another "wart" (don't worry, I will get over it! ;) ) xx

Aloneness

Believing what no one believes,

Knowing what nobody knows,

Seeing what no one else sees,

Going where nobody goes,

Feeling left out,

Like nobody cares,

Lacking real clout,

Can't pay my fares.

Sleeping in wet and in cold,

With a truth that all see as lies,

Knowing your souls being sold,

Confessing what others deny.

Being a contactee,

Being a contact worker,

Knowing you look at me,

As nought but a career shirker.

I promised "warts and all" so here is a "wart".

Casualty

Just another casualty of the war for hearts and minds,

Seeking deep inside myself that is the truth I find,

Just another casualty of the pointless war on drugs,

Violence comes in many forms and I'm a victim of a thug,

More collateral damage of the supposed war on terror,

Just another casualty of folks repeated errors,

Just another clueless piece of what gets in their way,

Just another useless waste of all their nights and days.

I shall devote more time to thinking what this means,

I may call for an ambulance or a specialist crash team,

I clearly need new armour for this suit rots and rusts,

I may need another heart for mine is truly bust,

Wish suicide was painless compared to such cruel lives,

Wish love need not suffer in many hells to survive,

Struggling to answer all the don't's and all the do's

Just another casualty is all I am to you.

What The Revolution Needs Is You

What The Revolution Needs Is You

The Revolution's here and happening again

For we are sick of paying for the war inflicting pain.

It doesn't need your hatred It doesn't need your bombs

It doesn't need to see you die for all your moral wrongs.

What we need are people prepared to see Love through

What the Revolution needs is you.

It doesn't need divisiveness of the terminally paranoid,

Your egoistic cravings for attention we avoid.

No need for false dichotomy of “us” verses “them”,

It does not need another folk devil to condemn.

What we need are brothers and sisters that hold true

What the Revolution needs is you.

It doesn't need your loans, your jobs your oil or your debts,

It doesn't need your targets or your catchment nets,

It has no need of journalists who live by telling lies,

It needs not anyone who would timidly stand by.

Instead of casting spin It speaks only what is true,

What the Revolution needs is you.

It needs no more false flags convincing folk to kill,

Revolution needs no violence to express it's will,

It won't require a "war on terror" nor any "war on drugs",

It needs not any soldiers nor any licensed thugs.

If you love Love for all that Love can do,

Brother, Sister,

What the Revolution needs is you.

I did "it" in a refugee camp in Dunkirk

We all do "it".

We all create and enforce boundaries around ourselves in relation to others. We all set up limitations on how much of our "self" we are willing, and prepared to give to another at any point in time or space.

In a refugee camp in Dunkirk this Winter Solstice day of 2015 I did "it" too.

I was willing enough to help in any way that I could on the way down from Leicester with my friend Sophie (who happens to be the founding member of www.lesolidarity.org), but I was unprepared for what that would mean on the ground despite having had the situation described to me many times. On at least two occasions when this need was expressed I dumbly stood looking around for another volunteer who could assist. For some reason I was unwilling or unable to help, to give of myself, in that way.

I was willing enough to help getting the basic aid boxes of food, cooking and hygiene essentials, blankets and sleeping bags, that had been organised in the warehouse (donated by Leicester City Council) by the wonderful and committed volunteers of le solidarity out to the people who most needed them in the shortest possible time, but I was unprepared for people asking me to help put up or fix their tents in those conditions.

Yes the conditions there are awful, enough so to leave me somewhat dumbfounded, and my tent erecting skills are only reasonable in reasonable conditions whereas other people were at hand with far more experience with mud, tents ( and more mud) than I.

Yes Sophie and myself only had a small window of time in which to get the stuff out there, and wanted to deliver as many of the aid boxes and resources people had donated as we could in that window of time and yes,we did good work. We got much needed basic humanitarian aid to those whose needs had been identified by a handful of incredible fellow volunteers who had been staying in Dunkirk for some days for that purpose. Volunteers from a number of similar grass-roots organisations like ours, and independent volunteers. The system worked well and about forty people got much needed urgent aid that day.

