Tuesday 31 May 2011
On the Nature of the Divine Mother
"The ancients, not versed in the polished language of modern times, used "Holy Ghost" and "Word" for Intelligent Cosmic Vibration, which is the first materialization of God the Father in matter [i.e., the Mother]. The Hindus speak of this Holy Ghost as the "Aum." (41) Holy Ghost, Aum of the Hindus, the Mohammedan Amin, the Christian Amen, Voice of Many Waters, Word, are the same thing."
The spiritual Phenomenon called the Divine Mother has always been deeply interesting to spiritual seekers. Known to sages and saints throughout history, it is the Divine Mother whom we in the West address as the Holy Spirit and Mother Nature.
In India, Hindus address Her as Shakti, Maya, Kali, and Durga.
She is also known as Wisdom, Aum, Amen, the Word of God. By whatever name we refer to Her, She is an actual Entity that exists and can be directly experienced.
The Mother's nature is one of the unfathomable mysteries of life. Nothing can be said about Her directly or positively. Almost everything that can be said of Her must be couched in metaphors; She is described in terms of waves, clouds, lights, fire, voices, music, though She is none of these.
The Mother is neither a female nor a person
To arrive at a notion of the Mother, we must first put aside our anthropocentric ways of thinking and realize that She is not a person, and not a female either, but an agency, a power in the universe which can only be understood as it is.
Avatars and enlightened saints and sages, who refer to the Holy Father and Divine Mother, find themselves in a position of needing to speak about entities which are one at the absolute level of existence and apparently too at the relative. To differentiate between them, they draw upon a metaphor of gender, as Kabir and Lao Tzu illustrate:
Kabir: "The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my
Mother." (1)
Lao Tzu: "Nameless indeed is the source of creation [i.e., the Father],
But things have a mother and she has a name." (2)
read more......http://www.adishakti.org/_/on_the_nature_of_the_divine_mother_or_holy_spirit.htm
The Oneness of Relative and Absolute
[ the Ts`an T`ung ch`i`]
by Shih T`ou
The great sage of India conveyed
true mind, from west to east,
among human beings are wise
ones and fools
But in truth, there are no patriarchs
north or south.
From the clear,bright subtle
source,
Tributary streams flow through the darkness.
Attaching to things is delusion,
and meeting the absolute is not yet
enlightenment.
Within and without relate,yet are independent,
Working in different ways,but together.
Form differs in substance and appearance.
sounds distinguish pleasure from pain.
In darkness,high and middle merge;
But in light all things are revealed.
The four elements return to the source
Like a child to its mother.
Fire`s hot, wind moves,
Water`s wet, earths hard.
Eyes see, ears hear,
nose smells, tongue tastes salt and sour.
Each is independent
while in accord with its relations.
The root gives rise to many leaves
Yet root and branch return to one.
High and low are relative.
In light there is darkness
Confronted,it cannot be fathomed.
Within darkness there is light.
One-sided it cannot be found.
Light and darkness are paired
Like a foot before and a foot behind
when walking,
each thing has intrinsic value
related to other things by function and place.
Absolute and ordinary life fit together
Like a box and its cover.
Absolute works with relative,
like two arrows meeting in mid air.
Hear and know the great reality.
Do not judge by your own standards.
overlooking the way right before you
How can you see itwhere you`re walking?
Enlightened ,the path is neither near or far.
Deluded, you are rivers and mountains away
With respect, I say to you who seek the goal
Do not waste a moment, night or day.
The spiritual Phenomenon called the Divine Mother has always been deeply interesting to spiritual seekers. Known to sages and saints throughout history, it is the Divine Mother whom we in the West address as the Holy Spirit and Mother Nature.
In India, Hindus address Her as Shakti, Maya, Kali, and Durga.
She is also known as Wisdom, Aum, Amen, the Word of God. By whatever name we refer to Her, She is an actual Entity that exists and can be directly experienced.
The Mother's nature is one of the unfathomable mysteries of life. Nothing can be said about Her directly or positively. Almost everything that can be said of Her must be couched in metaphors; She is described in terms of waves, clouds, lights, fire, voices, music, though She is none of these.
The Mother is neither a female nor a person
To arrive at a notion of the Mother, we must first put aside our anthropocentric ways of thinking and realize that She is not a person, and not a female either, but an agency, a power in the universe which can only be understood as it is.
Avatars and enlightened saints and sages, who refer to the Holy Father and Divine Mother, find themselves in a position of needing to speak about entities which are one at the absolute level of existence and apparently too at the relative. To differentiate between them, they draw upon a metaphor of gender, as Kabir and Lao Tzu illustrate:
Kabir: "The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my
Mother." (1)
Lao Tzu: "Nameless indeed is the source of creation [i.e., the Father],
But things have a mother and she has a name." (2)
read more......http://www.adishakti.org/_/on_the_nature_of_the_divine_mother_or_holy_spirit.htm
The Oneness of Relative and Absolute
[ the Ts`an T`ung ch`i`]
by Shih T`ou
The great sage of India conveyed
true mind, from west to east,
among human beings are wise
ones and fools
But in truth, there are no patriarchs
north or south.
From the clear,bright subtle
source,
Tributary streams flow through the darkness.
Attaching to things is delusion,
and meeting the absolute is not yet
enlightenment.
Within and without relate,yet are independent,
Working in different ways,but together.
Form differs in substance and appearance.
sounds distinguish pleasure from pain.
In darkness,high and middle merge;
But in light all things are revealed.
The four elements return to the source
Like a child to its mother.
Fire`s hot, wind moves,
Water`s wet, earths hard.
Eyes see, ears hear,
nose smells, tongue tastes salt and sour.
Each is independent
while in accord with its relations.
The root gives rise to many leaves
Yet root and branch return to one.
High and low are relative.
In light there is darkness
Confronted,it cannot be fathomed.
Within darkness there is light.
One-sided it cannot be found.
Light and darkness are paired
Like a foot before and a foot behind
when walking,
each thing has intrinsic value
related to other things by function and place.
Absolute and ordinary life fit together
Like a box and its cover.
Absolute works with relative,
like two arrows meeting in mid air.
Hear and know the great reality.
Do not judge by your own standards.
overlooking the way right before you
How can you see itwhere you`re walking?
Enlightened ,the path is neither near or far.
Deluded, you are rivers and mountains away
With respect, I say to you who seek the goal
Do not waste a moment, night or day.
Monday 30 May 2011
Lao Tzu
Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and
great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same
kind).
What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is
being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting
that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing
it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is
meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be
feared.
And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be
(similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to
great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had
not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he
honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would
administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be
entrusted with it.
great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same
kind).
What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is
being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting
that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing
it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is
meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be
feared.
And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be
(similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to
great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had
not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he
honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would
administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be
entrusted with it.
Sunday 29 May 2011
Saturday 28 May 2011
The Hunting of the Great Bear
There were four hunters who were brothers. No hunters were as good as they at following a trail. They never gave up once they began tracking their quarry.
One day, in the moon when the cold nights return, an urgent message came to the village of the four hunters. A great bear, one so large and powerful that many thought it must be some kind of monster, had appeared.
The people of the village whose hunting grounds the monster had invaded were afraid. The children no longer went out to play in the woods. The long houses of the village were guarded each night by men with weapons who stood by the entrances.
Each morning, when the people went outside, they found the huge tracks of the bear in the midst of their village. They knew that soon it would become even more bold.
Picking up their spears and calling to their small dog, the four hunters set forth for that village, which was not far away. As they came closer they noticed how quiet the woods were.
There were no signs of rabbits or deer and even the birds were silent. On a great pine tree they found the scars where the great bear had reared up on hind legs and made deep scratches to mark its territory. The tallest of the brothers tried to touch the highest of the scratch marks with the tip of his spear.
"It is as the people feared," the first brother said.
"This one we are to hunt is Nyah-gwaheh, a monster bear."
"But what about the magic that the Nyah-gwaheh has?" said the second brother.
The first brother shook his head.
"That magic will do it no good if we find its track."
"That's so,"
said the third brother.
"I have always heard that from the old people. Those creatures can only chase a hunter who has not yet found its trail. When you find the track of the Nyah-gwaheh and begin to chase it, then it must run from you."
"Brothers,"
said the fourth hunter who was the fattest and laziest,
"did we bring along enough food to eat? It may take a long time to catch this big bear. I'm feeling hungry."
Before long, the four hunters and their small dog reached the village. It was a sad sight to see. There was no fire burning in the centre of the village and the doors of all the long houses were closed. Grim men stood on guard with clubs and spears and there was no game hung from the racks or skins stretched for tanning. The people looked hungry.
The elder sachem of the village came out and the tallest of the four hunters spoke to him.
"Uncle," the hunter said, "we have come to help you get rid of the monster."
Then the fattest and laziest of the four brothers spoke.
"Uncle," he said, "is there some food we can eat? Can we find a place to rest before we start chasing this big bear. I'm tired."
The first hunter shook his head and smiled.
"My brother is only joking, Uncle." he said. " We are going now to pick up the monster bear's trail."
