Say-do-be.

Say-do-be.

The Art of Transparency.

Imagine a world in which truth was the rule not an exception, a world where people especially politicians meant what they said and said what they mean. A world in which money, or better said the love of it, the power with which to wield certain personal agendas was the exception rather than the rule. Imagine a world that was so transparent, even a child could understand the policies of it, and feel secure in the knowledge that they were valued, over any profit or gains for the greedy few. 

 

Just IMAGINE that.

Someone famous once said: When the power of LOVE overcomes the love of POWER, then the world shall know peace.

So are you thinking that this is the world in which we live? Oh, I really don't know what to say to that. Except I appreciate all perspectives, even odd ones, that don't mirror reality....

I really am not here to mock anyone or to claim my own high standards are superior to the rest, or that I am even a very good example of this idea. What I am trying to do however, is cause debate on this topic, so that forward movement can occur for the benefit of anyone reading and taking part in it by your comments.

Let's have a look at some of the terminology I am using to begin.

Say;

Synonyms

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= state, declare, remark, add, announce, maintain, mention, assert, affirm, asseverate

= speak, utter, voice, express, pronounce, come out with, put into words, give voice or utterance to

= make known, reveal, disclose, divulge, answer, reply, respond, give as your opinion

= read, show, display, indicate

= suggest, reveal, express, imply, communicate, disclose, give away, convey, divulge

= suppose, supposing, imagine, assume, presume, postulate

= estimate, suppose, guess, conjecture, surmise, dare say, hazard a guess

= recite, perform, deliver, do, read, repeat, render, rehearse, orate

= allege, report, claim, hold, suggest, insist, maintain, rumour, assert, uphold, profess, put about that

= influence, power, control, authority, weight, sway, clout, predominance, mana

= chance to speak, vote, voice, crack, opportunity to speak, turn to speak

Do;

Definitions

1. (informal) to act like; imitate ⇒ he's a good mimic – he can do all his friends well

See do¹ (sense 34)

Synonyms

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= perform, work, achieve, carry out, produce, effect, complete, conclude, undertake, accomplish, execute, discharge, pull off, transact

= behave, act, conduct yourself, deport yourself, bear yourself, acquit yourself

= make, prepare, fix, arrange, look after, organize, be responsible for, see to, get ready, make ready

= solve, work out, resolve, figure out, decode, decipher, puzzle out

= get on, manage, fare, proceed, make out, prosper, get along

= work as, be employed at, earn a living at, have as an occupation, have as a profession

= present, give, show, act, produce, stage, perform, mount, put on

= be adequate, be enough, be sufficient, answer, serve, suit, content, satisfy, suffice, be of use, pass muster, cut the mustard, fill the bill, meet requirements

= cheat, trick, con, skin, stiff, sting, deceive, fleece, hoax, defraud, dupe, swindle, diddle, take (someone) for a ride, pull a fast one on, cozen, scam

= produce, make, create, develop, turn out, manufacture, construct, invent, put together, originate, fabricate

= decorate, paper, paint, colour, wallpaper, renovate, do up, furbish

= design, style, dress, arrange, fashion, shape, adapt, tailor

= grant, give, allow, accord, permit, render, confer, bestow

= study, read, learn, research, investigate, analyse, be taught, read up on, take a course in, take classes in, swot (up) on

= travel at, go at, move at, drive at, proceed at

= visit, tour in or around, look at, cover, explore, take in, stop in, journey through or around, travel in or around

= cause, effect, bring about

= party, gathering, function, social, event, affair, at-home, occasion, celebration, reception, bash, rave, get-together, festivity, knees-up, beano, social gathering, shindig, soirée, rave-up, hooley or hoolie

Be;

Synonyms

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= exist, be present, be extant

= be alive, live, exist, survive, breathe, last, be present, continue, endure, be living, be extant, happen

= take place, happen, occur, arise, come about, transpire, befall, come to pass

= remain, last, stand, continue, stay, endure, prevail, persist, abide, bide

= be situated, be set, be placed, be located, be installed, be positioned

= attend, go to, be at, be there, be present, frequent, haunt

= cost, come to, sell at, set (someone) back, command a price of

= amount to, become, come to, total, equal, add up to

= feel

= remain

Here are a couple of equations from this list of useful synonyms that mirror the title of the post.

