Who would have thought being a car mechanic and a stripper had so much in common.

Work Funnies is by Constance from Columbus and is a high-quality, black-and-white, photocopied 28 pages. It reads quickly because it’s strong start to finish and hard to put down.

The jokes comment on observations relevant to nearly all jobs: simple ones often overlooked or would insult your coworkers. They’re pessimistic in a good way (especially the kid’s section), and not a depression-waiting-to-happen Debbie Downer. You know, just quirky enough to get you through your shitty job.

For more information or purchase visit microcosm.org or myspace.com/bigcavecomix.

‘ The extension of time in moving image reveals a microcosm of/for immersion ‘

A brief explanation: It has to do with the term of Immersion in relation with the technique of Slow motion (overcranking). The stretch of time in the field of moving image gives us the opportunity to see a different world, a microcosm ( derives from the Greek word mikro-kosmos ). Slow motion can make the image shows us ‘the moment’ and depict other actions that take part in this microcosm. How the viewer inside an installation can be immersed by this depiction of inner (digital) microcosm.

Hope, it works !..

]]> http://nationalspacestudiescenter.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/my-excellent-adventure/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:45:53 +0000 nationalspacestudiescenter http://nationalspacestudiescenter.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/my-excellent-adventure/

Yesterday was a visit with three very smart men from Microcosm in Hawthorne.  They are very focused on reducing the cost to get to space and have an outstanding combination of innovative ideas and beneficial and simplified technologies.  These include significant innovations in fiber-based tank systems for fuels and oxidizers.  They also include highly simplified rocket engines (no turbopump) and nozzle systems.  Additionally, their systems are as environmentally benign as they come.

The follow-up was a tour of the Space X facility, also in Hawthorne, this time with two very smart guys.  Space X manufactures about 70+percent of the booster there in their own facility to include making their own rocket engines.  As the cost of the EELV family of vehicles continue to rise above all expectations, Space X appears to be very well poised to move beyond their current commercial model of supporting/demonstrating capability for NASA and into the traditional launch hardware and launch services needed by DoD users. 

Couldn’t take any pictures, but two really excellent tours.

Shrii Shrii A’nandamu’rti answers the question, “What is Soul”, in many places, one of those places is in the text ” A’nanda Sutram”, Chapter 2, Sutra 8 (2-8). He states in sanskrit:

Vis’aya purus’a'vabha’shah jiiva’tma’

The reflection of Consciousness in the unit object is known as “jiiva’tma’”, the unit soul.

Purport: In spiritual parlance Soul is one. In
whatever conditions the mind be–manifest (e.g.
in animate beings and plants) or unmanifest, e.g., in
inanimate earth, Iron, etc.), the Soul or Atma goes on
reflecting itself on it and its objects, the crude objects.
The reflection of the Soul on the mind is called Jiivatma and
in that case the Reflector-soul is called Paramatma (Supreme
Soul) or Pratyagatma (Pratiipamvipariitam aincati vija nati
iti pratyak). The Reflected soul or Jiivatma may also be
called Anu-caetanya (microcosmic consciousness). Similarly
we may call Paramatma by the name of Bhuma Caetanya
(Macrocosmic Consciousness). The totality of microcosms is
Macrocosm. In a way this assertion is true, because every
mind of crude entity is holding the Supreme Spirit according
to its individual capacity. Their collective capacity is
indeed the capacity of the Macrocos mic Mind. The Paramatma
or the Supreme Soul is the Ultimate Knower of the
Macrocosmic Mind and that is why Paramatma is called Cosmic
Consciousness.

