Another public holiday in the DUK and weather dry and cloudy ... and the third already this year, another to come in a few weeks and cruelly only one actually in the summer .... making Jeremy Corbyn's populist pledge for four extra holidays, on each of the national patron saints' days, look rather poorly thought out, since none of those fall in summer either ....
.... the soap opera plays on in media, mass and social, with short term memory loss much in evidence as the Tories are blamed, rightly, for crises in Health, Education, Welfare and standards of living of those outside of the top 10% of earners (or rich non-earners), missing the fact that the neo-liberal agenda has been followed seamlessly since Thatcher, through the three term Labour government ... one of my major indicators after the election of Tony Bliar in 1997 was the swift re-appointment of the sinister head of OFSTED and bane of the teaching profession, Chris Woodhead, now dead, though the organisation dedicated to destroying joy and creativity in schools continues its mission. Teacher unions have muttered and complained over the years, yet have lacked the integrity and backbone to refuse to accept the reign of terror.... whoops, displaying a personal passion there, having trained, and very briefly worked, as a teacher ... another personal passion, having marched in London in 2003 against the invasion of Iraq, along with over a million others, watched as a smirking British Labour Prime Minister ignored public opinion, legal opinion and scientific opinion, to support US policy which has brought such suffering to the Middle East ... looking like a re-run of the Crusades with Bliar converting to Catholicism after leaving office ... not a great advert for that particular brand of religion, though its credentials as a creed of compassion were compromised with the Inquisition and other horrors ... putting up a credible holy person as Pope is looking too little too late, though the conditioning is heavy and will doubtless linger a little longer ... meanwhile, the editor, erstwhile social activist, trade union officer and Labour stalwart, decamps to France ... where the public holidays are warmer and more frequent ...
.... whilst from Spain, an invitation to adventure arrives, as well as news that the unsellable Casa in San Enrique may soon be sold ... any readers keen on dogs and interested in taking care of eighty up in the hills near Ronda, get in touch ...
As for May Day, back in the times of red politics the day was always marked with demonstrations ... the soft left from Labour and the CPGB did theirs on the weekend nearest to the first of May (this was before the public holiday was introduced, though even this was watered down by taking the holiday on the nearest Monday) ... the purists in my tribe stuck with the proper day along with strict adherence to doctrine ... and following Enver Hoxha's Albania in its isolationism ...
Well, these old and redundant forms have decayed and successors are swiftly decaying too ... what comes next, in politics and spirituality, is unsure ... the Dalai Lama proposes a universal creed of Compassion for the spiritual journey ... politics, of course, serves economics, and where the post- capitalist world is headed, who knows? And whilst voting in soap operas is of questionable value, since taking part is to validate the show, co-creating the future is our opportunity .... and our mission, should we choose to accept it ... May the Fourth be with you (next week) ....
Saturday 29 April 2017
Wednesday 26 April 2017
dramas unfolding
Morning dawns beautifully ... a sprinkling of snow on the hills, warm sun, cool breeze ... the second day of typical Weardale weather ... known locally as lambing storms ... locals also tell of the general shift from severe winters through until May ... doom and gloom forecasts almost designed to keep us indoors, along with the fear of terrorists lurking on our doorsteps ... yet yesterday's snowy squalls, between periods of sunshine were rather energising on the 10 mile walk down the dale, delivering programmes for next month's Wheels to Meals trips ... and calling in to see a friend and discuss these topics of fear and how the collective consciousness processes it ... who, if not us, wants people scared of the world? And how is this consciousness to be changed, if each entity, being the centre of the universe(s), will not look inside and examine the delusions .... the question of free will, still under discussion with my friend, who nevertheless is mostly optimistic ...
On FB, a wonderful drama, the last act of the disturbing story from Paris and the murder of a policeman, as his husband addresses the great and the good, along with hundreds of uniformed colleagues of the deceased ... all processing a multi-layered and beautifully delivered eulogy ... its themes of tolerance, embodied by the relationship of the dead gendarme and his male lover ... times have changed in recent decades, mostly for the better ... you can see the eulogy here hopefully ... meanwhile the French have their own political soap opera playing, with more polarisation ... whilst back in the DUK the plots thicken, with previous Labour Prime Minister and shapeshifter, admirer of Margaret Thatcher, the template for the Theresa May character this time round ... having loyally pursued neo-liberal economic policies and interventionist pro-US foreign policies, positions himself in the vacant role as Remain in EU cheerleader ... while a seedy sub-plot of alleged illegalities in election funding affecting around 30 Tories threatens to derail May, though far more serious allegations of paedophile activity at the highest levels are suppressed ...
Today's outing, taking advantage of the free bus pass and the direct Wednesday Weardale double decker to Newcastle, to meet an old friend, who has an interesting path, taking in 4th dimensional realities which you can read about here .. a lovely lunch at the delightful Settle Down Cafe (free ad, please visit ... an oasis of simplicity in a desert of overpriced pretension) ... and back via Bishop Auckland on the Castles Express ( another free ad, though may try them out for a regular contract) with WiFi and tables upstairs for a superior bus experience ...perfect timing for the Stanhope connection, just a minute to spare ...
Monday 24 April 2017
Infinity
An early browse on FB produces a fascinating video from Maxwell Loughan, theoretical physicist and inventor of a free energy device ... talking about the question of infinity ... a question which perplexed me in my early teens ... the question going round and round in the head, laying awake in the bedroom shared with elder brother, now dead (or operating in a parallel universe) was expressed simply as: Where is the end of the universe? And what is beyond that point?
