tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49690686963610958162024-02-19T17:03:38.609-08:00the secret of the golden flowerIn which I ask questions like; ok, but really, what is the meaning of life? Or is this a just crapshoot.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-48271554604362418772013-07-07T06:22:00.000-07:002013-07-07T06:25:18.942-07:00It's been a whileYeah, I know, it's been a while. Last time we were talking about death and what may or may not come after. This time I'm going to talk politics...sort of.<br />
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So as it happens, I was at my sister's house in Alna for the 4th, and she took us around and showed off her garden, the chickens one of my brothers had given her, and the pig. Now the chickens gives them eggs and aren't the cooking sort so they're pretty safe, but that pig is there to fatten for slaughter in the fall.<br />
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She's a cute pig, as far as pigs go, happy with her little pool and the barely stale artisan bread. She gets excited when anyone in the family comes to see her, whether or not they bring her anything - although I'm sure she'd prefer they brought her something (Oh, and for the record, I don't know if I could do this. I'd probably end up getting attached to the pig and then I'd have a bunch of pigs in addition to the five cats and a dog). <br />
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Anyway. This pig (It's NOT Wilbur!) will feed my sister's family for over a year, provide them with meat/protein a few times a week. The great thing is they know exactly how their meat was raised. Where it came from. Same with the eggs. And it occurred to me (not that I didn't kinda know this already) that this is how we're supposed to live. Either raise our food ourself or buy it from a neighbor we know*, NOT buy from some nameless corporation a million miles away where the pig (cow/chicken/whatever) lived where? In what conditions? Fed what kind of diet?<br />
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How did we get here, you ask? Simple. Big money. Somewhere somebody decided that factory farming provided cheaper meat to the people who wanted it, and the people bought the idea. The problem is this isn't healthy, not for us, not for the animals, and not for the environment.<br />
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And this is how this relates to politics. Whenever big money get's involved, everything goes to shit. Because money corrupts just like power. Don't think so? Look around. We're surrounded by the corruptive influence of money and power, whereby the few who have rule the many who have not.<br />
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This is not evolution. This is business as usual. <br />
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*there is a third option when it comes to protein: become a vegetarian. <br />
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mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-43851200320950785272012-08-19T06:21:00.011-07:002012-08-19T16:16:47.684-07:00after afterSo. I talk a lot about death and what I think it might be or what I'm afraid it might be and what I hope it might be. But I'll be very honest. As much as I hope I'm wrong. I think that when we die that's it. Game over. And believe me when I say I wish it weren't so but I have this awful suspicion that as much as I wish there was an afterlife there isn't.<br />
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So, if that's true (even if I hate the thought of it), it means that we've got just this one chance, one life, to make good. Do everything we can to be remembered well, have some fun, make friends we'll never forget and love someone other than ourselves more than anything.<br />
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And as much as I hope this isn't the only chance I get I can honestly say that I am trying to be remembered well (through my writing), doing my best to have some fun (thank you skyrim), and there are a few people in my life I love more than anything.<br />
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So. How about you?mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-17749556539401023072012-08-05T07:54:00.002-07:002012-08-05T07:54:00.731-07:00I know now what ruined it for meYou know how when we're small we're blissfully ignorant of death, never guessing that there's end to this thing we know of as life. Even the death of our pets at a young age is often no more than a passing sadness - remember Poltergeist when the little girl's bird died and how as soon as it was buried her sadness was gone and she wanted a goldfish? It never occurs to us that one day it might be our body buried, our life ended abruptly and, perhaps, tragically. Most times we don't realize this until we're older, much older.<br />