Author: Leonard Lee
Source: download

At times the soul undergoing transition is led across rivers with,,, indian incense
, indian incense
, indian incense
, the aid of an escort. In Greek myths, Charon, the boatman, was assigned the task of guiding souls to the Otherside. Hermes, acting as, indian incense
, psychopompos, led deserving souls to Olympus. The ushabtis, or statuettes buried with the dead among ancient Egyptians, could conceivably represent escorts or soul-bearers, aside from the usual interpretation of scholars of them being servants in the afterlife. In other religions, the escort of the soul is the Angel of Death, the grim reaper wielding a scythe as depicted in one, indian incense
, of the cards of the Major Arcana of the Tarot–although the average Christian sees that being not as an escorter but as an avenger. Muslims call this Angel of Death, “Izrail.” There is a possibility, indian incense
, that escorts of the soul do not always fetch departing souls from the Otherside. They may,, indian incense
, in fact, also come from our physical dimension aiding souls in their transition, indian incense
, . What we are intimating is that the mastery of astral projection or lucid dreaming actually gives the mystic or psychic the power to act as psychopompos, or guide of the soul. Our own personal experience may suggest this, as we will relate below, however, we are not implying, indian incense
, here that we have personally mastered the art of, indian incense
, occult mobilization, or attained a spirituality of a high degree:
We (I, me, myself) once had a dear friend who was a Theosophist. Although there were decades of physical years between us, we were rather close. One day, we received a call informing us of her demise, indian incense
, . Her passing was sudden and unexpected. Wondering what her condition was like in the bardo, that night we decided, indian incense
, to be by her side to offer assistance. And so with affirmations,, indian incense
, intense mind-programming, and a strong desire, we spontaneously attained a projection without strenuously going through the usual steps as taught in occult books and schools. Moments later, we were by her side, leading her to a certain place, to a certain spiritual guide or master with whom in the astral state we were well acquainted with. When we reached our destination, we said to her: “from hereon you are, indian incense
, on your own. We shall meet again.” After bidding her farewell, we were once again back in our physical body.
All along the projection, we were lucid and aware–aware that a part of us was asleep in bed; while another aspect, was active in another world. This is one of the signs indicating that the experience was not a dream. Soul-travel as we have mentioned before, is a mystery to the average religious devotee. Eventhough mystics, prophets and saints have alluded to this particular occult ability possessed by man, the average person still remains unconvinced and skeptical as to its reality; or from another perspective they fear it as a satanic gift. However, at least the Bahแi’i faith firmly states the possibility for one to experience the afterlife while yet still alive and embodied on earth. Many modern saints such as Padre Pio were adepts of soul-travel.
Soul-travel, or astral travel is a natural, indian incense
, mode of rest for the incarnating soul from the vicissitudes, indian incense
, of everyday life. This usually occurs through sleep, but may be induced through various means. It is through, indian incense
, this occult faculty that knowledge of the various dimensions may be gained. Ancient Greeks were familiar with the art of astral projection. In their myths there are many references to heroes visiting the underworld, such as Hercules, Aeneas, and Odysseus, or sorceresses such as Medea accompanying Jason, the captain of the Argonauts in his adventures–although she in her astral body. These myths probably refer to the astral aspects of, indian incense
, the secret initiations of the ancient Mystery Schools.
The Occult, indian incense
, Tradition
Before explaining the death process from the occult and metaphysical point of view, we ought to possess some knowledge of man’s occult anatomy, for man’s hidden structure and physiology play an important role in the release of the soul from its confinement to the form and the disintegration of the physical body and they are, therefore, a pertinent factor to our understanding of transition. It is also of some relevance to know the structure of the various planes or dimensions. We shall, therefore, consider these two essential topics briefly before discussing the, indian incense
, process of transition from the occult perspective.
The Microcosm
Man, the microcosm,, indian incense
, possesses several bodies, principles, or vehicles. According to Theosophy, these principles/bodies are seven in number: Monad, Atma, Buddhi, Higher Mental/Causal, Lower Mental, Astral Body, and Etheric/Physical. Christianity divides man’s components into body, soul and spirit. The concept of man possessing several bodies is also to be found in Hinduism, the Qaballah, and Islam; and is in fact based on the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom; it is, indian incense
, to be found underlying all spiritual traditions in one form or another. The Initiates of ancient Egypt, for instance, had a clear understanding of man’s subtle anatomy as we can see from the following suggested correspondence with the Theosophical system:
Physical Body – Khat
Etheric Body – Khaibit (shadow)
Astral Body – Ka (double)
Lower Mental – Ba (heart-soul)
Causal Body – Sahu (spiritual body)
Higher Mental – Ren (name)
Buddhi – Khu/Ab (spiritual soul)
Atma – Sekhem (power)
Monad – Khabs
In average cases, the bodies directly involved in the death process and in the afterdeath, indian incense
, state are of the first five-the physical body, etheric, astral, lower mental, and, indian incense
, causal. In certain conditions it may involve the first two or three.
Each body or principle has energy-centers fully developed and functioning, or in the process, indian incense
, of unfoldment. These energy-centers are called chakras in Hindu occultism and there are seven of major importance. In the physical body the endocrine glands and the plexi correspond to these chakras. The following are the Hindu terms for these chakras as well as their correspondence to the glands and their location:
Muladhara – gonads – base of spine
Svadishtana – spleen/pancreas – naval
Manipura – adrenals – solar plexus
Anahata – thymus – heart
Vishuddha – thyroid – throat
Ajna – pituitary – center of eyebrows
Sahasrara – pineal – crown
Every vehicle of consciousness possesses chakras, some of which are not functioning to its full potential or fully-developed as yet in the average human being. Chakras are channels and transformers of energy. They receive the influx of energies originating from higher spheres and distribute those energies, indian incense
, to a lower principle. The frequencies or qualities of these chakras are associated, indian incense
, with one’s evolutionary development; this account for the many colours attributed to them by various authorities who, indian incense
, often seemingly contradict one another, indian incense
, . These chakras vibrate at a rate determined by the quality of the indwelling soul. During transition the soul escapes through one of these portals. One’s evolutionary development determines where the soul would make its exit. According to occult teachings, it is favorable for the soul to be released through the crown chakra or other higher centers; escape through the lower centers results in a transition to one of the lower worlds. Generally speaking, the average person evacuates the body, in the process of transition, through the solar plexus chakra. This is because the manipura chakra is associated with the qualities of self-centeredness, and is the normal expression and polarization of the average person. Aspirants and servers of humanity often emerge out of the heart chakra, as this chakra is related to an expanding love for all sentient, indian incense
, beings. Enlightened, spiritual souls pass out of the physical form through the crown chakra. This major center is associated with pure, lofty thoughts and feelings, with a sense of oneness and identification with all beings. It is this crown chakra that Hopi Indians believed to be the exit of the soul at death. Occultism declares that the point of exit indicates the realm that the indwelling soul would sojourn, whether it be in the lower regions of “hell,” or, indian incense
, in the upper localities of “heaven.”
Connecting the, indian incense
, various bodies together, like beads on a string, is the sutratma. This sutratma is sometimes referred to as the “silver cord.” This term comes from one of the books of the Old Testament.
“Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl, indian incense
, be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.” (Ecclesiastes 12:6)
While the indwelling soul is incarnated in the physical form, the sutratma remains intact, connecting the lower form, indian incense
, to the higher principles. It functions primarily as a channel, indian incense
, for divine life forces–the energies emanating from the Monad, indian incense
, . In sleep and in the astral state, when the awareness-principle roams about in the higher dimensions, this cord serves as a connecting link between the material body and the astral form. So long as this cord exists intact, the soul is bound to the physical body. Once the cord is severed, as occurs in the death process, the soul loses its connection with the physical body. A person may be in a coma, or in a cataleptic, indian incense
, state with a resemblance of death, but so long as the cord endures,, indian incense
, it is always possible for life to return–it is possible to “raise the dead,” so to speak.
Another point to consider concerning man’s occult anatomy which is relevant to our discussion of the process of transition are the seed-atoms. These atoms are vortexes of energies which collectively speaking, may be, indian incense
, considered as the records of the unfolding soul, or as the soul’s “book of life.” They correspond to “Kiramun-i-Kaitibun,” the recording angels in, indian incense
, sufi teachings. Occultism, indian incense
, teaches the existence of three seed-atoms–the mental, astral and the physical seed-atom, indian incense
, . These atoms register all of the thoughts, feelings and actions of the incarnated soul. They are records of the quality and nature of the soul, and may be thought of, indian incense
, as the memory book of all the experiences of the soul’s past incarnated lives. They, therefore, also contain the records of one’s karmic history. It should be noted that although Buddhism teaches reincarnation, they do not believe in a “self” that reincarnates. To Buddhists, that which reincarnates are the karmic traits of the awareness-principle. Although we will not consider, indian incense
, the question, indian, indian incense
, incense
, of what survives, indian incense
, and reincarnates, it is interesting to know that these “karmic traits” correlate with the contents of the seed-atoms.
The mental, indian incense
, seed-atom is associated with the soul’s consciousness and mental world of thoughts and ideas. In the physical body it resides in the pineal gland. One’s feelings, negative and positive, are registered in the astral seed-atom. The liver is the temporary home of this seed-atom. The physical seed-atom abides in the heart. It is associated with the life-principle within the body. In the death process, the seed-atoms, indian incense
, emerge out of the physical body in sequence, as we shall see presently.
According to occultism in general, in the beginning of a manvantara, or, indian incense
, cycle of manifestation and creation, the First Cause emanated from Itself streams of energies of varying densities; or Spirit vibrating in a whole spectrum of frequencies. These energies, structured electronically in high and low densities, are the various dimensions, planes, realms, or mansions of the manifested Cosmos. In the Qaballah, these dimensions and planes are referred to as the 4 worlds and the sephiroths. According to theosophical teachings, there are seven planes that concerns man’s present evolution. These seven planes are collectively called the cosmic physical plane. Though, indian incense
, there are higher planes, we will not consider them, as they have very little to do with man’s evolution, and are far beyond our status as human souls.
The seven planes, in theosophical teachings are called: Logoic, Monadic, Atmic, Buddhic, Mental, Astral, and Physical. Certain Sufi teachings refer, indian incense
, to these various planes as: “Alam-i-tabi-at,” “Alam-i-surat,” “Alam-i-ma’na,”, indian incense
, “Alam-i-malakut,” “Alam-i-jabarut,” “Alam-i-lahut,” and “Alam-i-hahut.” Each of the seven planes mentioned are subdivided into seven lesser realms making 49 in all. The various heavens and hells (realms of joy and suffering) which, indian incense
, the human soul, indian incense
, sojourns and dwells are to be found in the Mental and Astral regions. In the upper, indian incense
, regions of the Mental subplanes is to be found what is called the Causal plane. This is paradise proper where most souls go to rest before reincarnating in the physical dimension. Tibetan Buddhism refers to the Physical, Astral and Mental planes as the six worlds: the world of gods (Devaloka), of Titans (Asuraloka),, indian incense
, of hungry ghosts (Pretaloka), of hell, of animals, and of humans. These descriptive realms symbolically, indian incense
, refer to human behaviour and, indian incense
, evolutionary development with a predominating characteristic vice: for instance, pride, envy, greed, hatred, ignorance, and desire. These six worlds, indian incense
, are the abodes or heavens–or hell, as the case may be–of souls of varied spiritual, indian incense
, development. Below we give the evolutionary level of souls in correlation, indian incense
, with the six worlds that they vibrate in harmony with:
Causal-Higher Mental Planes – World of gods – Saints, masters . . .
Lower Mental Planes – World of Asuras – Philosophers, heroes . . .
Higher and Mid-Astral Planes – World of Pretas – Average man
Lower Astral Planes – World of Animals – Purgatory, temporary abode of average man.
Sub-Lower Astral Planes – World of Demons – Hell, temporary abode of evil and wicked men.
Physical Plane – World of Humans – Physical world, all types of souls.
Transition and the after death, indian incense
, state
We have already discussed the various relevant parts of man’s occult anatomy that are directly involved in the death process. We shall now see how they fit together in the soul’s birthing process into another realm. It should be noted, however, that there are variations in the death process. We shall be considering the normal process of death for the average person, but before we do, let us consider how occultism advocates the method of assistance to the dying.
Occultism teaches the necessity for absolute quietness surrounding the dying. The moanings and wailings of relatives and friends should be, indian incense
, kept at a minimum and away, indian incense
, from the presence of the one, indian incense
, undergoing transition, indian incense
, . The dying’s sense of perception is heightened during transition and is focused strongly on the bardo, and, therefore, it is imperative at this stage that nothing disturbs the dying person. To do so would distract the soul from liberating itself in the early stages of the bardo and prevent it from being reborn in a higher realm, indian incense
, . It is said, indian incense
, that orange light in the room of the dying helps the awareness-principle to maintain consciousness, indian incense
, so that it would not miss the Clear Light of the first stage of the bardo. Oneness and identification with the Clear Light is what causes liberation for the soul–liberation from the necessity to reincarnate. Sandalwood incense and chanting of mantras also aid the dying to, indian incense
, remain, indian incense
, focussed and mentally alert. In the Tibetan, indian incense
, tradition, certain guidance is given verbally to the dying pilgrim, that it may recognize the various stages of the bardo and what it should do once they are encountered and experienced. Occultism advocates similar assistance to the dying, since the basic purpose underlying both systems are one and the same, that is, the liberation of the soul from an unfortunate rebirth in one of the lower regions of the cosmos which causes evolutionary stagnation. The, indian incense
, techniques for aiding the dying as well as dying fruitfully is well worth knowing–especially to practicing metaphysicians.
What is important to learn is the maintaining of one’s mind and consciousness at a lofty level through constant meditation and mental reflection in everyday life. This polarizes the consciousness in the head chakra and facilitates the recognition of the dawning light in the first stage of the bardo. Dying consciously is more advantageous than dying in an unconscious manner for the above reason.
Strangely enough, depending upon our perspective, highly evolved souls are, indian incense
, aware of the time and onset of their death. This inner knowing is derived from intuitive impressions from the Oversoul, or Higher Self. Such initiates are knowledgeable of the process of death and they transit, indian incense
, in full awareness without a break or a hiatus in their consciousness. Some even attain what is called “the Rainbow Body.” This is the transformation or the absorption of physical particles of the body into one’s spiritual light during transition, leaving no empty corpse behind. This is alluded to in the biblical passage concerning the prophet Enoch, where it is said that he walked with God “and was not.”
Those having seen the Clear Light and have united with it, or acquired the divine gnosis called “marifatullah” in Esoteric Islam encounters various esoteric/exoteric signs months and days prior to the death process:
[Note: The table of the esoteric/ exoteric signs may be seen as originally published at our website]
Copyright ฉ 2006 Luxamore
Luxamore