Say = do = be.

Announce = produce = come about.

Affirm = accomplish = prevail.

From this I hope we can all get a clearer idea of what is meant by the discussion. If you imagine a person for example, saying that they will come around to your house. I guess that your expectation would be similar to my own, and that would be that the person would indeed arrive. Unless specific arrangements were made, the time-frame for the visit could be anywhere before their death in theory. If they they failed to arrive (at the agreed upon occasion) then they would be looked upon with somewhat of a sceptical nature in future conversations, having failed to keep a promise already. If they did come, then they were close to fulfilling all three of the above statements.

If the promise (arrangement) was of another kind, being paid for services for example; then a similar expectancy might be hoped for. An agreed upon date/time, based upon work having been carried out being met with payment in full. The contract or agreement made in advance would be said to have prevailed. Who could find fault with this? 

 

So to transparency;

Definitions

noun

(plural) -cies

1. Also called: transparence. the state of being transparent
2. Also called: slide. a positive photograph on a transparent base, usually mounted in a frame or between glass plates. It can be viewed by means of a slide projector

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry

= photograph, slide, exposure, photo, picture, image, print, plate, still

= clarity, translucency, translucence, clearness, limpidity, transparence, diaphaneity, filminess, diaphanousness, gauziness, limpidness, pellucidity, pellucidness, sheerness,

= frankness, openness, candour, directness, forthrightness, straightforwardness,

= obviousness, explicitness, plainness, distinctness, unambiguousness, apparentness, patentness, perspicuousness,

Note how the words clarity, clearness, frankness, openness, and directness are amongst the most highlighted. I would also add obviousness and plainness to the list of particularly easy to understand terminology. So does this mean then that honesty and transparency are not one and the same in regards the art of being open and visible and understood? Surely no-one could not enjoy this freedom of information. If everything were in plain sight, then the fabrication of evidence and 'alternative' truths could not happen easily, could they? 

 

Let's say for example, companies who made products were required to tell the consumer/buyer just what it had cost to produce and provide their product at the buying point. (Shop) The total worth of the product alongside the price they asked for its purchase from you. Two distinct and very obvious prices. Wouldn't that be a good system? How could that not benefit us as the consumer, to know exactly how much of the price was actually accredited to a profit margin. Well I think any half intelligent person knows why we do not have this system already in place. Our energy for example is so overpriced I'm surprised anyone actually buys it. Petrol, gas, coal, heat and light are commodities that people want and now we have to pay premium prices for this. If we simply stopped buying it, the energy companies would be forced to lower the prices to more reasonable levels. Of course the evidence as to why companies do this is actually clear or transparent, to awakened souls.

If people were required to be open in all their dealings, stating this before commencement of the arrangement, then much less anxiety and stress associated with disappointment would result. Business dealings, marriages, projects and relationships could not be carried out without an amount of this being provided, however more openness and honesty (transparency) could yield far more peace, harmony and understanding between people. I don't think this is rocket science at all, it works when applied.

 

Gandhi, an amazing example of someone attempting greater dedication to his beliefs, won the hearts of millions of people around the world when he walked with love and peace and integrity. He was a very transparent man, keeping little away from public sight in his drive to “be the change he wished to see in the world.” He achieved this in many way, none more so than the legacy he passed to us today. He also was highly regarded for saying this very simple yet clear (transparent) observation of his.

"When what a man thinks, says and does are in harmony, he will know peace."

I cannot put it any better myself. I am not trying to be something I am not, nor make promises that I cannot fulfil. I make my aim to be the best I can be, as an imperfect man in an equally imperfect world. What I do know however is this. If we say, do and be, all that we are able to achieve, then we shall know a greater peace too. And the world will be that much closer to fairness and equality and a chance to experience all that life has given us to be at one with all that is.

