Tuesday 7 April 2015

Post No. 683 - Reading and Miscellaneous


I’d like to begin this post by offering a metaphorical bouquet to the power company workers who helped my father a couple of weeks ago. Dad is elderly, in his high 80s, and has Parkinsons: one of the problems he has is the occasional fall. Recently, some power company workers (I don’t know which one – Dad couldn’t recall) were doing some work on Dad’s home, and other houses in the street. Some time after they had finished working on Dad’s place, he went out the front to get the paper, and fell (the driveway is quite steep). When he falls, getting back up is quite difficult, but within what seemed like moments, these power company workers had arrived to help Dad back up, check that he was OK and settled and also, having noticed an Anglicare car in the driveway earlier that morning, ring Anglicare and make sure someone knew what had happened.

It was very reassuring of the best of human nature.

On the other hand, at a recent wedding at the British Consulate, a taxi driver taking some of the wedding party (including me) back to a hotel that the brides were staying at, took off without allowing us to get some belongings out of the boot. In view of what happened subsequently, it would be easy to wonder if that was deliberate, but I am inclined more towards ordinary, everyday, human carelessness on the part of the taxi driver (as for the situation on our part, see this post). Be that as it may, one part of the bundle in the car was an Apple iPhone – and yes, this is a plug for it: the phone was able to be switched remotely into a ‘lost’ mode, triggered to make a sound, and a message displayed getting the driver to ring a certain number.

Even more importantly, we could track where it was. That made it extremely useful later when the taxi driver returned, claimed he had been to the airport (he hadn’t – he’d been driving around the city and inner suburbs, clearly with paying passengers) and demanded payment of a full fare. Now, whilst I am prepared to concede the matter around him driving off may have been innocent, the attempted extortion wasn’t.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t down there to confront him over that: one of the younger members of our party had offered to do that, rather than us ‘oldies’. She wound up being sworn at by the taxi driver, stood her ground and confronted him, but swore back. If she hadn’t, the taxi driver could have been charged under Section 17 of Summary Offences Act, but so could she, once she had sworn back in return. Ideally, she would have ‘kept her cool’, as my generation would say, and calmly confronted him with the evidence we had, etc.

To do that, however, effectively requires what I and others refer to as ‘authentic presence’ – which is a combination of commitment to spiritual values, strength of character, and knowledge of assertiveness, rights, etc. (I first came across the concept in Lobsang  Rampa‘s writings, but also in Chögyam Trungpa's "Sacred Path of the Warrior”.) See here for a more formal definition of the term from those who appear to have originated – or currently be most active with – the term view it.

What happens if you don’t have that? Well, you resort to the tools you have available – things like pugnacity.

I once posted that I would write about ‘my escape from pugnacity’, I am sure, but I cannot find that reference. In any case, I am finding that emotions are a bit like chakras: the ideal is to be able to access and express them constructively, rather than necessarily be ‘free’ of them. Hence, I will use the energy of pugnacity when it is appropriate, and as constructively as possibly – for instance, when I need to be more persistent in the face of opposition. I will use anger to drive my activism, and so on.

Of course, I do need to be very sure that the expression is, as I would term it, BPLF [1], or, as others would term it, ‘spiritual’.

I recently came across an example of such an application which I don’t consider appropriate, in Cyril  Scott’s book "The Initiate and His Pupil", where Scott’s teacher puts on a façade of being coarse as an attempt to reinforce cisgender stereotypes with someone who was, after a long series of lives as a female, an effeminate male. There is, in my view, nothing wrong with being an effeminate male, or anything else that doesn’t fit neatly into a stereotype.

Now, how does one develop authentic presence? Well, in the way that works best for you. This blog covers a whole range of possible techniques (refer to the “this blog as a course” section of my blogiography, for which a link has been provided in my signature block below), but it is things like alternate nostril breathing that are particularly effective for me. What works best for you. Dear Reader, is for you to determine.

OK, so before getting in to the reading links, I’d like to cover two more points.

Firstly, hospitality, which was a significant part of this post of mine. Why is hospitality a two sided street, with obligations on both guest and host? Well, the ‘rules’ of hospitality started as way of helping the human species survive, and, in their ideal form, have grown and extended to promoting the overall betterment of society. If has a guest has an adverse impact on their host, the outcome is not beneficial; if a potential host turns away traveller, they could have died in days gone by, but nowadays such an act would possibly reduce what is referred to as social capital. If either commits an act of actual or attempted control (most commonly by refusing to make reasonable accommodation for different values – and accepting when those values cannot be compromised), the situation is nonBPLF – i.e., spiritually harmful. In fact, I view it as evil. Also, on this topic, see http://wildhunt.org/2014/02/the-future-of-hospitality.html.
(Incidentally, on control, I know someone who has a history of trying to be provocative. This, and a façade of being supportive of violence [she personally has a physical disability which precludes that] are largely a defence to cover her fear of failing at normal human interaction [fears of inadequacy/incompetence, not being liked, not finding a partner, and so on]. I heard someone else say she refuses to give that particular person any sort of reaction these days: well, in my view, to have to do so is unacceptable, and is another example of the evil of attempted control. In my experience, the overwhelming majority of people who try to get a rise out of others are not only not spiritual, they are actively anti-spiritual [it has been three decades since I knew anyone who could actually claim to be trying to get a reaction for spiritual reasons, and that was predominantly in the context of rescue], and I consider having to restrain oneself because of those flaws to be utterly wrong. With regards to any actual violence [and violence can be verbal, emotional, mental, etc – and women are equally capable of the non-physical forms as well as men], such is subject legally and spiritually to a test of reasonableness. As far as the person concerned goes, my view is that they would be better served by facing their fear, and decide if they want to reinforce their fear by continuing with these actions, or defeat it)

Next, my favourite source of exasperation, stupidity :)

As usual, this gets my goat most commonly when viewing people’s actions on the road. This current round of ranting on this topic has been triggered by seeing two cyclists nearly collide at a pedestrian crossing (one was travelling along the road, the other hadn’t looked, and was crossing against a ‘don’t walk’ sign). Also, there is this, which refers to an elderly pedestrian killed a few years ago by that same notorious pack. (As a kid, we were told to avoid riding on footpaths for fear of injuring the elderly.)

