silent thunder

this is just my temperature right now... so grateful for those inclined to express themselves musically. One year after the release of Melodies Of Forest and Springs (2013), the Chinese Folk/Worldmusic project Raflum present their brand new album 歸棹/Guī Zhào. After the participation of new members and the deeper reflections of themselves, their music has been mixed with more traditional Chinese Folk and Zen, and still the nostalgia and loneliness are thick. This album will also be their very last performance.

goodbye Jim

I'm very grateful for the lack of moderation and the current atmosphere. It is indescribably better to me, than the bias of recent years. As for spamming troll-like behavior... Stop feeding a thing and it whithers. Arguments are transactional and require two participants to manifest. When I want to diminish a behavior in myself, I first have to identify it, then I have to stop feeding into it. After this, it begins to whither. This applies to plants, puppies, children, teen and adult attention seekers and my own undesirable behaviors/tendencies. Report what breaks the rules to sean. But really... rule thy self. Moderate thy self. Stop validating and condoning by responding, but if one feels compelled to respond, for the sake of peace, stop escalating. It's unbecoming of the effort our teachers have imbued in our development, stunts the heart and spreads misery which is life blood of troll like pursuers. Spamming off topic is against the rules. Report it. Starting threads calling out members is also a suspension worthy offense. As is Ad-hominem. Moderate thy self. We have a plethora of skills we've developed... practice them here and now... bring it off the mat. Life is life and we're all here by choice. Self moderation for the win. I only read E-things responses on occasion and then, only when they are concise. I skim passed them otherwise, as I've no interest in stream of consciousness responses to what are otherwise thoughtful conversations. But to rise up and assault him verbally, lends him a validation he has not earned in my perspective. No one is capable of ruining my experience here but me. Spamming is a minor annoyance, easily remedied by scrolling past responses, or using the ignore function. Lately I impose media limits and engage in regular media fasting when I start becoming off balanced by participation in social media, news, or entertainment. Maybe some self imposed time away would benefit. and on that note: I'm going for another walk. It's feeling like a two walk day.

Thanks for the belly laugh mate.... it's been too long since I laughed out of shear horror!

This thought rang through mind like a bell, upon waking this morning. "It doesn't matter how sensitive your nose is... if you only breath through your mouth."

Raflum, a solo project from Sichuan, which means "melancholic autumn enchained by rain",was founded in late autumn in the year of 98th,ROC(autumn in 2009 A.D.) by Han. The music of Raflum conveys the yearning of solitude seclusion, highly influenced by these Neo-folk bands, like Vàli.

Wow... what a dream indeed! The implications of this machine... utterly stunning! Particularly when seen as a metaphor for human assumptions, dogma and systemic thinking divorced from presence, attentive interactive awareness and intuition. I can't seem to escape the 'truth by consensus' dogma which to me is little more than 'mental mob violence' that litters our mental landscape and disquises itself and is presented as 'unquestionable truths' due to the shear number of folks repeating it, no matter how mindlessly... the rule of truth by repitition and consensus is mental violence to me, and no matter where I turn it seems lately... I encounter it. And the process of attempting to weed it out or induce malleability of it in my own mental process has been decidedly unpleasant, almost unchangeable in some aspects, (like that final gear) yet I am compelled to press on, for the other option is untenable. The implications of that final gear, the horrifying and clearly exemplified notion of 'all this business of work work work and what does it accomplish? Work for the sake of work work work, because that's the consensus reinforced in nearly every aspect of human 'civilized' dogmatic thinking. Concrete or no concrete, that final gear represents a manner of interacting with the world through senses and mentation that is beyond change... horrifying stuff to this intrepid explorer... demoralizing to think this is the progression and structure of our collective minds. And it poignantly re-minds me of one of my biggest fears over what assumptions lie beneath the threshold of my awareness... these are the most terrifying for me lately. These are the implication of the final gear, connected to the rest of life, connected to the bustle and ceaseless pursuits and business of life, yet effectively utterly unmoved by any practical application. Stunning and horrifying. Thanks for sharing Taomeow... this one really rang the bell.

