The first is to a post on The Wild Hunt about some evil abuses of legal process and the media as a result of bigotry. In response, I have lit candles to the following effect, and will continue to do so regularly:
"may the evil bigots behind the false imprisonment and the abuse of the Kellers and "San Antonio 4" be exposed and publicly brought to full, fair and impartial BPLF justice, whether in this life or the next, and may their victims and any others who are of the same ilk as those evil bigots see the justice being done and know that it is justice in this matter, and may justice be extended to all who have or are suffering under similar circumstances of so-called “moral panic”. "Please consider doing the same.
The second link, also from a post on The Wild Hunt, shows someone having the courage to stand up and 'do the right thing' as a result of the inspiration of Nelson Mandela: http://www.thorncoyle.com/blog/2013/12/05/mandela-and-me/. Bless T. Thorn Coyle as well as Nelson Mandela.
And that's a good lead in to the first speculation I wanted to write about today: why meet famous people?
I know quite a few people have thought and written about fame and glamour, and such issues, but I would like to put a personal slant on this, which is: why am I so ambivalent about the possibility of meeting famous people? Well, upon thinking this through, my first reaction is that I couldn't think of what to say - and that is because I feel I would have to justify my presence in their life - which, in turn, is because I see privacy as more valuable than fame.
On the other hand, being in the presence of a truly spiritually evolved person can lead to getting a boost from their aura, just as one would from a sacred place.
In the case of Nelson Mandela (I do not consider it appropriate that I use his clan name), he was human and had flaw, yes, but he was still a great human being - in part BECAUSE of his flaws, and the changes he went through in his life as he learned to become who he was at the end of his life. Those changes and lessons for me include the topic I struggle most with - forgiveness.
And, as an example of perhaps not being forgiving :) , I recently went - for about the third time - to a new local bakery to get my wholemeal bread rolls for lunch (plus another for brekkie - fresh out of the oven, with no butter or margarine, even better if it is still warm, it is wonderful). Sad to say, their service was poor again, for the third time, so I probably won't go there much again. What was most noticeable, however, was the amount of noise - someone had a radio turned up so loudly at the back of the shop that I couldn't hear or be heard properly, and that got me thinking about the issue of noise pollution.
A lot of people are aware of pollution of air, environment and water, and problems such as littering; some may even be aware of what is termed 'light pollution' [2], which is why astronomers locate telescopes away from cities; fewer are aware of the problem of noise pollution, in the sense of excessive background human sounds. As I write this, I have the occasional car go past, a car door just slammed, dogs bark in the distance (which then sets off 'our' dog, laying a few feet away on the floor), and from time to time I hear people or passing planes - and a helicopter flew by half an hour ago. There are a few birds, but it's building up to a thunderstorm, so they're a little quieter than usual. In other words, for a city suburb, it is remarkably quiet. Quiet enough that I - as an experienced meditator - could probably meditate, but I wouldn't want to try learning astral travelling. Ah and there is a car horn sounding, probably from someone too lazy and inconsiderate to get out, walk to a door and knock - and, here in Victoria, at least, they're breaking the law which says a car horn can only be sounded in an emergency.
I've lived in places that were worse - the constant hum of traffic, in particular, can be a problem. And, of course, at work there is a constant background hum of voices, air conditioning, traffic, and so on. (Mind you, it is the constant psychic pressure of four million leaky auras that really gets to me here.)
It all adds up, you know, and contributes to the constant level of stress that humans in modern Western 'civilisation' live with, stress that, in many cases, is akin to the seasonal famines and risks of death that our biology evolved for (which I've written about previously). Hence, although we've greater food security than ever before (in the West), many of us are living in physiological states akin to the risk of death of starvation during a famine season.
Going back to noise pollution, I enjoy quiet, but one of the reasons I enjoy getting out into the countryside (apart from the reduced psychic pressure as I leave the situation of having four million leaky auras around me) is that human-made sounds are replaced with the magickal sounds of Nature - birds, the winds in the trees ... if I was sailing, there would be the sound of the waves and the wind, albeit in the rigging and around the hull of a human-made 'machine', a boat (sail powered of course :) ).
When I was younger, particularly when I was a teenager and up till I was in my mid to late 30s, I enjoyed having music around me. As I matured, I got past the stage of needing sound around me (or perhaps, particularly when I was a teenager, that was either a need for stimulation to give my inner energy a direction, or an external energy to match my inner?), and started quietly reflecting more. Now, and since my early to mid 40s, I positively enjoy peace and quiet - but still need the occasional dose of music :)
So ... noise pollution: is it age related?