Of course, this question has tortured many minds for many years, decades, centuries, millenia ... bringing us to the next question: The nature of eternity ...
In the end (and leaving aside the question of where is the end in eternity) such questions may drive us mad, so we leave them parked safely somewhere or other, while we get on with learning things which submit to the capability of current mindsets ... and what schools decide we must learn, itself culturally dependent ... much of it useless ...
Words, as often observed, may serve us and enslave us ... the thing is to always use them with that awareness and not fall into the trap of mistaking the word for the thing it tries to describe ...
So, since we have a word for infinity, let's see what it may mean ... perhaps by examining what it does not mean .... which is very big ... or very small, sometimes defined erroneously by the word "infinitesimal" ... infinity is beyond space, as eternity is beyond time ... and since most humans are caught up in a spatial 3D world and one linear dimension of time, the very structure of language constrains comprehension ... leaving poetry to have a go ... as in William Blake's well known:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
These things may be comprehended, but not using fragmented thought patterns ... the mystics, like Blake, see them complete and point us towards them as best they can ... such gifts of seeing beyond thought are available once the thinking takes a break .... meditation, dreaming, psychoactive drugs may help .... anyway, 13 year old Maxwell Loughlan is very convincing in his presentations ... quite ego free, implying a mystical aspect and apparently fearless in acknowledging the perils of promoting free energy in this carbon obsessed world .... he also suspects the Large Hadron Collider may have nudged us into a parallel universe, an idea which resonates here, having never trusted such maniacal behaviour as smashing fundamental particles together in the deluded search for the smallest particle ... an impossibility in an infinite universe and indeed mainstream physics has long seen the wave/particle duality in operation at these scales ... the parallel universe ideas are less mainstream, though not unknown ...in 1956 Hugh Everett, for his PhD, proposed the many worlds theory, which offered the mathematical proof of the elusive unified field as long as an infinite number of parallel universes were allowed ... this was too crazy, even for quantum physics, at that time ...
...the other mad inventor, credited with splitting the atom and creating the bombs which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki ... Robert Oppenheimer, quoted as saying: "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" .... also suggested: " There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago" .... leading us neatly back to Maxwell Loughan ... and the need for schools of unlearning ...
Meanwhile, feeling the need for an outing, a public transport jaunt to Newcastle Airport, firstly on the local bus with all the regulars chatting away, then a brisk walk to the metro and arriving at the arrivals gate with five minutes to spare to surprise a dear friend returning from Spain ...back to Durham by metro, train and bus for a cup of tea, then a walk to town, bus to Bishop Auckland, and just time to buy broad beans, not to be found in frozen form in the otherwise well stocked Stanhope shops, before catching the Weardale bus home, with five minutes to spare .... loving the long journey (and the Bus Pass) for the sake of the look of surprise ... and the broad beans, of course .... simple pleasures ....
Of course, this question has tortured many minds for many years, decades, centuries, millenia ... bringing us to the next question: The nature of eternity ...
In the end (and leaving aside the question of where is the end in eternity) such questions may drive us mad, so we leave them parked safely somewhere or other, while we get on with learning things which submit to the capability of current mindsets ... and what schools decide we must learn, itself culturally dependent ... much of it useless ...
Words, as often observed, may serve us and enslave us ... the thing is to always use them with that awareness and not fall into the trap of mistaking the word for the thing it tries to describe ...
So, since we have a word for infinity, let's see what it may mean ... perhaps by examining what it does not mean .... which is very big ... or very small, sometimes defined erroneously by the word "infinitesimal" ... infinity is beyond space, as eternity is beyond time ... and since most humans are caught up in a spatial 3D world and one linear dimension of time, the very structure of language constrains comprehension ... leaving poetry to have a go ... as in William Blake's well known:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
These things may be comprehended, but not using fragmented thought patterns ... the mystics, like Blake, see them complete and point us towards them as best they can ... such gifts of seeing beyond thought are available once the thinking takes a break .... meditation, dreaming, psychoactive drugs may help .... anyway, 13 year old Maxwell Loughlan is very convincing in his presentations ... quite ego free, implying a mystical aspect and apparently fearless in acknowledging the perils of promoting free energy in this carbon obsessed world .... he also suspects the Large Hadron Collider may have nudged us into a parallel universe, an idea which resonates here, having never trusted such maniacal behaviour as smashing fundamental particles together in the deluded search for the smallest particle ... an impossibility in an infinite universe and indeed mainstream physics has long seen the wave/particle duality in operation at these scales ... the parallel universe ideas are less mainstream, though not unknown ...in 1956 Hugh Everett, for his PhD, proposed the many worlds theory, which offered the mathematical proof of the elusive unified field as long as an infinite number of parallel universes were allowed ... this was too crazy, even for quantum physics, at that time ...
Meanwhile, feeling the need for an outing, a public transport jaunt to Newcastle Airport, firstly on the local bus with all the regulars chatting away, then a brisk walk to the metro and arriving at the arrivals gate with five minutes to spare to surprise a dear friend returning from Spain ...back to Durham by metro, train and bus for a cup of tea, then a walk to town, bus to Bishop Auckland, and just time to buy broad beans, not to be found in frozen form in the otherwise well stocked Stanhope shops, before catching the Weardale bus home, with five minutes to spare .... loving the long journey (and the Bus Pass) for the sake of the look of surprise ... and the broad beans, of course .... simple pleasures ....
