Moving ...

After the depths explored recently, reading, talking, listening and finally writing ... back to the simple joys of an early walk across the campo and a coffee at the beach bar ... a familiar rhythm for caminoing ... and since the temperature is getting above 35 degrees by the afternoon, the high cloud is welcome and the cool dip too, before a cup of tea with Susie and a hot last leg home ...

Home? Where is that now? The mind is moving already, replacement caretakers negotiating for late August arrival ... a dream about my elder daughter and her dog (Buddy, from her childhood, not Jess her current four legged friend) lost ... this did happen when she was 14, wandering in the New Forest in the irresponsible care of her feckless father, more concerned with her liberation than a fear driven security ... though the setting was different in the dream, with other random, though recognised in other dramas, characters ... hey ho, let it go, never been into dream analysis ... or over thinking ... perhaps a necessary reminder that liberating my children does not mean completely neglecting them ... though benign neglect was the preferred model of parenting when I had a part-time hands on role ... aware that dumping inherited expectations down the generations is all too common ... poet from Hull, Philip Larkin, whilst by no means a role model, expresses it brutally in "This Be the Verse "... delicate readers are spared, the rest of you can find it easily enough ...

Home is still fluid ... more adopted North East than childhood South West ... Stanhope in the foothills of the Pennines the default ... correspondents there still keep me posted ... is it tethering me? Well, the next home is open ... the walk to Santiago and Finisterre, then south to Portugal maybe ... friends there too ... staying open to what resonates and whether it is people, place or both that call, happy to respond ... and always happy walking too ...

Oh yes, maybe a flying visit to see the neglected daughters in the middle of all that!

Brainwashing ...

Brainwashing is a word generally used pejoratively .... as if it was a bad thing ... yet we wash other parts of our body quite regularly ... indeed folk might think us dirty if we didn't ... and yes, the brain is on the inside, so we may not notice that it is in need of washing ...

So, why bother washing it at all?

Perhaps the analogy of a computer operating system may help ... if the brain is processing data, storing some on our hard drive but mostly drawing from the cloud or universal mind, then a clean and uncorrupted brain as operating system is essential for clear understanding. Yet our brain as operating system is easily corrupted by the viruses floating round in our environment ... and to complicate things further, our brain as operating system is not only processing incoming data, but also broadcasting the garbage we have produced ....

So, how to clean it up?

And how to avoid replacing the corrupted brain as operating system with another set of viruses, as in the usual brainwashing techniques?

The first step is to see what is going on. After all, if we don't perceive a problem, then we are hardly going to deal with it.

Next is to see how the viruses are getting in ... this requires some focused attention, maybe some guidance and above all a still mind ...

It will soon become obvious that static social mores, public opinion, accepted wisdom, transmitted by parents and teachers, and above all the mass media, be it radio, television or social media are the culprits ...

Withdrawing for a while from these influences is essential  ... and whilst a completely clean brain as operating system is difficult to attain, using the cleaner one to receive and transmit clearer information, will itself aid further cleaning.

Returning to the world of conditioned humans, we may find ourselves in different places, interacting differently with the same and different humans. .. and so on along an upward spiral ...

How will we know it was worth it?

The brain as operating system is infinitely more than any computer ... remember that was an analogy ... the whole enity which you call you, is vibrating energy ... if the spiral is upward you will feel easier, in tune with higher frequencies ... if downward there is dis-ease and self-medicating behaviour with drugs, alcohol, dense foods, destructive actions ...

On the group scale, we can see the effects of upward spiralling  and downward too ... the prevailing narrative sometimes seems dominated by the old ways of violence and greed ... yet another narrative is available, in ordinary communities and new style extraordinary ones, maybe not yet mainstream but that is up to us .... to live it and tell it ...

Well worth a little brainwashing eh?!

Power ... energy ... dramas ...

This Polish proverb, Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys, elicits correspondence from concerned friends ... quite properly raising questions about our duties as citizens to try to make the world better .... and this is indeed tricky to untangle ... a lot of it is in a mess just now, if the dominant narrative is to be believed ...

I suppose Jiddu Krishnamurti's words resonate at a philosophical level: You want to know my secret? I don't mind what happens. This is stepping out of all dramas, yet K was deeply concerned about all the suffering in the world and his great achievements include schools and retreat centres worldwide as well as a powerful and liberating message of Love as the ultimate ....

