…..on Keith Emerson…..

/ mobius faith

… for me (in the 70s), through ELP’s versions of classical works I got exposed to music I’d never heard before. It’s great to compare orchestral versions of (for example) Pictures At An Exhibition with ELP’s great interpretation….


… classic rock at some of its best… his passing reminds us it’s all “TOUCH AND GO”…

A later version of the ELP classic Tarkus with Emersons own band. Still sounds great.

… and the 40th anniversary reunion concert…

peace and freedom Keith – RIP.

My Favorite ELP recordings:

Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends (Live 1974)
Trilogy
Brain Salad Surgery
Tarkus
Pictures At an Exhibition
Works Vol 1&2
Emerson Lake & Powell

….. on abandonment ….. the aquarium…..

/ mobius faith

As many of you know I tend to like things that are decaying, rusting, forgotten and generally falling apart.   While I tend to focus in on the details today I’m going to post “the wider view”.   These photos were taken near the end of February 2016 at the old abandoned aquarium in Cleveland, OH.  I usually don’t like going inside these places by myself because you never know what you may find (a body – living or dead; or a wild animal).  But I ventured inside.  I was there and the door was open so whatever will be, will be.  Honestly, I was surprised to find the building still standing – and once you see the photos I’m sure you’ll agree.   For me abandoned spaces are filled with mystery and wonder – they bring out those qualities in me that children excel at.   While not all the photos are what I would call “great” they do exhibit the feel, mood and condition of the place.  I call this series ANATOMIES OF PAIN because this building is clearly suffering in the same way as any living body would that would be wracked by disease or other physical brokenness.  I hope you enjoy this series.

…..on music you gotta know…..

/ mobius faith

A few months ago I came across a band created by a Greek-born singer, Magda Giannikou.  She is quite honestly one of the most amazing singers, arrangers I’ve come across in a while.   Her group known simply as BANDA MAGDA has recorded 2 albums and are getting ready to release their third album this spring.  A great entertaining band that moves from Samba to French Chanson, Colombian cambia to Greek folk tunes and Afro-Peruvian lando.   This truly is “world beat” music.   A win-win on any account.

For their second album YERAKINA, Magda says – “In many ways, Yerakina has nothing to do with music,” smiles Giannikou. “It’s about one hand holding the other, climbing up that deep, dark well, together, towards the sunlight.”  Without further delay here are 3 selections from YERAKINA.

You want to know more?  Check out the bands website at

http://www.bandamagda.com

If you liked what you’ve heard you can pre-order and support their third album TIGRE coming out this spring using the following link.

http://pmusic.co/3KP2dZ

….. on Eco…..

/ mobius faith

I was so deeply grieved a few days ago to hear of the loss of one of the greatest modern thinkers and literary figures, Umberto Eco.  I am at a loss for words to describe the impact he has had on my life and my way of thinking and seeing.  He was Professor of Semiotics at Milan University, social critic and satirist, essayist and story teller.   As a founder of the study of Semiotics (the study of signs, symbols; they’re processes and they’re meaningful communication) he opened up a whole vista of study that would parallel and have the same type of impact as Joseph Campbell’s work on Mythology.   It has shaped how I perceive life around me, and various “entertainments” such as films, music,  art, sports, various media and other meaningful diversions.    I am grateful for the translators who translated his work from the Italian to English.

I’m happy to have read all of his Fiction work that has been translated to English.  I was first exposed to his work through a university theater history course on modern/contemporary theater and literature.   Mandatory reading for this course was Eco’s book, Name of The Rose (at that time back in the early 80’s) he was not quite so well known in the US as he is now.   I’m grateful for my history teacher to include this work in the required reading.   Accompanying the main story was a “post script” on post modernism written by Eco.   Between the story in the main book and his philosophical thoughts on post modernism I was hooked.