Thursday 20 April 2017
San Enrique remembered
Facebook helpfully posts a picture of the Casa del Puente from a year ago ... leading to some reflection on that strange place, with its strange energy ... the incoming caretakers found the experience less than congenial and new casa sitters are sought ... the perils of wealth ... an unsellable asset, costing significant sums just to maintain the burden of ownership as it slowly crumbles away ... communication with Susie and Russ from those days in the sun ... she a blog reader and occasional correspondent and looking for a dog and house sitter for a possible trip to England this year ... he, having shed an amazing 30 kilograms of body weight, still living on his bus in the village and retreating from humanity ... and Facebook ... itself the topic of reflection and some discourse on how its memory of our life events (as posted on our pages and those of friends, virtual and otherwise) surpasses our own and will doubtless turn up as handy products for our carers when the Alzheimers kicks in ... data mining and processing being a growth industry ... these frequent reminders of our life events sometimes unwelcome when happy memories have soured ... and FB doesn't know when we die, if we don't tell it ... it seems we can have a memorialised page .. though this takes a while and meanwhile an alert arrives to wish a friend from Portugal, Rose, Buster's human from dog-sitting days, Happy Birthday ... she passed a while back ... more recently Look, from the Almond Blossom Sangha near Tavira, posted on Jane's page that she passed too ... and grateful to have had the chance to meet her in January ... it was with her and Look that the message from the Hopi elder arrived ... the spur to return to Stanhope and the Retreat House vision ...
... which picks up energy with a FB posting and reflection on practicalities such as dietary practices ... the Buddhist places are generally vegan or vegetarian and it comes something of a surprise to discover that the Dalai Lama is a meat eater ... culturally, of course, the Tibetan climate is not conducive to plant based diets .... the pilgrim routes were also tricky to manage without recourse to fish or eggs ... though beans and lentils are readily available in shops, restaurants were not often found serving them without lumps of meat or meat stock .... let's see how that one plays out as the group evolves ...
Mindfulness courses, it transpires, are already available in the village ... run by the mental health trust as part of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy courses in the Church Hall ... a referral for diagnosed conditions required for access ... the usual pitfall for public funded interventions, even in a community setting ... trapped by budgets to unwittingly stigmatise .... let's see how that all fits ...
... which picks up energy with a FB posting and reflection on practicalities such as dietary practices ... the Buddhist places are generally vegan or vegetarian and it comes something of a surprise to discover that the Dalai Lama is a meat eater ... culturally, of course, the Tibetan climate is not conducive to plant based diets .... the pilgrim routes were also tricky to manage without recourse to fish or eggs ... though beans and lentils are readily available in shops, restaurants were not often found serving them without lumps of meat or meat stock .... let's see how that one plays out as the group evolves ...
Mindfulness courses, it transpires, are already available in the village ... run by the mental health trust as part of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy courses in the Church Hall ... a referral for diagnosed conditions required for access ... the usual pitfall for public funded interventions, even in a community setting ... trapped by budgets to unwittingly stigmatise .... let's see how that all fits ...
Political Pantos ...
For readers from countries outside of the Disunited Kingdom, a collective madness has descended upon this benighted land as the political class embark on another episode of the great soap opera which is "democracy" in late stage capitalism. Mainstream media is fully signed up, with the leading characters getting some great scripts .... social media joins in enthusiastically ... even many of the commentators who critique the charade are pulled in to add their energy ... the result being more polarisation and collective energy focusing on trivia .... watch out for more serious dramas playing out while we are distracted!
And whilst not wishing to add too much attention energy, having started, it is best to explain a little ...
The Disunited Kingdom jibe is prompted by various sub-plots ... the UK having split nearly 50:50 in the referendum on whether to quit the economic union with much of the rest of Europe ... Scotland strongly against leaving, finding new energy for independence ... having narrowly voted to stay in the UK at the previous referendum ... Wales, having polled more in favour of leaving the EU, now reconsidering, along with many other folks gulled into voting to leave by highly misleading promises, since reneged upon ... Northern Ireland currently without a functioning devolved government and having voted to remain, moving steadily towards a united Ireland, within the EU ... maybe ... and another plot twist as the nice guy persona of Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is tarnished by historical ties with the IRA to undermine his credibility, as if many of his own treacherous MPs weren't enough to cope with ... meanwhile, a more rounded view of the Northern Ireland political tale is told after the recent death of Martin McGuiness, young firebrand IRA commander who led the peace deal for the Republicans, and became close personal friends with his nemesis, Ian Paisley, erstwhile chief rabble rouser of the Unionists, as they embarked on power sharing in the devolved administration ...
Of course saying that "Scotland" voted for this, "Wales" voted for that and so on, is fairly meaningless ... as with all these artificial constructs which separate humanity ...
Current Prime Minister, Theresa May, who campaigned against leaving the EU in the Referendum, now leading the exit, is playing the Villain role in the pantomime, whilst Jeremy Corbyn, who was historically against the EU from a Bennite leftist position, campaigned to stay in and will not change that for the election .... which means that the issue currently top of the political agenda in the country, to continue the process of apparent economic suicide by quitting, or to review the situation and call the whole thing off, has no major force campaigning for the review ... peculiar ...
Which raises the question of why these two parties and their two leaders would vie for the poison chalice of disentangling UK and EU affairs ... a chalice swiftly declined by the instigator of the referendum in the first place, PR man David Cameron ...
Such is the madness we are invited to join ...
