staying power - thots from Taurus 2009

Love is an infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing.



The Founding Documents matter because they are about people getting together and creating a social structure for common benefit, respectful of individual rights. If we consider ourselves citizens, it is our sacred duty to honor those principles, in every way, every day.

First they distorted our history; but we did not feel ourselves to be part of history, so we did nothing.



a thousand tales
dancing upon angel pins
capturing pirates on the wild seas
capturing true love, or lust unbridled
riding wildly past inconsolation
tails burning with the sun



Ancient coded lights
written into generations
flashing between centuries
Warning Warning
manifestations ahead



eyes magnetize
pulling hearts to the stars



Moving through the mirror
into a land of mind that is mine
bending to drink from
your easily accessible mountain stream
We visualize reflections



Forest Green

See through the retina ancient prototypes
the vast vegetation, soothing to the
neural touch
Casting about, hoping for connection
to something sacred, something real
We are born to the forest,
nurtured in nativity
Green, deep healing green



fullmoonlit forest quickens, moves
hungering
for ancient disease, so pure, so swift
hungering
for howling ancestors
fleet beyond the periphery
capturing in the ephemeral world well
sweet dripping ecstasy
drink



leave a light on
because there's nobody home
liver dissolved from
loan sharked dreams
and nights too long to matter
when writing again and again
I feel sharp pain, internal bleeding
the years have neither stemmed
nor held



I have noticed that when criticizing others often (especially authoritarian types) accuse the other of the very faults they themselves most obviously (though perhaps unconsciously) express. It can be quite hilarious (if one excepts the tragedy) to watch angry partisans metaphorically (or sometimes actually) foaming at the mouth over how their opponent dares to be so evil as to do exactly what that accuser is known for.



No doubt the Universe is unfolding gloriously
It is we, humanity, who get it all wrong
Caught up in our grand designs
My soul's salvation finds itself idealed
morally as green libertarian
philosophically pantheistic
I worship, share holy alliance
in the polytheistic tradition,
the yin/yang of Beauty/creativity
in all Her guises.


I see you here
in the between lands
jesting in mock play
taking a solitary siesta
mooning after some northern star
I too partake in these follies


socialism is not heaven. Socialism is an economic theory by which each member of the society does the work they are suited for and everybody gets a piece of the pie. Heaven is a concept of a state of divine bliss in which work is optional, pie is optional, just whatever flows.

I am fully enlightened periodically. An amazingly wonderful feeling, a whoosh of pure energy that I feel could take me anywhere. Yet, here I am, Earth creature, human self-organizing system, in a world of buzzing airwaves, interlocuting energies, tasks and recreations, time and space coordinates, the whole marvelous ongoing invention. To actually engage and understand and work with these energies, I can kiss enlightenment on my way out the door, knowing I will return.


Why need there be A Creator? Why not creative process, verb rather than noun. The universe is eternal being, expanding through experiments in form.
The words are clear (for all of you who claim to believe in holy scriptures). God is not an angry old man in the sky. God is a denotation for a concept of ALL.
There is oneness made up of everyness. All those attributes we ascribe to God belong to us each, thus each of us resonates with the God we believe in.


It seems to me that we could (and do) each have our own definitions of such states as "enlightenment" or "effort." It is not necessary that we agree or each apply the same process to the same result. Just because we are making an effort (consciously working toward a result) does not mean we are not playing, opening to revelation, realizing simply a different level of reality. Just because we are swimming or floating or resting or hunting does not mean we are not able to interact playfully and mindfully with the water.



I am totally against the death penalty unless:

1) there is absolutely no doubt of any sort that the crimes of multiple murders committed heinously have been done by the person to be executed

2) the manner of execution is putting that person unarmed and undefended in a room full of the loved ones of the murdered who have no weapons but their natural ones

Otherwise, it's all hype.


I totally do not believe in a government having the power to kill. This is not because I don't believe in killing. It is because I don't believe that power should be given over to a committee or governing body. Life is very personal.



In some sense, torture is a misuse of a position of power. In common parlance it seems to be about inflicting lasting injury or at least incredibly overwhelming pain. We might get closer to the truth of what is going on with "torture" by examining the utilitarian purpose behind the "Golden Rule." We don't want to do unto others what they will then have rationale for doing unto us.



so this is how your garden grows
sweet, pungent, curling leaves,
deceptively flirtatious roots
a dram of rain, a fire of shooting stars
a garden of many colors
from which to pick succulence






Cultures are like that. They move through phases.
People are gossips and thieves
more willing to merrily fling barbs of derision
than make a real decision
Yet at times we amaze us,
disenage from the racing hype
recall how to be



In the 50s under Republican President Eisenhower, the highest tax rate was in the 90 + percent range. Nobody didn't work and earn whatever they could because of the high taxes. The economy was going gangbusters. A family could live quite well on one middle-class income, own a nice home, pay their reasonable medical bills (with catestrophic insurance only for the really expensive procedures), pay for college without oppressive loans to repay, have the kinds of governmental services such as police, schools, libraries, roads, etc. It has in fact been postulated that people thus taxed would work even more to make up for what the government was taking -- not that they would be happy about it, but we can all find something to complain about.



Sound moves between us
moving the air we breathe, between us
moving our hearts to bleed, between us
sound moving in, combining breathing, beating,
living music



As someone who has spent my life on the other side of that bright line of "the way things are," its not so much arrogance as people acting as if their beliefs are more important than me, the actual person they are addressing. My understanding is the Jesus preached love, of everyone, not just his friends. If you want to turn me on to your cool buddy Jesus who can bring me into the Kingdom of Heaven (if that were somewhere I would like to go), no need to hit me over the head and drag me. Have a conversation (implying we both get to speak). Tell me: I just want you to have the opportunity to know the kind of wonderful experiences I have. I just want to tell you these stories, parables, because I learned so much from hearing them.

When someone comes off as all "holier than thou" "arrogant" or otherwise demanding I believe as they do, all I hear is hubris.


Of course the efforts of a believer of a proselytizing religion is justified, in fact compelled, in speaking the truth they believe needs to be shared. In the same way, artists naturally feel compelled to share truths that others may not believe. My "first commandment" is the First Amendment of the US Constitution.


Expressing my belief in the First Amendment, which goes beyond the legal to the philosophical (I said it was my belief), does not imply advocacy of bigotry of violent behavior. That is not speech. Yes, hate speech is speech and bigotry and arguably violent. My solution (and Justice Brandeis') is not to deny free speech (again not just by law) but, yes, believers or nonbelievers or any one with something to say or say back -- my believe is "go for it!"

Funny thing here, if we don't want to listen, we don't. Happens all the time. And I do agree we need areas of privacy where free speech doesn't matter because speech in that sense is a matter for public fora. But I have been so much more severely wounded by guys on the street who feel they have the right as men to make lewd and hurtful comments about my body than any so-called religious hate speech. My response to them, middle finger salute.


I too am hoping to "save" some who let their lives be eaten up in stupid guilts and blamings having to do with misunderstood philosophies.


I certainly don't care whether anyone actually exist(ed)s. We are each our own field of reality. I tend to believe that Jesus was a true figure of history, not just a fairytale. I tend to believe that of several generally acknowledged as mythological folks as well, so don't go by me. I believe the historical Jesus was a "holy man," a prophet, a teller of parables that helped people to understand their lives. You may believe he was a direct manifestation of God. I believe we all are.