Since then I’d read all of his fictions and many of his non-fiction works.  Favorites and recommendations include,  NAME OF THE ROSE, FOUCAULT’S PENDULUM, THE MYSTERIOUS FLAME OF QUEEN LOANA.  Also I love the children books he wrote that were illustrated by abstract artist Eugenio Carmi, THE BOMB AND THE GENERAL, THREE ASTRONAUTS, and THE GNOMES OF GNU.   My favorite non-fiction works are: THE OPEN WORK, MISREADINGS, TRAVELS IN HYPER-REALITY, HOW TO TRAVEL WITH A SALMON, SIX WALKS IN THE FICTIONAL WOODS, BELIEF OR NON-BELIEF (A conversation between Eco and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini), POSTSCRIPT TO THE NAME OF THE ROSE, KANT & THE PLATYPUS, HISTORY OF BEAUTY, TURNING BACK THE CLOCK:HOT WARS AND MEDIA POPULISM, ON UGLINESS, THE INFINITY OF LISTS, and finally, INVENTING THE ENEMY.

So as you see, yes, I’ve read a few of his works.  🙂  Here are 10 quotes:

What is love? There is nothing in the world, neither man nor Devil nor any thing, that I hold as suspect as love, for it penetrates the soul more than any other thing. Nothing exists that so fills and binds the heart as love does. Therefore, unless you have those weapons that subdue it, the soul plunges through love into an immense abyss. ― The Name of the Rose

I think a book should be judged 10 years later, after reading and re-reading it. I was always defined as too erudite and philosophical, too difficult. Then I wrote a novel that is not erudite at all, that is written in plain language, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, and among my novels it is the one that has sold the least. So probably I am writing for masochists. It’s only publishers and some journalists who believe that people want simple things. People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged. – interview with the Guardian in 2011

All the stories I would like to write persecute me when I am in my chamber, it seems as if they are all around me, the little devils, and while one tugs at my ear, another tweaks my nose, and each says to me, ‘Sir, write me, I am beautiful’.

On the morning of July 27, 1943, I was told that, according to radio reports, fascism had collapsed and Mussolini was under arrest. When my mother sent me out to buy the newspaper, I saw that the papers at the nearest newsstand had different titles. Moreover, after seeing the headlines, I realized that each newspaper said different things. I bought one of them, blindly, and read a message on the first page signed by five or six political parties – among them the Democrazia Cristiana, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Partito d’Azione, and the Liberal Party. Until then, I had believed that there was a single party in every country and that in Italy it was the Partito Nazionale Fascista. Now I was discovering that in my country several parties could exist at the same time. – from his 1995 essay UR-Facism, from the New York Review of Books

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means. – The Name of the Rose

I should be at peace. I have understood. Don’t some say that peace comes when you understand? I have understood. I should be at peace. Who said that peace derives from the contemplation of order, order understood, enjoyed, realized without residuum, in joy and truimph, the end of effort? All is clear, limpid; the eye rests on the whole and on the parts and sees how the parts have conspired to make the whole; it perceives the center where the lymph flows, the breath, the root of the whys… ― Foucault’s Pendulum

The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.

The [Da Vinci Code] author Dan Brown, is a character from Foucault’s Pendulum! I invented him. He shares my characters’ fascinations—the world conspiracy of Rosicrucians, Masons, and Jesuits. The role of the Knights Templar. The hermetic secret. The principle that everything is connected. I suspect Dan Brown might not even exist. – interview with the Paris Review in 2008

Charlie Brown has been called the most sensitive child ever to appear in a comic strip, a figure capable of Shakespearean shifts of mood; and Schulz’s pencil succeeds in rendering these variations with an economy of means that has something miraculous about it. The text, always almost courtly (these children rarely lapse into slang or commit anacoluthon), is enhanced by drawings able to portray, in each character, the subtlest psychological nuance. Thus the daily tragedy of Charlie Brown is drawn, in our eyes, with exemplary incisiveness. – Eco on the comicstrip Peanuts, for the New York Review of Books in 1985

How does a person feel when looking at the sky? He thinks that he doesn’t have enough tongues to describe what he sees. Nevertheless, people have never stopping describing the sky, simply listing what they see… We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death. That’s why we like all the things that we assume have no limits and, therefore, no end. It’s a way of escaping thoughts about death. We like lists because we don’t want to die. – interview with Der Spiegel in 2009

Rest in Peace:  Umberto Eco  January 5, 1932 – February 19, 2016

 

….. on snow…..

