Two sides of the public coin...

I see that the MOD is in trouble for trying to claw back, what they consider to be, an overpayment of compensation for our injured troops (The Times, Thursday July 30 2009). On top of that, they want to limit the amount of money paid out to any returning forces personnel injured in the line of duty, who may go on to suffer further complications after their initial surgery. Although denying that saving money is the driving force behind their appeal against increased tribunal awards for two injured servicemen, the fact that they are seeking to ensure that the interpretation of the compensation scheme is properly applied, suggests that the levels of compensation being paid are seen to be to high by the civil servants administering the scheme. This is known in the trade, as 'protecting the government purse', a phrase that I have heard used many times in local government circles to describe the process of gate keeping budgets used for benefit claimants and alike. There is nothing wrong with gate keeping public money in this way, in fact it demonstrates how seriously this responsibility is taken by government officers in the course of meeting their obligations and duties, The trouble is though, that this level of gate keeping does not seem to apply to those who write the rules and who are supposedly governing our country, i.e. MP's and government ministers. You know the ones I'm talking about, the ones who use public/government money to buy duck houses, have their moats cleaned etc. and who are also not required to submit receipts for the smaller amounts of public money that they decide to spend, which of course allows corruption via the back door to flourish nicely thank you. This then is an example of how two sides of the same coin, the public coin, are so vastly different; one regulated side for you and me and the other seemingly unregulated side for the elected members of Westminster. Nothing surprising there then.

WOMAD 2009

What a brilliant festival! The day ticket, although great for trying out something new, did not really allow enough time to see, smell, get in touch with and get under the skin of everything that was going on at WOMAD 2009. To become submerged in this festival and to find out what's going on in the undergrowth, so to speak, a whole weekend is required; a whole long weekend that is. Don't get me wrong, the day was a great one but it was a long day of trying to see everything, which of course is impossible, as a lot of everything was happening all at the same time. In this field of dreams then, there were five different music stages, one World Rhythms stage plus a myriad of World market stalls that offered a wide range of ethnic clothing and foods etc. and of course there was the obligatory 'real ale' bar. There was also a proper steam fair, a Spa for the better off and kids and adult workshops to go to as well. In amongst the trees surrounding the main arena, the World Of WellBeing could be found, a place where a wide range of alternative therapies could be tried out at leisure; if you had the time that is. The camping facilities were good too and ranged from your basic tent pitch right through to the Tangerine Fields where, for loads of money, you could rent your own Yurt, Pod or Tepee to dwell in for the weekend. I'm going back next year, hopefully in a camper van and I'm going to stay for whole weekend, a long weekend that is and I'm going to get lost in the undergrowth for a while.

To busy for my own good...

Now that my pin is out of my foot, I'm being busy; too busy for my own good I feel. I'm busy at work. I'm busy driving my own car once more. I'm busy getting fit again. I'm busy visiting my elderly mother in hospital. I've been busy downsizing friendships and then repairing them again. I've been busy going sailing with mates; yes it seems that I do have some! I've been busy replacing faulty wifi kit (twice), that just stopped working for some reason and I've been busy getting tickets for the 2009 WOMAD Festival. All this being busy is just leaving me breathless and slightly frustrated at not being able to grab some some decent blog time. Still, I'm sure that I will get some space soon and then I can get back to blogging, which over the last few months has become an important outlet for my thought streams and I want it to remain that way. This being busy is not really that good for me, in fact it's downright unhealthy; I am in danger of being swallowed up once more by the comings and goings and doings of life and my access to that precious commodity, time, has been shrinking fast. In fact, I had a warning about this only yesterday morning when out walking the dog, as in the space of that moment I could breath once more and I suddenly felt quite tearful; that came as a bit of a shock I can tell you. So, why tearful? Well, it's all about reaction really and my body, in order to cope with a series of events that were mainly out of my control, flooded itself with that high speed fuel, adrenalin. Mentally and physically, I had gone from 0 to 60 in a nanosecond and after months of inaction, I was not ready for this intense burst of energy. The poster top left says it all really and I'm going to take notice of what it is saying; that's if I've got time of course.

Just walking the dog...

After a very wet and windy night, the dog and I went for an early morning walk under blue skies and an already warm rising sun; in the west, the pale moon was still visible and still quite high in the sky. Our walk today was on the familiar ground of Long Valley but from a different direction, one that neither of us had taken before. The start of our walk then, offered new horizons and new vistas to wonder at; all within a few hundred yards of the grounds we had both run and walked over many times before. On reaching the high ground we stopped and just gazed at the vast empty space stretching out before us; just the dog and I and no one else. In this crowded corner of southern England, this was indeed a wonder. Now I think about it, I guess we could apply this change of view to many aspects of our daily lives; we all tread the same roads each and every day, never averting our eyes or minds away from the task of the moment and because of this we can become blind to the simple beauty that exists just beside us or just over there. For some strange reason, this 'new experience' in a familiar place reminded me of some lines from a poem written by Rumi, well two lines of it, if I'm honest;

'This being human is a

guesthouse.

