Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 75
November 24, 2011
Popularity
I had to go away for a few days and my laptop decided to refuse to cooperate once I got there. On my return my laptop decided to behave, and I discover 1412 Spam messages waiting for me (safely in my spam collector, thank goodness).
Most of the spam messages are illiterate, and, if they are selling something, it's hard to see what. It's even harder to see why anyone would want to respond to such weird messages.
So - what is the point of spam? I can't get my mind round it.
November 15, 2011
Republican candidates? Fail
The Republican candidates have shown themselves to be almost alarmingly uniform in their mediocrity. Between Cain the groper who has no grip on US Middle East policy, to Perry's brain freeze, to Bachmann's wackiness we could have hoped for something a bit more exciting, at least in terms of actual ideas. But no. We saw instead manifest ignorance and personal dullness. Even Romney is just plain boring.
So, why worry?
For one reason, the health of any democratic institution, like our government, depends upon the quality of debate engaged in by both sides. A government in some respects is only as good as the opposition that questions, probes and helps to make policy. But this isn't happening.
The result? We now have no real dialog between the parties - the Republicans have an uneviable record of stone-walling that has elicited a similar response from the other side. We also have manifestly incompetent opposition candidates. Can't the Republicans do any better?
This, after all, is the party that selected Palin, and Dan Quayle. But I won't go on.
Remember, these people are getting paid. By you.
November 13, 2011
November 12, 2011
Good Bye Signor Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi has finally resigned as Premier of Italy, after a 17 year career that has to rival the emperor Caligula for corruption and lunacy. In Greece the prime minister, George Papandreou has also stepped aside. The stock markets surge in happy response.
Except for one small thing. The people who put, and kept, those two politicians in place are still working away behind the scenes. What makes anyone think that the new boss will be any better than the old boss, given the dysfunctions of the existing systems?
It's a question they're asking in Egypt, and even in Libya, so it's not just idle speculation. It could be life and death for some people.
When will we truly learn to "think different" and then actually do things differently? Surely that day is coming closer. Perhaps it comes down to a simple formula: some people care about people, others care only about power (and money, its cousin). Which side will you be on?
November 9, 2011
Cultivate Wonder
When I first came to the United States, 25 years ago, I used to wander around thinking how cool it felt to be living in what felt to me like a movie script. The commute to work was like being in something I used to pay to watch in the movie house.
Gradually that sense, child-like as it was, faded.
But when the wonder fades we lose something else as well - joy, delight, a sense of the transcendent.
We can recapture it any time we like. It only takes a moment. Sitting waiting for the bus we can, if we choose, see the strange beauty that lurks in so many things, from the clouds scudding across the sky to the gleam on a candy wrapping lying in the gutter. Miraculous, all of it.
Notice the wonder. And then be grateful.
November 5, 2011
Surprised by Beauty
There's plenty of beauty about. It just seems to keep popping up in unexpected places, usually when I'm already late and a bit frazzled, as if to say - take a look at this, my friend!
The thing about beauty, though, is that it opens us up to thinking about other things — larger, finer, better things and ways of feeling. And when it does that we can feel that we are actually free. What keeps most people mentally enslaved is the failure to see any beauty at all, and so it is almost impossible for them to imagine any other way of being.
So, notice beauty. It has much to tell us.
October 26, 2011
Radio Interview with Diego Mulligan KSFR FM
On Monday I had a truly lovely time with Diego Mulligan of Santa Fe Radio, who interviewed me about The Path of Synchronicity.
Now, the thing that made this very special is that Diego had recently undergone surgery, but was in his hospital bed, hosting the show despite everything. That is truly professional dedication at its best. And yet it is also far more than this. Every listener would have noticed that Diego was dedicated to his show, dedicated enough to disregard pain and discomfort, and do what he feels is important. And I have to say that is profoundly inspiring. In fact Diego did something extraordinary. He took what may have looked like bad luck and, because of his sense of what truly matters, he turned it into a blessing for everyone.
And that is the essence of Synchronicity. It's not what happens, it's what you do with it that matters.
October 22, 2011
The End of Facile Belief
Pastor Harold Camping, in California, has declared that the world will end in "Rapture" today, October 22nd.
He made a similar prediction a while ago - for May 21st - but noticed that nothing had happened, and revised his estimate. Meanwhile his estimated bank account is presently at $70 million.
I have no idea if Pastor Camping is a genuine believer in his own publicity, or as crazy as a donkey in a cloud of gadflies, but I'll say one thing: he judged perfectly what can get Americans to open their wallets and do irrational things. Fear.
Truly, he's just another person who succeeded in manipulating people just like us through fear. It's time to start living in courage, hope, and determination, not fear.
October 18, 2011
Kidnapping and Blackmail
Today an Israeli soldier, Sergeant First Class Shalit, was exchanged for 1027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Obviously, I'm happy that so many people are now free, but I'm a bit puzzled.
Does this mean that Israel considers one Israeli life is worth 1027 Palestinian lives? Isn't that rather a dangerous attitude? Doesn't that degrade Palestinians? And what about that old dictum of not giving in to ransom and blackmail? Won't this just sharpen the desire to abduct Israelis? And let's not forget that the newly released prisoners were in many cases dangerous criminals. Doesn't this action just make the world a bit more dangerous?
Perhaps there's a deeper plan. I just can't see it. Can you?
October 14, 2011
Creativity and the Economy
Now that the money is drying up everywhere, we'll notice that artists will be suffering more than ever. In a bad economy people don't buy art, magazines don't hire artists (they use cheap stock photos), publications slash their payments to writers… you get the picture. The result is that art comes under threat. If creative people can't live by their work they are forced to do other work, and their artistic activity is rarely as creative, sustained, or powerful as a result.
Let's admit it. The financial debacle has hit all our pockets, all our prospects, everywhere. Now it threatens our spiritual growth as well. For art is always about spirit, if it truly is art and not something designed to make us buy something.
Physical starvation is terrible; but spiritual starvation is horrifying, since it kills what makes us truly alive, and leaves us as shells of what we could have been.
In these perilous economic times, please, take time to nurture your own creative self, every day. Every day, do some sketching. Take a photo and share it. Find beauty and celebrate it. Sing a song. Write a short poem. Read a short poem, aloud, if you can. Do whatever you can. It's your soul we're talking about.