Of course, she can never be the same
But this crossroad is not the end of the game
Another road to find written her true name
Leads from a land in which there is no blame



The real purveyors of terror are the ones we encounter everyday -- people who are wound so tight that when they snap they not only want to fight back against perceived slings and arrows through suicide, but need to take out as many others as they can as well. As you point out, this is the "war" that might get us to a less violent place, but not if we keep up the "war" metaphor.



warm, sweet, reverie
wafting through layered breeze
the scents and sounds, oh!
the time-woven visions
friendships formed over
celebrations of life



Wooden ships sail ancient sea
Life within the circle, free
Easy trades, winds selling seeds
Back to the gardens of sweet, sweet
earth, air, sun, and water
I wander now in days of potent storm
Telling the tale my lover has told me
Deep in mystical incantation
of a possible age in birth
Love song 'tween man
and Earth



Curdling words swirling like cloud balloons
Crack swift deep clubbing upon assaulted breasts
Ne'er halt! Never give in. Never die.
There are always wayward stars
seeking hitchhikers



The point is to relax AND do the work. A new utopian world will not magically appear for us to gratefully grovel in gratitude at. What does evolve will come out of the magic of step by step creation moving spirits, minds, and pratical work along the appropriate vectors.


We experience all kinds of feeling states for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes just for an instant, others may last for days or longer. The way our brains are set up to work, we look for pattern recognitions. We want explanations and definitions and diagnoses. Then we put those feelngs in their place and think somehow we know something more.

Maybe have dialogs with these feelings, ideas, as if friends presenting you with their understandings that you don't yet understand.

Maybe meditate upon the train of thought as it moves through you.

Maybe put on music that feels good and move with it, let the images, ideas, memories dance with you.

Stay away from boxing in what you feel; feel it. Thoughts and feelings do not require actions.


The paradox, if we want to label it as such, is that while we spend our whole lives living in the real universe, we are all quite incapable of perceiving that universe as it actually exists. All we can do is take what we do perceive and make the best of it.



It is certainly much safer, and generally more effective, than the psychiatric pharmaceuticals usually prescribed. I would suggest, though, the mj being an intensifier/hypnotic it would best be used with say meditative techniques, while listening to appropriate music (soothing or upbeat) or interacting with whatever art medium one has found effective, or other activities that promote mood balance.



It is so cruel, having to endure pain that no one wants to understand and being stigmatized for it. I think of this every time I hear about the medical marijuana debate. No matter what you may think about recreational drug use, please don't take it out on those who are already suffering so greatly and hoping desperately for relief.



Regardless of specific circumstances, people shattered by trauma deserve whatever help they need to reframe their reference-point, their worldview, such that the shattering experience can be encompassed meaningfully. It is to everyone's benefit that we learn to understand and respond to traumatic experiences thus that they can be absorbed into a growing effective life. This is not a world in which we can prevent pain. It is a world in which we can create effective responses to mitigate damage.



I love sad music, sad movies I can cry through and feel a real release in a fantasy.
It's the people, the horrible, cruel, can't even see me dying here cause they're too busy having a joke on that dying useless crone. Oh, you know what I mean. So I do use it, turn it into an artistic rendering. I move myself into a different frame in which I only see them peripherally while front and center I see my beautiful, even sad, visions. That denial of "reality" is not insanity. It is finding a way to be sane.



I don't know if this is a more modern trend or exactly how it has happened, but we seem to want to diagnose, treat, make everyone definitively diseased and hooked on pharmaceuticals rather than take each person as they have become over their trauma informed lives and make human connections. I read somewhere that bureaucracy, which is cursed as inefficient and dehumanizing, was invented just for those qualities. The point of bureaucracy is to put a buffer of regulations between people. It seems to me that money is similarly used. People talk about wanting more intimate relationships, more real experiences with each other; but in the day-to-day we put others into boxes and dismiss them.



With a word, the stranger gives a hand
An image stronger than the sound
Water falls upon the land
A smile peeks out from a frown
An eclipse returns dark to noon
As men's minds walk upon the Moon



Caressing sky and weeping winds
Releasing form into substance



How's this for a strange, new plan: be honest with our kids. Tell them about the pros and cons of sex. If you personally don't have any pros or any cons, let them read or watch the stories of people whose lives were ruined by careless actions and open the floor to questions and answers. Not saying this will end teen pregnancies; but it will tend more toward kids knowing the meaning of "informed consent." Also, inform them of the pros and cons of the various forms of birth control. The point, though, is not just medication but context.



first they annihilated the dignity of the children; but we were not children, so we did nothing.



I tend to think the country is more divided between those looking for solutions and those looking to assign blame.







you did not produce and earn money. You produced whatever work product is in you to produce and earned trade value. The monetary system, the social system through which we exchange goods and services, can only exist if people have thought up and executed a plan for how that is to be.



There are those who claim that property is theft. The bounty of the Earth, the natural resources we all use, belong to all of us and none of us. It is there. We can use it. However, we do not own it. If we take these resources for ourselves, we are stealing them. If we make something from those resources (or from materials made from them, and so forth), we righteously own that value created from our labor, but the world still owns its resources put into that product.

In our modern USA we have a system of trading through the intermediary medium of money. This money is problematically created by a nongovernmental agency and sold at a profit, thus being based not on anything solid, just debt. However, the value of the money is set according to agreed upon rules and backed by [what is that wording? Something like] the full faith and credit of the United States. Thus, the money is not ours. Not only is it a fictional representation, I mean fictional representations such as intellectual property can be ours, but it is a collective fictional resource backed by governmental authority. This is not to say we ought to be taxed indiscriminately. There are checks and balances both in terms of economics and politics.



You've been imbibing my dreams
Be so careful, they are poison
yet lovely



An osphresiophilian pandemic is Spring
Back to the woods, fields and planting
Kicking up heels, enjoying the fling
Far from the wordsmiths' panicky ranting
Scents make more sense than journalists' frenzy
But if you're concerned, yes, I recommend "C



There are remnants of winters
layered ice memories
melting in the hellstorm of regret
cold, miserable, wet
Until we recall
hear that primal reverie
touch the bright, warm center
from which we may ever spring



some call it pain
some call it ripping through the veil
some call it burning scars into life
that the fire be respected
some call it a call to compassion
some call it a test of will
some call it simple cause/effect self-monitoring
a warning, a call for curative care
some call it raw sensation
to be interpreted
by me for me
by you for you



More than likely, not. If you consider primitive hunter-gatherer groups where alpha males mate with alpha females and leave the rest to their own ways;
if you consider many cultures in which homosexuality was considered a sign of higher cultural awareness;
if you consider a general norm in which there are sex acts for pleasure, sex acts for political reasons, sex acts for procreation, and sex out of curiosity or boredom;
denigration of homosexuality is just another one of those prejudices that has to be carefully taught.