Metaphysical teacher, counseler, healer and merchant of occult/magickal items of Indonesia.

http://www.indotalisman.com/

http://www.bezoarmustikapearls.com/

Hey Zine Lovers! I’ve just placed a new order from Microcosm Publishing in the US and this time it’s heaps of things we’ve never read before.

Wondering what the titles listed below are?  Head over to the Microcosm website and do a little search for the title!

If you’re keen on something here, pop me an email and I’ll pre-order it for you – zineshop@gmail.com

Animal Ingredients A-Z, 3rd Edition
Applicant
Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills
On Subbing: The First Four Years
Next Stop Adventure! #1
We Need To Eat!
Art Bureau #17
Barefoot in the Kitchen #4
Big Hands #7
The Frugal Vegan’s Spring and Summer Survival Guide
The Frugal Vegan’s Harvest and Holiday Survival Guide
Herbal First Aid Zine
King Cat #62
Radical Pet #5
Rocket Queen #1
Rocket Queen #2
About My Disappearance #3
Urban Adventure League Zine Pack
You Don’t Get There From Here #7
You Don’t Get There From Here #8
You Don’t Get There From Here #9

There are prophets who educate the world on its evils
then go home and spread plagues and misery from their own beds.

There are men who scream peace from the rooftops
then return only to beat their children or sling words as harsh as fists.

There are kings who cry on camera over injustices done to them
then slink away to warm castles far from the people’s cries.

There are prophets who are prophets only because they fashion themselves this way.

They should know…
…you are no prophet if you can’t see the most simple truth
that the smallest action is also the greatest.

Every small seed planted will be seen again.

© Kristen Michelle Håvet

***
image by gromyko at deviantART.

In recent weeks, television channels, newspapers, media in general we are planning a considerable flow of reports on the financial crisis. The “teaser” from opening pages of the mainstream media are full of titles all the more worrying than others.

- Crisis Will it reach you?
- Will you keep your job?
- Companies will “degrease” their personal
- Etc..

The daily lot of information that distill fear is at its height. Nevertheless, all the press and media are very fond of this situation. The newspaper circulation increases exponentially. Hearings climb to new heights. We can say that the “microcosm media” knows no crisis, because – it feeds on them.

Now the release of such information generates a very negative process powerful and harmful on the conscience. Worse, they feed negativity surrounding that produces a large share of bad decisions (or lack of choice), while the situation of each person is mostly nothing (or little) affected by this crisis.

So what?

1 – The Cure for media silence!

I recommend a course of “silence the media” for 3 weeks. The more your mind is “cluttered” by the daily discharge of bad news and you feel concerned. You identify yourself with the current situation (crisis) with the problems that are grafted. React by turning off your television at the time information.

2 – Select the programs you are good!

