The Crossroads of Civilization
A lot of wealth passes through the Middle East and with this comes great conflict. The control of money in the region has its roots in the beginning of our written history. It is the way it is and for now, we will have to accept it. The deadly battle for control of the earth's assets that has gone on throughout civilization. While painful to witness, we are out of control as the warfare continues and the blood is spilled. Everyone knows no man can stop this collective force. Perhaps we have to let it take its course while we envision some other way to distribute the world's wealth.
Sometimes I think the less one has, the safer one is. To a point, of course. And maybe, if the appetite for spiritual riches within each individual were satisfied, we could come to some resolution of the deep problems with this age old way of settling debts, establishing ownership, and managing conflict. It's a possibility.
posted by jm at 12:20 AM
17 Comments:
I woke up today with a strong feeling that a big chunk of the pressure has lifted for the moment. The full moon square Saturn and Neptune was an awakening as part of this transit now coming in. The Middle East has blown a gasket and should settle down soon for a while, and we can deal with our Neptune dilemmas.
Most of all, it looks like the blogoshere is going to be a great help, as we try to understand together what is going on in our world with the constant reminder that we have this safe sanctuary. In some places, I think it's bringing out the best in us. The perfect antidote.
The Aquarian social alternative. Opposing the brutality the only way we can right now. We must be doing something right.
I've been thinking about the Saturn/Nep in terms of Baghdad.
Bagdhad is a symbol of our imagination with all the great literature that came from that ancient city. The beloved 1001 Arabian Nights, one of the treasured fantasy classics of the whole world. Something about its character has always triggered exotic netherworlds in the mind.
Now we see its ruin and all the degradation that accompanied it. From fairy tales to torture palaces. The downside of Neptune.
So we're face to face with both sides of Neptune, the transcendent and the base and humiliating. Man has always made holy places and then desecrated them.
It should be interesting to see what Saturn does. He is the master architect and doesn't like the bashing of his structures. In some way we will have to rebuild the representations of our visions, so maybe this is an awakening to how far we've strayed. Eventually there will have to be a rebirth of all the arts.
Funny i was thinking along similar lines,jm. about crossroads. i happened upon a photo the other day; a man sitting with head in hands upon the rubble of his home, dust filled the air, and beyond was yet more rubble. In the center of this was a massive wooden beam pointing a jagged, splintered end skyward. i took it all in, the suffering, the abrupt loss, but it was the presence of the wood that has stuck with me. Where do you find materials to re-build now? What wealth did that one beam represent? How silly and frivilous this war seemed to me at that moment, a loss of not just lives but Life, the sacred, what makes it worth living, and replace it with vengence and fear.
And into my head flew an image of a documentary article i saw this summer - massive glass/concrete and steel structures have sprouted overnight in the desert not so far away in Bahrain. Sleek and modern filled with elegant and soft spoken people wearing elegant and soft clothing, gold and jewels. Soft sounds of an air conditioned bazaar, a huge mall with apartments, a self contained high-tech mecca.
It is very curious how simultaneously whole regions, NO, ME are turned into wastelands and overnight skyrises and middleclass rises in China, Bahrain and other places. Cars swapping for bicycles.
What "we" have that has always been the path of successful community is sharing. Collective knowledge is our great tool. When i think of just what the few who post here know it impresses me how prepared we are...to face the new. i'm thinking of the rag-tag towns that once were Carmel, Scottsdale, and Sedona before artists made them into wonderful interesting places where others desire to live. This bouys me somehow.
Artists can't help but make things more beautiful, and also increase value. I think they have somewhat of a detached view of a lot of the destruction that goes on and the creation of so many ugly things.
All these cheesy structures we see going up are going to fall fast in the sort of cardboard quick construction of the fast paced immediate gratification modern world.
It all gets leveled eventually and sprouts again someplace else. It's tenuous reality, really, most of the material world.
you have a point. About destruction sometimes bring one to a necessary crossroads.
i'm thinking of the rag-tag towns that once were Carmel, Scottsdale, and Sedona before artists made them into wonderful interesting places where others desire to live.
Not to mention Santa Fe . . . you are so right about the artists coming first, often seeking inspiration from the beauty of the countryside. Though Scottsdale is just part of the Phoenix megalopolis now. The trick is leaving before the very wealthy move in . . . I remember what the people in La Jolla, CA were like. Condescending is kind . . . I worked in the public library in the area. Nice beaches though.
Here is a comment from Steve Judd adding a little more information about eclipse in 1999:
11 August
Seven years ago today there was a total eclipse of the Sun at the heart of a Grand Cross pattern which launched humanity into the twenty first century. Since that Grand Cross, political, economic and social situations across the world have become increasingly fragmented and disenfranchised, with individuals becoming steadily more disempowered. Humanity has been hijacked by a bunch of militaristic fundamentalists who seek to dominate by the subjugation of the feminine and ensuring individuals remain asleep. Our psychic birthright and the future of the planet are linked with each other, and the second Grand Cross yet to come, in August 2010, will determine the long term future for many of us. Learn the lessons of the last seven years, keep your peace now whilst the going is really tough, and know that within a month the worst is over. Trust yourself and your intuition more than anything else.
Dan Furst's "Surf & Turf" article is very good & informative too. Pat P posted the link on Pi Chron.
neith, I can't believe our good sense and good fortune to gather in this place to offer our full respect to art and artists. I think we are seeing our obligation, and it's a difficult task in this ugly world. this reminds me of past artist's collectives and I've often longed for that comraderie. What A Saturn return in Leo will do!
