Je suis Charlie Hebdo.

This post is dedicated to the people of this magnificent establishment fighting for open and free journalism, Charlie Hebdo of Paris, France. I have made an exception to my blog by posting this original poem written today, that may appear to favour anti Muslim sentiment. I DO NOT have a religious preference nor do I despise real Muslim people for this attack. I simply wish to join the growing numbers of free individuals who abhor violence of any kind and say that anyone believing their god would sanction this type of action does not know LOVE. My deepest respects to the families and loved ones of the deceased. Long live freedom of the people.

Je suis Charlie Hebdo.

With this pen, I condemn the senseless murder of freedom!

Who issued the fatwa

That slayed the blood of democracy?

Charlie were not hate filled,

Were not ambassadors for injustice,

Nor do they stand alone in life.

Nor do they stand alone in death.

Does anyone grow fond of Islam

When murder is revered within?

Charlie informed the critique in us,

The desire to laugh at hypocrisy,

A love to laugh in the face,

Of the ridiculous voice of terror.

Are we moved to follow

A god that would support this?

Charlie were just our Pinocchio,

Asking truth to show its worth,

Muslim fanatics cannot ever win,

Our soul is in the laughter.

 When will people ever learn

To live in peace, with liberty?

Charlie understood an inalienable truth,

That kept us free from tyranny,

We must laugh at our inadequacies,

Before people will take us seriously.

Who else will now be a target

For hatred breathed by evil?

Charlie mocked only the hypocrisy,

That we all know to be in war,

And here today in bloody Paris,

Their vision is needed more.

Will you stand united now

To condemn this violent crime?

Charlie stood for a fairer world,

One that loves us all as one,

Mocking the lies and the vitriol,

Warning us of what we’ve become!

JE SUIS CHARLIE !

I am the power of the pen/cil.

With respect to the 12 brave people who died in this horrific hate crime.

We will not forget you.

You and your families are in our hearts.

R.I.P.

7/1/2015

Read about the incident.

Satyagraha

Truth Force.

Who do we know that would deliver the truth to us?

Could we handle the truth? 

And finally would we know truth if it hit us in the face?

These are the questions I am constantly asking myself. And sadly I have yet to find the ones that would be able to do this on a long term and constant basis in our society that would bring peace and prosperity to all people.

Friends of course do often accomplish this in small ways and this is where we/I get my encouragements from no doubt. In matters of personal and small concern this may be enough. But on a local scale, on a national scale and ultimately an international scale what I am witnessing is a total reversal of the ethics of transparency, justice and fairness that I believe are the bedrock of any civilisation. I am seeing nothing short of the kinds of behaviours that are bringing about a near total collapse of society and the care for the world around us. I dare say many feel the same, but I speak here for no-one specifically, except myself, in terms of what my eyes and ears are witnessing on a daily and sometime hourly basis. Humanity has failed to bring about any real justice and fairness both to its own kind, and that of the earth and all her other creatures. Soon there will be no more time to undo this damage and the human race as we have come to know it will be changed forever, maybe even becoming extinct from earth. 

The earth won't care of course it doesn't need us to survive. It has been doing what it does for the past so many billions of years and will continue on beyond us for many more billions I imagine. Sadly mankind has not accepted any real responsibility for the affairs of its own making, and as our present population has now soared to a whapping 7+ billion it won't be long before we have few resources left for anyone to survive. Greed has become one of the foremost catastrophic levellers of our modern age. We are abusing the earth as if its resources were infinite, but of course they are not. And add to this the mismanaged way we use them and the utterly disgusting way in which we hoard them, sharing very little of it with everyone, this abuse will of itself be a key contributor to our demise.

I hope that my pessimistic outlook doesn't deter anyone from understanding that things could so easily be different. In reality I am personally very optimistic that things can be changed for the good of all mankind. I know this because some very amazing and visionary historical figures have left examples that proved alternatives were possible and actually achievable. The sad thing about this is that we as human beings have become way too fickle to actually remember and act upon these priceless examples of change that could affect better outcomes for everyone. Few even care who Jesus and Gandhi and Buddha and Muhammad really were, or what they have displayed to us as alternatives to self motivated existence. Though I'm not sponsoring or supporting any particular religious ideology, I feel that it goes without saying that the thinking behind the writings of the Holy books of any religion, were to share a record of the teachings and examples that various characters displayed. 

