26 May 2014 · 11:50

Society news – Blog No. 31

mindsetWhen a deranged child goes on the rampage with a gun to make society pay for its rejection of him, you begin to appreciate just how deep his need to be ‘seen’ in this superficial world, is, and just how far he will go to get ‘seen’ or ‘heard’ by the mainstream.  Listening to Elliot Rodger outline his plans before executing them bothered me because of that silly ‘evil’ laugh he kept slotting in for effect.  Did he think he was in The Hunger Games?  The rest of his reasoning and ranting was immature to the point of being ridiculous, and it is very sad that innocents have died at the hand of a spurned boy because they did happen to have lives.  Since the occurrence of these shootings is fairly frequent, it would be safe to say that it is time to address the root of the problem rather than merely treating the symptoms.  There are always early warning signs with people who are not right in the head.  Elliot Rodger was not right in the head.  People who are not right in the head are best recognised and sent somewhere that can sort them out.  It is pointless pretending that these people and their problems don’t exist.  If their heads cannot be sorted out, then they should be removed from society, not put back into circulation and given an opportunity to build up a stash of weaponry with which they will exact their revenge on happy others.

Perhaps the sooner society realises that the number of idiots like Elliot Rodger is on the rise, the sooner it will amend its ways and become more inclusive, rather than exclusive.  These Fratt houses cause problems in a lot of peoples’ lives.  I wonder what their purpose is, other than social stratification?  Perhaps parents will realise, too, that having a meaningful conversation with your child once in a while can alleviate – or prevent – a lot of suffering.

 

 

 

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23 May 2014 · 10:34

Reformation – Blog No. 30

reformation-day-serviceIt would seem that the Church has been reforming itself – at the request of the people – since before the 16th century.  People have been skeptical about the Church for a very long time.  We are now in the 21st century and it would seem that it is time again for the Church to reform itself.  I can understand that any long-standing tradition will have difficulty in accepting that a shake-up is necessary.  Too bad – it is.  The point that the Church needs to understand is that people are not the same as they were.  You cannot apply an ancient set of rules (which were perfectly feasible, perhaps, at their time) to the now generations.  Abortion is not guaranteed to send you to whichever hell you think is real.  Neither is sex.  If you abort children because you are too lazy to use contraception, that is a different story.  That is why contraception exists.  Parenting is not something everyone is good at doing, and it is not something that everyone should do.

Reformation is always for the better.  Always.  To reform old ideas is exciting – especially with the evidence the sciences work very hard to produce for this ‘seeing is believing’ world.  Modifying your ideas is not supposed to be humiliating.  Everyone believes something wholeheartedly at some point in their lives.  Grace comes into play when you admit (however grudgingly) that there are facts you didn’t have before – that you now have –  that change the way you think about things and the way you look at things.  It is said that you will only see what your mind can conceive of.  That is very true.  That is why a reformation is necessary.  It is better to procure the facts and feed them to the people so they can make informed choices.  It is possible that because of what the Church is protecting it cannot change its mind on certain core issues.  That is to be expected.  However, the Church has a huge responsibility because it has a huge following.  A lot of people devoted – totally devoted – to God are praying every day for salvation.  I hope the Church can save them all.

You can reform your life any time you need to.  With – or without – the Church.  If you should want reform, that is up to you.  Want and need are relative in this context.  A reform is no defeat.  A concession, perhaps.  It is not a failing.  It is an admission that things could be better than they are, that the way you are working isn’t working.  That admission is where you begin to see the reason you need to change your thinking.  It is fairly easy to understand that if you cannot change your thinking – things cannot get better.

 

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19 May 2014 · 17:10

Falling – Blog No. 29

Falling-AliceYou fall in love.  You fall back.  You fall asleep.  You fall behind.  Falling is a sensation.  Because of gravity and your senses, you can appreciate how falling feels.  It depends on which way you are falling as to the pleasantness of your experience.  Falling in love is extremely pleasant.  As is falling asleep.  Unless you tend towards nightmares, in which case falling asleep can be hell.  Falling short is usually a disappointing experience and is best avoided.  It is possible to avoid falling short if you plan properly in life.  Falling back is occasionally necessary.  When it comes to safety, falling back becomes serious.

Falling snowflakes.  Falling petals.  Falling tears.  Each has its beauty.

Alice fell into Wonderland.  She maps it, still.  So it is not to say that falling must be frightening, or that such will yield disastrous results.  Sometimes, falling takes you exactly where you need to be.  A fall from grace for instance, may sound like the end of the world.  Perhaps it is only the beginning.