The daily dramas play out at all levels and discerning which are for us and how to play which role is delicate work. Being drawn into a drama which angers us, indicates that personal lessons are to be learnt .... and it seems that energy transfers occur during the power games we play ... and how to discern the verity of dramas to which we are invited? All is rarely as it seems and giving our energy carelessly, at the behest of the crowd, taking sides in simplified binary fights, may not serve our best interests or the collective either ...

Info comes through from the Pachamama Alliance ... advice from the wise ones in the Amazon ... since it is the dream of capitalism and conspicuous consumption that is at the root of the current crises, work with better dreams ... the same advice came from Buckminster Fuller and others over recent decades ... the way to change the existing reality is not to oppose it (which energises it), but to build a better reality ... this is our work ... reforming capitalism hardly fits this new story ...

Not my circus, not my monkeys ...

A post pops up on the Facebook feed (main source of information here in the Casa, not bothering with television, radio or newspapers ... though selecting the contributions is an art in itself ... part in my hands, part FB and their need for sponsored posts, part apparently random .... there is a theory that in another realm, the gods of FB drop things we need into the mix ...) whoops, carried away in parenthesis there ... next to a cute picture of a monkey the caption "Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys - Polish Proverb"

The post was picked up from a friend from FB and Findhorn Foundation, RB Chapman ... anyone having visited the Cluny College campus in the past six years will have seen and heard him in the foyer, singing and playing his guitar ... it resonated (the singing and playing and the post) ... so, in case it resonated with others, I shared it on ... and noted a few cryptic comments from FB and real life friends ... because it is not a precise statement of scientific fact (and sometimes those are questionable) but a proverb ... and proverbs are food for thought, capable of interpretation ...some years ago, on a bus from Lisbon to Evora, sitting next to an old Chinese/Malay/American bloke, a fascinating conversation ensued ... part of which included the news that in his childhood his Buddhist parents declined to tell him or his siblings very much, but threw them a proverb every day and their learning was discussed at the evening meal .... wonderful!

So, to pull from the Polish proverb some thoughts: it is not to reject empathy or compassion for monkeys or humans, but to discern whether their drama is really ours ... the teacher, Byron Katie, says it in another way, as a technique to settle the mind ... three types of business: our business, their business, God's business (for atheists, multi-theists and so on, this is only shorthand for things we cannot control. like the weather - though that is debatable apparently) ... when we focus on Our Business, things become much simpler .. and this does not mean not caring or helping or any of that ... sometimes those things are our business ...

Now to check the FB feed, see who is polluting the stream and may be pruned ...
( ... don't forget the conspiracy theory, which plausibly suggests that FB is a super duper DIY intelligence gathering operation ...)

Brexpat and other abominations ...

Discerning readers will have noticed the style guide of this blog has resisted the insidious and ubiquitous introduction of a new word to denote a country leaving the European Union ...it started with Greece a couple of years ago, when they were tempted to decamp ... then the recent referendum in the UK brought the "British" version into the light of day .... an interview with a hero, Noam Chomsky, included the word, which was a surprise and mild disappointment (mild because imagining our heroes will never disappoint us is asking for trouble) ....

Of course, language evolves and it is up to us which new words we adopt ... Americanisms have always been a trigger here ... "awesome!" being a hyperbolic example ... the overuse of coarse words is another no no in the style guide, maybe because words have power of their own (spells) and whether written or spoken, it is well to remember it ....and this writer is fond of inventing new words too .., as well as playing with grammatical structures in order to disrupt traditional patterns of thought ...

So, in defiance of the style guide, the headline of this post includes a development of "Brexit" with "Brexpat" ( which throws a spanner in the works of discerning between Anglos and Celts) ...found in the Costa English language press and on the related Facebook pages and discussing the impact of leaving the EU on the lives of immigrants to Spain (and other EU countries) from the imminently departing UK (or whichever portions of it are still united after the fun and games settle down).

As an aside, a conversation with Russ yesterday elicited his view that dyslexia is unknown in Spain,since the language is written as spoken .... this is mostly confirmed on a brief check and anyone interested in the nuances can do their own research ... my interest currently lies in the way language and thought are related ... and how understanding the world may require both a multi-lingual approach and periods of silence, including not only social discourse but also mind chatter ... balance, balance, balance!

Brits, Celts and Euros ...

