“IT’S JUST A THING—THAT HAPPENED…”

Posted on June 17, 2013 by admin

“IT’S JUST A THING—THAT HAPPENED…”

Title and first paragraph below from The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection.

“…I sometimes wonder how things would have gone if I’d noticed at the time just that one essential detail that I never appreciated until so many years afterwards. If I had noticed it—well, I suppose the course of three lives would have been entirely altered. Somehow—that’s a very frightening thought.”

It was late at night and I couldn’t get to sleep so I grabbed one of Christie’s books and randomly opened to the page noted in the above paragraph. An irony, don’t you think, of how many ways our life lessons materialize; well at least until we learn them. I’ve assessed singular essential details throughout my years and like Christie writes: “I never appreciated until so many years afterwards.”

It is a frightening thought of how we impact others; with and without our awareness.

“JAPANESE IKENABA & HUMANKIND…”

Posted on June 12, 2013 by admin

Ikenobo is the oldest school of Ikebana, founded by Buddhist priest Ikenobo Senkei in the 15^th Century; thought to have created the rikka (standing flowers) style.

It took until the 17^th Century for the growing merchant class to develop a simpler style named seika or shoka. Shoka uses only three main branches, known as ten (heaven), chi (earth) and jin (man) and is designed to show the beauty of the plant itself.

So, you may ask, what does this have to do with me? May I first invite you to take in both creations? [Pictured]… Do you see their simplicity and yet experience their complexity?

If you do, a veil was lifted that reveals the essential core that is the oneness of heaven and earth and man (humankind).

“INSIGHT – A GIVEN OR AQUIRED?…”

Posted on June 10, 2013 by admin

INSIGHT: We all hope we have it. IT that keeps us protected by using our five senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. But the REAL question is: Are my five wits always firing? I would love to think so; but I’d be fooling myself.

In my mind’s eye I think all five senses surely fire when shock takes hold… You know: war or despots or disaster or hatred or poverty or inhumanity or… You add your own list here.

To ask the question of whether or not Insight is Given or Acquired is like asking someone: “Do you know what your future holds?” Yet, if we were to invite this query into our consciousness—in any given moment—we just might have the first sensitivity of how to salvage ourselves. It is then, using our five senses, we just might be able to lend a hand to humankind.

“TO BE OR NOT TO BE…”

Posted on June 6, 2013 by admin

“TO BE OR NOT TO BE…”

HAMLET – Act 3, Scene 1 {Shakespeare}

    To be, or not to be: that is the question:
    Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
    And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
    No more; and by a sleep to say we end
    The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
    That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
    Devoutly to be wish’d.

William Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613; yet relevant today. Like in Hamlet when he posed the above inquiry: “To be or not to be…” perhaps IS THE question forever borne by humankind? Why do I ask? Because I see it in every social medium and hear it in the Voice of The People.

“I WONDER…”

Posted on June 4, 2013 by admin

“I WONDER…”

WONDER is a word that means: be unsure or marvel or doubt. These three descriptors seem at odds and yet identify the essence of the word Wonder. So I wonder: Was I then and am I now unsure of where I’ve been and where I’m headed? I marvel at my accomplishment and also experience remorse for dreams blown away on hurricane winds. Yes, every choice I made came with doubt. But, if the truth be told, the choices I was too afraid to make I now mourn.

On our Earth, in the Year 2013, all humankind Wonder: How is it the foundation beneath what we thought were our Motherlands are war-torn in every sense of that word? The development of social media allows us access to on-the-spot heartbreak as we watch our sisters and brothers in doubt. It’s then—if the truth be told—the choices we were too afraid to make before we can either make now or forever mourn.

“Les Misérables & Redemption…”

Posted on May 24, 2013 by admin

NO, I cannot describe for you the commanding message behind the music of “Les Misérables;” based on a French historical novel by Victor Hugo first published in 1862. However, I can express that the message within the music is as crystal clear today as then.

Example: I dreamed a dream in time gone by when hope was high and life worth living.

Example: One day more; another day, another destiny.

Have we humankind forgotten that the miserable among us are one day them and one day us? That destiny is an irresolute moment in time? That moment-by-moment redemption is within reach requiring each of us to recognize IT.

“THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED THEN…”

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin

“THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED THEN…”

I’ve believed, for a very long time, that what happened in my past cannot be separated from my future—for haven’t I lived both?

FOR INSTANCE: Charles Augustus Lindbergh flew The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic nonstop and solo, direct from New York City to Paris on May Twenty. He arrived in Paris after thirty-three hours and twenty-nine minutes on May 21, 1927. How many of us since that 1927 event fly on the wings of Lindbergh’s past?

CONSIDER THIS: Lindbergh’s feat was intentional and reasoned out at the onset and after the fact; for years really. So I dare to ask: “Isn’t your life as worthy of notice and self-appraisal within The Spirit of Your Own Story? When you know THIS you will know what happened THEN.

“A REVOLUTIONARY MIND…”

Posted on April 20, 2013 by admin

“A REVOLUTIONARY MIND…”

To look for the reasons WHY inside a revolutionary mind is like looking into the universe thinking we see it clearly. We can never know the exact point where any mind turns from what is customary to what is lethal.

And what We The People thought was solid ground beneath our freedoms is now falling into a deep abyss of the few stealing from the majority what used to be our peace of mind.

The formative years for our children (our youth) is fodder to twist for the good of our country or for its destruction. History confirms it is possible to indoctrinate and bully OUR youth into carrying out the unimaginable on behalf of manipulative heretics.

Yes, we must deal with those whose minds already hemorrhage with hatred. Yet, I would much prefer that our country begin to wonder OUT LOUD… “What can I do to remove inbred prejudice from my own life so the youth I touch cannot catch even a flicker of it?

“I SEE YOU…”

Posted on April 8, 2013 by admin

What higher compliment is there than to SEE another person; a word that means: perceive, distinguish, grasp and understand.

We humans have five senses—Sight-Hear-Taste-Smell-Touch—always in play as we interact with every moment in the life we choose to see; or the life we are blind to.

Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities could see: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was the season of Light and it was the season of Darkness…” Maybe time is forever destined to be seen as conflicting.

But, there is a middle ground: Earth’s Equator where an imaginary line divides us into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. At our equator there is one constant: twelve hours of day and night; in contrast to other parts of our world where the length of the day varies with the seasons. Maybe it is at this imaginary line where we might come to SEE one another.

OUR TIMES: To grasp and understand one another is as vital to our survival as is Earth’s Equator. Wherever my eyes are cast: “I See You—You Who Are Purpose!”

“APRIL FOOLS’ DAY…”

Posted on April 1, 2013 by admin

"APRIL FOOLS’ DAY…”

April Fools’ Day is celebrated in many countries on April First every year; a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on one another. When a child I wanted my hoaxes to best those of my brothers; it never happened. Something about being cunning; I guess?

So, I began to wonder about hoaxes—the cunning ones played on humankind when it isn’t April Fools’ Day. Things like: political greed; war for the sake of supremacy; religion vs. spirituality; generational hatreds; poverty; controlled voting; calculated censorship; worship of formulaic heroes; skewed reporting; truth/fiction inside social media; rivalries… you see what I mean.

I genuinely wish I could call out—APRIL FOOLS’ DAY—I was just kidding! But, I cannot since the hoaxes mentioned above are spread across our world injuring all humankind. Such cunning will stay disguised until we wake to the truth there is only one April Fools’ Day where a hoax is laughable.

JLM's GARDEN

A Sense of Place in Our World