At a quarter past two
In the afternoon,
A man with a large nose
Is listening to test match cricket
On the radio.
His wife undresses
And asks him
If he would like to have sex.
The man says
That he will consider her invitation
In two hours time,
During the tea interval.
Marriage in trouble
Women's issues
Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
Joined-up thinking
Smelling the cat
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Decoy terrorism
It is a matter of public concern that the BBC, a public service broadcaster, has been duped into giving so much attention to the decoy terrorist attacks in London today.
The religious terrorists who, in the name of religious fundamentalism, disrupted the transport network in the British capital this morning, are small fry compared with the political and economic terrorists currently meeting under the cover of the G8 banner at Gleneagles.
It is these eight men, and the covert puppeteers who mind them, who are the real terrorists. One of them, indeed, is the chief poisoner of the planet.
His task at Gleneagles is to defend the industrial status quo in his country which, although accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, consumes 26 percent of the world's energy and belches out 23 percent of the world's energy-related carbon emissions.
This man is also a religious fundamentalist and the major warmonger on Earth, yet the editorial controllers at the BBC appear to ignore the evil he channels and give, instead, blanket coverage to a few relatively insignificant religious firecrackers in London.
Open your eyes, BBC. You are being used.
Lost nation
Obituary
The American Problem
Energy facts from Solar Energy International
Under the radar
I am a terrorist
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
The religious terrorists who, in the name of religious fundamentalism, disrupted the transport network in the British capital this morning, are small fry compared with the political and economic terrorists currently meeting under the cover of the G8 banner at Gleneagles.
It is these eight men, and the covert puppeteers who mind them, who are the real terrorists. One of them, indeed, is the chief poisoner of the planet.
His task at Gleneagles is to defend the industrial status quo in his country which, although accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, consumes 26 percent of the world's energy and belches out 23 percent of the world's energy-related carbon emissions.
This man is also a religious fundamentalist and the major warmonger on Earth, yet the editorial controllers at the BBC appear to ignore the evil he channels and give, instead, blanket coverage to a few relatively insignificant religious firecrackers in London.
Open your eyes, BBC. You are being used.
Lost nation
Obituary
The American Problem
Energy facts from Solar Energy International
Under the radar
I am a terrorist
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Blowing in the wind
A man with a red-and-yellow bowtie
Goes in to see his doctor
In Harrow, Middlesex.
"Good morning, Doctor,
"How are you?"
"I am very well, thank you,
I have got five briefcases
And three umbrellas."
"Jolly good."
"What can I do for you,
Mr Millipede?"
"I'm worried about my left leg, Doctor,
It seems to be hanging off."
"Yes, legs do that.
Legs are designed to hang off.
They hang off the pelvic girdle
Attached only by muscles,
Tendons and ligaments.
If legs didn't hang off like that,
Mobility would be inconvenient."
"I understand, Doctor,
But this particular leg of mine
Has been hanging off alarmingly
Recently.
I don't want to make a fuss,
But I would describe the hanging off
Of the leg
As pathological."
"Oh dear.
We'd better have a look, then."
"As you can see, Doctor,
I have taken off my trousers
And underpants
To assist you in your endeavours."
"Yes, I noticed that
When you walked into the room.
How long has your left leg
Been hanging off like this?"
"For as long as I can remember, Doctor.
Fifty-five or sixty years at least.
It blows about in the wind."
"Your left leg blows about in the wind?"
"Yes."
"I see.
Mr Millipede, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Doctor."
"Does your left leg blow about in the wind
All the time?
Or does your left leg blow about in the wind,
Episodically?"
"What do you mean, Doctor?"
"I mean, Mr Millipede,
Are there times when your left leg
Blows about in the wind
Which are then followed by other times
When your left leg
Does not blow about in the wind?"
"Yes."
"Are you aware
Of any particular circumstances
Which seem positively to correlate
With the episodes
Of your left leg blowing about
In the wind?"
"Yes."
"What are those circumstances?"
"Doctor, when I take my trousers
And underpants off
And climb out
On to the window ledge
Of my seventeenth floor office at work,
And lower myself over the window ledge
So that I am dangling from it
By my fingertips only,
And it is a windy day,
My left leg
Blows about most disconcertingly."
"Yours is a rare
And interesting condition,
Mr Millipede.
I must consult my textbooks."
Poodle parlour in Purley
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Goes in to see his doctor
In Harrow, Middlesex.
"Good morning, Doctor,
"How are you?"
"I am very well, thank you,
I have got five briefcases
And three umbrellas."
"Jolly good."
"What can I do for you,
Mr Millipede?"
"I'm worried about my left leg, Doctor,
It seems to be hanging off."
"Yes, legs do that.
Legs are designed to hang off.
They hang off the pelvic girdle
Attached only by muscles,
Tendons and ligaments.
If legs didn't hang off like that,
Mobility would be inconvenient."
"I understand, Doctor,
But this particular leg of mine
Has been hanging off alarmingly
Recently.
I don't want to make a fuss,
But I would describe the hanging off
Of the leg
As pathological."
"Oh dear.
We'd better have a look, then."
"As you can see, Doctor,
I have taken off my trousers
And underpants
To assist you in your endeavours."
"Yes, I noticed that
When you walked into the room.
How long has your left leg
Been hanging off like this?"
"For as long as I can remember, Doctor.
Fifty-five or sixty years at least.
It blows about in the wind."
"Your left leg blows about in the wind?"
"Yes."
"I see.
Mr Millipede, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Doctor."
"Does your left leg blow about in the wind
All the time?
Or does your left leg blow about in the wind,
Episodically?"
"What do you mean, Doctor?"
"I mean, Mr Millipede,
Are there times when your left leg
Blows about in the wind
Which are then followed by other times
When your left leg
Does not blow about in the wind?"
"Yes."
