Welcome to Saturday ...

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 5:58am

“It was as if everyone was young and beautiful and full of talent – covered with a kind of gold dust. Everybody had special and unique qualities. This is, of course, the feeling of youth, but in the glorious setting of Hydra, all these qualities were magnified.” ~ Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen (holding the guitar) with Marianne (looking at him) and friends in Hydra, Greece, October 1960. Photograph: James Burke/The Life Picture Collection/Getty Images

"The pair met on the rocky Greek island of Hydra in 1960. Their romance inspired countless Cohen songs – and now a poignant documentary by Nick Broomfield."
The story ~ link here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jun/30/leonard-cohen-marianne-ihle...

I knew my family understood: "They are known for gobbling socks from washing lines and for their fearsome headbutting capabilities but the rich emotional life of goats may have been underestimated.

Scientists have found that goats are able to distinguish emotions from each other’s calls and also respond to the feelings of their peers, a phenomenon known as emotional contagion."
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/09/goats-can-distinguish-em...

All day, all night the body intervenes; blunts or sharpens, colours or discolours, turns to wax in the warmth of June, hardens to tallow in the murk of February. The creature within can only gaze through the pane – smudged or rosy; it cannot separate off from the body like the sheath of a knife or the pod of a pea for a single instant; it must go through the whole unending procession of changes, heat and cold, comfort and discomfort, hunger and satisfaction, health and illness, until there comes the inevitable catastrophe. Virginia Woolf, 1926

Woolf knew well about bodily interventions, suffering as she did from a range of symptoms pertaining to what today we call bipolar disorder. Yet the body intervenes constantly, whether one is ill or not. It is the mode of intervention that conditions how well, or unwell, we feel. A state of wellbeing is one in which we do not need to think about our embodied organism in any way other than the sensorial pleasures it affords, where we are immersed within our environment, engaged in an activity, involved with others. But one of physical or emotional pain affects the very foundation on which the sense of self we otherwise take for granted rests: what we feel ourselves to be can be upended. When this happens, we may realise that what we feel ourselves to be is in fact constructed. How we exist as embodied selves is a highly complex business involving the brain and body engaged in constant interaction.

Over the past few years, scientists working in neuroscience and psychology have been listening in on these brain-body interactions – in health and illness – and analysing how they constitute the always embodied self. They have been studying the sense of the body from within, which is called interoception. It is a term you will be hearing increasingly. This research is dismantling the pillars of a belief system that has long endured within those fields – as well as in the popular imagination – that the brain is an information-processing machine that can be understood apart from the rest of the body, as if our conscious, reasoning self were the output of a disembodied brain, and as if we were not fully biological creatures. This shift within the mind sciences is game-changing, and merits attention. Yet perhaps because we are in its midst, even its actors might not be fully aware of its historical and philosophical significance – and of its potential cultural and clinical implications. The time has come to take stock of the revolution under way.

https://aeon.co/essays/the-interoceptive-turn-is-maturing-as-a-rich-scie...

The heart knows first.

New growth on the windowsill waits for rays as i think of my Marianne's ... 'oh, what a lucky man i was.'
Been a challenging week, but it's over and this new day greets us with opportunities; have a great one.

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Submitted by The Aspie Corner on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 6:52am

Music for the Marxist Soul

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSWza4SnlR4]

—

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 7:19am

Good morning, Aspie,

@The Aspie Corner
Thanks for the morning music, would happily camp out on the mall in protest if i could.

Have a good, sweet day, old friend.

Submitted by dkmich on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 7:05am

Good morning Smiley and 99

Summer has finally come to Michigan and a ton of water. Great Lake break/tie record high levels. Folks in the lower lake areas by the water are sandbagging and pumping water.

Hope everyone is in fine fiddle and the weather doesn't have you under the weather.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 7:35am

Good morning, dk,

@dkmich

Mountains in full bloom, cherries and berries coming in at lower altitudes with a shower or two daily; beautiful splendor for those taking time to look.

I recall summers on Washington Island in Lake Michigan, sweet memories of fresh perch caught in the harbor, solitude in the tall grass and no cares for a time.

A little summer music for you:

Submitted by UntimelyRippd on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:37pm

we get rainy days, and then we get hot days.

