shining some sunlight

Taking in the companionship of the natural
I am made so happily aware
of all that I have to share



It's the sweet little gestures
the warm caring touch
the joyous glint of welcome
that say: you are safe and loved;
open and be fulfilled



Liberalism is a political philosophy that raises the rights of the individual above the government. Unfortunately, not only is liberalism misconstrued in today's politics, so is conservatism. Today's "Conservatives" are not about free markets, allowing people to enjoy each their own little economic fiefdom or supporting freedom.
They are about protecting big business at the expense (financial and in a great many other ways) of the individual.



I recently watched Bill Moyers' Journal's reporting about the issue of torture against "enemy noncombatants." A story was brought up about psychiatrists planning interrogation procedures, to some extent based on experiments with dogs who were given electric shocks on an intermittent (not related to cause/effect) basis. Eventually the dogs were so dispirited that they cowered and would not leave open cages. It seemed to me that is what depression is. People shocked intermittently by life without means to intervene or mitigate these shocks may well eventually give up, cower, no longer have the spiritual endurance to move forward.



I have seen studies suggesting that impairment from mj for drivers is far less dangerous than that with alcohol. Usually people on mj are going more slowly rather than more quickly, and concentrate more, rather than the more careless loosing of inhibitions of alcohol.

As to being able to test if someone is driving impaired, well are they driving in a dangerous or erratic manner, for any reason? I have seen all kinds of studies indicating that the most dangerous condition is not being drugged, but lack of sleep, which is ubiquitous in our culture.



We can not be absolutely positive in the existence of anything, at least not in the way that we define and relate to its existence, including ourselves. There is way too much clutter, static, confusion, in the general human structure of belief and "knowledge" to claim truth in this regard.

As to the existence of "god": My take is that there is everything, there is what is called "universe" or even "multiverse" -- all that is, which is both eternal (outside of time) and infinite, ever in flux, ever manifesting in a variety of dimensional possibilities, in a diversity of forms. Some of these "forms" exist on a "spiritual" plane, others on "material" planes, yet fluidly between dimensions. Some of us who have manifested in human form on the planet we call Earth have interactions with spiritual beings. Often we gather around some spiritual being(s) in a community of worship. But this is about our limited human interpretations.



Disengage from the guilt of others. It is not yours/ours but theirs. I take responsibility for my own actions, the ones I can have some sort of control over. No possibility of control = no responsibility = no guilt. So, no, don't deny the bad things that others do. Take responsibility for what you can do, like speaking out against them. From much of what I read and experience, a true counterbalance to the powerlessness of depression is taking back your own power, doing what is meaningful to you.



I have been involved in a discussion of a lack of outrage in the populace over current socio-economic-political situations due to a large number of people being "numbed" by antidepressants. I wonder if there is some pharma-governmental if not conspiracy at least understanding of mutual benefits in keeping potential troublemakers numbed out on drugs, starting at the earliest possible age. You get the street kids who don't have so much access to medical insurance and such thrown into jail for being involved with street drugs. Those who are seen as more potentially productive get chemically emotionally castrated. OK, it's a sci-fi conspiracy nut scenario, but that doesn't mean there isn't some truth to it.



Money is just a concept. Those pieces of paper and metal are mere metaphors for work done, products distributed, services served. It is neither evil, a root, nor a necessity.



The civil suit is meant to be our best protection against harmful activities or negligence. Unfortunately, it has been made more of a joke or a scam by so many bad actors that no one gets righteously concerned when penalties and conditions lower the protective value.




In my long and varied life experience, I find heterosexuality to far outweigh homosexuality as hurtful to society, and individuals.




Educators, noneducators, parents, friends, neighbors, we all have a role in the education of our upcoming generation. I have been thinking a nationwide mentor program would be beneficial.



In the fullness of eternity
may happiness speak
to your soul of souls
in its own language



Oh grow up, anti-gay Christians. Christ was as gay as they come. Why do you think he hung out with all those men he had abandon their families,wandering about, sleeping rough, talking about loving neighbors?



Sweet and strong. I feel this song playing with my inner windblown airstream, gentling into a misty breeze.



The compromise is not between freedom and equality, but freedom and rule of law. Obviously we are not equal. We each have our own set of talents and foibles, different world views, different manners of expression. We can, though, be equal under the law. Laws that we are all expected to honor are best crafted to give fair and equal treatment to all. Yet, laws curtail freedom. But laws also protect freedoms from mob rule. So the compromise needs to be carefully crafted to limit freedom as little as possible while promoting legal procedures to work out disagreements and limit violence. All of these ideas are important to the crafting of a workable, honorable, humane and reasonable society.



Olive Oyl, how she did toil
to get her man,
or at least his foil
In cartoon land
where a silly plan
is better than
the rules of Hoyle.



Politics is not something reserved to running for elected office. It is the fundamental jockeying for power evident in any group.



You think you have love to give to someone? Exactly what is that love you have a want to give? Give it to yourself.



There is no need to limit the freedom of the businessman to make profit. Laws, of course, must be in place to assure the profit is not based on dangerous practices that do direct harm. Financial considerations are a separate matter. There is no reason that capitalism be the only tier of an economy. We could well (and to some extent do) have parallel systems whereby everyone gets a fair share of the society's wealth in terms of basic goods and services, while more specialty or consumer items could be provided by the capitalist business model. Or, some other arrangement.



Scientists are not gods, nor infallible authorities. Scientists do not create truth, or even discover it. They merely make suppositions, observations, experiments, hypotheses. The bits of reality, how things work, what exists, discovered by science is often found to be incomplete or even untrue by further investigation. It is a process, but too often casually interpreted as set definitions, real reality.


I don't think that it is a surprising commonality between metaphysics and science, but more that science is getting advanced enough to start to understand the truths that have been presented by metaphysical research.

Science is just a way; not the way. I have been involved in metaphysical study for a great many years, and recently am starting to see new ways of understanding and experiencing experiences. Well, not new, but new to me. Having gained these insights through hard and treacherous journeys, I find I want to tell whoever will listen and add to their insights as well. It is wonderful that you people are responding here so intently and wisely. I know I still have a lot to learn.



We can never demand freedom too much. There is a balancing act involved, indeed. However, far too often people unthinkingly deny the value of freedom in pursuit of other (social, economic which is also social, security which is foolish in that freedom allows for better security than nonfreedom, etc.) goals. Of course we can not have limitless freedom. This material world is all about limits. Freedom in this regard is not a physical, but a political issue. Politics is the art/science of power. Freedom is our ability to live as we believe is best for individual us in spite of the power others want to use to take over our lives.



Yes, the weird and dangerous gay agenda: to peacefully enjoy lives with love and family. Obviously this can't be allowed as it would undermine the chaotic destruction of humankind so ardently worked for by those whose goal is to bring on Judgment Day and Rapture because their mean, horrible lives are too unbearable.




America Take Hope, and Stop Praying to the Media God. What should I care what the media wants me to believe? I use the media for what information and entertainment I find, and let it go at that. If the rest of us would just take their rantings for what they are -- attempts to raise ratings -- and not some kind of Truth, we would all be much saner.



I see everyday wonderful creative market, research and other solutions to the energy problems -- or rather the problem of oil addiction. We all know that any new drilling opportunities provided by the President's will being done would not produce results for some time, and then would not produce enough to significantly lower the price. Not only that, but by the time this oil would be available, we most likely won't be in this mess because we will have found that trademark American ingenuity has already come to the rescue (or, perhaps worldwide ingenuity).



There are plenty of mean-spirited and even adolescent in behavior older folks, plenty of mature and kind young ones.



When you know your best
are your best
live your best
cuddle up in the warm arms
that best support you
stand gracefully on the strong legs
that take you where you best would be
listen intently with the best of wisdom
moving through into your heart
see the best of everything
yours for the desire
You have bested those of greedy
souls, insecure mouths, mindless
enthusiasms, caught up in glamour
You have no need of admiration nor
validation
You are you as best you might be



It's all a big game, a joke, isn't it. People say they want to know where candidates stand on the issues. We still keep hearing that old refrain from the talking points mill about Obama making pretty speeches but saying nothing substantive. Yet, he always gets as much substance in his speeches as the polity will allow, which isn't really much. John McCain's crew, the Republican machine, has it pretty well down. People don't really think that much about issues, even those that directly affect them. People like the gossip, the small talk, often vicious, to put those in the public eye in their private place. People like to agree with their friends and show proud disdain to those outside their circle. People like to make clever quips or spread soundbites as sound doctrine to show off. People very often vote a party line, or to be in line with their social set. Remember Bush's popularity as the guy we'd rather have a beer with? If we the people don't take our government seriously, why should the candidates?



