Music of the Spheres

The Galaxy song, Eric Idle, 1989    Click to play the song

It might seem like there isn’t much to laugh at sometimes, with humanity’s brutality, cruelty and stupidity, war, famine, greed, exploitation, violence, hate.

But if you can laugh, if you're lucky enough to still have that capacity, then it’s the great saviour really.

If there is a god, I think its voice is laughter. Not snide schadenfreude laughing at other people's misfortune laughter, not embarrassed fearful snickering, but great, shaking, tears running down the face, belly clutching, roaring laughter that won't be held back.  Helpless hilarity at the sheer idiocy and wrong headed unnecessary complicated stupidness of it all.

Anyway, Monty Python’s a bit dated now in some respects, but this song still hits the spot.

Dog's dinner

Leap of imagination

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.

J.G. Ballard, 1984

There's a bluebird in my heart

Himalayan Blue Poppy

Bluebird, by Charles Bukowski

There's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's in there.

There's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
You want to screw up the
works?
You want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
There's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be sad.
Then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't weep, do
you?

Silence isn't golden

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1946

Let's work together

I view political activism as spiritual work. I believe in the fusion of outrage and compassion with responsible action, hopefully organised with other activists to achieve more joy, healing, creativity, and peace on Earth. I am appropriately outraged by systemic injustice and gross inhumanity.

That outrage isn't a form of hatred. It is a form of love. I love humanity and hope we can collectively work to become more humane, including by living sustainably with the Earth.

Julian Real, 2012

Girls just wanna have fun

Reality check

“Conventional thought is in brief, the confusion of the concrete universe of nature with the conceptual things, events and values of linguistic and cultural symbolism”

Beat Zen, Square Zen and Zen,  Alan Watts, 1960

Wake up call

“The true goal of human activity is the creation of a world wide community of awakened and intelligent creative persons, related by mutual insight and respect, and by the common task of fulfilling the potentiality of the human spirit on earth.”

Star Maker, Olaf Stapleton 1937

Charwoman Miaow

Un-sexy model

 

“Sexism is the foundation on which all tyranny is built. Every social form of hierarchy and abuse is modelled on male-over-female domination.”

Andrea Dworkin

Breakfast of champions

 

 

You cannot corral any aspect within your life, divorce its implications, whether it’s what you eat for breakfast or how you say good-bye.  

This is what integrity means.

None of us is perfect, or born with that integrity, but we can work toward it as a goal.

A Burst of Light: Essays by Audre Lorde, 1988