In the case of Gandhi though he was never held up as a divine being, even though in some instances he was and is, still highly revered amongst his peers. Born on the 2nd October 1869 in Porbandar India, he rose to noteworthiness throughout a life dedicated to the service of others and for a path of non-violent passive resistance against the British Empire culminating with his assassination on the 30 January 1948 in New Delhi India. He was given the honorary title Mahatma (meaning great soul/spirit) by his peers, but he never felt worthy of such an accolade as he carried on selflessly adhering himself to the way of peace and his experiments with truth. Unlike others of his time he sought no personal gain from the actions he lived on a daily basis, giving creed to the ideas that being of service was reward in itself. It is definitively evident that he had inspired a great number of people, both those of his beloved homeland, but also those whom he came into contact with across the world. Albert Einstein famously said of Gandhi, “generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood”. Since his death many people have carried on the work that Gandhi promoted and today there is still a considerable movement of people who remember the message he shared and what benefit that can have upon us.

For his era, he was a pioneer of the Satyagraha.

Satyagraha (/ˌsætɪəˈɡrɑːhɑː/; Sanskrit: सत्याग्रह satyāgraha), loosely translated as "insistence on truth" (satya "truth";agraha "insistence") or holding onto truth^[1] or truth force, is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance.

He was convinced that one could not deny the existence of a divine authority in the universe and that this would mean that all people, men and women were equals and therefore should be treated fairly. The British Empire of which he was born a citizen, to him extolled the greatest system of justice and truth in his day. But he became dismayed later by that same system when he began to discover its flaws and actually its very real inequality meted out upon its subjects around the globe. For this he fought and eventually gained huge ground. Few would doubt his nations victory as India waved goodbye to the British Empires long established rule, after a deliberate and sustained Satyagraha, his campaign of non-violent resistance to the oppressions they inflicted upon India and her people in the pursuit of economic control. Despite the murderous attempts of the British Army at Amritsar (See footnote *), Gandhi managed to calm the people into total submission of this action and later on the beaches where they defied a law on harvesting salt, he showed how peaceful non-violent action could actually achieve far more than people had previously realised possible.

Earlier in his life he had taken a stand against the actions of the British Empire in Africa and declared, “They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me, then they will have my dead body. NOT MY OBEDIENCE!” This statement definitely implies his dedication to the cause he set out to achieve. He believed very strongly in the truth and in maintaining an adherence to it at all costs. Of course like many of us he was also imperfect and made errors, but he used this self analysis upon himself constantly, to hone the skills necessary to avoid ego being the strongest motivator of his actions.

If a man like Gandhi was alive today then we might have a chance to see some real justice restored. Naturally Gandhi wasn’t the only one to have done anything like this. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa, and even some currently living examples of peaceful non-compliance are heralding the re-instigation of harmonious methods of activity. Malala Yousafsai, Dalai Lama, and even RussellBrand are doing some incredible things to bring people’s attention to the fore.

In the political arenas these figures don’t hold much weight. Unfortunately, we are trapped beneath the bureaucracy of the antiquated voting system that keeps the rich as guardians of our supposed democracy. We really don’t have a democracy here, but the illusion of one. If people would only take more responsibility for their own lives and actions then we might just be in with a chance to NOT have more of the same. Imagine, if we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten. Scary as it might at first appear, our only real solution is a radical shake-up of the system of our governance. Laws that will work for fairness and not political bargaining power. Courts that convict everyone who is proved guilty by the same measuring stick, and that administer justice not based on privilege, bloodlines and money. Fair administration of wealth and resources rather than an elite few individuals having the greatest share. Austerity for no-one and meaningful work for everyone who wants a job that are capable. Ecological and environmentally sound policies that do not harm the planet and create lasting benefits to all inhabitants of earth. Education and health services that are not run by idiots but by people qualified in these specific disciplines. Housing programs that look at the resources and environmental concerns before profiteering of the corporations. An education of our interconnectedness with each other and the planet and a renouncement of lies that have held us back from gaining true understanding as to our existence here on earth and its purpose.



If we as a nation could stop believing that we are more important than any other, then I believe that peace on earth and a supportable and resilient system could function much better than what we have done for the past centuries. Suffering is optional. If we don’t like what we have chosen, then all we have to do is collectively and cooperatively choose again.





