What are your thoughts at this moment in time?
Submitted by janis b on Thu, 10/19/2023 - 11:30pm
My thoughts at this moment …
I can’t imagine a more opportune time as now, to try and achieve a greater collective and peaceful pathway to reinforcing life for all. Covid divisions now look slightly pale to me in comparison to the increased passions and divisions the war in the Middle East generates. I hope that we can translate the sense of despair created into something more stable and less destructive of life.
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Comments
Alas, his Jewish brothers / sisters / children aren’t listening
Progressive rabbi Aryeh Bernstein’s plea for Jewish empathy with the people of both Israel and Gaza.
https://jewschool.com/our-grief-guides-us-to-the-path-of-empathy-distrau...
"Who are you going to be"
Many thanks for your link to such a heartfelt and sincere expression. It fortifies much of value.
I'm feeling the despair
you've described tonight more than I did last night, less than I did when Trump bombed Syria, more than I did when Ukraine bombed the Kerch Bridge. For me the despair increases whenever I see the War Machine willingly increase the chance for nuclear war, when they could easily take a more reasonable step. Biden could have taken a stand about collective punishment, about occupation, about international law. But no, worse on top of worse, we back war crimes all of a sudden, after everything we've said about Russia. The only conclusion I can come to, on a night like this, is that the War Machine wants a nuclear war, in order to show the usefulness of nuclear weapons, which, if we couldn't see using them because they would cause us to commit national suicide, would be useless, which would end all that funding. And if they lost all that funding, the War Machine would lose control of the narrative, and if they lost control of the narrative they would be brought to justice. I see them acting in fear, even more than greed, fear of losing control of our knowledge.
I do take hope in the voices of Jewish people who are supportive of the Palestinian people and honest about the fascism of Zionism. Jewish Voice For Peace is a wonderful name for that organization and a crucial spark of hope in this madness. I take hope from the resignation letter written by State Dept. official Josh Paul, in which he says he can no longer support arming Israel. There is hope.
Those are my thoughts at 10:30 p.m. California time, Thursday. I hope I feel more positive tomorrow because someone, someone in the United Nations perhaps, has stepped up and said NO to genocide.
Thank you for your thoughts, Linda
They always contribute to inspiring more thoughts and insights, one of which now is, what is the point of justice if there is nobody left to appreciate it.
I look forward to exploring your references to the Jewish Voice for Peace and Josh Paul.
I have already 12:54 (lunch time Friday) over in my woods
in Germany and my thoughts - exactly now - are:
1. I don't believe in anything
2. I don't believe in anyone
3. I should not believe in people - like me - who don't believe anything
4. I should talk to people in person and believe only in what I see personally in real life
and my slogan is now - of the camera, by the camera, for the camera.
therefore, trash your camera and never look through a camera for another camera.
and the saying - in a German fairy tale (if I remember that correctly) - the saying of
geht nicht aus meinem Kopf, but I hear millions of people shouting: Me, me, me ... if we are all victims, nobody is a victim
Basta. Period.
Hi mimi
I know from what you've said here and in other comments that you find it all very overwhelming and mind-numbing. I hope you have comfortable places to retreat to at these times. A little more Leonard, maybe ; ).
thank you, Janis
it didn't work this time around., charme only works this far. But it is all in me and not in Cohen songs or words. Be as well as you can, Janis.
You spoke here a while ago about the man, you probably loved alot, a picture of him at age 20. Now I try to find a picture about the man, I did not love, but ran into, and was paying dearly for it. He was then 24 years old.
I get confused and can't count the years anymore.
who cares, who cared but me and my son.
All the best to ypu. I adore your capability to express something soothing and loving, even in the worst times.
Much love and more peace to you and all of you here.
Agree fully.
I’m reminded of these lyrics from Peter Gabriel’s “Rhythm of the Heat”:
I’ve quit posting, pretty much quit reading, and have deleted my social media presence literally everywhere but here- largely because I can no longer stand the unrelenting, mind-numbing toxicity of it all. After yesterday’s news that the US Government has restarted tit-for-tat testing at the Nevada Test Site (non-nuclear at the moment, but certainly not for long at this point), I believe that the clock is only seconds from midnight.
My spirit has already been stolen, the remaining days or hours already in shreds, the outside voices shriek on. I’m now officially in the simply-waiting-to-die phase of life. I’m going to milk everything I can out of it until the white flash finally comes at long, painful last. Be well, listen to good music, drink good wine, sleep as much as you can, smile when possible, and edit everything out of your life that could possibly be toxic. If you can.
These are my thoughts at this point in time. To all: be as well as you can. Nothing further.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I know of no mechanism
to stop war, or the dropping of nukes. We could have a globe filled with people long and praying for peace and good will, but TPTB have no interest in that.