Closing, closing, closing
winding in among memories and dreams
hiding saintly still
caught in reverberation
ever more densely
molecules bending in, condensing
whole, strong, hard,
fit to stand,
unfit to move



The fallacy of aggressive action is that there is something to be won which outweighs the losses, labeling an enemy to make the murder alright, destroying what we intend to save, squandering treasure and goodwill because we don't know how to effectively communicate and make good bargains




I do not agree with presidential candidate Obama's every policy or strategy. There are many issues on which I have very strong disagreements with his stated opinions. What I do admire and appreciate is his attitude of serious thoughtful consideration with eyes on the big picture. Some hopehead rhetoric is not what he is offering, but serious reasoning and respect to bring hope to we who listen.

Obama seems to me a true gentleman, a man of character. He has the qualities I want to see in a world leader. In many elections I have voted out of protest. I am glad to be voting out of conviction.



Today's "Conservatives" are not about free markets, allowing people to
enjoy each their own little economic fiefdom or supporting freedom.
They are about protecting big business at the expense (financial and in
a great many other ways) of the individual.



I recently heard, yet again, a successful writer interviewed explaining that if you have to write, you will. It is true. Probably for any expressive art, the impulse becomes an overwhelming obsession of that story that has to be told. There are a vast variety of ways to be creative. Some have no discernable product beyond the moment, creative play or creative interaction or creative understanding. It happens all the time without comment, possibly without notice.

Writing can be like magick. I put myself in the ritual space, summon my intent, move deeply into the collective stream, and scratch out arcane symbols. Writing is moving the images from behind my eyes onto a visible surface. Writing is working out zig-zaggy thoughts and emotions into a more coherent flow of imagined conversation. Writing is my conversation with those I show that written message.



Trapped inside random generations
Caught up unwieldy, wheeling round and round
soundwaves, waves of perdition, waves
swirling through sand blinding
no true visions allowed inside
tied up in bitter thornbriar
no way to emote, erupt, erase
make reference to exquisite taste
or degrading pain
as hurried harried humanity
rushes by




So very many ills are caused or exacerbated by unnecessary stress. I have found meditative dance to be an excellent mood stabilizer, stress buster, negative energy release, positive energy generator.



I love artistic minds and the art they engender. I love liminal experiences, way out possibilities, the movies in my mind and probably the movies in your mind.



Governmental machinations have become far too complex allowing all kinds of irrelevancies, hidden profiteering, useless bickering resulting in maladroit legislation, nonadherence to basic rules and precepts, quite a mess. We have become too needy of big government, dependent on leadership that does not lead, empty democratic calories. Each of us who becomes aware needs to take back responsibility for our own lives, and join to take back our own neighborhoods, communities, making a system that works for us.



Apparently more drilling will not immediately solve anything. Apparently the real problem is finding cost-effective, quickly efficient alternatives to foreign fossil fuels. Apparently there are many entrepreneurial and even environmentally motivated thinkers/doers out there working on these issues, and finding a plethora of options. A supermarket view of energy options rather than narrow focus is probably best, and what we seem headed towards.




If the month of August drains ye, write of drains and secret seasons
If the month of August grieves ye, write of grief and the miseries of love
If the month of August dries ye like a grape in the sun, write of lush wet rivers and drowning rains, saluting to the fruit of the vine



There is so much more to the world than left and right and center. The points that make up the full circle are more visible when you are not so fixated on the extremes.



I don't think a death penalty is a concept for the realm of "belief." It is a tactic, not an ideology, like terrorism.



The soul is not a piece within
like liver, heart, blood or brain
It is the very essence, we begin
from, every part of which we're made



I would whisper secret songs
willing you to dance
I would whisper strange enchantments
to twirl you into trance
I would whisper deep emotion
to lift you from despair
Whispering beneath your wings
lifting them to air




Boundaries are made for bending
Listen to your dreams unending
Move beyond the walls to find they're gone
Nothing but words refined to form
a comforting bed for a weary head
rest inside until you find markers for your trail
beyond the bordered veil



Money is not the only value, even in the "marketplace". Better products, better pr due to better business practices, better value, can outweigh mere price differentials. Look at all the "super-premium" products -- higher cost for higher value. Business and social paradigms are in flux. Let's take advantage and promote values more valuable than elusive, imaginary money.



They are not "putting their lives on the line for perfect strangers." They are doing their job, which may at times be dangerous. They chose these vocations because of the meaning doing these jobs have for them. Perhaps they come from families who have traditionally held such jobs, or have someone in their family who extols such work. Perhaps they enjoy the excitement, the adrenalin rush. Perhaps they or close ones have been adversely affected by the "enemy" they now fight. Perhaps other scenarios. I am in no way denigrating people who do valuable, dangerous work. I'm just saying, their motives are usually not so simply altruistic.



I don't know about you, but I don't give or withhold political support based on personal sexual infidelity. There are, to me at least, a few more important issues.



We who are not bound by the faiths of "the book" know that spirituality is the real deal; religion is a fan club.



Creative play allows us to makeover our points and swaths of view, to see different ways of perceiving what we and others do, to take the raw and bleeding soul and make it whole and new.



Dancing is heaven on Earth. It is a very basic healing wholistic healing tool. Dance all you can. It will make you healthier; it is wonderful exercise. Dance where no one is watching if it is the only way you can. Eventually, the practice will lead to better balance and grace, that you will be happy to share.



If I let it, my heart would ache and ache and there would be nothing else left of me for all the needless suffering based on stupid principles of what we call "economics" but is really some kind of horrid societal curse of blindness.



rules are an integral part of magic (as is naming, which is in a way a rule) -- we create what doesn't materially exist, such as groups and other relationships, by making boundaries that say: this is [ ] without these boundaries, everything just kind of mushes together



I wonder why Ron Paul has been so unobserved by the mainstream media.



ok, I think I'm starting to get it. All these people who complain Obama never says anything or hesitates too much, as here, I thought they just weren't paying attention. Apparently we have different definitions of "saying" or "specific answers". As a slowly thoughtful person myself, I understand that Obama is deeply considering and responding with nuanced complexity. The people who complain, however, are probably those who more easily engage in light conversation and expect short, direct, simple statements.



I have been having some long talks with myself about the kinds of status, security, belonging, even base safety needs that may exhibit as tight-armed (or other parts of the anatomy) righteousness. People talk about needing to fight for our freedoms, but we push those freedoms right out of our homes and neighborhoods and public places. What mainstream America really seems to want is our own straight and narrow fiefdom so we never have to worry because everyone fits right in to where we belong. We rant and expect the government to make it all right with laws and enforcements, small government without taxation of course. We want the schools to be injectors of morality, somehow fitting the knowledge necessary for high-paying jobs into squeezed-smaller minds. We want those who might threaten in their angry poverty or social confusion or misfit unpredictability to be thrown away.



Happiness is a mind thing, not a state of objective reality. I have recently thought about this, realizing I do not want at all times to be happy. Emotions are not only situation specific, but an important source of information and artistic inspiration. I enjoy all the emotions, each in their time. If I did want to be always happy, I could find that happy place in my mind and live there only. I'm more of an explorer.



I've have been meditating on finding that opening into the collective well of art/inspiration/dream imagery/polylinguistic possibilities. I do wonder what the walling off is about. Perhaps its that thing that happens of unconscious vulnerability when we don't remember our dreams but only murky bits, or when in the throes of ecstatic experience that fade away.



I was earlier today thinking that it is the common folks, the peasant class, who lose and yet admire and prop up their lords in an effort to maintain a world they have learned to expect.




