Frokm
Over-ripe peaches stuck in throat
Swallowed a button inside a salmon steak.Two for one.
Tried to thread needle while standing on own head
Fell out of bed onto a sharp wife
Dreamed was being buried so died of shock
Asked for cremation owing to drug habits.Died when in urn or before
Save money.Be buried alive…. join now.
Mary realised her voice was louder than most when people took out their hearing aids when she talked to them But was she right? There are alternatives explanations such as people were not interested in Wittgenstein but in the cost of living She did find her booming voice useful when phoning doctors, Why had her voice got louder as she aged? Could her doctor have given her testosterone instead of oestrogen? Off she went to meet her doctor on Zoom Oh,my God her GP shouted. When you said you were an 85 year old mathematician I assumed you were a man but your voice was feminine hence I gave you male hor.mones to deepen it and make it more authoriative Why don’t you change your gender ? he continued I don’t feel like a màñ How do you know how men feel ? They have felt me in bed with an urgency that surprised me If you tell them you are trans they won’t feel you anymore Unless they are gay And so say all of us
Mary was on a step ladder in the bathroom spying on her husband Stan,through a hole in the wall…which he had drilled for spying on women sunbathing nude in their back gardens>
He was climbing over the fence with Emile their cat on his shoulder.
I think it’s ridiculous, she muttered .
Surely Emile, a cat, can jump over the fence by himself.But Emile was very limp,she saw with horror
He can’t be dead, she whispered to herself fearfully.She jumped down off the and hit her head on a tap… a dangerous event for a human with weak retinae or retinas
Oh,my! That hurt…I’d better be careful.She flew down stairs and met Stan in to the kitchen
Emile has got concussion, Stan said unhappily
Is he not dead,she wondered anxiously.
No, he only fell off Annie’s roof.I am sure he’ll come to.
Good Lord.What made him go up there and more important,how did he manage it manage to climb up?
You’d better ring 999,he informed her graciously yet boldly
If you say so ,my dear.I’d do anything you ask..
Don’t put on that act! he said wantonly
I mean it.
A bit too late now.
What do you mean?
After 40 years with your mind on Wittgenstein,Dirac,Pascal and Kierkegaard,do you think I don’t know you made a mistake marrying me
But whoever I married,I’d have read those same writers…
Umphh,said Stan dolefully.
Just then Dave,the bisexual transvestite paramedic ran in.
Poor Emile,what have you done?
He fell off Annie’s roof, but we have no theory as to how he got there,said Stan.
Well, there’s no need to think of that… deal with reality.That’s my modus operandi!
He gave Emile the kiss of life.
Emile came to…but was not pleased
Why did you waken me up?I was having a lovely dream of walking down a silver path where I saw a big cat with shining fur and tender eyes looking at me.He just began to miaow when some fecking idiot woke me up… was he God?
I can’t say,Emile,dear.But please do not swear.
I’ll do whatever I fecking well feel like,he said.
Good heavens, what has happened.Has he been reading dirty books?
No, he was watching East Enders on TV… they all use the f word constantly.
Well,Emile.God will have to wait… he’ll be glad if you do some kind work here on earth.
Up yours,said Emile.I am sick of living here.I’ve been hoping for years Stan would mate with Annie but he has only managed a kiss.
Perhaps it was the kiss of life,said Mary hopefully as it pained her to think Stan no longer desired her.
Well, in a sense,you might have hit the snail on the bed said Stan thoughtfully.I know any further mention of philosophy will drive me mad!
Now,Dave said,shall I make you some tea?
Thank you Stan responded.I am half crazed already.Tea may save my sanity.But for what?
Annie came in
Did you know Emile was in a hot air balloon,she said in tones of wonder.How has he got down so fast?
I fecking well fell out,the cat yawned proudly.Then I had a near death experience until this loon here brought me round.
Emile,I’ve never heard you swear before! she whispered in a strange manner reminiscent of almost silent films starring unnames and forgotten beauties of long ago.
Do you like it,baby? Emile asked.
No I don’t. I’ve never said Feck in all my life.