Nowadays, it is easy to choose quality audiovisual programs. Remember that the subconscious is very sensitive to the images that pass on the television screen. Studies have shown that consumption of anxiolytics increased significantly after the broadcast of a news story very depressing. Put forward your right to choose programs and programs.

3 – Develop your “reticular function in action for your success!

Service Activator is a reticulated area of your brain that is close to the insertion of the spinal cord. It has many functions still little known. However, we now know that it plays an important role in the success of our strategies. For example, if you buy a red car, you notice all the red cars that pass through your visual fields. In short, we see only what one wants to see.

The reticular activating function works the same way when you think about everyday problems. You then do a “fixation” mental. While the media contribute, we have seen above, to immerse yourself in this gloomy communicative.

The result is that you then “guided” to the problems, obstacles and bad choices for your future. The reticular activating function is somewhat self-programmed to make you make yourself known failure. Like the example of the red car, you no longer see the difficulties of your life, you amplify as a “magnifying effect” that enlarge your interpretation in a sense that each side you seem insurmountable.

Conversely, feed your function reticulated history of people who have passed the crisis. The biographies of books abound in this area. Read it, soak up the stories of men and women who have the destiny forced upon reaching success, even in periods of recession. Eventually you identify yourself with these characters. Reticular activating your function will be stimulated to take you through a form of “subconscious Government” to success.

4 – Learn how to find what “looks good”!

The true reality is not what the television and radio news on the web or distilling all day long. They only put the light on a few isolated elements, often interpreted. The reality is quite different. It is first in your daily acts. In your vision of what you – see – really.

Also, billions of good news happen every day. Learn to be a witness. Become a “Finder’s good news.” Turn again vtre reticular function in “Detection of positive points. You ‘did not invent them, or wear “glasses vie en rose”. Life shows you every moment that an unlimited number of events is going well. Take for example a day that runs smoothly for you. This in itself is great news!

How to induce mode detection of good news?

Here are some effective ways to induce your mind about how to search for what “looks good”:

* Convince yourself that the true reality is not in the media world
* Look in every situation, every action (even the most trivial), every experience that is good
* Ask yourself regularly directed questions:
- What’s positive (for good, wholesome, interresting ..) in this situation?
- Whether it is the valuing of the day?
- Where is the reassuring article of this newspaper?
- What is the “good news” day?
- Where will I find that gives me hope today?
- Etc..

Thus, you will develop a mental attitude to win and go over the crisis with a smile.

Good luck to you

In recent weeks, television channels, newspapers, media in general we are planning a considerable flow of reports on the financial crisis. The “teaser” from opening pages of the mainstream media are full of titles all the more worrying than others.

- Crisis Will it reach you?
- Will you keep your job?
- Companies will “degrease” their personal
- Etc..

The daily lot of information that distill fear is at its height. Nevertheless, all the press and media are very fond of this situation. The newspaper circulation increases exponentially. Hearings climb to new heights. We can say that the “microcosm media” knows no crisis, because – it feeds on them.

Now the release of such information generates a very negative process powerful and harmful on the conscience. Worse, they feed negativity surrounding that produces a large share of bad decisions (or lack of choice), while the situation of each person is mostly nothing (or little) affected by this crisis.

So what?

1 – The Cure for media silence!

I recommend a course of “silence the media” for 3 weeks. The more your mind is “cluttered” by the daily discharge of bad news and you feel concerned. You identify yourself with the current situation (crisis) with the problems that are grafted. React by turning off your television at the time information.

2 – Select the programs you are good!

Nowadays, it is easy to choose quality audiovisual programs. Remember that the subconscious is very sensitive to the images that pass on the television screen. Studies have shown that consumption of anxiolytics increased significantly after the broadcast of a news story very depressing. Put forward your right to choose programs and programs.

3 – Develop your “reticular function in action for your success!

Service Activator is a reticulated area of your brain that is close to the insertion of the spinal cord. It has many functions still little known. However, we now know that it plays an important role in the success of our strategies. For example, if you buy a red car, you notice all the red cars that pass through your visual fields. In short, we see only what one wants to see.

The reticular activating function works the same way when you think about everyday problems. You then do a “fixation” mental. While the media contribute, we have seen above, to immerse yourself in this gloomy communicative.

The result is that you then “guided” to the problems, obstacles and bad choices for your future. The reticular activating function is somewhat self-programmed to make you make yourself known failure. Like the example of the red car, you no longer see the difficulties of your life, you amplify as a “magnifying effect” that enlarge your interpretation in a sense that each side you seem insurmountable.

Conversely, feed your function reticulated history of people who have passed the crisis. The biographies of books abound in this area. Read it, soak up the stories of men and women who have the destiny forced upon reaching success, even in periods of recession. Eventually you identify yourself with these characters. Reticular activating your function will be stimulated to take you through a form of “subconscious Government” to success.

4 – Learn how to find what “looks good”!

The true reality is not what the television and radio news on the web or distilling all day long. They only put the light on a few isolated elements, often interpreted. The reality is quite different. It is first in your daily acts. In your vision of what you – see – really.

Also, billions of good news happen every day. Learn to be a witness. Become a “Finder’s good news.” Turn again vtre reticular function in “Detection of positive points. You ‘did not invent them, or wear “glasses vie en rose”. Life shows you every moment that an unlimited number of events is going well. Take for example a day that runs smoothly for you. This in itself is great news!

How to induce mode detection of good news?

Here are some effective ways to induce your mind about how to search for what “looks good”:

* Convince yourself that the true reality is not in the media world
* Look in every situation, every action (even the most trivial), every experience that is good
* Ask yourself regularly directed questions:
- What’s positive (for good, wholesome, interresting ..) in this situation?
- Whether it is the valuing of the day?
- Where is the reassuring article of this newspaper?
- What is the “good news” day?
- Where will I find that gives me hope today?
- Etc..

Thus, you will develop a mental attitude to win and go over the crisis with a smile.

Good luck to you

In recent weeks, television channels, newspapers, media in general we are planning a considerable flow of reports on the financial crisis. The “teaser” from opening pages of the mainstream media are full of titles all the more worrying than others.

- Crisis Will it reach you?
- Will you keep your job?
- Companies will “degrease” their personal
- Etc..

The daily lot of information that distill fear is at its height. Nevertheless, all the press and media are very fond of this situation. The newspaper circulation increases exponentially. Hearings climb to new heights. We can say that the “microcosm media” knows no crisis, because – it feeds on them.

Now the release of such information generates a very negative process powerful and harmful on the conscience. Worse, they feed negativity surrounding that produces a large share of bad decisions (or lack of choice), while the situation of each person is mostly nothing (or little) affected by this crisis.

So what?

1 – The Cure for media silence!

I recommend a course of “silence the media” for 3 weeks. The more your mind is “cluttered” by the daily discharge of bad news and you feel concerned. You identify yourself with the current situation (crisis) with the problems that are grafted. React by turning off your television at the time information.

2 – Select the programs you are good!

Nowadays, it is easy to choose quality audiovisual programs. Remember that the subconscious is very sensitive to the images that pass on the television screen. Studies have shown that consumption of anxiolytics increased significantly after the broadcast of a news story very depressing. Put forward your right to choose programs and programs.