@dkmich
the in-betweens, dry and tolerable, are so few, i fritter them away on mere leisure -- sailing, mostly -- and so the bad plants are out of control all around my house, it's the day of the fricking triffids out there, i tell you.

and today, had to "do some things", which means, of course, buy stuff, and by the time the stuff-buying was done and the stuff that can't survive outside of a refrigerator was stuffed into a refrigerator, all that was left was the heat, the 8-knot winds having slipped away to the east, leaving behind a whisperless, driftless hot heaviness, there'll be no sailing today, only stuffing.

—

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Submitted by UntimelyRippd on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:42pm

for any out there inclined towards obsessive monitoring

@dkmich
of technical feeds, this link will show you whether the weather will weather a sailor in these immediate parts. and if you're looking at it in the mid-afternoon of Saturday July 13, 2019, set the thing to view the past 3 hours, and you'll see the sad story of a mid-day that should have been devoted to sailing, not stuffing, and a late-day unsuited to anything but lying about in shade or AC, hiding from the harbinger.

—

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 8:26am

Forgot a shout-out to anyone in Barry's path;

be safe out there.

Just noticed, i also forgot to credit today's photo: Luiz Rocha/California Academy of Sciences

edited to add

Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 8:44am

Hey smiley and c99

Another warm one here. Rains have been very scattered despite the proximity to Barry. Poor NO, inundated again.

Small Trade day this AM, but saw a few friends. Got some groceries and back home again. Chores will hold till late evening. Had a big session last night...folks came in from all over. Lots of fun, but wore out afterwards.

All the best!

I like this version of Leonard's song...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybuCmgyQE6o]

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old black joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of calvary
To the beach of malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this sacred heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 9:02am

Good morning, Lookout,

Off to the veggie-truck man shortly. Thanks for the true lyrics, another favorite.

Legend has it that in a farm house near Woodstock, NY in the early sixties, Leonard and Judy Collins woke in the middle of the night to hear "Hey Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to," coming from the basement.

Have a great day and week.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 9:37am

Good morning smiley y todos. We returned from the sierras

to a large handbasket full of apricots (the rest having been ravaged and savaged by birds and critters), a lot of green beans, a few blackberries and a double handful of strawberries. A couple of tomatoes too, but a healthy crop now on the lone plant we planted, so that's all good. The greens didn't take kindly to th midsummer absence, however, mostly all bolted. So down to farmers' market today for spuds and stuff plus our weekly serving of fresh caught pacific salmon to grill.

Beyond that, we're still cleaning up and putting away thanks to a ton of stuff getting overly deranged and disarrayed, as well as dinged up and dirty including the trailer needing new tires. It takes an oddball size, so I would up ordering them through a local trailer supply and repair place, and then getting them mounted and all that at a different tire and auto repair place after picking them up. Lots of time spent spinning my wheels, so to speak, on the phone and driving around town. Made a ham and arugula pizza on the grill last night as a self-reward for getting the tire thing done, so it did have an upside.

Thanks for the OT and have a great one.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:09am

Good morning, el,

@enhydra lutris
Tires, car needs a set, a hopeful project. Back from chore, purchased peaches, tomatoes, cukes and a pepper, but forgot to stop at druggist for some meds; forgetful me, so another outing now scheduled.

Biggest pain of the week is Plan D pharmacy insurance denied the new generic drug prescribed by Ch doctor; found out that in generic form it's $3,200 for a month's supply. damn, for generic!

Not sure what CH doc may do, yet, kinda in limbo as there are few symptom relief drugs to use for PAH. In short, the drug helps with stamina, a little.

Better news, my quads are sore from working out in rehab, good sign, going well so far, able to work out on level three oxygen at around a 100 heart rate.

Glad you are home, safe and tending to garden, would love a taste of that pizza with a glass of Barolo.

Have a good day and week.

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 10:29am

The only U.S. bank to be prosecuted after the financial crisis

. . . was a family-run, Chinese community bank.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-story-behind-oscar-nominated-bank-...

And a second documentary, this one about how the “Red Scare” of the 1950s and 60s affected Chinese Americans.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Keeping-Tabs-On-Chinatown-Premiering...

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:15am

Thank you for the links, lotlizard.

@lotlizard
Hoping you've a great day in Europe.

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:18am

Overcast, rain all day, intermittent thunderstorms. n/t

@smiley7

Submitted by mimi on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 10:35am

Dear Smiley, I love your Open Threads and this one in

particular. Many thanks for the Cohen songs and the link to the film/docuentary of his life by Nick Broomfield. Cohen was my favorite song writer and poet and still is.

