"I shall go away grateful--if not satisfied.  Satisfied! What a beggarly state!  Who would be satisfied with being satisfied?"
  --Edith Wharton

"Where are the keys that give birth to subtle understanding?
Each day we open our eyes having been called by the light of a familiar every day morning. It is at that moment that our eyes open to an entry of poetry which without question brings newness of life we cannot continue to take for granted.

At this finite point, reflection becomes attainable. If we so choose to ponder, we are provided with time to contemplate choices that present us the opportunities to further the well being of the other.

We are then truly liberated, as through the constantly repeating cycle of rebirth, sleeping and waking from it, being reminded daily of our life cycle, we are gently introduced to enter a deeper layer of sensibility and an awareness of the miracle of life: complex and profound. It seems that at these moments God becomes visible and although still abstract, truly a friend, as in this moment the choices we make are based on those things that in good conscience and free will, we choose to become the caretakers of this beautiful planet.

Let us bring our attention to those fragile life forms that we are not privileged to converse with in ways that come without deep reverence, contemplation and respect to our earth, our womb, the placenta given to us on loan while we learn to accept the beauty of our impermanence. So much so and so softly that we are able to step back from the destruction of any life form that has been invited to take up residency here for purposes unknown to us.

Shall we show reverence? shall we find humility?

Potentially yes; because we know love, and know that through love all things are nourished automatically."

  --Lisa Gerrard, March 2007

"During the disintegration of a civilization, two separate plays with different plots are being performed simultaneously side by side.  While an unchanging dominant minority is perpetually rehearsing its own defeat, fresh challenges are perpetually evoking fresh creative responses from newly recruited minorities, which proclaim their own creative power by rising, each time, to the occasion.  The drama of challenge-and-response continues to be performed, but in new circumstances and with new actors."
  --Alfred Toynbee

It's been ages since I've posted anything of substance, beyond the random quote.  My free time has been absorbed by organizing the campus group at my university, Coniunctio, and I admit to a bit of goofing off on Facebook.  (As _sister_madly_  noted on FB, it's been awfully quiet on LiveJournal lately!)

Here is one product of the campus group, a video of Richard Tarnas addressing Coniunctio on the concept of rigor in archetypal astrology.  The sound begins when he starts speaking, at 2:32.  (If the embed doesn't work, a direct link is here)

And then there is always the obsessing over papers.  I've written two now that I don't particularly care for, although I am being a bit harsh.  There is yet another to produce before I have a real break....

Today I got the bike fixed and wandered into the danger zone of Half Price Books.  Score!!!  Ego and Archetype and The Creation of Consciousness, by Edward Edinger, in great shape for only $12.  I am really looking forward to Edinger's genius, as evidenced by a sample quote from the book:

"What is a crime at one stage of development is lawful at another and one cannot reach a new stage of psychological development without daring to challenge the code of the old stage. Hence, every new step is experienced as a crime and is accompanied by guilt, because the old standards, the old ways of being, have not yet been transcended" (p. 21).

I also picked up Malidoma Somé's autobiography Of Water and the Spirit.  There was more, but as much as I live by Artemus Ward's exhortation "Let us all be happy, and live within our means, even if we have to borrow the money to do it with," I was a bad consumer today, and practiced restraint.   

I have, however, purchased a recording device for my classes, which is probably a good idea since I am going to be stupid and attempt Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Rudolf Steiner (one class) and Sri Aurobindo and Jean Gebser on the evolution of consciousness (another class) in one semester. bwaaahahahaa  I should probably look to my dreams for help with those, as well.   And oh yeah, auditing "Archetypal Cosmology"  which

I hope to come back to this blog a bit more, perhaps to help me formulate some of the ideas from those incredibly dense classes.  Ufff.  And how about some tortured-artist-self-reflection, eh? 

Here's the mockup I created of the graphical interface to IssuePress:


(Click for explanation)

And here's the fancy graphical front end for "Grab More Science":

When you click on one of the boxes, you get this:


*blink*

Sooooo, who's getting paid to develop this stuff? Not me ...

*Draft; 1st cut*

Here's what moved me to post to this dusty old LJ:

"It does seem to me that those who believe that humans are causing the planet to warm may be guilty of some dirty tricks regarding peer review inclusion of dissenting views. This is a shame because peer review and debate to me is a time-honored tradition and through the friction of opposing views, observers can come to informed conclusions.

I wish political arguments on say health care used peer review. Then most of us Americans might know a bit more about what we are talking about and logic might prevail over emotions."

"Climate Debate accelerates as Copenhagen begins - Global Neighbourhoods"
Shel Israel

( Read more... )

*Draft; 1st cut*Yoram, this part

p.s. in case you think that I'm basically wrong about ?what? mis-allocation of resources and effort, I offer you this ... a page I just came across ... as paradigmatic: a new startup, a simple product (yet.another comment system) driven by some credible figures; on the homepage there's a list of exemplary sites; this one is suggested as a "professional blog": guykawasaki.com "Will Anyone Pay for Anything?". Now, look at the way the comments are presented. That's break-through? That's empowerment? That's sophistication? *sigh* But it's produced by a credible commercial entity. *shakes head*