Whilst I don’t support any one political party over another, I am rather keen to see sensible policies come into action and over a much longer period that the current system allows. The Green Party have displayed a number of initiatives that are quite revolutionary and frankly more likely to succeed where we have collectively been failing in the past. If we could implement a political system that was more representative of ordinary people and their concerns and interests, then I believe we might just save ourselves further long term harm. If we looked at Gandhi and the way he displayed truth, then we might just know a better day.

Please remember, it is not what people say that should influence you the most, but what they do…
(Ministers expenses, economic unrest, banker’s bonuses etc. etc. etc….)

The choice is yours. The future though has to be ours…..

With love and peace, I rest my case for peaceful non-compliance…

In solidarity. 
Peaceful Warrior.

N.B!!

Since writing this I have made a decision to join the Green Party of England and Wales and work to support the highly achievable goals that this parties policies will bring to Britain. They are to me the only ones with enough passion and determination to effect real changes for the common good. I am also standing in my local ward of Hartsholme Lincoln to be the change I wish to see here.

1* Incidentally the Encyclopedia Britanica reports that only a large number were killed at the massacre, which could imply a typical policy of non-objectivity towards this atrocity.

2* Whereas the Indian National Congress are quoted as saying that as many as between 1000 and 1500 people were killed that day. (Read)

Various reasons why a true figure could not be given are highlighted in the above texts

Pleading for sanity....

  Pleading for sanity....

In response for a call to all people on earth, by AVAAZ I wrote a personal message to John Kerry the United States Secretary for State. You can also get involved if helping to stop the greed for energy taking us into a global meltdown, and/or climate change is important to you. Read below, and add your thoughts.

Dear Secretary of State,

If you are reading this message, then at least you have indicated one very valuable and immutable evidence of being a caring human being. This is where we all have to begin, to bond and realise that whatever we do personally can be far reaching and important to others too. 

 

I feel sure that you will understand why so many people are against this and many other types of energy harvesting. It is not because we desire to live in the dark ages and go without power for lighting and heating, and hence have a more enjoyable time here on earth. But I feel sure that you must realise our resistance of this harvesting is all about the sustainability of life on our planet. Fundamentally we really need to be thinking of using less energy, rather than wasting more and more on creating dead things. The planet is alive, and we (human beings with a thirst for oil and power) are turning that living planet into a dead one. It is a kind of Necrophilia to do this. There are many clean ways to harvest energy that are already discovered, and the research is pretty conclusive that it can be beneficial to everyone. Abusing natural resources without truly considering the affects upon the planet is quite naive and at best unhelpful to the people living here, including you. The earth has been around for a very long time and human beings a fraction of that. I am sure that you as a man who breathes air and eats natures produce must comprehend the gravity of the global issues with regards the actions of mankind upon it. Al Gore has one of the best and most informed views of the longevity of this activity and has said so with the dedication of a warrior in the film, 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

Please Mr. Kerry, be kind to the earth and your brothers and sisters. Help it be rejuvenated and cared for, and leave a future open for our grandchildren and people to come. Our lives are valuable and yet should not come at a cost to the planets hope of survival. In truth it will be here long after we have become extinct. Please don't force that extinction upon us all at this time.

Are you listening to the people?

Are you wondering what to do?

Are you going to fight for us?

(Or the greedy rich)

Are you going to stop this madness?

One parting thought:

THE EARTH DOES NOT BELONG TO US....

WE BELONG TO THE EARTH........

With respect, Love and Light.

Peaceful Warrior. U.K.

An internet group calling themselves Avaaz.org are campaigning to end the work on a pipeline by XL amongst other issues worldwide. Avvaz is the campaigning community bringing people-powered politics to decision-making worldwide.

THE AVAAZ MOVEMENT:

Has so far:

34,043,544
members worldwide

Sign your disapproval HERE.

What do you want for Xmas?

What do you want for Xmas?

'Tis the season to be jolly, and Christmas is almost upon us. Saint Nicholas will be getting ready for his miracle marathon yearly journey to every house and fireside in the world, and children everywhere are gleeful in expectations that their dreams will be met.

Or at least this is what we have been telling ourselves for many decades....!