These people were mostly new arrivals of which there are about 20 or 30 each day. People turning up to this field of mud, shit and flimsy, inadequate tents with nothing but tired smiles, hungry bellies and hopeful eyes. A lot of the time they do not even have a pair of shoes on their feet worthy of that title.

A woman with two young children who are obviously traumatised. I smile at the young boy. His eyes widen in fear and he huddles closer to the woman with him who I assume is his mother.

A young family of four in a small tent that would be just about suitable for a weekend in Kent in the high season. They have nothing to keep themselves warm with this winter except each other. We delivered them some essential items.

A group of four friendly young men, clearly very educated and clearly exhausted. They had just arrived that day, hungry, sore. They also have a tent, but nothing else. No winter clothing, no adequate footwear, no sleeping bag, no food. Nothing to share but their obviously gentle spirits and a bond of friendship.

A woman seven months pregnant with her family who had nothing but a tent. We gave her and her family sleeping bags, blankets, crash mats and a couple of aid boxes. At least she can be kept warm and they can cook themselves all a  meal now.

These are just a few examples.

I don't know if these people came with their tents it or if these had somehow been provided for them as either would be difficult given that local law enforcement are preventing anyone from bringing tents, tarpaulin or anything that can be used to construct a shelter onto the site be they refugee or volunteer.

How is it that we can consider ourselves civilised and yet are able to ignore the needs of people in that situation? How can we sit by and do nothing while women face their last few weeks of pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing a newborn baby in those conditions?

As we were taking the aid to the pregnant lady, by wheel barrow through the relentless mud and waste, I catch myself worrying in case I slip and fall. I realise that I couldn't do so without invading somebodies personal space and maybe bringing a tent down in the process, a tent I would then have to help put back up!

To be honest the conditions were so terrible I just wanted to leave the place as soon as I could and I consider myself someone quite used to roughing it!

Don't get me wrong though as I know that I made myself useful this Winter Solstice and served my fellow members of the family of humanity well. However, I also know that I could have done more.

So I did "it" in Dunkirk, in a refugee camp.

I set up a limitation on my "self". I considered my desires and my comfort of more importance than the needs, desires and comfort of others.

Lets face it, it's a human trait to do so. We all do "it".

That's how we got to this mess in the first place.

I plan to go back in January with a close friend and a few other altruistic humans and stay longer, maybe a week or maybe two. I will be working with some of the amazing volunteers I met yesterday, people from all walks of life who have bonded together to do with little or no resources what their elected officials haven't the humanity or the courage to get done. We will spend time there getting to know these desperate people, getting to know their needs and their desires, getting to know their stories and their hopes. I shall not need to ask what would make them comfortable as I know what that would be.

It would be the chance to rest and live in a safe and peaceful home.

I hope that next time I go to Dunkirk refugee camp I don't do "it".

[For more information about the work being done by the people that isn't being done by the Governments of Europe or the UN please go to one of the following.]

http://www.lesolidarity.org

http://www.msf.org.uk/european-refugee-crisis

http://www.aidboxconvoy.co.uk/

Some Would Say "Kill It"

Some Would Say Kill It

“It's only a mouse” some people would say,

A life we gave a new life today.

Some would say “Kill it! It's vermin, a pest.

Kill it along with all in it's nest.”

Some would say “Kill it, it'll bring you dis-ease

It's far too impractical to catch and release.”

If they choose to call us idealistic fools,

They may,

For we gave a life a new life today.

“It's only a junkie” some people would say,

A life that was given a new life today.

Some would say “Kill it! It's vermin a pest.

Make sure it won't breed, won't make a nest.”

Some would say “No hope it'll ever have worth

“So prevent it from ever creating new birth”

If they choose to dehumanise people,

They may,

For a life was given a new life today.

“It's only a migrant” some people would say,

A life that was given a new life today.

Some would say “Kill it! It's vermin a pest

“Let it drown in the ocean along with the rest.”