Meanwhile, news arrives from two friends with first hand experience of the world beyond political and media disinformation ... mostly confirming and enriching the views expressed in these ramblings ... new information suggests that Peak Oil is an untrue story and that technology is increasingly able to exploit reserves of oil and gas previously left in the ground, along with new sources being discovered ... whether continuing with carbon extraction is desirable being another question altogether ...just understand that humans making huge sums of money in the business ...in the words of a Scottish pipeline supplier to me on the station at Dyce, Aberdeen Airport, some years ago: "Listen, these people are addicted to oil and they will keep going until they have squeezed the last drop out of the Earth". Scary!
Meanwhile, money, the root of all this evil, is itself teetering on the brink ... since its only true purpose, which is as a medium of exchange, has been so subverted by greed ...
Well, there's the political rant over for a while. If it's any comfort, the UK Panto is far less risible than the USA version ... perhaps reflecting a less sophisticated audience across the Atlantic Ocean ...
And what if none of it was real?
And whilst not wishing to add too much attention energy, having started, it is best to explain a little ...
The Disunited Kingdom jibe is prompted by various sub-plots ... the UK having split nearly 50:50 in the referendum on whether to quit the economic union with much of the rest of Europe ... Scotland strongly against leaving, finding new energy for independence ... having narrowly voted to stay in the UK at the previous referendum ... Wales, having polled more in favour of leaving the EU, now reconsidering, along with many other folks gulled into voting to leave by highly misleading promises, since reneged upon ... Northern Ireland currently without a functioning devolved government and having voted to remain, moving steadily towards a united Ireland, within the EU ... maybe ... and another plot twist as the nice guy persona of Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is tarnished by historical ties with the IRA to undermine his credibility, as if many of his own treacherous MPs weren't enough to cope with ... meanwhile, a more rounded view of the Northern Ireland political tale is told after the recent death of Martin McGuiness, young firebrand IRA commander who led the peace deal for the Republicans, and became close personal friends with his nemesis, Ian Paisley, erstwhile chief rabble rouser of the Unionists, as they embarked on power sharing in the devolved administration ...
Of course saying that "Scotland" voted for this, "Wales" voted for that and so on, is fairly meaningless ... as with all these artificial constructs which separate humanity ...
Current Prime Minister, Theresa May, who campaigned against leaving the EU in the Referendum, now leading the exit, is playing the Villain role in the pantomime, whilst Jeremy Corbyn, who was historically against the EU from a Bennite leftist position, campaigned to stay in and will not change that for the election .... which means that the issue currently top of the political agenda in the country, to continue the process of apparent economic suicide by quitting, or to review the situation and call the whole thing off, has no major force campaigning for the review ... peculiar ...
Which raises the question of why these two parties and their two leaders would vie for the poison chalice of disentangling UK and EU affairs ... a chalice swiftly declined by the instigator of the referendum in the first place, PR man David Cameron ...
Such is the madness we are invited to join ...
Meanwhile, news arrives from two friends with first hand experience of the world beyond political and media disinformation ... mostly confirming and enriching the views expressed in these ramblings ... new information suggests that Peak Oil is an untrue story and that technology is increasingly able to exploit reserves of oil and gas previously left in the ground, along with new sources being discovered ... whether continuing with carbon extraction is desirable being another question altogether ...just understand that humans making huge sums of money in the business ...in the words of a Scottish pipeline supplier to me on the station at Dyce, Aberdeen Airport, some years ago: "Listen, these people are addicted to oil and they will keep going until they have squeezed the last drop out of the Earth". Scary!
Meanwhile, money, the root of all this evil, is itself teetering on the brink ... since its only true purpose, which is as a medium of exchange, has been so subverted by greed ...
Well, there's the political rant over for a while. If it's any comfort, the UK Panto is far less risible than the USA version ... perhaps reflecting a less sophisticated audience across the Atlantic Ocean ...
And what if none of it was real?
Monday 17 April 2017
conditioned mind
This overlong Easter holiday prompts reflection on the conditioned mind, collective consciousness and the collective unconscious too .... so many layers of delusion and still no firm evidence of where mind is located ... if consensus reality is right, then shared memories and shared stories are maybe outside of brains, in other dimensions, pulled into individual consciousness according to cues, filtered through our uniquely structured receiving apparatus, in the brain and also maybe other parts of the body too ...
The Easter story was strong in my childhood, and whilst the Christian story was lightly held at home, this was more than compensated at school, with daily assemblies and regular religious teaching. Sometimes the whole school decamped to the local church for more intensive brainwashing, from full-time professionals, wearing special robes and often speaking in hypnotic droning voices ... they also turned up at weddings, funerals and christenings .... all in all the story was implanted quite strongly ... the alternative Easter story was less pervasive in early childhood, before advertising really took hold of television, promoting the consumerist message which is eclipsing the Jesus story ....
Meanwhile, on social media, other heroes are investigated, to remind us of human frailty ... Jesus himself quoted as lamenting on the cross: My God, why have you forsaken me? ...allegedly ... sources for this period vary somewhat .... anyway, the momentary doubt is understandable in the extreme circumstances ... after Jung's pasting a few days ago, Gandhi gets the treatment via stories of his less famous contemporary Ambedkar ... the point being that the message is the thing and not the messenger, though, paradoxically, a messenger embodying their message seems more authentic and makes the message more powerful ...
An old friend posts a story illustrating the pitfalls of wealth ... his own experience confirming the dangers ... the pilgrimages perfect opportunities to observe simplicity in action, along with compassion ... the third of the three treasures of the Tao, patience is a work in progress here .... the other two fairly well embedded ...
The work of cleaning up the conditioned mind continues ... mainly by examining the thoughts as they pop up and trying to identify where they came from ... Spring Cleaning for the brain ... or wherever it is they reside ...