"Are you aware
Of any particular circumstances
Which seem positively to correlate
With the episodes
Of your left leg blowing about
In the wind?"
"Yes."
"What are those circumstances?"
"Doctor, when I take my trousers
And underpants off
And climb out
On to the window ledge
Of my seventeenth floor office at work,
And lower myself over the window ledge
So that I am dangling from it
By my fingertips only,
And it is a windy day,
My left leg
Blows about most disconcertingly."
"Yours is a rare
And interesting condition,
Mr Millipede.
I must consult my textbooks."
Poodle parlour in Purley
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Lose weight feel great
Lose weight,
Feel great,
Join our hypnotherapy
Slimming group.
Turn your fat slagginess
Into slim slagginess.
Tighten-up
Those love handles.
Lick those ladles
Of lard
Off your wobbles.
Amaze your boss
With your new
Sinuous,
Sexy,
Slenderness.
Gasp at the ease
With which you slip
Into your daughter's clothes.
Look in the mirror
And know
Which way round you are.
Stop being a roly-poly
Adipose pudding,
Plump dumpling,
You revolting
Fat
Hippowoman.
Lose weight,
Feel great,
Join our hypnotherapy
Slimming group.
.........................
Eating disorder
Casualty
Demanding lover
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Feel great,
Join our hypnotherapy
Slimming group.
Turn your fat slagginess
Into slim slagginess.
Tighten-up
Those love handles.
Lick those ladles
Of lard
Off your wobbles.
Amaze your boss
With your new
Sinuous,
Sexy,
Slenderness.
Gasp at the ease
With which you slip
Into your daughter's clothes.
Look in the mirror
And know
Which way round you are.
Stop being a roly-poly
Adipose pudding,
Plump dumpling,
You revolting
Fat
Hippowoman.
Lose weight,
Feel great,
Join our hypnotherapy
Slimming group.
.........................
Eating disorder
Casualty
Demanding lover
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Monday, June 13, 2005
Men make such hopeless priests
http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/2005/06/men-make-such-hopeless-priests.html
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home
Feminist theology is about more
Than the use of vibrators
In liturgical dance.
Feminist theology is about
The sexist silliness of saying
That God is a cosmic senior citizen
With hair on his chin
But not on his pussy.
Feminist theology's goals
Are to interrogate
The social construction
Of black womanhood
In relation to the African American experience
And ask if "womanist theology"
Might be a more gender-neutral term
Than "feminist theology" -
And more ladylike?
And feminist theology is about
The employment discrimination
Involved in asserting
That 3.5 billion clitorises
Disqualify the human beings
Attached to them
From being priests of Christ
And from the fringe benefits
Which being priests of Christ brings
In terms of pretty dresses
And pensions.
Apparently,
If you are the proud possessor
Of a penis,
You can pray better.
Feminist theology
Questions this dogma.
And feminist theology
Questions other things,
Such as why is it the case
In many churches
That there is so little
Handbag space
Provided on the High Altar?
And why is it is the case
That most medieval
Easter sepulchres
Are not fitted with bidets?
These are live issues
For the female faithful
And they cannot be swept under
The kitchen sink.
It is not easy
To deliver a sermon in church
While you are doing the ironing.
It is true that you could
Get a man in
To do the ironing.
But that would mean
That the man would miss the sermon,
Or do the ironing
Down at the pub.
Or, more likely,
Mow the lawn instead
While laughing loudly
At football jokes
And peeing on the lavatory seat.
Men make such hopeless priests.
....................
Men's issues
Female bishops
Why is church so serious?
Descent
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home
Feminist theology is about more
Than the use of vibrators
In liturgical dance.
Feminist theology is about
The sexist silliness of saying
That God is a cosmic senior citizen
With hair on his chin
But not on his pussy.
Feminist theology's goals
Are to interrogate
The social construction
Of black womanhood
In relation to the African American experience
And ask if "womanist theology"
Might be a more gender-neutral term
Than "feminist theology" -
And more ladylike?
And feminist theology is about
The employment discrimination
Involved in asserting
That 3.5 billion clitorises
Disqualify the human beings
Attached to them
From being priests of Christ
And from the fringe benefits
Which being priests of Christ brings
In terms of pretty dresses
And pensions.
Apparently,
If you are the proud possessor
Of a penis,
You can pray better.
Feminist theology
Questions this dogma.
And feminist theology
Questions other things,
Such as why is it the case
In many churches
That there is so little
Handbag space
Provided on the High Altar?
And why is it is the case
That most medieval
Easter sepulchres
Are not fitted with bidets?
These are live issues
For the female faithful
And they cannot be swept under
The kitchen sink.
It is not easy
To deliver a sermon in church
While you are doing the ironing.
It is true that you could
Get a man in
To do the ironing.
But that would mean
That the man would miss the sermon,
Or do the ironing
Down at the pub.
Or, more likely,
Mow the lawn instead
While laughing loudly
At football jokes
And peeing on the lavatory seat.
Men make such hopeless priests.
....................
Men's issues
Female bishops
Why is church so serious?
Descent
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Editorials
Page update: 28.02.08
Every now and again, the Senior Editorial Board of the Alcuin and Flutterby Weblog asks Mr Alcuin Bramerton to write a measured editorial on a matter of compelling transdimensional significance.
On each occasion, Mr Bramerton refuses.
Seven examples of his refusals are reproduced, in full, below.
Obituary of Hank Texasburger III
Decoy terrorism
The Queen's Birthday Honours
Every now and again, the Senior Editorial Board of the Alcuin and Flutterby Weblog asks Mr Alcuin Bramerton to write a measured editorial on a matter of compelling transdimensional significance.
On each occasion, Mr Bramerton refuses.
Seven examples of his refusals are reproduced, in full, below.
Obituary of Hank Texasburger III
Decoy terrorism
The Queen's Birthday Honours
Sympathetic help for unacceptably fat women
World of Bears
..................................