I will definitely look out for the film.

Have a good weekend, all.

—

https://www.euronews.com/

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:21am

Leonard leaves deep impressions upon us all, mimi,

@mimi
our generation's guiding poet for sure.

Submitted by mimi on Sun, 07/14/2019 - 12:45am

I just read his biografie on Wiki again

@smiley7
to refresh my memory and it leaves me with tremendous sorrow. I feel old now, old generation, the young can't follow my thinking anymore. We all have to go one day and I wait for it. If only my son would be able to live in a safer, saner world. Sigh.

—

https://www.euronews.com/

Submitted by smiley7 on Sun, 07/14/2019 - 1:29am

My son, our daughters and sons everywhere, i feel you

@mimi
Communication beyond the weather has always been an endeavor. I, too, wish to pour in people's ears what i know before i go, but it doesn't work that way as the poem of today suggests, the students must be ready.

I'm so anxious, mimi, i long for the sense of well being i recall around 27 years old. Now, that most likely came from discipline working hard every day to be ready, a vessel to carry playwright's words; but, i sincerely long for the remembered peace before i go. It exists, been there many times in a trout stream all alone; is it too much to ask for it to be perfected socially?

You bring to mind my project of about twenty years ago, "What's it like to be human?"
Best answer i have lives right here on this blog; better people and hearts than i teach me as we go.

Love you; and, what can i say more than this, except, i agree and am thrilled, as you, by our young people and the choices they are making. Trouble is the old folks into Biden from what i've read. Fuck 'em.

Onward.

Good vibes move, even me, old curmudgeon, i am.

Submitted by mimi on Sun, 07/14/2019 - 6:52am

I love you too, smiley, the only thing I have to say to you

@smiley7
right now and thank you your work and offerings to me and all of us here. I am sure I have to read to the end of my days more than I ever thought was possible. And listen to the beautiful music. I shall return here often.

Going onward now, ie. caring for those, who can't care anymore for themselves.

—

https://www.euronews.com/

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 10:51am

Lots of good stuff here . . .

Actually, I don't remember Leonard Cohen, but in 1960 I was 3. Wonderful, though. Listening to Vivaldi now.

A couple of remarks:

Goats. Our last goat, Kozy, was one smart dude. He would call me when he thought had waited long enough for his daily snack (had a whole field for munching). When he saw me coming he would do a dance. Really. Occasionally escaped and would sit on the front steps. Found a door open one time and woke my husband with a kiss.

And the connection between our brains and our bodies. Mentioned this before, but When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Mate' (Aaron Mate's father) is excellent on the subject. In depth scientific detail of how it works.

Forgive me for posting this sort of long poem, but I found it moving.

The Huntsman
by Caitlin Johnstone

A huntsman crawled onto my laptop
and the screen crackled into rainbows
and went white.
Jet black shadows slashed across the walls
of shapes I could almost remember.

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for the people on Twitter are mean jerks,
and Eckhart Tolle was just on the Rubin Report,
and Bob Dylan made a Christmas album,
and everything is phony and stupid
and the bad guys always win."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for my hand is now shaking,
and I've had this strange pulsing feeling in my tummy,
and I should really see a doctor about that,
and there'll be no one to care for my children if I die,
and my pill bottle is all out of placebos,
and the ribbon on this laptop has run out of ink
and the mountain of pennies in my wishing well
has displaced all of the water."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for then everyone will see what a doofy loser I am,
and there'll be no one to watch my unguarded back,
and people will stick knives where my armor used to be,
and I'll lock myself out of my house because I always forget my keys,
and I'll die of exposure all alone on my own doorstep
and then who will keep the world spinning with their worry?"

The huntsman beckoned me in closer
and touched my forehead.
The shadows gobbled up the walls,
the windows, the ceiling and the floor.

I beheld an impossibly vast presence
underneath the fundamental ground of being.
It had infinite arms and infinite eyes,
infinite mouths and infinite stomachs,
and countless spider faces pointing in all directions.
Its intensity surpassed the fury of every star in the universe.
Its vastness was incomprehensible.

Prismatic jellyfish rose up through my feet
and bubbled out the top of my head,
cleansing my cells of inner deceits.
Impossibly shaped godlings swirled around me,
chanting "Ooh ah ee! Ooh ah ee!
She is learning about real nakedness!"
in a language I'd need an impossible tongue to speak.

