Friendship!

I'm a Natator!

Have you ever spent time just floating? Using as little effort as possible to stay on top of the water with out sinking? If you are one of the unlucky ones that plummet like a rock, that has no buoyancy don't read any further. No! I'm kidding, keep reading.

Anyone that spends a lot of time in the water be it fresh or salt eventually arrives at a place of contentment and connection with everything. Not everyone can do it but those that can enjoy a oneness with the aquatic environment that is every bit as valuable as that gained from a session of quiet meditation or a trip to temple,church or the mosque. Even those that use aids to keep them afloat experience that same feeling of oneness at times.

I'm not suggesting that only those with a connection to water are somehow blessed with an extra ability. Water folks connect through water while people that aren't comfortable in water but that love the mountains or deserts connect through the earth. For others it is the connection they get through their religious affiliations. It is those that can connect where ever they are and in whatever medium they are experiencing, here and now, in the present, that are truly blessed.

Today's topic is not really about floating on top of the water or hiking in the mountains or camping in the desert, or going to temple, church or the mosque, it is about friendship. It is about connection, it is about how we hold those people who have impacted our lives in some manner close to our hearts whether we see them or not, whether we talk to them or not, whether we are interacting with them now or whether we will interact with them in the future.

A few days ago a friend who used to live here came back to visit for a week. This person is a water-baby and has made a name for herself internationally.....but to us...she is just our friend, she fit in to island life and bonded with us. She is someone we enjoy swimming with, someone we love talking to, someone we have fun showing things to, someone we love to entertain when she comes to visit, and someone we exchange funny haiku's with over the distance that separates us.

But she is not alone, she is just one of many who have left the island for a different life and for reasons so varied i can't go into them here. But they all share one thing in common, they became our friends and we never forget them. We love having them come to visit. We are proud of our homes and get great pleasure from their enjoyment.

This morning our friend came to swim with us but it wasn't like the usual work out swim it was more like doing intervals then stopping because " OH MY GOSH did you seeeeee that huge turtle?" " i think he gets the prize for the longest tail ever," said one swimmer. "No, no, no that last one was bigger," says someone else. Or, "Hey, did i tell you about bla, bla," which moves into all sorts of conversational tangents, books, politics, religion while we are out there floating over the abyss.......saving the world....... while not thinking about the fact that we are in shark territory and they have been a bit too aggressive of late and we should be wary..... when someone takes our mind off the shark and says," What do you think of those waves?" I'm having trouble swimming, my stroke sucks in these, i'm getting airborne off the swells, how about you? Or, over here, over here look at this school of squid....are they cuttlefish?

i had to look this one up because i had this feeling i had been wrong with my answer and although they are from the same class.... cephalopod..... its a different order they belong to. But this was a minor thing because this morning we could care less about time or even reality........our friend was visiting........and we were all enjoying her excitement at just being here. It always amazes me the ease at which one falls right back into the same way of communicating, almost as if they never left.

There are forces all around us drawing some together and repelling others. Repulsion happens when something is placed between the two attracting forces, figure out what that is and how to remove that something and most friendships can be repaired. i believe that we never loose our connections even when they have been adverse because that initial joy just doesn't go away. Those people pop into our heads, throughout our lives, at the oddest moments and re-acquaint us with the things we liked about them, even over the anger.

It is the totality of intra molecular forces, those of atoms, molecules and their surfaces that continues to draw us together, especially over vast distances. We are all composed of the same stuff and maybe it is the water, maybe it is the earth, for some it may be that dedication to doing something regularly, whatever it is we all experience connection in our own special ways, cherish it. When that memory of a friend pops in, savor it, or contact them cause life is short and you may have missed out on something really wonderful.

what would you do if?

Do you ever wonder what would or could have happened if you had only done something differently? That play that keeps repeating itself in your mind, what if I had only done B instead of A maybe C would have happened instead of D.

Many claim that if it weren't for the liberalism of the 60's, society would have been more moral and stable, we would see more responsibility, lower divorce rates etc., but maybe the consequences of this alternate reality would have been less innovation as a result of a lack of creative individualism. Life today might have had fewer people resisting authority, even more pollution than we are experiencing now, more poverty, poisoned food sources, malfunctioning medicinal remedies, no Ipods, cell phones or WiFi and a host of other things i can't come up with at the moment. The imagining of that moral, stable "better" world might have left us at a place we really didn't want to live in.

For some it is easier to reside in the what might have been world rather than harmonizing with the what is. When we imagine that only a single incident like liberalism of the 60's can be enough to change our present, we indulge in what might have been. This single element did not and could not create all the change we experience today. It is not the sole determining factor.

The 60's brought in a renewed focus on love as a result of the war they were watching being waged in their names. For many of the participants the time spent trying to educate the nation was filled with failures and yet, here, today, they are being credited for the lack of morality in present society.

All of us on some level indulge in what if's. But when we indulge in what if's we leave out other options for why the world and our way of living is functioning as is. We fail to stay present, we live in the past for all of us can only work with what we have not with some fantasy alternate reality.