Well you have now,the cat informed her with a naughty smile.
I think he’s possessed by demons.We’ll have to have him exorcised.
But I like demons,Emile bawled .I’ve been good all my life and I am bored and depressed.
So you believe swearing will help more than therapy?
Emile got up and lit a cigarette nonchalantly with a certain ,je ne sais pas.
Good grief,he’ll be having sex on the sofa next said Stan.
What a good idea,said Emile, but I want my own room and an en suite..I mean to impress the next girl friend I have.
Dave drank some tea and watched these old folk ponder.
I am wondering where we went wrong,said Mary.All these years we’ve educate you privately and even had you baptised.
Well.I am going to be a Jew,said Emile.
I don’t think a cat can be a Jew… and you never ever had any interest in the spiritual before,why this?
Well,when I was unconscious I realised that God exists….
But why a Jew?
Well,they were the first to see God in a Burning Bush..
And the last too, thought Annie nervously.
Well,said Stan.You want to smoke,swear ,make love and possibly enjoy wine and song.Is that not enough?
Does God smoke and swear?
There was a long silence and Emile answered
Well,you see,Yes he does.
I’m off said Dave.I have to ring the Pope.
Why? asked Emile.I’m not going be a Catholic….
Well,said Dave,he ought to know that God is a cat.
Inside my mind I dream of pearls,
Caterpillars,snails with whorls.
I dream contented, all enwrapped;
With reverie and dream I’m lapped.
The inner seas will comfort me,
While gods open my eyes to see
Oh,sweeter than confectionery
Is my Oxford diction’ry.
The words whirl round then fall to shape
The sentences which my world make.
This furnishing is rich and strange
And magically self arranged.
Oh,sweeter than the love of man
Is reading works of poets long gone;
Feeling deeply their dark tides .
Upon which our boat may glide.
The sea infinite we float upon
Is the same warm sea the ancients swam..
Sweeter still is the spring air
And the blossom spreading fair.
We’ll drown our selves in grassy fields
To the gods of poetry yield.
We’ll rise again and spring up tall
To grow more ripe until we fall
The bus was due in five minutes.Mary applied some sunscreen and combed her hair gently with a cake fork while she wondered why she was going out.She looked into her phone camera to get her hair in order Alas, the familiar footsteps of Annie were heard on the patio
In she flew dressed in red and brown like a robin in winter except she wore pure wool How do you like my outfit, she cried girlishly Mary stared at her, noting the pale beige face makeup from Max Tucker and brick coloured lipstick from Wigan’s Makeup Outlet Store where Annie loved to browse for days on end. I think the brick coloured lipstick does not go with the scarlet jacket,Annie. Oh, don’t worry.It’s the in thing now to clash
That might be true but men won’t know it’s a fashion unless they read Vogue.Most don’t.
Never mind all that. I’ve brought Emile a new blanket
He’s not a dog,you know.Do cats need blankets?
If you drove it would protect the seat. I might go round the bend.If we drive we almost certainly would meet bends
Do fish get the bends,mewed Emile? We don’t know that.It only proves that a question can be asked in a human language but within that system there is no way of answering it,Mary told him quietly, thinking of Wittgenstein her husband’s former tutor.
First of all, fish probably can’t speak English or understand it.
How amazing, the little cat replied.How stupid can you get
Well a fish would think you were stupid for not being able to live in the sea.
So true,Emile sighed.Shall I try? Don’t be so ridiculous,Annie whispered.The sea in not near Knittingham. Mary can’t drive and you may drown. Then St Peter will be reading out all your sins
Can cats commit sins, asked Emile with surprise
Yes, because you know you have a choice.You can bite my hand or resist the temptation
I don’t feel like biting it now so if I did it would not give me pleasure.
