New Civilization News

One photo and the memory it contained. . .

2010-03-12T13:04:02Z

I was just going through some old photo files stored on my hard disk when I came across this photo, as soon as I saw it a flood of memories came back and I was there again...

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir

We had walked across the meadow behind the old cottage we used to live in and climbed over the five bar gate that led into the wood; As soon as I put my foot down I could feel the spongy ground thick with pine needles and I breathed in the wonderful damp cool smell.

We knew these woods well and loved to go off the beaten paths and make our way though the thick curling ferns. The slanted dappled light dancing through the canopy made the place seem magical.

In these quiet hidden inner places of the woodland we would often come face to face with its creatures, coming out of the dark green into a passage of sunlight to see a deer standing stately and silent, bathed in the almost luminous light.

It was strange that no matter how many times we explored, we always found new areas that we were sure we had never seen before.

On one of these forays we stumbled out of the damp green interior into a clearing and there lit by a ray of sunlight, radiant amongst the blankets of dark green pines was the tree in the picture.

It almost took my breath away!

I walked over and stood in front of it and made Joe laugh when I said that it looked like something special was happening and that maybe it was having a birthday. :-)

I stood for a moment just taking in the wonderful sight and enjoying the moment of sunshine, then remembering my camera, I retrieved it from my deep pockets and took the photo before we headed back into the shade of the canopy and made our way home.

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The CascoDuro Case and who laughs last..

2010-03-11T17:55:15Z

Far from making a joke, a pack of Brazilian self-acclaimed intellectuals attacked Brazilian's President as being analaphetic and unable to speak correct Portuguese. In the end it turned out to be a joke but the joke was on them as Lula's choice of words was not only legitimate but even intelligent as I will show below.

However, the problem lies deeper than using a certain word or not. It is symptomatic for a mental, oops, intellectual illness, it is a SYNDROME. One could simply focus on the obvious part and call it 'literal thinking'. But this would easily be dismissed as pertaining only to autism. In reality, an autist DOES conceive outside the framework of words but does not abide to the 'domestication process' that commands people to abstract from words the same way that had been determined by the current 'society'.

In a larger sense, 'literal thinking' also describes the inability to conceive a thought outside a pre- and other-determined frame of words. In other words, to 'think outside the box'. Rigid language thus keeps people captured within a limited range of possibilities and, Heavens forbid they would step beyond those boundaries of the mind. Don't even think of it!

Let's look at languages that are less rigid than Portuguese: the English of the United States is notoriously open to newly constructed expressions and even allows for 'inventing' new words, be it from scratch or through combinations of existing words like 'brunch' (= BReakfast plus lUNCH). It's no news that the American people were world leaders in innovation during the last century even though the vast majority of them is still at the 'literal level'.

The German language provides another example of linguistic flexibility: agglutination. The former communist regime of Eastern Germany wanted to export their fabrications of angels for Chrismas trees without internally referring to religion. They created the new word 'Gefluegelte Jahresendfigur' - a 'figure with wings for the end of the year'.

Back to the pack of predatory journalists in Brazil: they just can't confront the success story of a Northeastern metal worker becoming president. Whenever he speaks in public, they are hunting for some signs of illiteracy and they had a feast when Lula declared the other day: "tenho o casco duro", claiming it should be 'casca dura'. But the class of journalists of Brazil that is hunting for Lula-bloopers outdid themselves in their own smartness:

not being a Brazilian, it took me less than 2 minutes on the Internet to find out who's right and who's wrong!

This is silly, of course, but it comes to show that preconceived thinking combined with literal thinking makes anyone a fool of himself. To add shame to injustice, the same journalists and bloggers that blasted Lula for alleged 'erroneus Portuguese', took down their own pages ridiculizing Lula faster than you can say 'casco duro'.

Where is Google here - to conserve this outrageous, shameful behavior of the Brazilian mass media? Like in the recent case of an accident in Sao Paulo, they quickly remove any links to whatever is not convenient to the wannabe rulers and enemies of the Brazilian president, doing their part in local politics without the official status of a lobbyist. But Google's links (or non-links!) are in part controlling the Memes of the world and in this case local politics. Something that should seriously be looked into on a larger scale!

In any case, Lula, a 'simple' 'Nordestino', from a formerly poor and underdeveloped region of Brazil, rose to power in an unprecedented way and despite a massive mass media campaign of lies, unproven allegations and badmouthing in general. It was in the context of these shameful maneuvers that he stated that he survives these attacks of the mass media because of having a 'thick skin' as we would say in English.