Please let's all take a closer look at the transparency by which we think, speak, act.....

Love and light to all.

Peaceful Warrior.

Sanity or Madness.

Sanity or Madness.

(Building a sustainable human)
 

 

Look around you and you will see the all important signs of what our individual and joint efforts have done to shape our world. Would you be shocked or even surprised that a lot of it can be easily described as 'madness'? Would you rather try to explain it all as an evidence of our sanity and clear rational thinking processes? Quite possibly your social viewpoint will determine a large part of the choices you make and where you see that putting your response to these questions. But does that change the empirical evidence that what our actions have done, what we have created are following sane trains of thought? I say that the whole world is mad to a greater or lesser degree depending upon our topic of debate, but with regards building a sustainable human being we have definitively been following a course of madness. 

 

I recently attended a conference Shine a light on mental health put on in Lincoln, by the Time-to-change organization, Brought to the city at the invitation of Mens and Transition Lincoln. Hosted at the rather lovely Old Bishops Palace, set in grounds beneath the Cathedral of Lincoln.

The day began with a brief introduction by Harry Smart. Harry is currently the senior mental health chaplain at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust.

We had graciously been allowed access to the chapel at the palace, and our program began with a singing lesson of sorts. Bea Van Der Kaaij who is the musical director of several local choirs including the renowned Lincoln Choral Society, used singing to help all attended relax and settle in to the collective mood/mindset of our days activities. Our first speaker, announced as Alastair McIntosh, an independent scholar, activist and writer, delivered an interesting discourse laced with much audience participation. His own work is focused on the connection between our environments and our spiritual well-being. His main thrust was to expose the madness of what he described as our individual and community thinking. He used a passage from the Bible to show an historical account of something that was then revealed to be actually an account of colonialism causing madness in people of the day. He skilfully directed us to an understanding of the context of the story of Jesus casting out the mob or Legions from the possessed man who slept and lived in the cemetery. Without going into too much detail about that, I and many others saw the way in which the 'dis-ease' of mental health had caused the society at large to provoke an observable madness in the generation alive at that point of history. We quickly drew parallels to our modern days, and our current understandings of things affecting our mental well-being. After a brief break for refreshments we then were moved into a room over looking the gardens where Revd. Professor Chris Cook took us back into the world of mental and emotional well-being from the perspectives of psychiatry. Chris, professor of spiritual theology & health at Durham University, formerly chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Spirituality Interest Group, showed us how spirituality was now being considered within that profession. Where as formerly spirituality was passed off as something religion based, it is now being included as a fundamental consideration into the cognitive processes of human psyche. It directly impacts upon individuals even if they themselves are unaware of its presence. He used examples of where this had been discovered and how the inclusion of this observation in treatments was having a significant role to play in helping people. Many of the examples cited were from his work in the north east of the country, where unemployment is one of the highest in the United Kingdom. I believe we were all able to draw our own conclusions as to this correlation between the impact on peoples well-being, career opportunities, and social standings.

After lunch, we were introduced to Tom Hodgkinson. Tom author of many books, and editor of a magazine called The Idler, gave a very interesting discourse on his approach to life. He played his Eukalele and sang us a song called Big rock candy mountains, to further explain some of his observation about life and its connection to happiness and well-being. He is now moving back to the metropolis that he escaped some 12 years ago, to try another approach which he hopes will bring him the same joy that he manifests, by running a bookshop/cafe/workshop/information centre in Nottinghill. He revealed how life had even pushed him to the point of mental dis-ease at one point, having a break down. The articulate man before us told a fascinating and yet often too common story about stress, anxiety and collapse of our mental security. In the context of our conference it was heart warming to find this understanding of how to become and be a sustainable human being. More coffee and tea and then we were invited again to choose an activity, breaking off into three groups.

