The rain starts on Mabon ...
Well, it certainly had yesterday, and the scenery reminded my of other similar scenes which, I think, date back to when I was one of the Vikings who invaded Ireland and established Dublin. (It moved me to the extent of writing a poem, actually - and I got another one about the view across a stormy, rain Bass Strait on the small plane coming back.)
It was a lovely way to spend Mabon, which, for me, marks the start of the winding down time of the year. I'd love to be able to stop working around now each time of the year for an extended break from my day job (there's lots of other stuff I'd do), but I'm not likely to ever be that rich :)
Anyway, may your Mabon be blessed.
Moving on to other matters, I've been doing a Nero ...
... that is, I've been fiddling ... with the quotations in the "provocative quotations section" of my signature block on this blog.
In particular, I have restored one about Armageddon, and modified it a little.
I have added the TSA grope fest euphemistically referred to as "enhanced pat downs" as an example of the indolence typifying one side of Armageddon. This behaviour is creating an entire generation (think of what young kids and babies have to endure as part of this!) for whom sexual assault has been normalised, and is warping the nominal aim of safety (remember the saying about the cure being worse than the disease?) - which leads to my other addition to this quotation: the means shapes the end, which is from Marion Zimmer Bradley's book "Heartlight" (which I have now ordered a copy of).
I am realising now that this saying (the means shapes the end) is so very true. It is possibly also a very good defence against fundamentalism / extremism / "playground-one-better-than-you" attitudes ("Think that's a knife? THIS is a knife!" ... Think that's security? THIS is security!" ... "Think that's serious about paganism? THIS is serious about paganism!") I'll keep working on how to use that as exactly such a defence.
"Heartlight" has some interesting takes on this, and through the lead character's thoughts, there is some interesting reflection on the whole topic of extremism and what MZB seems to view as police brutality.
So where did all this "police brutality" start? Was it with the 60s, where the young had a confrontational and thus ARGUABLY inherently violent attitude? Lack of life experience in my experience is what leads to the view that street marches and the like will change anything (as a child, I recall my mother taking me to the city [Melbourne's CBD, that is], and how terrifying the anti-Vietnam marchers were - they seemed so angry, verging on being violent themselves to my child's perceptions ... and maybe I was more correct than I knew). Now, there most unquestionably IS a time and place for them (e.g. the Arab Spring .. although even that has started to be warped into something less desirable), but mostly these are a case of people with limited life experience getting impatient and using the wrong means. If I and others I was working with had taken that approach when lobbying for trans rights in the 90s, we would have got nowhere. Even putting flowers in rifles seems good to those doing it, but risks reinforcing the perceptions of naivety on the part of the recipient.
I suspect communication may be the key, here ...
On that, I found out that "collaborative communication" - aka "non-violent" communication originated at that time. It is good - very good - but, as I've written elsewhere, it also has flaws.
Now, let's move our communication on to the topic of ... homework for those who want peace.
There may be a war between China and Japan over the Senkakus / Diaoyu Islands. This has recently been written about by Hugh White - in The age, of course :) - from an Australian point of view, i.e., if war comes, do we support our largest trading partner (China), or our main ally (the US, who support Japan)?
So ... what is to be done?
First off, don't assume war is going to happen because people want to kill people: that applies in some small scale conflicts (particularly the conflict in Syria, which has devolved into that nastiest of all wars, a "Civil" war), but it hasn't been a big motivation for a few centuries in many parts of the world (not since ... of, the days of knights and the concept of glory on battlefields ... oh wait, that was part of the advertising for the First World War ... ).
Think about what could be driving the main players.
- The Chinese want to feel powerful and respected on the world stage, and maybe get even with Japanese for their invasion of China before and during WW2 (since around 1933, so it was was well underway when European WW2 got going in earnest).
- The US want to keep their current feeling (irrespective of whether or not you consider they have or deserve it) of being powerful and feared (... maybe "respected").
- The Japanese ... maybe they want to keep face?