3 – Develop your “reticular function in action for your success!

Service Activator is a reticulated area of your brain that is close to the insertion of the spinal cord. It has many functions still little known. However, we now know that it plays an important role in the success of our strategies. For example, if you buy a red car, you notice all the red cars that pass through your visual fields. In short, we see only what one wants to see.

The reticular activating function works the same way when you think about everyday problems. You then do a “fixation” mental. While the media contribute, we have seen above, to immerse yourself in this gloomy communicative.

The result is that you then “guided” to the problems, obstacles and bad choices for your future. The reticular activating function is somewhat self-programmed to make you make yourself known failure. Like the example of the red car, you no longer see the difficulties of your life, you amplify as a “magnifying effect” that enlarge your interpretation in a sense that each side you seem insurmountable.

Conversely, feed your function reticulated history of people who have passed the crisis. The biographies of books abound in this area. Read it, soak up the stories of men and women who have the destiny forced upon reaching success, even in periods of recession. Eventually you identify yourself with these characters. Reticular activating your function will be stimulated to take you through a form of “subconscious Government” to success.

4 – Learn how to find what “looks good”!

The true reality is not what the television and radio news on the web or distilling all day long. They only put the light on a few isolated elements, often interpreted. The reality is quite different. It is first in your daily acts. In your vision of what you – see – really.

Also, billions of good news happen every day. Learn to be a witness. Become a “Finder’s good news.” Turn again vtre reticular function in “Detection of positive points. You ‘did not invent them, or wear “glasses vie en rose”. Life shows you every moment that an unlimited number of events is going well. Take for example a day that runs smoothly for you. This in itself is great news!

How to induce mode detection of good news?

Here are some effective ways to induce your mind about how to search for what “looks good”:

* Convince yourself that the true reality is not in the media world
* Look in every situation, every action (even the most trivial), every experience that is good
* Ask yourself regularly directed questions:
- What’s positive (for good, wholesome, interresting ..) in this situation?
- Whether it is the valuing of the day?
- Where is the reassuring article of this newspaper?
- What is the “good news” day?
- Where will I find that gives me hope today?
- Etc..

Thus, you will develop a mental attitude to win and go over the crisis with a smile.

Good luck to you

In recent weeks, television channels, newspapers, media in general we are planning a considerable flow of reports on the financial crisis. The “teaser” from opening pages of the mainstream media are full of titles all the more worrying than others.

- Crisis Will it reach you?
- Will you keep your job?
- Companies will “degrease” their personal
- Etc..

The daily lot of information that distill fear is at its height. Nevertheless, all the press and media are very fond of this situation. The newspaper circulation increases exponentially. Hearings climb to new heights. We can say that the “microcosm media” knows no crisis, because – it feeds on them.

Now the release of such information generates a very negative process powerful and harmful on the conscience. Worse, they feed negativity surrounding that produces a large share of bad decisions (or lack of choice), while the situation of each person is mostly nothing (or little) affected by this crisis.

So what?

1 – The Cure for media silence!

I recommend a course of “silence the media” for 3 weeks. The more your mind is “cluttered” by the daily discharge of bad news and you feel concerned. You identify yourself with the current situation (crisis) with the problems that are grafted. React by turning off your television at the time information.

2 – Select the programs you are good!

Nowadays, it is easy to choose quality audiovisual programs. Remember that the subconscious is very sensitive to the images that pass on the television screen. Studies have shown that consumption of anxiolytics increased significantly after the broadcast of a news story very depressing. Put forward your right to choose programs and programs.

3 – Develop your “reticular function in action for your success!

Service Activator is a reticulated area of your brain that is close to the insertion of the spinal cord. It has many functions still little known. However, we now know that it plays an important role in the success of our strategies. For example, if you buy a red car, you notice all the red cars that pass through your visual fields. In short, we see only what one wants to see.

The reticular activating function works the same way when you think about everyday problems. You then do a “fixation” mental. While the media contribute, we have seen above, to immerse yourself in this gloomy communicative.

The result is that you then “guided” to the problems, obstacles and bad choices for your future. The reticular activating function is somewhat self-programmed to make you make yourself known failure. Like the example of the red car, you no longer see the difficulties of your life, you amplify as a “magnifying effect” that enlarge your interpretation in a sense that each side you seem insurmountable.

Conversely, feed your function reticulated history of people who have passed the crisis. The biographies of books abound in this area. Read it, soak up the stories of men and women who have the destiny forced upon reaching success, even in periods of recession. Eventually you identify yourself with these characters. Reticular activating your function will be stimulated to take you through a form of “subconscious Government” to success.

4 – Learn how to find what “looks good”!

The true reality is not what the television and radio news on the web or distilling all day long. They only put the light on a few isolated elements, often interpreted. The reality is quite different. It is first in your daily acts. In your vision of what you – see – really.

Also, billions of good news happen every day. Learn to be a witness. Become a “Finder’s good news.” Turn again vtre reticular function in “Detection of positive points. You ‘did not invent them, or wear “glasses vie en rose”. Life shows you every moment that an unlimited number of events is going well. Take for example a day that runs smoothly for you. This in itself is great news!

How to induce mode detection of good news?

Here are some effective ways to induce your mind about how to search for what “looks good”:

* Convince yourself that the true reality is not in the media world
* Look in every situation, every action (even the most trivial), every experience that is good
* Ask yourself regularly directed questions:
- What’s positive (for good, wholesome, interresting ..) in this situation?
- Whether it is the valuing of the day?
- Where is the reassuring article of this newspaper?
- What is the “good news” day?
- Where will I find that gives me hope today?
- Etc..

Thus, you will develop a mental attitude to win and go over the crisis with a smile.

Good luck to you

A sentence is a microcosm.

The world is an amazing complex sphere. None of us can truly understand the scope of all that it encompasses nor be knowledgeable in all ares. We can fathom some of it but are our views accurate?

I long ago stopped watching TV or even reading newspapers. To this day I have never seen a picture of the twin towers falling. I didn’t need to. The horror was all too real without that. And that is just one reason why I don’t watch TV–the horror of it is too much. These days we have 24-7 news and programming and multiple channels. You can catch the news on a particular subject at any time and if it’s something big, like Michael Jackson’s death, the predators start circling immediately with “in-depth” commentary on his life, his fashion, his eccentricities, his doctors, his drugs, his family, his kids, his debts, his fortune, etc. On and on, with huge drama in every commentator’s voice; melodrama one could say. (I did catch a little bit while at my neighbor’s)

That’s one example but news is never (or rarely) about the good stuff. The adage goes, No news is good news, and that can mean that if you don’t hear anything that’s good news and of course, what sells papers or draws audience viewing is the bad news. The disasters, the accidents, the murders and rapes, the lost children, the poverty, the wars, the despotic regimes, etc.

And what does this do? It weighs us down with darkness and despair, with loss of faith in humankind, with  fatalism. When I watched this stuff, the news, the same plane disaster would be played out several times a day with graphic depictions of the accident. I wept and felt terrible, and grew depressed, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t have compassion for anyone hit with hard circumstances. We should, but we can also be bludgeon into insensitivity with a constant overload of the bad and the tragic.