"I am not sure you can do that, Nephews," the elder sachem said.
"Though we find tracks closer and closer to the doors of our lodges each morning, whenever we try to follow those tracks they disappear."
The second hunter knelt down and patted the head of their small dog.
"Uncle," he said, that is because they do not have a dog such as ours."
He pointed to the two black circles above the eyes of the small dog.
"Four-Eyes can see any tracks, even those many days old."
"May Creator's protection be with you," said the elder sachem.
"Do not worry. Uncle," said the third hunter. "Once we are on a trail we never stop following until we've finished our hunt."
"That's why I think we should have something to eat first," said the fourth hunter, but his brothers did not listen.
They nodded to the elder sachem and began to leave. Sighing, the fattest and laziest of the brothers lifted up his long spear and trudged after them.
They walked, following their little dog. It kept lifting up its head, as if to look around with its four eyes. The trail was not easy to find.
"Brothers," the fattest and laziest hunter complained, "don't you think we should rest. We've been walking a long time."
But his brothers paid no attention to him. Though they could see no tracks, they could feel the presence of the Nyah-gwaheh. They knew that if they did not soon find its trail, it would make its way behind them. Then they would be the hunted ones.
The fattest and laziest brother took out his pemmican pouch. At least he could eat while they walked along. He opened the pouch and shook out the food he had prepared so carefully by pounding together strips of meat and berries with maple sugar and then drying them in the sun. But instead of pemmican, pale squirming things fell out into his hands. The magic of the Nyah-gwaheh had changed the food into worms.
"Brothers," the fattest and laziest of the hunters shouted, "let's hurry up and catch that big bear! Look what it did to my pemmican. Now I'm getting angry."
Meanwhile, like a pale giant shadow, the Nyah-gwaheh was moving through the trees close to the hunters. Its mouth was open as it watched them and its huge teeth shone, its eyes flashed red. Soon it would be behind them and on their trail.
Just then, though, the little dog lifted its head and yelped. "Eh-heh!" the first brother called.
"Four-Eyes has found the trail," shouted the second brother.
"We have the track of the Nyah-gwaheh," said the third brother.
"Big Bear," the fattest and laziest one yelled, "we are after you, now!"
Fear filled the heart of the great bear for the first time and it began to run. As it broke from the cover of the pines, the four hunters saw it, a gigantic white shape, so pale as to appear almost naked. With loud hunting cries, they began to run after it.
The great bear's strides were long and it ran more swiftly than a deer. The four hunters and their little dog were swift also though and they did not fall behind. The trail led through the swamps and the thickets. It was easy to read, for the bear pushed everything aside as it ran, even knocking down big trees.
On and on they ran, over hills and through valleys. They came to the slope of a mountain and followed the trail higher and higher, every now and then catching a glimpse of their quarry over the next rise.
Now though the lazy hunter was getting tired of running. He pretended to fall and twist his ankle.
"Brothers," he called, "I have sprained my ankle. You must carry me."
So his three brothers did as he asked, two of them carrying him by turns while the third hunter carried his spear. They ran more slowly now because of their heavy load, but they were not falling any further behind. The day had turned now into night, yet they could still see the white shape of the great bear ahead of them.
They were at the top of the mountain now and the ground beneath them was very dark as they ran across it. The bear was tiring, but so were they. It was not easy to carry their fat and lazy brother. The little dog, Four-Eyes, was close behind the great bear, nipping at its tail as it ran.
"Brothers," said the fattest and laziest one. "put me down now. I think my leg has gotten better."
The brothers did as he asked. Fresh and rested, the fattest and laziest one grabbed his spear and dashed ahead of the others. Just as the great bear turned to bite at the little dog, the fattest and laziest hunter levelled his spear and thrust it into the heart of the Nyah-Gwaheh. The monster bear fell dead.
By the time the other brothers caught up, the fattest and laziest hunter had already built a fire and was cutting up the big bear.
"Come on, brothers," he said. "Let's eat. All this running has made me hungry!"
So they cooked the meat of the great bear and its fat sizzled as it dripped from their fire. They ate until even the fattest and laziest one was satisfied and leaned back in contentment.
Just then, though, the first hunter looked down at his feet.
"Brothers," he exclaimed, "look below us!"
The four hunters looked down. Below them were thousands of small sparkling lights in the darkness which. they realized, was all around them.
"We aren't on a mountain top at all," said the third brother. "We are up in the sky."
And it was so. The great bear had indeed been magical. Its feet had taken it high above the earth as it tried to escape the four hunters. However, their determination not to give up the chase had carried them up that strange trail.
Just then their little dog yipped twice.
"The great bear!" said the second hunter. "Look!"
The hunters looked. There, where they had piled the bones of their feast the Great Bear was coming back to life and rising to its feet. As they watched, it began to run again, the small dog close on its heels.
"Follow me," shouted the first brother. Grabbing up their spears, the four hunters again began to chase the great bear across the skies.
So it was, the old people say, and so it still is.
Each autumn the hunters chase the great bear across the skies and kill it. Then, as they cut it up for their meal, the blood falls down from the heavens and colours the leaves of the maple trees scarlet. They cook the bear and the fat dripping from their fires turns the grass white.
If you look carefully into the skies as the seasons change, you can read that story. The great bear is the square shape some call the bowl of the Big Dipper.
The hunters and their small dog (which you can just barely see) are close behind, the dipper's handle. When autumn comes and that constellation turns upside down, the old people say.
"Ah, the lazy hunter has killed the bear." But as the moons pass and the sky moves once more towards spring, the bear slowly rises back on its feet and the chase begins again.
Friday 27 May 2011
Thursday 26 May 2011
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists author Robert Tressell is honoured in Liverpool (GALLERY) - In The Mix Today - News - Liverpool Echo
Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1914)
"When there's no work," Owen went on, taking another dip of paint as he spoke and starting on one of the lower panels of the door, 'when there's no work, you will either starve or get into debt. When - as at present - there is a little work, you will live in a state of semi-starvation. When times are what you call "good", you will work for twelve or fourteen hours a day and - if you're very lucky - occasionally all night. The extra money you then earn will go to pay your debts so that you may be able to get credit again when there's no work.'
Easton put some putty in a crack in the skirting.
"In consequence of living in this manner, you will die at least twenty years sooner than is natural, or, should you have an unusually strong constitution and live after you cease to be able to work, you will be put into a kind of jail and treated like a criminal for the remainder of your life."
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists author Robert Tressell is honoured in Liverpool (GALLERY) - In The Mix Today - News - Liverpool Echo
That one is for you AOC! I'm flattered! [and pleased!]
"When there's no work," Owen went on, taking another dip of paint as he spoke and starting on one of the lower panels of the door, 'when there's no work, you will either starve or get into debt. When - as at present - there is a little work, you will live in a state of semi-starvation. When times are what you call "good", you will work for twelve or fourteen hours a day and - if you're very lucky - occasionally all night. The extra money you then earn will go to pay your debts so that you may be able to get credit again when there's no work.'
Easton put some putty in a crack in the skirting.
"In consequence of living in this manner, you will die at least twenty years sooner than is natural, or, should you have an unusually strong constitution and live after you cease to be able to work, you will be put into a kind of jail and treated like a criminal for the remainder of your life."
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists author Robert Tressell is honoured in Liverpool (GALLERY) - In The Mix Today - News - Liverpool Echo
That one is for you AOC! I'm flattered! [and pleased!]
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Tuesday 24 May 2011
The Polar Bear King
The King of the Polar Bears
[by L Frank Baum]
The seals were afraid when he drew near, and tried to avoid him; but the gulls, both white and gray, loved him because he left the remnants of his feasts for them to devour.
Often his subjects, the polar bears, came to him for advice when ill or in trouble; but they wisely kept away from his hunting grounds, lest they might interfere with his sport and arouse his anger.
The wolves, who sometimes came as far north as the icebergs, whispered among themselves that the King of the Polar Bears was either a magician or under the protection of a powerful fairy. For no earthly thing seemed able to harm him; he never failed to secure plenty of food, and he grew bigger and stronger day by day and year by year.
Yet the time came when this monarch of the north met man, and his wisdom failed him.
He came out of his cave among the icebergs one day and saw a boat moving through the strip of water which had been uncovered by the shifting of the summer ice. In the boat were men.
The great bear had never seen such creatures before, and therefore advanced toward the boat, sniffing the strange scent with aroused curiosity and wondering whether he might take them for friends or foes, food or carrion.
When the king came near the water's edge a man stood up in the boat and with a queer instrument made a loud "bang!" The polar bear felt a shock; his brain became numb; his thoughts deserted him; his great limbs shook and gave way beneath him and his body fell heavily upon the hard ice.
That was all he remembered for a time.
When he awoke he was smarting with pain on every inch of his huge bulk, for the men had cut away his hide with its glorious white hair and carried it with them to a distant ship.
Above him circled thousands of his friends the gulls, wondering if their benefactor were really dead and it was proper to eat him. But when they saw him raise his head and groan and tremble they knew he still lived, and one of them said to his comrades:
"The wolves were right. The king is a great magician, for even men cannot kill him. But he suffers for lack of covering. Let us repay his kindness to us by each giving him as many feathers as we can spare."