Consider this..........maybe, the lack of morality today is a result of self-interest rather than liberalism and the result of choices rather than mistakes.

Just look at the laws of nature some say for it explains mankind.

Natural law as described in the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences had stoics being indifferent to the divine or natural source of the law: "the Stoics asserted the existence of a rational and purposeful order to the universe (a divine or eternal law), and the means by which a rational being lived in accordance with this order was the natural law, which spelled out action that accorded with virtue. Stoics emphasized the universal ideas of individual worth, moral duty, and universal brotherhood."

The Christians on the other hand had the Fall and according to Wikipedia

"some Christians believe the Fall corrupted the entire natural world, including human nature, causing people to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the gracious intervention of God. Protestants hold that Jesus' death was a "ransom" by which man was made forever free from the sin acquired at the Fall, and other denominations believe that this act made it possible for man to be free without necessarily ensuring it. In other religions, such as Judaism, Islam, and Gnosticism no term "The Fall" is recognized and varying interpretations of the Eden narrative are presented. Natural Law still plays a role in all these."

"Prelapsarian" refers to the sin-free state of humanity prior to the Fall. It is sometimes used in reference to sentimental recollections of a past time when conditions stood in sharp contrast to the present." It demonstrates the what if mankind could have had if only they had followed orders.

Many philosophers, modern and ancient both, have used the term "Natural Law" to argue and dissect the human condition. Philosophers added to the catalog of man made discourse and man made "laws" concerning "Natural Law," our "rational" participation in what if scenarios encouraged the acceptance of "Natural Law".

My question concerns "Natural Law," can we consider it an invention by man? Nature has never once insisted upon or commanded us to use any "natural laws" that we must follow, but many men have insisted that according to nature this or that is so and mankind must adhere to that law.
Again we aren't following orders.

So...........just to throw this out there, can you consider that there is no such thing as a Natural Law?

Eons may pass until mankind completely penetrates to the core meanings of our existence and then there may be no meaning at all. We have become deaf to each other in the present while our belief's from the past try to conquer all. We may just be here along with every thing else living and dying as part of our earth's cycle. Why is it that modern researchers who delve deeper into the chemical makeups of everything on earth continue to find symbiotic relationships dominating? Where is this conversation?

Some of us can spend too much time in the substrate, learning the lessons, filling in the slots, and thinking about what if"s. We can't look ahead the way you do in chess, we can plan but we can't know absolutely or see the end result until after it has happened.

Consider this....maybe if we step back, take a look around and go on a longer journey in the present maybe more will reach that goal of "happiness in this life" faster. If you are indulging in what might have happened or what if ‘s, you may have forgotten a piece of knowledge that has been stored in your unconscious, something left there which had no rule for handling. Access to it was lost but it never left storage, it is still there waiting to be opened on a different level.

Choose to examine it.
Take it out of storage.
Work with it and use it to divest of the what if's.
Take action now. Don't wait for tomorrow.

swimming the currents of the intertubes

Has anyone noticed while swimming along the currents of the intertubes a trend with numbers?
Daily on Yahoo, AOL, Digg, MSNBC, and all the other similar story aggregations the one getting the most hits has a number in it.




Top 10 ways to please your lover.
Top 5 things that happened at the hearings
7 Key Genes predict brain cancer survival
14 Regrettable professional sports promotions
8 things your contractor won't tell you
6 ways to swear effectively
10 surprising sex statistics
9 Inspirational Presidential speeches
15 Rites of Passage
4 reasons why something sucks
10 things you might not know about socialized medicine

i'll bet you want to read one of those don't you?
i only put one link in...the one to socialized medicine the rest you can google and find on your own.

Here is another frequent set of articles. They start with a question.

Do you drink too much?
Can you keep a secret?
Do you really want to live forever?
What does she/he really want you to do in the bedroom?
Do you have a white roof, learn how to fight global warming?
Did you know scientist's found the worlds oldest wily?
Why did squid wash up on a California beach?
Bush's CIA: Who deserves the assassin's bullet?
Which Bruno outfits are your favorites?

i thought about putting the links in for all of these in case you wanted to follow up but it is just as easy to Google them. Are you a statistic......... do these types of stories sucker you in? Writers understand how to grab your attention and by the looks of things on line numbers and questions get the most hits.

Moving on i have also been thinking about idioms. Idioms are phrases that have meanings different than the actual words. i wanted to play with them to see what kind of a piece i could put together. Unfortunately i'm not a comedian, if only i knew how to do humor i'll bet this could be really funny and fun. But in researching idioms i've learned that they tend to be pretty serious. Teaching us lessons and all that.

i put this little piece together....tried to keep it light.......see how many idioms you can find....the answer will be at the end.

The calm before the storm, as luck would have it.....is that period of serenity before it all hits the fan...usually happens when two people or the circumstances are at an impasse. One person hangs the other out to dry but maybe the shoe is on the other foot and these circumstances have gone from positive to negative. It may be the person who has turned off the spigot was making other people experience their ill will and now they are experiencing it also. The bad karma they left behind came back to bite them.