/ mobius faith

I’ve said many times before that Winter is my all-time favorite season…. and I do get a annoyed with people who are always complaining about the snow and the cold.   This winter has been pretty disappointing so far because even though it’s been cold (colder than normal by some reports) there’s been relatively little snow or ice.  There have been many warm-ups. So when we get a trace of snow – usually by the next day the temps have warmed, or it rains and the snow is gone.  Well, finally that past two weeks we had some actual measurable snow ending with 6+ inches on the ground by Tuesday morning last week.  Of course Thursday saw temps rise into the 40’s(F) and then Friday and Saturday and today saw temps between 60-70 degrees(F).    So needless to say, all that beautiful snow is all gone.  But…on the positive side… I was finally able to get out and about for some winter shots while the snow was here.   A few which may be used for my Christmas/holiday cards this year.  So since these may be the only snow shot’s I get this year I hope you enjoy them.   Which would be your favorite to see on a Christmas card?

(p.s. after you click play on the video – scroll back up and click on the first image you will be able to see larger versions while the music is playing)

Naturally I have to have a “soundtrack” for these images and my thoughts on Winter so here is “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” – words by William Shakespeare and music By John Rutter.  Performed by Julie Gaulke and Simone Lo Castro.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most freindship if feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky,
That does not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As a friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

William Shakespeare

….on never taking another photograph….

/ mobius faith

So, here’s the truth. I like to create. It’s no secret that I have no desire to be a professional photographer. Wedding, party’s, people, journalism, marketing, or industrial work is just not my “thang”. And if the truth be know I may never need to take another photograph as long as I live. As long as I have a computer and I strip down, tear apart, reassemble and create new things from the images I’ve already taken there really is not reason to take another photograph. As you already know I call my process “visual glossolalia”. It’s a term I’ve stuck to for years now and still best describes (at least in my mind) my process for my creations.

Here is a recent photograph. An abstract look at a broken down sign from an abandoned gas station. I called it BROKEN LANDSCAPE. Pretty straight forward.

Broken Landscape smlr

But then what happens when I start taking the image apart and reapplying it on a blank digital canvas. Well here are two of the results. I’ve printed these on metal and they look very nice together.  The dark image is titled NIGHT VISIONS and the light one is titled THE MORNING AFTER.

Again these two images both came from the one photograph. And there is still more I could do with that including a completely different design which I may do at some later point. So do I really need to take any more photos? I could actually just sell my camera and just create new things from my catalog of thousands of photographs. At any rate. Hope you enjoy these.

…on Elia Kazan….

/ mobius faith

A great documentary about the man behind the camera and behind the typewriter. For Years I have been a fan of Elia Kazan’s films: AMERICA AMERICA, ON THE WATERFRONT, BABY DOLL, FACE IN THE CROWD, BOOMERANG, PANIC IN THE STREETS and EAST OF EDEN (just to name a few of my personal favorites). Enjoy this enlightening and inspiring documentary about a complex creative writer/director.

 

… on “thin ice”…

/ mobius faith

As many of you know visually, I “see” in abstract.   It’s just the way my mind works.  Some people see gorgeous sweeping mind altering landscapes but I like to get to the “nitty-gritty” of things.   Looking at the common in a way that makes people stop, question, and consider what they are looking at and how they feel about it.