The thoughts in my head began bursting like bubble wrap
when you roll it into a bunch and twist it.
My nose, toes and fingers grew long and sprouted leaves,
and my hair became a chlorophyll peacock feather waterfall.
My hips split open and I birthed infinite worlds.

An alien song erupted from my throat
in a voice I haven't used since before I was conceived:

"When the student is ready,
the guru appears.

When the poet is ready,
the poem appears.

When humanity is ready,
paradise appears.

When the questioner is ready,
the questions disappear.

The essence of buddha mind
is getting out of your own way.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

End the narrative,
even this narrative.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Goodbye."

Suddenly I began to feel that this was all happening in me,
that it had all always been happening in me.
Every movement since the dawn of time
has its origin in my heart of hearts,
arising from stillness,
disappearing back into stillness,
ungrabbed,
unmanipulated,
and unfathomably beloved.

"LET IT ALL GO," spoke the Supreme Godhead.

"I am ready," I replied.
"I am ready."

And then I was back on my couch,
with my graying hair and my fat, sagging flesh,
and my old, gibbering thought patterns
whispering in my mind's ear.

But it was different.

Very, very different.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:27am

There are deep artistic & spiritual facets to Caitlin Johnstone

@mhagle
Thanks for that reminder that, ike each of us here, she’s so fully human, much more than just a writer of commentary on political developments.

Having said that . . .
Top Assange defense account deleted by Twitter

Actually, I don't remember Leonard Cohen, but in 1960 I was 3. Wonderful, though. Listening to Vivaldi now.

A couple of remarks:

Goats. Our last goat, Kozy, was one smart dude. He would call me when he thought had waited long enough for his daily snack (had a whole field for munching). When he saw me coming he would do a dance. Really. Occasionally escaped and would sit on the front steps. Found a door open one time and woke my husband with a kiss.

And the connection between our brains and our bodies. Mentioned this before, but When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Mate' (Aaron Mate's father) is excellent on the subject. In depth scientific detail of how it works.

Forgive me for posting this sort of long poem, but I found it moving.

The Huntsman
by Caitlin Johnstone

A huntsman crawled onto my laptop
and the screen crackled into rainbows
and went white.
Jet black shadows slashed across the walls
of shapes I could almost remember.

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for the people on Twitter are mean jerks,
and Eckhart Tolle was just on the Rubin Report,
and Bob Dylan made a Christmas album,
and everything is phony and stupid
and the bad guys always win."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for my hand is now shaking,
and I've had this strange pulsing feeling in my tummy,
and I should really see a doctor about that,
and there'll be no one to care for my children if I die,
and my pill bottle is all out of placebos,
and the ribbon on this laptop has run out of ink
and the mountain of pennies in my wishing well
has displaced all of the water."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for then everyone will see what a doofy loser I am,
and there'll be no one to watch my unguarded back,
and people will stick knives where my armor used to be,
and I'll lock myself out of my house because I always forget my keys,
and I'll die of exposure all alone on my own doorstep
and then who will keep the world spinning with their worry?"

The huntsman beckoned me in closer
and touched my forehead.
The shadows gobbled up the walls,
the windows, the ceiling and the floor.

I beheld an impossibly vast presence
underneath the fundamental ground of being.
It had infinite arms and infinite eyes,
infinite mouths and infinite stomachs,
and countless spider faces pointing in all directions.
Its intensity surpassed the fury of every star in the universe.
Its vastness was incomprehensible.

Prismatic jellyfish rose up through my feet
and bubbled out the top of my head,
cleansing my cells of inner deceits.
Impossibly shaped godlings swirled around me,
chanting "Ooh ah ee! Ooh ah ee!
She is learning about real nakedness!"
in a language I'd need an impossible tongue to speak.

The thoughts in my head began bursting like bubble wrap
when you roll it into a bunch and twist it.
My nose, toes and fingers grew long and sprouted leaves,
and my hair became a chlorophyll peacock feather waterfall.
My hips split open and I birthed infinite worlds.

An alien song erupted from my throat
in a voice I haven't used since before I was conceived:

"When the student is ready,
the guru appears.

When the poet is ready,
the poem appears.

When humanity is ready,
paradise appears.

When the questioner is ready,
the questions disappear.

The essence of buddha mind
is getting out of your own way.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

End the narrative,
even this narrative.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Goodbye."

