I was looking at Assaji son's photo this morning
and we were sharing our sadness that traditional clothing is not often worn


my thoughts:

isn't it like that?
The youth always want to create something new
or at least 'be modern'
and so what was once status quo becomes traditional
and 'an old hat'
... to be followed by nostalgia

I guess that's why I loved wearing a chuba and following the traditional Tibetan ceremony on my wedding day!
Because Tibet is so threatened a culture
- having the opportunity to bring these traditions into the wider world
is so special - and gives them longevity

The other thing is -
the new is also inevitable

We have a push and pull situation going on

... looking over our shoulder with longing
while forging new paths ahead ...

At last we have all of our photographs (taken by my friend artist, artist, artist and experimental photographer), Patrick Rorke
I am selecting a few to post here - but if you wish to see our many photos you can view them on FaceBook albums (children, Facebook; universal family, Gaia)
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

DUNG BEETLES!

Gien and I have a game which I started when he yawned without covering his mouth, my fingers ready to pounce, prowl and tickle; mouth, nostrils, eyes, ears... saying, Dung Beetles!

Most annoying!

... what goes around comes around and I've frequently been attacked.
Now dung beetles often come unbeckoned
as does loads of laughter...

Gien didnt know what a dung beetle was, though. I told him how absolutely gorgeous these little beings are. They scurry along in pairs, always so busy rolling their dung ball between them, which sometimes grows so big they are dwarfed, climbing up onto the rolling ball... trying to manage it ... The ball needed for the female to lay her eggs.

Gien wanted to see one, so we searched Youtube and found a cute little snippet.

I went on to do more research and ended up doing a little drawing.

Dung beetle is a scarab. The scarab is important to ecology as they clean up dung. The dung ball is buried and used for nutrition for the little ones when they hatch. In ancient Egypt the scarab was worshiped. The story is so precious:


Scarab rolls Sun across the sky every day.
At the end of the day Scarab buries Sun.
Next morning Sun is born anew...


(The part of the story I feel less warmed to, is Sarab is always male who fertilizes the dung ball with his sperm. How male dominated was this ancient society which birthed Isis?)

Ashin Mettacara is an independent blogging monk. He is not part of any political group, association or organization. He is helping all the groups who are working for freedom of belief and freedom of expression. His motto is "Working for equality is human values".



Ashin Silavamsa killed in Saffron Revolution , 26 September 2007. He is a closet friend of blogger Ashin Mettacara









I was chatting to Ashin Mettacara today and he requests that we bring our consciousness to Burma

LadyBear sent this very beautiful gift today:

When I was in my early 20s I had a dream. I had never seen this image before - in fact in my dream it was a female image - she also had more arms than the images I've seen subsequently. Later I found out it was Shiva.

Dreams are interesting - an inner eye...

who knows what this dream meant - or where it originated - or why. But whenever I see this image - I remember the dream.
The dancer who was dancing - music and inspiration

This deity was brought up again recently - this time by a Didi (yogi nun), who also said my appearance reminded her of Shiva - my long wavy hair, I think.

I did a bit of reading; Shiva is destroyer and restorer - and more.

When I was studying at art school, my teacher, Bill Ainslie, taught us about Dionysus who was also a complex god and my sense is they may be similar...

Does Shiva have a role in Buddhism, I wonder and find myself answering - whatever emerges in my life has a role....
I just don't always understand it intellectually.

What is Shiva or Dionysus to me? Same answer...

mm... I've never been able to fit into a neat box
and my sense is neither Shiva nor Dionysus (nor you) do either
and maybe this is exactly what they're about...
this creative thing which only births through
order and chaos


Life is this death and birth thing:
this thing of
everything as we know it
changes

everything is like the breath
inhaling and exhaling

...comings and goings...




Other creative unfoldings...
Dougs blog inspired me to write a poem:

DREAM


Were there flowers before longing created them?
or is it the sigh of the bees
that awakens this field before my eyes…

or the murmur…
- is it the murmur of the breeze
caressing the flowers

that dreams me into being?

and Assaji son's blog (True Eloquence) got me jogging down a path where I'd been strolling

12 months ago I sent a friendship invitation on Zaadz (Gaia)
to the man I was to marry in just under a year...

Friendship
Sent 12 months ago
by HummingBird

Hi Gien
Dropped by your page and read some beautifu things
love
HummingBird

Gien responded:

by Gien
Re: Friendship

Thank you Hummingbird! I’m a real person!

I’ve made so many genuine friendships here
it’s incredible!
Jopoa was an amazing, amazing little yogini
embued with a huge heart
this is evident by the overwhelming response from people such as yourself.
The last person who read it said it made them cry.
People have been sending me messages like that. The previous one about how today is the anniverary of the death of someone they loved…Death is pretty common isn’t it!
I’m here to help others like you
to learn from others like you
and to grow together
to mutually inspire each other
as we move to unfold our hearts in this life!

I will be posting more pics tonight in my blog about yesterdays events in my life
I am also collaborating with other musicians and producers, fellow zaadsters to try to do something big for Dr. Osman of Darfur….if you don’t know about this, read my blogs and search for any entries with Dr. Osman.
….could be the start of a revolution of awareness of the preciousness of life!

BFJG : )

 

 

I was very moved by the sense I experienced visually and inwardly...

I felt I'd entered an ancient cave...
dimly lit
and in it I 1st became conscious of an ancient woman -

by her side, holding her hand
was a younger being, Genie
... I sensed a sacred love between these two

 

now in the present
it is all the same...

time changes only outward appearances...

 

 

an important connection we experienced was the way we both respond to death

I had created Gra-anna's Book and Passing pod while Gien was celebrating his Jopoa in similar ways - with posts on Gaia and creating songs

 

 

 

Today is the 6th anniversary of Jopoa's passing

an hour an evening set aside for a quick once off sketch...

I have been snowed in with work and a toothache which made me look like I was carrying a potato in one cheek.

Through this experience I realised (again) that I've married an angel. Gien caring and loving... beyond words....

I received a mail from a loved one which brought these reflections:


'what is it that stands between me being able to just say it as it is'

Sometimes we use beautiful acrobatic stanzas and frames
            
                  when the thing itself

                                         is as simple as the breath...

What is it that stands between oneself and love?

The same stuff, I guess
that stands between oneself and realisation...

.Obscuration.

The landscape is beautiful
but the splinter in the eye
is all we can see


Sometimes we love someone
and the drift wood floating along our river
-usually the past-
is the hindrance
preventing love in its completeness

Sometimes we love someone
and it is our beloved who suffers the greater obscurations

This is our journey...
this removal of obscuration
so we may experience realisation

What it is you wish to say?

...Caroline Myss says it eloquently...
something like:
if what you say amounts to more than a few words
it lacks integrity.

Look at what you wish to say
and examine what it is which makes you say it in 'other words'

Work towards
ALWAYS JUST SAYING IT

It's all a process...



Oh.. I read something beautiful today -
extracted from a comment on a blog here on Gaia:

“… Teachings result in what feels like a “blank” mind for me, to some extent.  I get nothing unless I make something up…”

 

MY LOVE SMILES WITH HIS NOSE