“One may have a blazing heart in one’s soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.”

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Dividing people into types is a tried-and-true marketing scheme.   Whether it is Astrology, Japanese Blood-Types or Myer-Briggs typing, the temptation of simplicity lures the human brain into feeling it understands something when it doesn’t. But, sometimes such simple rules capture more usefulness than detriment for the person that buys into it. This is the root of the believing mind.  But categorizing is also one of the methods of science– but science should then test their categories and be willing to cast them aside when more accurate patterns are found — this doesn’t happen for the believing mind.

Grandin’s article does a fun job discussing “patternicity” as an aspect of mind.  ”Patternicity” was actually coined by Michael Shermer, a well-known atheist skeptic.  Adding “Patternicity” to a way of viewing other minds is valuable, especially for people that have bought into the simpler version which sees only two types of mind: verbal and visual.

Anyway, in one of her paragraphs, I was disappointed when Grandin tries to illustrate her 3-view model using the game of Chess. Being a player of  both WeiQi and Chess, I feel WeiQi would have been a far better choice. Below are the skills I think are needed to play good WeiQi (I thought I take a stab at categorizing too):

1. Concentration Skills
   “Reading”: looking many moves ahead. Avoiding distraction.
2. Patternicity Skills (this is the magic aspect of the game)
   (a) Understanding “stone shapes”
   (b) Whole board viewing
3. Area Recognition Skills (visual)
   Judging one enclosed irregular area size vs another
4. Analytic Skills
   (a) Tetsuji (“tricks”): Memorized small tactical methods
   (b) Joseki: Memorized larger tactical patterns

I am a very low-level Weiqi  player and am weak in all these categories, but I think my weakest, improvable skill is #3.

In the Wired excerpt, Grandin makes a very important point:

“If people can consciously recognize the strengths and weaknesses in their ways of thinking, they can then seek out the right kinds of minds for the right reasons.”

It is important to understand the limitations of our own minds, and those of others.  We can use this information to:

1. Avoid situation where our deficits may harm us
2. Improve our weaknesses
3. Seek out others to supplement our deficits and protect us from ourselves

All of us come with a unique mixes of skills — understanding what kind of animal we are can help us be compassionate to both ourselves and others; Or it can help us to understand why others may be wrong, or worse, dangerous.  Learning to supplement deficits, can improve ourselves, our workplace and our communities.

I think I will read Grandin’s new book.  As a brilliant, successful, autistic person, her ways of thinking (even if using models I think are too simple) supplement my weaknesses fantastically.  And someday, I may also focus on my geometry skills in WeiQi.

Question to readers:  Give us an example of one of your weaknesses and tell us how you have used that insight to improve your life or the life of others.

Dont worry about your body

A Mephisto Assessment of Reality

Morality masks a plethora of behaviors ethics cannot. Native American humor was all about ethics, that is no matter how harsh a truth, it must be out in the open at the least as a metaphor, the purpose in Native humor is all about keeping things honest.

The humor in western culture, on the other hand, often cannot honestly observe without crossing morality. So humor does not much serve to keep western culture honest, because too many people are afraid to go there. The thing with this is, if people were not afraid to go with honest observations, things could never degenerate to where we are now.

So, I will write about an Indian, a culturally intact Indian. Imagine the insanity of a tribal mentality taught to observe and honestly remark on the world around them suddenly cast adrift into the ego shielding ‘Honky’ sea of political correctness. Now, this native mentality is only certifiably insane because of context, or better said, an out of context circumstance. Because in the native world from which he had sprung, politically correct is actually a buzz word for the circling buzzards of Indian humor, any Native who hears the words ‘politically correct’ is apt to drop everything and listen in to the most recent wisdom and insight (always in the format of the often untranslatable to the Whiteman ‘Indian Humor’) ripping the people who trashed 200 years of treaties and moved on pretending as though nothing had happened.

This endeavor goes to shatter stereotype of the ‘taciturn’ Indian which is actually a reflection of the little understood Native cultural communication phenomena of rather than say something honest to a Whiteman that threatens the Whiteman’s ego and be killed, just shut up. Unless of course, you are not afraid to die.

For simple literary device sake, we will make this Indian 1) White skinned and 2) the last of his kind. How could this happen and the said Native persona is alive in the 21st century, a full 150 years since the Native custom of a White captive child raised to be Indian?

Well now, to be honest in the Native way, we must address this portion of the literary endeavor with a joke story drawn from real life, a sort of collage of facts assembled from bits and pieces of diverse experience, combined with anecdotal information to create the culturally intact inherent Native wisdom found in their humor. In other words, parts of the story from here out is an autobiographical facts incorporated, multi-faceted rip-off of other peoples life stories and experience. And because unlike the White world, the Native world entertains paradox in daily approach to life, some more of what follows is simply made up from the imagination’s fund of plausible improbabilities.