I read Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook so long ago now I only have a vague impression, though I know it was a transcendent experience at the time. One of the greatest books ever written, to my mind, is The Four-Gated City, which deeply yet so very accessibly explores ideas of identity, madness, relationships, family, and fantasy. It is not, though, an easy book to read in many ways. It demands commitment and openness of mind.



We do need to be more innovative about educational resources. I like the idea of the organic roof gardens -- for everyone, not just schools. I really like the idea of teaching kids outside of the classroom, where they can move around and explore. I am also in favor of regular exercise breaks, even just dancing around in the classroom. It is proven that exercise is good for keeping the brain active, alert.

It's true. We don't have to be slaves to the local public schools. Especially in these days, with so much knowledge available to anyone who can get access to the internet, if we have the will we can learn, and teach our kids, even create our own educational groups.



It is amazing the way people will see the same event differently based on our preconceptions. I am still having trouble getting my mind around people who continually harp on Obama having no real plans or answers or specifics. John McCain basically hopes it will all turn out well, gives anecdotes about his war experiences in Vietnam, and does his avuncular life of the party routine. Barack Obama gives clearly nuanced, thought-out responses and keeps reminding us that this is our country together, that we all have obligations to make it better. I fear for the lack of discerning ability among a meaningful percent of the American public.



Renewables, "alternatives" really are taking off. People who have been working on these ideas since the '70s finally have the incentive in the higher oil prices that have gotten the general attention. I am seeing all kinds of mainstream tv ads about alternative energy plans and technologies. This could easily be the dotcom boom of this decade solving energy issues and economic issues simultaneously, if only political posturing would get out of the way.

keep these ideas coming
don't let our planet die because we were too stubborn to be creative
the only reason we are on a fossil fuel economy is because that was the cheap and easy alternative chosen at the time of the industrial revolution
we are post-industrial
time to rethink energy commitments



I keep wondering, with all the advances in brain research and body/mind connection, why we don't have a simple method to break the pain connection.




If we stop to think about all the truly stupid, horrid, ridiculous and dangerous ways our so-called government works to undermine us, no wonder depression is rampant in the US.




Of course none of us like being taxed. [Personally I much more hate the yearly self-disclosure job, and would prefer to just be billed, but I digress.] On the other hand, most of us like to have the use of public works, public infrastructure, governmental agencies, and military might. Presumably these could be paid for by means other than taxation, but if taxation is the method we have agreed to use, taxes there will be. The rich obviously get a greater return on their tax investment than those who lack the resources to make much use of anything. They are also in a better position to pay more, even if only for a short career burst of time. Yes, saving and investment need to be better encouraged. Those who are wealthy have the option of paying for top advice and making good investment decisions. The encouragement needs to go to the barely making it, so they will gain the advantages of growing their resources and have more of a stake in the game. In terms of economic growth, we have become a consumer economy. That means that the more dollars going to the margins means more people have the means to be consumers, means more products will be consumed, greater economic advantages for all.

In terms of percentage of income, we are overtaxing the poor. There are many taxes other than "income tax." The wealthy get to pay for lawyers and
accountants so they can minimize their taxes. The poor get hit everywhere they look. Yet, it is more fair and useful to tax the wealthy. They are the ones that are getting most benefit from the structure provided by that tax income. A great many of the wealthy get there through inheritance, or at least growing up with the advantages of wealth to give them a leg very far up the ladder. Do you have any idea the discipline and effort it takes to be of the working poor, having to take on several jobs none of which give benefits, all of which pay poorly to do the most obnoxious work that no one wants to do? People struggling, and not even making it, living on the streets or in substandard housing, eating from dwindling food pantries or dumpsters or unhealthy fast and cheap foods, freezing for lack of funds to pay for heat, you get the idea, these people are not really benefiting from the great wealth of this nation. I believe the income tax was created for the Civil War, and subsequently brought back to pay for other wars, then for other programs, and so forth. It was not about thieving. It was because people wanted the programs and Congress wanted their votes. In any case, this is the system we are now living with. Fine, do away with all taxes altogether. Then we can look at other ways to do what we all need and want done as society. Probably we could find much better, more efficient methods. The resources that morally belong to all of us, and even more to the Earth itself, are being stripped, wasted, destroyed for a quick profit. That should be paid back. I don't want profiteers exploiting our resources. Economics needs to include the costs to the Earth, the general resources of those living here, the ability of laborers to maintain a healthy life, the ability of those coming up to get useful and comprehensive educations that they have the skills to do well, etc., and so forth. Maybe we could tax the resources directly, or license their use, for enough money to do away with taxes. There could be waives for use which is shown to be for the general good. People could use for profitable enterprise resources that they have helped to produce, or buy or license their use for fair value.



Rape is exploitation. It is dehumanizing in the service of a selfish demand for inappropriate power. It is dividing off humane feelings because a numb machine is so much more efficient at hoarding resources rather than let the natural flow allow all to succeed. It is pain wanting to produce more pain rather than looking for a cure.

Maybe this is why there is such a fear of gay soldiers: the rapists realizing that payback's a bitch.



In my experience, a child does not automatically get bestowed any rights. Rights generally come with responsibilities. We mostly get rights by being active citizens and having the power of the vote, if not other forms of social power.

I wish people who claim to have concern about human life really had concern about the living and not just the souls to give to their hungry lord. Why would anyone want to be born into such a mean-spirited world?



Child of man
glowing in the warm sunshine
rolling naked in the muddy rain
taking back the day and night to gain
a worthy place to stand
a world that's yours and mine
and billions strong
learning that living isn't wrong
when you play to the music
of our ever after song



I was just wondering about the people who claim to be Christians but forget about the mission of Christ. They quote from the worst of the angry OT god, fearing and kowtowing to him. Yet Christ was given to man as sort of an apology for the excesses of that pre-Christ time. The OT time was violent, angry, about slaves freeing themselves and building a new world separate from the others of their time. There were many unfortunate results in the psyche of these tribes. Christ is sent to say, turn away from these old teachings. Life on Earth is meant to be about Love, not Hatred, if we are to create the Kingdom here for mankind.



There are none so blind as those who insist on looking through a distorted lens.



We are no longer free to travel throughout our country. It is no longer our own, but owned by the terrormongers, not Islamic Jihadists but US Neocon Crusaders. Looking at the political landscape of the early 21st Century, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, we're all caught up in a worldwide fascist alliance.



Last hours in the sun
tasting ecstasies, agonies, peace and pain
trailing like fading rays
on glory's highway
fading from memory
into eternity

life on Neptune

Neptunian Sun

Grey sparkling polyester
veiling sunlight to tiny rainbow
wavicles
projecting an eternal movieshow
Sometimes I know where
the plot goes, over rockcandy
mountains,
under champagne waterfalls
between idle fantasy and
speculation
Shadows dance,
flicker like candle flame
Points hot and cool,
dappling patterns
Enhanced, processed
we are art
Left to our own itinerant vices
we are madness
a safety valve
between worlds

(c) August 17, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Marketplace

In the agora
we bargain
for trinkets,
lush silk,
poignant spices,
drama and mysteries
from afar
Veiled spirits scurry
spread toxic honeysuckle,
sweet death and resurrection
Stalls of forms proliferate
Zombie, Vampire, Were Creature,
Human, Deity
Vendors calling wares
voices blending enchantments
In the agora, lost forever
choose well
how you spend your days

(c) August 16, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

Peace
Fight for peace
Give our sacred honor
arrows flying
piercing armor
piercing amor, pride in
full measure
Feeling wrath, revenge,
mortal fear, coiling
paranoia
bayonet strong
Toddlers at play,
unarmed, unwary
skeletally still
bared secrets slipping
from space and time
Scorching pinprick holes
in heaven's fabric
petrified souls thrust into
premature rebirth
Hellfire ripped from metaphor
rends scream-echoing
palpable texture,
daring phantoms,
death's brigade
Crying "Peace!"
-- unheeded command
because real glory
belongs to destruction

(c) August 6, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon

from Persephone's Journal: The Economy

Moon in Leo

All this talk about "the economy" as if there's a war between capitalist free market and governmental programs, or as if any policy could be one size fits all. People get so caught up in ideologies and competition, putting down viciously any idea defensively seen as contrary to our preset mindset. Well, obviously, not everyone, but enough to be an enormous unnecessary obstacle to real world optimization.