Suddenly I began to feel that this was all happening in me,
that it had all always been happening in me.
Every movement since the dawn of time
has its origin in my heart of hearts,
arising from stillness,
disappearing back into stillness,
ungrabbed,
unmanipulated,
and unfathomably beloved.

"LET IT ALL GO," spoke the Supreme Godhead.

"I am ready," I replied.
"I am ready."

And then I was back on my couch,
with my graying hair and my fat, sagging flesh,
and my old, gibbering thought patterns
whispering in my mind's ear.

But it was different.

Very, very different.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 12:05pm

That's what I like about her too . . .

@lotlizard

So real . . .

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:35am

Extrordinary poem, Marilyn, many thanks

@mhagle
for sharing.

So many great works by Cohen, one of my favorites:

Hope the hurricane's intense rain misses you and randtntx. Have a marvelous day and week.

Actually, I don't remember Leonard Cohen, but in 1960 I was 3. Wonderful, though. Listening to Vivaldi now.

A couple of remarks:

Goats. Our last goat, Kozy, was one smart dude. He would call me when he thought had waited long enough for his daily snack (had a whole field for munching). When he saw me coming he would do a dance. Really. Occasionally escaped and would sit on the front steps. Found a door open one time and woke my husband with a kiss.

And the connection between our brains and our bodies. Mentioned this before, but When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Mate' (Aaron Mate's father) is excellent on the subject. In depth scientific detail of how it works.

Forgive me for posting this sort of long poem, but I found it moving.

The Huntsman
by Caitlin Johnstone

A huntsman crawled onto my laptop
and the screen crackled into rainbows
and went white.
Jet black shadows slashed across the walls
of shapes I could almost remember.

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for the people on Twitter are mean jerks,
and Eckhart Tolle was just on the Rubin Report,
and Bob Dylan made a Christmas album,
and everything is phony and stupid
and the bad guys always win."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for my hand is now shaking,
and I've had this strange pulsing feeling in my tummy,
and I should really see a doctor about that,
and there'll be no one to care for my children if I die,
and my pill bottle is all out of placebos,
and the ribbon on this laptop has run out of ink
and the mountain of pennies in my wishing well
has displaced all of the water."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for then everyone will see what a doofy loser I am,
and there'll be no one to watch my unguarded back,
and people will stick knives where my armor used to be,
and I'll lock myself out of my house because I always forget my keys,
and I'll die of exposure all alone on my own doorstep
and then who will keep the world spinning with their worry?"

The huntsman beckoned me in closer
and touched my forehead.
The shadows gobbled up the walls,
the windows, the ceiling and the floor.

I beheld an impossibly vast presence
underneath the fundamental ground of being.
It had infinite arms and infinite eyes,
infinite mouths and infinite stomachs,
and countless spider faces pointing in all directions.
Its intensity surpassed the fury of every star in the universe.
Its vastness was incomprehensible.

Prismatic jellyfish rose up through my feet
and bubbled out the top of my head,
cleansing my cells of inner deceits.
Impossibly shaped godlings swirled around me,
chanting "Ooh ah ee! Ooh ah ee!
She is learning about real nakedness!"
in a language I'd need an impossible tongue to speak.

The thoughts in my head began bursting like bubble wrap
when you roll it into a bunch and twist it.
My nose, toes and fingers grew long and sprouted leaves,
and my hair became a chlorophyll peacock feather waterfall.
My hips split open and I birthed infinite worlds.

An alien song erupted from my throat
in a voice I haven't used since before I was conceived:

"When the student is ready,
the guru appears.

When the poet is ready,
the poem appears.

When humanity is ready,
paradise appears.

When the questioner is ready,
the questions disappear.

The essence of buddha mind
is getting out of your own way.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

End the narrative,
even this narrative.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Goodbye."

Suddenly I began to feel that this was all happening in me,
that it had all always been happening in me.
Every movement since the dawn of time
has its origin in my heart of hearts,
arising from stillness,
disappearing back into stillness,
ungrabbed,
unmanipulated,
and unfathomably beloved.

"LET IT ALL GO," spoke the Supreme Godhead.

"I am ready," I replied.
"I am ready."

And then I was back on my couch,
with my graying hair and my fat, sagging flesh,
and my old, gibbering thought patterns
whispering in my mind's ear.

But it was different.

Very, very different.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 12:04pm

Barry looks like a monster . . .