We’ll call the Indian “Ron” although his native name in the Cree Indian country he hails from is ‘Moon-i-Yas’ which can be translated either “Not like us” or “Paleface.” In “Ron’s” case it is “Paleface” when properly translated, because the other translation applies to people who act like Whites, rather than look like them. And by Native definition, “Ron” is Indian on account of his cultural behavior, his ‘pale face’ simply being unfortunate circumstance or, better said from the Indian perspective, that peculiar cosmic joke of life circumstance which one way or other manifests the Trickster aspect in all Native experience.

To kick off the story, back in the late 1940s there were people just like today’s truly Honky folk, real White people, that behaved in all sorts of self- repressed ways and repressed their own kids because of their staunch Puritan belief in H.L. Menecken’s maximum that ‘proper’ Puritans must preoccupy themselves with the horrifying thought “Someone, somewhere, might be happy.” So they learned to follow Jesus command to ‘love’ by ‘loving’ to hate.

Because of the ‘love’ factor in ‘loving’ to hate themselves, their kids and their fellow man, making ‘love’ is more often a rape than not, ‘loving’ their brothers and sisters is ‘loving’ to tell other people how to live their lives, and ‘loving’ security is to create an insecure society so they can ‘love’ the idea of a police state.

Now the daughters of these fundamentalist people, whether the arch-conservative Protestant or the ultra-conservative Catholic, are not so different to some of today’s young women, raised in families that with bared fangs dare anyone to so much as mention sex to their children let alone have it taught anywhere other than at the kegger parties of the young people, who learn to hide the realities of their lives from their parents because you are punished whether you lie or tell the truth. So lying becomes in vogue because if you are young and you lie, you might not be caught and punished for enjoying yourself, whereas if you tell the truth you will be punished every time. So impromptu sex education at the young peoples kegger parties gives a whole new meaning to expressions such as ‘powerpoint’ and the many unwed young mothers resulting are simply one manifestation of God’s will and Jesus commandment that people ‘love’ (other peoples misery in the case of Michelle Bachmann and the Puritans.)

As fate would have it, in the late 1940s a young Catholic girl had gone from her conservative family upbringing and all girls school, where the nuns would not touch sex-ed with the proverbial ten foot pole, in Chicago, to college at Gonzaga in Washington State where she was introduced to sex as a sorority girl by innumerable happy to oblige young men .. at the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ parties before the era of exploiting these events on video. Concealing her inevitable pregnancy from her far away folks, not having known what a condom is, she was driving home to Chicago with her new born, this was in 1950, give or take a year or so, and dropped the infant off on the doorstep at the Catholic Rectory at Havre, Montana, with a note pinned on the swaddling infants dress: “Ron”

A Chippewa Medicine Man from the nearby Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation was at the cinema close by, he enjoyed the classic ‘Bugs Bunny’ cartoons preceding the movie and paid his entry fee for that but then always left. The movies themselves were non-sense to him. Walking along the street, he noticed a dropped envelope, picked it up and was surprised to see it was stuffed with cash. He noticed the black ink stamp of the Catholic parish on the envelope and walked to give it to the priest at the rectory, and found the infant. Stepping around the child and standing on the step above, he knocked and the priest answered the door. The Medicine Man stated “I found your lost money” and handed the surprised priest the envelope. The priest, who hated this Medicine Man his Native parishioners would sneak off to see behind his back, shouted “Returning this money won’t buy YOUR way out of Hell!” and slammed the door in the Indian’s face, before he could tell him about the child.

The Indian knocked several times more, and patiently waited, but there was no further opening of the door. So, he picked up the kid and took “Ron” home.

Given to the Medicine Man’s niece who had her own infant the same age, “Ron” was suckled, named “Moon-i-Yas”, surrounded with love and the native joke the newly found ‘twin’ was result of “Indian Immaculate Conception.” No one of the Indians wanted to give the found kid to the meaner than shit racist White people at Havre, Montana, it just seemed wrong. When it came time to take the infants to the Indian Agency for birth certificates and enrollment, the Agency people just figured they were fraternal twins and there was a White father of the one child. So “Ron” grew up Indian. He moved to Al-boo-quark-ee in the southwest because of his fond memories of the old Medicine Man mimicking Bugs Bunny’s pronunciation of that city’s name.

Sixty odd years after “Ron’s” birth, President Obama ordered DNA tests on all Indians to reduce the Native Enrollment and save money better spent on wars and drone murders than Indian health, kicking Indians that could not demonstrate 75% Native American blood off their reservations. It was discovered Moon-i-Yas, a.k.a. “Ron”, was the last White captive and he became a national sensation. What bloodthirsty savage had murdered his family and kidnapped this child? And anyway, a White Indian had to be a subversive, the bloodthirsty murdering savages that raised “Ron” had to have imparted their pagan licentiousness to him. The FBI was ordered to investigate “Ron”, it was a matter of ‘National Security.’