Angela Porter co-founder of Revival Lincolnshire, took a creativity workshop upstairs into the grand sitting room, where she engaged people into activities that require long forgotten or passed down skills. David Greenop from Renew, took a mindfulness workshop in the main auditorium helping people to understand the benefits of meditations and relaxation and quietening of the minds. Kate Bell our local Environmental Coordinator at the City of Lincoln Council took her group into the lounge area downstairs by the garden access, to discuss our sustainability of energy and carbon footprints. I joined this group and we quickly engaged in an easy manner to discuss the personal thoughts we each have, and our concerns with regards not only the environment, energy both renewable and fossil based, and our impact on the issues of 'climate change.' But further to this, how this can and is having an affect on our own personal well-being. Michael Pitcher who is involved in many community support groups and local mental health think-tanks, engaged us all in a final review of the days events, which judging by the amount of questions asked had succeeded in arousing everybody's awareness of this critical issue within society. My own question to the group was, had anyone found anything negative about the day or the subjects being discussed? Seemingly no-one could justify an affirmation, therefore indicating by default a unanimous consideration that the day had given us all a positive response to this issue of mental health and where we go from here. Bea our singing instructress came back to end the conference with yet more singing, rousing everyones spirits yet again with laughter. 

 

Thanks were given and appreciations to our hosts, the Mental Ill HealthPrevention Fund, the Diocese of Lincoln and the Bishops Old Palace, which is an English Heritage site.

So you now ask, what did this all mean to me and my awareness of mental health concerns? Yes I am mad. I fall heavily into this group of individuals whom struggle with things the way they are. I accept it, which helps, but I sincerely want to be a part of changing the bits that do not work. At least the things which don't work for fairness and justice for all. I was happy to be surrounded for a time by others who recognise our collective madness, our 'dis-ease' with society, convention and manners of human behaviour that are destroying both out home, the earth, and our collective well-being. I know I have mentioned it many times before, but it seems like the most suitable road to take to end this craziness. Let's give peace a chance. Let us adopt less destructive ways of treating one another, our environment and the essence of life itself. Let's be the change we wish to see in the world. Please, brothers and sisters let us get involved in solutions and not in problems. Focus on solutions and not on problems, and things begin to move in new and amazing way of discovery about the possibility of changes. It's not rocket science that if we do nothing, it will be irreversible in the not too distant future. Please wake up to our madness, and find sanity in joint action for rapid change. Together we can do this, if we really want it enough. It's not too late...!!

Love, Peace and Light.

Warm hugs.

Peaceful Warrior.

The Earth

The Earth

What is this place we call home? Do we really appreciate the value of having it as our shelter? What is observably wrong with the way we act upon it that is having devastating effects for each and every one of us?

The earth has been described as a jewel in space because of its brilliance and the colours by which it contrasts the space surrounding it. And no doubt, because it appears to be alone in this cosmos as a place where complex life forms exist and thrive. Human beings clearly seem to believe that we are the dominant, therefore controlling species upon it. We have taken over to the point that we have even created wonderful stories to suggest that we in fact have a god given right to treat it as we wish, it was betrothed unto us as a home to care for. So why have we not really done so? Why has our piety made us believe that we are the only species to have dominance over it? Why do we think that we have the rights to behave as we do and with impunity towards the results of our actions? What right have we to make all the decisions about what the natural world becomes, regardless of the impact it has on all of the other beings and creatures living upon the earth?

O.K. again I raise many more questions than is easy to answer with simplicity. But please let's try to dissect the relevant and vital parts of them so that we might be able to understand something we have yet to learn. I am well aware that I am not the first person alive or dead to have recognized the need to think about this and the greater picture. Far from it.... Thankfully...

The past has been littered with people totally awake to the problems that we would face if our big-headedness got out of proportions. They left amounts of instruction and wise advice for each one of us to read, and begin to comprehend, if we would be bothered to look. People like George Orwell, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Steve Irwin, Jacques Cousteau, John Lennon and even Michael Jackson to name a mere few. 

Earth Song.