@smiley7

I have been watching it for days at https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=precip_...

I love this site that shows low-level winds and moisture all over the world. I hadn't heard about any hurricanes in the works, but looked at that map and thought it looked like a hurricane.

New normal.

Speaking to new normal. Here, we are now getting 70-80 mile wind gusts in thunderstorms. Two weeks ago today we had this type of storm and it blew down giant branches and trees. No warnings from the weather service.

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 12:31pm

grew up with goats, literally, :)

@mhagle
So cute as little buggers and playful with me; Aunt Rosa never told me where the goat stew came from which is odd as i witnessed the Sunday morning ritual of Uncle Graham cutting of a chicken's head with an axe and helped out at pig harvest time in early winter as a wee one.

Reading the poem over and over.

Again, take good care in the storm, best hopes it misses you.

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 1:56pm

Baby goats - instant dogs

@smiley7

My kids were little when we had baby goats. They were instant pets! Kids brought them into the house and slept with them. No accidents in the house until they got older . . . . odd.

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 5:53pm

It doesn't look

@smiley7 like the bad weather comes this way this time. I think Tx is in the clear for both Marilyn and me. Thank you for the good wishes though. Hope the storm is not as bad as has been anticipated for those in its path.

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 6:34pm

Good to know ...

@randtntx
Couldn't find a cover by Tom P. either; but found this one:

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 9:33pm

It's such good song,

@smiley7 thanks for that rendition. Its fun to hear the various interpretations, and that was a good one.
Hope you have a good week and your rehab goes well. Thanks for a beautiful OT

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 9:39pm

and you and all for making it so. Good evening.

@randtntx

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 1:54pm

That was a fantastic read.

@mhagle

So glad you posted it. I've been struggling with that very issue, looking for a way out. I've transcended gravity wells before.... Anyway Caitlan is very human and authentic, I agree. And she came with a gift. I think we all came with an important piece of the mastercode. By now, we should have evolved out of the grinding dystopia of ignorance and greed. We should be harmonizing around the collective truth we possess. The early stages of enlightenment should have begun already, transforming us. It's rather a shame that we could have built a utopian reality to free humanity many times over from the exhaustng degrading daily battle to just to survive. Instead we choose to follow the demonic path of waste, stagnation, and destruction to pursue the blind power-lust of the psychopaths, whom we invariably select to lead us. I just don't care to notice it anymore.

Actually, I don't remember Leonard Cohen, but in 1960 I was 3. Wonderful, though. Listening to Vivaldi now.

A couple of remarks:

Goats. Our last goat, Kozy, was one smart dude. He would call me when he thought had waited long enough for his daily snack (had a whole field for munching). When he saw me coming he would do a dance. Really. Occasionally escaped and would sit on the front steps. Found a door open one time and woke my husband with a kiss.

And the connection between our brains and our bodies. Mentioned this before, but When the Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Mate' (Aaron Mate's father) is excellent on the subject. In depth scientific detail of how it works.

Forgive me for posting this sort of long poem, but I found it moving.

The Huntsman
by Caitlin Johnstone

A huntsman crawled onto my laptop
and the screen crackled into rainbows
and went white.
Jet black shadows slashed across the walls
of shapes I could almost remember.

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for the people on Twitter are mean jerks,
and Eckhart Tolle was just on the Rubin Report,
and Bob Dylan made a Christmas album,
and everything is phony and stupid
and the bad guys always win."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for my hand is now shaking,
and I've had this strange pulsing feeling in my tummy,
and I should really see a doctor about that,
and there'll be no one to care for my children if I die,
and my pill bottle is all out of placebos,
and the ribbon on this laptop has run out of ink
and the mountain of pennies in my wishing well
has displaced all of the water."

"Let it all go," said the huntsman.

"I cannot," I replied,
"for then everyone will see what a doofy loser I am,
and there'll be no one to watch my unguarded back,
and people will stick knives where my armor used to be,
and I'll lock myself out of my house because I always forget my keys,
and I'll die of exposure all alone on my own doorstep
and then who will keep the world spinning with their worry?"

The huntsman beckoned me in closer
and touched my forehead.
The shadows gobbled up the walls,
the windows, the ceiling and the floor.

I beheld an impossibly vast presence
underneath the fundamental ground of being.
It had infinite arms and infinite eyes,
infinite mouths and infinite stomachs,
and countless spider faces pointing in all directions.
Its intensity surpassed the fury of every star in the universe.
Its vastness was incomprehensible.