Meanwhile “Ron” had discovered a few things about White people. Like when an arch-conservative fundamentalist Republican principal of a lily-white charter school surreptitiously run as a private Christian institution that doubled as a cover for intelligence agents masked as teachers who break every civil rights law you can imagine, have discovered you have raised your kid Indian, all of the state apparatus is arrayed against you for the satanic act of being an ultra-liberal permissive parent. Allergies causing red eyes are interpreted as the child being a devil, but because there is no law to charge you with for that, you are investigated for drugs. When you are courageous enough to fight back for your kid and call a spade a spade, it is ‘undue hostility towards authority’ and you are investigated for terrorism. Failing every effort at criminal entrapment and being counter-investigated, assassins are dispatched by the neo-con hate mongers… and failing again and it again it all just keeps getting bigger- FBI criminals implicated, Department of Defense criminals implicated, CIA criminals implicated, the criminal Church implicated, the National Security Agency implicated, allied intelligence, MOSSAD particularly, implicated.. meanwhile the White, Native American Jason Bourne-savant-idiot-trickster- clown has ‘pantsed’ the fascists again and again!

Because “Ron” really IS Indian, he fights back with taunts and satires, in the post –modern weapon of blogs. “Ron” taunts the establishment with the idea of “Jewels Misogyny”, wherein these neo-conservative & neo-liberal closet-gay institutions of accelerated education attended by the children of the military-industrial rich and powerful, only the brightest and most beautiful women teachers are hired… and must adopt masculine persona like so many ‘bull dikes’ as have the Michelle Bachmanns of this world, women who consequently marry self-repressed homosexuals attracted to these so-called women because of their male persona. They are all ‘men’ resembling nothing so much as castrated mannequins in drag (say, how’s that ‘cures gays’ clinic going?)

The end result? Either liberal women who hate themselves (Jewels Misogyny) for their participation in this travesty, job security being more important than ethics and fighting back or, women with “Acquired Ego Priapism Syndrome” like Michelle Bachman or the ‘imaginary’ school principal. Women who behave like sexist and racist men. Woman-male rapists of our values of tolerance and compassion, the liberal and libertarian values that are uniquely American, the ability to live and let live. Women of Bachmann’s class which join with criminal-fascist men in covering up constitutional crimes with religious façade Obama is afraid to pick on.

Of course the initial culture clash long ago was the Indians being shocked at how harshly the Puritans treated their children, the cause of many a ‘captive White’ raised in Native freedom and, conversely the Puritan horror at the liberty of the Native children resulting in the practice of “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Not so different to Bachmann’s persecution of the American Muslim, with her racist slurs thinly disguised behind sharia law hysteria. Bachmann is a Puritan, psychologically male, W.A.S.P. with Acquired Ego-Priapism Syndrome, in effect a chauvinist as pathologically erect as any male serial rapist.

What I mostly enjoy about this story is, in the modern politically correct world where only women can refer to a woman as a bitch, and get away with it, no differently than only gays may refer to themselves as queers or fags, only Blacks can call themselves Niggers or Asians can call themselves Gooks or Chinks, Mexicans self-refer as Beaners, Jews calling themselves Kikes, Indians laughing at the idea of being Prairie Niggers, and Sheep bleating to themselves they are Meadow Maggots, without a hate crime referral, but this Indian author can call the right wing White fascist people in absolute racist terms “Honkies” and totally get away with it because he is White skinned. I say that especially because of Supreme Court Justice Alito referring to “Marauding Indians” in a context of self-defense in recent decision on firearms, I suppose he thinks we should be hunted like wolves from planes. But because no one ordinarily can comment on physical attributes such as gender or skin color outside their own race or sex freely, this prevents in any politically correct circumstance the real or broad examination of the perverse Puritan sexist and racist BEHAVIORS tied to the descriptions which underlie psychologically male Honky right-wing criminal women like Bachmann who resembles nothing so much as the drag queen Jack Kerouac must have fantasized himself, had he dared to be openly gay.

Gee. Somehow the story did not end up funny. I’ll work on that.

The Bellows Breath works the core abdominal muscles. It can’t not work those muscles — they’re central to the act of breathing. The act of tightening and releasing them to work the Bellows causes the body’s core to stand a certain way — it straightens the spinal column and ‘compacts’ the body in a sense (it also puts pressure on the intestines —stay near the bathroom!).

So, abdominal core exercises plus oxygen plus spine-straightening… huh. I wonder what could happen when that gets fused with qi gong…?

Oh, right. Chi.