My outlook would start to cloud and I thought as the world on an downward spiral into eternal darkness. We didn’t need religious myths, we had our hell now. But then I stopped and thought. Were my coworkers, my friends, my family despots, murderers, rapists? Were they evil and uncaring? No. Were they uncaring? No.

And that was just the people I know. On the macrocosm of the world and world events, there are horrors beyond belief. On the microcosm are individual organisms, you and me. Each person can be good or bad but the majority are caring people, who follow the law, who try to help out, who want to believe in the goodness of their fellow human. I try to remember this when I look at the likes of Mugabe, Ayatollah Khomeini, Idi Amin, Osama bin Laden, Willie Picton, Paul Bernardo, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc. that they are the small percentage, the very few.

Their crimes are so vile that they make the headlines. Your friend that picks you up when your car breaks down on the highway, the father who comforts his child, the person who donates to organizations where money will help the underprivileged, we don’t hear about those people, except once in a while. Only if it’s a celebrity do we hear of charitable acts.

And so we get a skewed outlook of our world. Yes, one war can wipe out thousands or millions and is terrible and on the macrocosmic scale still speaks of a problem for human kind in general. As a whole homo sapiens need to strive harder to be better. Yet we must remember the good that people do for it is these small acts that give us hope and faith.

Even with only getting my news through radio (I do stay informed) it is still skewed towards the tragic. But I try very hard to remember the good and that I would have been in more dire straights were it not for the support of friends and family and yes, at times strangers. Give a little and you can receive a lot.

Big Brother's back baby!!

Another season of my favourite summer show, and I can’t help but wonder what the appeal of this reality program is?

Okay, the first thing I think of, is perhaps it has to do with the sexy girls.  It’s tough for any heterosexual guy to resist those temptations, such as Laura’s enormous fake breasts (see girl on the far right), or Jordan’s downright Southern charm (the blond girl in the brown bikini).  What’s more interesting, however, is for some reason the one houseguest which I am seemingly inexplicably drawn to is Michele, (brunette sitting in the purple), a full-fledged neuroscientist.  Maybe intelligence is becoming more alluring to me, it’s about time!

But let’s step away from the girls for a second, come on, really, I’m watching a show based on attractive females? What I’ve loved about Big Brother is its sense of strategy, the constant power shifts, the fighting for dominance amidst wild competitions and romantic tension.  Then I take a step back, and I ponder… even though these unfortunate houseguests are competing for a prize, isn’t life the same type of competition?

Okay, now stay with me, sure the word “microcosm” is thrown around way too often these days.  We can remark back to reading Lord of the Flies in grade 9, where the island the boys set up is merely a microcosm of a real life government.  Even thinking in a global scale, people often remark to the demographics of the hypothetical ‘global village‘ as an indication of what direction to take in the real world.

This year’s theme in the Big Brother house is all about high school cliques.  Just coming out of high school, I would not want to go back into a house where people are segregated based on preconceived notions, but sadly that’s how the world is.  I know I’d be placed in the ‘brains‘ clique knowing me.  Heck, reading Ronnie’s bio, (the awkward pale guy in the red shirt), I can relate to a guy like him so well.  A video game geek, finding success in speech and debating competitions, and somehow has a wife for 5 and a half years, who he loves dearly because she can put up with him!  Any woman who could put up with me would be a hero in my heart too.  Anyways, in this house, Ronnie represents the people like me, and I can see a little of all the friends I’ve made and acquaintances I know in each member of the house.  And this is what Ronnie must deal with, trying to gain power and trying to stay afloat in a house full of ‘popular kids,’ ‘athletes,’ and the ‘offbeat.’

In my own view, life is definitely not very different.  Sometimes I view being smart or having brains, or whatever I have, as a curse, not a blessing.  Suddenly I have to make goals, I have to foster this ‘gift,’ I have to continue progressing to find some sort of scientific achievement, and I need to keep my passion in knowledge alive.  While progressing down this path, I lose the chance to just take it easy, lose all care of life, and just have a carefree life like Braden (cool surfer guy).  I also am unable to just live life in a tangent I love, instead of striving to be well-rounded like Lydia (tattoo girl).  And lastly, and possibly most regrettably I haven’t able to put forth the time to really work on my body and excel in sports.  Perhaps this is part of the reason why I have such a deep rooted animosity against Jesse (body builder on the bottom right) in particular. Now I’ve been working out, and if any of you have seen me, I’m not muscular, I’m pretty skinny, I know. And like anything in life, if I see a weakness in the world, or within myself, I attempt to work at it.  And it pains me to feel tired so fast in the gym, and being unable to lift a certain weight or do enough reps, because I feel disadvantaged.

Now let’s go back to the microcosm, everyone has their advantages, others have their drawbacks, and yet we all try to get on top. Heck, it’s the story of our lives trying to hook up with that hot girl, getting into that university we want, getting the amazing job, having a great family.  Power in our lives is the actualization of our goals.  And more often that not, there are obstacles to these goals. All these obstacles are within ourselves, it may be how we wish to perceive our goal.  On the other hand, it may be a basic deep-rooted deficiency within ourselves coded within our genetics.  Whatever it may be, we still wish to reach our goals.  And every goal comes with social implications, a sense of competition, a sense of wanting to be the best.  Even if you are Mother Teresa or Gandhi, you have to work against your naysayers and bring others to believe in your cause.

This all comes back to Big Brother, where everyone has there same goal: winning the game, people may take different paths such as sheer survival, reaching for the power directly, hooking up with every guy in the house to gain their trust, etc.  But in the end they are hindered by their own deficiencies, whether it’s their label, their personality, their athleticism, or their vision, and at the same time they must gain the trust and manipulate those around them.  This is life, as simple as it is.

So in the end I watch Big Brother because I want to see how life really plays out, so I can take a piece of it back to me, so I can learn how to make my life that much better.

Peace and love!!

I remember watching an episode of ‘Different Strokes’ a few weeks back. It was a strange episode..I think they were trying out an idea for a spinoff for another show – about immigrants in the US learning to talk in English..learning American culture and mannerisms etc. The only thing of interest in that episode was this one dialogue by an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, who, on entering the Drummond’s Park Avenue penthouse, says, “This is your home? In Czechoslovakia, only railways stations look so grand”.

I didn’t quite understand that statement. Was Czechoslovakia such a majestic nation that their railways stations were built like Manhattan penthouse apartments? If so, why did so many people still want to flee the country and settle in democracies like the US? Was it just one of the manifestations of socialism, where such basic things got turned upside down – where the citizens constitute groups of dissidents wanting to reject the country’s communist regime, while their railway stations remain content in their architectural splendour, oblivious to the miseries of the people? I figured it might’ve been the time..the era..its place in world history back then which might’ve led us to view this as a discrepancy. After all, nobody claims that communism hampered the aesthetic senses of architects and people in general. The Red Square after all was built in Czarist Russia.

