METTA SUTRA

The Buddha's words on Kindness

This is what should be done

By one who is skilled in goodness, and who knows the path of peace;

Let them be able and upright,

Straightforward and gentle in speech.

Humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied.

Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.

Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,

Not proud and demanding in nature.

Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove.

Wishing: in gladness and in safety,

May all beings be at ease.

Whatever living beings there may be; 

Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,

The great or the mighty, medium short or small,

The seen or unseen,

Those living near or far away,

Those born and to be born,

May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another, 

Or despise any being in any state.

Let none through anger or ill will wish harm upon another.

Even as a mother protects with her life

Her child, her only child,

So with boundless heart should one cherish all living beings:

Radiating kindness over the entire world

Spreading upward into the skies,

And downwards to the depths;

Outwards and unbounded,

Freed from hatred and ill will.

Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down

Free from drowsiness,

One should sustain this recollection.

This is said to be the sublime abiding.

By not holding to fixed views,

The pure hearted one, having clarity of vision,

Being freed from all sense desires is not born again into this world.

NEW DEAL

Barack Hussein Obama is president, Israel moves out of Gaza. The Bush era is given a kiss off. The age of overconsumption, mismanagement & reckless abandon is outdated. The bubble popped. America must grow up and grow into the responsibility at hand. There is no one to blame but ourselves. In other words if you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem.Humility, cooperative intelligence and diplomacy will be a good place to start on our collective road to redemption. It is the new age of deeds not words but I welcome the eloquence of this new era.

Mexican billionaire buys out NYtimes debt of $250million and they have announced this morning that the $700 billion bank fix didn't work and why more money is needed to clean the mess ............maybe Mexico should send an army of humble cleaning ladies and gardeners to come and clean up after us.

POWERWOMEN

The Cumeaen Sibyl

As painted by Andrea del Castagno

In the 3leaf clover shaped inner sanctum of  a cave(Antro della Sibella), a mortal oracle known as the Sibyl of Cumae(a Greek enclave in the Campanian plains of Italy founded around the 8th century BC) lived a thousand years because of a wish bestowed upon her in return for the gift of her virginity to Apollo. She deceitfully refused him though he had already granted her a lifetime as plenty as the grains of sand in her hand. Her grave mistake was that she never asked for that thousand years to be eternally young thus her body over time shriveled away into a small morsel kept in a bottle then eventually disappeared so that in the end, all that was left was her voice. At that point her only wish became to die.

In her active life this prophetess of Apollo would inscribe on oak leaves the names of individuals and their fates. She would arrange them in a puzzle like order about the cave to reveal the prophecies but it was told that if the wind blew them, she would leave them in disarray - All prophecy lost.

The famous story is of the Greek hero, Aeneas with her as guide on a  journey into the underworld with the golden bough to visit Aeneas' dead father and learn one day that his progeny would create the great Roman Civilization

Another story is of sad burning of The Sibyline Books so I wont recount it.

She is mentioned by Dante, in Virgil's Aenied and Ovid's Metamorphoses.

THEHEADOFTHESERPENTCHARMER

Alpha Ophiuchi is the brightest star in the constellationOphiuchus. It is 47 light years from Earth. It is traditionally known by it's Arabic name Ras Alhague, translated means "the head of the serpent charmer". 

Ophiuchus 1s the secret 13th astrological sign. It is a zodiacal constellation which denotes that the Sun indeed passes through it during the course of  every year(in 2008:Nov 30-Dec17) as with all the other 12 signs we know so personally. It is hard to ignore this large constellation that lies at the point the center of the galaxy meets the celestial equator.  This exoteric sign is symbolized  by a man grasping the head of a serpent in his left hand(Serpen Cadut) and the tail in the right(Serpens Cauda). The serpent's body passes between his legs and some describe it as entwined about his body - I envision the caduceus, wand of Hermes. Serpents are the symbols of wisdom and eternity as they shed their skins many times. This 13th sign lies between Scorpio to the west and Sagittarius to the east. There, in between these 2 constellations from our viewing platform here on Earth, is the dark rift of the Milky Way Galaxy. Sagittarius points his arrow right into the center of this galaxy. 

For through creative interpretation of seven images in the Lost Book of Nostradamus, such scholars have deduced that when our sun rises in alignment with the center of this galaxy, the knowledge of the Tree in the garden of Eden will be revealed. Curious enough but the sun will again rise at this point on December 21, 2012. If this still hasn't peaked your interest know that has been 26,000 years since that last alignment.

In his mythological life Ophiucus under the watchful guide of the Greek Gods and there known as Asclepius was the God of Medicine. In the very short version he was the son of Apollo and Coronis, who because of her infidelity with a mortal while pregnant was shot by Apollo with an arrow and while the pyre engulfed her,  he snatched the baby from the womb and brought him to Chiron. Chiron raised him as his own son with the knowledge of healing and hunting. His skills became so profoundly astute that he had learned the secret of immortality by observing one serpent compassionately bring another herbs to rejuvenate its life after an ill fated death. So to prevent the entire human race from becoming immortal under Asclepius' care, Zeus put him out with a lightening bolt but being a nice despot placed him in the heavens as a symbol of his good works and healing power for all mankind. Thanks Zeus.

The story of Ophiucus is relevant and mysterious in that in these times of war, plague, poverty, religious intolerance and ignorance that such a symbolic figure should take such universal prominence on the stage of events coming our way, particularly the winter's equinox of 2012 .

Another interesting galactic occurence is symbolized through the 8 spoked wheel and represents the alignment in space and time of the divine cross of the expanse of the galaxy above and the terrestrial mundane cross of the equinoxes below. This alignment occurs once every 13,000 years (last alignment was 11,ooo B.C.E)

hereandnow

I want to introduce myself first and foremost before I head off into the words. 

At 17 I was tickled by Tanguy, Ernst and Delauney. Under the spell of Freudian texts and Jungian dreams, I deduced those canvas' of Miro and DeChirico. In the hypnosis of Duchamp, I found my way out of the labrynth. Then near 10 years later I discovered the "force of words" and have yet to turn back from Artaud, Eluard, Tzara and Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Genet and Corso. Then there are the Russians Osip, Anna and Marina for a reality check. Now I lie on my back at Brighton Beach in the vodka stained sands of a half  beach, a shore without waves, and imagine it is Odessa.

Indeed until La Maquina of time travel is discovered, "Amour Fou" would be my only ticket to a Rumi-esque theme park, a Dionysian disco, an injection of acai love with Cleopatra's needle. All the slick chase scenes send me through the dark rainy alleys of a plusque parfait Paris, full of the steamy smoke of lusty paramours with Text on their minds. Alphaville, in the minds eye, she is lovely. Zebulon has reached his destination. And You, thank you for participating, adding, collaging, transmitting thoughts on the sea of "my ever changing moods"

Lets defile the morals of Idiots. There is no Revolution without Love. Vive Les Differences!