Now I'm certainly not about to rubbish Christmas. No indeed, as it's one of the few remaining great fables that infuse joy and goodwill into peoples hearts, (especially children's) that have no really awful side affects. The spirit of giving that is evident in people is in itself almost miracle like. But for a few short days this spirit sadly is all but forgotten as the January sales start again in earnest, and people become trampled to death for more material things, in shops ran by people with little care for generosity of spirit. The celebrations of festive seasonal gaiety are actually wonderful for bringing about a small but evident change in peoples reasoning as they communally work towards a few days of peace and kindness between people they care for and maybe a few strangers too. Smiling is more common and people actually holding doors for each other, noticing the bag laden people behind them. Ok, so this is a bit tongue in cheek, we all know it is often not quite this convivial and that people are so stressed with getting more things and more presents, hardly notice even the carol singers doing their bit for peace on earth, and goodwill to men, fala la la, la la la la...

Without doubt, Christmas is a time to reflect upon what good and deserving things have been bestowed upon each and every one of us during the year. It is a time to consider our part and place in the world and how well we have served others in that pursuit. We can look back fondly at the mistakes we have made and decide to make better and more informed choices in the coming year, and seal that with our resolutions on the turn of the clock at midnight, new years eve.

So what are you wanting for Xmas this year?

It would be my hope that peace fed into the hearts of everyone on the planet to such a degree that suffering and plight became words we could remove from the dictionary of common language forever. I'd like to see poverty given the heave ho, and greed made into a footstool for the feet of the poor, to rest and refresh. I would also like to see war become redundant as a way to settle our differences, and true democracy give peace a chance to get a hold upon the earth and into the hearts of the populace. YES, it is a long shot. YES it is a long way from the hearts of many people, who would say it is impossible. BUT I disagree, and strongly, for I have seen generosity and love being shown to me and to the people of my fair city, Lincoln over the past year or so. I have seen the glimmering signs for a change to sweep the county, the country, and the whole world. Love is evident and active here, a driven desire for peace and sharing and an expression of fairness to benefit everyone. Yes, with a change of heart, a clearer vision of the rewards of community living and sharing, people are preparing to be the change we wish to see in the world.

The Abundant Earth Community are the ever growing group of people in Lincolnshire, who are looking to serve not just themselves, but the wider community too, with new initiatives in sustainable living practices. Please have a look at our project ideas and become involved. This is a very practical way that we the collective can have what we really want for Xmas. A chance to know the love of giving and of sharing our earth and our spirit with one another and with goodness.

Strangely enough, I don't believe too many of us really desire much more than this ourselves. To have things to share and enjoy with our loved ones. To avoid the neediness and suffering of lack that comes from fear of not having enough. The Dalai Lama and many clearly less materialistic people the world over, say that the two defining principles we as mankind live for are; to be happy and to avoid suffering. This does make very good sense, and can be actively seen in all our dealings, both communally and individually. We try whatever is within our power to avoid the suffering that life seems to throw at us from time to time, in the pursuit of happiness.

 

Please have a rethink, recap the many blessings we have and look at why we have received them in abundance. When we lack, is it not because we were ourselves holding back from sharing the greatest gift of all? Love...

May we all have a thought for someone less fortunate than ourselves this Xmas, and make the difference to them and ourselves by being bolder and more giving. In doing this we will be the change we wish to see in the world and co-create a wave of hope that will be able to move mountains. We as human beings have done so many amazing things with our time over the recent centuries, that used effectively could give us the courage to be daring too.

So please let me know your thoughts about this and what you wanted for Xmas this year.....

I pray that we all may know Peace, Love and Happiness this year.

Twitter.

Namaste.

Peaceful Warrior.

Carpe Diem

Robert Frost, a poet of the 19^th century said in prose; The Road Not Taken

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by".

Why does he say this? Why is it important for him to offer an idea of choice in where he was going? Does life exist at all, outside of choices and actions and outcomes? And how can what he said have any bearing at all upon you and I?

It may do well for us to consider what the poet thought, but even more productive I believe, is to look at what we think that he meant. My belief is that the two are one and the same in the end. Life is all about choices. And as far as anyone alive can say factually, that is pretty much it. Death doesn't offer us any clear or obvious choice. What we have is life, what we have are choices and what we do, well that has the power to make us happy or sad. 