The Easter story was strong in my childhood, and whilst the Christian story was lightly held at home, this was more than compensated at school, with daily assemblies and regular religious teaching. Sometimes the whole school decamped to the local church for more intensive brainwashing, from full-time professionals, wearing special robes and often speaking in hypnotic droning voices ... they also turned up at weddings, funerals and christenings .... all in all the story was implanted quite strongly ... the alternative Easter story was less pervasive in early childhood, before advertising really took hold of television, promoting the consumerist message which is eclipsing the Jesus story ....
Meanwhile, on social media, other heroes are investigated, to remind us of human frailty ... Jesus himself quoted as lamenting on the cross: My God, why have you forsaken me? ...allegedly ... sources for this period vary somewhat .... anyway, the momentary doubt is understandable in the extreme circumstances ... after Jung's pasting a few days ago, Gandhi gets the treatment via stories of his less famous contemporary Ambedkar ... the point being that the message is the thing and not the messenger, though, paradoxically, a messenger embodying their message seems more authentic and makes the message more powerful ...
An old friend posts a story illustrating the pitfalls of wealth ... his own experience confirming the dangers ... the pilgrimages perfect opportunities to observe simplicity in action, along with compassion ... the third of the three treasures of the Tao, patience is a work in progress here .... the other two fairly well embedded ...
The work of cleaning up the conditioned mind continues ... mainly by examining the thoughts as they pop up and trying to identify where they came from ... Spring Cleaning for the brain ... or wherever it is they reside ...
Sunday 16 April 2017
Easter
Local Christians rewarded this morning with a clear sky at sunrise for their traditional Easter Sunday service on Middlehope Moor ... weather held for a while, then reverted to rain to dampen the spirits of Bank Holiday tourists, taking advantage of the four day break from slavery ... Stanhope was buzzing yesterday in the sunshine and showers, with an elders' trip over to Edmundbyers Village Hall and a coffee morning ... in Stanhope the first Farmers' Market of the year proves popular and provides organic vegetables as well as lots of other locally produced food ... in the Church Hall, next door to the Retreat House .... which is propitious ... and a reunion with Allison, last seen in Stockton whilst on Mental Health North East business (a wonderful part-time post developing networks in the region for the benefit of the folks needing some improvement in and control over the services for improving their mental health) .... Allison, from being Chief Executive of the voluntary services organisation in Stockton, found a more grounded role making cheese ... award winning cheese at that, though off current limits as dairy produce joins corpses on the list of foodstuff to avoid ... the motives mixed between ethics and health ... though labels declined along with preaching ...
Overpriced chocolate eggs seem more important than the miraculous resurrection of Jesus after his brutal execution ... though that was some time ago and the myth is waning somewhat in the face of consumerism ... some interesting historical detail surfaced in The Holographic Universe, discussing the common phenomenon of stigmata appearing on folks hands ... suggesting that the marks were generated from a mistaken story in the collective unconscious, since crucifixion was actually done with nails through the forearms above the wrist ... the weight of the body otherwise likely to rip the hands off before the suffering was complete .... whatever, things have mostly moved on ... even the gruesome Saudis, allies of the so-called civilised West (and customers of their arms industries) separate heads from necks and hands from wrists swiftly ...
Meanwhile, as mainstream media ratchet up the fear factor, another angle arrives on social media and a positive view .... you can watch it here ... since we seem to live in a participatory universe and our thoughts help create the reality we experience, why wallow in despair, when we have the power to make a better world?
From a wet Weardale, I hope you have enjoyed the holiday, whatever your version of Easter.
Tomorrow looks a little brighter ... at least for the morning walk anyway ....
Overpriced chocolate eggs seem more important than the miraculous resurrection of Jesus after his brutal execution ... though that was some time ago and the myth is waning somewhat in the face of consumerism ... some interesting historical detail surfaced in The Holographic Universe, discussing the common phenomenon of stigmata appearing on folks hands ... suggesting that the marks were generated from a mistaken story in the collective unconscious, since crucifixion was actually done with nails through the forearms above the wrist ... the weight of the body otherwise likely to rip the hands off before the suffering was complete .... whatever, things have mostly moved on ... even the gruesome Saudis, allies of the so-called civilised West (and customers of their arms industries) separate heads from necks and hands from wrists swiftly ...
Meanwhile, as mainstream media ratchet up the fear factor, another angle arrives on social media and a positive view .... you can watch it here ... since we seem to live in a participatory universe and our thoughts help create the reality we experience, why wallow in despair, when we have the power to make a better world?
From a wet Weardale, I hope you have enjoyed the holiday, whatever your version of Easter.
Tomorrow looks a little brighter ... at least for the morning walk anyway ....
Friday 14 April 2017
Stanhope Retreat House
Time for some focus as the house on Front Street reappears on the market with a new agent and a serious price reduction. You can take a look here ...
It is perfect for a small retreat house, with three large bedrooms, two smaller ones and a third smaller again. At first glance it seems fifteen people could be accommodated comfortably and with residential courses planned for an optimal 10 to 12 guests, there is still space for staff.
The two ground floor rooms are light and spacious, for group work, dining and relaxing. And the Library, currently building and intended to offer an eclectic collection of authentic books and videos to enrich the experience of visitors and staff alike.
The garden will be a combination of beauty, fragrance and food.
The cellar offers a wonderful space for meditation, chanting and an installation representing Indra's Net ... an expression of the interconnectedness of all things in the universe and a motif for the House, which is intended to be otherwise devoid of baggage laden forms.
Manifesting the money to buy the building is underway, with £150,000 already pledged. At this stage there are many options for raising the rest, including shared purchase, mortgage, loans and donations.