So,the shortform explanation of chi is that it’s life force. That’s a simplistic explanation, but sure… go with it for now because it’s a busy Friday with all the usual Friday goings-on. When one first start s practicing tai chi, it’s easy to feel it. One lives cheek by jowl with it for months, because the channels for it in your body haven’t ever had to open up this much to the energy, and so the sensation is quite electric. Then, as your body stretches its capacity, the channels widen up, and you have to work harder and harder to feel chi moving through your body. And this is disappointing to many practitioners, because the chi-sensation is proof that you’re doing it correctly, right? Except that sensation goes away, and is replaced by …. Ordinary body sensations. Ho hum. Boring. Where did the magical energy sensation inside of me go? What happened?

But that’s just it. Your capacity to move and store energy and project energy hasn’t gone away. It’s just that the channels for that energy have been carved a little wider and a little deeper. you’ve gone from being a faulty wire installed in 1912 by a rogue electrician to a glittering new power cable thicker than a baby’s arm. The trickle charge you could barely handle before is now a broad stream of current. You have to really push yourself to feel the magical sensation of chi in your body, because that sensation is the body accepting in more chi than it currently can handle.

So, yeah… I’ve been triggering more than I can handle, and I felt that today. Even now, half an hour later, I have tingling in my feet and fingers suggesting hat I haven’t shed all I took in. It’s dissipating, but slowly. And I think it’s going to be ok. But this is how one finds new levels of practice, I think — challenge some part of your body to put out more effort than usual, and see how your regular routine is challenged by that search. You wind up working more than just your abs. .

Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek circa 1969

The Absurd Theatre

Quartz rhythm

Hypothetical geometric fibres

The circle with the thing in itself

Unknown to the territory

Walks on the edge gazing at the distant stars

Birds fly rocking the girdle

A movement of the hips enables  the plasma of the sun

Rested on the streams of the seven seas

A deserted highway is a door to eternity

It’s the burial ground of our collective memory

Here, cars don’t pull up and stop

Strangers walk not

Not even the tarantula

Spikes of frozen earth laps

The wind’s hairy roar

Screaming across the metal foliage of rusted lands

Rolling like a substance without a toil

In a unmistakable world of quiet absurdity

Not knowing, it crawls towards that significant nothing

That which is our moving frame of existence

Relative to simultaneous points

Many years later your old Word is very young

Innocent like the child of a polished stone

Absurd, forgotten or gone.

- Joy Roy Choudhury

However, forcing memorization and learning is what leads to dismotivation. Even if a student learns the curriculum, it will be forgotten eventually (and pretty soon), unless it’s really utilized in life. This is why I don’t remember much of my studies. My opinion is that some subjects should become optional, and not just chooseable in the tertiary education, because if someone wants to specialize in this or that department, then he will research and learn on his own. If someone does not have the interest in a given subject, then he’s futilely bugged through years about it, he’ll simply just sway at his desk on those periods, wasting his time. Not efficient at all. I know this, ’cause I’ve felt that way too many times. They won’t say to anyone that “now, you should enter this or that department”. At the very least they didn’t offer me any way. That’s a matter of aptitude. Without inclination, learning on the uninteresting subject is futile. If he truly cares about it, then he will learn and research on his own. This is not what they should teach for the kids. Teach ‘em practical things, like how to sustain yourself in nature. World War III or a catastrophe can suddenly strike – or any kind of breakdown for that matter -, and then you’ll be forced to move, ’cause you’ll be running out of supplies. I even thought about martial arts in schools, so that they learn how to be able to protect themselves. Teach ‘em how to think uniquely, based on their character and capabilities. Which means to let them evolve. My basic lessons would be about agriculture starting since elementary school, as a mandatory thing with exercises on the real fields. No need to say what’s the benefits and why should they know that. Teachers would teach the mandatory and necessary knowledge about some subjects, then let them learn on their own. No need to hold their hands. You do that and they won’t think on their own. The point is to give a little motivation.

Rather than the standard periods, there shouldn’t be that stern teacher-student listen-and-obey rule. The teacher should not be an authority person, rather more of a playful friend. Teachers should not maintain the discipline, but the interest. Plus, we all heard about students who have bad grades and have hardships with achievements. The teacher would measure the abilities of the students and group them according to their skills. The problem is that one education system does not fit millions of students. They learn differently, consider their speed, style. Have more syllabus. Use cooperative studying. The point is to let the students learn about what do they really want to learn. Not to force things on them, not to limit ‘em. This is all about attitude. Teachers can try their hardest if students don’t cooperate. Students and teachers both have to cooperate, otherwise it’s just a one-sided strain.

You progress so slowly in a class that you begin to wonder what takes so long. You progress along as how your teacher wants to. It does not matter if you’d like to go further, you have to wait for the next time, since there is practice and explanation involved for other students that have problems. This is why they take years, whereas the amount of time required to spend could be reduced. Teachers may not be effective, and they may teach you bad habits. Also, they tend to water down the information for you (saving you from painful researching), believing that we are not keen on the subject for further studying on our own. Speaking from experience.

