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Aboriginal Innocence
Moving Towards An Inclusive Culture of Healing
Forward to Peace Books
This is the first book in a series of books that represent my efforts to comprehend the language of peace. It’s clear to me that as a child, I didn’t acquire much fluency with peace as a first language. Thus, the first book of the series is entitled, Peace as a Second Language. Peace may never become my primary gestalt, but with enough study and patient practice, I may be able to make out the sound of its two-cents-worth clanking with some consistency into the bottom of my cup.
As I understand it, the vocabulary of the language of peace consists of any and every situation where our big willingness to narrow meaning (and become exclusive) is transformed by a little willingness to broaden and deepen meaning (and become inclusive). The syntax of the language of peace is clarified with every and any effort we make to break down the mentalities that turn permeable or semi-permeable borders for exchange, into impermeable boundaries (thus the embargo reference in the subtitles).
Elementary, My Dear Watson
In a moment of charitableness, Installation Guy offered his services to the elementary school. The job? Build two bins; one large bin for ‘Lost and Found’ and one smaller bin for ‘Recycled Cereal Box Tops.’ Then, install the bins side by side in the school hallway.
Such a task didn’t seem beyond the scope of our hero’s capabilities; certainly not the installation part. After all, we’re talking about Installation Guy. Please.
Our hero could ill afford at this point in his life to offer his time and services up in an irritable, I mean charitable manner, but he often did, against his better judgment. Going against the grain of his better judgment helped him to hone his fretful mind into a fine tuned thinking machine. What precisely did this machine do? It was hard to say. It was as unpredictable as the weather.
Aboriginal Innocence or Primal Fear
I guess I've never kept a journal because I never liked to share my thoughts and feelings with others. When I would occasionally test the waters, I would be corrected for my different thinking and set back in my box. I would try again to conform to the ways of the world. I feared rejection and my sense of self hibernated.
I was born with a few handicaps. The first was an inability to recognize skin color. The second was to hear the inner voice of conscience. The third was the desire to enjoy life.
I was also born during the time of the perfect family, into a time when what you were, seemed to matter more than that you simply were. What you achieved earned more points than what you felt.
It was a time of wealth inequality and class polarization. I challenged my family’s sense of decorum. I adopted stray friends and animals. I wandered alone in the woods, climbed trees and was more comfortable in a barn than a house.
Both Ends of the Stick
“Papa, can we play the monster game?”
“Not right now. Why don’t you guys take turns playing the monster for a change?”
Monsters are a part of childhood. Every time a big person acts mean to a little person, carelessly tossing their word or weight about, they become a monster in the eyes of the child. John and the girls had invented a game to make monsters seem less scary, more approachable, lovable even.
The game began when John transformed his normal appearance and behavior in some gross way and then plodded about the house moaning and groaning while the girls ran around shrieking with delight.
“Come on Papa, please. It won’t be as much fun without you.”
Two Years with my Cats
My Cats
I have a cat Skit and a cat Peeds!
They are playful.
I love them.
They are as cozy as a
Bracelet made of chenille.
I love them.
Just Born
One early spring day, the little kittens
that just got born were snuggled up
in the pieces of hay.
They were so cute!
Just snuggled up.
All three of them.
They were just so cute!
They were as big
as my hand.
Oh, they were so cute!
They were born in my
Aunt and uncle’s barn.
I was the first one to know
what they looked like.
They were too fragile to touch.
The Barn
The horses were rustling
under the hay loft.
The cats were running
around the hay loft.
Powderpuff was stuck
behind a board!
She would not let me help her.
My mom had to help her instead of me.
They are so cute!
Poems & Reflections
Grasping
In quiet moments
without knowing it
she was growing an awareness
that heaven on earth is a state of mind.
An elusive flutterby that cannot be caught
yet somehow settles upon us
whenever we stop chasing it.
Chance
He knew he learned as much from her
as she learned from him.
She was bright and curious.
He didn’t need to teach her.
She learned instinctually
not because he willed it.
He needed to practice
restraining his good intentions
long enough to give her a chance
to teach him a thing or two;
like how to grow
and how to enjoy life more.
Compensation
There is no charity in creation, only unity and sharing.
Is it charitable for trees to create oxygen?
Is it charitable for the sun to shine?
Is it charitable for children to be joyful?
Is it charitable for parents to care for their children?
We give what we’re able and receive what we’re able.
This reflects the creative use of intelligence.
Charity is compensation
for the uncreative use of intelligence.
Creator/Discoverer and First Master of Aikido
The art of aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969). Master Ueshiba was a Grand Champion in many martial arts before discovering aikido. He was also a deeply dedicated Warrior in the spiritual sense. His life was a never-ending quest for universal truth.
Professor Ueshiba, as the First Master of Aikido, is regarded internationally as a great teacher. He viewed the entire planet Earth as one country. He recognized all human beings as members of one family. He believed that the power of love is the greatest power, and he built and refined the art of aikido as a means to express this truth.
The Ortho Para Test and its Interpretations
Our day to day, moment to moment, journey through life gives us constant perceptual feedback. This is the information that the OPT exam makes use of to discover System Pathology. In its system by system analysis, it guides us towards the ultimate formulation of a Wellness Script that speaks not only to our physical, but also to our emotional and intellectual imbalances.
The Script is designed as a means of reestablishing the Ortho-Para balance in our life, even when certain systems must remain stressful and therefore tugging on our sense of balance.
Garden Journal
It’s coolish…the breezes make it so. I spent an hour staking and cleaning up the tomato patch. It’s a tiny patch with only three large plants. They were leaning every which way. What inspired me were the three large, perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes that the squirrels bit into, then left the rest to rot. Aghh!
I had thought to pick them in the late afternoon, having read that’s the best time for picking because all the nutrients have come up into the plant in the morning and not yet gone back into the earth for the night.
Don’t have a clue if it’s valid but the squirrels sure don’t wait until evening. They’re out there munching away in the early morning, bless their little pointed ears.
Inauguration of Hope
Politicians are activists. Lobbyists are activists. Every salesman, every advertiser is an activist. Obviously, human rights activists are activists. This is not to suggest that activists contribute to the problem more than the solution. Activists are people; in many instances, people with heart and courage.
People with heart and courage, when of sound mind, are able to transform themselves, to free themselves of the narrow mind and so become part of the solution. At any given moment, as people with principle, each of us can transform the rule of gold into the golden rule through the conscientious exercising of our good will (the philosopher’s stone).