Once the place is bought, the activities commence. The focus is intended to be meditation and group work, with spiritual inquiry the key theme. The surrounding countryside is perfect for walking .. or running and cycling if you are in a hurry ...
Outside groups will be able to use the facilities for relevant courses.
A core team is being formed with a residential option.
Skills required include: cooking, housekeeping and gardening.
Shared values are: Compassion, Simplicity, Patience ...
These are not jobs, but vocations and a real opportunity for folks to help birth the vision of A Place to Be in Stanhope, in the beautiful North Pennines of England.
Interested? email steve.placetobe@gmail.com and come over for a chat, in person or via skype.
Exciting times!
It is perfect for a small retreat house, with three large bedrooms, two smaller ones and a third smaller again. At first glance it seems fifteen people could be accommodated comfortably and with residential courses planned for an optimal 10 to 12 guests, there is still space for staff.
The two ground floor rooms are light and spacious, for group work, dining and relaxing. And the Library, currently building and intended to offer an eclectic collection of authentic books and videos to enrich the experience of visitors and staff alike.
The garden will be a combination of beauty, fragrance and food.
The cellar offers a wonderful space for meditation, chanting and an installation representing Indra's Net ... an expression of the interconnectedness of all things in the universe and a motif for the House, which is intended to be otherwise devoid of baggage laden forms.
Manifesting the money to buy the building is underway, with £150,000 already pledged. At this stage there are many options for raising the rest, including shared purchase, mortgage, loans and donations.
Once the place is bought, the activities commence. The focus is intended to be meditation and group work, with spiritual inquiry the key theme. The surrounding countryside is perfect for walking .. or running and cycling if you are in a hurry ...
Outside groups will be able to use the facilities for relevant courses.
A core team is being formed with a residential option.
Skills required include: cooking, housekeeping and gardening.
Shared values are: Compassion, Simplicity, Patience ...
These are not jobs, but vocations and a real opportunity for folks to help birth the vision of A Place to Be in Stanhope, in the beautiful North Pennines of England.
Interested? email steve.placetobe@gmail.com and come over for a chat, in person or via skype.
Exciting times!
Thursday 13 April 2017
weird and dao ...
Reading material gets weirder, with The Holographic Universe opening up so many possibilities and evoking memories of sources studied decades ago, now revisited and creating cohesive narratives ... clearly, reading is one thing, experiencing another .... and building compelling tales from this fascinating process ... praxis .... whilst staying aware of the trap of confirmatory bias .... the latest news is that we may be living in only one of an infinite number of parallel universes ... with the possibility of choosing another .... time and space being absent from this process ... and since thought helps create these realities, and deeply embedded consensus thinking has created stories no longer serving our best interests ... well, we had better tell more helpful tales to each other .... weaving this blog into an evolving universe around the New Story Summit, Charles Eisentein's "The Beautiful New World Our Hearts Know is Possible ... another escaped book from the last version of the library ... and many other souls buzzing on this frequency right now ....
Meanwhile, as Easter approaches, the near death experience in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar on Easter Sunday 2011, which happened to be April 24th that year, coincided with the passing of Sai Baba, cited in The Holographic Universe as having convincing abilities to manifest all sorts of objects from thin air ... a fact that was mentioned by one of the German therapists on the trip to the beach when the rather unusual feature of floating in zone zero was reported ... the sky turned from blue to orange .... a colour identified with the conjuring guru ...
For balance and grounding from these fantastic speculations, today's trip with the elders was rewarded not only with the usual warm appreciation but also with the discovery of the bread from heaven at the farm shop ... Alex, master baker from Rise, supplies them, though a public transport trip may prove tricky ... let's see, two buses and a decent walk should do the trick ...
Of course, sharing these weird ideas can alienate some .... and following the ideas without grounding has led folks into severe cognitive dissonance and mental anguish .... holding it all lightly maybe the key ....
Meanwhile, as Easter approaches, the near death experience in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar on Easter Sunday 2011, which happened to be April 24th that year, coincided with the passing of Sai Baba, cited in The Holographic Universe as having convincing abilities to manifest all sorts of objects from thin air ... a fact that was mentioned by one of the German therapists on the trip to the beach when the rather unusual feature of floating in zone zero was reported ... the sky turned from blue to orange .... a colour identified with the conjuring guru ...
For balance and grounding from these fantastic speculations, today's trip with the elders was rewarded not only with the usual warm appreciation but also with the discovery of the bread from heaven at the farm shop ... Alex, master baker from Rise, supplies them, though a public transport trip may prove tricky ... let's see, two buses and a decent walk should do the trick ...
Of course, sharing these weird ideas can alienate some .... and following the ideas without grounding has led folks into severe cognitive dissonance and mental anguish .... holding it all lightly maybe the key ....
Tuesday 11 April 2017
tangents, loops ...
The question of authenticity pops up again and again as the inquiry takes off at random tangents, only to loop round in apparent synchronicities ... this morning's information arriving via the early browse of the selection of social media FB and me select from all the versions of reality available (and for grammarians apologies for rhyming "FB" with "me" .... for the sake of poetry .... and apologies to poets who know better than to force a rhyme egregiously ... ) ... Jung, credited with promoting the concept of synchronicity along with other fascinating ideas including, shadows dreamwork and more ... is scrutinised severely in The Cult of Jung by Richard Noll .... the link arriving via the Human Givens folks, who offer an authentic contemporary framework for psychotherapy ... with local practitioners available .... to maybe play into the Retreat House offer ...