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For me the realization came when I was around twelve or thirteen. I was standing at the end of my driveway, waiting for the bus, and I went to get the paper out of the mailbox like I always did, to read the headlines. And there on the front page was the most horrifying story I'd ever read. A young girl, 14, was found murdered, her head chopped away from her body and buried under a rock. It was at that moment I realized that death could come for me, too. And not when I was 90 and old and had lived a full life. It could come and snatch me - or anyone I loved - at any moment. Worse yet, it could be a horrifying death, not at all peaceful, not surrounded by those who loved you in life but possibly by someone who saw you only as a means to slake their own sick desires. It didn't matter how old you were, how cute you were, or even how good you were. There were no exemptions from death and no guarantee for the kind you hoped for. It was a crapshoot.<br />
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So, when did you find out the awful truth?mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-38054425605359760382012-04-01T05:00:00.002-07:002012-04-01T05:00:06.134-07:00afterlifeso...<br />
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if you had to choose, what sort of afterlife would you like? Would it be the sort where you hung about in Heaven - and if so doing what? - or would you choose a more participatory afterlife in which you spoke with other ...people/souls/beings or would you prefer to move right on to your next life? What do you expect from death? Nothing? Something? Have absolutely no idea whatsoever?<br />
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Do tell.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-6494821123876741312012-02-26T08:00:00.003-08:002012-02-26T08:00:07.808-08:00an excerptAccording to the foreword, <i>The Secret of the Golden Flower</i> is a part of the <i>Book of Consciousness and Life</i> which was written by Liu Hua-Yang in 1794. He later became a monk in the monastery of the Double Lotus Flower (<i>Shuang-lien-ssu</i>).'The text combines Buddhist and Taoist directions for meditation. The basic view is that at birth the two spheres of the psyche, consciousness and the unconscious, become separated. Consciousness is the element marking what is separated off, individualized, in a person, and the unconscious is the element that unites him with the cosmos.'<span style="color: #351c75;">*</span><br />
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Would it then follow that death would be the re-unification of the consciousness and the unconscious? <br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">*</span>Wilheim, Richard, THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, Harcout Brace Jovanovitch, Publishers, 1931, p. xvi.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-2244615177630080092012-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-12T08:00:02.946-08:00Heaven Assuming it exists, I wonder what it's like.<br />
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Is it all angels and harps and singing and rapture?<br />
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Or is there something more going on?<br />
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I always hope Heaven is the way it's described in the book WHAT DREAMS MAY COME. I know they made a movie out of it but if you can get the book, it's well worth the read. Anyway, in that book, you can hang around and be a ghost after dying, but most people pass on and Heaven is exactly what you make it to be. So for those who thought it <i>was</i> going to be singing and angels and rapture, it is. But the coolest thing I remember about it was the libraries and museums in Heaven, where all the art on the walls was exactly as the artist had envisioned it as opposed to what was created on earth. All the history books had the true story of what happened. And every novel was written just the way the author intended it to be.<br />
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What would your Heaven look like?mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-47830439275312322512012-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:002012-02-05T08:00:02.385-08:00Death<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgxY8DpWBR1VrgrztDvYvqH7E26vcofd19Pn37BwqldfoLuRJaXCeQjha5NWS2szAUKC9ZFFl3-UQPBoYi6lAW_t2pnH-DjvpiaANiaeAHpYiuAPn3Pu9g19QmjGdWGl8n2vImgBlUsng/s1600/death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgxY8DpWBR1VrgrztDvYvqH7E26vcofd19Pn37BwqldfoLuRJaXCeQjha5NWS2szAUKC9ZFFl3-UQPBoYi6lAW_t2pnH-DjvpiaANiaeAHpYiuAPn3Pu9g19QmjGdWGl8n2vImgBlUsng/s320/death.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Yeah, I have this sort of love/hate relationship with DEATH. Okay. Maybe there's not much love there. I mean, why would there be? After all, DEATH is going to come and at some point take me away from everything I love, make me stop what I'm doing, remove choice. What's to like about that? I suppose if I knew that there wasn't just zip waiting for me I might not mind so much but without knowing all I have is the fear that when it's over, it's over. No more hanging out with the people I love. No more writing, reading, walking with my dog, dreaming, evolving. Just nothing. And I have to tell you it scares the shite out of me. Puts me into a panic if I think too much about it, keeps me awake at night. Because I am no where near done.<br />