Another problem: why lock the students in classrooms? This can create stress. Why not take them out frequently from the school building? Except when the weather is truly terrible. Don’t tell me that you can’t teach ‘em under the free sky. Why not have more field trips as well, which could motivate students to learn. Lastly, I don’t see why computers could not be used as learning tools.

Q: How would a student know what does he want to be?
A: Inclination. Simply, by discovering himself and showing interest in things. But not every student is like this. Those need teachers and guidances, beause they do not want to learn things by themselves. In which case, teachers should find a way to make ‘em love studying something.

Q: People are trying to know their interests, how could you motivate them if you make most subjects optional?
A: Uninterest and inattention (failure) comes from half-assedness. Or because they declare that they are not able to do it. Well, life is not easy, deal with it. Still, I believe that there is no talent and talentless: anything becomes amazing, as long as someone is doing it for a long enough time and with adequate resoluteness. Remember that.

Dont give your power away

Now, I’ll admit to calling Mr West an “arrogant douche” in the past, but I’ve never EVER doubted his lyrical ability! The College Dropout (2004) is an album that cracks me up to this very day and will always be a favourite.

His latest release is très deep and pretty self explanatory (albeit, a bit rich, coming from him). The content in this particular performance of the song is only just verging on explicit, but the philosopher in me insists on delivering this message to the masses all the same! Listen keenly… these words will resonate with thinkers, theorists, and those of us who “over-stand”.

Peace-out xoxo

Average at my best.

Now I take a daily walk.

From my house, I go West.

Eventually, I return,

Huffing and puffing up the hill.

My daily athletic endeavor,

Oh what a thrill.

A global village understands the value of the individual–the individual must be empowered to be fully and authentically self-expressive, and hold his or her own truth and way of moving in the world. The individual is not limited for the sake of the tribe–the tribe thrives when the individual thrives. The desires of the individual and needs of the community are not seen as antithetical, rather, there is a self-organizing intelligence inherent to life which aligns the desires of the individual and the needs of the community. An empowered individual serves, because simply by following their joy and realizing their own nature they are naturally of service to the community.

Our modern world view is based on a separation between ourselves and nature. There are infinite examples in nature of harmony and co-ordination that for many suggest the presence of a creator. And yet, we too are part of that harmony, because harmony is simply the nature of life. It is the way that nature moves, where everything moves effortlessly with everything else. And yet, when we would limit others or ourselves for the sake of the whole, we are implicitly saying that we do not trust life, and do not believe that nature is ultimately harmonious. Rather, we separate ourselves from nature as something which can be threatened by nature and is compelled to control nature. This is absurdity, because we are nature! And yet, this absurd belief creates the very suffering it takes as its own evidence.

In this sense, freedom and trust are the foundation stones of a true global village. A global village in some ways does not recognize tribal distinctions: we are each a perfectly unique expression of nature, totally distinct from anyone else, past or future, and yet still parts of a greater body and propelled by the same mysterious life force. And though the tribe seems to be discarded at these ultimate extremes of perfect solitude and total unity, when we come to relate to others in this shifting world, tribal families and different webs of connection are inevitable. For some this means connecting with a spiritual tradition, for others it is a racial or cultural heritage, but ultimately the tribal links we have transcend genetics altogether. Call them karmic, cosmic, whatever you will–sometimes you just meet someone you feel as if you’ve known forever, because within you they live very near your heart.

In a global village, we understand that we are mirrors for one another. We are here to support each other and challenge one another–we are here to be so fiercely authentic that all others must face themselves and life. We must own our beliefs, emotions and experiences and acknowledge ourselves as co-creators of this life, not as victims of limitations created by others. If we wish to learn to live in a global community, we must learn not to take life personally, and own our own reactions. With all we have inherited, there is a lot of pain stored between all members of the human family. This pain has to be processed, but if we continue to personalize and assign blame to the pain that exists between us, we will never reach a space where we can allow that pain to heal. We must simply observe the pain and allow it to sing its song, and then release it forever. If we come into this agreement together, as a family, we can be members of a global village.

A global village inherits the wisdom of the past, the technology of the present, and a vision of the future. We are not rejecting the present in favor of the past or future. We are not rejecting anything. We are using all the tools at our disposal to move toward a vision of perfection. At the heart of this vision of perfection is an understanding that we are co-creating–giving and receiving. We know some of what we want, but we do not have the total vision. Our brothers and sisters have other pieces of the vision, but even together, we still do not have the whole picture. Only by coming together and synergetically linking our hearts and minds do we open the door to the highest possibilities. Our vision of the future necessarily has blind spots, but we are always aiming to create a world better than the one we found. We do this simply by aligning with the current of evolution, which is the natural tendency of life.

