A Meme

What is your current obsession?

Flowers ~ and taking macro shots of them ~ a la Georgia O'Keefe.

What is your wierdest obsession?

At one time I used to collect all the hair from my white afghan hound ... I'd instructed his groomer to save all the hair from grooming sessions because one day I planned to have the hair processed/spun into wool and then knitted into some sort of scarf or whatever. 

What are you wearing today?

A ecru-coloured cotton short-sleeved top, yoga-style capri pants, white socks and whte sneakers. My feet are hot. I'm going to take off my socks and shoes. Bare feet, all the way!

What's for dinner?

A glass of Coca Cola and I dunno what else. I am an eccentric eater, I often take dinner quite late or sometimes not at all.

What would you eat for your last meal?

Deep-fried brie and cranberry sauce ... those biscuits from Red Lobster with Beef Tenderloin cooked medium and a peppercorn gravy/sauce and horseradish and mashed potatoes with nutmeg and a caesar salad sans croutons ... a shot of sambuca and a piece of warm chocolate cake, drizzled with hot chocolate sauce and two scoops of real vanilla ice cream.

What is the last thing you bought?

Some cool postcards designed with my own photographs from QOOP.

What are you listening to right now?

The song of starlings, echoes from the upstairs neighbour's no-so-tasteful music choices, the swoosh of the tower fan in the bedroom, the creak of the ceiling as the upstairs neighbours walk around. My cat playing with her bell toy.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

In Italy, in some Tuscan village. 

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

To the top of the Rock of Gibraltar to see the Barbery Apes.

What language do you want to learn?

The language of the human heart and soul.

What's your favorite quote (for now)?

"On your bike."

What is your favourite colour?

Cotton Candy, Strawberry Milkshare, Bubblegum PINK!

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? 

Do my comfy old rabbit-fur lined mocassin slippers count? Cos that's what my favourite is.

What is your dream job?

1. Head Designer of my own Graphic Design Firm; 2. Self-sustaining independent Photographer, (Web) Designer; 3. A published fiction author.

What your favourite tree?

Japanese Cherry Tree ~ any variety ... particularly the Kanzan or Pink Perfection.

What are you going to do after this?

Have a steaming hot shower.

What inspires you?

Nature ~ particularly flowers and birds; Georgia O'Keefe; awesome photography; pink and purple sunsets; a certain Pilot.

What are your favourite books?

All time favourites ~ as a child it was a particular Cinderella book with the most beautiful art work in it; as an adult it's A Time Traveller's Wife.

What are you currently reading?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first sentence:

Enormously irritating to me and my torturers of course, but, you know, credit where credit's due and all that.
 

What delighted you the most today?

Receiving meatspace feedback from my photo notecards.

By what criteria do you judge a person?

1. Manners; 2. Honesty ~ ie do they keep their word; 3. Sense of timing ~ ie are they always late (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ~ HATE that!).

 Are you artistic or crafty?

 Yes and yes.

My added question: do you have an innie or an outtie (belly button)?

Innie.

The rules: Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question with a question of your own. Tag eight other people. And of course, as all tags go, you may choose to ignore this request. Play if you like.

The Beauty of Broken Things

 

Broken lines, 

couched in jagged curves;

a jetstream of white light,

a splash of grey shadow ~ 

all reflections of 

my monotonous heart.

She thirsts for you, 

feels parched in your absence.

Missing the fluid velvet

of your touch,

of your taste ~

reflecting, 

upon the beauty of broken things.

Photo Credit: DeviantArt

Poetry: Roxanne Galpin

The Matrix, Thomas Merton, and Cosmic Christ

I stumbled upon that movie The Matrix, while channel surfing after my three-hour night's sleep. I've seen it several times of course, but it's one of the few films I can watch again and again. Each time I do see it, I sense yet another facet of the incredible spiritual and philosophical metaphor of the story. Essentially the film depicts the planet earth in the late 22nd century, where Holocaust has come to describe the enslavement of humans by machines, who have invaded Earth to harvest human beings as energy sources. The machines keep humans, naked and sleeping, in gel-filled pods, which connects to them through tubes and hoses.

The vast majority of humans, however, remain  oblivious to the ugly truth, living instead within a virtual simulation of the late 20th century which the machines have created to oppress the people and keep them unaware. A few humans have become 'unplugged' and work toward liberating their race. They call themselves Zionists, and they await the prophesied coming of a chosen one ~ a man who can move through and transcend the matrix. Neo has always sensed something strange about the world he sees. He seeks to know the mysterious thing called the matrix. He finds out. He reacts with incredulity and disbelief when told he is the chosen one.

As I watched Neo's very traumatic awakening into the ugliness of the true world from the false reality of the matrix, and deliverance from his pod to the Zionist hovercraft,  I could not help thinking of the similarity to birth and death, as we know it. I pondered birth and death (both of which I have witnessed, by the way) and then, suddenly these seemed ~ on a cosmic plane ~ like the same transformation of a Self. You may disagree, because of your perception of birth as a gain, and death as a loss.

But, I'm not thinking of from the crude material perspective. I'm considering it from the cosmic, spiritual perspective.  Ponder, for a moment. Physical birth ~ arriving into this worldly existence by passing through tiny a visceral canal. And then death ~ I imagine it as travelling from this worldly existence by passing through a spiritual or cosmic canal. This only occurred to me when watching the visual of Neo's awakening. Did Neo's awakening mean his birth, or his death? Both, I believe.