Some would say “You must fear all it might do

These creatures lack worth like me and like you.”

If they choose to sanction murder,

They may,

For a life was given a new life today.

Transcendent Meeting

(an allegorical tale from my personal journal of this weird and wonderful life dated 19^th October 2013)

I was having a morning walk, as I often do, through the local meadows and down by the river. I wasn't heading to anywhere in particular, I was simply enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of the season. I reached a point where there was a confluence of two rivers, and as I walked over the old packhorse bridge something very strange and dreamlike happened. I became aware of this beautiful young woman walking beside me. When I describe her with the word beautiful it seems inadequate as this woman was literally radiant. I mean she glowed! I tried to remind myself who she was, tried to recall when she appeared, and as I did so I became aware of the even more bizarre reality that she was talking to me directly, and that she had always been doing so!

“Oh so now you can hear me?” She asked rhetorically, jovially; her face lighting up with humour and affection, and her bright, almost golden, eyes were large with attraction and fixed on mine.

“I...um...yes...um?” I stammered.

She giggled at my embarrassment and confusion. She was adorable and I was transfixed by her, yet when her giggle subsided her eyes found mine again and there was a sadness in her gaze that I longed to take away forever.

“It's taken you so long, we thought maybe you had forgotten us.” She whispered.

“Forgot....forgotten who?” I blurted clumsily. No sooner than the words had left my mouth than I became aware of a large gathering of people, radiant like herself, beautiful and strange, walking alongside us. I knew then that like the young woman these radiant beings had always been walking beside me my whole life!

My mind reeled and span, losing all grip on any reasonable assertion on which to base it's veneer of self.

My body began to tremble and I felt myself growing, expanding. Cold shots of pleasurable and exciting sensations rushed up and down my spine. I felt myself rise out of the top of my head and leave this body, and leave time, altogether!

My soul began to sing with infinite joy, and as I sang then recognition occurred as I saw and felt That Which Really Is all around, under, above, throughout, in and outside of me!

The host of shining ones seemed to be supporting me on a web of thought as they too rose up and expanded into beings of epic proportions. Each of them had a point of light within the centre of their being that my soul knew to be a star in the cosmos.

I rose up with them. I expanded with them, and although my stature could not compare to theirs I saw that the young woman had transformed into the Earth, and I was now of a size whereby I could observe her before me as a small child would observe a football.

I rested there a while as the fragrances of joy and anguish rose up from Her to fill my sense of smell.

At first there was all Pure Joy, and it smelt wholesome and fresh, and the smell of it made me glad. However, after some time had passed I became aware of another odour which offended me and I knew it to be the odour of Anguish. As the world turned through it's ages the smell of Anguish increased and under it was another offensive scent that fed and was fed by the anguish that I identified as Fear.

I felt aggrieved that the sweet smell of Pure Joy was now growing faint and being replaced with the putrid reek of Anguish, Fear and Selfish Desire. I grasped outwards into the cosmos with the point of Light that is Consciousness within the centre of my being, asking for a solution, a means to restore the uplifting, calming and restorative scent of Pure Joy.

The shining ones smiled on me and handed me the solution. They also charged me with the warning that for this tool to be effective I must use it in every situation, with every person and at every opportunity life presented me with.

They placed the solution in my heart, and from the eye betwixt my eyes it shone forth and began to bathe the Earth in an incense so fine and fragrant that it began to neutralise the reek of fear and the odour of anguish. It blended with the smell of desire to become a heady and potent fragrance that filled me, and began filling the Earth again with Pure Ever New Joy.

The tool they placed in my heart was the power and truth of Ahimsa. The true and everlasting fragrance of Unconditional Love.

No Pasaran!

No Pasaran!

Human detritus lining our streets harassed by officials plodding their beats,

Public servants serve none but themselves with unemployed talent stacking shop shelves,

Lies on TV and lies in the rags as we numb the fear with more whiskey and fags,

To consume more of this or own more of that life's' meaning reduced to tit for tat.

