You must be the change you want to see in the world.
~Mahatma GandhiI don't know where we the human species get off thinking that life is anything other than Sex and Death. Everything else is trimming. It's the good trimming that we live for but it is not what we are here for. We are here to reproduce primarily. We are probably the only species on this planet that would even think of that (I'm guessing here) and then we die. Other life forms know that, or not, but humans mostly deny it and make up other glorious reasons for having life. I call that bullshit.
We know we will die and no other animals does I call bullshit as well. In general humans seen to elevate themselves above others in the animal world and I suppose there is some gain in this but I can't see it. I personally have known several animals that went off to their dying place well in advance of their death and I'm told that there are wild animals (elephants for instance) that have special places to go to die.
I don't find elevating myself above other living things gratifying or satisfying. I try to live my life following the Gandhi quotation at the beginning of this post with limited success. If people in high holy places are doing the same then I must lower my expectations because I see many examples everyday of some not so lofty goals for change. I see humans lasting until the next earth wiping catastrophe and maybe even beyond but I don't see them being much more than they have been and that's sad.
This looks like a sidewalk but it is touted here as a bike path. You can see that a manly man has parked his manly pickup truck (
pickup with a big bank note is a sign of adulthood) on it which is wrong no matter what it is. Since no one walks and no one bikes here it does not matter.
It appears to be about a kilometer long and connects two more or less north and south streets then dumps you into traffic. It is a nine mile ride for me to get to it. It is the only bike path I know of around here.
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| 2010 Cayenne |
In my hovel, which doubles as a potting and starting shed, I have been collecting and starting plants for the spring. I have learned here that the plant have to be in the ground early or the summer sun gets them. I have had really good luck with saving seeds but lately no so much luck at germinating them. The seed you see above appears perfect but I have yet to get any to germinate. However, if you touch you eyes after handling them you are going to know you are alive and feeling some exquisite pain.
This is one in ten thousand I'm told. I read that one in ten thousand acorns germinate and this is the one. First time I've ever been in on the start of a live oak tree. This one is coming along just fine. We must have at least twenty thousand acorns as SWMBO has just found another. I think she makes it happen because she has the touch. Dragonfly's, butterflies and honey bees land on her. Sometimes she looks like a regular Mother nature. If you want to find her in the yard, first look for the cats. They will be all around her.
The antibiotics I'm taking upset my stomach and generally just screw up my bowels but I have to take them. The arm
(see post of Feb 10) is weird but better and it doesn't hurt now. It does give me some strange twinges I can't really describe. I find it distracting but the worst thing is I only have a brain for writing in the mornings and these mornings I seem to have morning sickness. I am absolutely certain I am not pregnant.
There is a big storm happening here at this moment so I think I'll shut down and take a nap to dream of my plants being watered by the sky.
"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."
-The Dalai Lama
I believe he has it right but I don't see any examples of our overlords heeding these words.
15 comments:
That Ghandi-quote is one which always gives me energy and courage.
Yet, typically, it is one I most easily forget and need to be reminded of.
So thank you for the reminder and have a nice day.
stephanie
Aren't most of the seeds purchased today for hybreds and after ripening, the seeds that they produce will not germinate and if they do, you may not get what you expect.
stephanie: Good to hear from you. I think of you from time to time since you stopped posting. I'm glad you're still here.
DD: That is correct and I believe that even though I believed this was not a hybred plant that I was wrong. Same with the chili verde I am trying to germinate. Just experiments. My chile garden is store bought plants but as they die off I will be moving to all heritage plants. Monsanto can kiss my ass.
You said: I see humans lasting until the next earth wiping catastrophe and maybe even beyond but I don't see them being much more than they have been and that's sad.
Yes, I agree with that the human species will pretty much just continue to be what we have been. Our weapons change but we will always love war. I think this deserves a comment because it seems most people say differently, that we are evolving into something better, etc. I think this is just self-deception. I suppose it's sad, as you say. I mean, I also wish it wasn't so but I guess I'm OK with it the way it is. After all, I guess it's just the life we create for ourselves that really matters. Brenda
I have dealt with the unseen force all my life.Being an electrician I have helped produce it ,transmit it, an use it.An unseen force .So when it comes to God I do believe (WHY)Because when I think about the Universe an all that is in it,I personal can't help but believe.I think God is so complex that there is not one person on this earth that can truly comprehend God!
Ted, wouldn't that unseen force be the same as chi/qi/prana.....the universal energy as identified in ancient Eastern systems?
When I saw that pepper all I could think of was "Don't touch your eyes" then I read on and you said it.. I grew some a few years ago and they were HOT!
as far as man's superiority thinking he's the best thing on this earth since sliced bread.. I agree with you.. I always figure when the earth is done with having all us humans on it wrecking it and decides to extinguish us as an experiment gone wrong, Chickens will take over... they seem to be able to survive and pick out a living without bothering much at all.. How's that for Pecking order... I've always loved chickens.. they are smarter than most people think.. well I suppose most people never think of them at all
I remember when my Dad took my pestering seriously for the first time, as a girl in Milwaukee, and he finally taught me how to dig in the dirt and plant things. I've loved getting my hands in dirt ever since. Hubby and I live in a Little Rock apartment at the moment, and the last thing I planted to put on the little balcony we have, a squirrel dug right out of the pot for me. Him and his damned nuts.
I haven't taken care of my health the way I should have, and at nearly 59 I find myself with diabetes. I'm on antibiotics at the moment, too, and they ruin my stomach as well.. but I've gotten a bonus rash with mine! Those pills will destroy your infection, though, so stick with 'em till the end.