 

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16 May 2014 · 09:55

Reason – Blog No. 28

reasonHow are people taught to reason?  Does it come naturally, or is it learned?  Is reason a by-product of philosophy’s tendency to bounce around the word ‘therefore’ when coming to its conclusions?  Reason can complicate matters.  It is an important skill, but employ it wisely.  Do not discount those things you cannot rationally – reasonably – explain.  Not knowing the how or why of something is no reason to disregard it.  In good time everything comes clear – if something does not make sense immediately, trust that it will.  Being capable of understanding is more valuable than being able to reason.  Reason can divert one’s attention from the truth and diverted attention is called not concentrating.  It is vital to concentrate when searching for the truth.

You react because another acts towards you in a certain way.  For instance, the reason a person shoots dead an intruder is because the intruder is trespassing.  That is not reason enough.  The reason a person assassinates another’s character is because they have low self-esteem.  That is not reason enough.  You cannot always excuse an action because there is a reason behind it.  The reason for a genocide is a hatred.  A fear.  Those reasons are never reason enough.

Giving valid reasons for your actions makes sense if you feel the need to explain yourself to other people.  Some people feel that need.  Some people feel the need to make others explain themselves.  Who is anyone to make another person explain themselves?  That need that people have, makes me smile.  Like policemen they stand, demanding disclosure.  You cannot force disclosure if you want the truth.  Ask nicely and you might get an explanation, which is better than being given a reason.  However.  Give reasons if you feel you need to.  Be sure they explain themselves.  It is not to say that the reasons you give will be met with approval, but give them anyway.  They open dialogue.

 

 

 

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13 May 2014 · 14:38

Speechless – Blog No. 27

speechless-------webI watched a video today of a mob of black South Africans killing a young black woman lying in the road, by kicking her in the face and body and men jumping with their full body weight on her head.  Numerous times.  And I did not even watch the clip to conclusion.  I am not even sure what the girl did, but no matter – that kind of savagery against another human being is something very twisted and I think South Africa has a major problem with the mentality of many of its residents.  The cruelty made me shake, I could not actually believe what my eyes and ears were telling me.  Wherever that savagery comes from, whatever its motivator – it has to be stopped.  And I do not use the word ‘savagery’ lightly.

Each day I find myself less and less inclined to concede that this planet deserves the mercy it seems to think it does.  I would not be surprised if this place imploded in the next 50 years.  When you have people that will chop a dog’s feet off for the hell of it and people that will stomp another person to death in the street until they are way beyond dead – I think it is safe to say that it is fair time for despairing.  One has just to glance around and be appalled.  I am left wondering what next?  Stresses are not set to lessen in a world that is going the way this one is.  In fact, the more people that are shunted into the system, the more stressful life will get.  For everyone.  For those that have, remember that those that do not have way out-number you.  Those that do not have do not care that you have worked hard to afford what you have in your life.  They feel entitlement.  They want what you have and in this world of immediate gratification, that means immediately.  It’s a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

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09 May 2014 · 11:20

Heroes – Blog No. 26

heroesHeroes are not heroes for no reason.  They are that kind of person.  They are heroic.  Heroes in stories often die.  Sometimes, they have to.  That is the way of heroism.  Since you, too, have to die at some point in the future, why not a die a hero?  It is an honourable death.  It takes some doing to get your actions registered as heroic.  That means it is not a walk in the park being a hero.  It is a very serious calling and those that decide to become heroes in life – or death – should be acknowledged with our gratitude.  A hero has focus, vision, to see a mission through and deliver reached goals with maximum efficiency.

There are many heroes walking the face of the Earth.  Theirs’ is a legacy that speaks for itself.  When you save something or put your life on the line for a cause in which you believe and you do so with a fierce passion for what you represent, you begin to understand what heroes did historically – what they still do – and why they do it.  A hero is a person who helps others, a person that understands loyalty.  That is why their value.  They are resourceful, enterprising.  They are very good at what they do.  Heroes are still required and it is just as well that they do exist.  This world has not been saved yet.

It is time to stop avenging the deaths of former ‘heroes’.  There are too many men chasing each other around brandishing death because of dead heroes.  What is the point of that?  You do not teach your son that he must kill his neighbour because the boy’s grandfather killed yours.  That is stupid thinking.  The business of vendettas is a big business, understandably, there is a firm principle behind an eye for an eye, but there are ways to do the things you must do to balance the scales of justice without compromising your soul.  It is important to know this.

