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The bovine mystique is simply captivating. Mysterious, really. One day all I see when eye to eye with a cow is a poker face far beyond my skills. Thank goodness they don't have opposable thumbs that would help conceal cards effectively. Other times, when in the presence of cows, I will recognize a stoicism that stands strong and unflinching while enduring whatever it is that cows endure. Rain, bugs, and nightmares of becoming meatloaf, I suppose. I have also marveled and found a sense of awe when in the gaze of a Buddha-like cow. Peaceful, relaxed, and at ease, as if perpetually in the calm eye of the proverbial storm.
Cows are cool.
I wonder if their are different castes of cows. Some pre-destined to become wallets, shoes, coats, and briefcases, while others go the more 'edible' path. And, within the edible path, if some are steak-bound while others are fated to be ground up into burgers, pasta sauce, and perhaps even meat pudding.
Cow milk is interesting. I wonder what cows think of humans tapping into that bovine well. I have never milked a cow. The udders seem large compared to those of the goat. I have milked a goat. It seems like my big hands would be better suited for the larger cow teat.
When I pass a cow, it standing there chewing cud and just staring out at the world, I always nod my head in acknowledgment.
I have read so many books that will help me improve, find my path, create my path, love, and in general empower me to become more effective and all that I can be. Because, I detect, highly effective people (HEP) are what we all aspire to be. Yes?
I wonder, though, if we dont leave something behind while investing time, energy, and focus on becoming as on top of our game as we can possibly become. In the spirit of that sense of wondering, I hope to lower the bar by identifying seven primal values and principles of marginally effective people. Seven is the number often used, say the success gurus, because that is the number that will not bore us but will not over-stimulate us.
1. Other people are objects. Thusly, they are either a barrier to or a vehicle toward an identified goal.
2. Goals are constructs that we create to a)move us from point A to point B, or b)make us feel bad because we have not lived up to our expectations.
3. Expectations are things that make it more difficult to have heart to heart relationships and communication with other people.
4. Communication is often expressed more genuinely through the way that we are than in the things that we say.
5. Flatulence is not usually communication. Some people, though, become extremely offended when such air is passed. As if it is a personal communication.
6. Air is important, individually and collectively.
7. We may be social creatures, but when we disallow solitude in our lives we then increase the likelihood of other people being mere objects to us (see principle #1).
With this awareness, may your attitudes be adjusted and your actions render you at least marginally effective. 2008 can only be way cool!
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After nearly eight years of Mr. George Bush as President of the United States, I find I have changed. For better or for worse, I have lost my youthful naiveté. I find it more and more difficult to see the wonder in every moment through the eyes of an innocent child. I no longer believe that people are inherently good.
Instead, I trust fewer and fewer people. I have seen that if they are not out right liars, then they will spin words and phrases into faux meaning that seems in service to unfinished psycho-issues and overt greed. I am told that this is the price to be paid to be safe from all the terror that is in the world.
I no longer seem to see life through a lens of optimism and hope. It seems like only yesterday, for instance, that I would look forward to meeting and communing with people from other places and cultures. This was an exciting, fulfilling, and optimistic prospect. Diversity, uniqueness, and the marvel of so many different ways to be in the world. But alas, all these people that are different and alien are something to be feared, avoided, reported, and generally disdained. I am told that this is the price to be paid to be safe from all the terror that is in the world.
I remember when I truly believed it when I was told that my country took the moral high ground. Treating others with respect and subjecting even enemies to fair and reasonable practices. Protecting civil liberties as if they were something of value, and caring from the collective heart and consciousness for those in need. Regardless of how they looked, what language they spoke, or even which religion or spiritual practice they embraced. I now know better. Amassing of power and money are far more significant values, and the moral high ground is nothing more than a spin and talking point meant to divert thoughtful reflection from a time once revered and now past. No longer is it about how the game is played, but whether you win or lose. I am told that this is necessary because it will protect me from all the terror that is in the world.