As for religion, I had a lifetime of it and it nearly killed me, literally. Long story best not told. Religion is just one more way to divide human beings. In the end I came to the conclusion that religious texts are interpreted in about as many ways as there are people, meaning nobody has the Hot Line to Heaven, even though they vehemently claim they do. So I'd be labeled an agnostic now, if I cared, because I know I don't know. I wish more people could be honest about that. Religious squabbling is so senseless, and so harmful for this beautiful planet and the creatures who share it with us.
Well, you got a lot for my two cents' worth. Wish you all the best in healing quickly, Oldfool, and in your year of planting and harvesting.
Eileen, dirtless in Little Rock
Gwen, I truly believe animals are very smart and it is we humans who so often fail to see this because we judge them according to OUR world rather than the world they live in, which is obviously the standard that should be used for them. I have had chickens in the past, not as much as you, I suspect, and I have to admit I had a hard time applying my standard to them. I guess they do seem to be able to eat just about anything and, true, they don't bother about anything either, but I don't think that qualifies as intelligence, just adaptability. Is adaptability the same as intelligence?
Brenda: The human species is no longer evolving as there is no need. Almost no one dies in the evolution process. Most everyone gets to breed no matter their affliction. I am not against it because we have evolved enough compassionate souls to make this happen. The so called bleeding hearts (I'm happy to say I'm one of them) that the hard right despises make it happen.
The human species will continue to reproduce until like too many rats in the cage they start to devour each other. There is the possibility that we will develop our war machines so that we can extinguish the number of people required. We are rapidly doing that but for it to work a large percentage of civilians have to die. We are seeing to that. We can't keep sending our best brains and breeding stock off to die.
One should not get too smug about the freedom loving Americans as that is a fallacy. There are more Americans trying to eliminate freedom than there are either exercising or protecting it.
The USA is a war mongering nation, born in war, has been at war since and barring the big rock falling from the sky will die in war. I don't think it will be even remotely a free nation then.
Ted: The entire Multi-verse is alive but I am convinced it is not with the Gods of man. I reject all the "Gods" created in man's image. Man seems to create vain jealous cruel Gods that look like humans and wants only to be worshiped. Nothing I would call a God wants to be worshiped and this universe does not give a shit if you have a red hat or not. It is going to do physics as it sees it at the time and man is never going to rise enough to change that.
Just because you don't understand something does not make it magic. As Arthur C. Clarke said;
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Gwen: After writing that post I rubbed my eye about 8 hours later and it burned. I thought it was the power of suggestion but then remembered that I had roasted some jalapenos in the afternoon and handled them bare handed.
Now about chickens. My favorite muppet is "Gonzo" and like him I have a strong but healthy (I think)attraction to them and there is some chance they will inherit the Earth. When their wings evolve into hand in a million years or so their brains will follow. I used to think it would be cockroaches but they seem to have reached (like the shark) the top of their evolutionary development some million or so years ago. I think chickens,some other fowl or maybe lizards are next.
You should think of growing Jalapeno. It is perennial and you can grow enough for a family with one plant in a five gallon bucket. We had one for seven years before it died. It was kept outside and never protected and had I protected it in the hard freezes of last winter we would probably still have it. They are general milder than the cayenne. They have a wonderful flavor and are willing to give it up to anything they are put in. I can and do often eat the whole thing but taking out the seed and all the white inside tones them way down. Roasted in a waffle iron or blackened with a blowtorch and they are delicious. I like them chopped fine in sweet oatmeal.
Eileen: I was born in that city down on Park back when the railroad was still running steam trains and there were streetcars.
Plant again and cover with chicken wire. Put out something more enticing to squirrels. Alternately plant indoors. You would be amazed at some of the things I've grown under a single 26w CFL light bulb and natural light from the window.
My bride grew herbs and spices for years on the window sill inside.
It is medicine that no big pharmaceutical company can ever produce. It treats mind and soul.
Solitudinarian: The same applies to dogs and cats but we have a deal. I change my ways a little to their way and they change a little to mine.
As for "adaptability vs. intelligence" are you perhaps referring to the current crop of would be President?
Reading your blog is the closest I get, or want to get, to any kind of religious service.
OSM
Oldfool: thank you again for your post and expressive comments.
Getting attention is sometimes unclear, seems so, feels so. Attention is just attention, nothing more: depends, how you act / react.
For what you did, write and do you deserve a lot, if wanted. So glad really to know you on net.
Yours sincerely
Olivier Klastat
www.no-extremes.de
He knew a thing or two, that Mr Gandhi. ("Mr Gandhi, what do you think of Western civilization?" "I think it would be a very good idea.")
I have accidentally touched my eyes after brushing against Jalapenos. As you have noted, it was no fun.
Death is an interesting thing to think about. I don't dwell on it, but I am less opposed to thinking about it now, than I was when I was younger.
Paz :)
I've been thinking about the Gandhi quote you used to begin this post, Oldfool, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."
It is a motivator to be personally involved with the world during our time here, and that is a good thing. Good, when used by people who want a peaceful world for all.
But it can also be used by people, who shall remain unnamed, but we know who some of them are, and they have very different ideas of what change they want to see come about in this world. Some of them have influence and power far beyond what John and Jane Peacelover have. They're changing the world with their agendas, and it trickles down and messes up the world for everyone's children and grandkids, and that's the part that gets me down.
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