Abstraction is often confused with surrealism but it is not the same thing.  Surrealism, in my opinion has more to do with pictorialism.  Surrealism shows easily recognizable things in fantastical setting[s] setting up uncommon and at times illogical relationships.  Abstraction on the other hand tends to zoom in on details to the point that the viewer is not sure what they are looking at.  It purposefully alters either in presentation, or creative manipulates the subject to the point of no return focusing on shapes, lines, patterns and spaces which results in more of an emotional/psychological connection for the viewer.  Even if the viewer dismisses the work as balderdash, crap, f’d up, worthless, pointless, etc,  they still have had an emotional response to the work.

The two series I am posting today are examples of my abstract way of seeing nature.  This latest project focuses on images from a frozen lake.  This first series involves subtle manipulation of the image by increasing contrast, desaturating color etc.  It consists of 6 images simply titled Lake Ice #1 – #6.

The second series is the result of trying to figure out what to do with the “bad photos” from that frozen adventure.  I always try to salvage my so-called bad images.  And that salvage process usually involves manipulating them to the point of oblivion.  This series is titled LAKE ICE EXTREME #1-#9 and tells us some valuable things.

  1. There are more “bad” photos than good ones (that’s why there’s 9 in this series and only 6 in the previous series.)

  2. The acronym for this series is L.I.E.  which basically says that what you are looking at is a lie of the mind caused by extreme manipulation of crop, color and exposure.

  3. While you may not recognize what you are seeing; I think we need to ask ourselves, “What is missing?”, “Does what’s missing matter?”, “Out of sight, out of mind?”, and “How does this increase or change our understanding of nature and the world around us?”  And those are questions each individual has to answer for themselves.

  4. Other considerations are “Why square?” – I was able to crop out a lot of the unmanageable parts of the image and the square crop helps us center our focus (in this instance).

  5. Color is a tricky thing.  If I’d left it natural they all would have been a dirty blue with some brownish tones and white.  When I decided to change the color to make the image a little more disorienting  I was surprised to find that each individual image had its color preference.  For example if the image is green (as in #) it’s because that’s the only color that “felt” right.  Honestly the red/purple/blue/yellow options just didn’t fit.   I always find it amazing how once you get started  the artwork seems to dictate it’s own color palette.   I’m curious if painters and other artists feel the same.

  6. I also envision these 9 images displayed together in the following configuration.

    (you can “right click” then open in a “new tab” to view larger versions of individual images for more details.)

…..on new truisms…..

/ mobius faith

These two images are the latest installments in a series I started last year.
They will be part my new book called visual glossolalia 3: TRUISMS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM ….. I’m also thinking about printing in greeting card format and mailing out randomly to people – just to make them think and keep guessing.

…on values…
… no answers…

I’m enjoying this series. I guess it could be called jarring cynical sarcasm to piss people off – LOL!!!!.

Most of the thoughts in this series are just random waking musings. For example; the first image was a realization that came to me when I heard people talking about values; promoting certain values but never practicing those values themselves.

The second image, “…no answers…” came to me at work (yesterday) as I realized that no one really has any “answers” any more. What I mean is that they have no idea how to fix something. They’re just guessing and trying different things in the blind hope that something will work. There’s no practical application based on knowledge. A bit like, with eyes closed, randomly tearing a page out of a book and saying, “Let’s try this.”

Yes, that is a stark criticism for corporate America – but since the shoe fits – they’ll have to wear it. And whether you agree or disagree it is something to think about.

…on sci-fi…

/ mobius faith

Lunar Lift:

An astro-phenomenological event that occurs once every 4 years in the Circinus System.  The placement of the moon in conjunction with the sun and planet so that the gravity of the moon will “lift” the sun pulling it to an earlier sunrise.

In fact, a conjunction where the combined gravitational forces of moon and sun cause the sun to rise (up to 1 hr) earlier than normal.   Usually during the month of January during the “new moon” phase of the lunar cycle.  Often a faint impression of the moon will be seen simultaneously in the sky as the sun breaks over the horizon.   This year it will occur on 1/10/16 (5:58am earth time).