In a global village, all organizations are porous. They are not self-enclosed and defensive, simply acting for their own survival. They exist to serve the whole, as the village exists to serve the world. They are open and welcoming, because they have gifts to share. Families interface with one another, so that children can grow and experience beyond the limited patterns of their own parents. In the same way, businesses interface with one another, help and support one another, trade ideas and employees, for the benefit of the whole. No one stands to lose! Because there is co-operation, there is abundance. And because there is abundance, there is no need to fear theft or become protective.

Businesses interface with families. Businesses take care of children, provide education and apprenticeships, and simply become part of the fabric of life. Children learn by playing and interacting with old and young alike, and they learn by doing in those walks of life that they are attracted to. In a global village, everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student… and every moment is a learning opportunity!

In a global village, love is not an isolated phenomenon. Love is not spark of light in a great darkness. Love is the connective tissue between all residents. Love is the reality which is found at every hearth, in every workplace and in every meal. Love is the intention which goes into every action, and love is the perpetual question in every heart: “How can I bring more love into this world?”

A global village is radically inclusive, because it includes all of life. Life is accepted in its essence, which means it is accepted along with death. A global village is grounded in a sober perspective on life. Challenges and trials are bound to come. They are to be faced with courage and perseverance. All the while, life gives lovingly to all who give selflessly and create in love. There is a deep surrender to life, and this is what allows the members of a global village to come together and be intimate. This intimacy takes many forms, but ultimately it is a recognition of unity in those who appear to be most different. A global village is, and must be, a challenge to our perception of the world, which is rooted in separation. A global village is an ideal that asks us to live in a way that would allow it to exist. In this way, it is a leap of faith. Only our faith that it can exist will create the space in which it could flourish. It is a project we start today, not a reality we wait for in a murky future.

Well, what do you think? What is a global village to you? What would it take for humanity to live together in peace and harmony? Where is the human race headed? Is there an essence of life? Is it all survival and competition? Is life intelligent and harmonious? Or is it something altogether different? May these questions shake us awake to the mysteries and possibilities…

Two of the twentieth century’s most influential thinkers debate a perennial question.

In 1971, at the height of the Vietnam War and at a time of great political and social instability, two of the world’s leading intellectuals, Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault, were invited by Dutch philosopher Fons Edlers to debate an age-old question: is there such a thing as “innate” human nature independent of our experiences and external influences?

The resulting dialogue is one of the most original, provocative, and spontaneous exchanges to have occurred between contemporary philosophers, and above all serves as a concise introduction to their basic theories. What begins as a philosophical argument rooted in linguistics (Chomsky) and the theory of knowledge (Foucault), soon evolves into a broader discussion encompassing a wide range of topics, from science, history, and behaviorism to creativity, freedom, and the struggle for justice in the realm of politics.

Debate article of analyse

Drown yourself, oceans
Sweep against flying shore-breaks
Honed on their approach.

Very simply one begins on the path their is no other choice but to follow it to its end. The buddha said, “A person can only make two mistakes, not starting on the path and not going all the way.” Personally having started I am now realising that I must go on. Their is no other choice. However, in this piece when  I speak of the water aspects, I am doing so with the intention of describing the work that cleanses the soul.

“To love means loving the unlovable.
To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable.
Faith means believing the unbelievable.
Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”
~ G.K Chesterton

It sounds so easy. Just do the things you think you can not do, and you will be enlightened. Love and forgive everyone and everything, have faith and hope always, and live happily ever after!

But wait…life can get messy. Sometimes love gets stuck in our fear and pain…and forgiveness hardens in our scars. From where are we supposed to summon all that faith and hope in moments of hardship and exhaustion when clearly even the gods have their limits?

I’ve often asked for a refund on all the wisdom handed to me throughout the years. I argued a lot, and people argued back, except for very few who didn’t argue. They smiled instead and told me one day I would understand everything.

That day hasn’t arrived. I suspect it never will, because every time I think I figured something out, there comes another layer and another, and another.

But, I have discovered some little and I believe important things. Here are the ones that came to mind as I read the quote that found me again tonight.

First…meaningful, wonderful, and special things are supposed to scare you…a little or a lot. If you’re not scared when you love, when you write, when you paint, when you parent, when you do whatever it is that you do, then you’re not really living. It’s like that saying: if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.

Second…confidence or certainty are not these impenetrable, all-powerful entities. Both are dances with fear. The more you learn to enjoy the dance instead of resisting it, the more exciting, liberating and rewarding it becomes.