This idea pleased the gulls. One after another they plucked with their beaks the softest feathers from under their wings, and, flying down, dropped then gently upon the body of the King of the Polar Bears.
Then they called to him in a chorus:
"Courage, friend! Our feathers are as soft and beautiful as your own shaggy hair. They will guard you from the cold winds and warm you while you sleep. Have courage, then, and live!"
And the King of the Polar Bears had courage to bear his pain and lived and was strong again.
The feathers grew as they had grown upon the bodies of the birds and covered him as his own hair had done. Mostly they were pure white in color, but some from the gray gulls gave his majesty a slight mottled appearance.
The rest of that summer and all through the six months of night the king left his icy cavern only to fish or catch seals for food. He felt no shame at his feathery covering, but it was still strange to him, and he avoided meeting any of his brother bears.
During this period of retirement he thought much of the men who had harmed him, and remembered the way they had made the great "bang!" And he decided it was best to keep away from such fierce creatures. Thus he added to his store of wisdom.
When the moon fell away from the sky and the sun came to make the icebergs glitter with the gorgeous tintings of the rainbow, two of the polar bears arrived at the king's cavern to ask his advice about the hunting season. But when they saw his great body covered with feathers instead of hair they began to laugh, and one said:
"Our mighty king has become a bird! Who ever before heard of a feathered polar bear?"
Then the king gave way to wrath. He advanced upon them with deep growls and stately tread and with one blow of his monstrous paw stretched the mocker lifeless at his feet.
The other ran away to his fellows and carried the news of the king's strange appearance. The result was a meeting of all the polar bears upon a broad field of ice, where they talked gravely of the remarkable change that had come upon their monarch.
"He is, in reality, no longer a bear," said one; "nor can he justly be called a bird. But he is half bird and half bear, and so unfitted to remain our king."
"Then who shall take his place?" asked another.
"He who can fight the bird-bear and overcome him," answered an aged member of the group. "Only the strongest is fit to rule our race."
There was silence for a time, but at length a great bear moved to the front and said:
"I will fight him; I—Woof—the strongest of our race! And I will be King of the Polar Bears."
The others nodded assent, and dispatched a messenger to the king to say he must fight the great Woof and master him or resign his sovereignty.
"For a bear with feathers," added the messenger, "is no bear at all, and the king we obey must resemble the rest of us."
"I wear feathers because it pleases me," growled the king. "Am I not a great magician? But I will fight, nevertheless, and if Woof masters me he shall be king in my stead."
Then he visited his friends, the gulls, who were even then feasting upon the dead bear, and told them of the coming battle.
"I shall conquer," he said, proudly. "Yet my people are in the right, for only a hairy one like themselves can hope to command their obedience."
The queen gull said:
"I met an eagle yesterday, which had made its escape from a big city of men. And the eagle told me he had seen a monstrous polar bear skin thrown over the back of a carriage that rolled along the street. That skin must have been yours, oh king, and if you wish I will sent an hundred of my gulls to the city to bring it back to you."
"Let them go!" said the king, gruffly. And the hundred gulls were soon flying rapidly southward.
For three days they flew straight as an arrow, until they came to scattered houses, to villages, and to cities. Then their search began.
The gulls were brave, and cunning, and wise. Upon the fourth day they reached the great metropolis, and hovered over the streets until a carriage rolled along with a great white bear robe thrown over the back seat. Then the birds swooped down—the whole hundred of them—and seizing the skin in their beaks flew quickly away.
They were late. The king's great battle was upon the seventh day, and they must fly swiftly to reach the Polar regions by that time.
Meanwhile the bird-bear was preparing for his fight. He sharpened his claws in the small crevasses of the ice. He caught a seal and tested his big yellow teeth by crunching its bones between them. And the queen gull set her band to pluming the king bear's feathers until they lay smoothly upon his body.
But every day they cast anxious glances into the southern sky, watching for the hundred gulls to bring back the king's own skin.
The seventh day came, and all the Polar bears in that region gathered around the king's cavern. Among them was Woof, strong and confident of his success.
"The bird-bear's feathers will fly fast enough when I get my claws upon him!" he boasted; and the others laughed and encouraged him.
The king was disappointed at not having recovered his skin, but he resolved to fight bravely without it. He advanced from the opening of his cavern with a proud and kingly bearing, and when he faced his enemy he gave so terrible a growl that Woof's heart stopped beating for a moment, and he began to realize that a fight with the wise and mighty king of his race was no laughing matter.
After exchanging one or two heavy blows with his foe Woof's courage returned, and he determined to dishearten his adversary by bluster.
"Come nearer, bird-bear!" he cried. "Come nearer, that I may pluck your plumage!"
The defiance filled the king with rage. He ruffled his feathers as a bird does, till he appeared to be twice his actual size, and then he strode forward and struck Woof so powerful a blow that his skull crackled like an egg-shell and he fell prone upon the ground.
While the assembled bears stood looking with fear and wonder at their fallen champion the sky became darkened.
An hundred gulls flew down from above and dripped upon the king's body a skin covered with pure white hair that glittered in the sun like silver.
And behold! the bears saw before them the well-known form of their wise and respected master, and with one accord they bowed their shaggy heads in homage to the mighty King of the Polar Bears.
[by L Frank Baum]
The seals were afraid when he drew near, and tried to avoid him; but the gulls, both white and gray, loved him because he left the remnants of his feasts for them to devour.
Often his subjects, the polar bears, came to him for advice when ill or in trouble; but they wisely kept away from his hunting grounds, lest they might interfere with his sport and arouse his anger.
The wolves, who sometimes came as far north as the icebergs, whispered among themselves that the King of the Polar Bears was either a magician or under the protection of a powerful fairy. For no earthly thing seemed able to harm him; he never failed to secure plenty of food, and he grew bigger and stronger day by day and year by year.
Yet the time came when this monarch of the north met man, and his wisdom failed him.
He came out of his cave among the icebergs one day and saw a boat moving through the strip of water which had been uncovered by the shifting of the summer ice. In the boat were men.
The great bear had never seen such creatures before, and therefore advanced toward the boat, sniffing the strange scent with aroused curiosity and wondering whether he might take them for friends or foes, food or carrion.
When the king came near the water's edge a man stood up in the boat and with a queer instrument made a loud "bang!" The polar bear felt a shock; his brain became numb; his thoughts deserted him; his great limbs shook and gave way beneath him and his body fell heavily upon the hard ice.
That was all he remembered for a time.
When he awoke he was smarting with pain on every inch of his huge bulk, for the men had cut away his hide with its glorious white hair and carried it with them to a distant ship.
Above him circled thousands of his friends the gulls, wondering if their benefactor were really dead and it was proper to eat him. But when they saw him raise his head and groan and tremble they knew he still lived, and one of them said to his comrades:
"The wolves were right. The king is a great magician, for even men cannot kill him. But he suffers for lack of covering. Let us repay his kindness to us by each giving him as many feathers as we can spare."
This idea pleased the gulls. One after another they plucked with their beaks the softest feathers from under their wings, and, flying down, dropped then gently upon the body of the King of the Polar Bears.
Then they called to him in a chorus:
"Courage, friend! Our feathers are as soft and beautiful as your own shaggy hair. They will guard you from the cold winds and warm you while you sleep. Have courage, then, and live!"
And the King of the Polar Bears had courage to bear his pain and lived and was strong again.
The feathers grew as they had grown upon the bodies of the birds and covered him as his own hair had done. Mostly they were pure white in color, but some from the gray gulls gave his majesty a slight mottled appearance.
The rest of that summer and all through the six months of night the king left his icy cavern only to fish or catch seals for food. He felt no shame at his feathery covering, but it was still strange to him, and he avoided meeting any of his brother bears.
During this period of retirement he thought much of the men who had harmed him, and remembered the way they had made the great "bang!" And he decided it was best to keep away from such fierce creatures. Thus he added to his store of wisdom.
When the moon fell away from the sky and the sun came to make the icebergs glitter with the gorgeous tintings of the rainbow, two of the polar bears arrived at the king's cavern to ask his advice about the hunting season. But when they saw his great body covered with feathers instead of hair they began to laugh, and one said:
"Our mighty king has become a bird! Who ever before heard of a feathered polar bear?"
Then the king gave way to wrath. He advanced upon them with deep growls and stately tread and with one blow of his monstrous paw stretched the mocker lifeless at his feet.
The other ran away to his fellows and carried the news of the king's strange appearance. The result was a meeting of all the polar bears upon a broad field of ice, where they talked gravely of the remarkable change that had come upon their monarch.
"He is, in reality, no longer a bear," said one; "nor can he justly be called a bird. But he is half bird and half bear, and so unfitted to remain our king."
"Then who shall take his place?" asked another.
"He who can fight the bird-bear and overcome him," answered an aged member of the group. "Only the strongest is fit to rule our race."
There was silence for a time, but at length a great bear moved to the front and said:
"I will fight him; I—Woof—the strongest of our race! And I will be King of the Polar Bears."