I've though a lot about this. The artists improvements and then their squeezing out. I think it's partly intentional subconsciously because the movement and exploration of new spaces is part of the creative character and it enhances their work. Artists do so well with difficult living circumstances. They do well wth a lot of wordly discomfort. Use it actually, I think.
a loss of not just lives but Life, the sacred, what makes it worth living, and replace it with vengence and fear.
This is such a fascinating subject, since from some perspectives it's not physical life that is sacred, but the spirit. To some the physical is the profane and it is entirely expendable. You can often see this in what appears to be abnormality in some, where it's obvious that their bodies are not sacred at all. And sometimes you can see a strange light emanating from these types.
What we value and cling to in life in general is a great subject. Or what the definition of 'life' actually is.
Shall we tackle that in this den of genius?
neith, the good sign from all this astro talk and the eclipses and all, is that people in general seem to be taking in the cosmic need and starting to really think about things from this broad and more enlightened perspective.
This is what I love about you and everyone here. The way we are avoiding the whining and the hate talk and showing genuine desire to transcend in hopes of individual improvement. A much better focus for me.
I am learning so much I am shocked. And the relief of knowing full well that there is an alternative is the greatest feeling in the world. I got a little worried for a minute. Peace is always available if we want it. I'm building a zen garden right now outside my basement window.
I think crossroads are the ultimate symbol of our capacity to make choices. I can't help but feel collectively we are at one now. At first there was panic and group clinging without thinking, but now, it looks like people are separating and regrouping according to conscious choice. I wonder if the decisions now will have long range effects. Maybe the events of these years drew us together for the purpose of defining ourselves in preparation for these choices.
Maybe even the Middle Eastern crossroads are encouraging this as well.
It's not the commodities that are the true luxury, but this freedom of choice that comes with the human incarnation. Actually, animals have it too.
Time to trot over to Astrodynamics to read Lynn's offering for today! It is so in tune w/what we've been expressing on our various blogs!! Here is a shortcut link:
http://astrodynamics.blogspot.com/
I am also going on record to say I'm officially annoyed w/the crap-for-brains media people! The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!!! YUK! As Lynn's post says projecting into the future in angst is so bad for our health & well-being.. (well, she used other words . .) but that's my take! :-)
Thanks neith. This is important and in keeping with what I planned for my next post. So here goes.
Her previous post was great too and I commented.
I have no idea how thw mass terror is unfolding since I've totally tuned out of this one. But I feel it, unfortunately.
I have to keep in mind the public addiction to fear. They created the media and support it so it delivers what they want. There is excitement(hormones) with fear and the people have always craved this to spice up otherwise dull routine lives. So let them have it. I prefer boredom, or I make my own excitement.
Your philosophy is good.
Eric Francis agrees . . . we're being bullshitted here, folks!
http://www.planetwaves.net/
Now back to doing something much more meaningful . . . taking a nap . . . :-) Leave all the excitement to the adrenaline addicts out there!
A nap is a great idea!
We can do it.
This is so predictable. Journalism and sensationalism. Fist in glove since time immemorial. Banner headlines telling of the latest disaster. Probably nobody really believes it all deep down. It's just their form of pleasure. An age old ritual.
These things follow a tight path. first the outbreak. Then the eescalation. Then the full force. The diminishing. Then the dreaded boredom and the thing is forgotten. It's their form of orgasm. I'm not going to interfere, although I might comment. They have their reasons.
Thank the everlovin' forces I got lucky enough to resist staying glued in bondage to the action.
I would have made a lousy Roman!
I'm so annoyed... the original post page with the illustration of the camel kept showing that only 2 comments were made, and I'd read them already. I clicked the comments link by accident and found this interesting discussion belatedly.
I am in the middle of Matthew Fox's "Original Blessing" that I borrowed from a friend. I almost gave it back to her halfway through but I persevered. Fox talks of the value of artists, the decay and civil decline that occurs when the label "artist" is commoditized and awarded to a very few. When the mass populace is discouraged from being artistic, their inborn artistic impulses are displaced and perverted into depression, anger, hatred, and other negative emotions.
Likewise, he cites a study of children and adults who were asked if they considered themselves artists or artistic. A very high percentage of children said "yes." Correspondingly, very very few of the adults surveyed answered "yes." Somehow, beetween childhood and adulthood, creativity and artistic impulses are smothered or outright murdered.
I don't have the book with me or I'd quote it exactly.
This is very interesting Joe.
the decay and civil decline that occurs when the label "artist" is commoditized and awarded to a very few.
I noticed an unusaully diminished representation of art in our society in the last 30 years. A steady decline. It's surprisingly low now. I didn't think it would go this far.
Why do people worship this word? They aren't paid by society. The life of one is not what people fantasize. They are never truly recognized by the public. But a lot of people want to be one or say and think they are.
You're right. People are creative and it's suffocated. But then the need for production intervenes. Artists need a lot of nothing time so inspiration can get in, and they are attuned to it all the time. Mundane life can be a distraction. Do people really want this? There is a superiority imagined about the artist and I question it's source and validity.
Even though people are artistic I think it ends up as a life choice path for only a few by design.
But.......
When the mass populace is discouraged from being artistic, their inborn artistic impulses are displaced and perverted into depression, anger, hatred, and other negative emotions.
What to do about this? It has to do with ego, since our own creations are a source of genuine pride. But then on the same hand, those negative emotions are just what feed the desire for artistic transcendence.
Those emotions can flow in without art, but I'll tell you one thing that accompanies artistic action for me.
Frustration.
One important thing though is that creativity doesn't have to be artistic. I think the satisfaction is the same.
All art is creative but not all creativity is artistic? :o)
The art thread is still going. Feel free to comment on previous threads even when new ones come up.
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