What makes more sense to me is a kind of two-tier economy. You've got your basic tier in which everyone gets a piece of the pie covering whatever is deemed to be the basics. This sphere can also include basic infrastructure like public health facilities, public transportation including roads and such, public safety organizations like emergency and law enforcement, or more rationally peace enforcement. Then there's public education, libraries, art and culture centers and events. The second tier would be the free market capitalists to provide the goods and services they do best, consumer goods, luxuries, lifestyle and status markers, specialty niche fillers, fads and fancies and fantasies and innovations.

People will want to go beyond the basic and fulfill dreams or create profits because there is more to human satisfaction than basic comforts. We like to shine, be respected, show our stuff. We like to earn credits to win prizes. We like to build our personal empires or be part of exciting or valued projects. We like to work when that work is appreciated and not oppressive. We are not in a position, even in impoverished areas, where we need to live by the creed: If you don't work, you don't eat. We have plenty of potential labor to provide far more than enough for everybody without demanding full participation.

There are plenty of people who have no desire to be part of the quest for financial wealth, yet give full value to the social net. Raising children is valuable work. Caring for ill and infirm family and neighbors is valuable work. Organizing and participating in volunteer projects addressing community needs is valuable work. Providing education, art, cultural events is valuable work. Yet it is also legitimate to live, enjoy life as best one can, privately, without fanfare or public obligation. Humankind is so much better served by people pouring energy and intent into their passions than people grudgingly performing jobs out of obligation or desperation.

If there is concern about less appetizing but necessary work being done, there are certainly ways to address this:

1) What is unappetizing to some may be interesting or useful in some sense -- psychology or other -- to others. This is another advantage of a diverse population, when properly celebrated.

2) Ways can be found to reward, show admiration for, or otherwise make more palatable such tasks.

3) Ways can be found to give over as much as possible of these tasks to technological aid.

4) We can figure out better ways to take care of the needs now served by such tasks.

The best incentive, result and means of moving toward this expanded economic model is the unleashing and uplifting of the great gift of human creativity, along with a generally increased zest for life. It doesn't have to happen all at once. If we consciously make efforts in this direction, eventually the tipping point will be reached, the more rational paradigm will take hold. As the benefits become evident, that which is best in us will continue to move forward.

Cancerian Candles 2008

Solstice

You can have your equinoxes
cross-quarters.
The Solsti, days of extremes
Sun to Earth
Cardinal points of worth,
symbolic mining, enchaining
rock to sea
kinetic energy
displacing space and time
twixt ecstatic Saturn
and brother Moon, sublime.
Secreted in esoteric lore
a wealth of stories
everyday glories and
exotic songs
evoking ancient memories.
I dream a shining university
upon a sparkling hill.
If wisdom can save us from
the illness of slavedom,
I bow to wisdom's will.

(c) June 20, 2008



Of course you come to listen
My tales tell your secrets
scryed from vivid crystal
whispered ancient code.
You must remember
Spring day walking
along a rocky roadside
sandy hair, gritty eyes
fallen
into silent reverie
song singing hallelujahs,
brilliant paranoias.
Sprinting across,
little images.
Listless children whine
"Why does no one let us play?"
A world of sullen children
overdue for naps and coddling,
blueberry jam at teatime.
It can't be a secret
if nobody's listening.
But, listen:
places in your mind
will answer.



Midsummer Evening

Floating on cool jazz
Enjoying mellow wine
My own little garden party
'midst the flowers of my mind.
Back from the rabbit hole.
Back from New York City, Boston,
Detroit, LA ...
from every day unfolding another
everyday grind.
Finding time to play, haunted
by happy memories
exhorting starlight.
Midsummer twilight,
fairytales brought back from sleep.
No longer keeper of my brethren's dreams,
I don mischievous costume,
dancing out power, glory,
love gentle as a summer evening's rain,
blossoming countryside,
dandelions and clover,
bounty of Earth, whispering stories
flowering prophets,
delectable, potent, wise
in the ways of demons,
oracles, gypsy Queens.
Escaping into sacred muse-ways,
every day a new day,
standing ground against a grind
each day more distanct
Insighting sound, opening vistas
vastly
flowering.

(c) June 21, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Fish Tale

I didn't know the fish would die
flapping on sun-warmed metal.
Peacefully domestic afternoon.
Children discover death
and other worlds.

Sitting by the well
to draw inspiration.
Spinning yarn, weaving words.
Dusty work. Flakes of skin
embed the fabric.
Struggling through childhood,
the tales get twisted.
Little boys & little girls
separate language.
We think we know our place,
our destinies,
from the games we're given,
the words we've learned to say,
rhymes, reasons, rituals.
Imbibing passion body to body,
we awaken rules of blame.
The woman tempts.
The hero conquers.
The sad boy desires a
self-fulfilling fantasy,
stomping upon his heart to
start the flow of real blood,
real rage.
Out of water, out of earth,
out of air
flopping upon some inert surface
the tale mechanistically repeats.
What world can we discover
nurturing life?

(c) June 23, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Under a Piscean Moon

Gods have their reasons,
dramas, power plays,
aesthetic necessities,
ecstatic passions.
Our concerns are of another realm,
born responsible for managing our fate
until it overwhelms.
Job thought himself holy,
was doing fine, not realizing
his role as fool.
Hitler, too, saw his glorious plan
unfolding, paradise on Earth.
Did he think "They will equate my name
with evil." ? What is worth eternal life
as history and myth?
If I could have one answer
assured to be True,
what would be my quest?
Is there one Truth, above the rest?
Selection is a process,
winnowing down.

My quest:

How do I encompass
all that will make me strong and wise
in one easy lesson?

Walking along evening
a darkening, unknown road,
smell the blooming lilacs,
ease eyes upon gentle beauty,
each next step
taking itself.

(c) June 25, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon


Oceana

Irritants
about which pearls spin
beauty, eerily opaque.
Mer-songs quiver as crystal
radiating frequencies
captured in time.
Darkness calls from slumber.
Oppressive gasping,
titillating air and sea
may erupt in symphony
loud and raucous
as life.
Cutting through strong silken veils
to inept, naked truth,
pearl adornments break,
settle upon ocean floor.
Seadivers ply their trade,
pretty gems for pretty pennies.
Everything recycles.
Every soul is saved.

(c) June 25, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Generation

In my experience
people have kids as
a side-effect of
heterosexual activity.
During said activity, they
are not thinking about
having kids.
After said activity, they
often think about
not wanting to have kids.
Somewhere along the line,
the kid gets had.
That's life: the kid gets had --
the easily fleeced gets to
take the fall until
we learn the rules
of conquest.
Thus generation recapitulates,
replacing those who've gone before
in function if not form.
This is why mythology
binds us.
Blind lead blind across
vast desert expanse,
telling stories of past
glories and bemoaning
treacheries, exhorting faithful
adherence to ancestral code.
Not DNA, hardware glitches
more likely herald mutation.
Software code
may glitch hilariously,
malapropriately,
otherwise betray conventional consciousness.
Why take on responsibility,
anchor to roles or
take part in the tale?
Do you believe in fate?
Do you believe we learn from
each other in relationship
how to become our own story?
A chance we take, or are given,
chisels out a bit of
who we are.
Does it matter?
I guess we each get to decide.

(c) June 27, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Soul Food

Poetry they call you,
writing from the soul,
beyond the bounds of fiction,
more will-infused than fact.
I can only tell you
secretly, in private language
chemical smells guiding
we of a kind to prey.
Feasting upon amygdala
potent in emotion.
Coming into fruition
as the salt of tears.

(c) June 27, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon


Indigenous

Legend tells stories
we live
not in here and now.
Dancing together,
grasping fact from fiction.
Once there lived a taler,
a minstrel, a bard
intent on spinning villagers
into his yarn,
carrying each essence
on his trail throughout
the kingdom,
even sailing to far-flung
shores when occasion
allows. Spreading stories,
like disease, infecting
whole populations who evermore
clamor for the bit of soul
his stories capture.
Listen, o' children, o' brethren,
ancestors walking their journeys
tuned weary minds to songs
of battle and adventure.
Our minds, our tasks,
our journeys can be our own.