I'm compelled to chime in on the blood type diet. My wife picked up a book about it years and years ago. I was highly skeptical when she described it to me. I read the book in spite of my skepticism, was subsequently impressed by what I read and tried it out. Turns out it was very beneficial to me and I incorporated it into my regular diet. Now I highly recommend it. Love how that works out sometimes.

Must have been thinking about this in sleep. Woke @ 3am with this thought ringing in mind: It doesn't matter how sensitive your nose is... if you only breath through your mouth.

“Love is like infinity: You can't have more or less infinity, and you can't compare two things to see if they're "equally infinite." Infinity just is, and that's the way I think love is, too.” ― Fred Rogers “A young apprentice applied to a master carpenter for a job. The older man asked him, "Do you know your trade?" "Yes, sir!" the young man replied proudly. "Have you ever made a mistake?" the older man inquired. "No, sir!" the young man answered, feeling certain he would get the job. "Then there's no way I'm going to hire you," said the master carpenter, "because when you make one, you won't know how to fix it.” Fred Rogers “Most of us, I believe, admire strength. It's something we tend to respect in others, desire for ourselves, and wish for our children. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we confuse strength with other words—like 'aggression' and even 'violence'. Real strength is neither male nor female; but it is, quite simply, one of the finest characteristics that a human being can possess.” Fred Rogers "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world." "A high school student wrote to ask, 'What was the greatest event in American history?' I can't say. However, I suspect that like so many 'great' events, it was something very simple and very quiet with little or no fanfare (such as someone forgiving someone else for a deep hurt that eventually changed the course of history). The really important 'great' things are never center stage of life's dramas; they're always 'in the wings.' That's why it's so essential for us to be mindful of the humble and the deep rather than the flashy and the superficial."

ok

His show went National in 1968, but it debuted in Pittsburgh in 1962. He was envisioning it and working on it before that time. He personally recruited the cast and crew and sought out guests himself. It ran daily and new episodes were filmed until 2001. It continued to be shown daily until 2008. In several markets it ran twice a day.

More by Kikagaku Moyo... current flavor of the month.

Samaritan: "I'm Brian!" Other Samaritan: "I'm Brian!" Yet another Samaritan: "NO I'M BRIAN!!! AND SO'S MY WIFE!"

@Jim D. The 20 Million was not granted to Fred Rogers. It was the funding required to keep PBS going nationwide. Fred appeared before Senators defending the entire PBS system not his own personal show, in six minutes he secured funding for the entire National Program which was targeted by Nixon for budget cuts and dismantling.

I have zero issues with anyone ending their life in the manner and time of their choosing. It's their life. Their option. My dear friend and boss recently revealed he was suicidal. My wife hovered in and out of suicidal tendencies for three years, quite recently. It will very likely be the manner of my own passing when I follow the tide I sense will eventually rise. Yet to assume anyone ever possesses the inside route into another's mind's motives and can know utterly and truly the manner in which to assuage, or lessen another's suffering, or can cause or prevent right action, or even can know what right action is... is a mighty mantle to pick up. Too mighty for me any way. The best I have been able to manage is to try and foster a connection. It is of course an absolute self governing right to voluntarily end one's own life. But in my own experience what moved my hand and the blade away from ending my life on three occasions was connection. That revealed an insight, that I was about to take a permanent action, in the midst of a temporary feeling. Love can sometimes express itself as care, nurturing and penetrating kindness, while it's flip side can express as rage, jealousy and extreme possessiveness. Love is at times, too much to bear in the fragility of suicidal tendencies... it was love and the pain I felt from that love, that caused me to reach for the knife on those three occasions. Connection is simpler and at times, more powerful and impacting than love even, for me. Simple wordless presence can speak volumes beyond any lecture, cajoling, assuaging, massaging or soothing. All depends on the conditions and the conditions it seems, are always moving. Nouns no longer exist for me. All of life is flowing, moving. We are all of us, verbs.