At a later point in the film, Trinity (one of the Zionists) says to Neo, “the Matrix cannot tell you who you are.” Aha! That's a differentiation to make, isn't it? Do we feel satisfied sufficiently with the fact of our material existence? Don't we also need meaning to illuminate the painting of our existence? I pondered this question two years ago, in a post I wrote about The Matrix. However, just today, during this recent viewing, something resonated within me. Something that I felt when I read the following, which I received via email in today's daily meditation, written by Richard Rohr.

The historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth, moved beyond any confinement in space and time and became Light Itself, which we now know from astrophysics is omnipresent in the universe and its speed is the ultimate measure of all things. ... One could even say that in Christ, God and Light have become the same. And nobody on this earth can control the light. It goes where it goes— instantaneously. 

So, the Matrix, being the contrived, material world, cannot tell us 'who we are.' Then, perhaps we find out through the light of God? Does the flat, obscure and meaningless painting of our existence become transformed through Christ? Yes, because our true meaning of Self lies in the fact that God created each of us, for a purpose. In his book, New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton writes that faith provides a vehicle through which we can fully possess God, who fills us with His infinite Light. "God Himself becomes the Light of the darkened soul ... And at this inexplicable moment the deepest night becomes day ..." Merton also writes, "I must learn to 'leave myself' in order to find myself by yielding to the love of God." Death and birth point to the same transformative process, don't they?

[Photos taken by me, May 2009]

A Prayer For Us All

 

I used a picture taken by a dear friend of mine [who wishes to receive credit only as public domain] as the inspiration for this piece. This photo ~taken in Vancouver's Downtown East Side ~ really depicts a piece of graffiti with an wonderful sentiment. Keep us safe and sound. Made by me using GIMP, brushes courtesy of Obsidian Dawn. Click the image for full-size view.

New Moon in May

Image by ftourini [deviantART]

This month's new moon encourages us to transcend the fog of information, and its inherent conflicts, and to rise above the crumbling structures of present-day reality. As the unilluminated side of the moon faces earth, we find that we can derive different meanings from the stories occuring around us, depending on the lense through which we look. It's a good time to change our minds, to increase our mental flexibility, to liberate ourselves from our oppressive monkey minds. Stop thinking and just be!

If we focus on balance, on synchronicity, and on the human element we can reduce or eliminate our anxiety about not knowing what will happen next. This month, focus on rising above the minutia of daily material existence, toward the person, toward dignity, toward compassion. Free yourself from stuff-ism, from sinking into the small stuff, and/or from judgement: by giving, by sharing, by understanding ~ through gratitude and humility.

Fears ~ What are they?

Photo taken by me in SW England, 2008

False
Expectations
Appear
Real

• The underlying foundations of a weak self-image and self-concept ~ they keep us from fully asserting ourselves, and hinder our quest of self-actualization.
• Inhibitors, emotional blocks, unconscious messages, uncovered elements of our psychological make up ~ they result in our resistance, hesitation and/or unwillingness to participate in nurturing and healing activities.
• Excuses we hide behind to avoid growth or change
• Irrational beliefs
• Negative self-scripts we have given ourselves or that were given  us about how we will suffer dire consequences if we involve ourselves in certain activities or behaviours.
  

Fears have plagued me, of late. Silly, ridiculous fears which create inertia and stagnation. So much opportunity lies at my feet, I just need to grab hold and plant myself there! But there's that old fear of crossing that bridge which spans the ravine. I have tried to tell myself every excuse why I should refrain from reinstating my RN license ... and return to work part-time in my beloved profession. None of these excuses stands up under scrutiny. I have skill, I have passion and patience. I know that I was a great nurse, and can be that again. You can take the girl out of the nurse, but you can't take the nurse out of the girl. I have heard whispers of the universe telling me to take that leap, swallow the fear, embrace opportunity and growth.

And, so I will take heed.

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."

~Marie Curie

**Note to Readers ~ On a topic entirely unrelated to this post ... Please take the time to visit my friend Mayden's Blog and read her latest post. It's beautiful and divinely written.**

Your Assignment by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

I assign you to be a beautiful, good, kind, awakened, soulful person, a true work of art as we say, ser humano, a true human being. In a world filled with so much darkness, such a soul shines like gold; can be seen from a far distance; is dramatically different.

Want to help? Show your deepest most divine self to the world. There is nothing more rare, more strange, more needed. Why would you wait? Not worthy? Oh piffle. Not ready? Okay, so when? Next lifetime? Don't be silly with me about this. Inferiority complex? Okay, let me put it this way to you: you're not good enough to think you're not good enough. And you can
quote me to yourself whenever you have need... Dr. Estes said so.

Have you forgotten that you made promises to your Beloved before you ever came to earth? The time to fulfill these is truly now. You want to cease feeling helpless, and you want to help the aching world? Serve someone and something. Everyone on earth serves someone and something. This means being your truest self now, fulfilling the promises you made to heaven long ago.

Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten the burdens of the world. Anything. You have no idea what the smallest word, the tiniest generosity can cause to be set in motion. Be outrageous in forgiving. Be dramatic in reconciling. Mistakes? Back up and make them as right as you can, then move on. Be off the charts in kindness. In whatever you are called to, strive to be devoted to it in all aspects large and small. Fall short? Try again. Mastery is made in increments, not in leaps. Be brave, be fierce, be visionary. Mend the parts of the world that are "within your reach." To strive to live this way is the most dramatic gift you can ever give to the world.

Consider yourselves assigned.


The restless uneasiness in my heart dissipated when I read this passage, which I found while  blog surfing. It applies every moment. It's what I need, in order to survive and thrive the monumental changes that loom in my not-too-distance future.