Third… “why not” is the only question worth asking…and it’s always a rhetorical question anyway. I learned this from my children who, with their beautiful wisdom lacking in cynicism, often pointed out that grown-ups always first think about how something isn’t possible, won’t work, or isn’t good, even though it’s obviously the wrong approach. Obviously we should all assume the best first, and keep assuming…because “that’s how you can make and find the coolest things mom…like hidden levels and stuff”.

And last but not least…if you want to know what something truly means, for example the big words in the quote: love, forgiveness, faith and hope…you have to carry them beyond the edge of everything you know and into the realm of your greatest discomfort. It’s like turning off all the lights so as to be able to see the stars.

On the face of it, the answer should be simple. Moral philosophy would say that a need exists and we are in a position to fulfil that need, with minimal cost to ourselves and so yes, we should give to beggars. Perhaps we are even obligated to do so. But then why do we feel so uncomfortable when we are confronted with them, and why does it feel as though the answer is not quite so simple?

In her paper “Kant on Giving to Beggars”, Wits Professor of Philosophy, Lucy Allais, attempts to give us an account of why the question of whether or not to give to beggars feels different to similar claims on us to meet the needs of others. For instance, when there is a natural disaster or when someone is drowning and in need of saving, the obligation to give assistance seems less questionable. One reason for this could be that in those cases, the need is temporary, whereas in the case of a beggar, their need is likely permanent. Appealing to Kant’s moral philosophy, Allais argues that when confronted with a beggar we lack information. We don’t know if they genuinely are in need and we have no guarantee of what they will use the money for. Thus, we cannot properly evaluate the situation and this makes us feel uneasy. Furthermore, according to Kant, it is degrading for a man to beg. He forfeits his autonomy over himself in relation to others and his existence is now dependent on the whims of others. As Allais points out, the beggars that we encounter on a daily basis often wear costumes and perform poses that we, as human beings, find humiliating. But even more than that, Kant argues that when we encounter a beggar, we are confronted with a grave injustice that exists in society. The beggar’s need is representative of a huge inequality that exists because of an unjust system that does not provide adequately for its people. Giving money to the beggar is really just giving him something to which he should naturally be entitled.

Furthermore, in a purely African context where emphasis is on family and community and the promotion of a spirit of togetherness, the presence of beggars makes us feel uncomfortable because they simply shouldn’t exist. People should always have a place to go; a home, where there are people that can help them. Seeing people appealing to strangers on the street to help them, stirs up a complex mix of emotions within us.

I think that any one of these observations serves as an adequate explanation for why we feel so uncomfortable when faced with poverty and a questionable opportunity to alleviate it by some measure. It explains why we avoid eye contact with the lady holding a sign at the traffic lights. It explains how we’ve all come to master the silent mouthing and accompanying hand motion of “next time” when a shivering child motions to us that he wants something to eat. So we have now established that beggars make us feel bad. Does that mean we should give to them?

In his article “Should You Give Money to Homeless People”, Derek Thompson refers to the confrontation with a beggar as “an economic crisis of the heart”. On the blog “Practical Ethics”, Ole Martin Moen outlines many of the standard reasons often given for why we shouldn’t give to beggars. Firstly, by giving to beggars, we only succeed in making begging more lucrative and getting a job less lucrative and less appealing. Secondly, we would want to give where the greatest need exists, but because of the lack of information when one encounters a beggar, we are more likely to give to the wrong beggars. Different beggars achieve differing degrees of success depending on their location, their appearance and their technique; among other factors. If we are inclined to give based on an impulsive emotional reaction to someone’s appearance, chances are, we are giving to a beggar who is already receiving enough and overlooking someone in greater need. Because of the lack of information, we are only in a position to give according to perceived need. Beggars know this and they can exploit it by exaggerating their situation. If you give a shoeless child at the traffic lights a pair of shoes today, it is unlikely he will be wearing them tomorrow, as that would deter further donations.

Some people may argue that giving to beggars is good for the economy as we are guaranteed that they will spend it. The problem is that we have no guarantee of what they will spend it on. They may very well use it to buy drugs, ultimately financing organised crime. Furthermore, even for those beggars who do make a fair amount of money, they have no way of saving it. Thus, they are more incentivised to spend it on short term, quick fixes than using it towards long term improvement. As Derek Thompson says, “For both sides it results in a fleeting sense of relief rather than a lasting solution to the problem of poverty.”

A further argument might be that it is better to give to organised charities. They are in a position to properly assess who is most in need and how best to help them. However, when a charity is involved, some of your donation will inevitably be lost in administration costs and logistically there will always be a delay in seeing your donation in action. You can write a cheque for your chosen charity today, but that boy without shoes will still be standing at the traffic lights when you drive to work tomorrow, and more likely than not, for some time to come. Thus, logically, it would seem as though responding to the need that you are immediately faced with would be a better use of your resources. Yet still, we don’t feel quite right about it.