Here is a little Portuguese lesson for the Brazilian mass media who claims that 'casco' should be 'casca' and only an illiterate person could mix those up:

'casca' - the shell of an egg, the rind of a tree
'casco' - the hull of a ship, the hoof of a horse, the shell of a tortoise

So, dear reader, what did Lula mean? That he's like an egg or a tree?

For me the message is clear and it prompted me to engage in some interesting musings about Lula's archetype: one thinks of a metal worker as an Ogun-type person. But Lula changed his career from a worker to being an advocate for workers as a syndicalist and then, much to the surprise to Brazilian Elitists, he went on to become President of Brazil. And reelected. Wow! What a shock it must be! And what a strange way to go for an Ogun! Isn't this a classic, THE classic, path of Shango?

Let's look for clues in Lula's words, not just of the other day but along the past years of presidency and we can see an old warrior carefully scheming his way amongst his own enemies, deflecting all attacks by a strong shield while maintaing his heart soft, warm, and intact, the way of the turtoise (sic!), and, after the storm is over, having the last laugh! What archetype would that be?

(Note: one can find the answer, of course, in the book 'Your Personal Archetype' (by Ed, Aaron, and myself), but you can also find it on the Internet if you sift long enough through all the trash&jewels that's out there about archetypes, Orishas, Archons, Devas, you name it).

the Most Important Second ever

2010-03-10T07:57:55Z

just couldn't resist adding this .. one of my top favorites

It's absolutely mind blowing !
Get this .. ONE light year measures 5,878,625,373,184 miles.

Quotations about Kindness

2010-03-09T07:35:02Z

During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~Joann C. Jones

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. ~Rudyard Kipling

Don't be yourself - be someone a little nicer. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear. ~Frank Tyger

Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Author Unknown

A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them. ~Variation of a saying by Albert Einstein

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~Mark Twain

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~Seneca

A kind word is like a Spring day. ~Russian Proverb

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. ~Samuel Johnson

There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life - reciprocity. ~Confucius

Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how. ~Author Unknown

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway. ~Henry Boye

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

If we should deal out justice only, in this world, who would escape? No, it is better to be generous, and in the end more profitable, for it gains gratitude for us, and love. ~Mark Twain

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.
~Adam Lindsay Gordon

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns. ~Author Unknown

If those who owe us nothing gave us nothing, how poor we would be. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~Plato

By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. ~Winston Churchill

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. ~Frank A. Clark

The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. ~Author Unknown

The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. ~Charles Kuralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt

Love thy neighbor, and if it requires that you bend your understanding of the truth, the Truth will understand. ~Robert Brault

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus

One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan Proverb

Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree. ~Marian Wright Edelman

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses. ~Chinese Proverb

As the bus slowed down at the crowded bus stop, the Pakistani bus conductor leaned from the platform and called out, "Six only!" The bus stopped. He counted on six passengers, rang the bell, and then, as the bus moved off, called to those left behind: "So sorry, plenty of room in my heart - but the bus is full." He left behind a row of smiling faces. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. ~The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, 1977

There is no effect more disproportionate to its cause than the happiness bestowed by a small compliment. ~Robert Brault

We always prefer war on our own terms to peace on someone else's. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on;
'Twas not given for thee alone,
Pass it on;
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,
'Til in Heaven the deed appears -
Pass it on.
~Henry Burton, Pass It On

Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances. ~Saint Vincent de Paul

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Be thoughtful of others and you will not be shy, for they are incompatible addictions. ~Robert Brault

The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor's shoulder is to pat him on the back. ~Author Unknown

Open your heart - open it wide; someone is standing outside. ~Quoted in Believe: A Christmas Treasury by Mary Engelbreit

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. ~Og Mandino

If every man's internal care
Were written on his brow,
How many would our pity share
Who raise our envy now?
~Peitro Metastasio

Kindness is the greatest wisdom. ~Author Unknown

A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. ~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

If thou are a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes deaf. ~Thomas Fuller

Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. ~Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires, 1738

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Social Aims

The best practical advice I can give to the present generation is to practice the virtue which the Christians call love. ~Bertrand Russell

If we cannot be clever, we can always be kind. ~Alfred Fripp

To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving. ~Max Beerbohm

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him. ~Booker T. Washington

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. ~Samuel Johnson

The first and highest law must be the love of man to man. Homo homini Deus est - this is the supreme practical maxim, this is the turning point of the world's History. ~Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity

Love someone who doesn't deserve it. ~Author Unknown

The more sympathy you give, the less you need. ~Malcolm S. Forbes

It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llah

There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile. ~Attributed to both Zig Ziglar and Dr. Kenneth McFarland

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. ~H.L. Mencken

To err on the side of kindness is seldom an error. ~Liz Armbruster

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~James Matthew Barrie

In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
~William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, much later adapted to "So shines a good deed in a weary world" by David Seltzer for the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Thanks Aidan!)

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~William Penn

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. ~Benjamin Disraeli

How beautiful a day can be
When kindness touches it!
~George Elliston

Sometimes someone says something really small, and it just fits right into this empty place in your heart. ~From the television show My So-Called Life

Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim. ~William Feather

Real charity doesn't care if it's tax-deductible or not. ~Dan Bennett

When your suffering is a little greater than my suffering I feel that I am a little cruel. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

I soothe my conscience now with the thought that it is better for hard words to be on paper than that Mummy should carry them in her heart. ~Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Always be a little kinder than necessary. ~James M. Barrie

If you step on people in this life, you're going to come back as a cockroach. ~Willie Davis

Sunday . . . at my computer

2010-03-07T18:16:41Z

. . . The view from my window when sitting at my desk.

"The little things? The little moments? They aren't little." - John Zabat-Zinn

The Doves have spent a few days now hanging out on the fence enjoying the sunshine, and then flying over to the bird table for some seed, then back to sunbathing and courting! I watch as they gently groom one another, then I tactfully avert my eyes as they mate!- regularly! ;-)

It is wonderful to have my computer right in front of this window, as it feels like I am part of what is going on out there. . . the changing light, the hundreds of birds that visit the bird table and hanging feeders throughout the day.

I know that as I watch, before long all the trees will have their leaves and the bush to the right in the bottom photo will be dripping with huge lilac blooms that I will be able to smell through the open window.

It is wonderful to watch the sun go down, it sets just behind the red heart in the window, and in the morning to watch the pink light of sunrise bathe those trees in a gentle golden light.

I think this is a great place to have my computer!

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The word for World is Forest

2010-03-06T07:49:49Z

Plot summary
"The Athshean word for 'world' is the same as their word for 'forest'." Raj Lyubov, one of the novel's major characters.

Colonists from Earth take over a planet that the locals call Athshe, which means "forest," rather than "dirt," like their home planet. They follow the 19th century model of colonization: cutting down trees, planting farms, building mines, and enslaving indigenous peoples. The natives are ill equipped to comprehend this, since they're a subsistent people who rely on the forests, and have no cultural precedent for tyranny, slavery, or war. The invaders take the land of these tiny forest people without any resistance.

Earth has suffered some environmental disasters and people in North America have known starvation. The military culture has some familiar aspects, but there have been cultural shifts. Both drug-use and homosexuality are acceptable, even in the military. Some Terrans feel a rivalry with the other humanoid cultures, especially the Cetians. Former national rivalries have faded, with North Americans, Vietnamese and Indians working together harmoniously. (The book was written during the Vietnam War, of which Le Guin was an outspoken opponent; the depiction of Americans and Vietnamese as cooperation in the conquest and subjugation of a forest-dwelling people could hardly be accidental.)

The innocent, ingrained obedience of the Athsheans and the fact that they never seem to sleep makes them seem to be ideal slaves, practicing what in humans is called polyphasic sleep. One of the worst slave-masters is Captain Davidson (who is not the leader of the Terrans, a common misconception), who regularly beats the "creechies", as he calls the Athsheans. But the fact is that they take a few dreamless catnaps spread throughout the day and go into a state of lucid dreaming at will, and quite often. They also see the "dream-time" as a world just as real as the "world-time" and hate hallucinogens which the humans use, because they have no control over the dreams generated by the "poisons". Most of the "yumens" make no effort to understand this and drive them harder when they catch the Athsheans "daydreaming." Deprived of REM sleep, the slaves' mental and physical health deteriorates. The only human who begins to understand this is the colony's anthropologist, Raj Lyubov, who saves several slaves from grisly deaths at Davidson's hands. When a tiny native woman is raped by Davidson and dies of her wounds, her husband, Selver, begins to dream of war.

No one has dreamed of war before, but Selver is able to share his dream and sing his plans with the rest of his people. He organises a raid on a logging camp, killing more than 200 humans and humbling Davidson. To his people, he has becomes a sha'ab, a word that means both "translator" and "god".

Meantime, a starship arrives bringing an ansible intended for another nearby world, and also two non-Terrans, a Cetian and a man of Hain. Via ansible, they learn that there is now a "League of All Worlds" and that Terran colonial policies have changed. The ansible is left at the colony so that the Terrans can be controlled by their own superiors. Instructions are issued to free the Athshean slaves and generally moderate the policies.

Outraged by all this, and suspecting that the "ansible" is a fraud or controlled by Cetians, Davidson secretly organises a raid and mass slaughter of a nearby Athshean tree-city. The Athsheans respond by staging a massive raid on "Central", the main Terran base, which they manage to overrun.