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Sometimes though, I imagine DEATH ala Terry Pratchett: "An obvious sort of fellow: tall, thin (skeletal, as a matter of fact), and ALWAYS SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Generally shows up when you're dead, or just when he thinks you ought to be. Not a bad chap when you get to know him (and sooner or later, everyone gets to know him)."<span style="color: #e69138;">*</span> Because it feels like DEATH has always been with me, ever since I discovered his existence, just hanging around, always a few steps away, waiting. And I wonder, what might I say to convince him to leave me alone? And what might happen if he did?<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">*</span> From Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-51443496803789442742011-12-04T07:43:00.000-08:002011-12-04T07:43:00.154-08:00one thing I know<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRwfGV_I3iDlykeZVDcmfC5WSYz_uP7oHKxKh-82e5E5skVCSjT85-pzrsXm90QMXnOjW4XA8F0ldm0xPnzmy6G5ThzVULjjBB_l5-OHIaa13Jpoco66Lh4YcwFc5XNLCgsqaG4q3XG0G2/s1600/Botanical+Gardens+2010+051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRwfGV_I3iDlykeZVDcmfC5WSYz_uP7oHKxKh-82e5E5skVCSjT85-pzrsXm90QMXnOjW4XA8F0ldm0xPnzmy6G5ThzVULjjBB_l5-OHIaa13Jpoco66Lh4YcwFc5XNLCgsqaG4q3XG0G2/s200/Botanical+Gardens+2010+051.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>As you may have guessed I'm fairly uncertain about what life is all about, whether it has meaning, if there's a god and does it matter. But if there's one thing I'm sure of it's that we are supposed to evolve. What that means is that hopefully, by the time it's over, each of us will have changed into a better person than we were. And I think it's clear what I mean by 'better.' More giving, tolerant, loving, patient, kind, and grateful. The trouble I have is that while some of us are making an effort, there are a surprising number of well-educated people who think it's all about the acquisition of more, regardless of the cost. I say surprising because it always amazes me that anyone would want to stay the same. I mean, why would you choose to stagnate? It's disappointing. Because I believe we could create paradise IF we could all learn to be better, better sisters, mothers, workers, bosses, writers, teachers, and especially leaders.<br />
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The trouble is getting everyone else on board.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-4511488762153586752011-11-13T07:19:00.000-08:002011-11-13T07:19:34.675-08:00envyI'll admit to being envious of a great many things but at the top of my list would be my envy of those with complete and utter faith. Because I do want to believe in God...or something. Anything really, rather than the nothingness I'm afraid of. But how do you get there? How do you believe in something when you can't see any evidence of its existence? How can I believe in God and all that he entails when every single day I read/hear about the selfishness and greed and cruelty of so many people. If God is here why doesn't he do something? I know, you'll say those people will be punished in the after life. They will go to hell or wherever, or have to pay in their next life if you believe in karma and reincarnation. Or maybe at some point in their lives here and now payback will come in one form or another. Except I don't see it. I see people getting away with murder and stealing vast amounts and just being generally awful to one another and nothing happens. I see people who claim to be 'men of God' doing things, saying things I KNOW God would be horrified by. Maybe you'll tell me that God is hoping we will do something and he's just waiting. Except we don't. And life goes on and whatever faith I may have once had as a child is slowly eroded until now, it is just a tiny little mustard seed of hope.<br />
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So tell me. How do you have faith? Where do you find hope? What makes you believe in whatever it is that you believe in or have you given up and subscribed to a belief in Nature and Science?<br />
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I guess I'm still hoping that one of these days I'll find that wardrobe without the back and step into...somewhere else.<br />
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And who knows, maybe I will.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-64064323927370805872011-10-09T06:50:00.000-07:002011-10-09T06:50:04.959-07:00I just can't make up my mindok, so let's just say for the sake of argument that there is a god. I'm not saying there is or isn't because I honestly don't know. Which means that sometimes I talk to someone I'm not sure exists. Like an imaginary friend.<br />