I think that perhaps what we need to do is to change how we relate to the beggar. We need to remove the feeling of discomfort and to rectify our uncertainty that is holding us back from helping. And the only way to do this is to engage with the beggar. We can give to them, but with strings attached. Rather than rustling up a handful of loose change or giving them your soggy half eaten sandwich from lunch, speak to them. Find out what they need; what would make the most difference in their lives and then give them that. You are now ascertaining for yourself who is most in need. You are guaranteeing that your donation will be used for its intended purpose. If they dismiss you and wander over to the next car, then I think you can rest assured they don’t need your help as much as they lead you to believe. So yes, by all means, give where a need exists. But firstly confirm that the need is genuine and secondly, give with purpose and direction. Don’t throw money at the problem. Throw a plan of action.

To return to the wise philosophy of Immanuel Kant, we should give to beggars but we need to ensure that we give in the right way:

“We shall acknowledge that we are under obligation to help someone poor; but since the favour we do implies his well-being depends on our generosity, and this humbles him, it is our duty to behave as if our help is merely what is due to him or but a slight service of love, and to spare him humiliation and maintain his respect for himself” (6:448) Metaphysic of Morals, in Practical Philosophy

I’ve lost my sense of direction.  What now?

ANSWER

Take the soul path!

You don’t have a soul.  You are a Soul.  You have a body.  ~C.S. Lewis

We spend most of our life developing an ego, the stronger the better we think, and then the rest of our life trying to shrink it as we become aware that there just may be a different way, a better way.

If we are in pain, mental, physical or spiritual, that is when the ego is most at risk and more likely to shift over so we can get more of a glimpse of that other way, the different way, the maybe better way.  This is when we have a chance to connect with our soul, to still the chatter for long enough to listen to its messages.

As C S Lewis reminds us:

POEM FOR TODAY

THE SOUL PATH

I am in service to my soul, I still to hear its voice,

And as the ego quietens, I can feel my soul rejoice

As it holds now my attention, which too long has been withdrawn,

As the ego claimed supremacy and soul was left forlorn.

For too long it languished marginalised, pushed off from centre stage

As the the ego strutted confident and wrote page after page

Of a story sometimes trivial or mired in history,

As I moved ever the further from whom I was born to be.

But my soul did not desert me, nor else shift too far away,

Testimony to the stirrings that moved in me day by day

To remind me of a meaning, waiting always in the wings,

To discover in the aftermath that only suffering brings.

So today I thank discomfort and the pain that has unfurled

This new creature who now journeys on a soul path through the world,

And I claim this new adventure as my birthright from the start,

When I let go little ego and let soul my progress chart.

© Corinne Shields, 2013

If you enjoyed “THE SOUL PATH” please pass it on.  You can find more inspirational poetry in

“A String of Pearls, a Yearbook of Daily Inspiration to Soothe the Soul and Rekindle the Spirit”

And no retreat would be complete without something lovely to look at, so here’s the

PICTURE FOR TODAY

Shadows on the Green

And just before you go ……..

Take what you like and leave the rest!!!

The C S Lewis quote that I used earlier is one that seems to have cropped up alot in my life.

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C S  Lewis, The Problem of Pain

This idea of pain being “God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world” is one that has at once comforted and upset me.  But it’s true isn’t it?  When life is going well and we are doing fine our thoughts are less likely to turn to spiritual things.  Too often it is when things are going less well and we are in pain that we turn to a power greater than ourselves, whatever that may be, for help.

But who was this man, this C S Lewis, who coined this powerful phrase?  Up until now I only knew him as the author of children’s books but there had to be more than that, and of course there was, and for me it is the story of his spiritual journey which most fascinates.

Robert B Stewart in his book, “C S Lewis’s Journey to Faith” tells us that,

“C S Lewis left his childhood Christian faith to spend years as a determined atheist. After finally admitting God existed, Lewis gave in and knelt in prayer to become what he described later as “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”

Lewis’s long journey away from, and back to, faith began with his mother’s death from cancer when he was a boy. Disillusioned that God had not healed his mother, Lewis set out on a path toward full-bodied rationalism and atheism.

The road back to faith was cluttered with obstacles Lewis once thought impossible to overcome. His conversion to a robust Christianity required years of intellectual struggle and came only after being convinced that faith was reasonable.

The journey of C. S. Lewis, perhaps the greatest defender of the faith of the twentieth century, provides valuable lessons for Christians today in sharing the Gospel with an unbelieving generation.”

I shall be interested to read more about this man and his spiritual journey!!!

Sadly, I can’t get rid of the format boxes that follow.  My computer skills are not up to it!

If you have read this far, please do leave a comment, share an opinion or leave a favourite quote on the inspirational quotes page for others to enjoy.

May we all be peaceful and at ease.

Have a good day.

Corinne