Perhaps a poem of love,
thick words upon parchment
to hold to your heart,
as it dampens through the years
from dripping tears
might seem a heaven sent reminder
We who love without rhyme or
rhythmic scheme to slow our tune
if we are truly in the spire of love
create in shining halls of memory
poetry that never dies



I can smell the salty sands of yesteryear
taste the copper, taste the sparkling tears
feel the lift of tinkling laughter
fill the evening breeze of memories



Gasping pure air between
precipice and space
wrapped in precious poisonous pleasure



Flowers of the May Queen
bright expectant buds
waving euphoria scented
magnetizing
Earth's celebration
of life



Gambling, drugs, shopping manically, all these "addictions" are neither the addiction nor the disease, but simple symptoms of inner needs unfulfilled, thought unfulfillable.



gushing bloody inspiration through fangs sharp and wise
temptuous, tempestuous, oh tempt me pure and thorough
my wet, red life pumping into ecstatic relief



I slept and the dream was real, I swear it
not a figment of fractal life, nor sweet reverie never to be revealed
It was not the sleep of the dead, nor damned, nor opium induced
It was the sleep of lovers entwined after spending into love
totality of desire



hidden as a jungle creature
learning the thrilling sensations of nature
the strong scent of the predator
the sweet scent of life



strong words
loving sentiment
for love is not sweet and light
but bitter, strong, energizing
catalyzing heart into art



hidden in the darkest mystery
common wisdom, basic sensation
if river, then water and earth
mud, clay, pottery, etched tablets
television, robotics, space travel
along the riverbed




I am shaken; I am touched in that eternity
if beauty demands sacrifice
sacrifice demands such beauty


Poetry speaks
the language
between words



It's the spaces inbetween
dark and light
end and beginning
edge and sky
where flight and float combine



like a meditative prayer to beauty's sacred well
drinking deeply with subtlety of sensation
expanding metaphoric cells with
water of life and contemplation
reaching for more



My bias is toward transparency, the healing power of sunshine, open speech and debate. I understand these pictures can be used as propaganda. Pretty much anything can. The innoculation for that would be to release them along with strong statements about how horribly we all feel that this was done and we are releasing these photos as part of the overall campaign to be very sure such things never happen again under the auspices of the US. This administration also might like to (perhaps they already are) look into what kinds of reparations can be made.



on C-SPAN with, I think his name is Jeff Jarvis, about Google. The axiom was brought up: "advertising is failure" meaning that the optimum model is you make a good product and have good customer service so people who buy your product are happy and sell it for you. If you have to advertise, or especially if you are putting too much of your budget into advertising rather than product and service, you have failed.



have to wonder about people who "lose faith" in a politician. I strongly supported Obama's candidacy not because I thought he was a god, miracle worker, or magician but because he was the best candidate for the US presidency I have ever seen. He still is. He is a fine politician, working each side to get to a place where we can all live. He has nothing to do with student loans, tax laws, or even social security payment rules. Those are already in place, and the province of the legislative, not the executive branch. That said, we do each have our own responsibility to keep our elected representatives working for us. We each need to make our voices heard, even if only among our social networks. We also each need to find the best ways to make our own individual lives work for us, because, you know, politicians are not going to do that.



One of the greatest problems with [public as it is done here] education is not lack of funding, or even lack of teachers, but a general anti-intellectual attitude that makes it more rewarding to spend one's brain on popular trivia



There is no dichotomy. That is possibly part of the crux of these misunderstandings. We do not have to feel or act or believe to be spiritual in the sense of all belonging to a greater whole. We live our individual self-created lives and still are even unawares always enmeshed in the greater ecology. This is not a material ecology, a spiritual ecology, a mental ecology, but a vast interrelationship


There are a great diversity of realms within the Universe. Some parallel, some intersect. These are not different realms. It is the way our brains/perceptive-cognitive systems are wired that makes it all look discrete. We are mind/body/spirit and a whole lot more as a self-organizing ecology



I am sick and tired of corporations not paying their taxes. If they want to be considered people, they ought to follow the laws we have to.



It is our flaws which perfect us and give us opportunities to share with flawed humans to find mutual support. Much better than any chemical agent are human (or even loving animal) agents who help us to understand that we are neither alone nor unlovable just because we have flaws. This is a lesson which strikes home because it has been so hard for me to unbend and be flawed in the presence of others. I have serious trust issues which seem to have become smoldering borders around my metaphoric heart. I keep being made aware of the professional and otherwise active healers who have come to understand that the best medicine for diseases of the psyche is love. I don't mean lust or the kind of "love" implying obligation or even the universal kind of caring we often see from the spiritually striving. I mean simple human to human kindness, understanding, openness to deep communication that allows each to feel part of more and more validated, thus more empowered.



Prayer can be a practiced as meditation or visualization or affirmation or any of those nlp type boosting of the power of the will. Prayer can be an aspect of magick. It all depends on your intention and your focus.



One does not become wise as a finishing point. One acquires wisdom all the way through, bit by bit, sometimes in torrents, but there is always more to come.



breath caught
held
harnessed
skimming seasoned seedshores
finds mindful
exhalation



healthcare isn't free. We pay for it, usually more than one way or the other. One of the points of the healthcare proposal is to make the cost of healthcare LOWER: through the competition the private insurers will have from the government plan; from economies brought about by an overall study of how best to provide healthcare; from better general health -- which means if we are all healthier, we are all less likely to spread disease and more likely to recover quickly when we do get sick -- basically from applying sane, sound principles to what has become a truly stupid system of providing a necessary service.


The more I look at it, the more obvious it seems that such services as basic healthcare don't work in the profit sector. Perhaps this is a job for nongovernment agencies.


I think for better healthcare options we would be best to encourage healthcare workers by paying on that end for anyone qualified and motivated to get the prerequisite education. On the malpractice issue, we have to be very concerned to both take care of anyone injured by malpractice and doctors who are doing their best. More could be done about transparency for prospective patients to know the doctor's record. More could be done generally in this country for taking care of those injured by any kind of "victimization," regardless of where the blame for those injuries lays.


How much sense does it make to have a "healthcare system" in which those most in need of care, often because of that very illness least able to pay, can't get insurance which has become our (incredibly stupid) way of paying for what we have caused to become too expensive for people generally to pay for themselves?


Healthcare does not need to be "socialized" to work much better. If those who spent so much energy being up in arms over theories they mostly don't even understand, perhaps they could put those energies into workable solutions to obvious societal problems. One position I have taken for decades (since I was a small child, in fact) is that we as society ought to be encouraging rather than discouraging the making of medical professionals. If we made it easy for anyone with the prerequisite abilities and interest to get medical training, we could let capitalist theory have its day. If we decide as a society, or as a subgroup, to create some kind of subscription plan (not insurance), raise additional funds through foundations, charity campaigns, whatever clever means brainstorming brings up, we could have a universal health coverage option with no governmental taint.

There are many possible systems that could be put in place to give US citizens better, affordable, nonhorrorstory healthcare. It certainly does not have to be "government-run." Though, of course, the government doesn't run the giving of the care, only the payment.




take out the stake
capturing my heart
hurl it warrior style
into the dark soul of
betrayed forsaken
shake well
shake it!
drink so intoxicating,
so pure



Our society has been accused of this anti-intellectual, shallow celebrity adoring, insulated ignorance forever. To some extent (like Charles Dickens' cogent observation in A Tale of Two Cities about the best and worst of times) it has always been true. However, individual justification of lazy ignorance by proclaiming such to be societally ubiquitous neither advances the cause of intelligent social critique nor sheds light on the obstacles. If the people refuse to be nourished by the rich understandings of the intelllect, it would seem that adding nutrients to their cake might help.




It's so cruel
all you learn in school
is mocking behavior
reciting the rule
not that life's there to savor
for the free playful fool



bloodlust
bloodlove
blood taste long after midnight
not to entice your fright
to find the one
whose blood
calls to mine

first notification for Emerging Visions #15 ~ Shifting Perceptions

Emerging Visions visionary art ezine #14 ~ "Scrying Phantom Seas"* ~ roiling on rocks of destiny emerged on the Ides of March, 2009. Merge with us, imbibing prescient visions.

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com

now, look into the crystal - Get ready for #15, Shifting Perceptions* ~ expected to emerge just before the Solstice

take another look; tell us what you see

enjoy the visions on the way while scrolling to the Submission Guidelines below

*theme for Gemini: Magic of the Mind

headlong rushing fool

My Dear Friends,
I am a total idiot when it comes to that real world kind of physical labor that would be the staple chores of a primitive society. Help! Tell me what you know from experience, conversation, reading, and/or pertinent links I can check out, please, please, please... see the lazily developing story: caelastory.blogspot.com




Don't let the perfect stand in opposition to the possible.