Too many try to reinvent the wheel when they are arguing. Things are easier said than done and remember when you are in the midst of a battle if you are given lemons make lemonade. You can make something great out of something that could have gone sour cause all's well that ends well and really.......... its better to try and understand the devil you know rather than the devil you don't.

Why do some people turn on those that have supported them? Why do they repay kindness with a wrong? They get a chip on their shoulder and they can't get it off. They can't understand if you give them a taste of their own medicine because that only works one way and they don't see the bad karma biting them back. Sometimes the easiest way to resolve it is to cut to the chase. Don't waste time beating around the bush because drastic times call for drastic measures.

The saying "don't bite the hand that feeds you because you may need it someday" is one to keep close to your heart. You don't want to bite off more than you can chew when repaying those who supported you when you needed them. But remember that old adage...casting pearls before swine is all about wasting good deeds on someone who does not appreciate them. Don't put something in front of those that don't value them. We all have axe's to grind but it is better to let the water flow under the bridge.

If you are crying over spilt milk you have already lost something, you can't move on, and you can't remain upset over it. Stop going up a blind alley, set the wheels in motion and get started. Sometimes you have to go back to square one because you are stuck between a rock an a hard place.
We can all get stuck in some frame of mind that does nothing for our future. Putting your tail between your legs is unnecessary.
We all know that every cloud has a silver lining, so drop the cock and bull story, and stop being so fixed in your ways.

You know how it is....when it rains it pours because a lot of things can go wrong...i can
foam at the mouth all i want.....but you should just wake up and smell the coffee. Go out on a limb, go the extra mile, stop with the knee jerk reactions and let bygones be bygones. The ball is in your court, pick it up because then you will have the best of both worlds and its better late than never.

Remember, no matter the consequences those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.

46

Human symbiosis

While alive we humans, who may have evolved from symbiotic relationships between bacteria's, continue to learn why symbiosis is so important to our well being.

The definition of symbiosis is commonly described as the interactions between diverse biological species. We are not diverse, just different. Definitions of symbiosis include three categories of symbiotic relationships, mutualism, parisitic, or commensal. A primary aspect is to describe it as one beneficial to both parties.

However it is defined, the main premise is one of positive interaction.

The biologist Lynn Margulis, famous for her work on endosymbiosis, contends that symbiosis is a major driving force behind evolution. She considers Darwin's notion of evolution, driven by competition, as incomplete and claims that evolution is strongly based on co-operation, interaction, and mutual dependence among organisms.

If we look at humanity one of the precepts for all human cultures is to contain your desires.

Caving into desire is to act unnaturally which upsets the natural harmonic balance. Well maybe it doesn't. Maybe caving in to desires that don't involve violence is what creates change in a symbiotic universe.

Much of the ancient and modern meditations on human behavior admonish us to "return to nature" yet not to allow our "free will" to gain "free rein." To seek a "calm" state free from desires. Well maybe these meditations on human behavior are wrong. Maybe that calm state free from desires is what allows the violent in society to prevail, to run roughshod over the rest of us who are remaining calm and containing our desires.

The fact that suffering, pain and death will never end as long as humanity inhabits earth is minimized when we curb our desires. Suffering and pain can be diluted but death will always be the end result of life as we humans know it. Curbing our desires means that love, kindness and compassion take a back seat to pain and suffering.

Interactions of the human kind are dictated by habits of mind. We passively accept the manipulation of our societies by religious and political leaders. We become sheep. We subsist in a state of inertia, the continual everyday life that we accept even when there is no apparent connection between the overriding realities that are bombarding us from outside our comfort zones, and that of a better world.

Death and love, those are the strange passions of humanity that guide our every action. They bind us to each other and split us off. We know we are all fellow participants in spaceship earth and yet many of us work against each other for our own ends which aren't always beneficial to all. This working against each other has been encouraged, even though the historical record shows that interaction and cooperation exhibit more positive results.

The art of symbiosis is not manipulation. No entity is manipulated, benefits accrue either to both or to one of the participants without devastating harm to the other. If the relationship ends in death for one, the other quickly follows making this form of symbiosis the least likely to achieve successful evolutionary progress. The most ideal symbiotic relationship is mutualism when both parties benefit.

According to Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan,

"Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking."

Today, networking has taken off. The internet has changed the combination of our linkages to those all over the world. It has created a more positive environment for transferring ideas and solutions to many more people just as did the radio and television.

All of us, at one time or another, need helping hands during those big times of our lives. We connect through business, family, friends and acquaintances. Symbiotic relationships are a part of nature and our beings. Recognizing the important role it plays in changing our lives is just another step we as humans are taking to make this world a better place for all of us.

Random Phenomena

Random phenomena can either be single events or those occurrences that evolve over time in a random fashion. Our lives exhibit these random circumstances on a daily basis. More often than not some fiasco will insert itself into our well laid plans and we must change the final outcome.