Prismatic jellyfish rose up through my feet
and bubbled out the top of my head,
cleansing my cells of inner deceits.
Impossibly shaped godlings swirled around me,
chanting "Ooh ah ee! Ooh ah ee!
She is learning about real nakedness!"
in a language I'd need an impossible tongue to speak.

The thoughts in my head began bursting like bubble wrap
when you roll it into a bunch and twist it.
My nose, toes and fingers grew long and sprouted leaves,
and my hair became a chlorophyll peacock feather waterfall.
My hips split open and I birthed infinite worlds.

An alien song erupted from my throat
in a voice I haven't used since before I was conceived:

"When the student is ready,
the guru appears.

When the poet is ready,
the poem appears.

When humanity is ready,
paradise appears.

When the questioner is ready,
the questions disappear.

The essence of buddha mind
is getting out of your own way.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

Till the soil
for its own sake.

End the narrative,
even this narrative.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Goodbye."

Suddenly I began to feel that this was all happening in me,
that it had all always been happening in me.
Every movement since the dawn of time
has its origin in my heart of hearts,
arising from stillness,
disappearing back into stillness,
ungrabbed,
unmanipulated,
and unfathomably beloved.

"LET IT ALL GO," spoke the Supreme Godhead.

"I am ready," I replied.
"I am ready."

And then I was back on my couch,
with my graying hair and my fat, sagging flesh,
and my old, gibbering thought patterns
whispering in my mind's ear.

But it was different.

Very, very different.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by mhagle on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 1:58pm

Yeah . . . I think that not paying attention to it . . .

@Pluto's Republic

is important.

I will reread this poem many times. Thanks.

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by lotlizard on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:37am

For NY Times, inconvenient facts = Russian-style disinformation

https://fair.org/home/for-nyt-inconvenient-facts-equal-russian-style-dis...

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 11:48am

Good Saturday

smiley and all.
I love L. Cohen as well. I didn't realize that those were his songs when I was listening to Judy Collins and Tom Paxton and Joan Baez etc. way back when. I didn't learn that those were Cohen's songs that I had been listening to all those years until I was in college and my roommate had some of his records.
I never saw Leonard Cohen in concert when he was young but I did get to see him on his last tour that took him to Austin. He was just so incredible then.

I looked for a clip of Tom Paxton singing 'Bird on a Wire' which is where I first heard this song. I couldn't find it though, but found this instead:

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 1:00pm

Love the music, randtntx,

@randtntx

Cool, "live" on that last tour, envy here; so rich his voice and pen.

Enjoyed the read about the documentary a lot. Like mimi, looking forward to watching it someday.

Stay cool in Texas and have a wonderful and productive week.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 1:10pm

Hi smiley

Thank you for the Leonard Cohen music and the heads-up about the documentary.

For all those who love Leonard, here is a wonderful interview with Sylvie Simmons who wrote the most engaging book about Leonard.

Sending you my best from a closer distance ; )

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 1:25pm

Hi janis,

@janis b
Spirit closer, we see the same stars in different views, one ocean flat, the other high, feels good to think on.

Hey, lots of Florida folks escape the heat for our environs, why not join them?

Bookmarked the interview for later listening, thank you.

Stay cool and regards to family.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:10pm

Leonard Cohen, the master and servant of love,

@smiley7 @smiley7

god’s, humanity’s, women’s.

…
And when the hunger for your touch
Rises from the hunger,
You whisper, "You have loved enough,
Now let me be the Lover."
I swept the marble chambers,
But you sent me down below.
You kept me from believing
Until you let me know:
That I am not the one who loves
It's love that chooses me.
When hatred with his package comes,
You forbid delivery.
And when the hunger for your touch
Rises from the hunger

A respite in your mountains would be welcome, but I’m grounded here, most likely for the duration due to my mom’s fall and fracture. If you get too cold, you're always welcome here. I mean it.

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:24pm

Locked into rehab for 11 more weeks; sorry to

@janis b
hear of your Mom's fall, healing thoughts to you both.

Maybe, someday, we can take Manhattan instead, eh?

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 4:15pm

Someday

@smiley7

[video:https://youtu.be/VqksuYXx89c]

To your wellbeing!