My friend and correspondent, James of Scotland, chastises me for the lazy use of the term Brits ... quite rightly, since most of the stereotypical characteristics accompanying the word are really associated with the English ... or Anglos ... meanwhile friend and correspondent Colin of England, asserts he recognises none of it, preferring to be a citizen of the world .... a sentiment entirely endorsed here ... however, these stereotypes are part of the human experience in 2016 and maybe in exploring them we can overcome them ... and going into the Anglo aspect, perhaps Colin, from the North East of England, might feel he has less in common with Southern Anglos than Scots ... while this Southern Anglo might point to London as the problem ... in truth the separation starts with inequality ... attitudes to others stemming from that ... the tendency to derive status from who we can look down on and blame for the problems ... or looking up, envy or criticise for their greed ...

Local friend and correspondent, Susie, meanwhile, asks about the missing blogs this week ... the smart response being that when there is nothing to say, say that. .. perhaps the smarter retort may be that a writer has responsibilities and needs to exercise some discipline ... but I have been reflecting on this assignment in San Enrique, planning autumn adventures, finding apposite reading material in the Casa .... All Quiet on the Western Front, as a new period of instability in Europe opens up ... The Great Gatsby, on the vacuous lifestyles of the super-rich ... Narziss and Goldmund, on being true to our deepest purpose ...  and confess to an inherent laziness, possibly a reaction to a very unlazy father ...

So, whilst thinking and talking about creating intentional communities (not to be confused with gated communities), based on co-operation, simple living and compassion, the Camino de Santiago call is stronger ... let's see where the energy goes when Agnieszka arrives in a few weeks time ... this community building needs younger folk ... and an EU passport may turn out to be an asset we Anglos regret losing if Iberia turns out to be the place ....

As for Euros, it may take a while for that word to adhere to people of Europe rather than a currency. .. which is currently pushing the pension pounds towards parity .... never mind, it's been there before and life is still bearable in the rent free Casa del Puente ... which is open to offers for caretakers in a month or two ...

Leadership ...

Observing the political shenanigans of recent times, the question arises: Is this really the best we can do?

The charismatic leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, Farage, resigns after achieving his stated aim ... the other clown and charismatic cheerleader for leaving the EU, Boris, declines his previously obvious ambition to be Prime Minister, having been Mayor of London and having achieved his stated aim of an Out vote, backs down, supposedly on the say so of ridiculous Gove, who then loses the Tory Party vote to two Thatcher clones, one of whom then stands down in favour of a hard line pro-EU minister without any obvious leadership qualities, who is thus anointed Prime Minister for the next four years .... while the smarmy git who did somehow get elected slopes off stage with a smirk ...

Meanwhile, the opposition party, led by a decent chap with socialist principles, albeit without much charisma, is defenestrated by his own MPs, and an establishment woman, without any notable leadership qualities, puts herself forward for the job ....

So, whilst the Age of Aquarius demands feminine qualities of compassion and co-operation, our two female supposed leaders, have the genital qualification without the more important ones, whilst the old chap, who never really wanted the job, has discovered balls to go with the compassion ... though still doesn't look like a leader!

Now, the population of the UK is around 65 million and quite a few of them are eligible to be Prime Minister, or could be in the event of General Election or Insurrection ... many of them have the compassion and intelligence to do it ... so where are they?

Perhaps politics is so tarnished that suitable game changers are focusing instead on social projects or enterprise. ... or enterprising social projects .... Juliet Davenport of Good Energy for example ...

It has been suggested that wanting to be a politician is so tarnished that such a desire should result in immediate disqualification ... that when such a role is required, folk should be drafted in for as long as that issue is alive, then returned to their previous places ... such things are tried in Austria with Wisdom Councils ...

How much longer will leaders be needed? This role is suspect too, since energetically the Dracula effect comes into play ... a leader gains power from followers and then we really have to pray their intentions are pure ... power, it is said, corrupts ... history shows us, herstory too sometimes ...

Is the question really transcending all the games of power ... are would-be leaders just needy people, seeking energy boosts? And as above so below applies, as always ... personal relationships are no different to political ones ... is psychology the answer?

Time for a lie down ... so many questions ... this writer, sometime leader, would be activist is addressing the observation made in the cards "Your relationships are a reflection of you" ... mostly in solitude for the theory, but the practice will have to follow soon ...