How that fiasco, failure, disaster, mess or washout happened is insignificant. What we did with it and how we fiddled with it is significant.

For example, if you have told a lie, some falsehood, some made-up story, an invention or some deception to an acquaintance, friend or family member your outcome will evolve over time. Randomness comes into play.

Initially, you may believe the outcome to be positive. The result of your action, at the time, has smoothed over the rough spot and you are off the hook. But the fib now lives with you, it follows you and may grow. You must always guard against revealing details that may ensnare you in falsehood.

Subjective logic takes uncertainty and belief ownership into account. A fundamental aspect of the human condition is that nobody can ever determine with absolute certainty whether a proposition about the world is true or false. Whether what someone has told them is true or false.

belief is the belief that the specified proposition is true.
disbelief is the belief that the specified proposition is false.
uncertainty is the amount of uncommitted belief.
base rate is the a priori probability in the absence of evidence.

Back to the lie, which does contain some truth. The truth and the lie are fused into one story which is not necessarily a complete fiction.

This is where trust comes in.

Many of us have an uncanny ability to exhibit warmth of emotion even when the underlying fervor is one of suspicion. We don't want to believe our friends or family or leaders are lying to us but there is the nagging indications that they may be. We may especially feel this way if they have lied to us in the past and we have caught them. They may not be aware that we have "caught" them and so they continue to repeat the lie.

We see this happening everywhere. It happens politically, it happens with religions, it happens with social relationships. Any human interaction can be fraught with untruths.

So how does one guard against falling for the "story" or "falsehood" be it religious, political or social?

By shining a light on the falsehood. By calling it out. By creating simple questions that lead to truth.
Guantanamo isn't closed.
We are still in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We still torture.
These issues have not gone away just because the administration changed.
There are still lies that need uncovering and even though many of us have stopped discussing these events they still live and breath in the lies that created them.

Hate Speech

All of us at one time or another use "hate speech" to describe groups unlike ourselves. We use "hate speech" to demonize the "other".

Today in the political environment "hate speech" has replaced civil discourse. On the internet when differences in political ideology come in contact with each other the use of "hate speech" by both sides dominates the conversation which essentially shuts it down.

Who are those that want it shut down and why do they not want the two main political parties talking to each other?

Recently the main issues being discussed on line revolve around Iran, health care, and the economy but this is what you see when you read comment threads.

DUMBOCRATS, DEMONCRATS(DEMS)

STEAL FROM THE WORKER AND GIVE TO THE LAZY LIBERAL WELFARE BREEDERS

Impeach Obama and his American SS hate groups.

The only people who watch NBC are nitwits, numbskulls, perverts, and a few demoncrats that have learned how to understand English.

Liberals= SOCIALISTS really scary word on AOL

GREED OVER PEOPLE, WINGNUTS(GOP)

YOU STUPID RED STATE REPUBLICAN HICKS SHOULD LEAVE OUR GREAT BLUE STATE NATION

CEO's losing billions and taking millions in bonuses for incompetence. That's really working hard all right, AT BEING A THEIF.

FAUX NEWS(Fox News)

The only people who watch FOX are nitwits, numbskulls, perverts, and a few wingnuts that have graduated from high school.

Right Wing=FACISTS really scary word on HUFFINGTON POST

The above is just a fraction of what poses as internet comments.

Demonization works to keep the ideologically pure on both sides hating each other.

But is it necessary?

And how do both sides stop it?

All of us need to realize that demonizing anyone relegates them to the "EVIL ZONE".
Once you have been categorized as "EVIL" nothing you say is heard. So why don't the powers that be want us to hear each other?

Because if we do listen to each other then we can't be controlled.

Is morality a social construct?

There are many that believe it is morally right to send teenagers(children) to prison for life.
There are many that believe it is morally right to kill adulterers.
There are many that believe it is morally right to circumcise women and men.
There are many that believe it is morally right to torture.
There are many that believe it is morally right to hang a criminal.
There are many that believe it is morally right to go to war.
There are many that believe it is morally right to abort a fetus.
There are many that believe it is morally right to kill an intruder.
There are many that believe it is morally right to collect data on all citizens.
There are many that believe it is morally right to engage in extraordinary rendition.
Hitler believed it was morally right to exterminate the Jews.
Stalin believed it was morally right to assassinate his enemies.

There are many that believe it is morally right to____________________________.
fill in the blank.

If we don't agree on what is morally right then there must not be any universal moral standards.

The Anthropological Argument for moral standards is as follows:
1. People in different societies make different moral judgments regarding the same action.
2. If people in different societies make different moral judgments regarding the same action, they must accept different moral standards.
3. If people in different societies accept different moral standards, there are no universal moral standards.
4. Therefore, there are no universal moral standards.

Think about points 3 and 2 are they accurate? What is the difference between moral judgement and moral standards and do moral judgements depend upon moral standards?

To understand the difference one must consider facts and belief and ones view about the nature of reality.

According to Emmanuel Kant our experiences are mediated through the human mind which universally structures perceptions in accordance with our relative time and space. Others have argued that our experiences are mediated by our culture....realizing that "our culture is the center of the universe," and "our culture" can be vastly different for peoples living in the same country.

Theodore Schick Jr. says: One's cultural focus may take obvious forms, in which one consciously believes that one's people's arts are the most beautiful, values the most virtuous, and beliefs the most truthful.
This is known as ethnocentrism...all culture's have it and it can be a problem when trying to understand ourselves and others.

Marcus and Fisher claim that in using portraits of other cultural patterns to reflect self-critically on our own ways, anthropology disrupts common sense and makes us reexamine our taken-for-granted assumptions.

Theodore Schick Jr. says

"It is widely believed that there are self-evident truths in logic, such as the statement that everything is identical with itself. But are there any self-evident truths in morality? Consider the statement, "Unnecessary suffering is wrong." This statement does not say that suffering is wrong or that no one has suffered unnecessarily. What it says is that whenever one is made to suffer unnecessarily, a wrong has been committed. To anyone who understands what suffering and wrong are, this statement should be self-evident.

If you do not believe that this statement is true, the burden of proof is on you to provide a counterexample. If you are unable to do so - if you cannot cite a situation in which unnecessary suffering is right - then any claim that it is false is irrational, for you have no good reason to make it."

Developing a framework for looking at domestic and international human rights issues through a lens not colored rosy might awaken us and help us create new methods for dealing with moral disagreements. It might provide common ground and encourage all to look at these disagreements from new perspectives.

First on the list may be understanding that we don't all agree on what is "morally right."

Go Ahead and Die

Tidbits

Years ago My Mom started a list of words she detested. Whenever i'd visit i'd ask her to get out the list and share her new ones. She never threw the list out she just kept adding to it. i love the time spent examining her list because it is always filled with lots of laughter while she explains why she just abhorred some word.

Well recently i've been thinking of making my own list and here are two:

Bipartisan
Kool-aid

Moving on.....today is a slow day as i have been working more on another project. i've been writing and tearing up passages, stopping to read when frustrated and thinking about why i really enjoy quotes, poetry and thoughts from other people. i collect them and keep them in a Miscellaneous file. Today i've dredged some up that i hope you enjoy. So to start...I'll go back in time.

One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives...Euripides

I don't know why I did it,
I don't know why I enjoyed it,
and I don't know why I'll do it again. Socrates

Demonization of anyone destroys the ability to think critically.

Is not general incivility the very essence of love?

All people, all over the world, be they rich or poor must establish their fundamental right to decent standards of living.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend, and step off before it is discredited." George Soros

Peace does not necessarily have to be something humans might achieve "some day." They contend that peace exists in the present, we can create and expand it in small ways in our everyday lives, and peace changes constantly. This view makes peace permeable and imperfect rather than static and utopian.[5] From a "Call for Many Peaces" by Dietrich/Echavarría/Koppensteiner

Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, "Independent mortgage companies, which are not covered by CRA, made high-priced loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts."- The real conclusion about the CRA and the mortgage meltdown is that laws and regulations did not make lenders engage in predatory lending, absence of oversight and lender greed did.

These people, the banks, the lenders, and the executives are the ones who are directly responsible for the crisis. Next in line are the politicians who are subsidized by these same big money interests who helped do away with responsible regulations and crippled regulatory agencies. All those who believe that the free market will properly regulate itself are the real culprits.

.
All told, according to statistics provided by the National Abortion Federation and not including this last murder, since 1977, there have been seven murders, 17 attempted murders, 41 bombings, 175 arsons, 96 attempted bombings or arsons, 390 invasions, 1400 cases of vandalism, 1993 cases of trespassing, 100 butyric acid attacks, 659 anthrax threats, 179 cases of assault and battery, 406 death threats, four kidnappings, 151 burglaries, and 525 cases of stalking specifically directed at clinics, their workers, or their volunteers in the US and Canada. That's over 6,100 cases of terrorist activity by the "pro-life" movement. And that's just what was reported -- the actual numbers are probably much higher

And to end the piece i'll let Rahman Baba himself explain here:

Live not with thy head showing in the clouds,
Thou art by birth the offspring of this earth,
The stream that passed the sluice cannot again flow back,
Nor can again return the misspent time that sped,
Consider well the deeds of the good and bad,
Whether in this thy profit lieth or in that.

open arms

In the Virgin Islands we have a stairway that usually leads to the main entrance of the great house. Many refer to the shape of the stairway as one of open arms and are known locally as "welcoming arms."

These stairways reflect the beauty and grace of these islands. They begin wider at the bottom with curves like open arms welcoming all. Unfortunately, in the beginning, these stairways belonged to the owners of slaves and they did not "welcome all."

The United States of America began this way. Opening up its vast stretches of land to all who wanted a new way of life. One free of the restrictions they wanted to escape. "Empathy" helped the birthing of democracy in this land, that ability to "walk in another's shoes." Our laws were created from an understanding of empathy and the trials and tribulations that had gone on in other countries and our own that we didn't want to continue to repeat. We had a steep learning curve that we still do battle with. Our laws continue to evolve as we learn more about humanity and the way we all interact.

Today we find the word empathy mixed up with the word "emotional" and "feelings" as a negative attribute. "Emotional" dominates the airwaves and empathy now means the word emotion almost exclusively. Emotion is a negative word these days.

Sampling another's feelings, understanding them, walking in their shoes does not mean you "sympathize" with them.

Empathy means your understanding has another layer.

Our country's laws would not be what they are today without those original drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution having some form of empathy. Empathy is not racism. Empathy is the ability to walk in another's shoes which is sorely lacking in this country today.

So the next time you read or hear the word "empathy" see if you are being played and it is all about "emotion" and "feelings" instead of "walking in another's shoes."

Remember "empathy" means you have another layer of understanding....not sympathy.

Quining

i've been reading "Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid" by Douglas Hofstadter for the past few months. This is not a book you read in a hurry. i like to read a piece at a time maybe a whole chapter so the full aspects can be digested.

A few days ago i finished reading a piece between the Tortoise and Achilles called Air on G's String. The Tortoise and Achilles interact usually following more theoretical parts of the book and have Escher paintings and Bach fugues thrown in to clear up confusion.

In this conversation between Achilles and Tortoise they discuss how peculiar a phrase can be when it talks about itself. Achilles talks about his head spinning and what kind of a lunatic mind would torment innocent people during the night by leaving a quined phrase on his answering machine. He repeats the phrase to Tortoise which i'll reproduce here but unless you've read the book it won't make much sense.

"YIELDS FALSEHOOD WHEN PRECEDED BY ITS QUOTATION"
YIELDS FALSEHOOD WHEN PRECEDED BY ITS QUOTATION.

This is only really significant to me and later to you because last night i couldn't sleep. All night long the Beatles song Blackbird was running through my mind. i tried to OM, i got up and tried to read, i got a glass of water, i tried everything but i couldn't get it to stop playing. So this morning i decided it was important, that i needed to pay attention in keeping with my philosophy not to ignore things.

i went to look up more information on McCartney. According to my research, McCartney has credited Bach with the inspiration for the music to Blackbird. "Hmmmmm Bach?" Thinks i, some may not realize it but throughout the song every single chord contains a G. "Air on G's String?" Thinks i.
So i go re-read the Tortoise and Achilles piece.

Its interesting that this song played over and over in my mind last night because it had to do with civil rights. i went to look up some more and found that McCartney had just recently sang this song to crowds at the Coachella Music Festival the end of April. He made mention of its history and said today, 40 years later, many of the negative civil rights issues had been addressed positively. The lyrics are timeless and i repeat them here in hopes that our human rights issues are addressed positively as well.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Oh you were only waiting for this moment to arise
Oh you were only waiting for this moment to be free

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIx1nhF7rU

i bring this all up because in many ways we as a nation are quining. We make reference to ourselves but the mirror isn't always that which is reflected back. We use phrases that talk about ourselves as a nation but they don't reflect much truth.

We analyze the statement, we investigate it to find its truth but then some of us find it is synthetic.

"WE DON'T TORTURE"
WE DON'T TORTURE.
is a quinned statement my government uses. They use it in a synthetic manner, i use it analytically understanding it not to be true.......who is correct?

Petraeus and Colin Powell are finally free of those who were taking this country towards a future where our talk and our actions were diametrically opposed. This weekend in an appearance on Radio Free Europe Petraeus said that President Obama's decision to close down Guantanamo and end harsh interrogation techniques(which he has testified against and helped write guidelines that are in keeping with our agreements under the Geneva Conventions) would benefit the United States in the broader war on terror. Powell said, on Face The Nation "We're doing it(closing Guantanamo) to reassure Europeans, Muslims, Arabs, all the people around the world that we are a nation of law.

Again, we as a nation are learning to see, like the McCartney song says "learn to see". The blinders are coming off and we are working towards healing that which ails us. Let us hope we don't decide to quine instead.

When all humans are considered humans and proceed to due process under our laws and all pain inflicted is recognized for what it is...only then will we be a nation whose words and deeds mesh.

"WE DON'T TORTURE"
WE DON'T TORTURE.

Fearful citizens

Captured detainees rights is a grave issue for the likes of fearful citizens.

Why?

These captured detainees would have all kinds of legal rights unavailable in an offshore prison claims these fearful citizens.

My question is why wasn't the US just as afraid of Timothy McVeigh our own home grown terrorist who blew up the building in Oklahoma? We were able to jail him, try him and even kill him without anyone fearing his escape.

What is wrong with us that we fall for this line of propaganda that the "terrorists" are incapable of being held in our prisons. That they are more dangerous than our own home grown terrorists. That we have to shiver in our homes worried that they are "going to get us when they might escape." Have we become a bunch of "sissies" afraid of our own shadows.

But more than that what gives us the right to proclaim them "guilty" before they have had a chance to defend themselves.

Close Guantanamo, bring them here and prosecute them properly like the civilized nation we proclaim ourselves to be but certainly aren't acting like.

health is not for profit

Passion Fruit Vine

"Bureaucracy" is a dirty word in today's health care discussion. "Government" another dirty word is perceived as a dysfunctional entity by many in the US.

But is it?

In the past i published a piece that outlined all the services government did well. Building and maintaining the interstate highway system for instance, Clean Water and Clean Air Dept. including sewage treatment plants. Our air and water is significantly cleaner than it was in the 60's and could be much better. Workplace safety cutting accidents and death by 40% since inception. The National Weather Service which alerts all of us including planes and ships to inclement weather. Food and Drug Safety and Science research. Did you know government pays for 80% of the basic science research in this country?

This list could go on much further. Other clearly effective programs and policies would include our National Parks, the Voting Rights Act, Social Security and Medicare, Rural Electrification, AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Cooperative Extension Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Crime Information Center, and of course all the Military. Again, these are just the accomplishments of government on the federal level – they don't count the thousands of other successful public sector endeavors on the state and local level.

Terminology is constantly used to refocus you away from things that could benefit you.

Government is bad remember that.

When you hear the word government....think "bad".

Programming your thinking is complete when you always think government is "bad" and doesn't function. When the programming is successful you are permanently entrenched in "bad" even though all over the country government is functioning more successfully than not.

Insurance companies are claiming that working with them to modify the health care land scape will save trillions over ten years but is this accurate? They say they will slow the rise of health care costs by one and half percent per year over the next ten years. They then go on to estimate a savings total of 2 trillion over ten years.

Please note that they say nothing of cutting costs. They are counting on their clever wording to disguise that what they are really offering is to merely decrease the rate of increase. They will still be making profits off your illness.

At that rate, in ten years we will be spending $2.5 trillion dollars on health care rather than the already outrageous $1.5 trillion we spend now. Assume their estimate of a 6.2% rise in costs each year and do the math. It is an offer without substance. The sick remain a vehicle for profit.

The players in this industry have for too long exploited us. Now is the time to return health care to the caring and end the industrialization by insurance companies.



The anti-trust laws need to be changed so doctors and hospitals are unshackled.

The argument goes that insurance companies take risks by insuring you. They pool the money just as a National Health Insurance Program would pool money. There is no difference except the profit motive is removed if we opt in to a public program. You are told your taxes will increase and yes that will happen. But the increase in taxes will be less than the premium you pay for insurance and those pre-existing conditions will now be covered.

Here is one proposal for a national health plan, i'm not necessarily endorsing it but at least it is there for the public to review. It covers everything and more than my insurance plan...how about yours?
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-703

Do Republicans have detailed plans to improve our health care access and coverage and could you send it to me to review?

Health Care is not a Human Right

The experience i had last month dealing with the medical community has reaffirmed my strong belief that all human beings, whether rich or poor, should never be denied medical attention because they lack health insurance. Claiming that emergency rooms will take anyone is not true.

Researching Universal Health Care has been enlightening and rather than write about what i've found i've decided to just out and out copy it verbatim. i didn't write any of what follows and most of it doesn't address how Universal Health Care would actually work here...that will come in another post. Unfortunately, i failed to compile the authors names as i was collecting quotes originally thinking i would write my own. So the blue writing is mine and the black belongs to others but i've lost track of who they are.

Health Care is not a Human Right? Some believe this. i don't.

Have you asked yourself if our Health Care System reflects our American values? Are we a nation that doesn't believe in cooperation, that we only believe in the rights of the individual not of the community?

Is it the right of the Insurance Industry to deny us Health Care, is that a Human Right?

The fact is that health insurance corporations don't provide health care at all and yet they make enormous profits from a system that exists to provide health care.

Health Insurance Corporations profits increase when people don't get health care. That is the bottom line. The more care they deny, the more procedures they refuse to pay for the more they profit at your expense.

They provide no health care and they profit most when Americans pay for health insurance but can't get access to health care.

The health insurance industry can never engage in constructive negotiations on this issue because all they're doing is negotiating how much profit they're going to continue to bleed out of our health care system.

We look like our values put an emphasis on unbridled greed when it comes to health care.

Keep that in mind as you continue to read.

The fact is that thousands of people in America are dying every year because they can't get health care and this means nothing. The fact that over 1 million Americans go into bankruptcy every year due to medical debt — even though most of them had insurance when they got sick — means nothing.

1. Corporate health-insurance companies don't provide health care.

2. Corporate health-insurance companies draw an enormous amount of money out of the health care system as profits while increasing the paperwork costs of managing health-care.

3. Corporate health-insurance companies make the most profits when people pay for insurance but can't get access to health care.