For God’s sake, stop arguing.Anyone would think you’d been to the Synagogue, today Mary shouted
But in a Synagogue men argue about the Torah not about cats swimming,Emile replied
But then it gets to be a habit,Mary finished. Still many other people argue,Annie reminded her
But God does not want it,Mary said How do you know? He/She may love to hear it.It will provoke thought And it may provoke a Flood or you being turned into a pillow of salt,Mary screamed Pillar of Salt,Annie corrected he
Why do people not turn into pepper, the cat asked wisely. There is no pepper in the Dead Sea, the women agreed.~And black pepper/white pepper could be PIC They have red peppers in the Market.Annie mused.And yellow too But where does that leave us?Where was Mary going to and why has she not left for the bus stop?
Was it something wicked that she was trying to do in secret? We’ll see tomorrow I expect
From the sea into the greenwood trees
Enchanted by the birds the woodlands gleamed
This put our minds at rest and gave us ease.
Wildflowers caressed our feet with furry bees .
Shadows each one striped by white sunbeams
From the sea into the greenwood trees
By beautious sights our living hearts were seized
As if the gods and all the world were pleased
Our minds were put at rest and we felt ease.
From the sea into the greenwood trees
On the tree the female blackbird preens
I close my eyes and see all this in dreams
From the sea into the greenwood trees
The dappled sunshine like a lover teased.
Old man,bending over,
arched like a fallen moon
in a dark lilac November sky.
joy and pain wrestle my heart across the emptiness
and toss it up like a damp rocket
to fall in a hidden corner where mice live.
Would that not be a good ending,to be dust
to these little creatures nesting
in my chewed green twine and my tartan basket?
They have eyes and shiver in my hand when I rescue them
from the cat…
as any heart might.
Now night falls on the newspaper basket
where the damp Times and the Guardian mix into glue
and tomorrow the sun will rise
and it will just be the garbage
with no poetic undertones nor deathly hushes..
Heather and a silver light
you stand on a hill top like a god
looking over his domain.
Strong and now weak
it’s the humane condition
Everlasting life is too dangerous for humans.
Silent,motionless,home of beetles
bit by bit we fall away
into the mother soil
with cracked jugs and dropped coins
for a future academic to dig into.
Transparent hand touches me.
Whose might it be
MARY OVERSLEEPS
Annie went onto Mary’s patio at 10 am and began to water her many tubs.The watering can was filled with rain water though the weather was now a little drier.Emile ran behind her admiring her tight black jeans from Calvin Klein and her red blouse from Bowlands of Wrath.Suddenly the bedroom window opened and Mary leaned out.
Hi Annie,I have not gone away after all.
Why not? asked her caring and dear neighbour
Well,I completely forgot because I was out last night meeting a man from Soul-mates and got home so late I slept right through the alarm.
A pity you didn’t bring him back,said Anniem licking her lips.
I can’t bring any man here so soon,Mary informed her.I rang the hotel and cancelled my booking.With the weather so odd even Blackpool Illuminations would not cheer anyone up.I didn’t know which clothes to take either.
Isn’t it interesting that as we get better off we get problems like that,remarked Annie. When we were young we had so few clothes we had no trouble packing.
Mary laughed.My first year after University I bought two cotton dresses in Woolworth’s.I thought they were ok but later discovered they were almost transparent.Anyway I wore themn But now few women wear dresses.Look at you in those jeans and you a pensioner!
Annie gazed up to Mary, revealing her thick Revlon skin polish and L’Oreal cream rich foundation in golden grey-beige.Her parted lips were coated in moisture rich coral lipstick by Mussolini and Co. of Argentina and Vienna.
Mary was wearing a long nightgown made of pure nylon decorated with photos of cats of all breeds.Emile had given it her for her birthday.He had managed to type it into the google box on his laptop paying with Stan’s credit card from the Bank of Vichy and Nice,France.
I want some tea,Mary said.Soon she appeared in a polyester house dress from Daxon of Paris and the Ruhr. lt was covered in pictures of snakes.
Why,those snakes are rather horrible, Annie said.
I know snakes are in fashion but I shall avoid them.I saw some trousers in Marks but they might give a man the wrong impression.
That is sexist ,Mary told her shyly.They might give a lesbian the wrong impression too.