OK, what does one do about this?
The long term view is to get past the whole "nations mean anything but a convenient means of governance" crap, and think of humanity first. Very noble, very necessary, but if one tries to push that seriously, it won't work in terms of preventing this imminent conflict because it takes too long, and requires too much fundamental change. So working now for the highest of all possible aims would be an approach that results in war now. Nevertheless, don't forget it - keep working on it, but in the background, and knowing that it is about preventing future war.This is the flower in the end of a gun barrel approach.
Let's suggest a few shorter term views that, if promoted, might be achievable in enough time:
- the Chinese have enormous patience, based on a very long history (I recall reading a view somewhere that the last few centuries can be summed as, from the Chinese perspective, just a couple of bad centuries in millenia of - mostly - being powerful), so they can afford to wait until their enemy (the USA) destroys itself from within,and thus win without having to take the field, which Sun Tzu, if I recall, says is the smarter way to win a war;
- the USA has democracy, and needs to start demonstrating this by debating internally the possibility of accepting others with power on world stage, and become more MATURE in their approach to this (and this is an achievable aim largely because of the coherent peace movements and history of robust debate that their democracy has);
- the Japanese are in the middle here: they would be the trigger to conflict between others, and have everything to lose, and nothing much to gain. They have been reluctant to take full responsibility for WW2 and the earlier invasions in order - I think - to save face (is a very, very, VERY big issues in Asia - I've worked there, and it is culturally ubiquitous). Nevertheless, the issue is either lose face over the islands or have the calamity of a war. Sadly, a war could be good for the Japanese economy, and the issue may come down to who would be better - the USA or China, in a military conflict. Both have improved since they last met in the Korean war. I suspect more improvement in the US military than the Chinese, but the will to fight of US populace is perhaps less, so in a conflict Japan would have to expect to wind up at negotiation table at some stage and thus lose islands - and, if the Malvinas / Falkland Islands can be any guide, eventually even the people there would want to stay part of China. It is probably unlikely that China would seek to invade Japan itself, as the backlash would be severe and would undermine what they're trying to do (changes their image from power to bully), so, perhaps Japan needs to focus on choosing the "least bad" of both options, and go to the international court and make protesting noises, but not get into a military confrontation.
Some links for you on this:
What to do about it? Meditate, and send the appropriate energies/light candles to the leaders and people of all nations involved ... quickly!
Moving on, here's a few readings links that may be of interest:
- http://bellwetherpost.com/tag/geomagnetic-storm/ (I and others found the recent geomagnetic storm affected us [I found I was particularly prone to physical accidents and clumsiness], so we'll keep an eye here for those events; others in the world, who may be celebrating Ostara :) , may care to watch here);
- http://pncminnesota.com/2013/03/17/follow-the-moon-astrology-of-intention-and-mindfulness-47/;
- http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2013/03/interfaith-risks-rewards-and-boundaries.html;
- "The Fall of a Syrian Pagan";
- "Restore the common good: Pope Benedict XVI's message to economists", by Stefano Zamagni: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/02/20/3694739.htm;
- "Economics from the perspective of eternity: The theology of Adam Smith", by Paul Oslington: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/02/21/3695467.htm;
- "Pope was tone-deaf when it came to interfaith dialogue", by Tariq Ramadan: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/03/05/3703533.htm;
- "US churches campaign against the growth of the private prison industry": http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/us-churches-campaign-against-the-growth-of-the-private-prison-i/4556660;
[1] BPF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia.
Love, light, hugs and blessings
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
My "blogiography" is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other.
- The means shape the end.
- Spiritual love is far more than just an emotion - it is a concept, thoughts, actions and a way of living.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
Your children are not your children. ... They come through you but ... they belong not to you ... for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow KAHLIL GIBRAN
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW
Tags: about me, nature, peace, seasons,
First published: Freyasdagr, 22nd March, 2013
Last edited: Friday 22nd March, 2013