The others nodded assent, and dispatched a messenger to the king to say he must fight the great Woof and master him or resign his sovereignty.
"For a bear with feathers," added the messenger, "is no bear at all, and the king we obey must resemble the rest of us."
"I wear feathers because it pleases me," growled the king. "Am I not a great magician? But I will fight, nevertheless, and if Woof masters me he shall be king in my stead."
Then he visited his friends, the gulls, who were even then feasting upon the dead bear, and told them of the coming battle.
"I shall conquer," he said, proudly. "Yet my people are in the right, for only a hairy one like themselves can hope to command their obedience."
The queen gull said:
"I met an eagle yesterday, which had made its escape from a big city of men. And the eagle told me he had seen a monstrous polar bear skin thrown over the back of a carriage that rolled along the street. That skin must have been yours, oh king, and if you wish I will sent an hundred of my gulls to the city to bring it back to you."
"Let them go!" said the king, gruffly. And the hundred gulls were soon flying rapidly southward.
For three days they flew straight as an arrow, until they came to scattered houses, to villages, and to cities. Then their search began.
The gulls were brave, and cunning, and wise. Upon the fourth day they reached the great metropolis, and hovered over the streets until a carriage rolled along with a great white bear robe thrown over the back seat. Then the birds swooped down—the whole hundred of them—and seizing the skin in their beaks flew quickly away.
They were late. The king's great battle was upon the seventh day, and they must fly swiftly to reach the Polar regions by that time.
Meanwhile the bird-bear was preparing for his fight. He sharpened his claws in the small crevasses of the ice. He caught a seal and tested his big yellow teeth by crunching its bones between them. And the queen gull set her band to pluming the king bear's feathers until they lay smoothly upon his body.
But every day they cast anxious glances into the southern sky, watching for the hundred gulls to bring back the king's own skin.
The seventh day came, and all the Polar bears in that region gathered around the king's cavern. Among them was Woof, strong and confident of his success.
"The bird-bear's feathers will fly fast enough when I get my claws upon him!" he boasted; and the others laughed and encouraged him.
The king was disappointed at not having recovered his skin, but he resolved to fight bravely without it. He advanced from the opening of his cavern with a proud and kingly bearing, and when he faced his enemy he gave so terrible a growl that Woof's heart stopped beating for a moment, and he began to realize that a fight with the wise and mighty king of his race was no laughing matter.
After exchanging one or two heavy blows with his foe Woof's courage returned, and he determined to dishearten his adversary by bluster.
"Come nearer, bird-bear!" he cried. "Come nearer, that I may pluck your plumage!"
The defiance filled the king with rage. He ruffled his feathers as a bird does, till he appeared to be twice his actual size, and then he strode forward and struck Woof so powerful a blow that his skull crackled like an egg-shell and he fell prone upon the ground.
While the assembled bears stood looking with fear and wonder at their fallen champion the sky became darkened.
An hundred gulls flew down from above and dripped upon the king's body a skin covered with pure white hair that glittered in the sun like silver.
And behold! the bears saw before them the well-known form of their wise and respected master, and with one accord they bowed their shaggy heads in homage to the mighty King of the Polar Bears.
* * * * * * * * * * * *This story teaches us that true dignity and courage depend not upon outward appearance, but come rather from within; also that brag and bluster are poor weapons to carry into battle.
Monday 23 May 2011
Apollo
http://www.swedenborgstudy.com/books/C.Th.Odhner_Mythology-Greeks-Romans/26.html
Apollo, it is said, was born on the seventh of May, and hence the seventh day of every month was sacred to him.
At his birth, a heavenly radiance flooded the island of Delos, and a flock of swans flew seven times around the island, while, growing between a palm and an olive tree, the sacred laurel sprang up from the ground.
Having been washed and swathed by the attendant goddesses, Apollo was fed with Nectar and Ambrosia. Suddenly attaining full stature, he called for a lyre and a bow, and, announced that he intended to found an oracle and to declare to men the will of his Divine Father.
Setting forth to accomplish this sacred purpose, he arrived at Delphi, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where, from a chasm in the rocks, there issued a monstrous serpent, the Python, which had been born out of the slime and stagnant waters which remained after the Deluge had subsided.
Him Apollo vanquished and chained in the chasm, and placed over it a tripod and built around it a temple which became the most famous oracle of all antiquity.
Out of the chasm there exhaled a gas which threw into hypnotic trance the priestess,— known as the Pythia,—who was seated on the tripod above it, and who, when in this condition, gave utterance to muttered oracles which were caught by the listening priests and formulated by them according to the requirements of the occasion.
Here,we can see,the beginnings, of multifarious Mythology.
[all of which, are Solar based],
but why a 'Tripod?' ha hah! see;Jung!
Apollo, it is said, was born on the seventh of May, and hence the seventh day of every month was sacred to him.
At his birth, a heavenly radiance flooded the island of Delos, and a flock of swans flew seven times around the island, while, growing between a palm and an olive tree, the sacred laurel sprang up from the ground.
Having been washed and swathed by the attendant goddesses, Apollo was fed with Nectar and Ambrosia. Suddenly attaining full stature, he called for a lyre and a bow, and, announced that he intended to found an oracle and to declare to men the will of his Divine Father.
Setting forth to accomplish this sacred purpose, he arrived at Delphi, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where, from a chasm in the rocks, there issued a monstrous serpent, the Python, which had been born out of the slime and stagnant waters which remained after the Deluge had subsided.
Him Apollo vanquished and chained in the chasm, and placed over it a tripod and built around it a temple which became the most famous oracle of all antiquity.
Out of the chasm there exhaled a gas which threw into hypnotic trance the priestess,— known as the Pythia,—who was seated on the tripod above it, and who, when in this condition, gave utterance to muttered oracles which were caught by the listening priests and formulated by them according to the requirements of the occasion.
Here,we can see,the beginnings, of multifarious Mythology.
[all of which, are Solar based],
but why a 'Tripod?' ha hah! see;Jung!
Friday 20 May 2011
Reptilean Brains, an Eastern thing?
169. Follow the law of virtue; do not follow that of sin. The virtuous rests in bliss in this world and in the next.
170. Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a mirage: the king of death does not see him who thus looks down upon the world.
171. Come, look at this glittering world, like unto a royal chariot; the foolish are immersed in it, but the wise do not touch it.
172. He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.
173. He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.
174. This world is dark, few only can see here; a few only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net.
[The Dhammapada- Quack Quack!]
Thursday 19 May 2011
Battling addictions, Part One.
http://www.theinstitute.org/keynote.htm
Use The Tree! Remember...You are Not alone!
Use The Tree! Remember...You are Not alone!
Remember! You are Not Alone!
Wednesday 18 May 2011
The Tree of Life, some observations.
' God is encased everywhere as the child in the womb.'
Either the jñâna-chakshu or the prema-chakshu is wanted,
the eye of wisdom or the eye of love; only with these can you see God. - Upanishad Vahini, p. 76
http://bababooks.org/SathyaSaiGita/chapter15.html
Compare....
http://www.anima-mundi-seminare.org/eng/index.htm
[Itaya Foussa]
Hare Krishna?, 'Pan?' a, 'Nymph?', a, 'Tree Numen?', a,'Muse?,
or, maybe?, a 'Piper?', or, maybe , 'Springtime?', who knows? Art? what is it?
Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?
The symbolism, merely changes, it's, 'Form', it's Beautiful! - God is Alive!
But, then again, someone once wrote, about a man, who was hung, from, a Tree!
I wonder how they got the Idea?- Not!
Some declare that they will believe only in a God that can be seen or demonstrated.
This is the usual argument of the worldly minded.
But it is not easy to see, with gross physical eyes, the Paramâtmâ, which is subtler than the subtlest.
You must first get command over a powerful microscope, fit for the purpose.
the eye of wisdom or the eye of love; only with these can you see God. - Upanishad Vahini, p. 76
http://bababooks.org/SathyaSaiGita/chapter15.html
Compare....
Then consider....'Krysna?' or any etymol, of same, 'Christos',etc, and you may realise, Like, I have,
that ,the 'Archetype', [in a very, 'Jungian' sense], of, the, 'Tree of Life', is firstly, Vegetable,
secondly, a provider, of, 'Nourishment', [fruits etc]
secondly, a provider, of, 'Nourishment', [fruits etc]
and thirdly, the most precious, gift, to mankind, from our creator!
Who now ,Mani-fests, in works of Art , etc! .The [Holy] Bible, abounds ,with ,'vegetative' ,symbolism.
People using, [vegetable] 'entheogens', such as, Cannabis, etc, usually forget , about, the deeper, spiritual, meanings, as they try to get, 'high'.
But, the collective 'unconscious', forgets nothing!
and balance , WILL, be restored, either consciously, or, unconsciously!
Medicine ,must always, be in the correct ,Dosage!
The metaphors are many,
'Mother Earth', 'Mother nature', 'Mother land', etc, etc,
or, as Jung would term it, 'Anima', a very real, very powerful , Psychic sub-structure.
Everything Changes! Nothing remains the same!
What was, a , 'High', yesterday, could be, a, 'low', today? or vice versa?