I just happened to be watching a History Channel program about Eastern religions -- Hinduism and Buddhism. As the representative was talking about Buddhist rules, I was realizing that such "rules" or "teachings" or lectures from the learned are all well and good. They can inspire or otherwise take us into a different perspective, realm of thinking. The point is (at least for me) that they are only ideas in the marketplace to wander, picking up this or that for the moment, until the spark touches the tinder they have built up and I have the realizations meant for me.



I consider myself ambi-sexual. Gender is not the issue. I believe all of us are bisexual, along a continuum. Anyone who insists that you cannot be bisexual is selling something (you don't have to sell for money).



As a lifelong liberal in the original sense, of valuing human liberty over societal concerns, I applaud standing up to the raging pro-Zion crowd. Anti-Zionism is far and away not Anti-Semitism. The Zionist tradition is one of either ancient prejudicial feuding based on "my God is better than yours" or an outgrowth of the unfortunate colonial era that has left the Middle East like one working through PTSD on a grand scale. I also like to remind those who preselect their history that the Jews were far from the only recipients of the terror of the Holocaust. Where is the Gypsy state, the Homosexual state, the Political Dissenter state, the Differently Directed state?



Researchers with big drug profits swirling around note that big stress seems to knock holes in our brains, deplete our internal pain ameliorating system, mess with our memories, et al. Then they rationalize that "oh, you've got holes in your brain; obviously you are quite ill and need medication to fill in those holes." Yet, to me it is seeming more and more obvious that the holes are there for a reason, the imbalance is there for a reason, the pain is there for a reason -- because the system is too stressed to function properly. What's needed is not medication. This is not an illness as such, but a message. What we need is to learn how to decrease, eliminate, work with, reframe or otherwise make peace with what we can, find effective strategies for fighting what we can't make peace with.



I am thinking that disempowerment, whether through drugs or discouragement from taking responsibility for one's life or through encouraging one to believe they are in the throes of a disease that can only be cured by outside influence, can not be a good. Yes, of course, there are so very many influences in our lives over which we have no possibility of control. Then there are all the social pressures to conform. Then there are the familial pressures toward guilt and taking the wrong kinds of responsibility -- responsibility for that for which we can not be responsible.

It seems to me that if one is counseling or working towards self-improvement, or in fact working toward social improvement, it would be best to concentrate not on what one cannot do (for whatever reason) but on what one can do (no matter how seemingly inconsequent).



Children at play
learning the lengths of their fingers
reach for external visions
If fingers are never burned
those lessons are never learned



Responsibility - ability to respond - to the situations in our lives toward our own best enlightened self-interest is not about blame or even what others may think or say. It is an attitude of entitlement to self-empowerment, within whatever box we may have been enclosed. Even if we can't get our life situations out of the box, we can frame them in ways with which we can find personal advantage.


I recently read an article about new discoveries regarding what the psychiatrists call borderline personality disorder. As was mentioned in the article and by a comment on the original article page, anti-psychotic meds are ineffective. It seems to me that if people lack naturally the capacity to figure out social cues, the appropriate "cure" would be education in social cues (which is done, though I'm not sure how extensively, with people on the autism spectrum).



A placebo is an inert substance which the power of belief imbues with the desired effect. These pharmaceuticals far from being inert are seriously distressing the systems of those who take them. We would be so much better off with real placebos.



Robert Heinlein is a much more usefully readable author of libertarian fiction than Ayn Rand. Give me Jubal Harshaw of John Galt any decade.



Why is it so difficult to understand that parents are people, any people who happen to reproduce. There are no guarantees of any specific kind of family life. Since we all take what we get, and often get drama, tragedy, painful stressor, we would all do better to accept that as given and go about finding useful ways to destress and do what moves us.



Open your windows
Air out the damp and drear
Feel the warm breeze
rewind the beat
of your weary heart



I don't know that there has ever been a true free market society. Perhaps after the original tribal communism, when there was rudimentary trade between neighboring tribes. Probably not then either. There are always groups with agendas, people who usurp power, unfavorable or favorable politics keeps markets anything but free.



Back in the formative days of what has become the USA the idea of separating church and state was part of the newly emerging liberal enlightenment philosophy. It was not to denigrate religion, nor to elevate the state. It was to make it clear that unlike in Europe, where church and state were considered a cohesive ruling body, matters of the spirit would not have to take a second place to matters of the body politic. It was pointed out that this was the will of God, that His areas of concern and those of the secular state be separate.



My understanding is that this wave of "tea parties" came out of the Ron Paul campaign's fund-raising events last year. That this anti-corporate-capitalism-as-we-now-know-doesn't-work-so-tell-our-"representatives"-we're-mad-as-Hell sentiment has been co-opted by Fox and friends does not make these feelings any less real. Why not give up being so attached to our individual identity groups and have a real dialog among the nonwealthy 95% of Americans about how our country can start working for us?



The logical outgrowth of a war on drugs -- the drugs are winning and infecting our water supply. But wait, I thought that was the illegal drugs (oh yeah, they make eagles ill as well).



If it's too big to fail, it's too big. There ought to be a law.

"Allowed" implies legislation, which the the province of Congress.




How come the states' rights crowd doesn't get all over this. Even Justice Thomas thought that marijuana ought to be a states' rights issue.

Yes, there are more important national emergencies than the often critical personal emergencies involving medical marijuana. However, if we should dare to look at a bigger picture: precious state and federal resources are still being wasted on hunting and jailing those in the marijuana trade that money could be taxed, the trade regulated, and much more resources would be opened up at both ends of savings and revenues medical marijuana often treats illnesses more cheaply, with lower side-effects, and more effectively than more expensive pharmaceuticals, thus offering a savings in medical costs if legal, regulated, taxed marijuana were available in the capitalist scenario, people who wanted or medically needed the herb would not be funding death-dealers in foreign lands



The critic, like the artist opening their art to criticism, must work from that side of the mind that can reason, feel and relate without getting personally involved. I am a lousy critic. I can't seem to come up with coherent reasons for what I feel works or does not. The best I can do is try to respond in kind or actually rework the piece as if it were mine.

I know I don't say it enough: Thank you you critics who care for your thankless efforts on we writers' behalf!



That space between eternity and neverwas
the difference engine
to keep the wheel turning



swirl multi-colored soft silk
touching face to face
splendid entrancement
dancing to night's promise



Remembering scents and sounds
secreted within dreaming
awakening to emotions
from alien eyes of wonder




true shamans aren't ready for this world; when we are the only stoning will be of our choosing




Letting go of Earth
wrapped in a cloud of moonbeams
to remember we only borrow time
on our return to eternity



crafty synaptic flow
dreamcatching from all hallowed and harrowed
tasting subtle essence in the bitter grain
of sanctified harvest sacrifice



sweet, bitter sweet, salty sweet as candied seaweed
answer and call; answer and call
eerie yet wondrously apprehended
private seas pulling grand tiding



It irks me how theoretical concepts (socialism, capitalism, communism, liberalism, conservatism) are both seriously misconstrued and vilified as if they were other than manmade musings. Real concerns would be how do we best allow for personal liberty and social welfare (no, not that damned "welfare state" but what is actually to the benefit all of us who make up the society) in a spirit of enlightened self-interest.



chilling sentiment
for sentimentality is not the province of only romance
or sweet tidings
the brave have learned
to carry it all



Music may well be what makes us human



The disastrous results of Reagan's "trickle down" (called by Bush I "voodoo") economics was not due to greed or other human failings (other than stupidity). The true way to have not only a fair but actually more useful system is to flow up from the work on the ground. Financial work is not "real" work, more like gambling and ponzi scheming.