Young men fly off to far away climes to answer the call to commit far away crimes,

Yes Jihadi John is off again to take out his rage and share out his pain,

Hate condemns hate war punishes war violence justifies violence and just creates more,

Plastic bags and micro-beads choke marine life on pacific seas,

Dirty crude oil and fracking the land with corrupt hearts and minds go hand in hand.

We all cross our fingers hope and pray that we won't be around on that awful day,

Believe if it helps that Messiahs will come to whisk you away as you are better than some,

Believe if you want that our future is set and you have no duty to shape it as yet,

Go bury your talents and hide your true light ignore the hard questions and run from the fight.

But this world is ours and this life is yours this is your fight and this is our cause,

No more the manipulation of the masses, no more distinction between meaningless classes,

No more lies masquerading as truth or cynical ambitions exploiting the youth,

No more tasered responses to peaceful protests nor censoring voices that stand out from the rest,

An end to this madness lets all choose to be sane not ignore past mistakes just to make them again.

I Weep

I Weep.

Death stalks our streets, death rains from our skies,

Our home destroyed we've no time to cry.

Weep world, weep those tears,

Of the innocent victims,

Of the Innocent dead,

Whose tears were never shed but swallowed up by dread.

We pilot drones, serve command on high,

Protecting nation is duty no cause to cry.

Weep world, weep those tears,

Of the innocence lost

Of the internal cost

Whose tears were trapped inside by nationalistic pride.

Family taken by waves at sea,

Does the world shed even one tear for me?

Weep world, weep those tears,

That cried from babes

That no one saved

Tears that failed to meet intended ears.

There's no room here and no jobs,

We can't take in all these desperate yobs.

Weep world, weep those tears,

As your souls become corrupted

By creatures thought constructed

Weep for the blood that every dollar costs.

The vampryic over-lords now grinning,

While politicians hands keep wringing,

All the starry heavens are singing....

Weep world, weep those tears,

Every life that calls you home

Every child born of your sphere

How long must they continue weeping here?

To teakettleBBQ......


Money makes nothing right.

Money makes us all easy prey for the manipulators, corrupter's and would be world controllers.

People do things they believe they must, sometimes they believe what they do is right and sometimes they know damn well what they are doing is wrong.

People are complex creatures, full of conflicting motives and desires, instincts and aspirations.

I feel certain that the currency paradigm must come to an end. Reality is not monetized. Reality does not exist within the confines of our self imposed mind prisons of belief and normalcy. There is no natural or universal necessity for currency.

If we have access to life's natural resources - i.e. access to clean water, clean air, healthy land and food, adequate shelter and opportunity within a supportive and visionary community to express and explore our own potential, then we have no need of this money concept at all.

Money gives us access to goods and services, and we rely on it because we have no truly supportive and visionary community we can rely on instead. We fear poverty for the same reason.

Does money really make our lives any the richer or more meaningful?

How can money make things right when it means making things easy for some and hard for others?

Personally, I cannot rest easy in comfort and convenience knowing that by the very act of doing so I am supporting a social structure and imbalance of power and control of life that allows massive poverty, slavery (sexual, manual, mental etc) dis-possession, exploitation and abuse to continue.

I feel certain that the reality of a "rich" & "poor" dichotomy must come to an end if we are to take our place within the wider reality and community of sentience in our universe.

I feel certain that this change is happening as more and more people come together to seek ways of living outside of the financial and social structures, unaccountable authorities and traditional expectations that have kept us all dis-empowered and dis-connected for far too long.

I feel certain that the great awakening, and great upheaval, taking place is part of a process that will eventually bring us to a truly egalitarian civilisation and one that will be truly "of the people", with no need for privileged classes or ruling elites or any notion of militarism. A civilisation where people, energy, resources, land and information will flow freely around the whole globe without restriction, pollution, corruption, exploitation and without exception.

I feel certain that a time will come when Earth will be a place where every sentient life is able to fully explore it's own existence, it's own nature and it's own relationship with things like "mind", "belief", "knowledge" "need" " desire" etc. Without the imposed limitations of the necessity of acquisition.