It all depends on, 'attitude'. Even ,'Nihilists',[if there is such a thing] have to eat! ha hah!
Who now ,Mani-fests, in works of Art , etc! .The [Holy] Bible, abounds ,with ,'vegetative' ,symbolism.
People using, [vegetable] 'entheogens', such as, Cannabis, etc, usually forget , about, the deeper, spiritual, meanings, as they try to get, 'high'.
But, the collective 'unconscious', forgets nothing!
and balance , WILL, be restored, either consciously, or, unconsciously!
Medicine ,must always, be in the correct ,Dosage!
The metaphors are many,
'Mother Earth', 'Mother nature', 'Mother land', etc, etc,
or, as Jung would term it, 'Anima', a very real, very powerful , Psychic sub-structure.
Everything Changes! Nothing remains the same!
What was, a , 'High', yesterday, could be, a, 'low', today? or vice versa?
It all depends on, 'attitude'. Even ,'Nihilists',[if there is such a thing] have to eat! ha hah!
[Itaya Foussa]
Hare Krishna?, 'Pan?' a, 'Nymph?', a, 'Tree Numen?', a,'Muse?,
or, maybe?, a 'Piper?', or, maybe , 'Springtime?', who knows? Art? what is it?
Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?
The symbolism, merely changes, it's, 'Form', it's Beautiful! - God is Alive!
But, then again, someone once wrote, about a man, who was hung, from, a Tree!
I wonder how they got the Idea?- Not!
Tuesday 17 May 2011
Cavern Walks, Liverpool Monkey.
Cavern walks In 1984 Cavern Walks was built on part of the site of the original world famous Cavern Club (demolished to make way for a never to arrive ventilation shaft for downtown Liverpool's underground rail system.)
In its detailing there is a sculpture of a gorilla applying lipstick. This came about when scouse architect David Backhouse proposed putting decoration on the building a developer told him:
"Art is to architecture like lipstick is to a gorilla.
MIND GORILLA?
In its detailing there is a sculpture of a gorilla applying lipstick. This came about when scouse architect David Backhouse proposed putting decoration on the building a developer told him:
"Art is to architecture like lipstick is to a gorilla.
MIND GORILLA?
look upon the body as unreal,
an image in a mirror
the reflection of the moon in water.
Contemplate the mind as formless,
yet bright and pure.
Not a single thought arising,
empty, yet perceptive;
still, yet illuminating;
complete like the great emptiness,
containing all that is wonderful.
- Han Shan Te'-Ch'ing, 1600
an image in a mirror
the reflection of the moon in water.
Contemplate the mind as formless,
yet bright and pure.
Not a single thought arising,
empty, yet perceptive;
still, yet illuminating;
complete like the great emptiness,
containing all that is wonderful.
- Han Shan Te'-Ch'ing, 1600
Monday 16 May 2011
Sunday 15 May 2011
Number Vaughan Son of Liverpool.
[wikipedia]
Frankie Vaughan, CBE, DL (3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999[1]) was an English singer of traditional pop music, who issued more than 80 recordings in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after one of his early hits
We, in Liverpool, love anyone who has achieved merit,in the field of entertainment. Mr Vaughan, is sadly missed, by many , but his music lives on!
read more.....
He was born Frank Abelson to a Jewish family in Devon Street, Liverpool, England.[1] The name 'Vaughan' came from a grandmother whose first grandson he was, who used to call Frank 'my number one' grandson, in whose Russian accent 'one' sounded like 'Vaughan'.[1]
In his early life, he was a member of the Lancaster Lads Club, a member group of the National Association of Boys' Clubs in the UK, and in his career he was a major contributor to the clubs, dedicating his monetary compensation from one song each year to them.[1] He was an evacuee in Lancaster during World War II.[2] He started out at the club intending to be a boxer.[1] Then at age 14 he received a scholarship to the Lancaster College of Art, where he sang in the dance band.[1] After a stint in the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War II (where he spent most of his time boxing) he returned to art school, this time at the Leeds College of Art.[1]
When he won a prize to design a furniture exhibition stand, he left for London, where he won second prize on a radio talent show.[1]
Vaughan's career began in the late 1940s in the theatre doing variety song and dance acts.[1] He was known as a fancy dresser, wearing top hat, bow tie, tails, and cane.[1] In the 1950s he worked for a few years with the Nat Temple band, and after that period he then began making records, and was popular in the UK. In 1955, he recorded what was to become his trademark song, "Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl".[1]
He recorded a large number of songs that were covers of United States hit songs, including Perry Como's "Kewpie Doll," Jimmie Rodgers' "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," Boyd Bennett's "Seventeen" (also covered in the US by the Fontane Sisters), Jim Lowe's "The Green Door," and (with The Kaye Sisters), The Fleetwoods' "Come Softly to Me".[1] From the 1950s through to the early 1960s, his recordings were popular in the UK.[1] In 1956, his cover of "The Green Door" reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart.[3] The same year he was voted 'Showbusiness Personality of the Year'.[2] In early 1957, his version of "The Garden of Eden", reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1961, Vaughan hit #1 in the UK again, with "Tower of Strength", but the rise of beat music eclipsed his chart career for two or three years, before he returned to the Top 10 in 1967 with "There Must Be A Way".[1] Chart success eluded him after this although he did have two more Top 40 singles; "Nevertheless" and "So Tired".[3]
He went to the United States in 1960 to make a movie with Marilyn Monroe, Let's Make Love, and was an actor in several other movies, but his recordings were never chart hits in the US.[2] In 1961, Vaughan was on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Coventry Street, London.
During the 1960s, he became involved with youth social problems in Easterhouse, a large housing estate in the outskirts of Glasgow, and was influential in attracting new resources and inward investment to the area.[1] A longtime member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, Vaughan became King Rat in 1968, a feat he followed up in 1998.
He sang the traditional hymn, "Abide With Me", at the 1973 FA Cup Final, won by Sunderland.
He continued performing until 1985, when he starred in a stage version of 42nd Street at Drury Lane in London,[1] opposite his old friend Shani Wallis who appeared in their first film together, Ramsbottom Rides Again with Arthur Askey. After a year, he suffered a near fatal bout of peritonitis and had to leave the cast.[1] According to the BBC obituary, Vaughan was married to Stella from 1951 to 1999 and they had three children and several grandchildren.[2] He was created an OBE in 1965, a CBE in 1996,[1] and as a resident of High Wycombe had been a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Buckinghamshire since 1993. He was an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.[4]
He died from heart failure in Oxford[5] in 1999, aged 71.[1][2] The Frankie Vaughan Archive, consisting of sheet music, scores, orchestral and band parts, was donated to Liverpool John Moores University by his widow, Stella Vaughan, in the summer of 2000.
Goodnight, and God bless, Mr moonlight!
Frankie Vaughan, CBE, DL (3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999[1]) was an English singer of traditional pop music, who issued more than 80 recordings in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after one of his early hits
We, in Liverpool, love anyone who has achieved merit,in the field of entertainment. Mr Vaughan, is sadly missed, by many , but his music lives on!
read more.....
He was born Frank Abelson to a Jewish family in Devon Street, Liverpool, England.[1] The name 'Vaughan' came from a grandmother whose first grandson he was, who used to call Frank 'my number one' grandson, in whose Russian accent 'one' sounded like 'Vaughan'.[1]
In his early life, he was a member of the Lancaster Lads Club, a member group of the National Association of Boys' Clubs in the UK, and in his career he was a major contributor to the clubs, dedicating his monetary compensation from one song each year to them.[1] He was an evacuee in Lancaster during World War II.[2] He started out at the club intending to be a boxer.[1] Then at age 14 he received a scholarship to the Lancaster College of Art, where he sang in the dance band.[1] After a stint in the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War II (where he spent most of his time boxing) he returned to art school, this time at the Leeds College of Art.[1]
When he won a prize to design a furniture exhibition stand, he left for London, where he won second prize on a radio talent show.[1]
Vaughan's career began in the late 1940s in the theatre doing variety song and dance acts.[1] He was known as a fancy dresser, wearing top hat, bow tie, tails, and cane.[1] In the 1950s he worked for a few years with the Nat Temple band, and after that period he then began making records, and was popular in the UK. In 1955, he recorded what was to become his trademark song, "Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl".[1]
He recorded a large number of songs that were covers of United States hit songs, including Perry Como's "Kewpie Doll," Jimmie Rodgers' "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," Boyd Bennett's "Seventeen" (also covered in the US by the Fontane Sisters), Jim Lowe's "The Green Door," and (with The Kaye Sisters), The Fleetwoods' "Come Softly to Me".[1] From the 1950s through to the early 1960s, his recordings were popular in the UK.[1] In 1956, his cover of "The Green Door" reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart.[3] The same year he was voted 'Showbusiness Personality of the Year'.[2] In early 1957, his version of "The Garden of Eden", reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1961, Vaughan hit #1 in the UK again, with "Tower of Strength", but the rise of beat music eclipsed his chart career for two or three years, before he returned to the Top 10 in 1967 with "There Must Be A Way".[1] Chart success eluded him after this although he did have two more Top 40 singles; "Nevertheless" and "So Tired".[3]
He went to the United States in 1960 to make a movie with Marilyn Monroe, Let's Make Love, and was an actor in several other movies, but his recordings were never chart hits in the US.[2] In 1961, Vaughan was on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Coventry Street, London.
