Humor
The workweek is now drawing to an end. The same rain that makes flowers grow is washing away bitter memories, bit by bit, as the clock marches on tirelessly. Today I saw a cop (do they make prisoners grow?) chase somebody at high speeds in Manhattan. This was unusual to say the least and gave me much wanted food for thought.
What also gave me a lot of food for thought was a book signing I went to last evening. The celebrity in question was Lou Reed doing his version of an Edgar Allen Poe novel. The most remarkable thing common to all artists (not critics) is that they all have a great sense of humor, especially the ability to laugh at themselves. Lou delivered his lines with the same deadpan irony ("I have come from Beirut" Answer: "Your arms must be tired") so visible in many of his songs.
This is one of the greatest weapons a non-violent soldier can possess. Taking things too seriously and out of context (if you think about it nothing is in context) is the first step towards doing things not recommended on a Sunday Morning.
The workweek is now drawing to an end. The same rain that makes flowers grow is washing away bitter memories, bit by bit, as the clock marches on tirelessly. Today I saw a cop (do they make prisoners grow?) chase somebody at high speeds in Manhattan. This was unusual to say the least and gave me much wanted food for thought.
What also gave me a lot of food for thought was a book signing I went to last evening. The celebrity in question was Lou Reed doing his version of an Edgar Allen Poe novel. The most remarkable thing common to all artists (not critics) is that they all have a great sense of humor, especially the ability to laugh at themselves. Lou delivered his lines with the same deadpan irony ("I have come from Beirut" Answer: "Your arms must be tired") so visible in many of his songs.
This is one of the greatest weapons a non-violent soldier can possess. Taking things too seriously and out of context (if you think about it nothing is in context) is the first step towards doing things not recommended on a Sunday Morning.
Monotony
Today, I was asked to photocopy 200 pages. It was a boring affair, to say the very least.
In the midst of my endeavor, I realized how similar monotonous jobs are to meditation. You look for the light in the panel that goes on and off. You train yourself not to miss even one cycle of the roller inside the glass. It is similar to observing the pain in your knees while sitting cross-legged. You are totally immersed in something of little or no consequence. It is very easy to be distracted when stuffing 300 envelopes. But in order to do it well (and not mention be happy) one must lose all concept of time, importance (and hence being) and give oneself entirely to the task at hand.
Today, I was asked to photocopy 200 pages. It was a boring affair, to say the very least.
In the midst of my endeavor, I realized how similar monotonous jobs are to meditation. You look for the light in the panel that goes on and off. You train yourself not to miss even one cycle of the roller inside the glass. It is similar to observing the pain in your knees while sitting cross-legged. You are totally immersed in something of little or no consequence. It is very easy to be distracted when stuffing 300 envelopes. But in order to do it well (and not mention be happy) one must lose all concept of time, importance (and hence being) and give oneself entirely to the task at hand.
Death - Part II
To quote from Star Wars: Fear is the path to the dark side.
To quote from the Gita: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to confusion, and confusion dulls the intellect. As intellect dies so does life.
I am scared to wake up every morning on weekdays.
But with regular practice, I can be like some other people. I shall graduate straight to the angry stage.
Alternatively, I can reduce my needs on a gradual basis, without invoking the Goddess of self-indulgent sacrifice.
To quote from Star Wars: Fear is the path to the dark side.
To quote from the Gita: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to confusion, and confusion dulls the intellect. As intellect dies so does life.
I am scared to wake up every morning on weekdays.
But with regular practice, I can be like some other people. I shall graduate straight to the angry stage.
Alternatively, I can reduce my needs on a gradual basis, without invoking the Goddess of self-indulgent sacrifice.
State of the union
Yesterday, by tradition and by law, Mr. Bush delivered the state of the union address of the nation. It was filled with idealistic desires (…and no employee shall have to walk to Staples to purchase toners in the snow) and hence quite difficult to take very seriously. A large portion of was devoted to topics that ensured that most his countrymen/women would continue to live in fear (which is not a very good thing). America is loved all around the world for its actors, musicians writers and people, and maybe it is time that the land that invented advertising put on a friendlier face on a more regular basis when speaking to the rest of the world.
Not to say that there were no positives in his address to the nation. In the course of his address he did the world a huge favor. He spoke at length about Africa and the HIV/AIDS crisis, placing this issue on the global agenda. He also mentioned a plan to deliver aid to Africa. It is not important whether they follow through with this plan. Awareness must precede action. This being the Super Bowl of speeches, has certainly helped boost awareness about this scourge that threatens to wipe out an entire continent.
Unfortunately that accounts for most of the positives.
Respect for the environment must be foremost among any man, and indeed be omnipresent within the soul of the leader. It is a mistake to even try and speak of the environment as a separate entity. Mr. Bush has gone out of his way to establish some impossible paradox of man over nature. By lying (there is no other word) about his environmental record, he has done the world a great disservice.
Mr. Bush mentioned that 60% of the total international aid comes from the United States. This is true. However, if one were to look at the amount countries spend on foreign aid as a percentage of the GNP, the results are quite startling. Denmark tops the list (they spend 1.06% of their GNP on foreign aid) followed by Netherlands, Sweden and Norway (all around 0.80%). The big European powers (France, UK, Germany, etc) spend approximately 0.3% of their GNP on aid. At the very bottom of the list is surprise, surprise, the US, which spends a meager 0.1% of the GNP on aid. Another point to note would be that the aid is truly successful when there is no further need for it. It can be a fallback for a nation, not the primary source of meeting all basic necessities. By extending subsidies to farmers in the US, Mr. Bush has kept most of Africa out of the market, thus ensuring that they are forever trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty.
A large portion of the speech was devoted to Iraq, a topic that Mr. Bush knows so well that he actually pronounces “Saddam” the way it should be. This is a topic that has been dealt at length in many forums, and so I shall not flog a dead horse here. I am not an Arab, and have never lived in the Middle East, but can guess that most Arabs think of Israel when prompted about America. To ignore the Palestine issue, while provoking further conflicts in the region, Mr. Bush runs the risk of angering the common man in these parts of the world even more.
I do not want to sound like a rabid leftist, who while bolstering support amongst his/her own, totally alienates everyone else. The right wing too has a role to play in society. As Mr. Huntington puts it simply, they are essential to “conserve”.
At this juncture in history, when cultures are coming together to seek a common profit, there is a lot of room for chaos. People like Mr. Bush are necessary to maintain some semblance of order. But it must be an order that cannot be imposed. It must be an order that comes out of respect for the powerful and the honest. How I wish that in the State of the Union address Mr. Bush first made a candid confession of America’s sins to the rest of the world. That he had confessed to his own people that it was the CIA that had trained Osama. If only he had apologized for supplying chemical weapons to Saddam in the first place.
Mr. Bush seems to be a big fan of the Bible. Man can try to interpret many a line from this book only in order to misinterpret, but there is one message that rings loud and clear in the Bible, which is to confess and confess before the sun has set. Mr. Bush will win a lot of respect from not only his own people, but also the rest off the world if he adopts this route. To be meek out of necessity is one thing. To be humble out of choice is quite another.
Yesterday, by tradition and by law, Mr. Bush delivered the state of the union address of the nation. It was filled with idealistic desires (…and no employee shall have to walk to Staples to purchase toners in the snow) and hence quite difficult to take very seriously. A large portion of was devoted to topics that ensured that most his countrymen/women would continue to live in fear (which is not a very good thing). America is loved all around the world for its actors, musicians writers and people, and maybe it is time that the land that invented advertising put on a friendlier face on a more regular basis when speaking to the rest of the world.
Not to say that there were no positives in his address to the nation. In the course of his address he did the world a huge favor. He spoke at length about Africa and the HIV/AIDS crisis, placing this issue on the global agenda. He also mentioned a plan to deliver aid to Africa. It is not important whether they follow through with this plan. Awareness must precede action. This being the Super Bowl of speeches, has certainly helped boost awareness about this scourge that threatens to wipe out an entire continent.
Unfortunately that accounts for most of the positives.
Respect for the environment must be foremost among any man, and indeed be omnipresent within the soul of the leader. It is a mistake to even try and speak of the environment as a separate entity. Mr. Bush has gone out of his way to establish some impossible paradox of man over nature. By lying (there is no other word) about his environmental record, he has done the world a great disservice.
Mr. Bush mentioned that 60% of the total international aid comes from the United States. This is true. However, if one were to look at the amount countries spend on foreign aid as a percentage of the GNP, the results are quite startling. Denmark tops the list (they spend 1.06% of their GNP on foreign aid) followed by Netherlands, Sweden and Norway (all around 0.80%). The big European powers (France, UK, Germany, etc) spend approximately 0.3% of their GNP on aid. At the very bottom of the list is surprise, surprise, the US, which spends a meager 0.1% of the GNP on aid. Another point to note would be that the aid is truly successful when there is no further need for it. It can be a fallback for a nation, not the primary source of meeting all basic necessities. By extending subsidies to farmers in the US, Mr. Bush has kept most of Africa out of the market, thus ensuring that they are forever trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty.
A large portion of the speech was devoted to Iraq, a topic that Mr. Bush knows so well that he actually pronounces “Saddam” the way it should be. This is a topic that has been dealt at length in many forums, and so I shall not flog a dead horse here. I am not an Arab, and have never lived in the Middle East, but can guess that most Arabs think of Israel when prompted about America. To ignore the Palestine issue, while provoking further conflicts in the region, Mr. Bush runs the risk of angering the common man in these parts of the world even more.
I do not want to sound like a rabid leftist, who while bolstering support amongst his/her own, totally alienates everyone else. The right wing too has a role to play in society. As Mr. Huntington puts it simply, they are essential to “conserve”.
At this juncture in history, when cultures are coming together to seek a common profit, there is a lot of room for chaos. People like Mr. Bush are necessary to maintain some semblance of order. But it must be an order that cannot be imposed. It must be an order that comes out of respect for the powerful and the honest. How I wish that in the State of the Union address Mr. Bush first made a candid confession of America’s sins to the rest of the world. That he had confessed to his own people that it was the CIA that had trained Osama. If only he had apologized for supplying chemical weapons to Saddam in the first place.
Mr. Bush seems to be a big fan of the Bible. Man can try to interpret many a line from this book only in order to misinterpret, but there is one message that rings loud and clear in the Bible, which is to confess and confess before the sun has set. Mr. Bush will win a lot of respect from not only his own people, but also the rest off the world if he adopts this route. To be meek out of necessity is one thing. To be humble out of choice is quite another.
Reform
As the good hearted Mr. Bush tries to teach the rest of the world a lesson in moral science, I think to myself as to how do I go about this whole reforming process? After all, I do not possess either the aptitude nor the material for bombing errant people.
I look back at my life and try to think of all those people that I have tried to reform. i.e. helped them reach some ideal state of that I have in mind. It has been an unqualified disaster on all occasions.
The truth is friends cannot act on one another. Enemies can induce change, but the lasting effect is mostly achieved by force and hence temporary, much like a spring being held down by a hand one day away from death.
It is much better to be alone. The purpose of being then becomes contemplation rather than action.
As the good hearted Mr. Bush tries to teach the rest of the world a lesson in moral science, I think to myself as to how do I go about this whole reforming process? After all, I do not possess either the aptitude nor the material for bombing errant people.
I look back at my life and try to think of all those people that I have tried to reform. i.e. helped them reach some ideal state of that I have in mind. It has been an unqualified disaster on all occasions.
The truth is friends cannot act on one another. Enemies can induce change, but the lasting effect is mostly achieved by force and hence temporary, much like a spring being held down by a hand one day away from death.
It is much better to be alone. The purpose of being then becomes contemplation rather than action.
Cottage industries
One reason as to why some of us are not happy with modern commercialization is that there is a surplus of bad products. This could be a result of people in the machine age not taking pride or happiness in the objects they produce. High indices and large quantities cannot be the driving force.
Hence this week, we shall have to be content with five postings.
One reason as to why some of us are not happy with modern commercialization is that there is a surplus of bad products. This could be a result of people in the machine age not taking pride or happiness in the objects they produce. High indices and large quantities cannot be the driving force.
Hence this week, we shall have to be content with five postings.