My thoughts were not centred on this though. What I was thinking of, was how certain public places become symbolic of a country’s people..its politico-social history. Like railway stations do. Sort of like signboards that say, ‘This is our country. And these are our people. Live and accept. And enjoy’.

Most railway stations in Mumbai would have to write the ‘live and accept’ very prominently on their signboards. In bold. Doing so would acknowledge the fact that most railway stations here suck and are dirty..while at the same time providing outsiders with a piece of warning so they’re not taken too much by surprise at the filth and decay in and around railway stations. The ‘enjoy’ would be a rare word used within India..at least within Mumbai..and looked at with suspicion at places that display it.

The pleasure in writing this post lies in recalling countries and places where this is not the case. I can think of a few railway stations elsewhere, which would proudly scream the word out to commuters and visitors, asking them to enjoy and have a pleasant stay. In a believable fashion. Switzerland is one such country. Railway stations in Switzerland are so reflective of what the people and the country are like – they’re effortlessly clean and welcoming. And that’s a rare thing to achieve!!

Before continuing on with this, I must say I’m not an expert on railway stations. I’ve travelled by trains very few times; all through college and later I’ve travelled mostly by bus. But there is an enigma of sorts that trains and railway stations possess which I haven’t completely fathomed yet. The fact is that they do reflect a microscopic view of the population of a country going about its daily routine – in a sociological experiment to study human behaviour and its transition through time and in the course of one day, a railway station could provide the perfect setting for a random sample collection. In Mumbai, I’ve known people who swore to never travel by trains, become train aficionados. I have a cousin who’s obsessed with the Indian Railways – listening to him talk is like having an overabundance of station names and technologies thrown down at you while you try and decipher the meaning of this fixation which apparently exists in many people!!

But the point of this article is not trains or the Indian Railways. What’s amusing is that, when you start considering how indicative railway stations are of the prevalent social scenario of a particular country, it’s almost eerie. You begin to wonder why the Indian government doesn’t end up spending more money in revamping them and their premises, and then printing photographs on brochures to send off to other nations, as a way to brag about the fulfilling role they play in the lives of its citizens. Who needs statistics indicating the GDP and celebrities endorsing tourism, when you have gleaming railway stations with pleased people running to and fro looking like they actually ‘enjoy’ being there – going to work at rush hours and trying to look appropriately nonchalant doing so?

But alas, reality is not so rosy. Indian railway stations are surrounded by piles of garbage that are deeper than Pink Floyd lyrics

Let’s review a few railway stations..and what they signify. As I mentioned, there’re the Swiss stations. Sure, just on the outskirts of Zurich there’s lots of graffiti and the area does look like a shady ghetto, but the rooftop gardens that you can see through the trains, where, during office lunch breaks, you see people sipping cold drinks under sun umbrellas, compensates for the harsher alternatives. The train station for the capital city Berne is magnificent. There’s nothing overly official about it..and it doesn’t ooze the feeling of power that you might expect out of a country’s capital; but when an entire city is named UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, rest assured the city’s train station would be splendid!!

Zurich train station

Outside Berne railway station..the glass enclave and the trams

Lucerne, on the other hand, has a more modest station..although it is the most popular tourist destination in Switzerland. The station itself is non-descript, but it has some of the most wonderfully accommodating staff I’ve ever found anywhere – when you do find them, that is. When a close friend and I were staying in Lucerne, for just 3 days last July, we did all our travelling through trains. On our first day of exploring the country, on a gloriously warm summer day, we got to Lucerne train station and decided we’d have to book our tickets on the machine ourselves because there was no ticket counter. When we started the ticket retrieving process, we found out all the instructions were in Swiss-German. After frantically but intelligently punching the right buttons and getting 2 tickets, my friend and I looked pleased with ourselves. It was before we realized we still had to figure out which platform the train would be coming to. Swiss trains are staggeringly on time; and train stations there have platforms up to numbers 58, 60 etc!! Even three days was not sufficient time to figure out how the system of platform numbers works there; and right then, we were sufficiently alarmed. Just then, we came across the lone station personnel on the platform – he was a middle-aged man in uniform and he was carrying a gadget with him which from a distance looked suspiciously like an ‘Etch a Sketch’ model.

We approached this man to ask him about our train’s arrival and realized immediately that he didn’t speak or understand English. By now, we were more than nervous. We’d come to the station on time, not knowing the ticket-booking process would take so long. Now we were in more of a soup..because the tickets were booked – and travel in Switzerland is EXPENSIVE..for that matter, most things in Switzerland are – yet, we had no idea which platform we were to rush to, and now we were playing Pictionary with a sweet man who carried an ‘etch a sketch’ toy to work!!

The fact is though, that at the time, with all our nervousness, the man actually managed to make me giggle. I can’t say now for sure, that it wasn’t hysteria making me giggly, but the fact that my friend was amused too – and he wouldn’t giggle hysterically..thats solely my forte!! – is some proof that the man did actually amuse us terribly!! He made a lot of random etchings on his toy, he even said a lot of friendly-sounding stuff in German, while he also pointed his pen towards a certain spot on the paper he had tucked under his arm. All of this while smiling – no, beaming – at us.

We felt like god’s golden children right then..and he our saviour. We were so glad to have just seen him explain things to us, that for a moment we forgot we had a train to catch. Thankfully, an English-speaking official came by and sweetly directed us to the correct platform. And that’s how everyone in Switzerland is – sweet and neat without being overly so. Every train station there looks like a picture postcard – well, they have spots of peeling colour and some are uncomfortably small – but they’re all adorned with bright cheerful flowers, are clean and homely, and have good seating arrangements. Not to mention the trains are absolutely on time!!

I was often led to believe that Switzerland is a breathtakingly beautiful country. Somehow, I didn’t get that feeling. In a way, I liked it better this way – the city streets and cafes were charming and quaint enough to be old-fashioned and the stores were stylish and expensive enough to remain untouchable – but what was amazing were the flowers in every window, the gardens that you could see through the train windows, the country’s flag perched proudly atop houses and in backyards, the innumerable lakes and streams, and the big lovable dogs. You can see all of this while (a) you’re at the train station, (b) on your way to or from the train station or (c) travelling in the train itself. The perfect microscopic view of the nation and its people (and animals).

England is different. Everything is grey around English train stations. In Sheffield, the train station is the first thing you see as your coach enters the city. It is big and intimidating; with a huge dome and a glass front and several art pieces near the entrance. You can feel the busy lives of people around – in trench-coats and skinny ties. A town near Sheffield called Chesterfield has one of the funniest stations you’ll ever see. It’s technically outside the town and you get out of the train directly into the ticket collector’s booth – that’s how small it seems. But then, they’ve managed to acquire space to build a parking lot and a driveway which enables it to have the look of a domestic airport. Southampton, on the other hand, is a lot more laid-back for a big city. For a while after I saw the train station there, I wondered if most people just travel to and from Southampton by flights (since they have an international airport) or by ferries (lots of them..the sea is right there!!). Bristol is grey, grey, and some more grey. My memories of the Bristol train station are a bit vague because I was dazed with pain during my visit there; but I recall the desolate look of the station, a wooden bridge, and the grey. It’s a very uncomfortable-looking station.