I find it interesting to learn Fred was an ordained minister. I never once have heard him reference a God of any kind in his show. From the little I've read and heard, he studied early childhood development and music theory in college. Forseeing the inevitable impact television would have on the minds of the very young, he was very motivated to create something on television for the minds of the very young. A place of acceptance, imagination and particularly a place to think and talk about feelings. I no longer think children have it easier than adults. They experience all the emotions adults do, with little to no context, often no explanation and with less control over their daily lives. This drove him to conceive of a show and enlist the aid of a small crew. Fred conceived the characters, wrote the scripts, the music and the lyrics and performed the voices of the puppets. He created a television Neighborhood, that all children watching could belong to and could feel safe in and have fun exploring in... to me, it was and is an endearing, dedicated study and gift of attention, care and loving kindness in a sea of sensationalism, sexual enticement and violent threat. for @Everything

The connection made with Mr. Clemens displayed @ 5:00 in this video interview is further demonstration of Fred's presence and heart resonant ability to create a space safe for connection and opening the heart with others. "love is at the root of everything. all learning. all parenting. all relationships. love, or the lack of it." ~Fred Rogers

eta: how Fred responds @ 1:50 rings of high skill to me... like a clarion bell.

words whirling in whorls. worlds worth of whirling word whorls! whole wide worlds of words!

Reminds me of a Teamster who drove for our construction department for a while on a long running Television series years ago. That piece of work could find the bad in anything. Birthday cakes, Sunny days, Hugs... you name it. I recall turning to him once after he derided a story a guy who told about playing with his kids at a local park and saying... "jesus man! You can shit on any topic can't you?!?! Someone could hand you a hundred dollar bill and you would bitch and be ungrateful about 'oh great! now I gotta find a way to spend this!'" Yea, he was pure misery. We contacted the Transpo Captain and got rid of him at the first available opportunity.

Through the healing path I've undertaken in my thirty year relationship with my partner and wife, I have experienced a palpable realization, that if you want to subordinate a person from the inside and separate them from their authentic core power and sense of self; to isolate them from their subtle, natural inclinations, their expression of autonomous, natural powers, and abilities... You control their methods of sexual expression and relationship. Demonize and fetishize individual inclinations and expressions into marginalized unacceptableness. When your core authentic relationship and expression of the life bringing and highly powerful force of intimacy and sexuality is repressed in the mind of the expresser... the seeds of slavery are planted and will seep into all other aspects of life, seemingly. When my wife began to feel able and wholly free to express her sexuality on her own terms, and we undertook an exploration of our sexuality together, in whatever manner felt most authentic... the reverberating repercussions of this on her psyche, and my own, began a systemic cascade of awareness arousal, awakening and a subsequent dissolution and revolution of the paradigm of self that ended up reshaping of all aspects of her/our life. Within a short span, she had reclaimed repressed abuse memories of her parents. And with no doubt whatsoever subsequently severed all ties to the abusive toxicity of their relationship. She barred them from any contact with our family and began the slow process of reclaiming stunted and previously demonized aspects of her natural essential self into the new unfolding realization of who she always has been, but was unable to express without intimidation, denial, rejection and outright denigration/bullying. Several years after that, she had the self presence and clarity of awareness and love for herself to sever all ties with the toxic abusive career environment she had been working in for 14 years. Her boss is/was cut from the same mold as our current president and her Father. We would rather downsize our living arrangements. I was elated. I had long petitioned openly for her to leave the world of Venture Capital. We gladly downsized our lifestyle. Fewer things allows more space for living. Now, some 10 years on, her transformation renders her nearly unrecognizable (in an admirable and inspiring manner) to those who knew her before the process of self liberation began. Civilization... from earliest awareness it's had a flavor of being remarkably, uncivilized... at least, as I understand and define the term.