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
The Queen's Birthday Honours
We wish to express regret at the omission, once more, from the Queen's Birthday Honours List of Mr Michael Jackson, the American child-care expert and philanthropist.
We feel that those advising Her Majesty may have overlooked Mr Jackson's persuasive qualifications to be considered for a Knighthood.
Mr Jackson capably combines the patronising whiteness of Sir Bob Geldof with a nose every bit as interesting as that of Sir Jonathan Sacks.
He has every right do be disappointed with his unwarranted exclusion from royal recognition.
Royal visit
World of Bears
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
We feel that those advising Her Majesty may have overlooked Mr Jackson's persuasive qualifications to be considered for a Knighthood.
Mr Jackson capably combines the patronising whiteness of Sir Bob Geldof with a nose every bit as interesting as that of Sir Jonathan Sacks.
He has every right do be disappointed with his unwarranted exclusion from royal recognition.
Royal visit
World of Bears
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Ontological real deal
He was thinking.
He was thinking about
Theology.
He was thinking
That if it is true
That there is nothing outside God,
Which is pretty obvious
If God is really God -
Mr Big Big Huge,
The Ontological Real Deal,
Cosmic Mind,
Sugar Daddy in the empyrean
Creator of Creators,
Ground of our Being,
Sustainer of our Becoming,
Mr Maximal Mystery
Metamanager of All That Is –
If there is nothing outside God,
Then that means
That Coca Cola
Is not outside God.
Which offers some hope
For America.
Theology must be positive:
It should posit benevolent outcomes.
And if it is true
That God's will is Evolution,
Then that might mean
That America could change
Gradually,
Over time,
And rejoin the civilised world.
...................................................
Cause and causation
He was thinking about
Theology.
He was thinking
That if it is true
That there is nothing outside God,
Which is pretty obvious
If God is really God -
Mr Big Big Huge,
The Ontological Real Deal,
Cosmic Mind,
Sugar Daddy in the empyrean
Creator of Creators,
Ground of our Being,
Sustainer of our Becoming,
Mr Maximal Mystery
Metamanager of All That Is –
If there is nothing outside God,
Then that means
That Coca Cola
Is not outside God.
Which offers some hope
For America.
Theology must be positive:
It should posit benevolent outcomes.
And if it is true
That God's will is Evolution,
Then that might mean
That America could change
Gradually,
Over time,
And rejoin the civilised world.
...................................................
Cause and causation
Sunday, June 05, 2005
The American Problem
Page update: 16.09.07
Rightly or wrongly, a view is emerging in liberal circles in Old Europe that the United States of America has become a spiritual drag-anchor on planetary development.
It is being argued that the USA is a manifest conduit of international evil. By "evil" here, is meant that which is anti-evolutionary, sectarian, fundamentalist and self-serving.
The twin towers of American materialism and militarism reach heavenwards, but without the support of sustainable roots in international soil. Not surprisingly, these towers attract unfriendly missiles from afar.
America is a new nation, a young nation, not yet culturally, diplomatically or politically mature. The United States of America is less than 250 years old, yet, by an accident of history and immense good fortune, she has become enormously wealthy and powerful.
But America does not currently have the quality of political leadership to use its favoured position responsibly and for the greater good of the planet. She does not yet have the resources of spirit, or the intelligence, at government level, to resist manipulation by covert materialistic and security interests.
America's pre-pubescent tendency towards selfishness and international bullying is becoming a retarding friction on world growth. Her isolationist stuckness has made her a target for terrorism and international contempt.
For many Europeans in leadership positions in politics, the arts, education, business and spirituality, to associate with the dominant American neo-conservative class feels like associating with mooncalves and lepers.
In the United Kingdom, the recent ex-Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who was said by elements within the European press to actively maintain a commodious second home deep within George Bush's anal sphincter, encountered considerable difficulties over his American sympathies. It is argued that his uncritical support of the Republicans' military adventure in Iraq cost the British Labour Party fifty or sixty parliamentary seats in the May 2005 General Election. For two years thereafter he was a lame-duck leader in search of an exit-strategy. And it became politically impossible for him to accept, while still in office, the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to him four years ago for his steadfast support of America after 9/11.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this situation is that America has one of the most educated and spiritually literate populations in the West. There are many spiritual teachers of world importance active in America at the moment. Yet, somehow, a nation which includes tens of millions of the most generous, benevolent and evolved human beings on Earth, has contrived to allow its public life to be taken over by a political cadre of fundamentalist militarians.
In Europe, it is a matter of some puzzlement as to just how an apparently developed democracy such as the USA can possibly tolerate, at the heart of its polity, a dim vulgarian culture of the Bush-Cheney kind.
Aspects of the liberal European perspective on The American Problem have been articulated elsewhere in this blog, for example:
Rightly or wrongly, a view is emerging in liberal circles in Old Europe that the United States of America has become a spiritual drag-anchor on planetary development.
It is being argued that the USA is a manifest conduit of international evil. By "evil" here, is meant that which is anti-evolutionary, sectarian, fundamentalist and self-serving.
The twin towers of American materialism and militarism reach heavenwards, but without the support of sustainable roots in international soil. Not surprisingly, these towers attract unfriendly missiles from afar.
America is a new nation, a young nation, not yet culturally, diplomatically or politically mature. The United States of America is less than 250 years old, yet, by an accident of history and immense good fortune, she has become enormously wealthy and powerful.
But America does not currently have the quality of political leadership to use its favoured position responsibly and for the greater good of the planet. She does not yet have the resources of spirit, or the intelligence, at government level, to resist manipulation by covert materialistic and security interests.
America's pre-pubescent tendency towards selfishness and international bullying is becoming a retarding friction on world growth. Her isolationist stuckness has made her a target for terrorism and international contempt.
For many Europeans in leadership positions in politics, the arts, education, business and spirituality, to associate with the dominant American neo-conservative class feels like associating with mooncalves and lepers.