(c) June 29, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



avoid blinding (by science)

It is an association
not clear cause/effect.
I smile.
You smile.
Each enjoying a private joke
or hiding embarrassment.
We who claim the primacy of reason
need to give care,
avoid the chasms
of treacherous conclusions.
Open to the highest odds
while grounded on earthly
perspective
go forth ye brave young heroes.
Learn the secrets of
subtle sacrifice
and divine glory.
Just take care the sayer
of your sooth
worships vows of purity.
Even so, keep on your quest
exploring for wealth in
possibilities
not yet discovered.

(c) June 30, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



46664

Caging the Beast
"call me after the Rapture" I
post on religious social network
sites.
Have you read Yeats' "Second Coming"?
After the prophecy
After the hard, hard rain
after the rainbow
Call me. We should get together.

(c) July 1, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



A long and twisty journey
to find myself where I started
never having gone at all...


Half a Page of Scribbled Lines

Stone cottage in enchanted forest
Magical fireplace flickering stories
old and new
Giants and waterfalls
Flighty energy sprites
casting luminescent nets
betwixt, between.
Walking sedately
subliminally aware of
unobtrusive omnipresent
surveillance.
Sending out psychic feelers
sweeping for malevolent intent.
Brain shaking data bombardment
tiny spinal fractures emit
memory, reason, the capacity to love.

Realities Doorway

I am free to wander
all the stories that
could ever be,
choose the ones I
like the best
to tell myself
in sleepy morning
smiles.
The sacred doorway stands open
my little house surrounded
in gentle blue heaven.
My landscape bold and bright
with soft-hued bubbles
for enchantment.
Voyages, stories
siren call
to blessed stones of serenity,
eternally
sea-washed
sun-warmed
adhered to by playful
sparkling sands.
Anytime you ask
I will send you my stories
to dream on, to
interweave, to enhance.
Just outside my doorway
there are eternities more.


(c) July 5, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Loving Meditation

If there are visions
you feel missing
from your life
perhaps you don't know yourself
as well as duty tells you.
Instead of forcing codes and
ritual, care-challenged wishes
Look! Watch vivid panorama
of you from early memories,
each significant nexus
along the way
to now.
What is missing from your life
is not meant for others to fulfill.
Love you give yourself
expands 4-fold
You give yourself more to give
You give the world ripples
of your love
You give the eternal spirit within
essential energy
to create what is great
within you
You give to mankind an example
of true humanity.
Do not be afraid to love.
Do not be ashamed to love the
one closest to you.
Learn the meaning of loving charity.
It's not about dying for your sins.
It's fulfilling yourself
through your own loving kindness.
Living a vision of love.

It is all illusory to some senses
while being exactly what it is

(c) July 6, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Child of War

My daddy died saving our country.
My mommy cries, so sad and lonely.
But I can see, she's also scared.
Our neighbors spit our names like swears.
I try to be respectful and kind.
They curse out threats, scream "We're not blind,
you people are evil, your faith makes you kill."
Sometimes if I stand, eyes closed, so still
I can hear my daddy say "Be strong,
my beloved child. Those people are wrong.
Wars aren't decreed by Gods from above.
War is the sad fruit of the failure of love."

(c) July 7, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Lesson of The Great Depression

The machines stand patiently
ready to act on human command.
Workers expectantly arise
to resume their duties.
Tools, systems, routes, logistics
lined up for service.
Plants to sow and reap; structures
to build, maintain, repair, replace;
commodities to be united with
their markets; music to be played;
enchanting murals to paint;
shows that must go on; coffee
to be made; errands to run;
endless activities and professions
imposing order on entropy.
Teach the curious,
heal the sick or broken,
enforce the law,
tend to the poor.
Society's capillaries clogged by
a powerful voodoo. All is
needing to be done, but stopped
dead or cancerously
receding from living
for want of the magic beans,
the mysterious force of money,
a social construct gone mad,
constricting the flow of life.

(c) July 8, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Elitism

Hand over mouth Mensa laughing
Elitism, unlike battling upward,
hand over hand,
always mindful of the lessons.
Courtesy and respect -- never forget.
In courts of old, fair
maids and noble men knew
twas best to hide
animal cunning, raw humanity
in flourishes and restrained manner.
Semaphore signaling
We know the game.
But respect, that is earned.
I respect that live flicker of
power, if I am smart,
I perceive behind the mask
of court or street corner.
Hard knocks do not make a fighter.
Hard times do not make a leader.
Surviving, learning the angles,
enjoining with compassion
along the way, while
keeping that edge keen and deadly,
improve chances
for rising above,
getting on the shortlist.
Neither evolution nor divine design,
but some essence common to both,
and the brilliant stories
dreams are made of.

(c) July 9, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Common Ground

They say them liberal critters
Got their heads up in the clouds.
They haven't got a clue to how
to live here on the ground.
They give hand-outs to criminals.
Can't tell a foe from friend.
They're scared of guns and gumption
so ready to amend.
But there's something we agree on
If we're all on common ground
You help folks if they stumble;
don't kick 'em when they're down.

(c) July 12, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



8th House

Sex and Money
Inflation, deflation
spitting on sacred values.
Once there was balance
Libra and Scorpio united as one.
There was a natural order
of love, respect, deep abiding
loyalties, a code of honour.
Inflation. Manic enterprise,
chasing a dragon to ride
her tail.
Deny caution her voice,
plunging into
prospects of wealth or
rampage.
Deflation.
Making jest of
what is most precious inside us.
Expecting gold to fall
from magic seeds sown
in moonlight.
Shallowly expecting pardon
for wisdom shunned.
Great eagles fly farseeing,
Succor their young, defend their nests.
On the ground, snakes hiss
in startled anger.
Shedding their skin, they move on
cold-blooded
seeking warmth.

(c) July 13, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon


The Beauty

It's all I really care about
Beauty
Libramoon, you know.
It's not that I'm callous.
I can do compassion with
the best of them.
I can wring out my soul
onto dimestore paper.
The agony, the ecstasy.
Okay, hypomania
but a peak experience is still
standing on treacherous
mountaintop
exhausted, sore, torn here and there
from long arduous journey.
Yet, there is no pain
in ecstatic glory.
My Deity, the view
precious, exhilarating,
sense overwhelmed with pleasure.

(c) July 15, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Capricorn Full Moon reflection

Archetypes
Walking the streets, riding
subways --
subterranean consciousness,
ethereal siamese twin
to the everyday.
Shadow and substance
entwined as before
the invasion.
I long to tell you,
yearn to tell you,
but only if you truly listen.
I cannot say these things twice.
Memories seep through,
acquire form.
Stand straight and true
as soldiers or Marines
giving full allegiance
to any who will take that load.
There are Gods lying in excrement
begging relief in the form
of sacrament
potent and deadly.
There are Angels and
Demons waging war,
dice from a grail
foresaging trial or comfort.
Hungry Ghosts wail.
Vampires and Creatures
of the night
seek shelter before the
travails of daytime
break them.
I saw the Morning Star
wink salaciously.
In my kingdom
all manner of creatures
thrive.
Eagles soar.
Lions roar.
Whales sing.
Humans open a
veiled third eye.
The World rejoices.

(c) July 18, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon




Reeling

Hitting bottom
Broken against rock
shale and limestone
Unable to piece together
warm from cold; new from old.
There are children in the valley
Look at them huddle and scatter
there, in the landscape
over the mantle
hiding in plain site.
Eons and eras hurtle through space.
Mesmerized by the flickering flame,
cites are built, collapse,
rubble to sand.
Princes, despots, CEOs
try their luck,
flex muscles built from
effluvial dna --
blood, sweat, tears
milled from the faithful
and fear-filled.
Tempers rise and fall.
Life and death take turns in
ascendancy.
The fall, the anticipation,
ravages eternally.
Touching base, falling into
a plane of rest and re-creation
at the bottom of the sea
at falling's end
There are silent songs to sing
in celebration
on the long trip upward.

(c) July 20, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Sunny days,
Moon enchanted evenings
Romantic believings
make life the stuff of dreams.
Savor, from bubbling streams
to musty loam
Bringing what matters home
How does your garden grow?
Shining in nature's grace.