I lived in chronic pain for over a decade. Undiagnosable for many of those years, the source of the pain was truly 'a mystery'. Unrelenting, stabbing, piercing, relentless pain. No position would alleviate it. Countless trips to doctors. Sleep was always a struggle. I went from a thriving man who saturated in martial arts daily, had a career as an award winning Shakespearean stage actor and stage combat choreographer, a free rock climbing champion, who logged tens of thousands of miles on his bike solo camping across the Midwest and Canada... to a guy stuck in a chair, unable to walk without a cane, suffering without hope of escape... for over ten years. Eentually, I recalled the words of Hamlet and the prison began to break for me. I realized that in spite of the two surgeries that 'saved my foot', the degeneration and atrophy may well have left me in permanent disabled status with chronic pain as a side dish... But even though there was pain, that did not mean I had to suffer it. I recalled a practice i developed in high school, whereby I could push a pin through my hand and not suffer from the sensation. It started slow at first, pushing the pin a small ways into the palm of my hand to simply experience the pain of it. Then, I began to 'project my entire awareness into the center of the sensation'. I found I was able to focus awareness so fully into the center of the 'pain' that it ceased being pain and became sensation. Shortly after that, i found awareness could become so fully immured in the center of the sensation that the sensation ceased registering. There was no pain, no sensation, only awareness focused in awareness. Unable to withstand the fog and walking coma of taking heavy duty western pain meds, I began to 'go into the pain'. In the midst of this, my mind offered me some aid in the form of a glaring memory of stage days that was most appropriate to my current situation. Hamlet. Act 2 Scene 2. Rosencranz and Guildenstern, Hamlet's college buddies, are brought to court by the King and Queen to help ascertain why Hamlet is so sullen, depressed and prone to violent outbursts. In the scene, while probing, Hamlet reveals the subsidiary source of his malady. "Denmark's a prison" comes at the end of scene 2, in Act 2. HAMLET Then is doomsday near: but your news is not true. Let me question more in particular: what have you, My good friends, deserved at the hands of fortune, That she sends you to prison hither? GUILDENSTERN Prison, my lord! HAMLET Denmark's a prison. ROSENCRANTZ Then is the world one. HAMLET A goodly one; in which there are many confines, Wards and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst. ROSENCRANTZ We think not so, my lord. HAMLET Why, then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing Either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me It is a prison. ROSENCRANTZ Why then, your ambition makes it one; 'tis too Narrow for your mind. HAMLET O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count Myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I Have bad dreams. GUILDENSTERN Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very Substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. HAMLET A dream itself is but a shadow. ROSENCRANTZ Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a Quality that it is but a shadow's shadow. HAMLET Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and Outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows. Shall we To the court? for, by my fay, I cannot reason. ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN We'll wait upon you. His mind had become his prison. As had mine. I thought my body had imprisoned me, but it was my mind, my awareness that was holding me hostage to the sensations of pain. I began to 'go into the pain'. I entered it so fully with my awareness that the response was like entering a room with an overpowering stench of perfume, which after a time, is rendered unsmellable due to it's over saturation. I began to play my old kung fu forms in my mind as detailedly as possible and found a route to internal martial arts on my own, sitting in a chair in los angeles, without a teacher. Eventually I found it tolerable to 'go with the sensation' even while putting weight on the leg. Several years into this process of hobbling about, I encountered Master Zhou Ting-Jue, who taught me a process to help my body heal itself. Within a year and a half, all my former aches and pains, including the searing pain of the 'nearly lost foot' were gone. I'm back working in film and television, working 60-70 hour weeks constructing scenic elements. I wrestle and teach my 13 year old son Ju Jitsu and still occasionally, the ankle will bark, but it does not control my awareness. Denmark, the world, our sensations, our families, may be unpleasant, but it is our awareness that allows them to become prisons. Free your mind, and your ass will follow.

There may be merit in the pursuit for some. Though I have yet to answer this one question for myself sufficiently to envision ever trying it. If it's so amazing beneficial and healthy... why is my body naturally purging it? That unanswered question, coupled with the fact that our 'latest notions' of what's medically 'good for us' is always changing... particularly throughout history. We used to vent the bad blood from the system to cure the ill, or put holes in the body to let the 'demons of illness' escape... or inject the sick with harmful radiation relying on the body's ability to out-heal radiation that kills cancerous tumors. Speaking of dogs and their waste products usages... Craig Ferguson lays out the medieval treatment for blindness to great effect... "I'm blind I'm not stupid... I know whose dog this is..." omg priceless!