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 4:36pm

The answer to the mysteries: end of this Cohen song

@janis b

Love ya. Thanks for Alice. A "sense of well being" a great actor's secret, forte.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 4:44pm

"You're very kind", he says sincerely to the audience

@smiley7

They love him. The 2007 tour you've highlighted is my favourite Cohen.

"Don't ever stop"

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 5:58pm

Thanks

@janis b enjoyed that piece---Alice Russell very much.
So sorry to hear about your mother's fall, am glad though that you are able to be with her.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 9:43pm

With appreciation randntx,

@randtntx

the album, which is all good ...

[video:https://youtu.be/LbCIHWByg_w]

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:03pm

Thank you Smiley

For this lovely and gentle OT. Apologies for not being able to write more but I lounged around in bed finishing up the last episode of "Outlander" and I'm running late for work and the cats still need to be fed. Egads!

Have a great day, and a better week ahead!

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:33pm

Hi Anja,

@Anja Geitz

Happy day to you. Thank you for being here.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:04pm

Great essay, Smiley

I love the messages that Leonard Cohen channeled for us.
He even sounded like an oracle.

I think we can manufacture brand new days. That's what I plan to do.
Thanks for the fine OT.

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 2:38pm

Hi Pluto,

@Pluto's Republic

Thanks for the Camus.

Love your writing style; but you know that as i've said that before. It never wears thin, it grows.

Have a wonderful afternoon and evening.

Submitted by magiamma on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 4:19pm

good afternoon smiley

and everyone. Thanks for the amazing music.

Still working on the climate strategy for the city council. So many people here are getting involved. Young ones now joining. Bright lights they are. Learning how to stay saner - as the crisis escalates, I increase my personal mental remediation and adapt.

The good people here are a gift.

Small it seems like a hummingbird putting out a fire with a drop of water. I see the breaking down. I celebrate the moment. I feel the helplessness. I embrace the courage. I feel the hopelessness. I fill my glass full, with light. I drink to the now, to all life. May we be clear. May we be peaceful. I see no other path.

—

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Submitted by smiley7 on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 4:44pm

Hi magi, "ring the bell that still can ring."

@magiamma

“A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life.”~ Lewis Mumford

Great evening to you.

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 9:47pm

So glad to hear

@magiamma the young ones are joining and yes, they are bright lights. You seem to be doing a great deal of work on this, take care of yourself.
I've started reading a book by Rebecca Solnit called A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise In Disaster. She has some interesting insights and ideas about these times we live in, some of which echo what Caitlin Johnstone's poem expressed above. If you have a chance you might find some of what she writes hopeful and affirming.

Submitted by magiamma on Sat, 07/13/2019 - 10:40pm

good evening rand

@randtntx
I am following my yeses. Flowing with the climate groups that are full of kindness. The work is too hard to do otherwise. There is much beauty and life in the world. To witness the climate disintegrate and love the beauty of that which is living, it is a dance, psychic aikido. I will look for the book. Thank you for your kind thoughts. Have a good evening.

—

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Sun, 07/14/2019 - 9:17pm

Hola, Smiley & Saturday OT'ers! Parachuting in

to say thanks for another lovely OT. Between travel (in near flood conditions on I-40 and parts of I-65) and helping Mr M, couldn't get by as soon as I would have liked.

This'll be brief (for me) since I need to get back to work, but, I saw that you had a problem getting a RX filled. A generic, IIRC. Not sure what CH means, unless, Chapel Hill (?). At any rate, it's up to you (and may be too intrusive), but, if you want to leave the name of the drug, I can find out if it's covered by any of the Part D plans in NC. (It may not help you today, but, we're not too far out from Oct--when we start the process again, to select our Part D provider/plan.)

I was running around 'with my hair on fire' last year, because of all of the RX's that were dropped for 2019. That included "Keytruda" that former Pres Carter attributes to having saved his life (helping his brain cancer go into remission, that is). Now, that is a name brand drug--costs over $6,000 per month (retail), if I'm not mistaken. Actually, it's been much higher. Sorta of like electronics, some drugs go down in price, eventually. (While, other go up!)

If I can catch up with you Guys next week, I'll post a video about healthcare in Mexico. Saw it mentioned in another thread here (can't remember which one, now). Anyhoo, much of the short clip applies to American Expats/retirees.

Hey, have a good rest-of-your-weekend. Hope your CH physician can come up with a workaround.

Take care.

Mollie

“Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. ”
~~Roger Caras

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.