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sssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Endless echos of human madness
crisscrossing time.
Centuries of rage,
back to back, and
not one moment
of silence
in between.
Not one collective repose.
Not one humanity-wide
synchronous embrace.
Not one solitary pause.
How many millions of years
has it been
since any of us heard,
all at once,
anyone other than ourselves?
And yet we don't
really even hear ourselves,
do we?
And if we don't
even hear ourselves,
how could we ever hope
to hear peace
when peace decides
to break its silence?
If we ever gave
peace the microphone,
would we even
recognize its voice?
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I think TheraP would...
August 8, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some wonderful questions with the last question most thought provoking.
August 8, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Peace to all. Yes.... I'm listening...
August 8, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I confess, I have tinnitus (a legacy of my construction days), so I kinda like the cacophony of life. Drowns out the ringing.
Oh wait, peace. Yes that would be nice.
August 8, 2009 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
If war is the answer, then the question is wrong.
August 8, 2009 6:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
war is a free floating exclamation point that demonstrates we are neither asking nor answering anything at all.
August 8, 2009 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, I just came across this link and I thought it was cool and universal and endearing and shows we can be bigger than our separate selves.
http://www.maniacworld.com/Bobby-McFerrin-Plays-The-Audience.html
August 8, 2009 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that is cool. Thank you, Gary. For this and so much more.
August 8, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
maybe this post can evolve. Maybe it can become an ode to the best of humanity, the wonder and promise of it all.
Share your links, your thoughts, your pics, your lots.
What speaks to you, what says wow.
Elephants painting elephants and sunsets.
A picture of the single solitary earth, in the vastness of the universe.
We see destruction every day in so many of its forms.
What says not so fast.
August 8, 2009 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Rare%20Thailand%20Parrot%20Flower%20%20newest%20SP.html
August 8, 2009 8:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yez, no matter where he goes, the audience gets it! Now how about THAT!!!
August 9, 2009 2:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
there's so much big to be felt even in small things. Talk about a teachable moment.
August 9, 2009 2:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Music of the spheres.... Harmony is in our genes!
August 9, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
music is a prerequisite language to not only understanding that which is greater than us, but also, simply, to understanding that which is us.
Clearly, you feel this already, Thera. I think I'm only getting closer to it.
You must feel like a spiritual navigator of sorts for people all around you.
August 9, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good Again Gary!!!!!!!!!!!
August 8, 2009 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hear it sometimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm2_7o8DGtI
- Levon Helm
“I’m only halfway home / I’ve gotta journey on
To where I’ll find / I’ll find the things I have lost
I’ve come a long long road / But still I’ve got some miles to go
I’ve got a wide / a wide river to cross…”
August 8, 2009 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
thanks for that Strato, so many poets in the world, so little poetry in those running it.
August 8, 2009 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. Well we have this basic problem where half the decisions we make in our lifetimes are not actually good for us. The reasons for this are a mix of all manner of stuff and aren't of much interest.
As long as we are unable to think logically and have access to information that permits rational conclusions and are free of all our biases we are stuck with making a mess of things. This is the Catch 22 of humanity.
August 9, 2009 4:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe peace starts within.
I dunno, but, maybe.
rec'd.
August 9, 2009 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you're right. We are so obsessed with outward journeys. We sink billions into space programs looking to the stars for answers. For intelligent life. Fo signs of an advanced civilization. Maybe because we see none around us.
How much serious energy have we spent on the journey inward?
August 9, 2009 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, it is hard to look inward when so many have the increasingly large amounts of immediate concerns pressuring them from the outside. The worth of a society lies in it's ability to minimize those. That relief from stress, a sense of security, productive work, these things are what leads to peace within and without.
I don't begrudge NASA a dime, because looking outward is moving forward and gives us the ability to see the Earth as one unit. I do think these recent wars over oil are horrid. If we had put the money we spent on these wars into research, we'd have solutions, and likely jobs.
It is no surprise that the largest numbers of people ever have polled that we are on 'the wrong road.'
It doesn't hurt to spend some time looking for the places inside us that may be beaten down--but are still there--those part of us that are linked to everything outside on a basic level, and that understand that we are a part of the world, and that the world is a part of us. Maybe then we can emerge from those reflections by thinking of what is good for the whole, rather than only for certain parts.
Collective thinking will maybe get us back on the road to world and inner-peace, and perhaps it's as simple as starting with ourselves. I don't know Gary.
It feels right, though.
August 9, 2009 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
yes, Bwak, you make an important observation--or at least what I draw from your thinking is that our internal and external lives are so intertwined, so explicably linked, so interwoven that both are equally valid and compelling paths on which to pursue peace and understanding.
Wait. Strike that. The illusion is that they are different paths.
The reality is that they are one in the same. A singular path with infinite possibility and dimension.
There is a catch 22 when it comes to collective thinking--it can fuel both dreams and nightmares.
So we need to come together on a deeper level.
There is an intersection where poets and artists and philosophers, and now quantum physicists, scientists who traditionally bend toward all things empirical, are all beginning to cross paths.
That intersection revolves around the concept of collective consciousness.
I don't know enough about it to speak with any authority. But then, that's the strange part.
Because one of the prerequisites, I believe, for crossing this threshold, is a heightened sense of humility.
An instinctual acceptance that while we continue to push the boundaries of knowledge, at any given point in time, 100 years ago, or 100 years from now, we will always know so little.
To feel superior to anyone or anything at any given time, is to miss so fully the true wonder and potential and promise embedded in the infinite arc of all life.
August 9, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
You and Thera are great mentors. Never stop.
August 9, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi Gary...Bwak.. Long time no speak.
While I agree with everything you said, I fear as we race to where ever we headed, arrogance will be in no short supply. As we will soon be confronted with machines superior to ourselves, we are likely to ignore humility and decide that we will be superior if we can just insert those machines into ourselves and each other. And then what will we become? A collective consciousness seperate from our bodies? Immortal? Evil? Perfect?
August 9, 2009 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
yug doog, how are you?
It's depressing to think about our prospects as a race, how sad is that? Things seem so dire when you factor in the destructive forces of our nature.
When you look at our history, one thing seems clear: we seem to have an infinite supply of arrogance and a perpetual shortage of humility.
There are those who think they run the world. And what do they have in their arsenal? Bombs and cash.
I wish they would encounter an advanced civilization that would look into that arsenal, that bag of human progress, then stare blankly back and say:
Really, that's what you've got?? Bombs and cash? And some technology that might help you traverse the universe some day? No. No. Seriously?? No. Surely you're not the leaders.
Where are your leaders?
Your artists?
Your musicians?
Your poets?
Your philosophers?
And where are the children?
You're all adults.
Where do you expect to get without the creative leadership of children?
Just where do you think you're going, anyway?
August 9, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
This comment is a post in itself.
Brilliant, intellectually and as a shining beacon.
August 10, 2009 1:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hadn't seen your comment until now, later. Thanks, appreciate your opinion.
August 12, 2009 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your wrong road statement is the fly in the ointment. Why is it that this is obvious to such a big part of the populace but Washington is so completely clueless? The financial mess and now healthcare have both been steered down this wrong road. The banks have thumbed their noses at government and citizens and now the healthcare insurance industry is basically doing the same thing. Congress is corrupt. That's all there is to it. I know of no other reason for us to keep making these awful choices.
August 9, 2009 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're on the right track, Gary. Unless we steep ourselves in peace, we don't really know where we're going - or how to get there.
Namaste. What a blessing you are!
August 9, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink