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(28 July- 11 Aug, 2008)
July 28, 2008: Everything we hear is an opinion
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective,
not the truth.
Marcus Aurelius
July 29, 2008: We are too much accustomed
We are too much accustomed to attribute to a single cause that which
is the product of several, and the majority of our controversies come
from that.
Marcus Aurelius
July 30, 2008: Reality and Hallucinations
Modern psychology distinguishes between objects
that it calls real and objects that it calls hallucinations. From the
standpoint of Consciousness-without -an -object there is no important
difference between these two sets of objects. The so called real objects
are experienced by groups of men in common, while the hallucinations are
generally private. This is merely a social criterion of reality and has
no logical force. Essentially it is as meaningless as determining physical
laws by popular vote.
Doubtless, if a Newton, with all his insight and
intellectual power unimpaired, were transplanted into a primitive society
and judged by his milieu, he would be regarded as a fool whose consciousness
was filled with hallucinations. The social judgement of reality would
be against him.
Our society has reached a level where it can verify the
insight of Newton, in a considerable degree, but the validity of that
insight exists independently of the social power to verify it. All of
which simply means that the fact that objects exist for a given individual
privately is not sufficient either to credit them with reality or to discredit
them by calling them unreal hallucinations. The problem of reality is
not to be handled in any such offhand manner. In fact, such a method is
sheer intellectual tyranny.
It is entirely possible that society, and
not the individual man , is the greater fool. Indeed I am inclined to
think so.
Franklyn Merrell-Wolff "The Philosophy of Consciousness Without
an Object"
July 31, 2008: Words and Reality
There are moments when no mind is capable of putting certain kinds of
feelings into words, when speech is a meagre instrument for communicating
the reality of a situation.
Words, by their very nature, are limited, mere representations of the
real, human-made pieces of utterances. Reality exists independently of
language.
Malidoma Patrice Some "Of Water and the Spirit. Ritual, Magic,
and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman"
August 1st, 2008: A PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely
100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it
would look something like the following. There would be:
57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and
south
8 Africans;
52 would be female, 48 would be male, 70 would be non-white, 30 would
be white;
70 would be non Christian, 30 would be Christian;
89 would be heterosexual, 11 would be homosexual;
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and most of the
6 would be from the United States;
80 would live in substandard housing, 70 would be unable to read, 50 would
suffer from malnutrition;
1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth;
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education;
1 would own a computer.
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective,
the need for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes apparent.
Aug 3, 2008: If you want the whole thing
If you want the whole thing, the gods will give it to you... But you must
be ready for it.
Joseph Campbell
Aug 5, 2008: After the Game
After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.
Italian Proverb
Aug 6, 2008: The Space Between Things
"You are trained to focus on objects, on things," he said. "The world
of the shaman happens in the spaces between things."
Alberto Villoldo and Erik Jendresen "Dance of the Four Winds:
Secrets of the Inca Medicine Wheel"
Aug 7, 2008: The Power of Silence
The power of quiet is great. It generates the same feelings
in everything one encounters. It vibrates with the cosmic rhythms of oneness.
It is everywhere, available top anyone at any time. It is us, the force
within that makes us stable, trusting and loving. It is contemplation
contemplating us.
Peace is letting go -- returning to the silence that cannot enter the
realm of words because it is too pure to be contained in words. This is
why the tree, the stone, the river, and the mountain are quiet.
Malidoma Patrice Some "Of Water and the Spirit. Ritual,
Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman"
Aug 11, 2008: SHAMANISM AND THE MYSTERIOUS
We cannot work with a mystery from the outside. If we wish to solve
a mystery we must immerse ourselves within that mystery, for only in this
way can we map out the unknown.
Theun Mares "The Mists of Dragon Law"
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