Our world will be a beacon of hope, and the affirmation of the sanctity and beauty of life, to all sentient beings and peoples throughout the cosmos.

In the main though I agree with you, now people do not know any better than they know, and act according to that level of understanding and awareness.

Sadly however, all too often we do know exactly what we are doing wrong and what effect it will have and what pain it will cause, but we go ahead and do it anyway, regardless of who suffers.

My poem asks the question why?



I think the answer is because that is the kind of creatures we are. Because it satisfies some craving or other within us and due to the egotism we suffer from, that false dichotomy of "me" and "not me", people tend to live as if our feelings and our desires matter more than those of "others", when they do not matter more.

They are of equal significance and importance and should be respected as such.



We are complex, troubled by the mystery of our own existence and it's unknown implications, driven by often unexplored and unacknowledged desires and we are extraordinary.

We can each be very beautiful, and we all have an ugly side too.

We must not be afraid to look squarely at our own ugliness and acknowledge it, understand it and make it understand that it is ugliness, not beauty.

To paraphrase Jung - we have to make the darkness conscious.

Then, and only then, can we source the meaning of our lives from the unavoidable beauty we shall come to see in ourselves and each other.

Peace and Plenty to you teakettleBBQ!

xx

Ask Yourself Why.

Why Would You Do It



Why would you do it?

Look into the eyes of innocence and strip them of the life and happiness you see there,

Pull your trigger and splatter that sweet soul's holy blood to the ground in an explosion of pain.

Why would you?



Why would you do it?

See something beautiful and determine to make it ugly,

Imposing your will through whatever form of violence comes most naturally to you.

Why would you?



Why would you do it?

Take precious things like love, trust, hope, and childhood and poison them with your cynical toxic shit

Watch as they gurgle and choke their lives out into the dust of despair.

Why would you?



Why would you do it?

Pour poisons into our water, feed us with crap and spray chemical death into our skies

Driving us ever closer to a totalitarian monoculture world with no diversity or natural exuberance.

Why would you?




Why would you do it?

Look into the sacred heart of your fellow brother or sister

Determined to strip away that sanctity and replace it with death.

Why would you?


Why?



Why do we do it?

Why do we poison our lungs, our livers, our minds and our hearts with all the nasty stuff

Of the corporate corrupted world we know will effect only negative change.

Why do we?

Why do we go on believing the lies of liars, no more comfortable than the inconvenient truth we seek to  avoid?

Why do we allow such murder and rape of all that is precious and meaningful about this life to continue?

Why do we lie to those who love us, lie to those who would shelter us, lie to ourselves?

Why do we?


Why Do I do it?

Why?

What Needs to Be Said

What Needs to Be Said


People say actions speak louder than words,

Which, if true is a shame.

Because for all the words spoken our bombs keep falling from their skies

And in every boat full of people some innocence dies.

Which, if true compels me

To act rather than speak or write,

Against the imperialists might.


People say actions speak louder than words.

And for all the fine words written

And for all my love of words I am sickened

By the number of them printed in hate

By a few

Recklessly inspiring many to act

In fear.


People say actions speak louder than words.

Thus am I made new,

Given grist for my mill

By the eloquent few,

And compassionate will

Of many

Who speak and act

With empathy.



People say....

...many things.

So what about you?

Speak?

Act?

Or watch passively.




[For some much better poetry than this about the massive human tragedy playing out before our eyes check out the link below! All proceeds from the book will go to aid efforts towards refugees both here and abroad.]

http://fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/over-land-over-sea/



Love, Courage, and Strength.

A

xx

What is Truth?

My existence is based on lies.

My historical understanding of this world and my relationship to it,

My political understanding,

My technological understanding,

My psychological, biological, theological understanding,

My understanding of this construct of "me",

Emotional, artistic, meaningful understanding....

....are all based on lies.

Some of these lies are maliciously told to me and I relate to them as "conspiracies".