Oh,dear. Isn’t life hard now when we have to be so careful what we say.I wonder if it is because of social alienation and the rapid changes in demographics that we need rules when before we knew all our neighbours and they knew us.With strangers we need more rules.
I agree, said Mary defiantly.And I just saw a book called “Compassionate Assertiveness Training”She laughed.
Shall we send one to Donald Trump.Can you believe what America is like if a man like that can be President?
Well,it’s a democracy so if Satan lived there he could stand if he had the money..
The two women suddenly fell silent.Emile was puzzled as they rarely paused like this once they got going
Is he the anti-Christ, purred the little cat.
Satan or Donald Trump? asked Annie.
Well …. we’ve never seen Satan as yet…But we must watch out in case he comes here to punish the weak and the sick.
Well that gave them all a moment of wonder before Mary grilled some bacon and cut some bread from a loaf she got in the Victoria Bakery.
Here you are,she said to Annie,handing her a sandwich.Better eat anyway,whatever happens.Give me some hot tea,quick
And so pray all of us.
For he’s a Bally Woodfiller,
He’s a Wooly Sad Triller
And all day so are us.
When you are learning something new the first step in learning a skill such as knitting or cooking is to decide the answer to the following question it’s also appliance to learning mathematics and other games
What will I do when I make a mistake?
This is important because we may have been brought up to feel that everyone can do everything right straight away as soon as they’ve been told how to do it. Then it’s a horrible shock when you find you can’t do the algebra equation or the cake comes out flat
In that situation any mistake is a disaster.
When you are learning from mathematics you have to accept that when you try to solve a problem you will have to evaluate it as you go along and even before you get near the end you may decide that you don’t like the method you’ve chosen because maybe you can tell it’s not going to give you the kind of answer that will be sensible or its an ugly methid; it’s not beautiful
If ourse when you first start you don’t know what is beautiful and there’s no definition of what is beautiful in mathematics it’s something that you will gradually learn as you do it or you will never learn it because you get up or it’s not important to you
If you learning knitting you have to decide your attitude.
If you know you will make mistake she will quite calmly stop, examinine and probably undo a few stitches and then start again
It’s a to and fro
I can’t say exactly what it’s like for art but I think you’re constantly evaluating what you’re doing and developing an instinct
No doubt if you constantly produce horrible ugly images that you don’t like and and that nobody else likes then maybe you’re doing the wrong thing but if you have a strong desire to do it then you should just keep on regardless of what other people think
In something as difficult as art it’s probably better to go to a teacher to start with.Abd many people don’t want to produce something original they just want to copy something which pleases them.
I think there’s a proverb
The time to make preparations is before you begin And deciding what you will do when you make a mistake is part of the preparation
My following this method I was able to knit a Shetland lace sweater which I would never have been courageous enough to try if I thought that I had to do it right all the time and in fact the two and the fro of forwards and backwards led to a feeling of peace and calmne
Of course you can’t make a mistake when you are bringing up children in certain situations for example you can’t let the children play with the carving knives and then when they’re stabbed themselves decide that you’ve got to go back and start again because you can’t do that when somebody’s been injured
So they must be rules as well so that when you’re doing something you must consider if it’s dangerous to other people.
And if you have children you must teach this to them as well
In teaching in the classroom or at home punishing people for making mistakes is not in the long run going to make them learn well
When red sun drops and cooling night rolls in
Darkness masks both danger and our vision
Ancient minds fear day won’t come again
Courage for the delicate seems thin
We wrestle with our indecision
When low sun drops and a new night rolls in
But now , fresh stricken by the dread of sin
Who protects us from derision?
Our ancient mind fears day won’t come again
As we sleep we’re entertained within
Bold dreams squander all illusion
When sunset comes the darkest night rolls in
In dreams we see new life arising
Then fancy turns to full communion
The ancient mind dreads day won’t come again
Despite such angst, our sacred life began
When sperm leaped up in proud confusion.