God doesn't have religion, that is the province of man.



Or maybe God is a metaphor for our relationship with dance?



I believe, in fact, that the mind/body connection is such that it is not a chemical imbalance causing mental symptoms, but stress reactions causing mental symptoms portrayed in the body as chemical imbalance. Perhaps this is why so often even drugs that have been effective lose their effectiveness. This could also be some explanation for the feelings you describe of notrightness in the drug effects -- your body is doing what it perceives as right for you in response to the stressors you are trying to live with. Thus, the effective treatment would in fact be teaching the sufferer how to better cope with what is happening or has happened in their lives. I believe this is the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapies, often cited in studies as being generally more effective than drugs.



This idea of the rich paying the bulk of taxes may be technically true in that having the bulk of the money some percentage of that is bigger than that percentage for the rest who combined have less. The rich are also the biggest benefitters from governmental spending. Further, if those who have amassed wealth were to be more self-enlightened about the use of and respect for the labor that actually creates that wealth, we wouldn't be having this discussion or this financial "crisis".



Perhaps some of the problem is the dependence upon the "educational system" to create an interest in knowledge. Perhaps those parents and community members who are not bigoted against intellectual pursuits need to open more avenues of wonder to their tv bred, public school ignored young.



standing under the circus tent
breathing in excitement and bliss
mountaintop view eternally new
what more to be wanted than this?



if you look at the rhetoric spouting from true believers, it is often made up of very partial truths and drivel. Thus, actually spelling out in clear language what is meant by liberty might lead to an occasional "aha!"



Once people get the hang of the unreality of money, that finance is a social concept thus malleable to social change, maybe we'll get somewhere.



dream sweet dreams
dripping with oceanic splendor
deep tears and tensions will mend there
beautiful stories so rendered
completing unconscious schemes



I just learned through reading a totally speculative book of fiction not (ghost)written by Douglas Adams' ghost that the answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything, 42 is the I Ching equivalent of "Increase"




I really think we should realize by now that the best we could do to avert murderous crazed terrorists is to pay more attention to the mental health of those around us.




We do need to take responsibility for the drug cartel profit-related violence that has grown around our seriously stupid "war on drugs."




The whole concept is quite a mess. We have people suffering severe reactions to forced pharmaceuticals (and the biggest "illicit' drug usage -- as always has been in my long memory -- is pharmaceuticals taken by those for whom the prescription was not written). Then we have people whose lives are ruined (ruined, from an early age) because they were caught getting high. Then we have the big-violence drug cartels so we say "oh drugs are causing violence" when all we would have to do to stop that right quick is legalize. Do we still have violent bootleg alcohol cartels since Prohibition was repealed?



you get a certain small percentage of people who have a large tendency toward drug abuse. They will abuse drugs, whatever they can get, however they can get it. We are more likely to have fewer bad results if instead of treating this as a moral/legal issue we treat it as a social/medical issue.



Not that I haven't personally experienced unexplained largesse, getting what I need when I need it. However, as I observe, there are a great many people for whom the universe is not providing. What am I to make of this?



Passion resurrected in Spring
uplifted from meager ground
sent back into sensuality
the essentiality of life
well-lived, well-succored, well-said
brought up from sacred water
into prophetic air
Sing!



This blaming naming self as knave,
no good girl
Expecting to be always brave,
a good girl
Caught in walls look what befalls -
no good, girl.
You'll always be the best to me,
so good, girl



The problem with thinking governmental officials will do, or want to do, anything of the nature you are suggesting is that these people R or D are entrenched in the false conservatism of what is needs to continue along the well-worn path. This is not so much out of cowardice or stupidity, though there are those as well, but the understanding that their jobs depend on being applauded by the least common denominators of entrenched values.



This is a point I keep trying to make. It absolutely doesn't matter whether "global warming" as anyone defines it is the Truth. What matters is that we have a responsibility to our planet if we intend to continue to live here. This is in fact not so much about the planet (notice, no matter your position on global warming, in the article I forwarded that the trees enjoy the extra carbon). Gaea seems to be quite capable. Responsible stewardship is about enlightened self-interest (so much more useful than morality or love).



Money? Money is a servant of man, not having anything to do with Mother Earth. We don't need to spend money on Mom, we need to spend the mind time engaging in respect.



I have read The Bible (old and new in English translations). Those books are NOT written by a god. They don't claim to be. They are quite clearly written by men who thought they knew something.

As to the biblical stuff, probably mostly history related by those who kept the stories, therefore like most history, interwoven with whatever fiction made the story better. It does amaze me that 21st century human beings try to pass this collection of stories off as "the word of God." Why would God need to quote Himself? The only word of God I remember in The Bible was inscribed on clay tablets and given to Moses to bring down from the mountain. Tellingly, these include injunctions against worshipping other Gods. Yahweh knew he was one of many, as did the people he coopted as His.



So many kids these days of the diagnose and drug paradigm don't get to learn how to be and belong within themselves, how to learn the gift of their difference. Not saying that I would wish that kind of solitary hell on them. What we need is a paradigm of caregivers that teach rather than drug.



My understanding is that Satan is the manifestation of hubris -- acting as if one is the great judge against men. Each of us is our own manifestation of the possibilities of creation. Better to enjoy that sacred role, which if accepted completely leaves no room for the negativity of dividing our neighbors into this or that.



Markets are inflated in their array of nonessential products. Marketing makes the nonessential seem essential. Some, aware of time's purpose of keeping all from happening at once, money's purpose of keeping a reign on consumption, prefer to wait for more propitious times to invest in products they have decided to want. Or maybe they like the anticipation of delayed gratification. Especially when stressed out beyond reason, though, people tend to grasp for the quick fix of the consumption drug.



There are those who scoff
at the mere physical
the mere technically "real"
Can reality be more compelling
than the retelling
drenched in redolent imagination



blood commands power
lifeforce, dripping toward death
"Give to me! I offer most precious payment."



delicious sweet juice
flows
fingertips to lips



America is meant to be a liberal state: experimenting with the radical idea that individual human liberty is more important than group think.



It is truly sad that there are so many people with such boring lives.



Wind is the wildest metaphor
swift, strong, fleeting,
or warmly wisping, gently
lapping, coolly emoting
storm of sensory excess
creating clarity of the moment's
ebullience



If we don't want single-payer healthcare administered by the government, and we can't get it together to have private nonprofit single-payer, at least there ought to be a system in place for medical facilities to be required to work out reasonable payment plans with their patients, possibly sweetened with tax advantages or backed by philanthropic funds or subscriptions paid by those who can (kind of like PBS). In any case, some way has to be found by this society to make medical care a blessing rather than a burden.



Kids, older people, we're all those nasty creatures with our own internal dialogs telling us who knows what as far as mere onlookers are concerned. We all go off sometimes quite inappropriately. What the kids get to learn is how to negotiate the often rocky social play of those around them as they learn to take their place. Thus, letting them know that the nasty remark of a grown-up is inappropriate makes hearing that remark in the first place worthwhile.



My high school years were certainly hell. That was back in the ancient 60's. It's not what's being done or not done today. It's the fundamental nature of imprisoning a large group of hostile hyper-hormonal energetic youth without acknowledging their frustration thus incubated.