And on age, I would like to have a little whinge here about World Bank funded projects. Whenever I've been involved in bidding for such projects, the emphasis seems to be on certified copies of qualifications - which discriminates against trans* people - and "relevant projects in the last three years".
Are they stupid? Or lacking in life experience? Did they get a recent graduate to come up with that?
First off, while I agree that people should have the appropriate qualifications to prevent fraud, and it should be possible to verify them, certified copies of testamurs are not the way to go: such things can be faked so contact the institution directly, and think about the discrimination that such a policy enacts! More importantly, getting a qualification is just the START of gaining experience. As I recently wrote, there is an argument that it takes 10,000 hours of practise to master something, which means that graduates possibly need around five years of experience before they start to become effective - and that certainly matches experience in the engineering profession, where people with less than five years of experience are considered graduates.
Experiences counts - but not only the last three years! There are projects from over twenty years ago that gave me lessons that are still valid! So, again, was this emphasis on the last three years' worth of projects written by someone from the smartphone generation who thinks fashions and fads cause a replacement of sound engineering principles every few years???
Now, that rant is not quite justified: what the World Bank is seeking to do, perhaps, is make sure that people are fully and presently conversant with current thinking in their field - and you saw that flaw in previous paragraph, Dear reader, didn't you?
Nevertheless, the focus on experience is not the way to go - as a professional, I have to keep myself up-to-date through ongoing professional development, and get audited on that every three years. How about checking that, and how about acknowledging that relevant experience goes beyond the last three years? As an example of that, I did some work to help implement sewer mining in Victoria which was invaluable to an project involving that - but I did it back in the 90s ...
Next, I'd like to consider the issue of unelected officials and advisers. Those people are not subjected to any sort of scrutiny or accountability, and were problem under Rudd, and now seem to be being a problem under Abbott. Such people need to understand the collaborative process of parliamentary democracy, and that it is the elected representative, not the machinery behind the representative, that matters - not the manipulative or power-focused or party-focused unelected officials and advisers.
I've often advocated for electing policies first, and then MPs second, which might go part of the way to addressing this issue. Ah well, in the meantime I'll just light a lot more candles, and do a lot more clearing (see the second and third posts I ever did on this blog, at http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2007/06/workshop-on-past-lives-part-1-working.html and http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2007/06/workshop-on-past-lives-part-2.html) of any negative units which are either being used by, or are using, or are influencing/supporting such people ...
Finally, the SEEK Safely campaign which I mentioned recently. I consider it an excellent campaign, justified and justifiable, and one that raises issues everyone should think of. However, I'm not convinced that it applies to Australia (as I indicated at the time; see also http://www.gnwmythr.com/ethics.html, http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com.au/p/blog-page_1.html, http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2012/02/ethics-is-not-county-in-england.html, http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/, and even http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA - which I would argue applies to anyone helping in such ventures, and it would be reasonable to consider that such standards would be applied as a minimum to any paying participants. Nevertheless, I am considering - from the richness of my few hundred dollars a year 'business empire' - signing it. Why? Because it sets an example for others, and sends a powerful message that everyone has a right to expect reasonable protection and safety - ESPECIALLY from someone who professes to be concerned about that person's wellbeing.
The only fly in the ointment remaining is that they do not appear to have a privacy policy complying with the Privacy Acts in Australia, so I am reluctant to give them a copy of my signature ... seriously.
[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see 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").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux?)
My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) 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 at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag.
- One size does NOT fit all.
- 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'.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- Ban the dream interpretation industry!
- A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
- Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
- Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." 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. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
- The means shape the end.
- Sometimes you just can't argue with a biped that is armed with a sharp stick, a thick head and not too much in the way of grunts.
- 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.
- 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.
Do not pray for easy
lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th
century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you. Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)
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
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
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
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
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
Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech)
Too
much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and
community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross
national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air
pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our
highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the
joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the
strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the
integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our
courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor
our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except
that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: abuse of power, attitudes, courage, discrimination, economy, environment, examples, experience, governance, Nelson Mandela, privacy, stages of life, stress,
First published: Sunnudagr, 8th December, 2013
Last edited: Sunday, 8th December, 2013