4. Corporate junk health-insurance has caused a lot of health-insurance holders a lot of headache, heartache, and agony by denying them the access to health care they thought they were paying for when they signed up for the insurance.

The facts are clear.

1. The US system is a failure. European national health systems work. They provide 100% coverage. They cost 10% of GDP vs. US 16% of GDP and they get better health care results, we are not number 1 in health care results. Profits are.

2. The US system is killing the US economy, costing it $800B a year, 6% of GDP. GM, Ford and Chrysler and many other US businesses are in trouble because the cost of US health care makes them non-competitive.

3. Viable plans such as those proposed by Physicians for National Health Plan and "Medicare for All" provide the detailed policy framework for moving US to a competitive effective health care system where we all pay in and where we all get access.

We live in a country where average working people are one health-care crisis away from disaster.

Health crisis is the 2nd leading cause of bankrupcy in the US.

We live in a country where people with chronic illnesses are thrown away because employers cannot afford to keep covering them.

We live in a country where small-business people are shackled by the health-insurance costs of their employees.

I could go on and on. But I'll sum it up with this:

Aren't you tired of living in a country with an irrational health-care system that is based on a parasitic industry glutting itself on the illness and misfortune of others.

Should money that is spent for health care go into profits, stocks, venture capital firms etc or back into health care?

Our system is one of fear and money not health care.

We experience unnecessary medical care because of a fear of liability which drives up costs. Every extra unnecessary procedure makes money. The push for profits by hospitals and insurance companies imposes the profit motive on their employees(Doctors and Nurses)instead of good health care.

In 2005 the top pharma companies together had $222 Billion in sales out of that $32 Billion was spent on Research and Development and $71 Billion in Marketing and Administration. The argument that the high price of drugs is related to research and development is a false one. The high price of drugs is related to Marketing, Administration and obsene profits($39 Billion) or 16% when Fortune 500 companies are averaging 5%.

Some claim that Universal Health Care will ration care. Isn't it obvious that we already have rationing by insurance companies?

Some claim its socialized medicine. So what, our Veterans get socialized health care and for the most part they like it. Our seniors get socialized health care and for the most part they like it too. No system is perfect but taking the greed out of health care might finally make the US number 1 in the world.

If congress people get gold-plated coverage, and the waitress who lives next door has to put a begging can at the convenience store (because she has breast cancer but no insurance and minimum wages)... well, can you understand why I've had it with the bloated defense budget and the bailed out banks and the profit-seeking middleman called "health care companies.""

"Those begging cans common all over the country, strike me as more obscene than anything you could get at an adult bookstore."

Maybe it is time you should ask what the insurance companies are doing at the table during this discussion concerning revamping Health Care Access?
Check out this link:
http://www.ourailinghealthcare.com/

century plant inspiration

The century plant continues to inspire me. Here we are nine months since it sprouted out with the big "C". It has reached for the sky, been knocked down, didn't give up, sent out new shoots, blossomed with beautiful flowers that then turned into tiny plants. It folded up into itself protecting its new growth. It got quiet and reserved gaining strength waiting for the next step.

i look at it every day and today i'm inventing a new world...goofed on that word...meant to write i'm inventing a new word....but both would be nice. The new word for today is for spirituality, connectedness, and the divine..... without the dogma of religion.

Hmmmm!

Thinking about the composition of the three words above, spirituality, connectedness and divine, i decided to take a bit from each to create the new word.

Spirconvine (spir'kon-vin). n.v.t. 1. this word represents spirituality, connectedness, the divine and much more.

Spir......... is that little sprite that jumps around in your brain refocusing your energies towards the spiritual when the mundane and difficult have all but destroyed your day. We all have spir but we call it different things. Spiritual essence sometimes fits the bill and while others may prefer to call it soul, i like to think of it as a little sprite that refocuses me. Spir activates the emotional, feeling, compassionate part of your humanness. It helps you grow away from fear and can guide you to greater things.


The con in the middle of this new word could be regarded as negative even though it represents the terms with or together with. Con, in this sense, is involved when the secrets are revealed.....you know.....con artists who try to misdirect you...the con has already happened but now you are faced with the con which you use to correct and reconnect. This definition of con is the end point that brings you back together it is your source of strength and inspiration. The stuff in the middle you need. The concon to make you think when you go off track that the path back is really not so difficult. Right?


vine represents the ascent to the divine. Vines climb and intertwine but use other supports for growth. Some vines climb alone while others grow over other plants to reach their pinnacle. Mankind exhibits the same growth pattern vines do. Vines can colonize and adapt quickly while continuing to grow. Simple structures, such as vines, can get you to the divine without dogma to impede your progress. Vines don't invest a lot of energy trying to reach the sun so it shouldn't take much energy for man to reach the divine but historically it has. Instead of making this task difficult the vine makes it easy.

The spir con and vine go together. Use your inner sprite, your ability to recognize the cons so you can connect and cultivate that vine.

Remember, spirconvine is a simple tactic that works without a lot of fuss.