Do you know what the most common "high" that impairs drivers often causing horrendous accidents? Lack of sleep. How are you going to test for that? The sensible course is to demand that those on the road are driving safely. How do you know if they're driving safely? Watch them. How do you stop them from driving unsafely? Traffic patrols.



many studies have shown cigarettes (or probably now that cigarettes are less cool, good old beer) as the "gateway" to drug use. We first use what is around us all the time.



The genie cannot be returned to the bottle
The law cannot control the lawless
or those who are laws unto themselves
As the cure for bad speech is more speech
not silence
the cure for violence is not suppression
but enlightened advantage



First they tortured the logic, but as we weren't logic, we did nothing



remember the old (was it in the 50s?) meaning of "tea party" (like Alice's?)? That would be something we could tax and save money by bringing into the legitimate economy.



dream imagery can be so evocative
without making sense
without kowtowing to the senses
to scientifically observable fact
running without legs or pavement
smiles lingering without cats or mirth
dense, immediate quarrels
never begun nor ended
I roll over crimson seas in a rollicking
ferryboat, bartab with no way to pay
dreaming, outside responsibility
catching glinting glimpses
open to interpretation

Good Friday

Thank God, Good Friday

He came back
And we can worship, believe
Not like everyone else
He did not abandon us
Dying in a far off war, leaving
ashen legacy
never enough
starvation for affectionate attention
pummeling harsh walls with
bloody fists
Banging against the icy windowpane
crying salt, oceanic sorrow
"I tried to be good. I hated hearing
your screams of disappointment
muffling shameful despair
because this was not the life
you bargained for in the
promised land beyond
hot desert wanders"
Desert, resurrected sea
where we all began
Sliding along rocky formations
begetting, begatting, belonging
to the Earth, mud creatures
breathing molecules of air,
baking in the Sun
Ready for sacrifice
carrying crosses along a huge column
era to era
Atlas's and Eves
burdens of responsibility
our sacred contract
broken every time you speak of God
"Take not my Name"
for words have consequence
A cross requires two lines meeting
A Crucifixion
requires juxtapositions of history,
people in bondage
to their own ideas

(c) April 10, 2009 Laurie Corzett/libramoon

Winter candles

Logic of Evolution

Successful progenitors
survive to sow seed
by force or persuasion
or staying unseen
or banding together
that more may succeed
to improving conditions
enhancing the breed.
But, for successful teamwork
we must
learn to respect, honor, and trust
expect to give and take and share
accept the caring for and care.
In community varied seeds are sown.
Thus is a thriving future grown.
Now, brothers may squabble;
neighbors may scorn.
Barriers built up,
preparations for war.
Who is emboldened by
destruction and blood,
blowing civilizations
back into mud?
Are they kind people
of honor and joy?
Those who can do;
the lacking destroy.
Guns, bombs, words, cruel
contempt, angry sneers,
promoting of pain,
preying on fears,
giving us naught but
unneeded tears
and advancement of certain
unsavory careers.
We can see through the lies,
realize the prize
Here! before our eyes.
Simple. Easy. Free.
Expect, accept, embrace
the abundance
of Peace.

(c) January 20, 2009 Laurie Corzett/libramoon


Prologue

Sun and Moon embrace
as one
for brief eternity
all mystery within

Black and White
create gradation
radiate kinetic energy
We can achieve
believe, begin, begin, begin

Gardeners, planting flowers,
planting food,
planting souls in
nurturing soil

Healers
perceiving wounds
to be sewn
relieving loneliness
revealing pain
held in, denied
twisting ardent toil

Teachers
admiring their wards
finding with them
questions, keys and doors;
realizing history is only destiny
when explorations cease;
invitations from space and time
come complete
with choices

A choir of voices
from softest spark
to fervent blaze
Troops of effervescent players
Symphonies,
drums at dawn
Inspiration and instruction
carried forth through song and stage
vibrant murals painting onward age to age
Taking up the challenge of the tale
that twists, turns, meanders
providing kaleidoscopic opportunity
ever to begin again

(c) January 22, 2009 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



detached

Where were you when I was dying?
Now that I am all but (merely nearly) dead
you mock me
beg my assistance
to mitigate
the dark fall-out
of your fantasies.
Blind to my bleeding, and your own,
how can anything I say
reach you anyway?
Return your pleading to your
silent Lord.
Leave me to my resolutions.
Strangers all these years,
I feel no desire
for meeting
in your dream.



Opening Night

Empty branches yearn for
darkening breeze.
Eerie singing echoes
from the horizon.
Slower days, longer nights
made for reflection ...
And wind sings, trees dance,
stars laugh in the moonlight.



Self-regulating System

The holistic architecture of the Universe
Bubbles bright, dark, defining colour
Gradated activities -- still to
exploding, brilliantly consuming,
tasting infinite combination,
excreting stars
and their progeny.
Living clocks and compasses
dare to create language
unaware that nothing is created
nor destroyed,
but open to interpretation.
Healers, trained in discrete modules,
move pieces on the field of battle,
"acceptable loss" "collateral damage"
Language to limit liability.
Dull, sluggish bubbles
seeking wider distribution
eagerly await Armageddon.

(c) January 25, 2009 Laurie Corzett/libramoon


Childhood memories
imaginary playmates, wondrous fantasies
disappointing realities
I build my gingerbread cave
burn off bits as needed
against the cold
Deep in the woods of childhood
every tree, every lizard, toad,
bramble creating
tunneling stories, glamorous
productions, adventure, romance
Opening eyes upon petty spites,
lonely habits of duty
I look behind to shining grace
realize my place
out, far from grim, grey dawn
upon dawn
listening for enchanting pipes
of Pan to follow
past the painted sky




Gonna build our army for God
Oh the glory, Oh the rapture
millions of souls marching home



Pushing me
sad, shadow memory
I never know what to answer
Hard harsh faces
leer, jeer, beg for tears
I dare not cry
Held by my arms
fiercely protective
Stale tears drip through
the valves of my heart
caustic, bred of poison
A lonely infant cries in the night,
learning to be human



Blind old seer, wizard, holy prophet
stumbling over rocky hillocks
toward the sun
beseeches, sings, ululates
opening passage, veils, gates
free to breathe, drink, be absorbed



London Bridge is burning, burning
The towers are struck and fallen down
With time and tide a'turning
What was lost may still be found
In a world of lads and lasses
Hale and strong, brave and true
Joined in singing,
Raise our glasses
And do as we must do



Masked Lady Moon shines
into my room
speaks of fantastic adventure
Dare I question her
abundant concern?
I a masked gypsy
painted in gloom,
a taste for wry humour,
impossible promises,
resplendent terrain.
A woman insane,
taken in by the Moon
fair sister, sparkling cold
so far
I have no home
but that clear, quiet salvation
hiding like Moonlight
unmasked in my mind


Rituals for Worshipping Beauty


Life's a Mad Dog in Heat; But At Least There's Art

I want a poem, painting, song
to be authentic
heart to heart,
mind to mind
Not to tell me something about you;
to show me more of me.



A Woman Disappointed and Disillusioned, Courageously Facing a Seemingly Empty Life

Dressed in sadness
Depressed to madness
Mad to believe in passion,
which never lasts beyond the hour.
Shrieking to bequeath the
power to stand, to breathe.
Time appears, macabre hag
preening her wares.
"See how it was, how it could be.
Drag and drop your face, your fate
onto a printed page. Can you see
new meaning? New lamps for old."
She cackles, like
a metronome.
New maps for a new age.
That charming village erstwhile
known as Hell
has realigned into Helvetica.
All that pain and sorrow
tomorrow's poetry.



