story. This will help restore your faith in humanity

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/automobile-community-come_n_1848266.html

spin doctor in training

via

just a beautiful song

 

Normally associated nowadays with Cat Stevens, Eleanor Farjoen actually wrote the words

Becoming

Dalai Lama – on compassion

in pursuit of the obvious

nota bene

expanding

I cannot explain it……but I feel a deep inner urge to send LOVE to everyone – and everything – in the world

Guess what? It's raining….again.

Going within

"It is the purpose of dogma, ritual and formalised 'worship' to create a 'socially approved' methodology of expressing belief.

In reality, true belief neither requires, nor desires, social approval – or any other kind of approval."

gkr

always remembered - 22711

C.M.Blow

 

Happy Birthday – and thanks for your presence

all is not as it seems

Sometimes being silent is a supremely strong statement.

It can often be that it is not the absence of action but the energised pre-cursor to manifested action

Priorities-001

the crumbling edifice

I prophecy this is the first of many,many such cases!

picture/article via Newser.com

Extract from the document "Crimens Sollicitationis" issued by the 'Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith', a department of which the present Pope was once the head.

"I do promise, vow and swear that I will maintain inviolate secrecy about each and every thing brought to my knowledge in the performance of my aforesaid function, excepting only what may happen to be lawfully published when this process is concluded and put into effect … and that I will never directly or indirectly, by gesture, word, writing or in any other way, and under any pretext, even that of a greater good or of a highly urgent and serious reason, do anything against this fidelity to secrecy, unless special permission or dispensation is expressly granted to me by the Supreme Pontiff."

So, perhaps it's better to be the 'fall guy' and go to prison…than to be excommunicated for telling the Police/civil authorities about crimes committed by the clergy! Oh, what a martyr to hypocrisy!

 

 

look inside first

multinational manoeuvres

Well, after already paying out in excess of $2.5 BILLION in America alone for legal fees, settlements and prevention programmes, one can understand a certain reticence.

It is worth reminding ourselves, however, that this is a self-inflicted wound to this institution and a wound made worse by it's own inability to self-medicate or to follow it's own rule-book!

 

full story here

questionable "Multinational" financial dealings

The Olympus scandal was precipitated on 14 October 2011 when British-born Michael Woodford was suddenly ousted as chief executive of international optical equipment manufacturer, Olympus Corporation. He had been company president for six months, and two weeks prior had been promoted to CEO, when he exposed "one of the biggest and longest-running loss-hiding arrangements in Japanese corporate history", according to the Wall Street Journal.^[4]

 

full story here

 

Spot the difference?