In the United Kingdom, the recent ex-Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who was said by elements within the European press to actively maintain a commodious second home deep within George Bush's anal sphincter, encountered considerable difficulties over his American sympathies. It is argued that his uncritical support of the Republicans' military adventure in Iraq cost the British Labour Party fifty or sixty parliamentary seats in the May 2005 General Election. For two years thereafter he was a lame-duck leader in search of an exit-strategy. And it became politically impossible for him to accept, while still in office, the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to him four years ago for his steadfast support of America after 9/11.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this situation is that America has one of the most educated and spiritually literate populations in the West. There are many spiritual teachers of world importance active in America at the moment. Yet, somehow, a nation which includes tens of millions of the most generous, benevolent and evolved human beings on Earth, has contrived to allow its public life to be taken over by a political cadre of fundamentalist militarians.
In Europe, it is a matter of some puzzlement as to just how an apparently developed democracy such as the USA can possibly tolerate, at the heart of its polity, a dim vulgarian culture of the Bush-Cheney kind.
Aspects of the liberal European perspective on The American Problem have been articulated elsewhere in this blog, for example:
Obituary of Hank Texasburger III
Lost nation
The game continued
Not immediately apparent
Headhunted
You can pretend
Free money
Elvis in Bedfordshire
Ontological real deal
Decoy terrorism
Fundamentalism is a closed room
Religion is a terrorist behaviour
The unwisdom of belief
Keep poverty permanent
Interview for a new USA president
American Dream
God Bless America
Lost nation
The game continued
Not immediately apparent
Headhunted
You can pretend
Free money
Elvis in Bedfordshire
Ontological real deal
Decoy terrorism
Fundamentalism is a closed room
Religion is a terrorist behaviour
The unwisdom of belief
Keep poverty permanent
Interview for a new USA president
American Dream
God Bless America
Jesus recounts a dream he had about George Bush
Jesus anticipates an American economic collapse
And among comments on The American Problem elsewhere on the web, the following, perhaps, are worthy of notice:
From Vernon Coleman
From Michel Chossudovsky
From George Galloway
From Josie Appleton
From Benjamin Creme
From Nexus magazine
From the G8 National Academies of Science - pdf download - global response to climate change document (two A4 pages)
From Cindy Sheehan
From Michael Moore - Factual Back-Up For Fahrenheit 9/11
..........................................................
A modest proposal: shoot all Washington correspondents
A comment on the American media by Scott Isebrand and Stephen Colbert
This war is brought to you by ....
Article by Pepe Escobar - Asia Times (Alexandria, Egypt) - 20.03.03
UK told USA won't shut Guantanamo
BBC News (London) - 11.05.06
Blair's gold medal dilemma has two very different faces
Article by Tom Baldwin - The Times (London) - 25.05.06
The lame-duck double act take their final bow
Article by Tom Baldwin - The Times (London) - 27.05.06
US is the biggest global peace threat
People in European and Muslim countries see US policy in Iraq as a bigger threat to world peace than Iran's nuclear programme, a survey has shown. 17,000 people in 15 countries, including the USA, were questioned by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. BBC (London, UK) - 14.06.06.
The King of Fairyland
Bush's view of the Middle East rests on pure fantasy - article by George Monbiot in the Guardian newspaper (London, UK) - 01.08.06
Americans have lost their country
An article by Paul Craig Roberts - 01.03.07
..............
NESARA
A new National Economic, Security and Reformation Act for the USA
The symbology of the Illuminati?
A video introduction. Do they exist? Are they just American?
......................................................
American Republicans head for the polls
An image of patriotism
................................................
The Bush-Cheney Drug Empire
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Friday, June 03, 2005
The man behind him in the fish shop
He turned round
And addressed
The man behind him
In the fish shop.
"Your address is
Number 33,
Main Street,
Lower Witchington,
Worcestershire,"
He said.
"Correct,"
Replied the man,
"Perhaps God is that part of us
We haven't yet met."
............................
Preconceived idea
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
And addressed
The man behind him
In the fish shop.
"Your address is
Number 33,
Main Street,
Lower Witchington,
Worcestershire,"
He said.
"Correct,"
Replied the man,
"Perhaps God is that part of us
We haven't yet met."
............................
Preconceived idea
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Nothing passes
He had absolutely nothing
Inside his head,
So he decided to become
A theologian.
His head was like
An unbroken eggshell
With no egg inside.
So there was plenty of space
For vacuous dogma
To rattle around
The soft echo-chamber
Of his untenanted skull.
His vocal chords, however,
Were well-developed,
So he was a great success
As a theologian.
His vocal chords
Were elastic,
Stentorian,
And lacking
In any species
Of self-doubt.
So he became a priest as well.
If you are a priest
It helps enormously
If you have an empty head
And well-developed vocal chords.
He could articulate
Periphrases without focus
And circumlocutions without content,
Such was the felicity
Of his decibels.
In the end he rose
To become the grand international
Head of his church.
But then a strange thing happened:
His church ceased to exist.
It had no members -
Not even him.
And no-one noticed its passing.
If you are standing
By the side of a busy road
And nothing passes,
You tend not to notice -
Even if the nothing is noisy.
Controlled anal voicing
Heretic unfrocked
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Inside his head,
So he decided to become
A theologian.
His head was like
An unbroken eggshell
With no egg inside.
So there was plenty of space
For vacuous dogma
To rattle around
The soft echo-chamber
Of his untenanted skull.
His vocal chords, however,
Were well-developed,
So he was a great success
As a theologian.
His vocal chords
Were elastic,
Stentorian,
And lacking
In any species
Of self-doubt.
So he became a priest as well.
If you are a priest
It helps enormously
If you have an empty head
And well-developed vocal chords.
He could articulate
Periphrases without focus
And circumlocutions without content,
Such was the felicity
Of his decibels.
