Topsy-Turvey Emotions

Nights are sticky and hot in Phuket and sleep can be sporadic. On this occasion my slumber was continually broken by a dog's unremitting wine.

This was not the sound of a large animal, but that of a freak creature, rat like, one of those beasts that people love to hate, and on this occasion I started to twitch.

The piercing screeches continued and images of the thing having its teeth pulled with doggy pliers resonated in my sleep deprived mind. I reasoned with myself and could find no logical conclusion for the drama.

A canine gang rape?

Possibly a messy reprisal from a irascible old flame? What ever it was is was dark and it was uncouth.

My mind it felt,was about to burst at the seems with confusion and consternation.

Before I had time to gather my thoughts into some sort of logical and rational order, the vulgar noises stopped and the air was once again filled with the tribalisms and looped sounds of the insects of the night.

I was left feeling slightly uneasy, on edge, excoriated.

Forty five minutes had passed since the scream has spread sonically like virus making me feel queasy and troubled, and now the episode had vaporised into the stillness of the night air.

All I was left with was a strange feeling deep inside me. The night was playing tricks on me I was sure of it, but the sounds of the night can leave one effected and jittery.

Pikey

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Extract

At the moment I am reading and enjoying immensely 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' by Robert M Pirsig.

This particular passage jumped out at me and I felt that I needed to share it with blog.

'To speak of a certain government and establishment institutions as 'the system' is to speak correctly, since these organisations are founded upon the same structural conceptual relationships as a motorcycle. They are sustained by structural relationships even when they have lost all other meaning and purpose.People arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight to five without question because the structure demands it be that way. There's no villain, no "mean guy" who wants they to live meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure because it is meaningless.

But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is on effects only , no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality that produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that it produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There's so much talk about the system, a so little understanding.

Food for thought.

Pikey

Daytime

Palm trees sway under the afternoon sun's glare,
not a care in the world, aimlessly dancing, freedom abound.

The air is alive with the sounds of birds,
singing songs of life, good fortune, simplicity all around.

The sky struggles to stay blue in the light of the day,
shedding it's skin, revealing everything, wondrous rebirth.

Lonely geckos scuttle with with reckless abandon,
hastening the pace, on the move, flightless workmanship.

Peoples' moods remain cool despite natures intensities,
their hearts are chilled, beaming smiles, feathers unruffled.

Pikey

The Bloodshed Continues- Gaza

Excerpts from Mary Riddells article in Daily Telegaph, Thursday, January 8, 2009,

entitled:

'It is time to tell the truth- what Israel is doing in Gaza is wrong.'

She writes:

'This is not simply about security. It is not even just about innocent civilians who have seen their families obliterated and their land, a thin shard of hell, bombed to rubble. It is about humanity itself. As the tanks finally roll out of Gaza, the international community may congratulate itself on finessing the peace. The truth is that Israel has played its game exactly as it chose. If America had demanded a ceasefire sooner, or if the West had threatened embargoes and cried revulsion, then the schoolrooms of Gaza would not be graffiti-painted in its childrens' blood.

'Bring back the politics of denunciation. Yes, Hamas is a vicious neighbour. And yes, the West also has dubious warfare on its conscience. But nothing excuses acts so sickening that, if perpetrated by a less-blessed state, they would be reviled throughout the world as war crimes. Once again, the world has declined to tell Israel, in terms, that it has no divine mandate for destruction.

'The dead of Gaza will be buried soon. Remember them. In this new year, when the innate goodness of the human spirit is held up as the last bulwark against debt, recession, war and adversity, their ghosts should haunt us all’.

Pikey

Emptiness

The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle) that the wheel depends.Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The doors and windows are cut out to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space that it's use depends. Therefore what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaption, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.

Lao Tzu

I love this notion of nothingness being all there is. The nature of the mind, in its pure form being IT. There is nothing more, and only when you settle in this natural resting place can you truly develop and grow. External reality (as we know it) takes us away from the essence of truth, blinding us with sensory desires and tempts us towards the illusion.

The truth then lies not between the lines or in the depths of philosophical discussion, it is simple and access able to all. Its has been called 'grounded luminosity' or likened to the pause between words, or massive emptiness, but one can be sure that resting in the ego less plains of the meditative mind, can help one appreciate how beautiful and simple the moment is.

No past,
Nor future,
No worries,
Nor dreams,

Just now.


Pikey

Live and Learn-Time to Fly

All of a sudden the countdown has begun. Time has flapped it's mysterious wings and once again one is watching the calender on the wall. Days are passing like the TGV on jacked up speed balls and what once seemed like tomorrow, becomes yesterday, and so the haze continues steamrollering along. Realisations like this make one sit comfortably in a comfy armchair and try to take stock of happenings. Its time to slow down, regroup, become mindful. No need to ride on blazing saddles, enjoy what you have, simplicity, enjoy the warm glow of grounded illumination. As Lennon said, 'Life is what happens when you are making other plans,' or somethings to that effect. How perceptive! His statement has beautiful imagery, albeit straight out of a Indian Guru's mantra chant.

A lot has been experienced in this particular period of life, and good chunky, diamonds of knowledge they are too, things that one can take, file away and learn from. Knowledge is indeed power. Power to learn from past mistakes and grow as a person, treading more gingerly along the par carious path of life, applying one's self with greater clarity of thought and action.

Alas, Thailand's sun baked shores are just within reach and I am ready.
Once again-

to sing the tune,
to dance with the language,
to tussle with the culture and,
marvel at gastronomy.

Pikey

Slievemore

Slievemore the slug, slouches contently, casting sliver tinged shadows
Picture book style,

Her dark seal skin stretched tightly, a sleekness uniform, pristine on the eye,
Cross-roads in bloom,

Sentinel white face attentive, squint-eyed, deciphering intensely,
Skyline calculus,

Imperious skirmisher stands to attention, oozing, colours,
Electric intensity,

Army of yellow units, poised, energised for engagement
Watching, waiting,

Swirling green guards, frenzied, unbalanced in commotion,
Brooding inevitability,

Up turned remains, from a by gone age,
Relics of the past to come.

Pikey