When deep sun dropped and a new night rolled in
All human hearts cried,Day shall come again”
I’m in an ocean wild in my small boat
I cannot steer and with no power I float
I feel afraid, the waves are fierce and high
If I’m washed away then I will die
I have no mobile
phone,I have no light
All around are waves, a dreadful sight
Where did I lose my way, my sense, my skill?
Who can help me now, if that’s god’s will?
Sometimes we feel stronger in control
Deluded by illusions on we roll
Feeling frightened feeling small and lost
We try to carry on and count the cost.
Yet what may help may be inside, not out
The voice we hear is small , it will not shout.
Despair itself can heal if our mind’s still.
No social media posts, no unmet bill
And as we learn how weak we are, and rest
Another hand will steer but can we trust?
Instead of seeking power must we give in
It may turn out in losing we will win.
Instead of proving self to be the power
Something quite unknown has won the hour.
We see the turtle dove as it flies near.
Let the unknow hand be that which steers.
When I was a child I used to repeat the words during mass as follows
Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy
I wasn’t sure why we were asking God for mercy. I didn’t know about the war then and certainly did not know about the Holocaust nor about Stalin
Where my childish piccadillas so serious that I needed god’s mercy?
Sometimes my father beat me did he need god’s mercy? Well I realized later he had a cancer at that time and died when I was a so I think his bad behavior was caused by that. It didn’t happen very often but yes it was not a good thing and perhaps he did need a little mercy but nothing like the mercy that Hitler needed.
Of course you wouldn’t get god’s mercy unless you repented of your evil doing and Hitler showed no sign of repentance. I leave it to God to decide on his fate
What is happening in the world at the moment is terrible. It’s horrendous. From Gaza to the Ukraine to Sudan and many other places wars are being fought and lasting for a long time.
Having Donald Trump upend the relationships between all the countries in the world and cause great fear and terror especially in certain immigrants even when they’ve got permission to stay in the country long term.
It’s very hard to weigh up evil and to decide which is worse what is happening in the Ukraine or what is happening in Gaza their render us speechless and innumerate
Evil is unmeasurable because even killing one person is destroying one entire world.
So now we do need to say the Keyrie
My brother-in-law was traveling home today and as he couldn’t go to church before leaving, he broke his journey in a city in the Midlands where there is a cathedral and went to a service there!
Then he went home and drank a lot of beer.
He has not yet fed the 5,000!
Ray Queer’s cat’s in parquet
Request cats get parts in play.
I forgive you your twins. But you must dissent when you can.
All unmarried versions please report to the press bitterly
Guardian angels leave heaven on sight.
Cheerio, Elaine’s son
Hail glorious St Hat Trick.
Lord, it’s hearsay.
Lord, I’m worser
Forgive all dear trespassers.
Blessed is the foot of thy broom.
Pay for us now and the whore at our death.
I believe in none,God.
The communion of tyrants
Criminals will be persecuted in rhyme
.
Jesus wants me for his angels.
The Ten Demanding Torments are here.
Have you paid for your wrecks yet?
For all the saints who laboured at their tests
For all the painted ghosts
Remember man thy tart is bust
Ash to ash,dust if you must
Forgive us an hour’s trespassing and we shall be in heaven
Please do as you would have fun by.
Do you resent both your sins ?
You are not allowed any descent from the church.
The vital line was drawn with one brush stroke The way the back leant curving into space The dance and danger both are thus evoked Like a play, a drama, fire and smoke A dance performed so swiftly and with grace The vital line was drawn with one brush stroke The heavy bull is pounding,is provoked. A threat, a man, intrudes into his space The dance and danger both are still evoked See, the matador throw out his cloak A dash of black, and here we see his face The vital line was drawn with one brush stroke
The mind needs just a hint to see the whole We fill the present with our past distaste The dance and danger, mirroring dark smoke
Acting both dramatic and displaced
The artist may still love what she forsakes
The vital line was drawn with one brush stroke
he dance and danger ,life and death evoked
Feel so sad and lonely, lost my mind
I dreamed that I could buy one on the net
But now my eyes are bad I’m going blind
Folk that once did love me seem unkind
They don’t want the needy in their set
Feel so sad and lonely lost my mind
Someone’s cut the ties that used to bind
Waking up at dawn my mind’s afrit
My eyes are bad I think I’m going blind
God have mercy on me and my kind
In the night I’m fearful of rat bites
I feel so sad and lonely, lost my mind
Get out out a pen and write while ink is wet
Make some words or draw – there is time yet
I feel so sad and lonely, lost my mind
Disabled, anxious, afraid of being blind
Getting older suffering too much pain
Losing friends and family,lovers too
Struggling through the ice on cold terrains
Falling down and struggling up again
Feeling sad and lonely feeling blue
Getting older suffering too much pain
Of all my rich full life what now remains?