In the end he rose
To become the grand international
Head of his church.
But then a strange thing happened:
His church ceased to exist.
It had no members -
Not even him.
And no-one noticed its passing.
If you are standing
By the side of a busy road
And nothing passes,
You tend not to notice -
Even if the nothing is noisy.
Controlled anal voicing
Heretic unfrocked
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Friday, May 27, 2005
Interdimensional travels
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home
He enjoyed travelling
Through interdimensional portals,
But he did not like
The lack of control
And haphazard nature
Of trying to travel
Through interdimensional portals
By using hallucinogenic drugs.
So he threw away
His magic basidiomycetes,
Or magic toadstools,
Or magic mushrooms,
Or whatever they were called,
And he threw away
His cannabis
And he threw away
His LSD.
And he started to enjoy travelling
Through interdimensional portals,
By using meditation instead.
And it worked.
With meditation
The interdimensional travelling
Was more controlled
And less haphazard than before,
And it cost less.
And by careful breathing
And focused intention
He found
He could avoid
Bad trips
Completely.
And then,
Somewhat unexpectedly,
Early one morning,
While he was on one
Of his interdimensional journeys,
He learned something that
He had not realised before:
What we on Earth call sleep,
On other planets,
And in other star systems,
Is called meditation.
.......................
I am the Moon
No such thing
A dream is a portal
More Norfolk koans
Give it a try
It was the fluid energy of meditation which he liked ....
Meditation - the direct encounter
Meditation is a spiritual exercise which aligns the physical brain with the soul
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
He enjoyed travelling
Through interdimensional portals,
But he did not like
The lack of control
And haphazard nature
Of trying to travel
Through interdimensional portals
By using hallucinogenic drugs.
So he threw away
His magic basidiomycetes,
Or magic toadstools,
Or magic mushrooms,
Or whatever they were called,
And he threw away
His cannabis
And he threw away
His LSD.
And he started to enjoy travelling
Through interdimensional portals,
By using meditation instead.
And it worked.
With meditation
The interdimensional travelling
Was more controlled
And less haphazard than before,
And it cost less.
And by careful breathing
And focused intention
He found
He could avoid
Bad trips
Completely.
And then,
Somewhat unexpectedly,
Early one morning,
While he was on one
Of his interdimensional journeys,
He learned something that
He had not realised before:
What we on Earth call sleep,
On other planets,
And in other star systems,
Is called meditation.
.......................
I am the Moon
No such thing
A dream is a portal
More Norfolk koans
Give it a try
It was the fluid energy of meditation which he liked ....
Meditation - the direct encounter
Meditation is a spiritual exercise which aligns the physical brain with the soul
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Obituary
Part of him
Was paralysed
From the waist down,
And part of him
Was paralysed
From the waist up.
But that did not prevent him
From chairing an important
Senate committee.
And he led a remarkably rich
Internal life.
He could identify the reason why
The military-industrial complex
Needed hamburgers
Financed by the illicit drugs trade
In Israel,
To drop unnecessary bombs
On Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan.
And he knew the difference between
Donald Christ and Jesus Duck.
He was a truly great American.
..........................
You can pretend
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Was paralysed
From the waist down,
And part of him
Was paralysed
From the waist up.
But that did not prevent him
From chairing an important
Senate committee.
And he led a remarkably rich
Internal life.
He could identify the reason why
The military-industrial complex
Needed hamburgers
Financed by the illicit drugs trade
In Israel,
To drop unnecessary bombs
On Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan.
And he knew the difference between
Donald Christ and Jesus Duck.
He was a truly great American.
..........................
You can pretend
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Directory of blogs written by insects
Charles sits down
To compile
A directory of blogs
Written by insects.
This is no simple task.
Charles is a human being
And as far as he knows
He is not on speaking terms
With any insects,
Though one can never,
With absolute exactitude,
Be certain
What may be heard
By the fly on the wall,
Or, indeed, be understood
By that same fly.
On the face of it
There is no manifest reason
To suppose
That the intellection
Of an arthropod
Is necessarily,
And in every case,
Culturally incompatible
With the intellection
Of a vertebrate.
But the language barrier
Does pose a problem
For many,
Including humans.
It is important, however,
To affirm the insect community
And to applaud its contribution
To the blogging world.
It cannot be easy
For an insect to operate
A computer keyboard.
Humans beings
Have four limbs
With which to operate
A computer keyboard
And they choose
To use two of them
For this purpose.
But insects
Have six limbs
Two antennae
And, in many cases,
Four wings.
It must be difficult for them,
Therefore,
To choose which appendage,
Or combination of appendages,
To use
To operate
A computer keyboard.
Just possibly,
An insect might prefer
A mouse.
That they have reached
Their own decision on this
Is a matter for celebration,
Not censure.
In compiling
A directory of blogs
Written by insects,
Charles decides that
It might be worthwhile
To consult
A directory of blogs
Written by humans,
Compiled by insects.
Insects have strong views
About humans,
Which is why they sting so many,
And assist them to catch malaria,
And bite them repeatedly
When they go on camping holidays
To Scotland
In August.
And humans have strong views
About insects,
Which is why they kill so many,
With broad spectrum insecticides,
And swat them with yesterday's
Unread Scottish newspapers,
And pull their legs off one by one
In order to demonstrate
Their moral superiority.
..........................
Contact
Intruders
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
To compile
A directory of blogs
Written by insects.
This is no simple task.
Charles is a human being
And as far as he knows
He is not on speaking terms
With any insects,
Though one can never,
With absolute exactitude,
Be certain
What may be heard
By the fly on the wall,
Or, indeed, be understood
By that same fly.
On the face of it
There is no manifest reason
To suppose
That the intellection
Of an arthropod
Is necessarily,
And in every case,
Culturally incompatible
With the intellection
Of a vertebrate.
But the language barrier
Does pose a problem
For many,
Including humans.