The haste with which expressing sympathy or understanding of Palestinians results in marking a peace monger as either anti-Semitic or self hating Jew is at lightning speed.
We can fixate on being exterminated by radiation, but in fact, we can remember we are all going to die one way or another. Nukes take away the "how", and even suggest the "when" we will die.
I prefer to fixate on learning, making new friends, seeing things I have never seen before, exploring new places and new ideas. I fully accept my death as the natural consequence of being given life in the first place.
The more censorship comes into play, the firmer my conviction that I am correct in my assessment of the Israeli Zionist government becomes. It is rock hard.
No government will ever take away my right to observe and grow in my development of conviction and my firm belief in right and wrong, until they end my life. My hand will be shooting them a well-deserved finger.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I love this comment...
Because it says what I think and feel in such a marvelous and insightful way. Thank you.
Thank you.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Kind of like
that final argument, more properly called summation, to the jury after a trial.
Hit the high points, aim for the gut. Keep it real, appeal to reason, let reality trigger emotion. Go vote accordingly.
15 years of my life, age 15 to 30, was under the prognosis I had 6 months to live.
Nukes? To hell with that. Nothing new to me. I was unafraid to go out when I was a kid, hoping to make it to the sweet 16 birthday party, and am unafraid now.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hi otc
Is there an emoji for a raised fist?
"I prefer to fixate on learning, making new friends, seeing things I have never seen before, exploring new places and new ideas. I fully accept my death as the natural consequence of being given life in the first place."
Thank you for your perspective.
Everyone faces their end differently,
depending on their life experiences, education, religion, whatever. My Dad, the soldier in WWII, had no fear of death. When I got that horrible 6 months to live prognosis, I just accepted it like my Dad would. Then, when I managed to live long enough to go to college, existentialism was the "thing" taught in philosophy courses.
Live life to the fullest until you die is maybe the short and sweet version of my perspective. Where the warmongers and oligarchs and I disagree is the definition of "fullest". That is where I fight them.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hi ufs
I don't hear someone who has lost their spirit. I hear someone who is trying to reinforce their sense of spirit and strength. I have been wondering how you are, and I'm glad to hear from you.
You can always come and share a glass of wine here. I also missed the music you post.
Be well
I try to figure out what I like more, the heat or the cold
... well since the damn gas provider sent me a bill or 24 thousand euro (25,608.13 dollars) for feeiing some warmth in my house, I definitely finally will escape to a tropical island, where I will die in a tent under two palm trees and hate those gas providers to death.
exhaling ...
From HuffPo, via Moon of Alabama's comments section:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-gaza_n_6531a23ae4b0da897...
I guess not everyone is on board with Joe's "genocide is kewl and bitchen" approach. Meanwhile, someone somehow got onto CNN and called CNN a "genocide supporter." I haven't found the clip on YouTube.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Hi Cassiodorous
Let's trust that some 'insiders' can effect a change of heart in the administration.
Well, we can HOPE that.
I'm expecting disaster.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
me too /nt
this is possibly what you are referring to.
I had a different one in mind.
They posted it on an RBN video on YouTube. Was it taken down?
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Wow..
It's good to see the protesting, the confrontations, because it's proof they are actually happening and we are not all of one mind or voice about this stupid genocide.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I totally agree with this:
'I hope that we can translate the sense of despair created into something more stable and less destructive of life.'
Maybe, maybe I'll take that despair and go garden for a bit. Or, make food for the homeless, or... heck, I just spent 10 minutes petting Lily, the goat. And then did the same for Jaska, the dog. It makes my mind less troubled.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I think sometimes we forget
how many possibilities there are for expressing appreciation for life.
Thank you Sima
Thought I'd add what I'm listening to now
The entire album is a treasure.
I am assigned an individuality at birth.
From that moment on I struggle to understand my place in time, and my connection, or lack thereof, to the whole of life, through the whole of my life. The illusion of my separateness obscures the truth of my situation; that I am very much a part of a larger whole and that my well-being is dependent on the well-being of the whole.
I have grown up among a human society that has revolved around the persistent illusion of individualities, who’s purpose is striving for exceptionalism, distinction, gain and profits, while fully embracing the illusion of our separateness, and neglecting the call to explore our interdependence as part of all life on this planet.
Collectively it’s up to each of us.
“What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
I’d hoped you would respond ovals
Your thoughts highlight for me the life-long search for understanding and balance that we seek as individuals - to grow in understanding of ourselves and where our place is in the whole. To me it is just as meaningful to care for yourself and those closest to you as it is to care for the extended world, because it really all begins with you.
All the best to you, and thank you for your thoughts.
Interdependence is a subject not cultivated
in the present cultural development (at least in the US).
Although, it is very important to understand. At some level
we are all intertwined and codependency, as a concept, is
as vital as accepting coexistence.
Your bolding of My and Whole
is very pertinent.
Thanks for sharing your views ovals!