Looking all around there is no clue
Struggling through The ice on this terrain
Why does suffering make us feel ashamed?
I still engage with life and all that’s new
Getting older suffering so much pain
Must we take our medicine when it’s due?
I thought that I was wise but have no clue
Getting older suffering so much pain
Struggling through this icy bleak terrain
Would you like to be my friend? No,I don’t value him highly
Would you like to fall in love? I’d rather swim through it.
Would you like a new car? I’ve not got an old on
What is your name. No, it’s not, it’s Nat.
What shall we eat tonight? I can chew my nails after putting mango chutney on them I don’t like to eat snails
but neccessity is the mother of invention Will you saute them in olive oil? No, I’ll stuff them into a tomato You need a big one I’ll crush them I’m my
How cruel cookery can be But not as bad as Goering,Stalin,Hitler or Nero. Snails won’t know that But we know
Where are the children? I didn’t know we had any
Why are we in bed? Because we are married Since when? Gosh, you’ve got dementia already Well, we do live in a Care Home Wow, only 29 and in a Care Home.
We run it
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/arts/02iht-defiance.1.19000454.html
Ed 8
The triumph of the three Bielski brothers, Tuvia, Zus and Asael, who fought the Nazis in the deep forests of Belarus and saved 1,200 lives, was unlike anything I had ever read about that dark time. Rather than victims wearing yellow stars, here were fighters in fur chapkas brandishing submachine guns. Instead of helplessness and submission, here were rage and resistance.
I knew of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, yet it seemed to stand alone in the popular imagination as the only moment in which organized opposition took root. Yet I have learned that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the impulse to fight back was everywhere: from the streets of Vilnius to the forests of Bialystok, even unto the concrete slabs of Sobibor and Treblinka, thousands of Jews doing whatever they could, whether seeking refuge in the sheltering woods or recklessly taking up arms against overwhelming odds.
Learning of these defiant acts awakened in me something utterly primitive and deeply personal, a wave of awe, humility and admiration.
And outrage, too. Why, I wondered, had I not known these stories while growing up? Could it be that the necessary commemoration of six million dead had
No mirror for reflection in his mind
He says whatever suits that moment’s wish
Thus he is to truth disabled, blind
Pride and power make all of us unkind.
But reflecting deeply shows us what’s amiss.
There’s no mirror for reflection in his mind
In phantasy, we get what we design.
But fancied love won’t give a fleshly kiss.
We are to truth and justice surreal,blind
To find the truth we cannot be malign
Must view with horror what we once dismissed
Who can use those mirrors in their minds?
Judgement of our leaders is no crime;
For we judge our selves and that is less than bliss
When leaders lie, the world is undermined
He has no self at all, if all’s his wish.
Inevitable catastrophy the abyss
He has no space for mirrors in his mind
Now he is to wisdom doubly blind.
Stan was a very naughty man because he winked at his dear wife before dying and she had no chance to respond.
That is so typical of Stan, she said to Annie, her best friend.
Well, at least he went peacefully.Annie replied in a kindly tone
And to think I had just bought him 6 new pairs of pyjamas.
You can’t blame him for that.You always buy too much, Annie murmured politely
Well, I suppose I like to be prepared, Mary muttered.I felt so helpless as he went thinner and thinner.
What are you going to do with them all, Annie whispered.
There’s only one solution.I’ll have to find a man to fit the pyjamas and marry him
That’s a strange way of choosing a new husband, Annie said in a shocked voice.