Re-birth

Making love with Beauty
Engorged in her
orgasmic depths
bursting with vision
splurging words of
potent musky imagery
Worshipping Beauty
loving her every countenance,
her every secret ecstasy
Pleasuring me
in our co-creation

(c) February 9, 2009 hours before lunar eclipse


Bitter Dregs

You don't get it.
You don't want to.
It would be too much to bear
if you let yourself.
Briefly unconscious, awakened to
hard concrete ground surrounded
by heels and toes, amazing
they don't crush me, but no,
like lockstep they walk around
though occasionally a(n unmeaning?)
shove -- I'm not a someone,
just a minor obstacle
unnoted in their day.
No worries.
Not like shoved down under
hard muscle and bone
stinking of beer and rage
or waking from brief unconsciousness
to broken pain, bleeding
tears, torn, bruised, a
colorful toy
made for pleasure.
Then there are the voices, echoes
Harpies and Sirens, Furies
and sad old women, fingers
shaking in disapprobation.
The voices tell me I am beautiful,
in the way that ugly things are.
So bad, so pitiful, it gives me
status among the neverweres,
struggling shadows, whispering
curses demurely lest anyone
notice and throw them further
down.
Never easy, confessing to degradation.
The sin adheres. No one wants to know.

(c) February 16, 2009 Laurie Corzett/libramoon



Post-trauma

A child of my own
rape, it shaped me, made me
less and more
Memories stored, to
when I can't go on implore:
"You'll feel better
when you're gone."



Ice-breaking

Get people talking,
Minds moving,
Interchanges and connections
Excitement
Generation of synergy
Diversity flowing uniting
in colorful array
Creating another day
Unlike the past
Finding magical phrases together
to break the isolating spell
our silence cast



Immolation

Red Dragon glorious
Rising to flame
Cleansed of tumbling towers,
poisonous pits,
no refuge
Caustic breath invigorates
Hard smoke billows out challenge
Burning gloriously
ember threads
seer's memory



Life Science

It's all experimental
Line, word, rhythm
Placing of feet
Meeting of eyes
Under my mind
in a quiet place
of enchantment
vast wealth of images appear
Plucking sea anemones and urchins
tasting the poison, the pain
the deep understanding that passeth
all knowledge
If we were not meant to learn
why would mistakes come so easy,
leave so hard?
Yet, where is the lesson that finds me
within your eyes?



Metaeconomics

Trading craziness for madness
Giving praise in my time of Gladness
Opening my soul to be ruled
But if in the eye of my self-made storm
I build a shelter safe and warm
You've but the power of a fool
believing wealth is gold

(c) February 2009 Laurie Corzett/libramoon


Empire

Standing askew as the inexorable boot commands
squeezing out gems, polished and pure.
Paid in bread and circuses.
Bathed in raw entitlement
dreaming of ravaging, raping at will
drinking bright blood doped with
ecstatic thrill
casting lot that promised reward
be assured.
Cold, this world.
Shadow sans Sun.
Listless lapping at sparkling carbonation.
Sinking below matter and form
into terror stories;
taking warmth from smoldering coals.
As tomorrow continues today
your dissolving heart
dispersing pearls of wisdom.


Come, say I!
Enjoy the desert night blooms --
rare, exquisite, alive.
Quiet, the primeval cold,
parched, freeze-dried.
No purposeful future
divined.
Old, alien
unmarked steps upon the Earth.
The stories I spin ...
no meaning
no warmth.
I walk primeval, exquisite landscape
dry, old, eternal
to enjoy the blooming.

stuff of dreams

I am (obviously) a creature of the night, and alone is where I live and breathe. I think as a constant companion and entertainment. I like to think big picture, unending sky, opening universe. I see us all (not just the humans, not just the living, not just the earthlings, not just this solar system, galaxy, dimension) as if individual cells together, each by our own natural being, comprising the Universe of All, which expands eternally, changing, interactions chemical and metaphysical. What more could we possibly need? Why limit God to a caricature of man?



There seems to be an attitude of entitlement, shades of Protestant predestination, that we who have are the holy. If you don't have, it is proof of your undeservingness. There also seems to be a myth ongoing that jobs, means to livelihood, are given beneficently to uplift the undeserving. We all know that good capitalists give nothing away, in fact do their best to get the most value for the least cost. We know the very basis of capitalism is he with the capital gets to make wealth from the work of the laborer. Still, the laborer without gainful employment is a leech, while the hoarder of wealth is the hero to be emulated. I do hope the paradigm is shifting toward greater sanity.

I never did understand the whole socialism as a gift of Satan attitude. It's just an economic theory, like, say, capitalism. In real practice we get kind of a hodge-podge of historically evolving methods to make sense of chaos.



I seem to remember that in the booming fifties highest tax rates were in the 90% range, savings banks regularly offered 5% interest on small savings, corporations pulled their weight and were expected to adhere to regulations, and we actually manufactured most of what we used. Was this an alternate universe memory?



it seems to me that the higher tax rates would encourage greater creativity and allow for new entrepreneurs better access to the game. If businesses get too big and want to move to other pastures, then we can fill the vacuum with better, smaller businesses. It's not the "punitive" tax rates but sheer greedy cowardice that keeps money from flowing to keep the body economic in good health.



Do we have similar definitions of "atheist" which I understand as a belief in the nonexistence of godlike entities? There is no need for a conscious creator who meddles in every aspect of that creation like a hovering parent. That idea is comforting, I suppose, for those who wish to bask in a false sense of childhood. There is The Universe, All that Is, which includes all of us and everything we are/do/feel/believe, along with everyone and everything else. What more do we need?

I think language makes something very simple seem complex. It is not that nature or the Universe is "god" -- an independent conscious being. It is that All is interconnected and creates an overall spiritual reality, like cells making up a body, each being its own individual cell-system, and altogether organized as a multi-celled system.

Actually poverty, illness, death, these are all accepting the rules of "God" -- All of Life, The Universe, Everything is what is meant by "God" and all of these experiences, no matter how we label them or feel about them, are part of being human, which is our part of "god".



White is purity
cold somber reason
and floating dreams
Winter's the season
turning inward,
reflecting light
sunbeams in drifting snow
casting shadows of
warm decay
that we may
find those treasures hidden
in the fall.





It seems to me, from my limited life experience, that we all face
serious threats, traumas, overwhelming situations, as just part of
the normal stream of life. Creativity seems to be a way of seeing
the glass as not full or empty, but awaiting fullness, taking
sustenance from the drinking, finding another source of fluid to
refill.




Those who would dominate came up with "sins" so onerous, so routine, that none could escape their own natural "badness." Thus it becomes easy to scapegoat, keep the rabble in line, promote hatred and divisiveness, and proclaim the Divine Right to Destined Virtue and Reward for themselves.



The attitude toward childhood in this culture is based on fantasy. I was not "abused" in the sense that we tend to think of, yet I was "spanked" and made to feel lowly, useless, without recourse. Children are not pets or a second chance or blessings to be discouraged from sin by not sparing the rod. Children are actual human beings, living actual lives, not just readying for the future. We, written large, show disrespect, do not honor, think it great fun or worthy of a high five to denigrate each other. This is the lesson of childhood.



The paradigm shift we need is an understanding of education not as an institution, a degree, or sitting in a classroom but our lifelong processes of learning how to be, do, create, critique, acquire/improve skills. Meanwhile, and I am hoping part of this crisis/opportunity of worldwide economics will eventually help point this out, the marketplace should be sensitive to the actual abilities of those selling services, quality of goods sold, rather than some hype-related fluffier.



everyone has their eye and flapping lips all over how this guy Obama is falling behind here, too far there, not the messiah we paid for, et al. As I recall, we basically ignored W. until after 9/11. Obviously that was not the right course. However, this President has been in office for like a few days, and he is already going gangbusters in getting as much done as he can in the face of blowhard obstructionists, second-guessers and the slow grind of bureaucracy. I say, let's give him a break and some time to see what he can do; meanwhile I think we have plenty of yes we canning of our own to work on.