During the 1960s, he became involved with youth social problems in Easterhouse, a large housing estate in the outskirts of Glasgow, and was influential in attracting new resources and inward investment to the area.[1] A longtime member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, Vaughan became King Rat in 1968, a feat he followed up in 1998.
He sang the traditional hymn, "Abide With Me", at the 1973 FA Cup Final, won by Sunderland.
He continued performing until 1985, when he starred in a stage version of 42nd Street at Drury Lane in London,[1] opposite his old friend Shani Wallis who appeared in their first film together, Ramsbottom Rides Again with Arthur Askey. After a year, he suffered a near fatal bout of peritonitis and had to leave the cast.[1] According to the BBC obituary, Vaughan was married to Stella from 1951 to 1999 and they had three children and several grandchildren.[2] He was created an OBE in 1965, a CBE in 1996,[1] and as a resident of High Wycombe had been a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Buckinghamshire since 1993. He was an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.[4]
He died from heart failure in Oxford[5] in 1999, aged 71.[1][2] The Frankie Vaughan Archive, consisting of sheet music, scores, orchestral and band parts, was donated to Liverpool John Moores University by his widow, Stella Vaughan, in the summer of 2000.
Goodnight, and God bless, Mr moonlight!
Saturday 14 May 2011
Thursday 12 May 2011
The Strange tale of Liverpool cats....
THE exodus began that fair-weather afternoon in late April 1941.
A clowder of cats pussy-footed it in single file from an alleyway off Scotland Road, and the locals were naturally bemused by the sight.
Thickset Sam, the local butcher’s dog, who was all bark and no bite, snarled and howled at the surreal spectacle, but the felines didn’t even react; they just continued on their way northwards, each creature evidently gripped with hard determination as if some Pied Piper had bewitched them.
There were similar reports of migrant cats from Bootle, and only a few of those who witnessed the bizarre mass departure suspected that an evacuation was in progress because the felines had sensed an approaching calamity.
A Mrs Arthur told me how she had been seven years of age in 1941, and how she had started crying as she watched her own cat, Tiddlywink, join the stream of migrating moggies as they filed up the entries of Hopwood Street.
The girl sobbed for Tiddlywink to come back as her mother laughed at the funny scene.
There were sightings of the cat convoy along the Leeds Liverpool Canal as the legion of felines headed for the green suburbs, far away from the smoky purlieus of Scotland Road.
Frank Collins, who was a 12-year-old in 1941, clearly recalls seeing his tortoiseshell cat, Fred, as well as his neighbour’s cat, Snowy, walking with a dozen other cats in a column as they went northwards up Bootle’s Stuart Road, passing the Breeze Hill Reservoir.
“Kids shouted at them and some even threw stones at the cats, but the cats just hurried along in a straight row,” Frank remembers. “It was very odd.”
Frank is in his early 80s now, but he can recall how, after the infamous May Blitz, Fred and Snowy returned – to a Bootle bombed almost beyond recognition.
The same thing is said to have happened with the cats of Scotland Road – they returned after the north end of Liverpool had been decimated by the Luftwaffe.
Sam, the aforementioned butcher’s dog, was injured in the Blitz, but was treated by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals and made a full recovery.
A clowder of cats pussy-footed it in single file from an alleyway off Scotland Road, and the locals were naturally bemused by the sight.
Thickset Sam, the local butcher’s dog, who was all bark and no bite, snarled and howled at the surreal spectacle, but the felines didn’t even react; they just continued on their way northwards, each creature evidently gripped with hard determination as if some Pied Piper had bewitched them.
There were similar reports of migrant cats from Bootle, and only a few of those who witnessed the bizarre mass departure suspected that an evacuation was in progress because the felines had sensed an approaching calamity.
A Mrs Arthur told me how she had been seven years of age in 1941, and how she had started crying as she watched her own cat, Tiddlywink, join the stream of migrating moggies as they filed up the entries of Hopwood Street.
The girl sobbed for Tiddlywink to come back as her mother laughed at the funny scene.
There were sightings of the cat convoy along the Leeds Liverpool Canal as the legion of felines headed for the green suburbs, far away from the smoky purlieus of Scotland Road.
Frank Collins, who was a 12-year-old in 1941, clearly recalls seeing his tortoiseshell cat, Fred, as well as his neighbour’s cat, Snowy, walking with a dozen other cats in a column as they went northwards up Bootle’s Stuart Road, passing the Breeze Hill Reservoir.
“Kids shouted at them and some even threw stones at the cats, but the cats just hurried along in a straight row,” Frank remembers. “It was very odd.”
Frank is in his early 80s now, but he can recall how, after the infamous May Blitz, Fred and Snowy returned – to a Bootle bombed almost beyond recognition.
The same thing is said to have happened with the cats of Scotland Road – they returned after the north end of Liverpool had been decimated by the Luftwaffe.
Sam, the aforementioned butcher’s dog, was injured in the Blitz, but was treated by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals and made a full recovery.
Tom Slemen on the Liverpool May Blitz cat exodus along Scotland Road.....
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Polar Bear Facts.
http://www.bearplanet.org/polarbear.shtml
The Ket, a tribe of central Siberia, regarded the bear as their ancestor. They too, placed bear skulls in the fork of a tree and to this day the Ket refer to the bear as gyp, "grandfather," or qoi, "stepfather".
Neanderthal man and Arctic man lived in the deeply mystic and spiritual world of the hunter who must kill in order to live. This was the ethos of the Inuit. The Inuit is a member of the Inuit people, the term having official status in Canada and also used elsewhere as a synonym for the Eskimo in general.
However, this latter use, in including Siberians who are not Inupiaq-speakers, is, strictly speaking, not accurate). However, that apart, the Inuit believed that all animals and man had inua, "souls", and to ensure future hunting success and harmony with the spirits of nature it was essential to placate the souls of slain animals, especially an animal as huge and man-like as the bear.
The bear could stand upright, like an enormous hairy giant, and when skinned, with his pinkish blubber, his finger-like claws and massive torso , looks gruesomely, horrifyingly like an immense naked human.
In this spiritual world of early Arctic man, animals were kin, an ancient belief reflected in totemism and in fables and mythology.
It was a mental world where the real and the unreal, the factual and the spiritual, merged. A shaman of the Polar Inuit explained an unsuccessful polar bear hunt in an area where bears were usually numerous, like this:"
The bears are not here, because there is no ice here, and there is no ice here because the wind is too strong, and the wind is too strong because we have insulted the spirits.
When a hunter returned with a bear, ancient ceremonies were observed to propitiate the bear's soul, for during all this time, the spirit of the great white bear hovered unseen, but strangely felt, about the village.
If offended, it would depart in anger, and evil might strike the entire community. The bear's skull was taken to the kagri, the communal house, and placed upon a raised bench.
It remained in this place of honor until the polar bear dance.
Gifts were placed near the bear skull: skin scrapers, needle cases and ulus, the semi-lunar woman's knife, if the bear was a female, and a carving knife or drill, if the bear was a male. The gifts had their own spirits and essence, and these became the property of the bear's inua, its soul.
It was a quest fraught with enormous danger. The bear spirit, the "flying bear" could take the shaman to the moon, or deep into the sea, to seek help for his people, the mother of seals and whales and walruses.
And the bear spirit could protect his master from the power of evil.
The spirit of the polar bear
The Russian scientist S.M. Uspensky once found polar bear skulls carefully stacked in piles several feet high on a remote Siberian beach where an ancient Arctic race had at one time prayed to the spirit of the bear.The Ket, a tribe of central Siberia, regarded the bear as their ancestor. They too, placed bear skulls in the fork of a tree and to this day the Ket refer to the bear as gyp, "grandfather," or qoi, "stepfather".
Neanderthal man and Arctic man lived in the deeply mystic and spiritual world of the hunter who must kill in order to live. This was the ethos of the Inuit. The Inuit is a member of the Inuit people, the term having official status in Canada and also used elsewhere as a synonym for the Eskimo in general. However, this latter use, in including Siberians who are not Inupiaq-speakers, is, strictly speaking, not accurate). However, that apart, the Inuit believed that all animals and man had inua, "souls", and to ensure future hunting success and harmony with the spirits of nature it was essential to placate the souls of slain animals, especially an animal as huge and man-like as the bear.
The bear could stand upright, like an enormous hairy giant, and when skinned, with his pinkish blubber, his finger-like claws and massive torso , looks gruesomely, horrifyingly like an immense naked human.
In this spiritual world of early Arctic man, animals were kin, an ancient belief reflected in totemism and in fables and mythology.
It was a mental world where the real and the unreal, the factual and the spiritual, merged. A shaman of the Polar Inuit explained an unsuccessful polar bear hunt in an area where bears were usually numerous, like this:"
The bears are not here, because there is no ice here, and there is no ice here because the wind is too strong, and the wind is too strong because we have insulted the spirits.
The Polar Bear - The Ultimate Bear
The polar bear was the ultimate bear, white, huge, mysterious. The Jesuit missionary Bellarmine Lafortune noted in the 1930 "A polar bear was hunted on foot and the hunter's greatest prestige came from his success as a polar bear hunter". It was an extremely risky hunt. The ice often drifted away and many a King Islander, hot in pursuit of a polar bear, was cut off from his home in this way; some returned safely but others disappeared forever.When a hunter returned with a bear, ancient ceremonies were observed to propitiate the bear's soul, for during all this time, the spirit of the great white bear hovered unseen, but strangely felt, about the village.
If offended, it would depart in anger, and evil might strike the entire community. The bear's skull was taken to the kagri, the communal house, and placed upon a raised bench.
It remained in this place of honor until the polar bear dance.
Gifts were placed near the bear skull: skin scrapers, needle cases and ulus, the semi-lunar woman's knife, if the bear was a female, and a carving knife or drill, if the bear was a male. The gifts had their own spirits and essence, and these became the property of the bear's inua, its soul.
The magic power of polar bears
To absorb the magic power of the bear, many Inuit wore amulets, most often a bear tooth as a pendant. The Inuit shaman needed more; he wanted the bear's spirit to be his tornaq, his magic helper.It was a quest fraught with enormous danger. The bear spirit, the "flying bear" could take the shaman to the moon, or deep into the sea, to seek help for his people, the mother of seals and whales and walruses.
And the bear spirit could protect his master from the power of evil.
Sophia.
Sophia is her Greek 'form', Chocma is her Hebrew'form', and Sapienta Dei, is her Latin 'form'.
I, Wisdom, dwell with experience and judicious knowledge.
Mine are counsel and advice.
By me kings reign and lawgivers establish justice.
By me, Princes govern and nobles,all the rulers of the Earth.
Those who love me, I also love,and those who seek me find me.
[p54, 'Transformation of The God-Image, E F Edinger]
Be Ye Wise as Serpents! Harmless as Doves....
I, Wisdom, dwell with experience and judicious knowledge.
Mine are counsel and advice.
By me kings reign and lawgivers establish justice.
By me, Princes govern and nobles,all the rulers of the Earth.
Those who love me, I also love,and those who seek me find me.
[p54, 'Transformation of The God-Image, E F Edinger]
Be Ye Wise as Serpents! Harmless as Doves....
Tuesday 10 May 2011
Monday 9 May 2011
Sunday 8 May 2011
Saturday 7 May 2011
The Rev John Starr [from,'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists']
An expectant murmur rippled through the hall. The ladies lifted their eyebrows and nodded, smiled and whispered to each other; the gentlemen assumed various attitudes and expressions; the children were very quiet. Everyone was in a state of suppressed excitement as John Starr rose from his seat and, stepping up on to the platform, stood by the side of the table, facing them.
He was about twenty-six years of age, tall and slenderly built. His clean-cut, intellectual face, with its lofty forehead, and his air of refinement and culture were in striking contrast to the coarse appearance of the other adults in the room: the vulgar, ignorant, uncultivated crowd of profit-mongers and hucksters in front of him.
But it was not merely his air of good breeding and the general comeliness of his exterior that attracted and held one. There was an indefinable something about him--an atmosphere of gentleness and love that seemed to radiate from his whole being, almost compelling confidence and affection from all those with whom he came in contact. As he stood there facing the others with an inexpressibly winning smile upon his comely face, it seemed impossible that there could be any fellowship between him and them.
There was nothing in his appearance to give anyone even an inkling of the truth, which was: that he was there for the purpose of bolstering up the characters of the despicable crew of sweaters and slave-drivers who paid his wages.
He did not give a very long address this afternoon--only just a Few Words but they were very precious, original and illuminating. He told them of certain Thoughts that had occurred to his mind on his way there that afternoon; and as they listened, Sweater, Rushton, Didlum, Hunter, and the other disciples exchanged significant looks and gestures.
Was it not magnificent! Such power! Such reasoning! In fact, as they afterwards modestly admitted to each other, it was so profound that even they experienced great difficulty in fathoming the speaker's meaning.
As for the ladies, they were motionless and dumb with admiration. They sat with flushed faces, shining eyes and palpitating hearts, looking hungrily at the dear man as he proceeded:
'Unfortunately, our time this afternoon does not permit us to dwell at length upon these Thoughts. Perhaps at some future date we may have the blessed privilege of so doing; but this afternoon I have been asked to say a Few Words on another subject. The failing health of your dear minister has for some time past engaged the anxious attention of the congregation.'
Sympathetic glances were directed towards the interesting invalid; the ladies murmured, 'Poor dear!' and other expressions of anxious concern.
'Although naturally robust,' continued Starr, 'long, continued Overwork, the loving solicitude for Others that often prevented him taking even necessary repose, and a too rigorous devotion to the practice of Self-denial have at last brought about the inevitable Breakdown, and rendered a period of Rest absolutely imperative.'
The orator paused to take breath, and the silence that ensued was disturbed only by faint rumblings in the interior of the ascetic victim of overwork.
'With this laudable object,' proceeded Start, 'a Subscription List was quietly opened about a month ago, and those dear children who had cards and assisted in the good work of collecting donations will be pleased to hear that altogether a goodly sum was gathered, but as it was not quite enough, the committee voted a further amount out of the General Fund, and at a special meeting held last Friday evening, your dear Shepherd was presented with an illuminated address, and a purse of gold sufficient to defray the expenses of a month's holiday in the South of France.
'Although, of course, he regrets being separated from you even for such a brief period he feels that in going he is choosing the lesser of two evils. It is better to go to the South of France for a month than to continue Working in spite of the warnings of exhausted nature and perhaps be taken away from you altogether--by Heaven.'
'God forbid!' fervently ejaculated several disciples, and a ghastly pallor overspread the features of the object of their prayers.
'Even as it is there is a certain amount of danger. Let us hope and pray for the best, but if the worst should happen and he is called upon to Ascend, there will be some satisfaction in knowing that you have done what you could to avert the dreadful calamity.'
Here, probably as a precaution against the possibility of an involuntary ascent, a large quantity of gas was permitted to escape through the safety valve of the balloon.
'He sets out on his pilgrimage tomorrow,' concluded Starr, 'and I am sure he will be followed by the good wishes and prayers of all the members of his flock.'
The reverend gentleman resumed his seat, and almost immediately it became evident from the oscillations of the balloon that Mr Belcher was desirous of rising to say a Few Words in acknowledgement, but he was restrained by the entreaties of those near him, who besought him not to exhaust himself. He afterwards said that he would not have been able to say much even if they had permitted him to speak, because he felt too full.
'During the absence of our beloved pastor,' said Brother Didlum, who now rose to give out the closing hymn, 'his flock will not be left hentirely without a shepherd, for we 'ave arranged with Mr Starr to come and say a Few Words to us hevery Sunday.'
From the manner in which they constantly referred to themselves, it might have been thought that they were a flock of sheep instead of being what they really were--a pack of wolves.
When they heard Brother Didlum's announcement a murmur of intense rapture rose from the ladies, and Mr Starr rolled his eyes and smiled sweetly. Brother Didlum did not mention the details of the 'arrangement', to have done so at that time would have been most unseemly, but the following extract from the accounts of the chapel will not be out of place here: 'Paid to Rev. John Starr for Sunday, Nov. 14--�4.4.0 per the treasurer.'
It was not a large sum considering the great services rendered by Mr Starr, but, small as it was, it is to be feared that many worldly, unconverted persons will think it was far too much to pay for a Few Words, even such wise words as Mr John Starr's admittedly always were.
But the Labourer is worthy of his hire.
After the 'service' was over, most of the children, including Charley and Frankie, remained to get collecting cards. Mr Starr was surrounded by a crowd of admirers, and a little later, when he rode away with Mr Belcher and Mr Sweater in the latter's motor car, the ladies looked hungrily after that conveyance, listening to the melancholy 'pip, pip' of its hooter and trying to console themselves with the reflection that they would see him again in a few hours' time at the evening service.
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/3/6/0/3608/3608-h/3608-h.htm#chap41
He was about twenty-six years of age, tall and slenderly built. His clean-cut, intellectual face, with its lofty forehead, and his air of refinement and culture were in striking contrast to the coarse appearance of the other adults in the room: the vulgar, ignorant, uncultivated crowd of profit-mongers and hucksters in front of him.
But it was not merely his air of good breeding and the general comeliness of his exterior that attracted and held one. There was an indefinable something about him--an atmosphere of gentleness and love that seemed to radiate from his whole being, almost compelling confidence and affection from all those with whom he came in contact. As he stood there facing the others with an inexpressibly winning smile upon his comely face, it seemed impossible that there could be any fellowship between him and them.
There was nothing in his appearance to give anyone even an inkling of the truth, which was: that he was there for the purpose of bolstering up the characters of the despicable crew of sweaters and slave-drivers who paid his wages.
He did not give a very long address this afternoon--only just a Few Words but they were very precious, original and illuminating. He told them of certain Thoughts that had occurred to his mind on his way there that afternoon; and as they listened, Sweater, Rushton, Didlum, Hunter, and the other disciples exchanged significant looks and gestures.
Was it not magnificent! Such power! Such reasoning! In fact, as they afterwards modestly admitted to each other, it was so profound that even they experienced great difficulty in fathoming the speaker's meaning.
As for the ladies, they were motionless and dumb with admiration. They sat with flushed faces, shining eyes and palpitating hearts, looking hungrily at the dear man as he proceeded:
'Unfortunately, our time this afternoon does not permit us to dwell at length upon these Thoughts. Perhaps at some future date we may have the blessed privilege of so doing; but this afternoon I have been asked to say a Few Words on another subject. The failing health of your dear minister has for some time past engaged the anxious attention of the congregation.'
Sympathetic glances were directed towards the interesting invalid; the ladies murmured, 'Poor dear!' and other expressions of anxious concern.
'Although naturally robust,' continued Starr, 'long, continued Overwork, the loving solicitude for Others that often prevented him taking even necessary repose, and a too rigorous devotion to the practice of Self-denial have at last brought about the inevitable Breakdown, and rendered a period of Rest absolutely imperative.'
The orator paused to take breath, and the silence that ensued was disturbed only by faint rumblings in the interior of the ascetic victim of overwork.
'With this laudable object,' proceeded Start, 'a Subscription List was quietly opened about a month ago, and those dear children who had cards and assisted in the good work of collecting donations will be pleased to hear that altogether a goodly sum was gathered, but as it was not quite enough, the committee voted a further amount out of the General Fund, and at a special meeting held last Friday evening, your dear Shepherd was presented with an illuminated address, and a purse of gold sufficient to defray the expenses of a month's holiday in the South of France.
'Although, of course, he regrets being separated from you even for such a brief period he feels that in going he is choosing the lesser of two evils. It is better to go to the South of France for a month than to continue Working in spite of the warnings of exhausted nature and perhaps be taken away from you altogether--by Heaven.'
'God forbid!' fervently ejaculated several disciples, and a ghastly pallor overspread the features of the object of their prayers.
'Even as it is there is a certain amount of danger. Let us hope and pray for the best, but if the worst should happen and he is called upon to Ascend, there will be some satisfaction in knowing that you have done what you could to avert the dreadful calamity.'
Here, probably as a precaution against the possibility of an involuntary ascent, a large quantity of gas was permitted to escape through the safety valve of the balloon.
'He sets out on his pilgrimage tomorrow,' concluded Starr, 'and I am sure he will be followed by the good wishes and prayers of all the members of his flock.'
The reverend gentleman resumed his seat, and almost immediately it became evident from the oscillations of the balloon that Mr Belcher was desirous of rising to say a Few Words in acknowledgement, but he was restrained by the entreaties of those near him, who besought him not to exhaust himself. He afterwards said that he would not have been able to say much even if they had permitted him to speak, because he felt too full.
'During the absence of our beloved pastor,' said Brother Didlum, who now rose to give out the closing hymn, 'his flock will not be left hentirely without a shepherd, for we 'ave arranged with Mr Starr to come and say a Few Words to us hevery Sunday.'
From the manner in which they constantly referred to themselves, it might have been thought that they were a flock of sheep instead of being what they really were--a pack of wolves.
When they heard Brother Didlum's announcement a murmur of intense rapture rose from the ladies, and Mr Starr rolled his eyes and smiled sweetly. Brother Didlum did not mention the details of the 'arrangement', to have done so at that time would have been most unseemly, but the following extract from the accounts of the chapel will not be out of place here: 'Paid to Rev. John Starr for Sunday, Nov. 14--�4.4.0 per the treasurer.'
It was not a large sum considering the great services rendered by Mr Starr, but, small as it was, it is to be feared that many worldly, unconverted persons will think it was far too much to pay for a Few Words, even such wise words as Mr John Starr's admittedly always were.
But the Labourer is worthy of his hire.
After the 'service' was over, most of the children, including Charley and Frankie, remained to get collecting cards. Mr Starr was surrounded by a crowd of admirers, and a little later, when he rode away with Mr Belcher and Mr Sweater in the latter's motor car, the ladies looked hungrily after that conveyance, listening to the melancholy 'pip, pip' of its hooter and trying to console themselves with the reflection that they would see him again in a few hours' time at the evening service.
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/3/6/0/3608/3608-h/3608-h.htm#chap41
Friday 6 May 2011
Jung, cross-currents....
Rosegarden and Labyrinth: A Study of Art Education , by Seonaid M. Robertson. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963; New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963; Lewes: Gryphon, 1982p*; Dallas: Spring Publications, ed.2 1982p* (216 + xxx, incl. 6-p. index, 6-p. bibl., 106 illus., 2-p. foreword by Herbert Read in ed. 1, foreword by Peter Abbs in ed.2).
Convinced that the arts play an absolutely vital role in life, especially among young people who are seeking a new and more deeply rooted life in the context of an increasingly more vulnerable planet Earth, Robertson tells of her exploratory approach to teaching the visual arts.
She describes her intuitive response to Jung's ideas, particularly his theories of symbols and archetypes, which she gained during years of study of psychology, and her study of Maud Bodkin's research on archetypal images in poetry.
Following her account (amply illustrated) of experiences in the classroom and a commentary on gardens and labyrinths, she appends a brief summary of the arts of early history relevant to her study.
Wagner's Ring and its Symbols: The Music and the Myth , by Robert Donington. London: Faber & Faber, 1963; ed.2 1969 +p; ed.3 1974* +p*; Toronto: British Book Service, 1963; New York: St. Martins Press, 1963; ed.2 1969; ed.3 1974p* (342, incl. 13-p. index, 13-p. bibl.).
Indebted both to the fundamental discoveries of Freud's depth psychology and to the crucial amplification of them by Jung, music critic Donington offers fresh insights into certain aspects of Wagner's meaning in Der Ring des Nibelungen by analyzing the poetical and musical symbols that Wagner brought into artistic consciousness.
Following an introductory discussion of the relations of myth and music, he interprets the prelude to Das Rbeingold and then the tetralogy of human dramas (Das Rheingold, Die Walkiire, Siegfried, and Götterddmmerung). Appended are some musical examples and a chart of selected leading motives.
Liverpool - The Home of the Confederate Fleet
During the American civil war, Liverpool was the unofficial home of the Confederate fleet.
http://www.liverpoolwiki.org/Liverpool_-_The_Home_of_the_Confederate_Fleet
Read more..click on above link....
The first act of the war - the first shot of the civil war was fired by a cannon made at Lydia Anne Street.
The very last act of the war - Captain Waddell of the CCS Shenandoah, walking up the steps of Liverpool Town Hall surrendering his vessel to the Lord Mayor, after sailing 'home' from Alaska to surrender.
On the outbreak of war the Northern Union fleet blockaded Confederate ports to prevent trade and supply of munitions of war. The Confederacy had no navy and proceeded to build one from Liverpool.
The break-away Confederacy was not recognised by the United Kingdom, with cotton importers Frazer Trenholm in Rumford Place acting as the unofficial Confederate embassy. Commander Bulloch of the Confederate Navy was based in Liverpool. He never returned to America after the conflict remaining in Liverpool for the rest of his life now laying in Toxteth Cemetery. Liverpool provided ships, crews for the ships, armaments and provisions of war of all kinds for the Confederacy. The city also provided ships for the Northern Union.http://www.liverpoolwiki.org/Liverpool_-_The_Home_of_the_Confederate_Fleet
Read more..click on above link....
Thursday 5 May 2011
"High Flying Bird"
The high flying bird flies above
you cannot see him from the earth
he sees as he flies
and knows as he sees
the masses below
there's trouble below
This high flying bird has no sense of time
for a thousand years he's climbing the skies
his brothers have burned
flown too close to the sun
but higher and higher
this white bird flies
this white bird flies
I feel you in my sleep
when the suns down
and the world sleeps below
you call across endless oceans
I hear you and want to fly too
There's no turning back as blue becomes black
the air becomes thin this flight begins
but the bird can still breathe
brighter than before
on celestial wing
this bird can now sing
this bird can now sing
I feel you in my sleep
when the suns down
and the world sleeps below
you call across endless oceans
I hear you and want to fly to
http://www.we7.com/song/Toploader/High-Flying-Bird?m=0
you cannot see him from the earth
he sees as he flies
and knows as he sees
the masses below
there's trouble below
This high flying bird has no sense of time
for a thousand years he's climbing the skies
his brothers have burned
flown too close to the sun
but higher and higher
this white bird flies
this white bird flies
I feel you in my sleep
when the suns down
and the world sleeps below
you call across endless oceans
I hear you and want to fly too
There's no turning back as blue becomes black
the air becomes thin this flight begins
but the bird can still breathe
brighter than before
on celestial wing
this bird can now sing
this bird can now sing
I feel you in my sleep
when the suns down
and the world sleeps below
you call across endless oceans
I hear you and want to fly to
http://www.we7.com/song/Toploader/High-Flying-Bird?m=0
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If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I ...