July 22, 2008

Moon Month reflections

If we are presupposing a consciousness which purposely creates all that is, why would we in our limited experience have any way of apprehending that purpose? If we presuppose a growing spirit, expanding into all of creation as a manifestation of pure energy, there is no need for a conscious purpose.



We shape ourselves, chiseled
from inherent potential
with the cutting edge
of life.



My belief system pretty much includes all possible belief systems, yet probably most would disagree. The basic point is, we each create our own reality out of the combination of personal experiences as they accrue throughout our lives. Our brains function such that we take in information and process it based on previously developed categories that we have built up from past experience, back probably before birth. Then, by acting on our own experiential world, we impress it further into our psyche and build on further. Thus we create our world, our belief system, our feedback loop and our methods for building on these, each individually. Yet, we as collective create group realities which our interactions and mutual belief structures impress upon us collectively.

Anyway, this is the basis. I would be happy to discuss further.



There are personality types all along the spectrum, from a need of order to a need of chaos. These are not symptoms of disorders or problems in life skills. These are life skills as we each find what kind of environment is most comfortable and conducive to our individual work styles. However, there is nothing wrong with breaking pattern to see where that goes for you.



We each do create our own reality, in a very real, yet totally
subjective, sense. We each perceive reality through our own filters
and experiential networks. The reality we perceive being, generally,
the reality we react to and work with, we continue to create that
network, which we nonobjectively control. Thus, by paying attention
to certain ideas/objects/desires/possibilities we bring them more
actively into our lives. We skew our world view to reflect what we
expect and interpret consequences and events in the way that keeps us
in that frame.

As to the experience of "enlightenment," that is part of this whole.
No matter where or how or by what means we get to such an experience,
it is a valid experience of enlightenment in that we experience and
self-validate it as such.

We are all all-important, and of no importance at all.



You live your own experience, no matter how many have lived similar experiences, because yours is unique to your uniqueness. You have that very serious conversation with yourself that never ends, and put the pieces here and there until you see them arranged in that very personal puzzle, which you continue to puzzle out into your own eyes, mind, voice, creative expression.



Everything that ever was or will be is all happening eternally. We, with our limited senses, see the birthing and fading as disappearing in time. Nothing truly ends, but ceaselessly changes.



It is not about punishment or God's glory, or because you are being tested or otherwise denigrated. Life is a learning experience of all that you do and perceive here on planet. Some of those lessons are very, very harsh indeed. Some are pleasant and fun. And I don't mean lessons so you can become say more compassionate or more cynical or more anything. These are experiences for your soul to become just more. Some of these experiences may well break you, even kill you. We all experience death, though. Again, some more pleasantly than others. It's not that you get more of the good stuff or more of the bad based on "karma" in the sense of payback. It's that you get what you need to become all you potentially are, not in the ways that we measure these things, but in an eternal sense.



childhood is so fraught with tragedies, deep disappointments, traumas that haunt dreams for a lifetime, every little day.



People seem to have kids for all kinds of reasons or nonreasons. Perhaps that is as it "should" be so that a good mix of humans abound? I don't know that asking the kid in advance would matter if they need the Earth School experience for whatever cosmic/karmic/comic reasons. It's not so much about parenting as such, I think, but the whole relationship model that needs reassessing. If we made the effort to be the kinds of people who are good parents, good friends, good stewards of the Earth, good to ourselves, it might make childhood, adulthood, humanhood a whole lot better, don't you think?




This Obama-is-a-Muslim smear campaign honestly ought to be attacked on the front of those it most abuses. There is nothing wrong with being Muslim and a US citizen and a US presidential candidate. Of course Obama is a committed Christian. I clearly see in his public appearances the shining faith, spiritual humility, deep love of public service that I have always seen in the best true Christians that I have known. Of course many Americans have crazy notions about Muslims, mindlessly blaming people for political situations totally outside of the lives of the vast majority. Think blaming the Christians for Hitler. My point, though, is if candidate Obama is serious about wanting to mend wounds and get beyond rancor to a country of people who can work together for common good, he could well respond on some level to these attacks by showing disdain for those who attack him on the basis of a nonissue. There is nothing wrong with being Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Pagan or any other faith. We have a First Amendment (Number 1!) to our Constitution guaranteeing that. We have what is meant to be a proud tradition of religious tolerance, of people emigrating to the US (and previously the Colonies) for religious freedom. This is one of the precious freedoms we say we fight for.



There may be a component of bliss in love (or not). There may be a component of love in bliss (or not). These are subjective experiences.

Love, however, has to do with relationship.

Bliss has to do with nonrelationship -- with an experience beyond any duality or division.



"Love" is problematic. The definitions are long, varied, self-
contradictory at times, amorphous. Awareness of what is is a
continual evolving awareness, unattached to preconceptions, language,
or individuated consciousness.



In eternal multi-verse where all exists, manifestation
comes in infinite array.



The medical model is not the only or necessarily the best one for people suffering from cognitive-behavioral disorders. Drugging the problem away does not fix it, but makes the "patient" dependent, unempowered even more. Using drugs judiciously while working with people to figure out better ways of coping is fine, but our easy fix society often lets the important part of that equation go.



I think what we do is get the best we can from the benefits and stave off as best we can the harms by keeping well-informed, alert, aware of the potentials all along the continuum. Can I get the results I want with fewer harmful considerations with say diet, exercise, lifestyle changes, meditation, noninvasive treatments, a little bit of pharm along with any/all of those, and so forth? If I am using pharmaceuticals, which for me would have the best ratio of benefit to cost? Do I really understand what this drug is doing to my system? Am I aware of possible interactions with other chemicals, foods, environmental factors, lifestyle choices? Just what exactly is the result I am looking to achieve?



So many people take dangerous pharmaceuticals to correct conditions that essentially they allowed by not being well enough educated about dietary options.



Of course it is not the map we are looking for, but the territory. Yet, especially in this insurance ruled medical culture, the almighty label which brings forth the largesses of healthcare payment takes charge. Then we have a realm worthy of Lewis Carroll in which the label is treated, the child ignored.



Childhood is massively anxiety producing. Many children suffer all manner of abuses and deprivations, but even for the lucky ones with good homes and lives, they have no real control over much of anything. The world can be a very scary place, for everyone. Adults, at least, have some control and a lot more life experience to back them up. Kids just get to have nightmares and scary thoughts that they have no idea what to do with. Exactly, drugs are not going to give them the skills they need to deal with a scary world. They need loving conversation, education, and safe outlets for expressing their fears and learning to have more control over what is controllable.



You don't need fancy labels or psychiatric diagnostics. People act out when needs are being ignored. Kids forced to spend most of what should be a very physically active time constrained to seats, facing an authority, expected to maintain silence except when given permission to speak, and we insist they need drugs to keep them in line because they are "sick"? People ignored or used as family system scapegoats, or dealing with lifelong abandonment issues, ptsd, no useful feedback to learn appropriate behaviors, put into double-bind positions where unprocessed anger percolates, made to feel unwanted or less-than by those around them, over-stressed from too much work/too little recreation/way too much responsibility without the necessary authority/traumatic life situations which are never appropriately worked through -- eventually these people often crack. This doesn't make them a "crackpot" or "crazy" or anything but human.

I have read on the website of Dr. Thomas Scheff, a retired psychotherapist, his theories that the only really useful way to treat people who have "cracked" is with real live personal relationship, helping them to learn better coping mechanisms while learning that they are indeed worthwhile and worth knowing. You don't need a degree to give this help.



There was a conversation on another venue about whether children should have a right to weigh in on whether they want to be torn out of paradise and born into life on Earth. Some say we do choose our lives, others that we are paying for past karma, others that god wants us here for some unfathomable reason, and so forth. Basically, I see it as a learning experience. Many lessons are quite harsh. Some are so very lovely. I think it helps when we are willing to learn, not tied into restrictive thinking.



Of course, what god provides us is the universe, unfolding, unfolding. We make what we can of it, bit by bit. I do have confidence that humankind, a very clever bunch, will search out the solutions in time to keep us going, searching out further solutions. We are at the very infancy of our scientific understandings. Ultimately, once it is sorted out, I believe the whole system is quite simple, elegant, and easily accessed for use. We are moving toward that whole system theory now that we've had some millennia to sort out discrete bubbles of information.