Because of this disruption in the normal cycle it can lead to more solar activity like solar flares and eruptions.   Can also lead to more environmental activity on the planet as the combined increase of gravitational pull can cause Tsunami’s & Tornado’s creating wind damage and flooding on the planet.

 

***** Okay, so that was a little fiction that came from a dream I had last night.  Boy my dreams can be dangerous.  LOL.  Maybe it’s just some deep subconscious desire to see that which is deemed “lesser” to be more highly valued.
…..and now – what I’ve been listening to lately…..

… on a 160 day special…

/ mobius faith

So, I’ve decided that 2016 will be special!

Special – for me at least – and I’m looking forward to what the year ahead holds; both good and bad.

What makes this year different?

Well this is the very first time, since I was born, that my birthday falls on the exact day of the week that I was born.   I was born on the 160th day of the year, Wednesday, June 8, 1960.  It was a “leap year” (like this year) and like this year my birthday falls on a Wednesday (hump day https://youtu.be/Vs5QJi-dX-4) as it did 56 years ago in fateful late spring day in 1960.   with all that “alignment” it’s bound to be interesting and wonderful.

So, yes, I’m a little optimistic.    🙂

Some little known facts: about my birthday.

Mick Hucknall (a.k.a. Simply Red) was born the same day/year.


Also Norwegian Jazz bassist/composer Terje Gewelt was also born 6/8/1960


Although June 8, 1960 was quiet (relatively speaking – except for me screaming my lungs out for the first time) here are some events that happened on June 8 throughout history:

  • 68
    The Roman Senate proclaims Galba as emperor.
    632
    Muhammad, Islamic prophet, dies in Medina and is succeeded by Abu Bakr who becomes the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.
  • 793
    Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.
  • 1042
    Edward the Confessor becomes King of England, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England.
  • 1191
    Richard I arrives in Acre (Palestine) dn date=September 2015 thus beginning his crusade.
  • 1776
    American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières: American attackers are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
  • 1783
    Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
  • 1789
    James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in the House of Representatives; by 1791, ten of them are ratified by the state legislatures and become the Bill of Rights; another is eventually ratified in 1992 to become the 27th Amendment.
  • 1794
    Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution’s new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.
  • 1861
    American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
  • 1862
    American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
  • 1887
    Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the ‘Art of Compiling Statistics’, which was his punched card calculator.
  • 1906
    Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
  • 1912
    Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.
  • 1929
    Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
  • 1941
    World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
  • 1942
    World War II: The Japanese imperial submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.
  • 1948
    Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater.
  • 1949
    The celebrities Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
  • 1949
    George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
  • 1953
    An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes.
  • 1953
    The United States Supreme Court rules that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.
  • 1959
    The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
  • 1966
    Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an “F5” on the Fujita scale: The first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
  • 1967
    Six-Day War: The Israeli army enters Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs.
  • 1968
    Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral takes place at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
  • 1972
    Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut moments later while the young girl is seen running down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
  • 1984
    Homosexuality is declared legal in the Australian state of New South Wales.
  • 1987
    New Zealand’s Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
  • 1992
    The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • 2004
    The first Venus Transit in modern history takes place, the previous one being in 1882.
  • 2007
    Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State’s worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.
  • 2009
    Two American journalists are found guilty of illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of penal labour.
  • 2013
    The Wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O’Neill takes place in Stockholm, Sweden.

Other fun facts:

My birthday numbers 6, 8 and 1960 reveal that my Life Path number is 3. It represents vision, imagination and joy of living.  It says I possess a great talent for creativity and self expression. (also explains my HUGE interest in music, film & art)

The zodiac sign of a person born on June 8 is Gemini ♊. According to the ancient art of Chinese astrology (or Chinese zodiac), Rat is the mythical animal and Metal is the element of a person born on June 8, 1960.

The number-one hit song in the U.S. at the day of your birth was Cathy’s Clown by The Everly Brothers as compiled by Billboard Hot 100 (June 13, 1960).