Saturday's expedition to the city produced more books for the library and another conversation with Andreas, who is very keen to introduce the Greek philosophers to a local audience, many of whom are more interested in the Eastern sages ... or the various forms of Christianity still hanging on in the face of widespread apathy if not downright animosity ... being the religion deeply embedded in the national psyche, with concomitant emotional reaction as the narrative dissipates and horror stories emerge about depraved priests ... though on another loop, a book arrives from Dominic, a Dominican monk and friend from Newcastle, sometime enthusiast for A Place to Be and heretic by some standards ... this latest addition to the library is called The Lost Knowledge of Christ and will be reviewed when read ... after The Holographic Universe, previously in the library and revisited after a loop via David Bohm, whose Wholeness and the Implicate Order offers an alternative and compelling version of quantum theory, though even the lay version is hard going for this unscientifically wired brain .... Bohm, to loop again. was great friends with Jiddu Krishnamurti and co-authored The Limits of Thought, another stray from the previous version of the library ... hopefully being read and circulated as all the best books deserve .... and looping again, Dominic's book describes The Enneagram, taught some years ago at the base for APtB by interfaith minister and APtB founder member, Janette ... also regular at Findhorn, an early inspiration for the Retreat House ...
Sunday dawning bright demanded an extended wander, the daily routes being usually under two hours and mostly the same way ... so after a steep climb South it was a heavenly hike West along the high ridge, descending through peat bogs and East along the back road home after four hours more or less non-stop ... such guided expeditions clearly part of the Retreat House offer .... possibly with the peat bogs circumnavigated ....
So to yesterday's assisted shopping trip to Hexham ... a real boon to folks unable to get about without help as well as able bodied people without cars, since the bus route from Stanhope involves two or three changes and around three and a half hours ... hmm, maybe time for the much discussed lift-share scheme ....
As for Wear and Dao, google says around 400 folks around the world see it, though how many read it is unknown .... the first and only potential publishers are tardy in their response, though it is already published here anyway and if a few folks enjoy it, that's fine for me ... to be honest, I write for myself .... to clarify thoughts and hopefully find handy to prompt the unreliable memory ... though Easter is a helpful hook, even with its wandering dates ... two years ago the blog was in Santiago, six years ago floating in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar ...
Well, dear readers, I hope you are enjoying the blog, tangents and loops and all ... maybe the meaning will become clear sometime .... meanwhile there does seem a centre to the chaos .... visible through the upstairs back window of the cottage and current base ... the energy is gathering ... the art to find the collaborators with authenticity and the heart for the vision ...
Saturday's expedition to the city produced more books for the library and another conversation with Andreas, who is very keen to introduce the Greek philosophers to a local audience, many of whom are more interested in the Eastern sages ... or the various forms of Christianity still hanging on in the face of widespread apathy if not downright animosity ... being the religion deeply embedded in the national psyche, with concomitant emotional reaction as the narrative dissipates and horror stories emerge about depraved priests ... though on another loop, a book arrives from Dominic, a Dominican monk and friend from Newcastle, sometime enthusiast for A Place to Be and heretic by some standards ... this latest addition to the library is called The Lost Knowledge of Christ and will be reviewed when read ... after The Holographic Universe, previously in the library and revisited after a loop via David Bohm, whose Wholeness and the Implicate Order offers an alternative and compelling version of quantum theory, though even the lay version is hard going for this unscientifically wired brain .... Bohm, to loop again. was great friends with Jiddu Krishnamurti and co-authored The Limits of Thought, another stray from the previous version of the library ... hopefully being read and circulated as all the best books deserve .... and looping again, Dominic's book describes The Enneagram, taught some years ago at the base for APtB by interfaith minister and APtB founder member, Janette ... also regular at Findhorn, an early inspiration for the Retreat House ...
Sunday dawning bright demanded an extended wander, the daily routes being usually under two hours and mostly the same way ... so after a steep climb South it was a heavenly hike West along the high ridge, descending through peat bogs and East along the back road home after four hours more or less non-stop ... such guided expeditions clearly part of the Retreat House offer .... possibly with the peat bogs circumnavigated ....
So to yesterday's assisted shopping trip to Hexham ... a real boon to folks unable to get about without help as well as able bodied people without cars, since the bus route from Stanhope involves two or three changes and around three and a half hours ... hmm, maybe time for the much discussed lift-share scheme ....
As for Wear and Dao, google says around 400 folks around the world see it, though how many read it is unknown .... the first and only potential publishers are tardy in their response, though it is already published here anyway and if a few folks enjoy it, that's fine for me ... to be honest, I write for myself .... to clarify thoughts and hopefully find handy to prompt the unreliable memory ... though Easter is a helpful hook, even with its wandering dates ... two years ago the blog was in Santiago, six years ago floating in the sea at Zambujeira do Mar ...
Well, dear readers, I hope you are enjoying the blog, tangents and loops and all ... maybe the meaning will become clear sometime .... meanwhile there does seem a centre to the chaos .... visible through the upstairs back window of the cottage and current base ... the energy is gathering ... the art to find the collaborators with authenticity and the heart for the vision ...
Friday 7 April 2017
Cleverness
The sophy part of philosophy is sometimes translated as wisdom, sometimes knowledge ... the difference is critical and cleverness is often a barrier to wisdom ... the big thinkers and repositories of knowledge seem sometimes less wise than a simple ignoramus ... anyway, the flirtation with the clever philosopher and bestselling-author of Sapiens and Homo Deus is over and the over-excited brain can relax again ... pondering whether publication was purposely post S.M Goenka's passing ... or maybe the dystopian vision of Artificial Intelligence enhanced Human species is right .... or just one of many possibilities according to choices made by Sapiens ... evolutionary branching of homo-sapiens is almost discernible .... though at what stage mechanicallly "improved" people cease to be seen as sentient beings is a question ... the bigger question historically is how the currently dominant species rampaging around the earth ever earned the name sapiens or wise ...