It is important, however,
To affirm the insect community
And to applaud its contribution
To the blogging world.
It cannot be easy
For an insect to operate
A computer keyboard.
Humans beings
Have four limbs
With which to operate
A computer keyboard
And they choose
To use two of them
For this purpose.
But insects
Have six limbs
Two antennae
And, in many cases,
Four wings.
It must be difficult for them,
Therefore,
To choose which appendage,
Or combination of appendages,
To use
To operate
A computer keyboard.
Just possibly,
An insect might prefer
A mouse.
That they have reached
Their own decision on this
Is a matter for celebration,
Not censure.
In compiling
A directory of blogs
Written by insects,
Charles decides that
It might be worthwhile
To consult
A directory of blogs
Written by humans,
Compiled by insects.
Insects have strong views
About humans,
Which is why they sting so many,
And assist them to catch malaria,
And bite them repeatedly
When they go on camping holidays
To Scotland
In August.
And humans have strong views
About insects,
Which is why they kill so many,
With broad spectrum insecticides,
And swat them with yesterday's
Unread Scottish newspapers,
And pull their legs off one by one
In order to demonstrate
Their moral superiority.
..........................
Contact
Intruders
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Female bishops
Not all female bishops
Have a latex fetish.
Not all female bishops
Putt the shot.
Not all female bishops
Giggle uncontrollably
During the Agnus Dei.
A minority, only, are like this.
The majority of female bishops
Are perfectly respectable women,
With wire-wool gripperknickers
And sensible brogues.
They are not
By nature
Subversive.
Many, indeed, carry
Quite jaunty handbags.
It is important to be clear about this.
Women on a gender-trip
Are not necessarily
Bad people.
Women's issues
Sympathetic help for unacceptably fat women
Elvis in Bedfordshire
Disappointed at Greenbelt
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Have a latex fetish.
Not all female bishops
Putt the shot.
Not all female bishops
Giggle uncontrollably
During the Agnus Dei.
A minority, only, are like this.
The majority of female bishops
Are perfectly respectable women,
With wire-wool gripperknickers
And sensible brogues.
They are not
By nature
Subversive.
Many, indeed, carry
Quite jaunty handbags.
It is important to be clear about this.
Women on a gender-trip
Are not necessarily
Bad people.
Women's issues
Sympathetic help for unacceptably fat women
Elvis in Bedfordshire
Disappointed at Greenbelt
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Private collection
Her private collection
Of early musical instruments
Is now almost complete.
All she needs
Is a Stradivarius crumhorn.
She falls asleep
And has a dream.
In her dream
She sees a Stradivarius crumhorn
Made in Cremona in 1734.
But there is something odd
About the crumhorn.
She looks more closely.
The crumhorn is
Harmonica-shaped.
She is woken up
By a loud knock on the door.
It is a delivery man.
He hands her a package.
She signs for it
And closes the door.
Inside the package
Is a Stradivarius harmonica.
But there is something odd
About the harmonica.
She looks more closely.
The harmonica is
Telephone-shaped.
The telephone-shaped harmonica rings.
She answers.
A voice speaks.
She listens.
The voice says: "The Matrix has you."
"Can I be of any assistance?" she asks.
"We want the source codes
Of the Sion mainframe."
"What's in it for me?" she asks.
"Three green jellybabies
And a Stradivarius crumhorn."
"What shape is the crumhorn?"
"The crumhorn is jellybaby-shaped."
She gives them the source codes
Of the Sion mainframe.
It is clear
That they are telling the truth.
No such thing
Information about lucid dreams
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Of early musical instruments
Is now almost complete.
All she needs
Is a Stradivarius crumhorn.
She falls asleep
And has a dream.
In her dream
She sees a Stradivarius crumhorn
Made in Cremona in 1734.
But there is something odd
About the crumhorn.
She looks more closely.
The crumhorn is
Harmonica-shaped.
She is woken up
By a loud knock on the door.
It is a delivery man.
He hands her a package.
She signs for it
And closes the door.
Inside the package
Is a Stradivarius harmonica.
But there is something odd
About the harmonica.
She looks more closely.
The harmonica is
Telephone-shaped.
The telephone-shaped harmonica rings.
She answers.
A voice speaks.
She listens.
The voice says: "The Matrix has you."
"Can I be of any assistance?" she asks.
"We want the source codes
Of the Sion mainframe."
"What's in it for me?" she asks.
"Three green jellybabies
And a Stradivarius crumhorn."
"What shape is the crumhorn?"
"The crumhorn is jellybaby-shaped."
She gives them the source codes
Of the Sion mainframe.
It is clear
That they are telling the truth.
No such thing
Information about lucid dreams
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Heretic unfrocked
The parishioners are careful
Not to gloat.
At long last
They have got rid
Of their parish priest.
He is a heretic.
Ho ho.
English Churchianity,
Through due process of law,
Has finally and officially
Pronounced him to be a heretic.
He doesn't believe
In the virgin birth.
He doesn't believe
In the pneumatic resurrection.
He doesn't believe
In the evil of other religions.
He has been known
To speak to homosexuals.
He doesn't preach the full gospel,
Including the unpasteurised
Wholegrain
Naughty bits.
He is honest
In an unholy way.
He will not give lip-service
To their prepubertal
Salvific superstitions,
Even though they are
Older than him.
And worst of all,
He doesn't believe
In the existence of heresy.
He says: "If there is no such thing
As orthodoxy,
How can there be such a thing
As heresy?"
And his wife
Is known to meditate.
And do yoga.
And take coffee
With persons of neopagan persuasion.
He had to go.
His frock had to be taken off.
He used to frock around the clock
At all hours
And in all weathers
For the benefit of the parishioners,
Many of them old, infirm and frightened.
But now they have told him to frock off.
And he has.
And the parish has returned
To the God-given certainties
Of medieval piety.