Do English train stations resemble a microcosm of life in England and the English? They so do!! Train stations are the archetype of English standards. They stand there – either as glass and stone structures looking opulent and out of place in the neighbourhood of other brick buildings or dull grey brick constructions standing out against green and blue coloured “modern” buildings;  unbothered about the architectural anomaly they create for the given city.  That’s how the English people are too – fussy about their own kinds and strangely unbothered with anything else. At train stations, this type of behaviour is evident to such a large degree it’s hilarious. Everybody has this scrunched-up look on their faces, and groups of people getting out of the station whirl so much wind around them, simply because they seem to walk much faster than everyone else. The buses have to wait for groups of station-premise-leaving people to cross the streets; it all looks very droll because as soon as the people get away from the train stations, into the world of regular humans, they seem normal too – almost unbelievably so. It’s such a quintessential view of all things English – they always seem either too aloof or too boisterous when they’re in groups by themselves, but once they mingle with you and others of different species, they seem hardly stiff upper-lipped – likeable in fact.

Railway stations. Train stations. Czechoslovakia had their grand penthouse-styled ones, Switzerland has the effortlessly clean and charming ones, and England’s are the epitome of grey. I feel like I’m on the brink of the afore-mentioned sociological experiment where I must try and figure out the place-people-country equation and publish it as a series of adventure stories. Study one place at a time, its relevance to the culture of that country, the importance of people’s attitudes in and around the place as well as towards such a place, and the larger social construct that is formed with the intermingling of all these forces.

And so..onwards I head towards working for such a paper. Next round – supermarkets!!

Goal 58: Began reading Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life
by Carl Zimmer tonight.

Now the orientation of identity, in space and time, may be just as important to a culture as it is to an individual. It may be as practical an act as farming. Again and again we find special significance attached to the cardinal directions by archaic cultures. We find monuments and structures consciously laid out to satisfy principles that transcend practicality. We find a preoccupation with time that goes back ten thousands of years. From the Old Stone Age to the present we find devices like these that define a culture’s place in the cosmos. Men find their references in the sky. The sky, reliable but always out of reach, would have enough universality to orient man’s view of himself in the world.

We have always looked to the heavens for orientation and perspective. The fundamental needs of men probably have not changed much since earliest times. Only now we may find out who we are and where we are going by traveling beyond the sky and into the cosmos at large. -E.C. Krupp, ‘Sun and Stones on Medicine Mountain,’ Griffith Observer, vol. 38, 11, p. 20 (Nov. 1974)

Peace

The light marks the trees it touches,

flowing serenely through the trees.

It marks me too

from time to time.

And as I sit I see,

and as I see I listen.

I hear the grey birds greeting,

the ancient whispers in the trees,

the children playing,

and the quiet drum

that is this heart

keeping rhythm with the world.

But as the black crow

departs his perch,

so shall I.

“So Shall I!”,

I scream at the wind.

For this liquid form that is my soul,

has never been a stagnant body.

Never one to be content without the Flow.

And thus with words spoken

of my true voice,

and from a place

bearing my true nature

that I go on.

And so I flow a river forth to thee,

and filled with the light

shall it ever be.

Torment

Hard to see…

eyelids fluttering

like panicked humming birds.

Muscles fighting one another,

flesh bound war on the self.

Scorn internalized,

made viseral,

made whole.

Currents of liquid agony

flowing along a spinal river of vertabre.

The room gets brighter,

white hot in perception.

Essence of self slow distilled,

from the fruit that is this rotting form.

Liquor De Spiritus.

My spark in a shot glass.

The body I laid anchored within,

hard and rigid and pulsing.

Dancing a dance of mania

on a white linoleum floor.

Harmony expelled by bio-chaos.

The storm begins to pass,

skull bound lighting

quieting and slowing.

Muscles clenched in battle,

drift into a silent solace.

The shaking stops,

physical form now still as the night outside.

The spirit returns

realigning with its mundane counterpart.

From pain comes peace,

from duality, reunion.

Another night fades…

and sleep comes.

These works where inspired by the duality of my existence.  A doctor would probably coin the terms bipolar or schizophrenic but I find these words hollow in reference to my true nature. The I that is, the self that sits before this backlit screen, has always been a cyclical being. Every aspect shifting, changing, striving to emote every piece of every spectrum. Hunger, addiction, honesty, vitality, purity, lust, and so many more colorful descriptives that i doubt I could stay awake long enough to type them all out. I am all that is harmony within chaos. I am adaptation and mutation. I am a masterpiece of microcosm, a tribute to the source, and the me you know today may never be again.

]]> http://isisglistening.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/quis-dimisit-onagrum-liberum-et-vincula-eius-quis-solvit/ Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:29:22 +0000 isisglistening http://isisglistening.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/quis-dimisit-onagrum-liberum-et-vincula-eius-quis-solvit/

“Because people are desperately trying to find a way of releasing themselves of this fleshy prison, you know, they turn to you when they see you escaping momentarily and they go, ‘How did you get out?’ And it’s very easy. Let language grow by itself, your own language. You have the ability to, through arts, tongues, create a dialogue to make you travel to places more beautiful than we are ever promised.” -Lisa Gerrard; of Dead Can Dance,
interview: 7 Nov 2006.

I am so sick and tired of hearing about the bad economy. Wanna know why? Here’s a list:

1) For many people it’s sucked for a long time. (Ask the folks who lost their jobs to the outsourcing trend that started almost 20 years ago)

2) The only reason it’s getting tons of air time now is because rich people and the upper middle class are finally be effected. As a former social worker I can tell you I was dealing with the fall out of the “balloon” economy ten years ago. It’s no surprise to me.

3) It’s giving corporations the excuse to lay off more workers (which is a dumb move because it diminishes the amount of revenue circulating in the domestic/international market).

4) It’s also become the most common thing you hear people repeat in conversations. OH GIVE ME A BREAK. Didn’t anyone learn about gravity (in regards to the stock market) what goes up must come down (at some point)…COME ON!

So, let’s get this out of the way: How can Crocheters help the economy and make the world a better place.

1) Buy from local businesses as much as possible, for hooks, yarns etc. If you can’t find them in person, look on line. You money gets five times the mileage when you spend it locally than when you spend it out of the local economy!

2) Offer to teach classes to folks on how to make their own cool crochet gifts and fashions. When pennies are tight handwork always goes up in favor. Kids love making phone covers, and game system cozies, they can make hair scrunches and book marks for friends! Young mother’s love to learn to make for baby..etc etc etc…

3) Find local designers and buy their patterns. Especially the indie designers. That gives the little guy more cash.

There is no such thing as too big to fail. Having all the money in the big boys hands is a dangerous economic prospect. In fact it has very much led to economic feudalism. No one is too big to fail, everyone is expendable, anyone telling you different is trying to sell you something.

I firmly believe the more we can support the medium to micro businesses the more we shall empower and enable sustainable communities….and CROCHET can play a huge part in that! How?

The microcosm always influences the macrocosm. Ask any scientist.

Join me, let’s save the world today with crochet…Raise your hooks!