Interbeing, and evolution of humans as conscious and aware superorganisms ... proposed by Thich Nhat Hahn has more appeal somehow and much as the implantation of chips in the brain may improve memory and intellect, like television (and its latest version which watches the watcher watching it), microwave cookers, nanobots in the bloodstream, cocktails of pharmaceuticals and so on, are not yet compulsory and may be best resisted ...
Bringing us back to free will, another big question ... yesterday's conversation with a cognitive psychologist friend suggested that my contention that the Libet experiments, supposedly showing action preceding the associated thought and therefore denying free will, could be explained by the thought identified by brain imaging being a post action rationale and the trigger being intuition, was wrong, since intuition would also be seen in the brain imaging ... possibly right ... if intuition was located in the brain ... anyway Libet himself refuted the conclusion that his experiments demonstrated that free will did not exist and you can read about it in the link above ... the bigger question from my friend was why I was at all interested to spend so much time on such questions ... to which there is no answer just now, but it is a question worth considering ... anyway, apologies for the lengthy and rather clumsy sentence above .... good luck following it!
My current view on free will is "don't know, but I find life sweeter if I act as if I have it" ... to be amended according to evidence arriving via the brain or wherever else this stuff is processed ...
Ken Wilber is the antidote to over-cleverness for now ... revisiting him after finding his persona rather guru-ish, seeing the spiritual aspect and the insistence on integrating it with the other essential parts of being human as most refreshing and instructive for programmes on the Art of Living ...
Tuesday 4 April 2017
Who Are I ?
More diversion from the serious business planning ...after "Who Am I And If So How Many?" another philosopher examines the Self and finds it absent ... this time Yuval Harari in the sequel to "Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind" sets off another fireworks display of cleverness in "Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow" ... both borrowing from the very clever Stephen Hawking of the much purchased, little read and even less understoood "A Brief History of Time" ... Harari is more accessible, being a popularising polymath ... and quite compelling with his storytelling, though some of his propositions are less than persuasive and his use of statistics perhaps underlining Disraeli's observation that there are "lies, damned lies and statistics".
Harari's dedication in Homo Deus, "To my teacher, S.M. Goenka (1924-2013), who lovingly taught me important things," intrigues and keeps the reader going through unfamiliar territory ... since Goenka is the founder of a contemporary version of Vipassanna, the main object of which is to still the mind, penetrate layers of delusion and discover the Truth ... thereby bringing peace to the world one person at a time ... a diversion from the diversion with fascinating information on the internet ... taking a nice loop back to the Retreat House Business Plan ... the techniques not much different from the Living Mindfully programmes described in Gary Heads' recent book ... except the residential component, which seem to enrich the experience ... meanwhile the challenge to the mind of Harari, whilst not comfortable, is embraced anyway ... too easy to follow familiar stories and build new castles in the air ...
Reports from the various schools for "The Art of Living" are helpful, though league tables on success are unlikely and probably unwise ... the balance between regulation and intuition as always key and if it was a car we might best keep intuition in the driver's seat .... from personal experience, the initial Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme was vital, Findhorn was enriching, walking the pilgrim trails deepening, embedding it all in daily practise grounding ... second hand experience from Vipassana suggests (from a small sample of two!) that ongoing practise is essential if the transformative experience is to be maintained ...
Daily routine ... sitting, walking, studying ... thinking and not thinking keeps things mostly grounded here in Stanhope ... thoughts wander occasionally to the camino ... and Nicola proposes a "Silent Walk Day" for A Place to Be at its new temporary base and the beautiful woods and fells around ... perhaps reviving the previously popular regular gatherings ... building the energy again for the Retreat House ....
Harari's dedication in Homo Deus, "To my teacher, S.M. Goenka (1924-2013), who lovingly taught me important things," intrigues and keeps the reader going through unfamiliar territory ... since Goenka is the founder of a contemporary version of Vipassanna, the main object of which is to still the mind, penetrate layers of delusion and discover the Truth ... thereby bringing peace to the world one person at a time ... a diversion from the diversion with fascinating information on the internet ... taking a nice loop back to the Retreat House Business Plan ... the techniques not much different from the Living Mindfully programmes described in Gary Heads' recent book ... except the residential component, which seem to enrich the experience ... meanwhile the challenge to the mind of Harari, whilst not comfortable, is embraced anyway ... too easy to follow familiar stories and build new castles in the air ...
Reports from the various schools for "The Art of Living" are helpful, though league tables on success are unlikely and probably unwise ... the balance between regulation and intuition as always key and if it was a car we might best keep intuition in the driver's seat .... from personal experience, the initial Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme was vital, Findhorn was enriching, walking the pilgrim trails deepening, embedding it all in daily practise grounding ... second hand experience from Vipassana suggests (from a small sample of two!) that ongoing practise is essential if the transformative experience is to be maintained ...
Daily routine ... sitting, walking, studying ... thinking and not thinking keeps things mostly grounded here in Stanhope ... thoughts wander occasionally to the camino ... and Nicola proposes a "Silent Walk Day" for A Place to Be at its new temporary base and the beautiful woods and fells around ... perhaps reviving the previously popular regular gatherings ... building the energy again for the Retreat House ....
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