The Sixth Sense
The movie Divine Intervention made in Palestine is a work of great control. The director had many temptations in his path. He could have had the characters play the role of helpless victims in scene after scene. Or he could have gone the route of organized sports and jingoistically won many victories for Palestine through his story. Instead, he tempers all his observations with a very delicate and well thought out, deliberate sense of humor.
And perhaps in this lies some hope of salvation for the world. It is quite all right to make fun of each other. But it is also necessary to make fun of ourselves. Political correctness can take a backseat, as it is driven by rules, not inner desire.
To illustrate, let us imagine a boxer. Suppose his name is Rocky. Rocky is politically correct and respects all ethnicities. One day an Indian guy runs away with Rocky's wife. Another Indian sues Rocky for a drunken brawl and Rocky is now very poor. Then a third Indian trips on the stairs, upsetting Rocky's laundry basket causing all his clothes to be soiled. A fourth Indian, using devious methods, not only wins over Rocky's family but also makes them hate him.
Rocky is all alone. He has little to live for, except that big match, his last shot at salvation. In this last fight he is up against.... an Indian. You know how boxing is. If you are at the giving end, or even at the receiving end, you are in a completely different zone, where you are floating with everything else, only because you have made such a great effort to dig deep down into yourself. There is no room for worldly concerns. It is a good type of loneliness. As you begin to move to the rhythm essential for survival, political correctness is the last thing on your mind. Imagine the Indian hits Rocky four times. Rocky gets back with a swift right uppercut. The Indian staggers. Would Rocky say, "That’s what you deserve, bloody wog, or dot head. Now pay my laundry bills and return my wife."
If Rocky had been taught as a young child that all human beings are to be respected because they are all the different manifestations of the same divinity, then he would not say this (and the words are really not that important; having feelings of hate is sufficient).
If Rocky saw this manifestation before anything else, then ethnicity for Rocky would merely be like a label one sees after one likes the object. He could then even have fun at the expense of the rival without any added ill will.
On the other hand, political correctness teaches people to see the ethnicity before anything else. It robs every situation of humor and makes us all very different from one another. If all white people saw black people the same as themselves, no one would mind them using the dreaded "n" word.
Nobody.
The movie Divine Intervention made in Palestine is a work of great control. The director had many temptations in his path. He could have had the characters play the role of helpless victims in scene after scene. Or he could have gone the route of organized sports and jingoistically won many victories for Palestine through his story. Instead, he tempers all his observations with a very delicate and well thought out, deliberate sense of humor.
And perhaps in this lies some hope of salvation for the world. It is quite all right to make fun of each other. But it is also necessary to make fun of ourselves. Political correctness can take a backseat, as it is driven by rules, not inner desire.
To illustrate, let us imagine a boxer. Suppose his name is Rocky. Rocky is politically correct and respects all ethnicities. One day an Indian guy runs away with Rocky's wife. Another Indian sues Rocky for a drunken brawl and Rocky is now very poor. Then a third Indian trips on the stairs, upsetting Rocky's laundry basket causing all his clothes to be soiled. A fourth Indian, using devious methods, not only wins over Rocky's family but also makes them hate him.
Rocky is all alone. He has little to live for, except that big match, his last shot at salvation. In this last fight he is up against.... an Indian. You know how boxing is. If you are at the giving end, or even at the receiving end, you are in a completely different zone, where you are floating with everything else, only because you have made such a great effort to dig deep down into yourself. There is no room for worldly concerns. It is a good type of loneliness. As you begin to move to the rhythm essential for survival, political correctness is the last thing on your mind. Imagine the Indian hits Rocky four times. Rocky gets back with a swift right uppercut. The Indian staggers. Would Rocky say, "That’s what you deserve, bloody wog, or dot head. Now pay my laundry bills and return my wife."
If Rocky had been taught as a young child that all human beings are to be respected because they are all the different manifestations of the same divinity, then he would not say this (and the words are really not that important; having feelings of hate is sufficient).
If Rocky saw this manifestation before anything else, then ethnicity for Rocky would merely be like a label one sees after one likes the object. He could then even have fun at the expense of the rival without any added ill will.
On the other hand, political correctness teaches people to see the ethnicity before anything else. It robs every situation of humor and makes us all very different from one another. If all white people saw black people the same as themselves, no one would mind them using the dreaded "n" word.
Nobody.
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