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Anyway. So if god does exist what sort of being is he? Or is it she? How does god operate? Is he/she/it a harsh and vengeful god like in the Bible? Or does god resemble some other version like in The Koran or the Divrei Torah or Buddhist Texts or the Bhagavad Gita. What will god become in a hundred years? And what might god evolve into a thousand years from now? Will there still be churches and synagogues and mosques? Will we still be separated by words we think mean different things, when in fact they all mean the same and if there is a god maybe that's the lesson he's trying to teach us.<br />
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I don't know. What do you think? How do you imagine god?mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-54348917723600741162011-09-25T10:33:00.000-07:002011-09-25T10:35:01.786-07:00here's the main problem I havelife is too short and we aren't young enough long enough to enjoy it to its full extent. There are so many things I'd like to do in addition to what I'm currently doing. I can think of at least two, no three other professions I would've like to have explored and hundreds of places I'd like see but there just isn't enough time. I want to say it isn't fair except in the immortal words of Sylvia M. "fair is a weather term."<br />
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Which is why I think death is a ripoff.<br />
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Which is also why I hold onto this small hope that maybe it isn't. Maybe death isn't the end, maybe it's just a way station we come back to, like the bardu in Kim Stanley Robinson's <i>The Years of Rice and Salt</i>, which wonders "how might human history be different if 14th-century Europe was utterly wiped out by plague, and Islamic and Buddhist societies emerged as the world's dominant religious and political forces? <i>The Years of Rice and Salt</i> considers this question through the stories of individuals who experience and influence various crucial periods in the seven centuries that follow. The credible alternate history that Robinson constructs becomes the framework for a tapestry of ideas about philosophy, science, theology, and politics." <br />
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But the really interesting part in my mind was the "small cast of recurring characters who live through each episode of the book as soldiers, slaves, philosophers and kings. Dying, they spend time in the afterlife [the bardu], only to be reborn into the next era, generally with no knowledge of their past lives." <i>Or their knowledge of one another within the bardu.</i><br />
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I wonder if that isn't true. That we are all connected somehow only don't know it except in death.<br />
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And yeah. This is the crazy shit I think about, can't sleep because of, drive myself crazy with.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-57831573107302374552011-09-18T07:48:00.000-07:002011-09-20T17:01:04.692-07:00the questionwell, I'm still not sure what this will eventually evolve into but for now, for today, it's about the big question. You know, the one that asks, who the heck are we and where the heck are we going? Or is this a one way trip?<br />
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Yeah. That question.<br />
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Some people claim to know the answer. It's God, or Jesus or Mohammed or Mother or Buddha or whatever. Pick a name. And I'm not trying to be disrespectful of anyone with faith; only those who try to force it down other people's throats. What I am trying to do is discover the answer to the question for myself and I'm hoping this blog might offer up a means to discuss, converse, trade ideas back and forth. Because I know I'm not the only one who thinks death is a rip off.<br />
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So if you stumbled in here from my other blog(s) you may not want to stick around because this doesn't have much to do with writing fiction except in the broadest sense. But if you want to join in the conversation and tell me what you think the answer is, or what you hope the answer is, or anything to do with the question, then I'd love to read what you have to say.<br />
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A warning though, any disrespect to me and my beliefs or you and yours in the comments will result in deletion. We ain't havin' that, got it?<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">peace</div>mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969068696361095816.post-28380181894754439982010-12-21T19:25:00.000-08:002010-12-21T19:25:33.937-08:00This blog is still evolvingI apologize if you stumbled in. I had a plan but then I decided I didn't like but didn't want to just delete my blog - especially in light of the fact that I somehow got a couple of followers through absolutely no effort on my part. Please forgive me. But do check out my <a href="http://www.mainewords.blogspot.com/">home blog</a>.<br />
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and don't forget what Lu-tsu said.mshatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06308916014310536449noreply@blogger.com0