 

Presently there are many warriors for the cause of awakening to our lethargy at tackling this destructiveness. People like David Attenborough, GreenPeace, Friends of the Earth, Al Gore, Severn Cullis Suzuki, Yoko Ono, Leyma Gbowwe, the Dalai Lama and many other organisations too many to list. 

 

So how can it have been so disregarded by us as human beings that to carry on without restraint there would be no consequence? Even Winston Churchill a famous statesman once said that we are in an age of consequences. But the governments and industries, Businesses and commerce of our world will not listen to the wisdom of such advice. They are clearly pressing ahead with more 'Growth', as if this is the only way to achieve any good outcome.

Wake the £@$k up people...!

It could not be further from the truth. The beauty of our past is that we can see where we failed, despite the past having been often cruel and destructive and covered in bloodshed. With this knowledge we could do something different. This idea of growth has not nor will ever benefit the poor of our societies. It is designed by the rich for the rich. The own it, they control it and they have no compassion for anyone who bad mouths it.... They kill anyone whom they consider against them, whether immediately or not, (See article) but surely they have to have the upper hand. Why did they kill the people who stood up to fight for freedom, and justice all throughout history? Why did they expunge (Kill) the Occupy movement that were outside their offices, with violent force? They were only simple people, saying no to the 1%, but they used whatever they had in their arsenal to get rid of them. 

 

How does this have a bearing on our earth?

Well simply they believe they own it. Resources and people. And in a way they do. But not in the righteous way, only in the insipid and deceitful way. The cruel and utterly destructive way.

I want to pose a question about life time.

How long will or can this go on?

Again the past shows evidence that civilizations last only about ten generations in time span. Empires fell at about this time constraint because of the impacts they were having on one another as individuals within those empires. Natural cycles almost of human behaviour that eventually threw out that way of life leading to it collapsing. Others took over and the cycle began again, possibly add infinitum.

With regards the earth, it has been around for a lot longer than we human beings. We are possible the last species to have arrived here, animals and plants certainly have been here longer. If we look at this simply, our gardens left unattended will be restored to the order of nature, and not the way of man's order. Buildings that we put up only a few brief years ago, become damaged by nature and decay, if not properly maintained. Even the great pyramids of Egypt are decaying, though somewhat more slowly. BUT, nature takes back what is rightfully hers, as she has done for millennia. Look at history and see what is left of the great civilizations and their infrastructures and see that the earth is taking it back, mote of dust by mote.

If we truly were meant to be guardians of the earth, then by any standards it would appear we have done a very bad job of looking after her. We have raped her and destroyed her valuable ecosystems, filling the sea with toxic waste and other rubbish we created. We have damaged the layer of protection that surrounds the earth, so that harmful rays from the sun and other stars can enter freely to heat up the core of the planet. We are not even sorry as a global civilization for doing this, more than a few groups and activists. (Compared to the vast 7 Billion population) So don't we deserve what is coming to us as payment for our lack of wisdom and carelessness?

I see that all is not lost yet. We can change. BUT we have to WANT to change. Gandhi said quite boldly, upon recognising this:

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

I watched some pretty interesting films recently that gave me a boost to write this article here. The idea is not new nor revolutionary, but maybe it does need to be just that. A Revolution of Consciousness for the saving of our planet, our earth, our home. If we destroy it where shall we go? I think you all understand the simple answer to this question. So please check out the list of films below and become more aware. 

 

The Four Horsemen.

Zeitgeist.

The day the earth stood still.

The Celestine Prophecy.

An Inconvenient Truth.

The Matrix.

I know it is hard to accept the truth, but inevitably it is the only thing that can set us free....

Thank you friends, brothers and sisters, for reading this and taking the time for yourselves to become awake. Please share all that you learn with others who have not seen this truth. Time is not on our side yet, but it could be if we do something, in the now!

Love, peace, and light to all.

Peaceful Warrior.

The Circus.

The Circus.