 

What do you think it means to seize the day? Carpe diem is Latin, and best translations consider that it affectively indicates seizing the day. Taking hold of the day with a positive and firm grip. Maybe not to throttle to death, but perhaps to go as far as squeezing all of the life out of the day, for its enrichment and nourishment value. Another poet (Thoreau) suggested that we suck all the marrow out of life, and if anyone knows anything about bones and bone marrow you'll know how hard this is to achieve. (Dogs are much better at it) Sucking the goodness out of life, (the marrow) is a term often forgotten or merely misplaced I would say. In todays world we are often 'too busy' rushing between one thing and another to do this, or even to consider the true value of doing this simple but effective act, that would free us from panic and from distress and any concerns at all over outcomes. Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone as my mentor, Mr Keeting once told me in his role as English teacher at Welton Academy for boys.

Many of my thoughts about this topic often come back to this powerfully illustrated film, Dead Poets Society. If you've never watched it, I suggest that you do at the first opportunity you can find. In a very subtle yet incredibly intriguing use of language and imagery it creates a forum for reconsidering the basic values for life as we have come to know and understand them. And it reveals how we can admire and come to love the beauty of life itself, in all its wonderful magic. 

 

What would give you a belief that life had been enjoyed, that you had made the very best of it, that you had made it worthwhile? Sitting in front of a television screen day after day? Watching other peoples troubles and arguments in arenas of constant tribulation? Being immersed in woeful acts of violence and degrading human behaviour? Watching unprofessional sportsmen ruthlessly tackle one another running around a field for a living? I think not. Nay I hope and pray that is not the case, how sad that would be. Wouldn't we be better served by knowing truth? By seeing what real beauty exists in human connections, and by being an active participant in this pursuit don't we get the feelings of serving ourselves with a purpose? And by making the best out of the possibilities coming towards us, do we not manifest all that is great in our observance of life?

Believe it or not, death comes to us all. Death may not be the end of our lives as many people have discovered, merely a doorway into another part life. Life is a constant experience and to honour it I determinedly try to avoid missing the point of what it is for. Experience. Whether we do something or not we are learning immeasurable truths. But with choice, we can be actively selecting the best of the experiences, the ones that give us the feelings of more joy and live in such a way as to show that we have gained some wisdom. Who are we showing this wisdom to? Ourselves more importantly than others. If we go to bed each night happy that we did the best we could, that we squeezed the marrow out of life, that we seized the day, I believe we can rest easily. If on the other hand there are self doubts as to, could we have done more? then maybe we will rest more fitfully. I'm not about to preach to anyone as to what is good or bad, what is right or wrong, all I know are my own definitions. Ones that have come from my own feelings of having made mistakes, and failures to have lived life to the full. We talk about things in hypothetical terminology saying; “I'm going to kick ass today”. Then going to bed seeing that we did not in fact do this at all, but gave in to mediocrity and other pressures of life that seemed to force our hand.

There is a wonderful book by Ekhart Tolle; The Power of NOW...If you've not had the chance to read it then maybe would be a good opportunity to do so. NOW, the moment in which you and I are here, present, thinking and breathing, reading (and in my case writing) is all that there is. The past has gone, technically it no longer IS. As a memory it can live on for as long as we remember it, but it will not come back again. The future doesn't yet exist. Only theoretically does it belong in the space following NOW, and we cannot accurately predict what that might be or look like when it arrives. All we can do, is guess and problematicize what may or may not occur and how that may or will affect us at that time based upon memories of how it affected us in the past. But the NOW, this is an ever present and permanent feature of our experience. And one that sadly we often forget about and ignore as it passes us by swiftly, whilst we plan for a future that may or may not come and hold memories of a life that has already gone. Please take a few minutes to let this fact sink in, only in the here and now, in this very moment can you have any real power at all. What you decide to do now, will lead to the outcomes of the future.

(Breath)

So to conclude. If you have any doubts at all about what you are planning to do, then don't. If you can only spare a few minutes of your time for life, then it's already over, believe me I KNOW. (As one resurrected from that proverbial death)

As the poets says; “make your lives extraordinary”.

(W.W)

"Don't be a sayer, be a doer".

(P.W.)

"Don't miss the chance to live by looking at the dead".

(P.W.)

I hope this helps everyone to see, the point of life is living it...!

Love, Peace, Light and Harmony.

Peaceful Warrior.

The code is IDD9 and fits perfectly together with 03

In the end its all about choice.

I did this for you. x