Every morning a new arrival'.

The poem in full then...

The Guest House

-Rumi

This being human is a guesthouse.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

NO to the extradition of Gary McKinnon...

What is it that attracts this awful government of ours to American backsides? Why is it that we have to kowtow to the demands of a country that, in all truth, is quite backward on matters of humanity, welfare and justice; I just don't understand why Gordon and his cronies have this need to suck up to American politics and the American criminal justice system in the way that they do. What does the American government have over the British government that makes them behave in such a shameful manner? We, you and I, can't just visit the US, without having to be 'looked into' by the Homeland Security and Immigration Control goons but American citizens don't have to do this when visiting the UK. We even have a lopsided Anglo-American extradition treaty with them, that gives the Americans more rights than British passport holders. In 2006 there was an amendment made to this treaty, the Extradition Act (2006), which can be used to allow Gary Mckinnon to be tried in British Courts but is the government enacting this law? NO of course they're not. Did you know that no less than three New Labour Home Secretaries have rubber stamped Gary McKinnon's extradition; John Read just approved it with the minimum of fuss, Jaquie Smith (she of porn tapes fame) upheld the decision without even trying to get any guarantees about bail or reparation and now Alan Johnson insists that his hands are tied. And did you know that Gary McKinnon was told that 'if' he pleaded guilty and said nothing about his extradition, he could end up with a shorter sentence in a British prison. But because he didn't agree with this course of action, he is now classed as a terrorist and faces instead, a full life term in a high security American prison. This New Labour government of ours then, this government that turned its back on the Gurkas, that stood up for sleaze and rip off expenses, that justifies a secret inquiry into the Iraq war and that abandons its citizens, just simply makes me feel ashamed.

Meeting the dark side...

Have you ever met your dark side? Just like a diamond, we all have different facets that represent the 'whole' of who we are. One of these facets, I refer to as my dark side; the side that is the part of me that, if allowed to become out of balance with the rest of my psyche, can wrought destruction, both to myself and others on quite a grand scale. Thank goodness then that over the years, particularly my younger years, I met my dark side many times and got to know its peculiarities and foibles very well and in so doing, I was eventually able to assimilate it into the rest of the collective me thus bringing harmony and stability into my life. There is nothing wrong with having a dark side, in fact it is a major source of personal power but you do have to bring it into the light rather than deny its existence. According to Freud, Jung and others, 'everything with substance casts a shadow. The ego stands to the shadow as light to shade. This is the quality that makes us human. And perhaps it is in what we don't accept about ourselves - our aggression and shame, our guilt and pain - that we discover our humanity'. I think, on reflection, that I my dark side had its last real fling during an exquisite moment of revenge taken some years ago now. This particular act of revenge was sweet, so sweet that even now, as I write this blog, I can feel my dark side smiling about it. There was a lot of collateral damage done by this particular act of revenge but it was the right thing to do, as it blew apart the dark side double dealings of certain others and in effect put everyone involved back on a level playing field. As you can perhaps tell, I am quite comfortable with my dark side today. It is a valid part of my make up and in being so, it serves to make me whole.

C.G. Jung said:

'Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in an individuals conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.

If you are interested in finding out more about the dark side of human nature then the following link may be of interest...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/087477618X/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-page

Attachment...

Agghhh, have been without access to Internet etc. for several days now. My ISP decided to upgrade their broadband speeds without telling me and subsequently my modem/router etc. became obsolete in a nano second! After much anguish, frustration and cost, I am now re-connected to the world and to my blog. Here's a good example then of 'attachment', that state I'm supposed to avoid like the plague but which I rely on so much to communicate my thoughts and feelings etc. Ah nice blog, 'my blog'... stroke, stroke, purr, purr.

Having a chat...