Some of these lies are well meaning lies I tell myself and I relate to them as "beliefs".

Some of these lies we tell each other on a sliding scale of intentions and we relate to them as "knowledge"....

...but they are all lies.


So strip away the lies and see them for the untruths they are and what is left?

Truth.....

Truth is that which cannot be disguised,

Truth is what remains in the absence of lies.

Truth is something you and I and every "one" have no more chance of containing within the framework of our ego than a droplet would have of putting out the sun.

For truth is,

Truth Is,

Infinite

Mystery

For ever

Anon.

3 years on and what exactly have I learned?

Hi everyone!

 It was three years ago yesterday that I quit opiates. It feels a lot longer. I have fitted an awful lot of discovery and growth and  change into that period. I remain ever grateful to be alive in this time of planetary transition. I remain ever humbled by the enormity and profundity of this experience we call "life", and I remain happy....most of the time. 

I have watched the darkness of hatred born out of fear seep ever more intrinsically into our lives. Into our water, our air, our food, and our minds. I have watched, like you, the senseless murder of countless people, young and old. I have watched, like you, the tide of displaced people suffering unimaginable pain and anguish and grief and hardship as the political figures of Europe and the USA wring their hands and pontificate about the economy and the need to close borders.

I have watched, like you, the determined agenda of the monstrous fossil fuel industry and the "special interests" behind it as they seek to rape our world in ever more desperate and reckless ways to fuel their monstrous addiction to power and control; domination and conquest.

However, I have seen other things this last few years too. 

I have seen people waking up to the lies and illusions we have collectively been subjected to for generations. I have seen a huge revival of awareness of the things of Spirit and Mind. I have seen a quiet revolution of vegetarianism and veganism occurring, alongside a growing collective desire for sustainability and people taking radical, practical steps in their lives to achieve it. I have watched groups forming around the globe, one of which I am a member of, regularly and actively seeking to establish peaceful progressive relationship with the wider reality and community of sentience in our universe. I have seen and watched and been a part of the rising ocean of dissent, non-compliance and confrontation with unreasonable and unaccountable authority. Authority not by mandate of the people, but by force of arms. Authority imposed through violence.

I have watched  all of these things, and myself very closely. Sometimes I have been deeply disturbed by the things I have observed. Sometimes I have been shaken awake by them. Sometimes paralysed by fear, and other times compelled into courage.

Throughout it all I have remained grateful to be alive in these times, in this place. Grateful to be included in this opportunity to create a future that embraces, encourages and empowers all the entities that share it.

I have come to this conclusion so far.

I am your brother. I may not agree with you always, or even like you at times, but I shall always respect you and I shall always seek to remember that your experience of life, your interpretation of it's meaning and your emotional responses to it are just as important and meaningful as my own, and I offer you my service and my friendship, whatever nation, culture, religion, planet or galaxy you originate from.  

The following is something I began many years ago and I feel certain that I shall continue to work on it for many years to come.

A Prayer

I pray for a world where we can all just get along with each other, accepting each other’s uniqueness and cultural and philosophical differences without resorting to hatred, violence or the casting of others in the role of the devil. I pray for a world of true compassion where the strong protect the weak, the smart help out the slow, there are no wealthy or poor, and the healthy nurture and heal the sick. I pray for a world where it doesn't matter what name you use when you pray, but what matters is the heart you pray with and the peace you pray for. Where people are valued for their own sake, and not for their wealth or physical attractiveness or social position or ability to inflict harm, where folk can see further than the end of their figurative nose and consider the needs and well being and happiness of others, even those others they shall never meet and never be known by, even those others yet to be born, with equal desire and engagement as they consider their own. I pray for a world where the only person anyone seeks to control is themselves, a world where nobody is so arrogant and so misguided as to assume that they have all the answers to life's mysteries or possess a monopoly on truth and wisdom. I ask whatever God or Goddess or Higher Being of any kind from the realms of spirit, mind or space that may be listening, to consider my prayer.

Love, Courage and Strength to you all.

A