I too have stories
unbelievable as fiction
creeping through dream imagery
holding dripping red candles
broken bits of mirror
tiny rips in red, red fabric
bleeding
I cannot breathe this story
I cannot hold a heartbeat
or a cogent thought
or pulse to a level
bearable
Beaten into rubble
crazed in simple sunlit
afternoon as if a moon
were racing in
stolen arteries
We all have known this story



What is "terrorism"? It's not an ideology or a sovereign entity or a loosely affiliated group or a religion or even a tactic. It is a frame to place around whatever you think or feel might be, well, terrifying.

The acts which might be listed under a fairly mainstream definition of "terrorism" also have another frame. They are crimes. There are criminal codes, laws, procedures, penalties and individual words for these acts. The defense against them necessitates no special agencies or exotic twistings of law or mores of decency. All we need do is understand these acts as we do our normal terrors of street gangs, organized criminals, crazed seekers of revenge and other outbreaks of violent paranoia. We protect ourselves best by being alert to danger and keeping our minds and bodies agile.



If the media dictates what we believe and who we vote for, where are our minds and personal responsibility? The media folks are doing their jobs, selling their products, working for their marketshare. We citizens need to do our job, or stop whining and admit we are governed by popular media.



Lots of people complain that watching tv is lowering our cognitive abilities because we passively watch pabulum and emotionally charged cheap thrills. There is plenty of annoying, boring, mind-numbing, or otherwise petty programming. However, there is plenty of intellectually challenging, informative, engaging, and even beautiful programming. You need to figure out which channels or programs are most likely to be worthwhile for your viewing.



I am all for self-protection, family protection, community protection. I even have situational ethics about private violence. I am totally, irrevocably, passionately against giving the government (you know, the guys we always joke about not getting anything right) the right to murder us, no matter the offered justification.



Imagine that you are you, going about your normal business. Imagine that someone who has some vague similarity of appearance, or even name, has done something horrible. Everyone is up in anxiety, blood vengeance, mob rule. This is why we have a rule of law, because sometimes it can make a difference, or at least the thought of it can give alternative to unthinking reaction.



It bothers me, often, the black magic of making profit (an imaginary concept, as is money itself) killing the real reasons for trade. Sure, if you want to play this game of sticks and carrots, rich and poor, speculator and government back-up vs. condemning the monetarily challenged, then play you will. I just want a parallel track for those of us who have other goals and motives for our energy and time.



Religion is not specifically about believe or faith. It is a tool to hold together tribes over distance and larger than face-to-face numbers through a system of ritual and mythology. Belief, in any case, is self-reflective, a nonobjectively existent creature of conscious interpretation of unknowable reality. Agnostics, as far as I have experienced these, seem to be about taking a stand against orthodox beliefs through a clever device of rationalized exchange of "belief" for "knowledge" -- "I don't know that your beliefs represent reality."

The thing is, there is no "God" in the sense of some great white-bearded grandfather in the sky telling us all how to behave with appropriate rewards and smiting. So, to deny knowledge that such a construct is true is an equivocation. Instead, truth here and in this whole realm, is attempted to be defined metaphorically, since objective truth is beyond language. Then, the metaphor is treated as if it were the truth, the map taken for the territory. In truth, we are all agnostic: we don't KNOW; we speculate and create religions within which to lay our questions to rest.



I feel the movement
pain and resolution
caught in the pattern
released in the dance



It's not the blaming that is the problem. It is natural to blame, and sometimes appropriate. But that is only step one in a process of rectification. The South Africans in the time of transformation from Apartheid understood that bad blood would fester from evil done but not acknowledged. They created a Truth and Reconciliation process to allow people to confront those who had sinned against them, and for the sinners to admit what they had done and apologize. This is going along a process toward change. We admit our culpability, even without denying the culpability of others. Then we can start the triage: changing what we can, in ourselves and in the system; recognizing what we have no power over, and finding ways to ameliorate those influences; learning to work through our emotional reactions to pain and powerlessness until we are ready to look squarely at where we are and where we want to go so we can map out the journey.



Sometimes we can't afford to forgive without first being given acceptance of guilt, sincere apology, and comfort from they who have offended because our hearts are naturally too soft.



The mindset behind the violence is not Bush's fault. It started long before he bumbled into the Middle East. It is not Mohammed's fault either. It is not about religion, but politics, not a struggle over beliefs, but power. A heavenly reward can be reached after a full and well spent life. Suicide is about despair; suicide bombings about despair and anger.



One of the reasons I was originally interested in Obama was George Soros's support. Soros is a brilliant man, maverick high-stakes capitalist with deep thinking ability and follow-through. He has lived a long and colorful life, including intellectual and social contributions to society. His Open Society Institute funds projects in the interest of promoting freedom. Anyone denigrating George Soros, and by implication of association Barack Obama, obviously has grave ignorance (I am sorry)



The problem is not McCain changing his mind, it is his giving over his mind to campaign expedience. Yes, they all do to some extent, but McCain is really over the top here. I really appreciated the "straight-talking" 2000 McCain, would have voted for him had Karl Rove not given him the shiv. Apparently he has come to believe that he can win by lying, but not by sticking to his outside party politics gumption. I don't want to encourage that.



People seem to enjoy hating, any group they can define as some way not them. Thus, the issue of immigration degenerates into name-calling, hate speech, ranting and raving about some big bad them who turns out to be some hardluck hardworking poor folk, or even sick little children or otherwise non-enemies. There's plenty of work to be done for everyone, which is why these people get jobs, which is why they come here looking for work. We who are concerned about low wages, poor working conditions, or economic ripples of illegal practices need to work toward solving these problems. I said work toward solving problems, not propagate hate.



People do not exist for the benefit of some social system, but rather social systems, in theory, are meant to exist for the benefit of the people? What people do for their private gratification with other consenting adults is their business. It only becomes the business of society if their behavior is blatantly harmful to specific others -- not because it may be seen as wrong, or mimicked by the young, but because their is actual, definable, articulable, harm as would be easily assessed by reasonable people without an axe to grind. Even if individual members of a definable group do some harm to some others, that does not indict all members of that group. For instance, apparently priests evidence a high incidence of child molestation. This does not mean priests as a group need to be condemned and thrown out of society -- only those who actually do harm.



Libertarianism is not taking on ideas of Democrats or Republicans. They have a firm grounding in personal freedom on which they base their platforms. In that sense, they are more true to the vision of America as a land of the free governed by the people, for the people.

The idea of an economy in which the costs to the natural resources, the workforce and the general well-being are included at its base is being explored by many people from many background perspectives. This is not about "love" but enlightened self-interest, and an understanding that these costs are always paid, usually in the least comfortable way at the worst possible time if they are not honored upfront.



Happiness is not a place to arrive nor prey to pursue. It is a state of mind, sometimes fleeting. It is not happiness that can be given or guaranteed, but the opportunity to find those activities and ideas that reward us with that emotional lift. Thus, what can be offered by the social construct to the individual is the greatest possible freedom within which to find one's own rewards.



If we really want to be good self-governing citizens we would do well to incorporate into our required public school curricula a multi-disciplinary/multi-year course including history, sociology, psychology, and political science covering what citizens really ought to know to take back our responsibility and power. Race would be one of a great many issues to be covered, in a general background of history, as well as immigration policies, analyses of Supreme Court cases, legislative histories, the vast panorama of power struggles, political philosophies, and daily analyses of stories in the current consciousness.



Far from spoilers, they are preservers of what democracy is meant to be. Candidates not of the major parties do know their likelihood of getting the job is kind of on par with the election being cancelled due to an asteroid hit on D.C. They understand that it is their job as activist citizens to enlarge the scope of the political conversation, to bring positions further from the center to take in minority views, to look beyond conventional wisdom for solutions, to bring more excitement to the mix by bringing more to think about.