I do find myself wondering when it was that Jesus became a Republican, Democrat, or any other sort of political figure. Though never a routine church-goer and better defined as a spiritual naturalist, I did once take heart in the messages of peace, love, caring for those in need, and doing unto others as you would have done unto you. Now, though, I see those who claim to value the message of Jesus acting in a way quite contrary to what the proclaimed son of God preached. Intolerance, greed, revenge, violence, and all such attributes, performed in the name of God, seem problematic to me. I suppose it must be this way because we must be protected from all the terror in the world.
I think the primary symptoms of Bush-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (BTSD) are free-floating confusion, fear, social anomie, hopelessness, distrust of others, and a desire to be a part of something that once was but seems now lost. Remarkably, my hope has not been squashed. I believe the cure to BTSD may be a large turn-out in the coming elections by a well-informed electorate.
deorre
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While I love smiles in general, when they come from the faces of young ones I am tickled all the more. Eyes and smiles go very well together, and give information about the other. That may be why the adults who have become criminals have smiles that are incongruent with what is in their eyes and other attributes.
Driving up to a stop light the other night, I was witness to a young teen (at least 16y/o I suppose) also at the light, on her phone to (fill in the blank). Likely a peer. Laughing and smiling and essentially seeming extremely happy
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While I love smiles in general, when they come from the faces of young ones I am tickled all the more. Eyes and smiles go very well together, and give information about the other. That may be why the adults who have become criminals have smiles that are incongruent with what is in their eyes and other attributes.
Driving up to a stop light the other night, I was witness to a young teen (at least 16y/o I suppose) also at the light, on her phone to (fill in the blank). Likely a peer. Laughing and smiling and essentially seeming extremely happy
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When I am out in the nature---you know, trees, and birds, and bees, and weeds, and running water, and poison oak, and other things non-civilized, I SOOOOO don't know the classifications and labels of all that bound. I wonder, when out there in the nature with those who know the classifications, order, label, and other things cognitive, if they are at one with it all. I suppose it reduces to what it means, individually, to be 'at one with it all'.
If one identifies oneself as nature, as part of nature, and as an expression of nature, I wonder if one may need to shift or re-vision what it means to 'go all cognitive' on the very nature that is revered. Classifying, ordering, labeling, and defining, all this new-brain activity seeming to emerge from a fear of who and what we are at a very basic level. I leave the city, for Christ's sake, to get out of my head and into something else
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Imagine, if you will, a world in which all may thrive in their own unique way. Offering the individual gifts and talents and skills and capacities and proclivities that they bring to the table in the spirit of a collective, if you will, diversity that is nothing more or nothing less than what some several years ago coined 'bio-mimicry'.
What, one may ponder, is my connection with that nice tree that stands firm amongst the fences and houses? How, one may query, can I even hope to understand what that snail 'darting' across the sidewalk may be experiencing? And, one may question in urgency, "WHEN THE HELL DO I GET PAID
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A friend of mine recently lost his father. The old man was leaving behind a significant legacy, financially, genetically, and in so many ways that are simply intangible. He was, for instance, very active in fusing traditional Japanese culture and contemporary American culture here in our little niche on the edge of the continent.
So difficult to find the right words to say to one who has lost a parent. Even when it is known that the passing will come soon, no planning can help organize a mind and heart for such. I was speaking to my friend about this the other day, and seemed at a loss for words
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One of the ways that I manage my stress is through music. I have just completed some preliminary studio sessions and come out with a few demos. I'll be posting them on my myspace site over the next months.
Some time back here I posted the lyrics to "Sometimes when I hear voices." It is up, now, [Here].
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Oh how I long for the mindless elegance of engaging with the river of life, the stream of conscisousness, and the flow of abundance. It seems my capacity to abstract, intellectualize, and activate other things new brain has created a distance from my mother, Nature.
Gaia, Gaia, where for art thou, Gaia
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Comment by Deorre
on Kicking off 2008 - photos from around the world.
Stress Alive
Man Lessons