Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Post No. 374 - Red rosellas in a golden dawn

Well, we've just had a much needed break out in the country, at a lovely little bed and breakfast near a small town (200 people), and it was absolutely wonderful. The heading of this post mentions a couple of the features (the birds and the dawn - but the tres were also magnificent), but what really struck us was seeing all the stars at night - there was no light pollution, and the vision was spectacular. The only time I've seen stars more clearly was as a kid in North Queensland, when we would see them down to the horizon (we were camping on the edge of the ocean).

The stars also reminded me of a poem I wrote a few years ago ...

It made both of us think about a lot of things, but one thing I thought of was that the stars actually gave a surprising amount of light - certainly enough to get by once your eyes had adapted. Tens of thousands of years ago, they would also have backlit any large predators coming your way as well .... cheerful thought!

But we used to get by without the bright electric light of today. When I say that, I also have to point out that we had more accidents (including injuries and fatalities) then, and we didn't have cars hurtling at great speeds around the place, so I am not advocating a return to lack of light, but I think we could usefully think about what has changed. As an example, a recent article in The Age reported that people use to sleep in two four-hour long periods, separated by an hour or two of activity, rather than the current addiction to eight hours straight - see here.

We've just watched the film "Mozart's Sister", which also emphasises how new electric light is, as the characters in the film move about at night holding candles.

I also recall reading somewhere (in the pre-Internet days!) that gatherer-hunters (I use the term that way as most of the food was, I understand, actually gathered rather than hunted) worked an average of 25 to 30 hours a week. Makes me feeling stressed at my 40-hour-plus week (plus 2 hours minimum each day for commuting) somewhat understandable.

Still, maybe the development of agriculture gave us the chance to spend time developing skills like meditation ... then again, when I think of the skills of shamans, maybe not :) Certainly the development of industrialisation cemented (pun intended - sorry) the need for things like meditation.

We've come back to the city, and quite a bit of stress, but we've also booked our next escape. I've taken today off so I can support my partner (legitimately, I might add - it's not "a sickie"), but I've also use some of my breathing exercises and other techniques to help me cope with what we're going through. Studying spiritualioty and psychism can be very practical, very helpful.

We're also de-stressing and, in my case, decluttering, our lives. Unfortunately, in my case, that means I have given up on the Order of Hermes Australia (for LGBTIQ pagans) and the Grove of Gyhldeptis. I'd done quite some work on a manual for the Grove (which is a title I loved, and at least one corespondent also liked), and I'll post that in a series of blogs when I get a chance (although I have to finish preparing to run a workshop on Talismanic Tetrahedrons first).

So, on to other matters.

First up, a quote that I quite like: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” Bertrand Russell.

Next, some reading links:

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: discrimination, lifestyles, society, stress,

First published: Tysdagr, 20th March, 2012

Last edited: Tuesday, 20th March, 2012
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