Why were some drugs made illegal? Because of ignorance. It would save orders of orders of magnitude more money, effort, and a whole host of really bad "side-effects" to do away with the "War on Drugs" policies and mentality and treat people with problems like people with problems, addictions like the easily medically solved nonissues they could well be, and let consenting adults have their sought after experiences in a reasonable atmosphere. We could work out nonpublic areas for this kind of behavior to avoid offending passers-by.



Privacy is a big issue, and complicated. There is no "right to privacy" in the US Constitution -- the 4th Amendment being about security in papers and possessions which can't be taken without proper judicial oversight. Yet, we tend to believe in a very basic right to be left alone, to have private inviolate spaces in our lives, both physical and mental. In fact, this can be said to be the very basis of freedom.

I totally disagree that privacy is about lack of trust or hiding. It is simply about personal integrity in the sense of having a personal life not given to the public. We tend to like private relationships, private activities that we share with specific others rather than having to be open to any and all who might want to impose their definitions. Maybe this is one of those extrovert/introvert things.

In the West, privacy has been related to freedom because we had to come together as private people to overthrow public rulers who denied our rights. Asia, no doubt, has different history, and cultural norms. Western democracy still depends on interest groups coming together privately to work out policies for that group. Freedom depends on privacy that we really have the space to work out our private thoughts and create our own inner independence. Look at Winston Smith in _1984_ starving for privacy to be his own creature rather than just another puppet.

As to the safety issues of modern anonymous society, of course lack of relationship leads directly to fear and hostility. If we can only guess about who these others might be, what might motivate their actions toward us, how can we open into trust and mutuality? Yet, like in everything, the middle road calls. We can keep our privacy private and our community life communal if we understand the benefits and act accordingly.



It is disgraceful and incredibly disrespectful that grown-up people are subjected to such gross indignity for the "privilege" of working way too hard for hardly livable wages and "benefits' that nickel and dime you into an early grave. No, people who get government checks should not be subject to such indignities for the privilege of being allowed to survive, whether those checks are wages or Social Security benefits (which we pay for in our employment taxes instead of getting that money as wages to pay our bills) or Unemployment benefits (see comment on SS benefits) or programs for the needy. This is just another of the endless examples of government overriding our Constitution-given and basic human rights for their little games of gotcha or bogus terror tactics to keep us begging for any little freedom. May I go to the bathroom, please, oh great leader, without you watching?



There are plenty of slovenly workers with or without drugs. There a people who take prescription medications for conditions they may not want advertised. There are also lots of people who use drugs recreationally (including alcohol and tobacco) on their own time, without any impact on their jobs. The big debilitatetor that no one seems to think or talk about is lack of sleep, which, with pressures of too much to do in too little time, is overwhelmingly common.



As I understand, they are finding health improving qualities in wine all the time, and occasionally in coffee, and most especially in chocolate. Perhaps we enjoy these because they are good for us, despite popular myth based on the follies of overconsumption.



They say history is written by the winners, and for the mainstream this is probably true. These days, however, there are many enthusiasts who delve into the primary material and find much more diverse histories, which give a greater range and more useful stories for we who look to lessons from the past.



I was recently pondering the strange and contrary views and behaviors surrounding sex in 21st Century America. Of course, these have roots back to the religious sects of original colonists, and branches going out to a diversity of absurdity. It seems to me that if we had sane ideas, policies, and communication regarding this fundamental biological and social commonality, there would be much less dangerous coercive and outright outrageous acting out.



Of course you can have it both ways, or as many ways as there are. We can believe it is wrong to kill, including an unborn human, yet understand that there are situations in which it is less wrong than the alternatives. We make these distinctions all the time.



You know what, they have not yet made computers that are also transporters or giving the ability to move body parts through into someone else's laptop. Your kids may be in danger online from learning about inappropriate matters, or more likely learning harmful misinformation. They are not in any kind of physical danger (except for maybe eyestrain and the degradations of lack of exercise). You want to keep your kid as safe as possible? Always keep an open dialog, without prying or judging.



On C-SPAN there was a panel talking about foreign aid from the perspective of poor nations, and how the current method is bad for everyone. Apparently the donor nations or UN work out deals with the leaders of the country getting aid involving legal and political machinations worked out with no real thought to the result. Of course, leaders get the money and use it for their own projects or whims, while the poor get poorer. The solution offered was to set up a process whereby a certain sum is designated for a region, but each village gets the money for their project only after they have a direct democratic process within the village to designate a project leader, decide upon what project is their most important need, devise a plan to create the project to fulfill the need, and deliver their plan, budget, and project leader to the offering agency. This method would result in much fewer funds being needed, real useful projects being developed, local people creating jobs for themselves and growing the local economy, the people who need the funding being the ones deciding how it will be used and getting empowered to fix the problems in their own region.



We have been warned and tested in the late 70s and warned about depending on foreign oil, or fossil fuels in general. Being human, mostly we only actually get creative en masse and do something meaningful when our backs are at the wall. There have been breakthroughs and research and useful ideas about all manner of alternative fuel sources, which are only alternatives and not just fuel sources because of a foolish dependence on a cheap supply which is no longer cheap or certain or ours.

The only reason we use petrochemicals to fuel cars is that at the time when cars were first being designed commercially, oil was really cheap. People of an engineering persuasion have been examining other possible fuels for years. I would think that there are all kinds of useful methods of transportation to be worked out, tried out. It could be alot of fun. Maybe a good reality tv show promoting such inventiveness would help?



Energy is being harnessed from within the Earth in various locales and projects. There are many sources of energy which can be tapped. If we use each as it is best used, we are less likely to tap out any source and more likely to make more efficient use of diverse resources. The thing in any creative endeavor is to not get boxed in to "the way it is done."




We all have the God-given right to spread false information. I forget why God gave us that right, but quite obviously She did.



Jews, Christians, Muslims, Mormons, maybe others worship the same upstart minor Middle Eastern god who took the Jews out of Egypt to get them to fight his enemies and do his bidding. He grew in power as he gained more and more worshippers.



The New Testament was written by different people at a different time from the Old, but there were a great many writings that never made it in to the Bible. Whose message got told, whose censored can tell us about the politics of those times.



it is so easy to each be our own purveyor of truth, to step out of the circle of lies and obfuscations, and simply live.



Journals are certainly a medium of infinite expressive and creative potential. Interestingly, to me, I have been creating a character who is becoming a friend through her journal entries, which of course I create, but from another part of me. By letting her express freely by journaling, I am giving myself opportunities to look at my views and such recreated from another life perspective. I don't have to own her attitudes, because they are hers not mine. Thus, I am exploring these perspectives in some sense objectively, in some sense subjectively.



I've learned it's not just you (me), it's everyone. Every kid had something others could pick on. Glasses, a strange-sounding name, overbearing parents to make fun of, overbite, overweight, underweight, lisp, stammer, limp, stringy hair, frizzy hair, large nose, large ears, short, tall, too smart, not smart enough goes on forever.



People talk about the healing of love, the beauty of love, the great goodness and higher power of love. That love is all for you. Each and every you (me) can learn the power and beauty and healing of our own love.



The sky hardens
pinpoint diamonds
Ivory flowers
jungle grown
softly converse
knowing the sharp hardness
of thorns
Diamonds cut deeply
through psychic skin
like sweet flower scent
Hardness does not protect
gem, rose, or heart

Capricorn Full Moon reflection

Capricorn Full Moon reflection

Archetypes
Walking the streets, riding
subways --
subterranean consciousness,
ethereal siamese twin
to the everyday.
Shadow and substance
entwined as before
the invasion.
I long to tell you,
yearn to tell you,
but only if you truly listen.
I cannot say these things twice.
Memories seep through,
acquire form.
Stand straight and true
as soldiers or Marines
giving full allegiance
to any who will take that load.
There are Gods lying in excrement
begging relief in the form
of sacrament
potent and deadly.
There are Angels and
Demons waging war,
dice from a grail
foresaging trial or comfort.
Hungry Ghosts wail.
Vampires and Creatures
of the night
seek shelter before the
travails of daytime
break them.
I saw the Morning Star
wink salaciously.
In my kingdom
all manner of creatures
thrive.
Eagles soar.
Lions roar.
Whales sing.
Humans open a
veiled third eye.
The World rejoices.

(c) July 18, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon