There is no place like intentBlog, and no better time than now to be here.

"Attention! Attention!"

Everything is going to be alright. It's not your fault. Breathe!

Decisions are easy when you have no choice in the matter.

The freedom to sacrifice one's very own will is a sacred thought.

.

Dependable & Trustworthy

.

Hoping for the best, UT

Hi Keith,

"The freedom to sacrifice one's very own will is a sacred thought"

Wow, beautiful!

Am going to make that my thought of NOW :)

I has just written a question on paper for myself a moment ago:

" What could become possible if we would adopt a saying like: "Unite and Conquer"

You have given me the answer straight away.

Thanks!

Mieke

Four-poster, Keith? Putting the old OT to rest?
Some of my finest work, you terrorist!

That's fine ;)

Diablo,
You are a creative writer, eloquent and very astute.
Thanks again.
Love,
Sharon

for knocking me down a notch
not many people can do that
I'm too clever
usually takes a meteor's punch
or a jolt from one of my sons

Rode my mountain bike up in the mountains this morning.
I ate wild raspberries so sweet like candy not a tart one in the bunch. I can see why the bears like em so much. The forest around 8500 feet is amazing. Ferns, broad leaf plants spongy ground a place where fairies hide from non-believers and pose for those who do.
Best part.........only 15 minutes from my house. Yo and YO!

Shar
Diablo helped me more to get over my fears of this place than anyone. It is also because of him that I started letting myself write more freely as myself. He use to real work me over.

Thanks Diablo. I hope the ladies at the Love Ranch are treating you right bro.

Keith
yo

You know I've been looking for a poem you wrote about compassion and a ladder. One of my favorite of yours. Still haven't found it but still lookin'.

The mountains here vibrate with energy
They are granite but they are temporary
They are solid and soft in places
Blazing hot in the sun and cool in the shade of a mighty TREE

and now I get to create art

derek

Yo I posted a few more pix of some of my glass work and some of our kids a couple abstracts and the legendary Bill Hastings teaching at our studio. What fun

http://www.myspace.com/thepuzzlemaker

Thanks derek.
I think I'll just listen for awhile.
Much love,
shar

Rolling out the heavy artillery.

Awareness & Awe Campaign

A web no mind can escape

A framework that reaches everywhere

A glimpse of a tiny fraction of the framework, a work in progress, type Buddha.me in your browser address window or click my name.

Buddha.me it is all about YOU.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQJllvnlHV0

#10, #13
:)

"I" am going to tell you something that was conveyed to me by someone so enlightened that they would make Deepak Chopra look like a Pick Pocket and Osho look like a credit card fraudster.... LOL

He said to me "Philosophy is completely worthless to you - Unless you are ready to use it and become it"

None of you here except maybe Harb and one or two others who rarely post here are Using or have used the Philosophy and have become it.

All of the steps Deepak has provided and all of the insight to what this site is about have been as wasted as your own very lives have been....

Wasted not merely in the conventional sense but in the spiritual evolutional sense..

You Dont take any fu#@ing notice of anything other than the crap you came here believing in....

What you doing?

Wake up!

You haven't understood a morcel...

Love

Simon xx

Perfection belongs somewhere
Life is a movement towards that

You already know exactly what
What means the world to you

Stray not from that goal
Willingly...let go the judgment

Simon,

I don't understand why you write a message which seems, perhaps a little hateful, yet write Love at the end of it? The only way that this makes sense to me is if I view it as a swift kick in the ass; a message that is purposefully profane in order to convey its intent. What is the message that you are trying to convey? Or, what is the emotion? Is it love?

Marc

You see....

Look at at it like this and this is written from a hand of absoloute or nearly absoloute Zero Egotistical views.

I am not waiting for the bus anymore - I am on the train.

Imagine you are someone standing next to a huge pile of Crap... Ok

And the You that is standing there represents where I am at looking at all of the beliefs and so forth that all you guys have.... And swarming around the dung pile are all these flies with all there own direction and buzzing sound landing on the pile.

You see thats what most of you are - flies around a huge pile of shit... Its quite funny really.

Then you have people on here like Irvine Welsh who is a Wasp as he is a bit more swelled with Information and stripey but still all he is interested in is the shit.

Untill you turn your attention away from the huge pile of shit and become the observer of this... then you are attracted to a huge pile of crap.

Its all here... yet you are still attracted to crap..

I am not joking by the way..

This is an absoloute fact..

This is probably one of the truest and most honst thing ever spoken on Intentblog since it began...

Diablo... You aint even got wings Bud!

LOL

Love

Simon xx

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It's kind of early for this, eh?

My Dear Simon

I have found that when I surrender my impressions of events in the world to God, many alternate impressions and other options pop up. More often than not, it is a much more charitable view than first thought.

Pleasant dreams and peaceful sleep to you Geordie boy.

B

Salaam & Namaste From Manchester, England!

Just watched / drank and became inebriated with the 'The Way of the Wizard'...Just what the Doctor orderd! Al-hum-du-lillah / All Praise is to Allah...

Rishi Deepak is correct:

''The self to the self as it discovers itself...''

As they say the road to success is always under construction...

Yaa Haq / Truth...

Faisal

There is an excellent new way to make money for nothing.

Charter publishes its customers' outstanding balance if you know their phone number. So ared with an address and phone number, you can call Charter, get the exact outstanding balance, put a door tag on the persons house urging them to pay the exact outstanding balance otherwise arrange a disconnect.

The customer will call you and offer to pay via their credit card number.

I know because that's what "Victor" tried to do to me!

Detachment Leads to Eternity

If you are attached to appearances.
How will you see that, which is beyond them.
If you are still pursuing external fulfillment.
How will you be able to find internal fulfillment.
If your attached to your personal ideals.
How will you see that, which is impersonal and whole.
If you are afraid to except decay and death.
How will you be able to except eternity as your destiny.
If your attached to the good or the bad.
How can you see that, which is beyond duality.
If you are in love with the changing now.
How are you going to know that, which created it.
If you are attached to anything that doesn’t last.
How will you be able to see that which lasts.

Lily S.,

Nice to see you back.

#17 LOL Simon, I've just stumbled on one!

Gets bucket and carefully gathers every morsell and away to grand recycling heap. Next years flowers will be as the rainbow.

Yo Bonnie!

#21 'except'? was that intended?

If we accept eternity as our destiny
WTF are we hanging around here for?

Yo Simon

For whatever reasons it came to mind, and even though it is fitting--

Be careful, or this tune will get stuck in your head all day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8XVJx5bjrI

Deodoriser, Keith?

Damn, Keith....not available in UK, muwhaaa or whatever, now I smell in the dark!

Hey Old Spice!

Get a whiff of the truth,

without the bland "white rice"

after effects! Courtesy of Island TREE

Wha?

"Look at at it like this and this is written from a hand of absoloute or nearly absoloute Zero Egotistical views."

but...

"This is probably one of the truest and most honst thing ever spoken on Intentblog since it began..."

Very Not Egotistical.

Rather Egoistic and Egoic as well.

No matter how much YOU might believe that your shit doesn't stink, that won't eliminate the smell.

"You Dont take any fu#@ing notice of anything other than the crap you came here believing in...."

yeah, right Simon "I notice everything" John

BBWWWAAHHHHAAAAA!!!!

You are so full of yourself.

Practice is to get rid of willful behavior and opinions that encumber perception.

Yes,
so long as we don't imagine, like Simon Freejohn that the way to get rid of our opinions is to hurl them at the other monkeys.

Opinions are shackles to the person who conceive his life as a restricted occurrence and they are just opinions to the other person.

Especially as it relates to the one who thinks:

'my shit doesn't stink'

"No matter how much YOU [Simon FreeJohn] might believe that your shit doesn't stink, that won't eliminate the smell." ~John

...implying a difference, as it does, between
the 'opinions' of others and of one's own opinions. The above "opinions are shackles..." does not make a difference between an opinion that is mine or his, it explains how opinions are the obstacle, for example a clear application is that:

- It is absurd to hold any opinion longer than needed if it has not operated a releasing of some burden or brought a closure (otherwise it becomes Gandhi's crusades); an example, a father decides that by disciplining his son he will calm down and be obedient and six months later the son is still in the same pattern and behavior, obviously the father lost track of his aim and got "trapped in the doing" (disciplining).

- If one's life is still a chronic source of suffering, it is the choice situation to forget all opinions and preconceived ideas, obviously none works, but instead you see that the more one suffers the more they cling to an opinion about the other guy or what is wrong with Intentblog, people or the world; there is a direct link between holding an opinion and suffering; that is, one suffers for the obvious reason of being oneself, a specifically self-defined entity ...

Forgetting all my definitions of the world and about who i should be or look to others i dropped all sufferings. From there, opinions are just opinions.

"None of you here except maybe Harb and one or two others who rarely post here are Using or have used the Philosophy and have become it."

Nay.

Simon Freejohn misinterpreted the 'enlightened man's words.'

We are in a peculiar domain. Wherein there are no goals no benchmarks which to gauge anything yet here we are talkin.

I bet you some wisefart will now reckon that this here is a bench mark.

Well I don't care at all.

So there's nothing we can say (oops!) and here we are talkin'.

Into silence
and
into nonsense,

Playfully,
Preity

we find what we look for.
what do you look to find, simon?

what you don't know ...
[there is a vast amount]
did not notice ...
[there is a vast amount]
are unaware of ...
[there is a vast amount]
playful nudges we have here
traded over the years ...
at intentblog
endearments ...
from one ole hermit to another...
Ed gets where Keith comes from ...
Keith gets where Ed come from ...
many many more...
while you ...
o vast one ...
haven't a clue.

wake up simon.
open those myopic eyes ...
and that oh so narrow mind.
there's a whole world out here
that you are not aware of.

Hi Irv.. I thought you'd given up on Simon.. Did he mention your name or sumthin?

There's certainly a vast amount unsaid. That's the stuff I like reading, you?

*** Right and wrong is in the eyes of the
one who perceives. ***

Long time back, it was an expression that a master used to prompt the disciple to TURN the Attention Within.

To SEEK Within...

To turn INWARDS...

...

Now, this is the line that some IDIOTS [as well as some CROOKS] utter Again and Again!

They UTTER it to take the 'prying' Attention AWAY from Themselves!

...

They use it to TURN those who question their STINKING Reality... AWAY from examination!

They use it to 'escape' from being 'examined'...

To escape from their 'stinking reality' being 'revealed' in the PUBLIC!

To escape from their DARK Secret being made an... OPEN Knowledge!

...

Because, once it is made 'open'... it can then be quickly 'discarded' and thus the STINK will 'lose' its power to... "pollute"!

Beauty is in the eyes of Beholders...

Right and wrong is perceived "so" because of THAT who perceives. Because of his 'in place' discriminating facilities of ...the 'perceiver'.

What one senses and "how" one senses it, is because of the one who... senses!

Yes, it is True...

...

But, it is ONLY Half the ...truth!

The Other half is that to 'humans':

the SHIT really... does STINK!

...

...while many PIGS [animals with different nose... with different 'discriminating' facility] GLADLY 'rejoice' in the Very Same... SHIT!

...

and being ABLE to 'sense' and discriminate is NOT something to 'do away' with. It is NOT some dangerous or 'harmful' facility.

Being able to smell the SHIT as ... BAD Stink, does NOT mean that the one that 'can smell' needs to change and... become like a PIG!

It doesn't mean that one that can smell needs to get his nose examined, operated or... changed!

...

It simply means that to 'humans' the SHIT does STINK Bad... ...and, that is a Valuable SIGNAL! A
Valuable Knowledge that can be used[and does get used] in many very effective ways.

--- THROW the 'shit' OUT.

--- If that is NOT possible, move AWAY from the SHIT and let the SHIT stink alone. Warn your children and 'friends' against visiting the 'area' with that 'shit'!

--- if none of the above is possible... KNOW that 'you are DEALING with Shit'! Know that it Will CONTINUE to Stink... [To be 'shit' is ...to Stink.]

Cover and PROTECT your mouth and nose and any other part that you use to touch the shit Very Well.

Keep your 'exposure' to SHIT as little as possible and then once you are DONE 'dealing with the Shit'... clean and 'disinfect' yourself thoroughly!

...

Then, take nice bubble bath with jasmine scented bath oils, put some Rose Petals, burn some Lavender Candles!

Feel the Difference!

----

There is a REASON, you are 'given' the Ability to 'discriminate'!

There is a Reason, you are a HUMAN and ...NOT a Pig!

Enjoy your ability to ...SMELL!

Smell Rose Flowers...
Sandal...
Jasmine...
Sea Breeze...

and, cherish being Human and the 'Ability' to... SMELL!

#28 Yo Tree, so God really does hold you in the palm of his hand. Simon won't grasp that, will he?

"It simply means that to 'humans' the SHIT does STINK Bad...and, that is a Valuable SIGNAL! A Valuable Knowledge that can be used [and does get used] in many very effective ways.]" #34

...

Other...

even SMARTER 'alternative' is to 'use' the 'shit' to grow nice smelling flowers in your garden!

But, for that... like Ed, you will need to become a Master... and Expert!

You need to be able to effectively 'transform' the Shit and you need to be able to put in RIGHT Place at Right Time in ...Right Amount!

...

But, at NO Point, should you 'feel Responsible' for ...the SHIT! or, feel sorry for the Shit!

or, expect the shit to smell "good"! or curse your 'ability' to... smell!

Shit will continue to smell like...
Shit!
Know it...
Be Aware of it...

and, USE this Knowledge!
...

Throw it out...
Move Away...

or if you CAN then transform it into 'nice smelling' flowers in your garden!
But, even when you 'learn' to DO that... be Very Careful!

---Don't bring "too much" Shit in... "your garden"!

--- Don't bring any 'raw' shit in "your" 'garden'!

Bring it only after it is fully transformed into 'flower growing'... Fertilizer!

Our little forbears or forpigs or was it one, bacteria will soon render it aromaless, dis sheet, even as we speak!

Gotta go now!

Someone on this blog says that someone else doesn't have wings.

Humans are born with wings in the same way they are born in Light.

Whether one finds and expresses their wings and their Light depends on....what?

Trish~~

Irvine
This has been a lesson for me here.

"Forgetting all my definitions of the world and about who i should be or look to others i dropped all sufferings. From there, opinions are just opinions."

I have watched those who get emotionally attached to comments and opinions and those who don't. Those who leave in a huff, yo like me several times, and those who don't.

I have visited blogs where everyone believes the same way, no one challenges the status quo, now there's some shit.

I have come to understand how vital it is to the health of a good blog to have people challenge our long held beliefs. Ed calls them taskmasters. I call them teachers as well.

shit-fertilizer-plant-food-fuel-brain-thought-opinion-the ability to set aside that opinion and hear someone else's-productive communication-growth

derek

"Someone on this blog says that someone else doesn't have wings."

What I talk about is not some meaningless persona called "Simon xx" but rather the complete waste of an opportunity to get real and offer something of value, instead of totally useless, and completely phony two-dimensional (if that!), strutting and striving to impress himself, if not anybody else.

What a waste! Totally useless.

I guess I better shove my disdain up my soul, and solve my own shit.

Simon doesn't strike me as offering anything more real and of value than Diablo does. His humor and wit also appear to be "strutting and striving"
to impress himself if no one else. It does not appear to me that he listens to others
anymore than Diablo does. Plenty of people have been in his face so many times to utterly no avail. His thought loops are... so kind of like that as for cleaning up shit.

Speaking of not being able to smell our own shit.....that's just something that comes with the package....at least most of the time, that is...

I mean in #41 is "What I talk about is not some meaningless persona called ...

"Diablo"[not Simon xx]

...but rather the complete waste of an opportunity to get real and offer something of value, instead of totally useless, and completely phony two-dimensional (if that!), strutting and striving to impress himself, if not anybody else."

“(Tat Tvam Asi)...means “I am that.”...I am that involves looking at everything in the world, everyone else in the world, and realizing that you are looking at another version of yourself. You and I are the same. Everything is the same. I am that, you are that, all this is that. We are all mirrors for others, and we need to learn to see ourselves in the reflection of other people. This is called the mirror of relationship. Through the mirror of relationship I discover my nonlocal self. For this reason, nurturing relationships is the most important activity in my life. When I look around me, everything I see is an expression of myself.

Relationship, then, is a tool for spiritual evolution, with the ultimate goal of reaching unity consciousness. We are all inevitably part of the same universal consciousness, but the real breakthroughs happen when we start to recognize that connection in our daily lives.

Relationship is one of the most effective ways to access unity consciousness because we’re always in relationships. Think of the web of relationships you have at any time–parents, children, friends, co-workers, romantic relationships. All are, at their heart, spiritual experiences. When you’re in love, for example, romantically and deeply in love, you have a sense of timelessness. You are, at that moment, at peace with uncertainty. You feel wonderful but vulnerable, you feel intimate but exposed. You’re transforming, changing, but without trepidation, you feel a sense of wonder. This is a spiritual experience.

Through the mirror of relationship--all relationships--we discover extended states of awareness. Those whom we love and those whom we are repelled by are both mirrors of ourselves. Whom are we attracted to? People who have the same traits as we have, but more so. We want to be in their company because subconsciously we feel that by doing so we, too, might manifest more of those traits as well. By the same token we are repelled by people who reflect back to us traits that we deny in our own selves. So if you are having a strong negative reaction to someone, you can be sure that they possess some traits in common with you, traits that you are not willing to embrace. If you were willing to accept those qualities, then they wouldn't upset you.

By recognizing that we can see ourselves in others, every relationship becomes a tool for the evolution of our consciousness. And as consciousness evolves, we experience expanded states of awareness. It is in those expanded states of awareness, when we get to the nonlocal domain, that we can experience synchrodestiny.

The next time you’re attracted to someone, ask yourself what attracted you. Is it beauty, or grace, or elegance, or influence, or power, or intelligence? Whatever it is, know that that quality is also blossoming in you. Pay attention to these feelings, and you can begin the process of becoming more fully yourself.

Of course, the same is true of people who repel you. In becoming more fully your true self, you have to understand and embrace the less attractive qualities in yourself. The essential nature of the universe is the coexistence of opposite values. You cannot be brave if you do not have a coward inside you. You cannot be generous if you do not have a tight-fisted person inside you. You cannot be virtuous unless you also contain the capacity for evil.

We spend much of our lives denying that we have this dark side to ourselves, and then end up projecting those dark qualities onto other people in our lives. Have you ever known people who naturally attract the “wrong” people into their lives? Usually they don’t understand why this happens time after time, year after year. The truth is not that they attract that darkness, but that they are not willing to acknowledge it in their own lives. Finding a person you dislike is an opportunity to embrace the paradox of the coexistence of opposites, and to discover a new facet of yourself. It is another step toward developing your spiritual self. The most enlightened people in the world embrace their full potential of light and dark. When you’re with people who recognize and own their negative qualities, you never feel judged by them. It’s only when people see good and bad, right and wrong, as qualities outside themselves that judgments occur.”

When we are willing to embrace both the light and dark sides of ourselves, we can begin to heal both our selves and our relationships. Start very simply, with the most distasteful person you can think of. For example, think of Adolf Hitler and say, How could I possibly be like Hitler? Most people refuse to accept that they contain even the smallest shred of an Adolf Hitler. But think more deeply. Have you ever expressed prejudice toward any group of people just because they had a certain name, or a certain skin color, or a certain accent, or a certain disability? If you can think of any example of that in your life, then you must embrace the similarity between yourself and Adolf Hitler. We are all mutidimensional, omnidimensional. Everything that exists somewhere in the world also exists in us. When we embrace these different aspects of ourselves, we acknowledge our connection to the universal consciousness and expand our personal awareness.

There’s a wonderful Sufi story that illustrates how this mirror affects our lives. A man entered a village and went to see the Sufi master, the wise old man of the village. The visitor said, “I’m deciding whether I should move here or not. I’m wondering what kind of a neighborhood this is. Can you tell me about the people here?” The Sufi master said, “Tell me what kind of people lived where you came from.” The visitor said, “Oh, they were highway robbers, cheats, and liars.” The old Sufi master said, “You know, those are exactly the same kinds of people who live here.” The visitor left the village and never came back. Half an hour later, another man entered the village. He sought out the Sufi master and said, “I’m thinking of moving here. Can you tell me what kind of people live here?” Again the Sufi master said, “Tell me what kind of people lived where you came from.” The visitor said, “Oh, they were the kindest, gentlest, most compassionate, loving people. I shall miss them terribly.” The Sufi master said, “Those are exactly the kinds of people who live here, too.”

This story reminds us that the traits we see most clearly in others exist most strongly in our selves. When we can see in to the mirror of relationship, then we can begin to see all our selves. To do this, we need to be comfortable with our ambiguity, to embrace all aspects of our selves. At a deep level we need to recognize that we are not flawed simply because we have negative traits. No one has only positive traits. Recognizing that we have negative traits simply means that we are complete. And in that completeness we gain greater access to our universal, nonlocal selves.”

Deepak Chopra, “The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire”, from Ch. 9 The Second Principle: Through the Mirror of Relationships I Discover My Nonlocal Self

(I've been listening to everyone, and I just really like the way Deepak says it. When Simon said, "All of the steps Deepak has provided and all of the insight to what this site is about have been as wasted as your own very lives have been....", I felt inspired to remember what Deepak has said. Thank you all for showing me me. Love, Sharon)

)

Yo Ed

Yo Doodle

.

The Way is not difficult,
only there must be no wanting
or not wanting.
- chao-chou

.

To set up what you like
against what you dislike -
this is the disease of the mind.

- Seng T'san

.

WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get

.

where do you expect to find truth
(or joy, or whatever you seek)
if you cannot find it right where you are?

- some old guy

Best wishes to those who wish to make departure(s)

Extra points to those who don't chastise the whole group while they depart.

Erasing Self-Importance

"While observing the quirks of self-importance, and the homogeneous way it contaminates absolutely everybody, the seers have divided human beings into three categories which Don Juan gave the most ridiculous names he could think of; the urines, the farts, and the vomits. We all fit into one of them."

"The urines are characterized by their servility; they are toady, sticky, and cloying. They are the people who always want to do you a favour; they take care of you, they hold you back, they pamper you; they have so much compassion ! In that way they hide the underlying reality: They are incapable of taking an initiative, and can never do anything by themselves. They need another person's command to feel that they are doing something. And, unfortunately for them, they assume that others are as kind as they are; and because of that they are always hurt, disappointed, and tearful.

The farts, on the other hand, are the opposite. Irritating, mean and self-sufficient, they constantly impose themselves and interfere. Once they get hold of you, they won't leave you alone. They are the most unpleasant people you'll ever meet. If you are calm, the fart will arrive and wind you up and pull you in, and use you as much as possible. They have a natural gift as teachers and humanity's leaders. They are the kind who kill to stay in power.

The vomits are in-between these two categories. As neutrals, they are neither imposing nor will they be led. They are show-offs, ostentatious, and exhibitionistic. They give you the impression that they are something great, but in actual fact they are nothing. It's all boast. They are caricatures of people who believe too much in themselves, but, if you don't pay any attention to them, they are undone by their insignificance.

From

Encounters with the Nagual, Armando Torres

(PART 1 A ROMANCE WITH KNOWLEDGE 2 Self Importance)

...commentary and a poem by Anna:

In the process of elimination,(amongst other things) there is urine, there is farting and there is vomiting. Not pretty by most standards unless one likes taking golden showers. Most folks would rather inhale the fragrance of a rose than the egregious olfactory offenses of clogged toilets and soiled diapers (on either young or old). (Try getting Montezuma's revenge;-)

The problem occurs when one doesn't admit that their own 'shit' does indeed, stink. However vegetarian or fruitarian their diet is. Malodorous is malodorous in anyone's good book.

So somewhere along the way, a revisionary tactic was employed or deployed and all part or parts of a 12 step process similar to AA was imparted on the Way Of Being Human. Remember no-one came with an instruction manual. And what was a fairly decent set of laws has been subject to revision by playing the card game: get out of hell or jail. (Hey, anything is allowed and generally does occur but no-one wants to take the responsibility.

And now for the follow-up (what else?) poem:

The Enlightenment Of Cats And Dogs or What I Learned In Kindergarten
Part Deux

Some folks like cats
Some folks like dogs
It is sometimes a process of elimination
How cats hide their s***
And dogs like to p*** over anything
Do you remember what your s*** looked
Like as a young child, how you groaned
And moaned and how it came out one loooooong
Turd,
Now I may be absurd
To talk about these words
Just remember how busy you always were as a
Little One,
How you barely made it to the bathroom,
And now if your body is going downhill
And you are losing your mind,
Are alone in your Soul,
Remember this wonderful process of elimination
Enjoy both your 15 minute-recess and success
And failure to process
Be nice to cats and dogs,
Before the final elimination...
No-one wins this one.

~Anna

# 47 Yes, good stuff, Irvine.

Re. don Juan, some good stuff on the whole Carlos Castaneda phenom, published last year in Salon:

"The godfather of the New Age led a secretive group of devoted followers in the last decade of his life. His closest "witches" remain missing, and former insiders, offering new details, believe the women took their own lives."

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/04/12/castaneda/index.html

"If this name draws a blank for readers under 30, all they have to do is ask their parents. Deemed by Time magazine the "Godfather of the New Age," Castaneda was the literary embodiment of the Woodstock era. His 12 books, supposedly based on meetings with a mysterious Indian shaman, don Juan, made the author, a graduate student in anthropology, a worldwide celebrity. Admirers included John Lennon, William Burroughs, Federico Fellini and Jim Morrison."

The Salon artcile seems like an authoritative gathering of info on Carlos Castaneda, from a lot of insider sources. A must-read for all interested in this guy and his contribution to spearchill lore. Four longish pages of dynamite and/or deep background.

yup
shit happens.
i guess some of us have shit that stinks ...
and others don't. ;)

SHIT HAPPENS

http://www.thejaywalker.com/pages/shit_happens.html

One can always take the smell of one's own shit. However, there is a built-in aversion to the *others'* shit.

no, no, Irv. Your shit or for that matter Simon's shit is pure Paris by Yves Saint Laurent. One sniff, and I know you've come into the room.

"Your shit or for that matter Simon's shit is pure Paris by Yves Saint Laurent. One sniff, and I know you've come into the room."

Which calls the oxymoron, "his shit smells to High Heaven", which means, Heaven is made of all sorts of textures, no selectivity.

You are all absoloutly right... of course

When confronted with the flies around shit analogy (Or Wasps in some cases)

What do you do?

You continue with the same swarming pattern, you spew out the same shit as you did when you came here on the very first time.

You are not evolving at all, you are not buzzing off to find a nice flower to land on.

I realise that this line of talk is quite hostile and I am probably offended certain people and for that I appoligie.

Reality is a lot less curtious how ever.

Love

Simon xx

"Which calls the oxymoron, "his shit smells to High Heaven", which means, Heaven is made of all sorts of textures, no selectivity." John

Or, it might also mean that I am basking in samadhi in a place of heavenly bliss, hands and eyes to the sky, doing a little slow motion happy
dance in my own little spotlight given to me by God almighty, ten thousand dakinis dancing with me at my horizon never breaking the rhythm..

then

suddenly from the deep bowels of the dark

somebody emits some noxious gas...

and, as my dakinis all scatter in a chaotic frenzy, my eyes lower, narrow, glaring at this offender who somehow made it all the way into my personal heaven.

Wha?

"When confronted with the flies around shit analogy (Or Wasps in some cases)

What do you do?

You continue with the same swarming pattern, you spew out the same shit as you did when you came here on the very first time."

but...

"Reality is a lot less curtious how ever."

Indeed, Reality is a lot more complex than your silly little flawed analogies.

#56

...ahh but I thought, that you adore those creatures flying over your personal garden leaving their droppings.

"Reality [or even intentBlog] is a lot more complex [or for that matter, far more simpler] than your silly little flawed analogies." John 57

I might add.

"...ahh but I thought, that you adore those creatures flying over your personal garden leaving their droppings." John

You're weird.

"You're weird."

this is a great compliment, since I dislike ABC resiting average Q

Freyja,

Buzzz Buzzz Buzzz....

Mmmmmm

Tut Tut Tut.

xx

No attraction, no aversion...

No complements, no insults...

Bless'd are those
who can be
complete without a complement
comply without compliments

Here is another one for you to add to your Buzzing...

In British Columbia Canada there lives there an Enlightened master. He currently lives on Gabriola although he moves around the world a lot.

When I first met him I began to tell him my views and beliefs were on spirituality... this was back in 2001.

You know what he said to me? LOL

he said

"Listen, You don't know shit from toothpaste"

He was right I didn't and he taught me a great deal and still is.

Most of you here don't know shit from toothpast either, and untill you get out of this crystalised state of beliefs you will continue not knowing shit from toothpaste!

Love

Simon xx

and blessed those without the need of labeling

hey there Simon,
if you can get out of thoughts altogether,
it won't matter what smells -
you will be
free.

(with death of the physical body - makes no difference what smells like what,
or when you are dreaming.
I do like the dream state :)

love,
~ Kate

and blessed those without the need of labeling
because they won't give a shit.

Guru said: "Listen, You don't know shit from toothpaste"

Student tells: "Most of you here don't know shit from toothpast either, and untill you get out of this crystalised state of beliefs you will continue not knowing shit from toothpaste!"

The guru is great but the student is still full of shit.

The student with his intimate studies of the geography of his guru's ass cheeks, finally came to understand the importance of a tooth paste. The lesson was complete.

Hi Simon, I am going to BC, Canada in September for two weeks. Can you tell more about the Enlightened master. Does he receive visitors? Is there a way to contact him? Does he have a website, or written any books? What name does he go by? I might visit Gabriola Island during my vacation there! Any idea of his travel schedule?

Thanks!

I liked IB so much more when Simon wasn't regurgitating his same ole bullshit ...

shit happens
that's right, it does.

man ...
i've about had it with of all this self-righteousness that passes here as being spiritually correct ... or enlightened/realized.

just more shit on the pile. ;)

"shit at last, shit at last, thank god almighty, shit at last."

a moving speech

"shit at last, shit at last, thank god almighty, shit at last."

damn...

what a great unorthodox view of shitt... may the
shit be free flowing...

you do know that nurses always look at your shit
in the hospital and ask if you had a BM...

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

;-)

reminds me of Garbage And The Goddess by Adi Da,
anyone familiar with that shit? I guess Simon Freejohn is.

Are we lost in an episode of Wayne's World?

Hi Kate

derek

"and blessed those without the need of labeling
because they won't give a shit." #67

ah .... the 'noshitters' ;) simon et al...

reminds me of a story ... about the meanest animal in the world ... the crocagator.

"what's a crocagator?" you inquire.

critter that's got an alligator head one one end ...and a crocodile head on the other end.

"an alligator head on one end and a crocodile head on the other end?" you exclaim ...

"how's it shit?"

don't ...

that's what makes it so damn mean.

here's to regular bowel movements.

'"shit at last, shit at last, thank god almighty, shit at last."

a moving speech.' #70

it's all that fiber ...
and/or prunes ... :-)

# 74

I can attest to that!! Cheers!

I love ya Preity.

~dot

Re. 54

There's just no accounting for someone's taste/take on Shit, unless one is smoking it...:)

Disclaimer following youtubes may be offensive to some folks' shit.

Carlin on Bullshit:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o&feature=related

or

Carlin on Cigars:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rrZwAyToxwA

WOW, P.....U

Looks like this OT messed in it's diaper and spread it all over the crib!!!! P....U ...

who is on the clean-up brigade? anyone?

I recently went to a picnic where there where a few 3 to 5 year olds and they were having the same conversation, all about excretment, except they couldn't use the S word it was all poops and giggles...for them..

this open thread needs an open window...ruth

Hi derek,
I have been using my oars today, it's pouring like crazy, and there is no better way to get around,
canoe-style!
love to you,
~ Kate

Hmmm, crocagators....better call in Bomb Disposal.

Ultimately on the 'spiritual quest' or non quest... Shit, Sex, Love, Emotion, Philosophy, Spirituality, Religion etc are just nonsense of the mind and a hindrance..........Indy

Mmmm Mmmmm Yum!

Maybe our next topic of conversation should be Maggots!!

With a little internet surfing, I have discovered that the larvae of black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) have amazing environmental usefullness especially if you have lots of feces to dispose of including human, pets, pigs and etc. producing finished compost safe for your garden.

And! Songbirds love them.

Yo!
www.esrint.com [click on food]
www.thebiopod.com

Tears fall from my eyes.... hehehehehe very funny indeed, brilliant infact.

Some of you resent me I know because you think I come accross as being an enlightened teacher of some kind Lol.

I am the kind of teacher that is not worth your trouble following at all - there for I am no teacher.

I am a one night stand - you would fall in love with me but in the morning I would be gone..

I do not ask you to surrender to my philosophy or my teaching for I have none..

I encourage you however to fall in love with surrender to none beliefs, None ideology, None location and eternaly surrender to the now where I have learned to call home.

Love

Simon xx

No thanks, Bonnie.

..

..

..

..

FLUSH!!!

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

D

E

O

D

E

R

I

Z

E

R

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

Nuff said!

Hi Keith!

my fresh-
ness is from
water,
I am sparkling
today, from
so much rain.

I am catching Simon's tears
;)

~~~~~~~ Kate

Aww well OK Keith.

But did you know that BSF are now being used for bioconversion, turning food scraps(and other waste) into renewable fuel. Fits right in with DK's Golden Age of less waste and recycling.

Everything has a purpose.

:)

B

Hi Mini,

He will be back on Gabriola in October 22nd he is in Europe at the moment and then shortly after he comes back to Gabriola he will be going to Australia and New Zealand.

He is way beyond the writing of books even though he was friends to many of the great spiritual Gurus such as Osho and others who did much in the way of book writing. If you were to ask him "Why have you not written a book?2 He would probably reply "I have nothing to tell" When I first encountered him it was incredibly painful because I could not hide or use any pretense with him that he could not see through. His understanding is mind blowing and the closest you can come to his level is Nisargaatta Maharaj. Like Nisargadatta Maharaj said... My words will destroy the mind that is not ready for them. You go to this man and you had better be ready to forget everything.

Many spiritul teachers ar static and have the flock come toward them in their place... this one is the complete opposite. God knows how many people have known him and how many souls he has touched. He moves accross the globe like the wind. Mexico, Australia, India, Europe and America. He might be the next begger you meet in a doorway he is so unpredictable.

If you want to get in touch with him... When you go to Victoria you need to get the bus to Nanaimo; from the bus station there on Douglas. You get off the bus at Harbour Mall and catch the Ferry onto Gabriola. He lives with an old Scottish woman who is about 95 years old; I can not remeber her name now. The locals call him Ron or sometimes "Ron the flower man" as he used to sell the most beautiful flowers that he grew from seed. There is a retreat on the Island that he is sometimes found wandering about it.. Ironicaly he does not teach there - yet spiritually he is a billion light years ahead of anyone who preaches there. He goes there to listen though sometimes and many have left there knowing him.

He has no computer nor any inclination of a website...

e-mail me from my profile and when I hear he has returned to Gabriola I will tell you how to contact him...

The only way I can contact him is through phone but I cant give that out on here... not with people Like Diablo about LOL.

Love

Simon xx

go see him... he will be there when he returns

#87
"He might be the next begger you meet in a doorway he is so unpredictable"

Affectionately known as Irv, one might correlate.

Ed...
come out from behind
that doorway,
I see you!
;)
~ Kate

#89 Ha Kate, sweetie, the thought did cross my mind, but far be it from me..........

Beggers can't be choosers, so they say.

:))

Yo Ed...No, lest he kiss my ass - literally and very predictably.

Is it wise to doubt?
Aragon is arrogant--
Yo! "Gotta have faith!"

But not too much faith?
Dare you doubt your lovers love?
Face to face? Doubt it.

To trust and depend
Requires "questions only"
Believe me--let go

Thanks for the info and help, Simon.

Looks like I won't be able to see him in BC this September.

Very interesting personality. It could be possible that his visitors or students have recorded audios/videos or written about their experiences with him over the internet. Like you just did in a less formative way.

Some of your descriptions of him and his views reminds me of U.G. Krishnamurti.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppaluri_Gopala_Krishnamurti

"Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti (July 9, 1918 – March 22, 2007), better known as U.G. Krishnamurti, or just U.G., was a speaker and philosopher, often known as an "anti-guru" or as "the man who refused to be a guru"."

-------------------

"My teaching, if that is the word you want to use, has no copyright. You are free to reproduce, distribute, interpret, misinterpret, distort, garble, do what you like, even claim authorship, without my consent or the permission of anybody."
--UG

Enjoy the quotes:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/U._G._Krishnamurti

His less radical quotes:

"If you have the courage to touch life for the first time, you will never know what hit you. Everything man has thought, felt and experienced is gone, and nothing is put in its place."

"Whether you are interested in Moksha, Liberation, Freedom, Transformation, you name it, you are interested in happiness without one moment of unhappiness, pleasure without pain, it is the same thing."

"We don't want to be free from fear. All that we want to do is to play games with it and talk about freeing ourselves from fear."

"Your constant utilization of thought to give continuity to your separate self is 'you'. There is nothing there inside you other than that."

"When the movement in the direction of becoming something other than what you are isn't there any more, you are not in conflict with yourself."

--U.G.

More about him from those who interacted with him:

www.well.com/user/jct

Hi Mini,

I am not sure how many other people have gone and seen him on the Island but I am sure many people around the world hav spoken to him and if he chooses to talk to you about spirituality and educate you on the subject it is Incredible. He has an Incredible presence; when you leave him you feel like you are walking three feet off the ground.

There is another guy on Vancouver Island that I had heard about when I was there. I never got to see him but quite a lot of people used to visit him I was told. His first name was Wim or Wym I did have his surname but can't remember it. He lives around the Victoria area.

I will find out his name and you could maybe look him up when you are there. I heard some great stuff about him and I have always fancied meeting him. When I lived there I was a member of a Meditation group and one of my buddies and I had heard from other people about Wym and we decided that we would try and get to meet him and listen to what he had to say. I had to go back to the UK and never made it to see him. My friend Clay completely forgot about meeting Wym as I had gone and one day he was in a place called Market Square downtown Victoria and there is a Vegaterian Cafe called the Lotus Pond or something like that and he accidently met Wym and his wife in there. They invited my friend to their house the next day and they meditated together with some other people in his garden. My friend Clay said it was a life changing experience for him. The Garden vibrated with this love energy that radiated from Wym and you could feel the plants and flowers absorbing this love and it made them grow faster and healthier than anything he has ever seen. everything around him was so alive it was amazing.

I will find out how you can contact him and that might be a good thing for you to do when you are there.

Love

Simon xx

The Trolls Among Us

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

Malwebolence
By MATTATHIAS SCHWARTZ
Published: August 3, 2008
This article will appear in this Sunday's Times Magazine.

Enjoy.

Hardly enjoyable, Irv, but very interesting. Trolls and Spiritual gurus, now there's a convergence to conjure with.
Bit too way out for a Virgo, perhaps?

Why congest your mind with such pointless nonsense dreamed up by some arsehole with a degree and nothing better to do than waste our money?

The press is always full of great explenations of how they have uncovered a break through in human behaviour, such as eating salad cream can cause breast cancer and other bollox like there are trolls on the Internet. Next week they will spend millions of dollars more from Government grants to come up with some more useless crap that contradicts the first load of shite they come up with this week.

What a complete load of bollox!

You would be better off watching a tin of paint dry, or write another book that glamourizes the drug culture in Scotland why don't you?

What people don't realise and Deepak Chopra has been telling us this for years is that being Ill is not defined to any one thing. In fact it is possible that you constantly thought that you would get breast cancer from eating salad cream then you would get breast cancer... Not because of the salad cream at all but because you created your illness through thinking you were going to get a particular illness. You have heard of the Pseudo Effect right?.... its the same with Illness; people who initially tell themself they are feeling ill - become ill and sometimes very seriously ill.

People who project a healthy self awareness are normally quite healthy. Thos who are always run down and stressed are not so healthy.

You dont need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for some scientist to tell you this... the facts are completely evident all around you. The world, nature, the human body and the spirit can tell you all that there is to know about this model without having to listen to some dreamed up misguided information.

Love

Simon xx

What is worse is that when people are trying to shove these concepts down our throats they always package it around a very sad or fatal event... In this case a mixed up young man who shot himself in the head.

They are holding the reader to ransom with anothers misfortune you see..

If you break this article down the issue the guy is trying to emphasise is seperate from the event of the young man shooting himself, but the story of the guy killing himself carries so much weight that it is in there to get the reader sucked in so that is idea about Trollism on the Internet to be taken seriously and credibly.

Its like me selling tires and teling you a storey about a young girl walking home from school with her entire life ahead of her and suddenly she was run over by a car not using my brand of tires and she was killed...

You see someone being knocked down and killed is not related to selling tires, but immeadiatly the reader has been shocked into the idea through a story of tradgedy and now you bought the whole deal.

read that story again except the part where the young lad shoots himself and you will see that is utter nonsense.

Love

Simon xx

Are you ready for "The One"?

http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMcCaindotcom

-Steve

If I am ready, "The One" will reveal itself naturally :)

In my world this is Barack Obama. I may not be able to vote, but for me there is no single doubt.

Suit yourself, Simon, I read it again and wouldn't dismiss it that easily. I think it makes a reasonable toothpaste but, joking aside we don't live that far apart, do we?

It's a wind-up whichever way you look at it and although, as article notes, we all have degree of 'troll' it's a technique you admit to using yourself and blatantly try to truth-shock with.

So we have troll and teacher tending to be One and with similar justifications. I remain neutral but take great interest in all human expression because that is my clue guru.

evening everyone,

well, I have really been bored the last couple of days so I was watching the political propaganda tv shows to see how the campaign was going and well I must say FOX TV is a kick sass propaganda machine for the far, far, right wackos...god, they even have brought Karl Rove out of the back room and put him front and center so all his fans can get a good look at him while he acts like a disintrested observer instead of being the prime strategist.

This week McCain got ballsy and accused the Barak Obama campaign of using the race card. Really, this is Rove strategism at it's best, accuse the other of your crimes of the heart, first, and put them on the defensive. Really, this is a bold tactic on the white sourthern man's part and proves, to me, at least, just how serious you have to take their strategy and their manipulative talents.

I love how the southern white man is crying "race card" about the fact that the black man is pointing out the fact that the southern white man's campaign is trying to scare the voters away from voting for the black man by accusing the black man of "using the race card" when all has really done is brought attention to the fact of the white southern man's racist strategy.

So, this is the reasoning of the white southern man's political strategy... if your tactics are discovered.....disown them...outright.. by saying.....finder's keepers!!!!

Well, come November, we will see, not just, who will be the next President, but, we will see, just how f-ing stupid Americans really are....and, really, love being and acting by who wins this election....if it is John McCain, and his far right wacko fan club..I fear our stupidity is has been cemented and our prognosis is not good, as a Nation...if it is Barak Obama then it means we are fighting to save our lives and our intelligence as a Nation.

Right now, it is hard to tell which way it will go...I haven't been a big fan of Barak but really for the health and well being of this Nation, he is the ONLY choice available.

have a great evening, ruth

gee, I just wrote my first, vote for Barak Obama, piece....who would thought....:)ruth

Gas w/ethanol is back to $3.68 here in Nebraska, Ruth.

My long-time mechanic has always told me to stay away from the tainted fuel.

Regular is hovering around the $3.85 mark. Who will blame Obama for the re-treat?

McLame most Mclikely! What a gas!

Amba: See #3

Understood Edward..

You know something and this is directed toward no person here in particular, But I only ever read about or learned some teaching second hand from an realised teacher who was Gay or clearly homosexual.

Women have pronounced Kundalini energy or to extend that - females have it... Like a female or Hen bird when she builds her nest. The sexual drive to build a nest or the female creative Shakti is awesome.

The female polarity is dipped in Sex... I once watched a woman just sit and hold herself and mother herself and caress every part of her skin and it made me melt in a spiritual sense. The Kundalini Shakti is like a cat licking itself after a kill. it is deep sexual power but is also incredibly beautiful and seductive at the same time. it is a mother, the breast and the erotic nature of the female all at the same time.

I can identify with this energy within myself; It mothered me and it is the sex that I hold in the moonlight. It is hallmarked with femininity..

For some men Thay have become that or gone toward it, maybe even been brn with it.

I will tell you who he is... If you come out of the closet!

Love

Simon xx

Obama camp responds: 'sad...juvenile antics'

Barack Obama's campaign responded sharply to a new McCain webad depicting Obama as a parody of a biblical prophet.

"It’s downright sad that on a day when we learned that 51,000 Americans lost their jobs, a candidate for the presidency is spending all of his time and the powerful platform he has on these sorts of juvenile antics," said spokesman Hari Sevugan. "Senator McCain can keep telling everyone how ‘proud’ he is of these political stunts which even his Republican friends and advisors have called ‘childish’, but Barack Obama will continue talking about his plan to jumpstart our economy by giving working families $1,000 of immediate relief."

Obama's campaign responded to McCain's webad after sending out a separate statement from Newark Mayor Cory Booker, whom McCain had praised in a speech at the Urban League today:

Booker: "In yet another dishonest attack at the Urban League, Senator McCain misled the American people about Senator Obama's record and his own"

Booker praised Obama's support for charter schools in Illinois, and attacking McCain's opposition to spending on a range of education programs: "With that kind of track record, Senator McCain should be the last person lecturing Senator Obama about a commitment to quality education for our nation's children"

And if you missed it, McCain LIED today, bigtime... I think the sheen has worn off

McCain: "I don’t think the campaign is negative in the slightest."

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/mccain_our_campaign_isnt_negat.php

Meanwhile, David Plouffe says THANK YOU

"I think John McCain has harmed himself in the last week, really eroding any capital he had built up in terms of what kin of politician he is," Plouffe says. "But he's really helped our campaign, because so many of you have contributed in the last week. Our field offices had people pouring into them yesterday."

and if you haven't seen it, here is McCain's latest ad which is offensive to all Christians and Jews alike... mocking Moses for political gain...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8

Ref. Ruth, Rove McCain tactics.

Rick Davis(McCain's campaign manager) wrote a 2004 op-ed in the Boston Globe about smear campaigns:

They work, even when they're not true.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/

Rick Davis is the guy who is accused Obama of playing the race card. And he claimed that Obama campaign was the one which made the first negative attack on McCain in the race, by citing an Obamma ad which was in fact a 'response' ad to a negative ad by RNC.

Anyway, McCain is turning off several of his friends in the media (McCain calls Media his "base") with his baseless, outright false and lowly attacks over the past two weeks.

We have a long way to go till November and McCain is playing all his cards, trying to get his base excited with very little gains in return in terms of polling and improvenets in electoral prospects.

Pollster.com

Obama 284, McCain 147, Tossup 107.

Obama
Strong 231
Lean 53

McCian
Strong 112
Lean 35

It takes 270 electoral votes to win. Today, Obama is 14 EVs above that threshold, while McCain is 123 below it.

None of the Kerry states lean McCain, but many of the Bush (2004) states lean Obama. Obama leads in several of them. See the Pollster.com map.

Obamma has several paths to 272 even if he loses Ohio and Florida. This is truly a 50 state strategy while also helping down ballot democrats in traditional red districts and the senate candidates.

The jackasses in the media may try and play this as a tied game, or that Obama should be winning by more (so it's good for McCain!), but the reality is much tougher for Republicans. McCain has a serious challenge on his hands. That's why they've gone hard negative. They ain't gonna win this one unless they can drag Obama into the mud.

Andrea Mitchell Nails it...

I was watching Hardball and trying not to destroy my nice LCD tv when to my surprise Andrea Mitchell called McCain out for the condescending, disrespectful disdain in how he talks about Obama.

Further she pointed out that this has been going on for some time, including McCain saying he would go with Obama to Iraq to "educate" him. She also predicted that this would continue and that this was similar to how George the elder treated Bill Clinton during the 92 campaign. Methinks that the media is losing its man-crush, or at least some of it, with regard to McCain.

I thought this was pretty important that someone in the media (his base) finally called a duck a duck and saw McCain as being disrespectful etc. That has the potential to hurt McCain big time.

He's losing Andrea. (She also called him out on his Obama-overseas-military-visit-outright-lies.)

He lost Joe Klein. (Said he was wrong when he called McCain a honorable man.)

McCain is trashing his brand. Losing the traditional media will harm him.

Low Road Express: spread it around.

That happens when you call them "Little jerks" after you had them literally eating out of your hands a mere few months ago.

What's really sad are the (thankfully) ever-shrinking contingent of true believers who are still promoting his lies.

Cognitive dissonance finally collapsing?

It goes with a bang when it does go.

McCain's recent claims and ads are so preposterous and so laughable that even some of his former donut and barbecue buddies can no longer look the other way and mutter, "That's just McCain being McCain". It's too obvious.

I'm actually surprised to see the GOP in panic-mode this early in the election season. If things are as bad (internal polls?) for the Republicans as their behavior would seem to indicate, then we may be looking at a real Democratic tsunami come November.

Which is good, because that's the only way to be sure these guys won't cheat their way into office again.

Andrea Mitchell? OMG!!!!

I was shocked into submission when I heard her push back. It was clear as....as angels coming out of heaven....Andrea Mitchell!!! I remain in a state of shock.

She has been the last person I would have thought would say anything even close to positive about Obama. But even though she said it, I expect that next week, the real Andrea will be back. That water on Mars obviously took the real Andrea and left us with this....dare I say it?....reasonable facsimile....OMG!!!! Stop the lightning, don't bring the thunder, please!

Rick Davis pissed her off with that phone interview yesterday. You could see how angry she was when he continuously overtalked her and told one false talking point after the other.

Wow, twice in one week she nails it. Good for her.

She's been doing this ever since she came back from Europe!! She defended him from the troops attack, from the celebrity ad, from the race card attack. She's basically been awesome.

I just hope that doesn't mean she will soon have to tack to starboard to stay in the good graces of her bosses and producers.

When it comes to the MSM, I trust it about as much as I do the honesty and integrity of Karl Rove.

That said, good on Andrea Mitchell for calling out BS where she sees it.

The media is slowly getting dissed by McSame and his team as he morphs into W himself. This can only be good for Obama.

To me, it looks like McCain has gone so far off base that even Andrea Mitchell can no longer give him the benefit of the doubt. He's a f***ing asshole, and there simply are no more excuses.

That said, the corporate media is against Democrats and they will do anything they can to make sure Dems lose. Just be vigilant.

Andrea is weak though.

She got her ASS handed to her by Rick Davis yesterday. She totally let him steamroll her. I hope nobody lets her 1000 yards near the Meet The Press chair.

Davis was trying to be too cute by half by trying to say that the Paris/Brittany/Celebrity thing was "positive" and they were popular global figures.

I know Tim Russert would have hit back with something like "isn't to compare Barack Obama to one person who is best known for being a porn star and another who was recently hospitalized for mental illness attempting to smear a public figure?"

Btw, Paris and Britney are longer and no where near in the list of the current top celebrities.

Davis had/has NO respect for Andrea Mitchell and it showed. Tim Russert would have nailed it, Rachel Maddow would have destroyed him, he wouldn't have even tried it with Chuck Todd or Kieth Olbermann.

The fact that McCain campaign cleverly injects race into this race and subsequently attacked Obama for the "playing the race card" shows just how sensitive his campaign is to the issue, and just how completely they've sold their soul to the Rovian smear machine. It's purely hypocritical, dirty, and John McCain is totally complicit and willing to play the part that George W Bush played before him.

I don't remember who brought this up, but thank you! I finally had time to watch it.

I'm talking about the Randy Pausch Last Lecture. God bless him!

Here is the link again for anyone who is in need of inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Hey Heath

Cousin about to fly to Houston, shall arrive in Atlanta tomorrow. Thanks for all the help! School starts in two weeks.

Scott/Ana/Kranti/darknite/jm...

Dear Tiger

Thanks for the news. I wish her all success on every level, with bells and whistles and drums. Atlanta is lovely, with air that's soft and fragrant, warm light, vividly-colored earth and vegetation, and lots of great people and things to do.

Today is an anniversary of sorts, one I thank you for from the heart. And thanks for all the past fun, too, Tiger. You were a super riot in them good ole days. I finally found a good Hindi grammar, and in the two days that I've had it, my Hindi self-learning has picked up. I figure my four years of listening to Hindi films and songs has given me about the same cumulative language exposure as a infant of one year who's always lived in a Hindi-speaking family. So now it's time to learn how to talk.

love & hugs, h

Dear Tiger

In thanks for the anniversary, I share a very short (and flawed) story I developed from a writing exercise. I wrote it for my vvl, mm, for his recent birthday. You helped make our connection possible, and you were part of the fire lit under me for writing, in those days. I wouldn't have grown as I have without you, so thank you again. On a writing note, as poor as this story is, it represents about 40 hours of edits, in over 600 sessions. I learned bahut bahut as I did the edits.

Ed, Bonnie, Dara, Stan, Derek, Keith, Irv, Meike, ruth, RP, Arsenio, et al, et al, this one's shared here for you too, as you've all been part of my growth as an artist who also kind of writes.

love & hugs, h

Why She Danced

Corinne woke up with a headache. For some reason she couldn’t figure out, she was crying. This was a rare thing. She shoved the pillows off the bed. She always felt better when she did that. ‘Ha! Take that, pillows!’ she thought as she took control of the bed, refusing to be smothered by its comfort.

The morning light was too much for her eyes, and her mind was still tangled in last night’s dreams. But she was happy anyway. She stretched on the cool sheets and pictured herself in an overhead shot, spreadeagled like DaVinci’s perfect human form. She was free. She felt free, anyway. Maybe the headache would go soon. There was a sound, a kind of faint whoosh, just before the slap-out-of-nowhere hit her.

Corinne rolled to the edge of the bed and dropped off, landing among the scattered pillows. She couldn’t feel the headache. She felt stiff, sharp, hard, to herself. Anger turned her cold and she hated the feeling. She hated Kaz for making her angry. Huddled on the floor with tensed muscles, she waited for Kaz to make another move.

She knew the story. He had a lot of complaints about life, and was willing to let loose on her sometimes. He thought she’d take anything. He was wrong, damn it. She didn’t want to be hurt. He had no valid excuse for hurting her, anyway, none whatsoever.

Corinne lay still and listened. Kaz’s breathing had gone quiet. She heard his clothing rustle sometimes, and he sighed once, but otherwise he wasn’t moving. Maybe she wouldn’t have to fight after all.

Finally her coldness receded, becoming the memory of a feeling. Kaz felt the change. He came close and knelt by her on the floor. Threatened by his nearness, she stood as her mind shouted: ‘I’ll do what I have to do to stop you from hurting me again!’ But her mind was going to lose this one. He looked up at her. She saw regret and a kind of bitter repentance in his eyes, and she reached down and put her fingers gently on his temples. He felt hot. She was pulled back down to her knees by a longing to be with him. Corinne buried her face in his shoulder. They held each other for a long time, then lay down, side by side on the floor, like kids. Kaz held her hand, or she held his. They fell asleep together, and she dreamed her dreams and he dreamed his.

She woke on the bed. All the pillows had been picked up and placed back on the bed. Kaz was gone. Corinne smiled and pushed the pillows to the floor again. She wiggled her toes and spread her fingers far apart, turning her palms up to the ceiling, feeling the twist in her joints. She stretched out on the cool sheets. The sunny mid-morning air warmed her face. Her eyes were closed and Kaz was in her heart. She could feel his arms around her. Her eyes brimmed. She looked like she was crying, but she wasn't. Love spilled out onto her cheeks

Love was a strange thing to Corinne. Unpredictable and ungraspable, it had her, she didn’t have it. She had no say in the changes it made to her nature and feelings. It was continually conquering her practical side, but her life didn't suffer for that. She was more creative and flexible, and practicality was becoming unimportant. Love felt like a swing, and when she was on it, she lived with more courage. She knew love didn’t need any excuses to be, it couldn't be rationalized, it just was. It used to scare her, but now it was OK. Her love for Kaz was inside her, and outside, too. It surrounded her like an ocean, she could walk in any direction and its dense transparency was there, touching her. And it was in her blood.

Corinne felt light, and strong, strong. She rose, and showered.

Waiting for her hair to dry, she danced an impromptu dance as a thank-you, and maybe an explanation, for the day. This was what her dance said to the day, ‘Hello, day, this is what matters - love, and nothing but.’

dear Heath,
she awakes to shower in roses! :)

It is a lovely story and the strength in Corinne, is in you too :)

thank you for sharing your writing - and your heart - at IB.

love always,
~ Kate

and Kate! blame my weeks and weeks of IB-less-ness! Corinne's love is mine, ji haan, though the danger she faces isn't. hugs + love, h

#117 I don't know where this came from, Heath, but I'm wanting to say that your writing gets right into the creases and validates them.

Valid though are you to me.

I bow.

Hi Scott Tiger,
Atlanta is a neat city I have been to many times. Driving around is sometimes challenging as the road system is always being worked on!
But as Heather says, there is charm and Southern appeal, and lots of fun things to do and people to meet.

I too wish your cousin well.
~ Kate

dear Keith and Mieke,
The Last Lecture is truly inspiring. Randy Pausch leaves a wonderful legacy.

Here's to dreaming,
creating, believing,
laughing, sharing,
relishing silence,
loving ...
never stop!

always, love
~ Kate

dear Heather,
I have been traveling this summer, seeing the country and visiting and enjoying the northern cool evenings, and rain-free days (not so now I am back home! I need to borrow Derek's row boat to get around)

Several weeks ago you shared your poems on the OT. weaving thoughts and feelings and insights in a wonderfully skillful way.

Keith too has a way with writing. different style, but you both can say so much with words, with just the right combination and phrasing.

I love the way Ed can come in front and behind and make the stand-out comment that ties it all together. wink to Edmund

I bow to you all :)

~ Kate

Hi Keith,

The Randy Pausch Alice team of 1997 sent me a very nice Alice T-shirt. This still is one of my favourite night-gowns lol

They thought I must have been very oversized during those days so they sent me the largest one they had :)

It is starting to really fit now :)

#105 Yo Simon,
Not that far away, come down and see me sometime!
I am the kundalini, my body hangs on like grim death. Kundalini obliges.

Dear Ed

No mystery... it was based my brief entry for this writing exercise at Critique Circle ( http://critiquecircle.com/ , or click on my name):

'Write about conflict or struggle, but use NO dialog, NO italics, NO bold, NO "all caps"... and, of course, nothing to represent those missing attributes like i's in brackets or asterisks. Just plain-as-possible sentences. Let the words themselves provide the emphasis.'

Later, I posted my entry on Caferati, and seeing it there, realized I might be able to make a story of it. I kind of failed, as it's too internal and there are still things I want to tear out of it, but I learned a hell of a lot. My 40+ hours of edits were the effort I put into trying to make something good for the guy I love. Though I didn't succeed with the making something good part, the effort and devotion was genuine and a pretty good achievement, and became my real gift to him.

love + hugs, h

Dear Kate

Ed is a poet, though for some reason he doesn't like even himself to know that. His play on IB is a twig compared to what lies within him. One day maybe we'll see his heartwood. Then we'll have heartwood, heartphone, and dil se.

So happy you had good times traveling. Happy you're back home even if you need a boat. Home is where the dil is.

And Diablo. Too! Remember that poem you did??

Irv? Will you write us something new sometime soon?

love, h

Mullah Nasruddin has a Wiki!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddin

Dear Heath,

What a beautiful story, thank you for sharing.
Lots of love to you :)

Hi Kate, dreaming, creating...... etc. a neverending story :)

Makes me younger and younger :)

Love to you, always,

Mieke

#128 lol Heath, "Backwards, no less....."
Very, very endearing character, Nasr-edd-in!

X

Once, Nasreddin was invited to deliver a khutba. When he got on the minbar (pulpit), he asked "Do you know what I am going to say?" The audience replied "NO", so he announced "I have no desire to speak to people who don't even know what I will be talking about" and he left.
The people felt embarrassed and called him back again the next day. This time when he asked the same question, the people replied "YES". So Nasreddin said, "Well, since you already know what I am going to say, I won't waste any more of your time" and he left.
Now the people were really perplexed. They decided to try one more time and once again invited the Mullah to speak the following week. Once again he asked the same question - "Do you know what I am going to say?" Now the people were prepared and so half of them answered "YES" while the other half replied "NO". So Nasreddin said "The half who know what I am going to say, tell it to the other half" and he left!

yes heath..i do recall...

The Golden Rule...a short essay...

"The golden rule is endorsed by all the great world religions; Jesus, Hillel, and Confucius used it to summarize their ethical teachings. And for many centuries the idea has been influential among people of very diverse cultures. These facts suggest that the golden rule may be an important moral truth.

Let's consider an example of how the rule is used.

President Kennedy in 1963 appealed to the golden rule in an anti-segregation speech at the time of the first black enrollment at the University of Alabama. He asked whites to consider what it would be like to be treated as second-class citizens because of skin color. Whites were to imagine themselves being black - and being told that they couldn't vote, or go to the best public schools, or eat at most public restaurants, or sit in the front of the bus. Would whites be content to be treated that way? He was sure that they wouldn't - and yet this is how they treated others. He said the "heart of the question is ... whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated."

The golden rule is best interpreted as saying: "Treat others only in ways that you're willing to be treated in the same exact situation." To apply it, you'd imagine yourself in the exact place of the other person on the receiving end of the action. If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule.

To apply the golden rule adequately, we need knowledge and imagination. We need to know what effect our actions have on the lives of others. And we need to be able to imagine ourselves, vividly and accurately, in the other person's place on the receiving end of the action. With knowledge, imagination, and the golden rule, we can progress far in our moral thinking.

The golden rule is best seen as a consistency principle. It doesn't replace regular moral norms. It isn't an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn't give all the answers. It only prescribes consistency - that we not have our actions (toward another) be out of harmony with our desires (toward a reversed situation action). It tests our moral coherence. If we violate the golden rule, then we're violating the spirit of fairness and concern that lie at the heart of morality.

The golden rule, with roots in a wide range of world cultures, is well suited to be a standard to which different cultures could appeal in resolving conflicts. As the world becomes more and more a single interacting global community, the need for such a common standard is becoming more urgent." Quotation.

Diablo, you give me chills bro

derek

mini,

The enlightened master I spoke about a few days ago in British Columbia Canada....

As far as I am aware he still lives around Victoria BC maybe out aways toward Sooke or somewhere like that... No more than a bus ride from the City though

His anme is Wim Borsboom he is mentioned on this website below. It would change your life I bet going to spend time with an enlightened being like this.

http://free-by-nature.blogspot.com/2006/05/about-what-is-and-what-is-not.html

Like I said I have not had the pleasure of meeting him even though I intended to at one point.

He is an enlightened being and if you want to experience some real understanding then that is someone you may want to hook up with while in BC.

He won't know me but my name will be very significant to him if you mention it to him and why you contacted him even though it is not important that you do so.

Ron will be on Gabriola in October but as you have said it will be too late.

All the best and have a nice time when you visit.

Love

Simon xx

That's very cool, Diablo. It sounds like having the knowledge and the imagination is the key ingredient, because I might be willing to receive a harsher treatment in a certain situation than the person I am dealing with can successfully handle.

I really like this deeper interpretation of the golden rule. I've always wondered how the golden rule could work if a person doesn't mind being abused. This seems to be the missing piece... knowledge and imagination.

Thanks Diablo.

Sharon

erm,

to who ever it was above who was Interested in the Kundalini etc etc etc..

This is him.... an extraordinary teacher and as bent as a nine bob note. or so I am told.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcYhRPJUV4&feature=related

Love

Simon xx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5NaqHERxzs

Ruth plugging for Obama . . .

Wow!

Peace

Your assignment for today...

Why is it that not one single black in America voted for JFK in 1960?

derek, sharon, tammy? damn!

Hi Diablo,

I found this little exerpt at:

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Campaign+of+1960.htm

"When Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Georgia for leading civil rights protests, Kennedy, against the advice of several key campaign strategists, called Mrs. King on October 26 to offer help in securing her husband's safe release. Kennedy was subsequently endorsed by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., father of the civil rights leader. The black vote went heavily for Kennedy across the nation, providing the winning margin in several major states."

and this one at:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2714_133/ai_n7577977

"With Pres. George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry both after the African-American vote, a recently unearthed recording reveals how Martin Luther King, Jr., regarded blacks' influence in an earlier presidential contest. According to a transcript by the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford (Calif.) University, King maintained that black voters were key to propelling Sen. John F. Kennedy to the White House in 1960."

and this at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1960

"On election day Kennedy won the black vote in most areas by wide margins, and this may have provided his margin of victory in states such as New Jersey, South Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri."

but, I found this one at:

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/jfk.htm

"Many black people were not allowed to vote in the 1960’s because the white people in the South used any excuse to not allow them to register to vote. They required people to pass a test and pay money to vote (a poll tax). You have to register to be able to vote. Without voting, Blacks had no power. Kennedy tried to get more Blacks registered to vote by supporting students to go and register black voters in the South. He thought that if Blacks could vote, they could change laws and the people who governed them. More government people would then help the Blacks because they would want the black people to vote for them."

So, it looks like quite a few blacks in America voted for John Kennedy, even though the last article shows the obstacles they faced.

Would you like to rephrase the question? I'm really interested in where you're going with this, truly, in all sincerity.

Sharon

when I was in highschool my love - was Beautiful, his mom white and father black.
He has become an amazing man, and has a beautiful son too

One day, MLK's words will ring true, they have in my heart

a beautiful image to go to sleep with
thank you Kate

Tammy,
It's good to hear from you. You seem upset. I'm sorry. I hope you feel better.
Truly,
Sharon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqioG2lV6ug

Har har har

Miss put the slap down on ole Diablo!

Whoa damn!

har har

morning all,

Hi Heather, thanks for sharing your work, I am no judge of writing skills but your artistry cannot be denied. After seeing some of your drawings and reading some of your poems I see you do it all. Many people like to call themselves an artist, it is so hip and cool, but you truly are, we, here, at IB, are lucky to have you aboard!!

Although we, each and every one of us is an artist in the true sense of the word creating our indivdual personas in our life.

Yesterday morning I kept gettin a message that Internet Explorer couldn't open Intentbog and aborted it...tried a friends computer and the message was the same....later in the day..it opened but today I tried to go to the nytimes.com and I get the message there too....anyone else getting this pop-up at other sites...from Internet Explorer not being able to open a site?

have a fine and dandy day all...ruth

Hey Heath
I just read your story above. You have such a talent for creating pictures with words. To me that is a sign of a gifted writer. When even the most subtle suggestions open a visual story in the minds eye.

Thank you for sharing your gift with us. And like Kate I so enjoyed the poems you shared awhile back. I found myself taking the time to read them slowly so I could take in as much as I could, to get lost in the worlds you created.

I am looking forward to more of your writing.

peace and love to you

derek

Ruth
Don't underestimate your artistry. Your writing style is like no other. Your flow of words and distinct expressiveness have always fascinated me. I am still convinced that you are a professional writer and that you keep hush hush.

I try not to be intimidated by all the talented writes here. You know it can be intimidating if it weren't for the graciousness everyone shows.

derek

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say, I wasn't trying to slap Diablo down, not at all. When I read his question #139, at first I really thought about it, what could be the reason for this? Then I thought, wow, not one single African-American voted for JFK? So I just googled it. When I saw the results, I just wanted to show a few reputable sites to back up my statement that quite a few blacks did vote for John Kennedy. I'm interested in the conversation, and that's all I'd like to do is have a conversation.

Tammy, I'd just like to have a conversation with you, too. I watched your video. I know you are in the first trimester with twins on the way. How are you feeling?

Heath, hi, I'm Sharon. I haven't met you yet. I've been hoping for that man to share my life with for some time. When I read your story, I felt reassured that he is coming. You painted such an amazing picture of this beautifully mysterious experience. Thank you for sharing it.

peace,
Sharon

Hi Ruth,

I received the same message from Internet Explorer as you did for quite some time, yesterday here in the Netherlands. I got the message that IE was not able to find the server. Other pages were no problem, only IB.

I decided to put my computer off(line) for a while and then try again later on. And in the course of the day the problem was gone.

I haven't the faintest idea what could have been the failure. I guess there have been more disruptures. When you look at the video messages on Deepak's first video entry on the main IB page, you can see and hear two people talking about an oak disease that has nothing to do with the subject of deepak's video message.

Love,

Mieke

Oh yeah Diablo
What? Are you asking me a historical political question? Dude, I don't even know how to answer current political questions.

Yo

peace bro

derek

Ruth, Mieke

It turns out that this is a problem all over the web since Friday afternoon, and is Sitemeter's fault.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/08/web-sites-using.html

PS: Explorer is the worst browser available. I suggest switching to Firefox, or any thing else.

"It turns out that this is a problem all over the web since Friday afternoon, and is Sitemeter's fault."

No, it's Microsoft's fault. I checked out SiteMeter's code, and while there's a lot of bad code there, it's nothing that should crash a browser. The problem is that Internet Explorer doesn't even meet the basic standards for how a browser should behave. It's caused many a web developer to yank out most of his hair.

Switch to FireFox.

Incidentally, for those of you still using older firefox builds, download firefox 3.0.

Thanks Mieke and John for the info on the browser...just happy that it is system wide not just mine...

Hi Derek, you are too kind when it comes to my writing style but as you can see it is off the cuff, so to speak, whenever Deepak, Gotham or Mallika write a piece I always wish I hadn't let my english lessons go unused for years and forgotten the grammar do's and don'ts along with sentence structure...so, what I lack in writing skills, I make up for in originality of speak :))))))

Hi, MissHipp...you are a welcome voice to this crazy playground....

well, I must take a hop, skip and a jump to run some errands....have a fine and dandy Sunday all, ruth

Thanks Heath and Kate for your well wishes. She will be busy with an intensive grad school program at Georgia Tech. Hope she finds some quality time for non-academic things.

Heath, interesting work. Thanks too for all the fun we shared. Unsettling though at times some experiences when they occur... glad we can remember the fun and take positives out of it.

Heath

No words I could possibly write would suffice.
So I will just say, Namaste. Thanks for the sharing.

Love ya
B

i did not know that! did u?

" The Blacks gained the right to vote in USA in 1966. This led to the emergence of the Black power movement which lasted till 1975. Due to the racism and inequality the black power rose against all odds to fight for their freedom and rights. This mission proved too dangerous and thousands of people sang to their tunes.

At the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech “I have a dream” which broke all barriers and the black society rose ahead for their basic rights to freedom. The march happened to be a huge success with almost 200,000 supporters. After that, King had a meeting with President J F Kennedy and their demands were granted. Blacks winning the right to vote had a great impact on the society and thus changed the political landscape." Quotation!

"Irv? Will you write us something new sometime soon?" ~heath

Like plagiarized/imitation stuff? ha ha ha...

***

"Mullah Nasruddin has a Wiki!!"

Nasruddin seems to be popular at IB in the past.

His Wiki, for instance, has been mentioned previously at IB, in this thread:

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2006/07/open_thread_34.html

Also here:

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2006/08/open_thread_37.html

Speaking of Wiki, try this parody website produced by comedy news provider 23/6 :

http://www.dickipedia.org/

Dickipedia - A Wiki of Dicks

Excellent stuff. Try the latest dick "Cindy McCian."

Thank you Ruth, and hi. I'm sobbing upon reading your comment. I'm often lonely and have only a few close relationships (even though there are enough acquaintances). There are so many here I relate to. I read the Weekly Intent and your comment today, and I felt connected to both of you. I'm more like Kevin, I'm not where you are. But I can imagine it. Before I found this site, I had more times of silence, and more in the moment time with Nick. And that was beautiful. But I was lonely for meaningful conversation. Since I found this site, my thoughts won't stop. The conversations on this site just keep swirling around in my head. I have felt a little less lonely and a little more connected at times, but today I felt sad wondering if there is really a place for me here. I've questioned my ability to share my thoughts without alienating people. I really don't want to alienate anyone, or myself. And I miss the in the moment time with Nick and the silent times that I was having.

But I want to be here. I'm learning so much. I know I will find balance.

I know the opinions of others shouldn't affect me. But I was feeling sad, and when I read your comment, I felt relief. I felt supported. And now I'm crying, because I'm not alone.

Thank you so much. :)

And now, I'm going to go play with my son, and be in the moment, and give the silence a chance to be heard.

Love and peace,
Sharon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCP3wKTajsU

...were have one dear, if you can't see that, can't help you...

Words are but little manipulation tools.

#155 by Diablo has been quoted from this forum:

http://www.blurtit.com/q563139.html

That was the the only source for that misinformation.

Here is the only comment to that ignorance form the same link:

"The real answer is in 1870!! dumb a**! black actually gained the right to vote in 1870 with the passing of the 15th amendment. oh...and dr. king fought for desegregation and equal rights under the law. Read a book!!!"

I hope Diablo takes that advice.

****************

Q: When did blacks get the right to vote in US?

A: The 14th Amendment granted citizenship, and thus the vote, to blacks, and was passed in 1868.

***

I hope this removes Diablo's confusion regarding black voters and the civil rights movement:

Right to Vote

"After the Civil War, the Constitution was changed to make sure black men had the right to vote. For twelve years after the Civil War, soldiers of the Union Army helped make sure that Blacks would get to vote in the South. When the soldiers left, though, Whites in the South invented many ways to keep Blacks from voting. They succeeded for almost one hundred years. Learn how civil rights leaders in the 1960's helped make sure that all black people would be allowed to vote by clicking on the links below."

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/the_right_to_vote.htm

Educate yourself.

PS: You know I can quote some nonsense from the internet and claim that Dinos walked with men some 4000 years ago. (btw, there are tonnes of sources all over the internet which claim that Earth was created 6000 years ago.)

Ruth,
I need to correct something I said. When I said I was lonely for meaningful conversation, I meant on an adult level. Nick and I have lots of meaningful conversations.

Hi Tammy,
Yes, you're right, we are having a conversation, and I'm glad. It's just that I'm used to words and body language and facial expressions. I'm just learning this new language.

Now, really off to have some meaningful conversations with Nick.

Love,
Sharon

summertime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH8zacDTUSc

John and Tiger are right about Firefox (and Tiger's criticism of IE). Here's the link to get Firefox, which is free:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

(or click my name)

Dear Mieke, love 'n' hugs to you, and thank you.

Dear ruth, I agree with Derek about your writing. Forget the grammar issues, the voice is what's important, and your grammar is pretty good in any case.

Dear Derek, artist to artist, thanks and hugs.

Dear Sharon, good to know you. Thanks for your kind words. There seems to be no alienation within you, so I don't think you bring alienation to the table here. Your presence has reinvigorated Intentblog, imho.

Dear Irish, is that really you? Hugs either way.

Dear Tiger, the risks were worth the game in the end. Thanks again.

Dear Irv, are you in the mood to write a new Mullah? I remember some pretty wild ones in the past.

Hugs, dear Tammy.

love to all, h

This is for dear J-F, who has been a major part of IB (and thus my life) all this time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NBU70_Fg6w

love & double hugs, h

The song linked to in #155 is Tum Se Hi, a Pritam song with lyrics by Irshad Kamil, sung by Mohit Chauhan.

Rough English trans:

It isn't a gain, but it isn't a loss, either.
If I don't belong to you, why should I exist at all?
It isn't a gain, but it isn't a loss, either.
If I don't belong to you, why should I exist at all?
The day breaks only with you.
The dark night comes with you, only with you...
The breath never ceases.
Only you are part of every conversation, only you...
It isn't a gain, but it isn't a loss, either.
If I don't belong to you, why should I exist at all?
It isn't a gain, but it isn't a loss, either.
If I don't belong to you, why should I exist at all?
I am looking with your eyes.
I am touching with your hands.
There is nothing mine left within me, what happened?
I am speaking with your words.
My nights are your greeting gifts.
Why did everything become yours, what happened?
Wherever I go,
it is only you that I meet, only you...
There is silence in the noise.
There is slight unconsciousness that you cause, only you...
Sometimes half a promise
is more than just a half.
This is how I shall be faithful to you.
May it never be lost or discharged,
may it never break or rupture-
that thread of loyalty that joined me with you.
I am your shy one,
I became like that because of you, just because of you...
The roads are found,
the destinations are reached only with you, only with you...
It isn't a gain, but it isn't a loss, either.
If I don't belong to you, why should I exist at all?
It isn't a gain, but it isn't a loss, either.
If I don't belong to you, why should I exist at all?

Hindi lyrics:

na hai yeh paana
na khona hi hai
tera na hona jaane
kyun hona hi hai
tum se hi din hota hai
surmaiye shaam aati hai
tum se hi
tum se hi
har ghadi saans aati hai
zindagi kehlati hai
tum se hi
tum se hi
na hai yeh paana
na khona hi hai
tera na hona jaane
kyun hona hi hai

aankhon mein ankhein
teri
baahoon mein baahein
teri
mera na mujhmein kuch raha
hua kya
baaton mein baatein
teri
raatein saugatein
teri
kyun tera sab yeh ho gaya
hua kya
main kahin bhi jata hoon
tum se hi mil jata hoon
tum se hi
tum se hi
shor mein khamoshi hai
thodi si behoshi hai
tum se hi
tum se hi

aadha sa wada
kabhi
aadhe se jayada
kabhi
jee chaahe kar lu is tarah
wafa ka
chhode na chhoote
kabhi
tode na tute
kabhi
jo dhaga tum se jud gaya
wafa ka
main tera sarmaya hoon
jobhi main ban paya hoon
tum se hi
tum se hi
raaste mil jaate hai
manzile mil jaati hai
tum se hi
tum se hi
na hai yeh paana
na khona hi hai
tera na hona jaane
kyun hona hi hai

love, h

See Shar
There are amazingly gifted writers here. Stick around and find that balance and you will learn more than you can ever imagine.

It is easy to misinterpret what people's intentions are. Words can be very tricky. I believe everyone here, even if a bit prickly, have good intentions.

That's why I said it was nice to see the videos. Especially with the sound off so you can see the intention dance around the eyes before getting lost in the words.

Oh, but well written words are food for our soul. Two people creating pictures for the minds eye. The writer and the reader.

Yo Bonnie
I am so enjoying this summer day. All of my commissions are done and I get to work on some of my own pieces. I'm soooooooooooooooo excited. I have a month to reorganize my studio and paint a new series of canvasses before the next wave of commissions.

Last night I rode my bike down town and listened to street musicians, a jazz band and the most amazing hillbilly singer guy with his beard and hair and bright pink sunglasses. The night air here is perfect this time of year. Our downtown is just hoppin'.
Yo

How are those watermelons?

peace and love

derek

Hi MissHipp(I like that name :)

We are all adults here and if one of us chooses to be alienated by another's comment, well, that is our choice, really, though, we tend to take it all in stride and end up taking a ride on the rollercoaster of differences, views, opinions and personalities....meaning don't take yourself too seriously in this playground or another's sour mood too seriously...sometimes we are all lovey dovey and the next we are slinging the hash back and forth....just hang in and write to your heart's content!!!

it is a fine and dandy day to go to a party...off I go...ruth

my mother quietly showed me
when i was very young
how to spit those watermelon seeds out
politely on the ground

i was kinda shy and proper then
though i was very young
so I'd spit those watermelon seeds out
and then i'd look around

what if i swallow one
i asked my mom in fear
she said i shouldn't worry
they'll just grow out your ear

derek

in memory of Shel Silverstein
yet another one of my heros
there are so many

Yo Shel

OK, now it's time for some homework, read up on the trolls article that Irv references in #95.

Lest the alienation thing grow any more, Diablo's two comments (golden rule and JFK vote in 1960) weren't written by Irish (which is how I name Diablo), but rather by our resident troll, with the Intent to light a fire under some conversation with a more serious message, since we were maybe all being too light-hearted. The 1960 comment was meant to be refuted

Sharon, you did a great job coming in on your steed at top speed to correct the misinformation. Kudos to you. And the real Irish didn't feel a thing, though I'll bet he's a bit pissed with the troll for usurping his ID once again.

Anyway, it's summertime and I'm off to go out into the fine sunny afternoon to see what I can see.

love, h

a hug to you Derek, for a great poem.

love, h

dear Sharon,
wherever you are - it is sacred ground because you are there!
love,
~ Kate

heather, is a sunny day - and ripe for outside fun - and some watermelon, and seed contest with Derek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wasftkYiVX0

Stroll, did you say, me2

btw, Firefox3 served my computer up with a nervous breakdown. I've tried twice. Should get genned up but so time-consuming. Irv?

Meanwhile on Yahoo browser, (IE+) 'Scanner.Power Antivirus,2008'(fraud) tried a forceful entry on the back of a seeming bona fide mail link, so watch out guys if you haven't got M Firefox. Don't be conned. Trying to 'close' the illegal pop-up just sets off a download. Close your browser rapidly.

Hey derek
The watermelons are growing rapidly. Just in time for the seed spitting contest. But now it is tomatoe time...although most don't make it from the garden to the kitchen as I can't resist.

Scott
I am sure your cousin will have no problem in finding lots of quality non-academic activities in Atlanta. I will be back on a full time basis in October and if I can help in any way, just let me know.

Tammy
Thanks for posting that Steve Martin video. That gave me just the laugh I needed.

Yo! going to have a tomatoe sandwich now.

Love you all.
bonnie

Someone told me that the reason IE was coming up with that message was that they had done a malicious software update, or some such, and that it only came up on sites that had traffic trackers(counters) but it has now been fixed. Have no idea if that is true or not. When are we going to get voice activated computers where you just tell it what to do and it does it. That's what I want.

Bonnie

O don't worry Miss I was just funning with Diablo. Times past here at intentblog we used to have some heated discussions, and people would leave for days, weeks, months, some even apparently forever (Oooo Norm), b/c well, no matter how openminded we can think we are we all develop a core set of beliefs that is just not open to discussion, or we will discuss it but we are not changing our minds . . .

Like my belief that we can all overcome our "innate" selfishness and become one big world of happy Jesusians (even though there are a lot of poeple with banks, guns, and governments that will disagree and gladly show you my dead body to prove it!).

Or take Ruth for instance, I am pretty sure it was Ruth, it might have been Kate, no . . ., it is Ruth (I think) that believes the United States should invade all nations that practice female genital mutilation (circumcisions for females that is).

Or other people that believe the government should have full control over women's bodies, or that natural disasters are a result of gay people living in this country, or that the United States is God's instrument to make people worship money, and the list goes on and on

Anyway . . .

Watermelon?!? I hate watermelon (never tried it but I still hate it)!

har har har

pax vobiscum

Thank you everyone, so much

Heath~I loved Tum Se Hi, the video and lyrics. It portrays the feelings and experience I imagine a great love to be. What is imho? Thank you for your kind words. And thank you for the heads up on the resident troll. Can I ask--who is it?

Derek~I'll find that balance. I want to learn more than I can imagine.

Kate~your wisdom reminds me to breathe, and relax, and just be right here, and know that everything is okay.

Tammy~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh4WwCzjtL4&feature=related

Ruth~your words helped me to spill my heart. And now, I'm crying again. Good tears.

I really love you all
Sharon

Craig,
:)))))
I think and laugh because of you
Thanks
Miss

Well Miss

In My Humble Opinion -imho-

Thank you

:)

Hi Sharon,

I have been an Internet addict since the World Wide Web was introduced in the nineties. I create 3D virtual worlds, real dream worlds :)

Dare to dream; it used to be the name of a 3D development program to create 3D virtual worlds.

Whether one creates them in 3D virtual reality or in one's visionary mind, the outcome is creative in each way and always adds another dimension to one's life.

I am dreaming and creating a labyrinth path in nature right now, that is an assymetric butterfly pattern. Just for fun :)

Now I just hope that the assymetric butterflies will soon arise :)

Love to you, always in all ways :)

Derek's words hold so much value:

To dream more while awake and to be more awake while dreaming :)"

Mieke

Hi Mieke,
Your labyrinth sounds really cool, really outside the box of what a labyrinth usually looks like. It's ok to dream. It's ok to go outside the box. In fact, you highly recommend it :)

I see Derek's words in a new light just this very second. I need to let myself dream and take notice while I'm dreaming. Seems like it always goes back to living in the moment, whether awake or sleeping, being present, letting distractions float by, like distracting thoughts, obsessions, worries.

Thank you Mieke. I seem to need reminders frequently. I appreciate them so much. Maybe in time, I will need them less. Maybe after awhile, I will get to remind someone else.

love you,
Sharon

irvine welsh is quick to label others as dumb...and one must wonder why... this loser dude...obviously... must suffer from a serious inferiority complex...what a crying shame..damn!

diablo:

"irvine welsh is quick to label others as dumb..."

Read #162 again. Although you certainly deserved it, I did not call you dumb.

"and one must wonder why... this loser dude...obviously... must suffer from a serious inferiority complex...what a crying shame..damn!"

I am glad you labeled yourself dumb and projected your own sense of insecurity.

***

Too bad, diablo neither has the basic netiquette to partcipate in a constructive dialogue with ideal netizens like Sharon (and several others) nor can he accept his mistakes when pointed out - to learn and grow, is apparently a red flag to him for some unknown reason.

***

heath:

"Lest the alienation thing grow any more, Diablo's two comments (golden rule and JFK vote in 1960) weren't written by Irish (which is how I name Diablo), but rather by our resident troll, with the Intent to light a fire under some conversation with a more serious message, since we were maybe all being too light-hearted. The 1960 comment was meant to be refuted"

Interesting conclusion/theory/imagination - alas! if only that were true - based on some past facts about a resident troll that may not be applicable.

And should we assume the schmuck in question (Diablo-Irish) has an iota of integrity to come out clean? Nope.

Another stroll is called for ;)

186...dude..u have zero credibility round here..and u are the well known trouble maker...who often indulges in the politics of smear...to make urself look smart...but cannot take it when returned in like manner...! say...have u returned to using that computer for comfort?

and what's up wih all that beheading stuff around the world? yikes!...these folks are just as crazy as mean ole irv...the super troll...damn! now watch him squirm and wince by that 'pillow'....hehe!

Jed McKenna has just written another book called "Spiritual Warfare"

He seems fairly uncompromising.

Spiritual Warfare is a good book to be on your - those of you who are spiritually inclined - list for winter reading.

Here's a short excerpt from ...
Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment:

"The distance between awake and asleep is so infinitesimal that it's hard to remember they're a universe apart. Zen parables about instant enlightenment seem suddenly probable ... as if just the right event .... the whack of a stick, a poignant non sequitur, an overturned bowl ... could suddenly snap someone into full awareness. The unawakened mind sees an enormous barrier ... the proverbial gate ... between itself and the awakened mind. The awakened mind sees with perfect clarity that no such gate exists. Hence, frequent dismay. The really strange thing about being awake isn't being awake; it's the people who aren't. They're walking and talking in their dream states; some of them declaring their deep commitment to waking up while doing everything possible not to. They might say they want to wake up, but it quickly becomes apparent that they have some dreamworld notion of what awake means
that might involve anything so long as it doesn't disturb their slumber. Ego's guard dog is ever vigilant, and it bites. They say that sleepwalkers get violent if you try to wake them; a curiously apt parallel."

There are also some articles/essays here:

http://www.articlesfactory.com/author/Jed%20McKenna.html

Sun Aug 3, 2008 8:26 am

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it's so freakin' corny to start using all that nerdy netiquet bs! stop it...now **ser!

From one of my favorite gurus/non-gurus:

"Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceding generation ... Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."

~just one missive from Richard Feynman in:
Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track

http://www.nyas.org/publications/readersReport.asp?articleID=41

Also ...
The pleasure of finding things out:
http://www.basicfeynman.com/interviews.html

Mon Aug 4, 2008 8:32 am

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Dear Irv

Comeon, you expect me to believe those comments were from Irish, who lives in an IM/txt world when it comes to comments here? Ya. Acchaa. Thik hai. Na.

love, h

Sometimes, it is logical to call names and insult,
especially in order to penetrate the Thick Skull
of the stumbling, stinking quasi-sasquatch who
calls for 'civility' here, yet persists in issuing
gratuitous and unjustified insults and challenges.

Few other than myself, it seems, are willing to dip into that foetid and stagnant swamp which is 'contact' with Diablo. Being immune to the smirking and winking immature emotional content with which he decorates his offered offal, and knowing as I do the farthest reaches of maniacal manipulations, I am uniquely suited to insert my point into his inflated insanity.

What seems to remain unseen, is the tragic trend
of hidden authoritarianism which, masked by
smilies and winkies, thuds its way across the IB-
scape, and by fiat, changing the tone and tenor
of this community. Such thundering thugs will not go without response, which directly addresses both
the content and intent of such stake-driving into
the heart of our better nature.

Those who merely sit back and hope that such
joy-killers as Diablo will merely tire of their own antics and 'go away' are sadly mistaken. And those who allie themselves with such elbow-abbing control freaks, will eventually be, someday, the sad victim of same.

Let it not be yet another case of 'too soon old and too late smart', eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYhF79QbZQ0

look at him squirm in feeble self-important defense and laughable glee...dude musta just pooped his pants and is waiting for the sitter to clean him up...from his discomfort...poor stroll...caught staring in the headlights again? hehe! whaohaahahahahahahahahahaaaaa..........

Despite the morbid sensibility, that's a strong piece of writing, dear Irv. It's bloody good.

Dear Tammy, I've always adored the rotoscoping technique used to animate that video, and the song is a classic of its time. Thanks for sharing, and many hugs & love to you.

love, h

Anyone for troll tennis?

Latah, guys (days later, most likely).

love & hugs to everyone, h

dude...now u feel betta after spewing ur lame, wordy bombastic lament? and getting a little cathartic consolation from our resident intellectual heather?

Irvine,

It's a simple case of Diablo enjoying becoming vulgar with women. He feels empowered when he's telling some woman what to do. It's his primo bullying tactic.

He wants to be a controller, which is so difficult for him because cheese ranks higher on any intelligence scale.

He relies on women being too nice or too intimidated to talk back to him. And it isn't even a question of swearing, it is actual vulgarity and abusiveness and many the women who participate here, including myself, here have been targeted by him over time.

Heath is free to state any opinion about Diablo here unless the moderators intervene.

As for Diablo... do they make industrial strength Listerine? Perhaps he could consider bathing in it. Just a rinse isn't going to do much for him.

~~ Freyja

freyja...how the hell did u get in the mix...$%^? oh...u are just his main 'female' alter ego who has no shame or integrity! so..when are u gonna show up as chris or vanessa or john or dot or whatver else?

Irvine,

Hi. We've never actually spoken. I just wanted to thank you for standing up for me. It feels good to be supported. And my comment really has nothing to do with Diablo. Hi Diablo. I'm not really sure which posts were written by you and which by someone posing as you. For my part, it doesn't seem to matter. Although it is nice, and it's comforting, to feel like you know who you are talking to and who is talking to you. But it's also interesting to think about... what if this isn't really Diablo, or Irvine, or whoever. I wonder if I can respond to this post without being influenced by the judgments I've already made about this person. Whether I respond silently just within myself, or openly by posting a reply. I mean, my first impulse when I read the "Golden Rule" essay was to respond as a reaction to judgments I'd previously made about Diablo. And some of my judgments weren't even mine. They were opinions of other people. Here I am assuming the judgments of other people. I'm not even thinking for myself.

So anyway, before I reacted to the "Golden Rule" essay with a sarcastic tone or a dig or whatever, I thought, what if someone else wrote this essay? What if someone I don't know wrote this essay? What would I think and how would I respond?

I have to switch computers. My lunch break is over, so I'll write more in a minute.

Sharon

So anyway...
I had a hard time responding in the present moment, without letting the past judgments I had made affect me. I mean once I got past the urge to be sarcastic and point fingers, then I had the urge to respond in a way that would please or impress you, Diablo. I think I finally responded from my heart. God, it's so hard to tell. There are so many forces and experiences and emotions that churn inside of me. Sometimes I just want to puke all over whoever triggers an uncomfortable or painful feeling in me.

But the truth is, I like you Diablo. You really crack me up sometimes, when you're not making me think or deal with some uncomfortable feeling. And I really like you, Irvine. At first I saw only the rough exterior, now I see something sweet inside. There is such a myriad of personalities here. I know you all know that. It's just such a beautiful thing. How often do you find so many people coming from so many different perspectives and so many different experiences communicating. Diablo, it seems like you have a title or a succint description for every person here, maybe even yourself. You may even have one for me. I don't know, I haven't been here very long. But I have a feeling you do. I'm sort of afraid to ask what it is. But I also want to know. If you do, and you want to tell me, I'll just cover my eyes except for a tiny slit so I can just barely see your post, like you do at the scary part of the movie.

Ok, Mieke told me to dream. I have a dream. Imagine an IB party, outside preferably. Imagine all these personalities milling around, talking, laughing, debating (or arguing). Could be an annual event, different location around the globe each year.

love you,
Sharon

Tammy, I'm still trying to figure out how to communicate using only videos. Give me a minute.

tammy...u know i enjoyed teasing u...usually mean well...but multiple, like a nosy nabe...always buts in where he does not belong...

over all...most of the ladies here are great...

katie...our nature-loving angel...is consistently sweet..

tammy...is too, but gets cranky and shows it most of the time...

i really miss north...i hope she works things out and come to our three-year playground..

sharon impresses me a classy lady who is honest...and well-meaning...too..welcome!

but in the background...lies always...that killjoy, nosy, nerdy pest (not going away anytime soon) who is still trying to find his niche round here...i don't think i cud ever warm to someone like that just like i cud never warm to that wingnut misfit in washington..they are like two peas in a pod...mutiple is smarter than bushman...most are!

derek...is a harmless pussycat...

deep at heart that spoon-bending dude is a good guy...who is tempera-mental...he compliments and condemns without skippin' a beat...now if he can only get over his obsession...

the emperor is consistently a nice guy...emperor u are welcome over to the Ranch for a cold one..multiple..u are not...

heather is class act, witty and smart...she is a great, descriptive writer...she paints a clear picture with words...that is talent... latent talent!

damn!

thanks Diablo
how cool

Oh Diablo
You make me feel positively animal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kURNZvjz9wI&feature=related

Save it Brotha! Yr diggin ya self deepa! And you know it!

I have come to feel genuine lovingness towards some whose presence has been initiated through this online medium.

You are one of them, Simon.

Thanks for the heads up on Wim/Wym...

I'm grateful for the ways the tapestry of our lives is enriched through such sharings.

Sharon, you're absolutely right about us reacting and not knowing what people are feeling or experiencing... people talk in very cruel and brutal and derogatory ways to each other online that leads me to wonder if some are aware that real people are on the other side.

For me being aware includes awareness of where everyone is at. And the willingness to come together knowing we have each walked a different path, and may have different needs for what is most important to explore next. For one that may be Chopra, another Science & Reason and another helping out at the local Red Cross.

I do see compassion expressed in the willingness of members in general spiritual smorgasboard of blogs and forums, to continue to reach out to each other either in a general tone of friendliness and/or forgive or start afresh after conflicts or disagreements occur. Some here carry grudges that date before my time so i cannot always understand why two amazing people bash each other. Yet i can understand that too in general as i have felt hurt in the past and there are some voices i am more cautious around. But that is part of learning to adjust to the flavor of online. Any moment an attack or criticism may come, but also any moment a post may be shared that inspires or touches me deeply or simply makes me laugh or feel curious.

What sometimes lingers from what i can see is when threats are made. And blind eyes are turned to those who make threats, while others have privileges. However that is how the human world operates.

I see there are some deeper connections among different members and i have come to feel it is indeed true that there is a community here, in many ways like a family.

There IS a sense of familyness at IB.

That some of the "family bickering" when it damps down makes it possible for other flavors to be experienced here, in this room.

"Disagreement" is often regarded as criticism, and criticism is often regarded as a personal attack, and then a long and very predictable series of exchanges can develop in which the same old same old stuff happens once again.

Ruffled feathers ... pick your barnyard metaphor. The Tao Te Ching might see such events as rainstorms which clear the air, things that should whirl in and whirl back out, peace restored. Prisons and hospitals are places people are only meant to stay in for minimal periods.

My view is that most of that emotion is a waste of time for all concerned, "a failure to communicate." When people start using emotionally freighted words, even, I start to think of the thread as unproductive. 'Life is too short, so love the one you got, cuz you might get run over, or you might get shot ...'

These games have become such a standard part of ongoing internet fishbowl communities that they can provide comic relief. If they are funny, there must be something of value there. God knows we are wits and wags. If they are boring (repetitive) and/or vulgar ... off with their heads!

John,

From my perspective, internet discussion blogs are sufficiently 'detached' that folks feel free to express in ways that they rarely do in person or even in a phone conversation, and so they tend to draw the angry and the trolls looking for ego drama. That's just how it is, and just because it's called a spirituality blog doesn't seem to change that pattern. I've concluded that if I don't care to hang out with bikers, I really have to avoid the biker bars. There's nothing to be done about it.

Simon ...
you're so full of shit ...
and as full of your own 'theories'
of what everyone 'else' is about, as
several others here.
this is exactly what i detest about IB ...
the negativity and need to 'wind' ...
to show how 'realized' you are.

suggestion ...
for you and several here ...
get a damn life.

Yo Tammy
Red Rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z8PkA0wK5Q

And this from our friend Lyle Lovette

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-LKkaJQkqo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9HVFw0jj00&feature=related

Oh Lyle I have a boat
I am often found
drifting.......................

I do not know why but all these recent posts here remind me of a wonderful book I have read a couple of years ago: "Sophie's world"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie's_World

There are several links to other interesting pages on this wiki page.

I remember I also saw the movie and at the end was Plato's vision of ideas: ideas as wide as all reality....

Talking about creativity and many, many (virtual) worlds. :)

hi I.A.
(comment # 215)

do you find living each day,
repetitive
boring?

do you think many 'new' thoughts each day?

do you prefer silence?

Just curious,
(I like questions)

~ Kate

From: 'Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar...' by
Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein.

"If you have some ice cream I will give it to you.

If you have no ice cream I will take it away from you.

That is an ice cream koan."

"My view is that most of that emotion is a waste of time for all concerned, "a failure to communicate." When people start using emotionally freighted words, even, I start to think of the thread as unproductive." John

When someone (like Simon) says "I'm sick and tired of their shit/nonsense/story" What is really meant is "I am sick and tired of having the same reactions."

'Bugbear' eh? That's twice today. Would that be onomatopoeic or subliminal?

Mieke
You humble me.

love

derek

Ed
I think words and intentions have a magnetic attraction to them.
Coincidence is that stuff in between the magnets.

derek

"dot"
210

Do you detest the negativity that comes from you AS MUCH as you detest the negativity you see in others?

From here, it doesn't seem so.

I don't understand what the difference could be that would allow you to express your own negativity so cavalierly, while being so ruthless....even brutal... with those you judge as having expressed negativity 'first'.

I realize I risk having the fire of your ire turned this way, in even saying anything, but "dot", sometimes it's so very painful to just sit by and not say anything while you breathe fire at 'shadows'....scorching anything that steps in your path.

I wish for more for you.

mini

"Do you detest the negativity that comes from you AS MUCH as you detest the negativity you see in others?

From here, it doesn't seem so."

you are mistaken.
yes ... i do detest it ...
as it seems here at IB ...
that's all that ever gets
anyone's interest.

what i find interesting is ...
and you prove my point ...

'my' criticism ...
you will see as negative ...
but your own as positive ...
as 'correcting'.
and then ...
even this from me ...
will be seen as negative ...
and your reply once again ...
'correct' ...
and on and on it goes.
are you not as guilty as
anyone who replies?
what about YOU?
can YOU take your own ...
UNSOLICITED advise ...
that you seem so willing
to dispense to everyone else?

"I wish for more for you."

how kind an considerate of you mini ...
how, holy ...
do me a favor, eh?
please mind YOUR bidness ...
instead of mine and everyone else's.
i think that should be more than enough
to keep you busy.

don't wish more for me, lady ...
you have no idea what i have or don't have ...
you're too busy trying to correct the world
to actually listen ...
to even notice ...
much less pay attention to ...
the positive stuff i try to share here at IB ...
have always tried to share.
that ... you completely miss ...
while you concentrate on my criticism
of the negativity i find here.
you find what you look for.
so do i.
and what i find at IB...
in the majority ...
is indeed negative.
excuse me for trying to bring ...
--as suggested by irvine in the past, btw--
things that are positive ...
only to have him and others ...
suck every bit of life or anything affirming
out of it.

there.
now ...
you can feel righteous about me attacking you.
happy?

i doubt it.

dot

Keith,

Thanks a lot for posting the Randy Pausch link, on Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. It was the best lecture I've heard in a very long time. My wife and kids also loved it.

This fantastic guy did another lecture at the University of Virginia, a months later, on the subject of Time Management, and I highly recommend everyone watch IT. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0&feature=related

Thanks again Keith,

Kind Regards,
Stan

Why can't people just get along?

Or - is it *fun* to fight on the internet,
when it comes right down to it?

Maybe i am missing something.
Today i will be quiet and let you guys fight.
DING!
Round one!

In the previous week's Open Thread,

I posted #118:

Randy Pausch, 23 October 1960-25 July 2008

A last lecture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

***

Stan posted #149 (repeats the same link in #166):

I Just have to dedicate this gem by Wierd Al
to our boy Irving.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NgfpJWUYgbg&feature=related

Cheers

***

Thanks Kieth, eventually he gets what he needed.

"while you concentrate on my criticism
of the negativity i find here.
you find what you look for.
so do i.
and what i find at IB...
in the majority ...
is indeed negative."

To me, that's your key statement.

Why keep LOOKING for negativity if it pisses you off so much when you find it??!!

Why not simply choose to only SEE the positive?

Wouldn't it be so much easier to train your own EYE, rather than spew fire at anyone/everyone for confirming your expectations?

"excuse me for trying to bring ...
--as suggested by irvine in the past, btw--
things that are positive ...
only to have him and others ...
suck every bit of life or anything affirming
out of it.

there.
now ...
you can feel righteous about me attacking you.
happy?

i doubt it.

dot"

Can you see the positive aspects to my response, dot?

How hard have you been looking for them?

mini

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQy4AHstPKE

It kind of feels like the happy end of A Midsummer Night's Dream around here . . .

arrrr

she moves in mysterious ways

it's alright, it's alright, alright

. . .

yes she does, the spirit,

and yes it is

...

Irving,

Sorry I missed your post #118 in last thread, and only saw Keith's #114 here. I am happy to give you some of the credit for bringing Randy Pausch to my attention.
Thanks, and

Cheers,
Stan

"..isn't it that moment when life takes away one's breath?

....stops one's brain from thinking and one floats in Being?"

No, those descriptions are the named add-ons.

Btw, I.A.,

Are you packing a 500# bag of bargain-basement troll-food, and passing it out as governed by your own whim? Think about it.

mini

"To me, that's your key statement.

Why keep LOOKING for negativity if it pisses you off so much when you find it??!!"

open your eyes!!!!
people here ARE negative ...
i'm not making this up.
just take a look around.

"Why not simply choose to only SEE the positive?"

stick my head in the sand?
pretend things are other than'
how they are?
don't think so.

"Wouldn't it be so much easier to train your own EYE, rather than spew fire at anyone/everyone for confirming your expectations?"

hahaha ;)
so easy to dispense advice isn't it?
you mean do as you do?
damn ...'
you're an offender here
when it comes to commenting on
someone's behavior that doesn't
meet your 'high' expectations ...
needing to 'correct' them.
you're the poster girl for
unsolicited advice.
where do you think i got the idea. ;) lol

tell you what ...
take care of your own bidness ...
your own shortcomings ...
your own dissatisfaction with people ...
before you come giving advice to me ...
or others here.
YOU ..
show me.
then i might listen to what you
have to say.
until then ...
it's just so much blah, blah, blah.

"Can you see the positive aspects to my response, dot?"

no.
show me.
you are interested in 'correcting' me/others ...
for doing the same thing you do ...
as if YOU were above it all.
you aren't.
so put it in a sock.
it gets old, mini
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"How hard have you been looking for them?"

i'm sure you have good intentions ...
think you are being kind and concerned ...
and of so nonjudgmental.
you aren't.

don't TELL me ...
SHOW me ...
with your own behavior.
be an example.
you want to stop this negative
discussion?
then stop it ...
stop contributing.
simple as that.

i'm done ...
not going to continue to play
this little game you so love
to indulge in ...
so you're the *only one that
can keep it going ...
who can keep dragging it forward ...
just stop.
if you can.

ta ta

-dot-

* i realize that isn't true ...
that there are many here who
also can't not ...
jump on the bandwagon
and indulge themselves.
bidness as usual.
knock yourselves out.

I am with I.A. #233

I love what he's written.

"No, those descriptions are the named add-ons." ~Freyja

The immediacy of what is... is never a "special moment"...

"tell you what ...
take care of your own bidness ...
your own shortcomings ...
your own dissatisfaction with people ...
before you come giving advice to me ...
or others here.
YOU ..
show me.
then i might listen to what you
have to say.
until then ..."

You may well have just given the best advice available:

SHOW people [how to be positive, while surrounded by negativity]

BE what you demand of others?

mini

"You may well have just given the best advice available:

SHOW people [how to be positive, while surrounded by negativity]

BE what you demand of others?

mini"

let's do that then.
deal?
anyone else?

have a good trip (next month is it?)...
and watch out for that simon, dude. ;)

'The immediacy of what is... is never a "special moment"...' ~mini

If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary,
you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion. ~Lin-Chi

It is delusional to think that there is some-thing bobbing in the ocean of delusion.

I have had so many happy moments today
(and still there is an hour and a half to go :)

I love the questions,
and the answers
and the silence
inbetween

Thank you today, IB friends
I truly give thanks
for your presence

love,
always
~ Kate

"let's do that then.
deal?"

No. No 'deal'.

Either challenge yourself to do it, and be as unforgiving of failure on your part as you are on others -

or don't. (And stop bitching at others for not doing what you're incapable of doing yourself.)

By looking for deals, one looks for scapegoats:

"I would have, but you didn't, so why should I?"

mini

mini

???
holy crap!!!
talk about projecting negativity
onto what i thought was a very
positive post!!!

you've read so much into this ...
that is not there!!!
how about taking some responsibility
for you own take?

i told you before ...
you are the only one who can
continue to drag this on.
let it go, already!
i'm moving on ...
i suggest you do as well.

i give up ...
there is no pleasing you.

i do wish you a good trip ...
who knows ...
you might learn something. ;)

-dot-

I.A.: ...isn't it that moment when life takes away one's breath?

....stops one's brain from thinking and one floats in Being?

_________

Freyja: No, those descriptions are the named add-ons.

_________

mini: The immediacy of what is... is never a "special moment"...

_________

Indy: If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary,
you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion. ~Lin-Chi

_________

Chris: It is delusional to think that there is some-thing bobbing in the ocean of delusion.

_________

"We're all on our way out. Act accordingly."

~Frank Costello, (Jack Nicholson) in the "Departed".

How about this Chris:

"It is delusional to think these continual 'pin-prick' remarks are much dent with anyone."

I like it better when you stick your neck out and really say some stuff or just post your copy paste articles, rather than pot-shots at the remarks of others.

"Bobbing in the ocean of delusion" is just a figure of speech! And you are getting technical with the word "bobbing"? As if to take that statement very literally. Or the incessant "To whom?" questions. Is that supposed to be some kind of Zen stick knocking someone into a Great Aha! ???

Poking at others is a poor tactic, in my view. It was much more interesting when you were, for a brief period, bringing those wandering coils of vastness slithering slippery onto the page, ungraspable and yet so immediate.

Or whatever way you might find to venture into uncharted waters... allowing the unspeakable to speak through you. Creativity is not one of your issues!

So I'm astonished to see this retreat from really saying something, really sticking your neck out, to these pop-shots with a pea-shooter.

Very nice, Admin!

But what, I ask, is to lament; do we take the upstart words of a few, as a reflection of the eternal? Or are we to indeed cower in our darkened bunkers, blunt defense at the ready, to be discharged upon glimpse of ghost?

No. I say, and hear me well; the games (sic) displayed here by a few of the foul, have run their course, in all but the most enfeebled minds; and it is those few, who purloin the moment for the sake of gratuitous gestures of puerile self-aggrandizement.

Nonetheless, the sketch and scope of this old habit has become well-worn, like unto the grooves in an ancient Roman road; and like those fabled roads, they too lead but to the inner sanctum, in which Caesar ego plays in front of the imperial mirror, in denial of his (or her) crumbling zombie-image.

Such a twisted ruler is s/he, that Caligula is redeemed; any accurate reflection is denied, but makeup falls from the decaying visage. Now the robot-cheerleader holds forth, but the home team is unresponsive, having imbibed one too many blogs; truly, sense has fled, leaving behind a body of habits whose style is mere repetition of a mistake...

Hehehe. He got your neck sticking out, Indy. Works every time.

Cheers.

Intentblog is like an arcade shoot the sitting duck game. Sometimes you knock 'em down sometimes ya get taken down.

Marvelous Freyja......this is really good stuff...man you're a whiz with the written word. Good show and Good form old girl, I must say! Like unto the.......what was that shit again?...let me re-read and review......ah yes...."like unto the grooves in an ancient Roman road...and like those fabled roads, they too but lead......Caesar ego..zombie-image...Caligula...decaying visage........" This shit is thrilling, and talent plus material.....have you ever submitted to Harlequin Romance people?......they've got room for a big boy with a zippy pen such as your own self ma'am......

"Intentblog is like an arcade shoot the sitting duck game. Sometimes you knock 'em down sometimes ya get taken down."

In some way, [derogatorily speaking], Intentblog is like the Jerry Springer Show and Jerry [Admin] says it is "good" for you ;) Anything goes and it is certainly good of 'ratings' of the show... as reflected in the number of the members and number of the posts ;) and the blog traffic.

See, I am trying to 'manipulate' Admin in making the blog more like 'how I want it' ;) Will it work ;)?;) I sure think so ;) Nothing works like perseverance... until you are 'tossed out' for non compliance and opposition.

Regards,
mani

as one writer said:

we may need to moderate our crescendos
:)

goodnight all - dream well
and love
from
~ Kate

Amen and Amen Admin

I just read through this thread and it was too much fun. I am humbled by the writing skills here. 246 and 247 gave me chills, such rhythm, such flow and so fun to read, thanks.

I do believe this place is coming to a balance and maturity.
I agree with Admin Kate. I have gone back and read many posts from the archives................yo

peace comes from playful disagreements

derek

Science of The Heart:
Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance

For centuries, the heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom. At the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) Research Center, we are exploring the physiological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain, thereby influencing information processing, perceptions, emotions and health. We are asking questions such as: Why do people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other positive emotional states in the area of the heart and what are the physiological ramifications of these emotions? How do stress and different emotional states affect the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, the heart and brain? Over the years we have experimented with different psychological and physiological measures, but it was consistently heart rate variability, or heart rhythms, that stood out as the most dynamic and reflective of inner emotional states and stress. It became clear that negative emotions lead to increased disorder in the heart’s rhythms and in the autonomic nervous system, thereby adversely affecting the rest of the body. In contrast, positive emotions create increased harmony and coherence in heart rhythms and improve balance in the nervous system. The health implications are easy to understand: Disharmony in the nervous system leads to inefficiency and increased stress on the heart and other organs while harmonious rhythms are more efficient and less stressful to the body’s systems.

More intriguing are the dramatic positive changes that occur when techniques are applied that increase coherence in rhythmic patterns of heart rate variability. These include shifts in perception and the ability to reduce stress and deal more effectively with difficult situations. We observed that the heart was acting as though it had a mind of its own and was profoundly influencing the way we perceive and respond to the world. In essence, it appeared that the heart was affecting intelligence and awareness.

The answers to many of our original questions now provide a scientific basis to explain how and why the heart affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance and personal effectiveness. Our research and that of others indicate that the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex, self-organized information processing center with its own functional "brain" that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs, and ultimately determine the quality of life.

www.heartmath.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=51/soh_4.html

to the dude (*e*d) with the fragile ego and bery bery thin skin...always seeking outside pity...imagine urself alone on the site after ur baneful hope to have all the real men with balls leave... for good... in which u can then roam, unimpeded on the playground...like an overly protected little tomboy...how much fun and challenge will that be for u? and who will u then predictably gripe and whine about? be careful what u wish for dude(ette)!

Yo Diablo
You got a camera in your computer?

You know I kinda picture you like the Ali G character on HBO.

derek

yo doodoman...dude!

1...i don't have a camera on my comp...it is a silly idea that might come back to haunt...u!

2...that HBO dude has no looks...whatsoever...he looks like he's been slapped around by his stepdad and the schoolyard bully...yikes!

3...how's the drifting biz on that boat, dude?

4...yo all! i got a go for a long bike ride! later!

Yo Diablo

everything comes back to haunt me bro, just fuel for the journey

Ali's my man, even if he does get some slappin'

driftin' is the blizziest biznas captain

and if I had my bike here I'd go for ride, yo wait, I do

late

derek

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BuoP67paOgk