Particularly shocking is that the Athsheans intentionally kill the Terran women, reasoning that the women will otherwise establish a fast-breeding Terran colony. This is indeed the intention; the settlers plan to make a permanent home on "New Tahiti", not just to take its logs. For their part, the Athsheans have no tradition of warfare and therefore no rules, and anyway, their own women take part in the fighting.

The revolution upends the Athshean culture but succeeds in ending Terran domination. For the atrocities he has committed, Davidson is exiled to an island of bare rock, which had been a thriving forest village before his rule, to be given food and medicine but no human contact for the rest of his life. The surviving humans (not including Lyubov, who was accidentally killed in the revolt) return home on the next ship to arrive.

just in.. what makes us happy?

2010-02-23T01:44:46Z

A great article written by Clara Moskowitz from Live Science... at this site

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100222/sc_livescience/5thingsthatwillmakeyouhappier

(an excerpt of her article)

5 Things That Will Make You Happier
LiveScience.com

LiveScience.com clara Moskowitz
livescience Senior Writer
livescience.com – Mon Feb 22, 11:50 am ET

Here are five things that research has shown can improve happiness:

1. Be grateful - Some study participants were asked to write letters of gratitude to people who had helped them in some way. The study found that these people reported a lasting increase in happiness - over weeks and even months - after implementing the habit. What's even more surprising: Sending the letter is not necessary. Even when people wrote letters but never delivered them to the addressee, they still reported feeling better afterwards.

2. Be optimistic - Another practice that seems to help is optimistic thinking. Study participants were asked to visualize an ideal future - for example, living with a loving and supportive partner, or finding a job that was fulfilling - and describe the image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few weeks, these people too reported increased feelings of well-being.

3. Count your blessings - People who practice writing down three good things that have happened to them every week show significant boosts in happiness, studies have found. It seems the act of focusing on the positive helps people remember reasons to be glad.

4. Use your strengths - Another study asked people to identify their greatest strengths, and then to try to use these strengths in new ways. For example, someone who says they have a good sense of humor could try telling jokes to lighten up business meetings or cheer up sad friends. This habit, too, seems to heighten happiness.

5. Commit acts of kindness - It turns out helping others also helps ourselves. People who donate time or money to charity, or who altruistically assist people in need, report improvements in their own happiness.
Lyubomirsky has also created an iPhone application, called Live Happy, to help people boost their well-being.

Dialectical analysis of the Post-modern Epoch

2010-02-17T15:55:14Z

Dialectics is an ancient art which has been popularised in recent centuries by Hegel and Marx, but which fell into disrepute because of political developments. Most versions of the perennial philosophy espouse it, for example Taoism, but it is very noticeable that "Cartesian" science has done its utmost to banish contradictions as well as all other qualities, from its precincts.

I am making a conscious effort to promote and try to restore the status of this theory of opposites and contradictions. I believe that it will facilitate the synthesis of science and mysticism if we adopt this ancient system of thought.

Osho on fear

2010-02-17T08:15:13Z

Death can also be seen as a new begining !!
Here's an interesting blog on the matter .. http://tinyurl.com/ygcvuet
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_go3znQS7B3o/StezaayBzxI/AAAAAAAAAFU/UsizF1esUJI/s320/ouroboros.alchemy.jpg
"Change is perhaps the greatest of fears, and we meet it with such resistance because it often feels like a death. It can feel like we're dying when we make a significant change - even with changes that are for the better, ones that we actually want to change. Actually it IS a kind of death - the death of some part of our way of life that have known up to this point, and often exchanging it for a new way that is unfamiliar and probably scary. This may be the inspiration for the phrase, "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't," and why some people stay in abusive or dead-end relationships because it's the one we know. This relationship between death and change is represented in the symbolism of the Tarot cards as well - the Death card does not mean death; it means Change."

Mindmap for Ifa for the 21st Century

2010-02-10T18:50:09Z

For some time now I wanted to map out the contect of modern day Ifa.
At the same time I want to revive the concept of 'Ifa for the 21st Century', a project from the early 2000's and very useful for 2,3 years but shredded when I was traveling/working so intensely that I hardly answered my e-mails.

Recently I found MindOMO http://mindomo.com , a mind-mapping software that is easy to use and share/collaborate.

As a first map, I posted above mentioned map. Whoever finds some errors, has suggestions, or wants to on or off this map, please mail me or leave a comment to this post.

Ifa for the 21st Century Mindmap: http://bit.ly/aKunvW

Standard Disclaimer: I don't necessarily endorse every of the links, especially those that are NOT explicitly using Ifa but provide a branch of a holistic approach (which for necessarily includes the energy and archetypes of Ifa). I do not receive any compensation or favor in listing or not listing a certain provider, organization or author.