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06 May 2014 · 11:19

The Animal Kingdom – Blog No. 25

The Animal KingdomThere is a vocation.  A calling.  It is called Investigator of Kingdoms.  It is all-encompassing.  When you are required to make an informed decision you need to gather all the information.  That means checking the ins and outs of every kingdom.  There are a great many, The Animal Kingdom but one.  Ask people who game.  In part they are all investigators of kingdoms, some of them extraordinarily adept at what they do.  Ask people who save animals for a living.  Theirs’ is a kingdom.  Ask people who have crowned money their king.  They belong to a kingdom, too.  There is even a point in asking a murdering savage why he does what he does.  He will say because he wants to.  What can you say to that in a free world?

The Animal Kingdom belongs to Nature.  That is the first – and easiest – thing to understand.  Man, too – belongs to Nature.  Woman, belongs to the Sun.  Notoriously possessive, the Sun is a formidable opponent.  His shield is virtually impossible to penetrate.  The Sun shields the Virgin.  That is the second thing to understand.  If you will reach her sanctity you must brave fire.  In the Animal Kingdom you will find carrion.  What else does the wild feed upon?  The stench of death does not deter them from feasting.  You will find bones, thrown here and there.  Everywhere.  Then you will find hyenas.  They shriek and eat bones.  Vultures abound, too.  They tidy up nicely.

The Animal Kingdom impacts a lot of pain.  Their pain – generated almost entirely by humans – is revisited upon the planet for the humans to experience.  The randomness with which sudden death appears to consume people, for instance, is no different to the randomness with which hunting humans seem to choose their targets.  Right.  You.  Bam.  Most hunting humans do not say sorry when they kill.  Nor do they say thank you.  They should.  It gives them headway when they become the hunted.

 

 

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02 May 2014 · 11:10

The sacrilege – Blog No. 24

sacrilege

 

 

 

 

 

 

… of starving children

… of cruelty

… of abuse

… of inauthenticity

… of denying yourself your truth

… of living a lie

… of entrusting your Fate to one God (never put all your eggs in one basket)

… of forcing a child to peddle religion door to door

… of breeding children into hate, poverty or slavery

… of the corrupt

… of demonising death

… of rape

… of greed

… of letting others label you

… of following authority blindly

… of deceiving your children

… of trashing the Earth

… of thwarting progress

… of only living for now (never put all your eggs in one basket)

… of waste

… of capitalising on another’s Fate

and

… of selling another’s soul for your supper

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28 Apr 2014 · 10:23

The wonder – Blog No. 23

wonder

 

 

 

 

 

 

… of getting the joke and loving the humour

… of feeling the lyric tug at your heart and understanding the reason the song was written

… of considering the workings of your eyes

… of trusting someone or something implicitly

… of knowing you can speak your mind and be heard

… of creating something out of nothing

… of watching a rising full moon dominate an horizon

… of sharing your dreams with those who want to know and choose to believe

… of turning good into better and better into best

… of making your own acquaintance when you least expect it

… of letting yourself succeed at what means most to you

… of giving and seeing why

… of living inside sleep

… of loving to distraction

… of being in a position to help

… of knowing exactly what to do

and

… of learning exactly how to do it.

 

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24 Apr 2014 · 11:13

Understanding – Blog No. 22

understandingIt is an interesting thought.  How do you convey an understanding?  That is some skill, when you can do that effectively.  It is a skill we are all learning, all the time.  It is about being skilled in communication.  However you choose to do that.  Understanding is visceral.  You can feel it.  How do you confer a feeling?  First you must understand the feeling before you can attempt to share it.  When you hear a truth, remember that you do not need to remind yourself to remember it for the future, when you hear a truth it sinks right in.  You have to do nothing more than hear it.  Hearing is not the same as listening.  Also, it is best if you do not start trying to fight the truth with reason – man’s reason ought not be valued as much as it is in this world.  It tries with its noise to out-shout others whose opinions are more valuable.

It is said that love means understanding a person’s position when they wrong you, treat you badly.  Instead of lashing out, you stand back and you consider what pain the person must be in.  Pain governs a great deal of bad behaviour and oftentimes deserves empathy.  This can be challenging.  Of course, should the person treating you badly simply be an arsehole, then take yourself out of their equation.  In life there is really little point in surrounding yourself with arseholes, do not allow yourself to become one, either.  It is a choice.

To share an understanding with another is a beautiful thing indeed.  Your understandings will guide you in life.  They guide very effectively when you have them accessible, your understandings lead you to ever-new perceptions about people, times, places.  Fresh perceptions are necessary in life.  They inspire you.  When you understand something new, or you understand a thing differently to the way you understood it before, you give yourself tools with which to work your life around you.  It is worth taking time to understand a thing, things.  Tools come in a variety of shapes, and sizes.

 

 

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