She loved the world of screaming suns and malignant moons. It carried her emptiness into blazing symphonies that only she would dance within. In quiet dreams it pleased her to believe she sought another. None would appear with the grace to dance just so, to harmonize her music.



It's all quite muddled. Science, though often used as a system of beliefs or basic core from which such beliefs grow, is meant to be a systematic method for discerning what things are how things work what is this world in which we find ourselves. Religion, though purporting to be about spiritual truth is meant to be about holding groups together through a common culture and shared beliefs. Philosophy is about applying science to higher truths to learn The Truth, but is generally given less credence than "science" or "religion".



let me ask if this is just weird me or the norm: do you experience that extra sense that's a combination of all of them plus some others, that almost palpable below threshold reverberating, kind of like a molecular net between everything that keeps it a whole experience?



The President is not a god or magician. He is a politician who has been elected to do a job. When our government is running according to the old separation of powers model, he has very little real power over domestic concerns. The greatest power he has is that oratory and leadership ability to mobilize the people to do the work we need to do for our mutual benefit. If the private sector were doing the job of creating wealth that we seem to think is theirs, we would not be having this discussion at all. Blaming Obama for a situation that built up over years before he even ran for office is not solving or improving anything. Bringing up the oh so spooky boogieman of "socialism" the spectre from Satan to overtake and destroy mankind just shows ignorance of the difference between theory and real world compromises.



Why didn't Congress, instead of creating this bailout monster, require those who held the "toxic" "assets" to sell the mortgages and car loans to local financial institutions with a vested interest in renegotiating or otherwise selling or renting these homes or other actual assets, unpacking the whole "toxic" mess? A lot less money would have enabled a reasonable guarantee to make acquiring these assets more attractive to the local lenders and to offset tax deductions from the investors' losses on selling the toxins low.



Do you remember about Thomas Aquinas and the whole Christian scientific/philosophic inquiry tradition? How about the Gnostics? The very hemmed-in sectarian kind of Christian philosophy we seem to be best acquainted with is not the true Christianity, but a version sanitized for easy marketing: Christian Capitalism, or is it capitalist christianity?



The "fiscal conservative" Republican anti-government strategies have been well voiced and explained by those adhering to those concepts. It is not meant to be a trick. Unfortunately, they have it all mixed up. Cutting taxes to the wealthy to cut back on government spending is pure foolishness. The spending still happens. We get more debt. Republicans get to go all ballistic about poor fiscal planning . Then it comes up that it was their own unintended consequences coming home to roost.



As the commentators are finally admitting, it is not Social Security but Medicare that is the big financial drain. This is because of the seriously messed up way we handle medical care in this country.

I think a big part of the problem is that people are not encouraged to know more about how our bodies work, what kinds of symptoms are worthy of serious concern, how to be aware of our own daily health and issues such as stress. We are encouraged to be a dependent people seeking the word of authority.






The qualities of sam-e to ameliorate joint pain and depression led me to think about the theory of depression as a reaction to chronic pain, physical/emotional/metaphysical. It's not an illness, but a symptom, like fever, a consequence of the organism's defense system.



I recently heard that California is considering legalizing and taxation of marijuana to get them out of their financial mess. Perhaps this is the time, when people are more concerned about real problems than the spectre of legal pot.



healing balm of Spring
washing winter sorrows
in hope of warm tomorrows
the flowering they bring



nature's gift of calm acceptance
vibrant interlocution
thoughtful breath
take in, release



It's not that mental illness is a myth. It's that it is not necessarily an illness. Obviously what we eat affects us in ways we have not yet studied. Every aspect of our environment affects us in ways we have not yet studied. As far as I can tell much of what is called "mental illness" is really about distortions of learning how to relate in the social world. Observable brain effects which are associated with "mental illness" are the physical manifestations in the mind/brain system. We don't know whether these observable effects are causing the behaviors, or if the behaviors manifest physically thus causing the brain effects. This gets further confused when there are chemical interventions (psychiatric drugs) with their own effects. Quite possibly the stress reactions from living over time in perceived hostile environments do manifest as changes in the brain and in behaviors. As best as I can tell there is no magic bullet cure for the dis-eases manifest in terms of chemistry or surgery. The most effective treatment seems to be about encouraging the healing and resilience of the "patient" through compassionate interaction, and finding activities/beliefs/goals that offer more purposeful and healthful ways of being.



We seem to shy away from the realities of suffering, to
mask or cure or carry forward with a stiff upper lip. Of course we
want the benefits of medical science to ease suffering, cure disease
and heal wounds. That ought not take from the dignity and important
lessons found through painful circumstance. Perhaps we would do
better with honest rituals to honor and celebrate these aspects of
our lives, while doing our best to rationally and compassionately
work toward health.




Why should anyone dictate what others may ingest? Oh, you are paying for their healthcare costs? So you can watch them (say on videocam) and dictate their every move? And what about you? What about that woman you convinced to have sex without protection? What about those over the counter pills you can't do without? What about the side effects from your sleep aids or pms controllers or ed eradicators or anti-depressants that turn you into a homicidal zombie or require pill to cure the side effects of pill to cure the side effects of pill to cure the side effects of?



From my observations, liberals attempt to take in everyone by expanding their tolerance for differences while conservatives attempt to take in everyone by exhorting sameness in attitudes and beliefs. Thus, when a conservative seems to be accusing their opponent of x ("You Idiot!") they are venting the frustration they feel for your obvious wrongheadedness. The issue you are debating, of course, has only one true attitude and belief to adhere to, which would be theirs.



Those haranguing against stem cell research, you have the wrong cause. The people who manufactured embryos for artificial impregnation are the ones who altered "God's plan." Those who are using these discarded embryos (tossed out by their parents) to find cures for children who are alive, loved, and part of a social fabric is in essence a way to make lemonade out of lemons, just what a good parent/God would want. Do you find it evil when parents donate the organs of their dead children that other children might live?



In my experience meth producers and sellers are in business to sell a product. Don't buy if you don't like. Protect your children and families by having real honest conversations, not just about meth. Get the facts and spread them. I have seen young adults lose their teeth, ruin their skin, have their hair turn white and thin, not to mention the paranoia, general jumpiness, and opening to whatever illness is around due to general malaise. It is not a worthwhile habit. Meditation works ever so much better, along with enjoyable exercise, to boost energy and metabolism.




It's not that some meds can't help. It's that there are methods that do not have the nasty side-effects of most meds, don't have the expense, can be usefully used without a prescription or medical interference. Taking meds is a crap shoot, and then when you find something that "works" often it stops working or has unbearable effects. I come more and more to the view that what we label mental illness is often not an illness, but a problem in social interaction or communication or conceptual understanding, better addressed by education than drugs.



Evolution, Conscious Divinity sending out bolts of energy and matter and saying: "Let there be life!" Whatever. Just blind moths in the darkness burning for the light.

Emerging Visions #14 Scrying Phantom Seas has emerged

Welcome the Emergence of "Scrying Phantom Seas" Emerging Visions visionary art ezine #14

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com



Listen to the heart of bliss.
On open sand, feel
breeze, vibrance
under oceanic starlight.
Breathing eternity, open
inward to see intricately
expanding visions -- poetry:
thought in magical splendor.
All art is magical; all magic is art.
Yet they are not the same, and part
of a grander landscape, embracing
sky and sea.