In the end however rational we try to be, life is down to luck.
Yes, didn’t Churchill say, chance favours the prepared mind?
It wasn’t Churchill, it was Blaise Pascal.Mary told her in a voice rich with wisdom
Well, why not marry him? He sounds intriguing
He’s dead, Mary responded succinctly
Oh, what a pity.He sounded just right for you, Annie said tearfully.Are we going to the funeral?
I am afraid he died before we were born, Mary said in an anguished tone.
Well, he’s no use.Anyone else you fancy?How about Dante? Annie screamed
Which Dante do you mean?I thought he was Italian, Mary informed her.
It’s not far by plane, though Brexit might be a problem, Annie said wisely.
Let’s be realistic.No dead, great genius will be revived by the Lord to marry me.Mary said as if she were lecturing to a big class on differential geometry and its use in economics.No wonder we had the Depression
That might be blasphemy, Annie informed her.After all, if God is omnipotent he can do anything at all.
To me, he sometimes seems incompetent, said Mary wildly.And of all the lonely people in the world, why should he aid me in my grief? Anway male geniuses are very demanding.I think a cook or chef might be more practical.
Oh, look, we’ve missed Mass again.
We’ve not been for 40 years and just when we decided to go we started talking about these powerful creatures and a husband for you
Never mind, why don’t we wait till Xmas?
And so say all of us.
Or even better wait till next Easter.
Trust the dark and unseen aspects
Of the life we humans live.
Trust that there is wisdom elsewhere,
To your emptiness to give.
Wait in patience for the time
When inspiration comes at last
Trust in darkness,silence,lowness.
Opposition forms the cross.
Pain is bearable in lowness,
Like the worm in earth I dwell.
When I look I see the sunrise
And I trust all shall be well.
Attracted by the light that is enough
We need not look for wisdom somewhere else
Wandering through the world so dark and rough
We may find the secret in ourselves
The sacred is as spare as leaves are fine
No wasted bud no colour in excess
So loving senses decorate the mind
We need not hide from chaos or distress.
The secret Life is here, the everyday
This is where we know the mystic light
Our tongues alone will tell us what to say
Our normal eyes will show us holy signs
for with our shadowed selves we rightly play
Enlightened by the flowers so wild and free
The sacred is on earth for you and me
Humility includes an appreciation that our perception and thoughts about others, ourselves, events, and the world are subjective and tentative.
‘Subjective’ means that others perceiving the same event can have very different interpretations of that event. For example, we may argue with a loved one or colleague and later they report a very different experience of what they thought the argument was about.
‘Tentative’ suggests that each of us tends to change our own interpretation and perspective of the same event over time. We ourselves may have a very different experience of a particular argument than
Another main tool developed by Dr. Robins to increase humility as part of Wisdom Therapy includes visual illusions. We all have a certain amount of certainty and arrogance regarding what we think and see. It turns out the two are interconnected with sayings such as “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Visual illusions serve to shake up that arrogance and facilitate a humility regarding not only what we see, but bridging that over towards uncertainty and humility regarding what we think, expect, and believe. That humility tends to arise in late life-span development associated with wisdom. Visual illusions, Robins argues, facilitate that development in earlier stages.
https://www.wisdomtherapy.com/wisdom-therapy/humility
The end of values, kindness, earned respect
The loss of wisdom,history and truth
The pillars of democracy are cracked.
The centre of the heart,who can protect?
Conspiracy and madness unseat proof
An end of values, kindness, earned respect
Violence is admired though lives are wrecked
The lasting triumph of the folk uncouth
The pillars of the Western Mind have cracked
Their minds unfurnished seem bereft of tact
They tread on others words like horses’ hooves
The end of values, kindness, earned respect
How can such opponents make a pact?
The calculating crucify our youth
The pillars of the Western Mind have cracked
Yet Western Empire builders had no ruth
They tortured those they conquered group by group
On such ground just madmen earn respect
The altars of the Western Mind have cracked
How my heart speaks 