Pearl is the modern birthstone for the month of June while Moonstone is the mystical birth stone (based on Tibetan origin). The zodiac gemstone for Gemini is agate. Lastly, the birthday stone for the day of the week ‘Wednesday’ is amethyst.

Other people born on June 8 (not 1960) in history:

Bob Scaggs, Julianna Margulies, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Kathy Baker, Bonnie Tyler, Griffin Dunne, Sônia Braga, Annie Haslam, Sara Paretsky, Tim Berners-Lee, Joan Rivers, Nancy Sinatra, Chuck Negron, Andrew Weil,  Francis Crick, Robert Preston, Tomaso Albinoni, Emperor Xizong of Tang, Robert Schumann, John Everett Millais, Barbara Bush, Frank Lloyd Wright

As i said at the beginning “So, yes, I’m a little optimistic.    :-)”

… on nirvana/heaven…

/ mobius faith

The Kingdom of Heaven is near. ~ Jesus Christ [Matthew 10:7]

messages from the future #14 wm sm

This is Nirvana
We do not see that our life right here, right now, is nirvana. Maybe we think that nirvana is a place where there are no problems, no more delusions. Maybe we think nirvana is something very beautiful, something unattainable. We always think nirvana is something very different from our own life.
—Maezumi Roshi, “Appreciate Your Life”

….on memory….darkness

/ mobius faith

What is it like to lose one’s memory. I’m not talking about just periodic lapse, simple absent-mindedness or the loss that comes from someone just not being around any more. I’m talking about loss of memory as with alzheimer’s. In my short life existence I’ve noticed that people always want to deal with the “light” and positive things in life while I’ve tended to gravitate toward the darkness in life that people don’t want to deal with or deliberately try to avoid. The two images I’m posting here are my humble attempts to deal with this darkness. To contemplate memories: forgetting and forgotten.

The subject in these photos are quite simply just corn husks that were laying in a mud puddle of the cow lane on the family farm. I took the photos on Christmas day when I was visiting my family. With the recent loss of my father Christmas seemed to be more about memory than ever before. How we remember. Why we remember. How we forget and why we forget and of course, what we forget.

Memories Forgetting & ForgottenMemories Forgetting & Forgotten 2

Just because the world grows dark doesn’t mean it has less meaning – only that meaning itself has changed.  Blessings on those in the darkness, in the shadows of the day-dwellers.

…..on recently….

/ mobius faith

…one morning while in a foggy state of mind….I wandered the local hills as nature gave visual credence to my mood….in the fog when thoughts are distilled into the fine wine of wisdom, courage and faith….preparing one for action….

[fyi: after you click play for the music – if you right click on the first photo and open in new tab you can view larger versions while the music plays]

…on “black” friday…

/ mobius faith
prayer flags of consumerism #2 alt wm sm

Prayer Flags of Consumerism #2

Not for Sale
Zen teacher Reb Anderson says “Stop shopping” is Zen practice in a nutshell. The planet will be better off when we catch on to the idea that more new stuff isn’t what’s going to save us
from suffering.
—Susan Moon, “Stop Shopping“

…..Samsaric Capitalism…..

/ mobius faith

In the Samsaric world of Capitalism
I am neither positive nor negative.

I know that promises breed hope –
Without a guaranteed reality.

What will be, will be.
Not what is promised or guaranteed.

Guarantees are empty absolutes;
To live by them is to live in delusion.

If we want to remove the Samsaric sting
We must accept the beauty of a flawed reality.

Like wrinkles on a face, spots on skin & gray hair describe aging –
Broken promises reveal an imperfect reality.

Where, O Samsara, is your victory?
Where, O Samsara, is your sting?

Embrace with loving-kindness all errors and flaws.
In doing so, we redeem and ransom ourselves and others from Samsara;
From the long list of disappointment-fueled anger and sufferings.
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