I see that the Royal Horticultural Society has concluded its research on the benefits of talking to plants. The 'Voice of Wisley' talking to plants' experiment, found that plants, in this case tomatoes, really do respond to the sound of the human voice. The experiment consisted of having two control groups of tomatoes; one group had eight hours of recorded stories told to them through headphones attached to their pots, while the second group were left in silence. Out of the tomatoes exposed to voice, the tallest plant measured was one that had a passage from On the Origin of Species read to it by Sarah Darwin, the great, great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, suggesting that female voices had the edge over male voices in helping plants to grow. Garden Superintendent, Colin Crosbie said that, 'We know that sounds between 125Hz and 250Hz can affect gene expression in plants and help them grow, but this has only been tested using music'. In 2007 the south Korean scientist Mi-Jeong claimed that playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to rice plants encouraged them to grow faster and blossom earlier. From my own experience, I can tell you that playing Black Sabbath's 'War Pig' at full volume, made my now ex-wife's rubber plant go into total collapse. So, if you can make 'em fall to the ground, then you can make 'em grow. It's not so stupid then to go and talk to the trees, as mentioned in my 'An audience of trees' blog; I mean after all, they are just big plants at the end of the day and if you talked the them long enough, you might see them grow too; maybe not in height so much but perhaps in stature and well-being. Oh yes, if you do find yourself in a mood for a chat, then you might also consider talking to animals, as they too, along with the trees, are part of the same natural world that we occupy and which we mostly move through without as much as a nod to the other occupants that live alongside us everyday.

'If you talk to the animals

they will talk with you

and you will know each other.

If you do not talk to them,

you will not know them,

And what you do not know

you will fear.

What one fears, one destroys'.

- Chief Dan George

In his book, Animal Speak - The Spiritual Powers of Creatures Great & Small, Ted Andrews says, 'I am always amazed by the wonder of nature, its multiplicity, and especially at what it is saying to me about my own life at the time of such encounters. I look for what it is trying to teach me. I know that nature speaks to us if we listen. Every animal has a story to tell. Every flower blossoms with reminders to be creative, and every tree whispers with its rustling leaves the secrets of life'. I have found within most scriptures and mythologies of the world a vein of lore surrounding the spirit of animals and the belief that the divine forces speak to humans through the natural world. Humans were as much part of the natural world as the natural world was part of them. Animals and Nature are not the domain of any one society or segment of society. All peoples are touched by them'. Next time you are out there running then, just remember that you are not alone and that you are connected to all that exists in the natural world; the trees, the flowers, the birds, the bees, the badger, the deer and to everything that lives and breathes the same air that we do.

Of a certainty

the man who can see

all creatures in himself.

himself in all creatures,

knows no sorrow.

Eesha Upanishad

All the Hemispheres...

I thought I'd post this poem because it seems to fit with my Running to Ecstasy blog. The poem is taken from 'The Subject Tonight is Love' by Hafiz, as translated by Daniel Ladinsky. The image is from the tomb of Hafiz in Iran. A note: Interesting isn't it, that such beautiful geometric design and such beautiful words come out from a country that today is run by religious zealots. My guess is that beauty and ugliness are always neighbours and that perhaps one cannot be seen without the other - i.e. for a lamp to shine brightly, it must be surrounded by darkness.

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season

Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement

And love.

Like a blooming night flower,

Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness

And giving

Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence

Lie beside an equator In your heart.

Greet Yourself In your thousand other forms

As you mount the hidden tide and travel

Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven

Are sitting around a fire

Chatting

While stitching themselves together Into the

Great Circle inside of You.

The first day...

Well, today is the 1 July and today is my first day of freedom from a 5" stainless steel pin that's been living in my foot for the last 70 days; today, is also my first day back at work. I didn't want to go to work mind you, I've got too much going on here for that but still it won't last long, as work will be coming to an end at the end of the month, so my boss says. So, on the 1st of the month then, I've had two new beginnings and the promise of one ending, at the end of the month of course. I am wondering about quite a lot of things at the moment; my foot for one thing, has it mended properly? Will I be able to run again; not just yet I'm told. What about my loss of fitness and gain of weight? I'm told that I can bike, workout in the gym, do some gentle walking and I can aqua jog and swim too; not so good with the swimming though and swimming lengths is so boring that I start to drown just after two of them. As for my weight, now hovering a smidgen under 13st, well that will have to go and I've started on that already by altering my diet. I'm not 'on a diet', I'm just changing what I eat for two of my three meals a day; at least that's the plan. My new food comes in a tub; it was called 'Vega' but now it's called 'Thrive' and it costs £50.00 for 1ltr of the stuff. Thrive is a raw, plant-based whole food and it contains lots and lots of added vitamins and minerals, is gluten free, dairy free, soya free and is clean and green both in respect of energy savings and colour; I wonder if my poo will be green? The label on the tub suggests that this food is for 'athletes' and as my running coach and his buddy keep insisting that I am an athlete, then I guess this stuff is for me. You take this stuff, a powder, and mix it with water or fruit juice and one serving is just 240 calories. Guess I'll just have to wait and see and let you know how I get on.