More tragically, as far as many people are probably concerned, was a recent death of a pedestrian who was late for work, ran across a road, slipped, and was run over by a turning truck driver who didn’t see her because she had fallen. A lot of the reaction has been along the lines of “she was nice – and cute – and didn’t deserve to die”. That’s irrelevant – even the ugly, grumpy old among us (like me :) ) don’t ‘deserve’ to die that way (putting any karmic issues aside for the moment – which I am happy to do, as in this context they are not appropriate). Furthermore, I was taught not to run across the road that as a kid for EXACTLY THAT REASON: I could fall, and be run over. I assume kids are still taught that – if not, they should be!

Now, I know drivers do stupid things (for example, see here), and sometimes just simply make mistakes while they happen to be in charge of a lethal weapon: a car. Many people know this nowadays, and there have been a range of measures to address this:
  • better roads (implementation generally subject to availability of government funding);
  • better cars (implementation subject to (a) legislation, and (b) how wealthy those who buy cars are); and
  • education  campaigns (graphic campaigns tend to work for a while, but then then people go back to carelessness – and some nations have stupid attitudes that prevent such campaigns. Sadly, many people locally appear to have forgotten about the death of a pedestrian as a result of a driver using a mobile phone to text which led to local laws banning that – or even make the mistake of thinking that drivers can use a Melways while driving).
Do these sort of actions need to be extended to bicycles and pedestrians?

Well, probably. The local train authority introduced a “dumb ways to die” campaign, which is a bit like the so-called ‘Darwin Awards’, and may not have worked. Notwithstanding that apparent lack of success, my reaction is at times that maybe we need something similar for pedestrians and bike riders … but perhaps being brave enough to call stupid actions stupid may be a first step.

Ultimately, the best thing is probably for the experts to consider the evidence on what works and what doesn’t – for instance, see here.

However, as a human being, I have a few thoughts on the matter.

Those thoughts amount to: arrogance and thoughtlessness.

Thoughtlessness: drivers who ‘forget’ that they are in charge of a lethal weapon (cure? Better attention to the character of children during rearing, perhaps? Holding adults accountable for such flaws [not all good attempts to improve children’s character works, so one cannot simply blame parents for what may be beyond their control]), pedestrians who walk out near cars, not thinking about the fright that can give drivers, bike riders who don’t think about the fact that other road users also include other bikes (as per the example that started this little diatribe) and pedestrians.

Arrogance: drivers who allow themselves to be distracted by mobile phones or think they are so much better than everyone else on the road that they will never have accidents (I have known several such people: that’s not a joke or irony), pedestrians who think they are invulnerable and drivers will avoid them (again, I have known several such people).

What’s the cure? Mature BPLF spirituality, in my view.

Now, some reading links.
On environmental matters, it has been good to see, in recent months, some consideration of the integration of surface and groundwater resources in Australia. I argued with my Uni lecturer on groundwater back in the 70s when he taught that the ‘capacity’ of a groundwater source was the hydraulic extraction capacity - the rate that it was possible to pump water out of it. I said it needed to consider the rate of recharge …

Continuing :)
On other matters:
Finally, I like the last panel on this cartoon, and may use it myself, from time to time: http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-03-27 :)




[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here, here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").

[3] I apologise for the formatting: it seems Blogger is no longer as WYSIWYG as it used to be, and there are a lot of unwanted changes to layout made upon publishing.

Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr, Wéofodthegn
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux … aka Morinehtar … would-be drýicgan or maga ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here.

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me for a few minutes at some time between 8 and 11 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate-clear for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour, and see also here and be flexible.

I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity.

  • Neither eloquence nor inarticulateness inherently indicates correctness, but, as words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
  • Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
  • I mourn the desecration of the term 'Light Worker' by commercial interests, and the warping of the word 'Light' away from 'Clear Light' by the "(Fluffy) White Lighters".
  • Presuming that everyone has, or wants, a smartphone is discriminatory, unspiritual, and downright stupid.
  • Obsessive love may be a cover up of guilt.
  • Proxy embarrassment is both a form of control, and an internal barrier to truth, honesty and perspicacity.
  • Our entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people, places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability about Life.
  • May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
  • Life is not a struggle for status.
  • Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal.
  • Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
  • The means shape the end.
  • My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
  • All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...


Human dignity is the inherently cumulative holistic combination of human rights, wellbeing and potential, and all actions or interaction which promote, realise or facilitate same. The converse also applies: whatever degrades, diminishes or robs humans of dignity, is inherently undignified.
Gnwmythr

The “purpose” of spiritual evolution is not the attainment of “spiritual perfection” - not in the sense of not having to evolve further, at any rate, since there is no such thing. We need to evolve in order to grow - but we can take rest breaks (hopefully well earned :) ) along the way. No, the “purpose” of evolution is, rather, to perfect our ability to learn, and thus grow.
Gnwmythr

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious.
Jane Elliott

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.
(based on writing by) Edmund Burke

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.
John F. Kennedy

Tags:about me, assertiveness, attitudes, authentic presence, discrimination, emotions, family, gratitude, paganism, safety, seasons, society, theft, travel,
First published: Manadagr, 7th April, 2015
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Monday, 7th April, 2015