Juggling the balls of life can be very difficult at times, but when all is said and done, it is one truly amazing journey. Juggling is of course simply one of the skills you will have to master if you wish to advance to the point of leading the extravaganza. The pinnacle of your performances surely will rest upon your ability to master the clown in you. To be able to put on your masks, smile, cry, laugh, be animated and wow your audiences with aplomb. For certain, all of the many guises and acts you could perform in this spectacle called life, the clown represents all that is at odds within. Both happiness and sadness. Joy and mirth, light and darkness, courage and fear. In short, without the courage to be daring, our show would almost definitely not go on... And no show means no revenue, no finale will warrant no rewards.

I recently visited the 'Greatest show on earth,' Mr Fips'  Wonder Circus, with my niece and nephew. It was an impromptu visit and as it would turn out, also a very rare treat. I could see the joy and excitement on their faces as we arrived, and I could tell that they were looking forward to what was to follow. This was just the state of the performers and not a patch on the excitement of my niece and nephew.... The buzz was making me feel electric, as I reminisced on days gone bye when I'd come to the circus as a child myself. The cast, the ringmaster and the clown (Mr Fips) all greeted us at the entrance, welcoming us into the BIG TOP tent.

As we found our seats, we saw several of the staff, busy selling all the frills and trimming around the interior. Candy floss, jelly beans, hot dogs, fruit juices and tea, alongside the gizmos and electronic gadgets glowing in the dimly lit arena. The children's eyes were bulging, looking from one side quickly to the other, taking in how grand were the arrangements of the magical Wonder Circus. You may be aware that traditionally the same members of staff serving refreshments etc, are also the performing artists and background crew. The whole circus is set up on this ability to multi task and share in the relevant jobs to be done. None more so than the circus clown. I dare say they also build the big top too. 

 

As the lights finally dimmed the elegantly attired ringmaster boomed out his very warm welcome, the flares of whirling magical light, span in the hands of so many children. And so much entertainment was then packed into the two hour or so show, that you couldn't fail to be moved towards rapturous applause at every opportunity. High flying acrobatics, a hula hooping princess, uni-cycling tricksters, chainsaw jugglers, magic and cutting people in half, and of course the comedy routines with suds and custard pies, left not one person po-faced and unresponsive. This was by far one of the best value for money, two hour experiences I can remember. My niece and nephew are still talking about it months later. I'm so glad that I was there that day to have shared the experience with them. I absolutely loved it.

So what does this have to do with ordinary life you may well ask? Let me try and share with you my analogy, the insights I found in this adventure to the circus.

Primarily, the variety of skills that go into making it a complete show. Balanced, exciting, arousing and most of all, good fun. The clown to my mind is the greatest of all the acts, the most expansive character of the circus. He began by sitting at a stool in front of a performers mirror, where he stared wistfully into the image being reflected back. Then slowly he began to apply the face whitening powder, some rouge to the cheeks and glitter, and last of all the iconic red nose. This was obviously a story in itself, as if he were now hiding the real person behind a comic mask. In this guise he was able to go beyond his fears of conforming to an identity of the ordinary, and step up into his greater and more expressionist self. And in doing so he could perform routines that for us as adults, are almost considered shameful in public. In this persona he brought immense joy to so many children, young and old.....

So like our inner clown, the one that convention makes us hide beneath veils, masks, appearances of professionalism and adulthood. And here for a few brief hours we had escaped back to the essence of innocent selves, our hidden child. I believe that we all put on false fronts, hiding what we think that others will not understand or appreciate. Seriously, this is comical in itself..... People see who we really are, no matter how much we try to cover it up. I've also noticed how I too used to betray myself and my integrity in this pretence. So now I'm letting out the child in me again. Peter Pan returns to never never land.

Life feels like a game, one we try to bend the rules of whilst playing. But it is so much more like a circus. Let's try to make our clown take him/herself less seriously in this slapstick comedy we create, and really enjoy the performance...!!!

Thank you for reading...

Love, Peace and Light.

Peaceful Warrior.