The whipping post has been dusted down.
It doesn't matter
That they are now without a priest.
It doesn't matter
That there is now no-one in the parish
Who knows more about prayer than them.
It doesn't matter
That no priest will ever want
To come near their parish again.
What does matter
Is that the baubles of the liberal agenda
Have been decisively rejected.
What does matter
Is that the ancient rule of God
Has been re-established.
It is the priesthood of all believers now.
The Rectory stands empty:
Its windows like the eye sockets
Of yesterday's skull.
The parishioners are careful
Not to gloat.
At long last
They have got rid
Of their parish priest.
................................................
Religion is a terrorist behaviour
General Synod agenda
Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand!
Why is church so serious?
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Not to gloat.
At long last
They have got rid
Of their parish priest.
He is a heretic.
Ho ho.
English Churchianity,
Through due process of law,
Has finally and officially
Pronounced him to be a heretic.
He doesn't believe
In the virgin birth.
He doesn't believe
In the pneumatic resurrection.
He doesn't believe
In the evil of other religions.
He has been known
To speak to homosexuals.
He doesn't preach the full gospel,
Including the unpasteurised
Wholegrain
Naughty bits.
He is honest
In an unholy way.
He will not give lip-service
To their prepubertal
Salvific superstitions,
Even though they are
Older than him.
And worst of all,
He doesn't believe
In the existence of heresy.
He says: "If there is no such thing
As orthodoxy,
How can there be such a thing
As heresy?"
And his wife
Is known to meditate.
And do yoga.
And take coffee
With persons of neopagan persuasion.
He had to go.
His frock had to be taken off.
He used to frock around the clock
At all hours
And in all weathers
For the benefit of the parishioners,
Many of them old, infirm and frightened.
But now they have told him to frock off.
And he has.
And the parish has returned
To the God-given certainties
Of medieval piety.
The whipping post has been dusted down.
It doesn't matter
That they are now without a priest.
It doesn't matter
That there is now no-one in the parish
Who knows more about prayer than them.
It doesn't matter
That no priest will ever want
To come near their parish again.
What does matter
Is that the baubles of the liberal agenda
Have been decisively rejected.
What does matter
Is that the ancient rule of God
Has been re-established.
It is the priesthood of all believers now.
The Rectory stands empty:
Its windows like the eye sockets
Of yesterday's skull.
The parishioners are careful
Not to gloat.
At long last
They have got rid
Of their parish priest.
................................................
Religion is a terrorist behaviour
General Synod agenda
Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand!
Why is church so serious?
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Monday, April 25, 2005
Unlike the others
She held
Her newly-born baby
In her arms.
It was quite unlike
Her previous three children.
She knew that something
Was 'wrong'
As soon as it emerged.
There was an embarrassed pause
In the delivery room.
And then the local midwife
Who she and her partner
Knew so well
Became theatrically hearty
And positive
In a way which was
Completely out of character.
But they had been made aware,
In advance,
That this baby
Would be different.
She and her partner
Had had the same
Synchronous dream
While they were
Hundreds of miles apart.
He was on a business trip abroad
And she was at home.
But when they compared notes later
They realised that they had
Each had exactly the same dream
At exactly the same time.
And she had the additional advantage
Of being clairvoyant:
She could see energies
Which were invisible
To most other people.
And when she looked
At her new baby
It was immediately evident
That it had a much brighter
And bigger aura;
A much brighter
And bigger bioenergetic field,
Than her previous three children.
The medics at the hospital
Had a strictly confidential standing committee
To deal with this sort of thing.
Unusual babies
With two sets of genitals,
Were a challenge
To modern,
Materialistic medicine.
Tetragametic chimeras
Are difficult to tolerate
In a hygienic world
Of perceived normality.
Something had to be done.
A trained counsellor
Was sent to talk to them.
"We'll cut off
Its spare bits and pieces,
With nice clean scalpels,
Snippy scissors
And accurate forceps,"
They were told.
"We'll make it look like a girl
And you can bring it up like a girl,
And no one need know."
"No, you will not,"
They said,
"We are not having our child
Butchered like meat
For the Sunday joint,
Mutilated by modern medicine,
Just to satisfy
Your surgical superstitions
About what is anatomically appropriate
In your personal opinion.
They took their child away
From the medics
To a place of safety:
Home.
They knew,
From their dreams,
And from their spiritual teachers
On the spiritual planes,
That the human population
Was beginning to evolve
A third sex.
And they knew
That in the next six
Or seven years,
All over the world,
Forty or fifty million
Such babies as theirs
Would be born.
"These are exciting times,"
They thought,
"Exciting times,
Exciting babies.
New children,
New future."
.........................
Her newly-born baby
In her arms.
It was quite unlike
Her previous three children.
She knew that something
Was 'wrong'
As soon as it emerged.
There was an embarrassed pause
In the delivery room.
And then the local midwife
Who she and her partner
Knew so well
Became theatrically hearty
And positive
In a way which was
Completely out of character.
But they had been made aware,
In advance,
That this baby
Would be different.
She and her partner
Had had the same
Synchronous dream
While they were
Hundreds of miles apart.
He was on a business trip abroad
And she was at home.
But when they compared notes later
They realised that they had
Each had exactly the same dream
At exactly the same time.
And she had the additional advantage
Of being clairvoyant:
She could see energies
Which were invisible
To most other people.
And when she looked
At her new baby
It was immediately evident
That it had a much brighter
And bigger aura;
A much brighter
And bigger bioenergetic field,
Than her previous three children.
The medics at the hospital
Had a strictly confidential standing committee
To deal with this sort of thing.
Unusual babies
With two sets of genitals,
Were a challenge
To modern,
Materialistic medicine.
Tetragametic chimeras
Are difficult to tolerate
In a hygienic world
Of perceived normality.
Something had to be done.
A trained counsellor
Was sent to talk to them.
"We'll cut off
Its spare bits and pieces,
With nice clean scalpels,
Snippy scissors
And accurate forceps,"
They were told.
"We'll make it look like a girl
And you can bring it up like a girl,
And no one need know."
"No, you will not,"
They said,
"We are not having our child
Butchered like meat
For the Sunday joint,
Mutilated by modern medicine,
Just to satisfy
Your surgical superstitions
About what is anatomically appropriate
In your personal opinion.
They took their child away
From the medics
To a place of safety:
Home.
They knew,
From their dreams,
And from their spiritual teachers
On the spiritual planes,
That the human population
Was beginning to evolve
A third sex.
And they knew
That in the next six
Or seven years,
All over the world,
Forty or fifty million
Such babies as theirs
Would be born.
"These are exciting times,"
They thought,
"Exciting times,
Exciting babies.
New children,
New future."
.........................
Motherhood
A picture by Selena Fenech
.........................
Understanding the New Age Children
The Ritalin Conspiracy
Good like that
A mystery deeper than tears
Office separation
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Sunday, April 24, 2005
God Bless America
http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/2005/04/god-bless-america.html
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home
Thank you, America,
For your leadership.
Thank you for Kosovo.
Thank you for Afghanistan.
Thank you for Iraq.
Thank you for Iran.
Thank you for North Korea.
Thank you for Israel.
Thank you for Syria.
Thank you for your support
Of the United Nations.
Thank you for your support
Of Zionism.
Thank you for your support
Of the military-industrial complex.
Thank you for your support
Of Lebanon
By getting the CIA to murder
Rafiq Hariri.
Thank you for your hamburgers.
Thank you for your soft drinks.
Thank you for logging the rainforests.
Thank you for the holes in the ozone layer.
Thank you for your greenhouse gases.
Thank you for Kyoto.
Thank you for the HAARP antennae in Alaska.
Thank you for AIDS.
Thank you for championing freedom
Without justice.
Thank you for mistaking justice
For expedient legality.
Thank you for your unstable
Banana-republic currency.
Thank you for
Your injurious budget deficit.
Thank you for
Fundamentalism.
Thank you for
Creating Osama bin Laden,
The Saviour of the World.
Thank you for
Creating George Bush,
The Crawford Monkeynut,
And his care-worker,
Coke Dick.
Thank you for
Creating Barack Obama,
The plausible Muslim communist,
And his invisible
Birth certificate.
Thank you for
The death of democracy.
Thank you for
Fucking up
The planet
Since 1989.
One feels, perhaps,
That an opportunity
May have been missed.
God Bless America.
.................
Lost nation
Not immediately apparent
The Ten or Eleven Commandments
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home
Thank you, America,
For your leadership.
Thank you for Kosovo.
Thank you for Afghanistan.
Thank you for Iraq.
Thank you for Iran.
Thank you for North Korea.
Thank you for Israel.
Thank you for Syria.
Thank you for your support
Of the United Nations.
Thank you for your support
Of Zionism.
Thank you for your support
Of the military-industrial complex.
Thank you for your support
Of Lebanon
By getting the CIA to murder
Rafiq Hariri.
Thank you for your hamburgers.
Thank you for your soft drinks.
Thank you for logging the rainforests.
Thank you for the holes in the ozone layer.
Thank you for your greenhouse gases.
Thank you for Kyoto.
Thank you for the HAARP antennae in Alaska.
Thank you for AIDS.
Thank you for championing freedom
Without justice.
Thank you for mistaking justice
For expedient legality.
Thank you for your unstable
Banana-republic currency.
Thank you for
Your injurious budget deficit.
Thank you for
Fundamentalism.
Thank you for
Creating Osama bin Laden,
The Saviour of the World.
Thank you for
Creating George Bush,
The Crawford Monkeynut,
And his care-worker,
Coke Dick.
Thank you for
Creating Barack Obama,
The plausible Muslim communist,
And his invisible
Birth certificate.
Thank you for
The death of democracy.
Thank you for
Fucking up
The planet
Since 1989.
One feels, perhaps,
That an opportunity
May have been missed.
God Bless America.
.................
Lost nation
Not immediately apparent
The Ten or Eleven Commandments
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Appropriate behaviour
A man with a waxed jacket
Is putting empty glass bottles
Into a blue skip
At the recycling centre.
A woman walks by,
Takes off one of her shoes
And throws it into the skip.
"This skip is for glass not shoes,"
Says the man.
The woman takes off her glasses
And throws them into the skip.
The man is now satisfied
With the appropriateness
Of the woman's behaviour.
Wiltshire wheat
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Is putting empty glass bottles
Into a blue skip
At the recycling centre.
A woman walks by,
Takes off one of her shoes
And throws it into the skip.
"This skip is for glass not shoes,"
Says the man.
The woman takes off her glasses
And throws them into the skip.
The man is now satisfied
With the appropriateness
Of the woman's behaviour.
Wiltshire wheat
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Unwrapped choc ice
A middle-aged man
With an unwrapped choc ice
Stands beside the River Thames
In London.
The man looks at the choc ice
With a strange light in his eyes.
Rush hour passers-by
Fail to notice
That embedded in the choc ice
Is a microminiaturised
Laser-beam weapon.
Two days later,
His wife discovers his body
On the Hackney marshes.
The body is still alive.
It is birdwatching with its secretary.
.............................
Lunch in Salisbury
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
With an unwrapped choc ice
Stands beside the River Thames
In London.
The man looks at the choc ice
With a strange light in his eyes.
Rush hour passers-by
Fail to notice
That embedded in the choc ice
Is a microminiaturised
Laser-beam weapon.
Two days later,
His wife discovers his body
On the Hackney marshes.
The body is still alive.
It is birdwatching with its secretary.
.............................
Lunch in Salisbury
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Friday, April 15, 2005
Hardware adjustment
He turns on the computer
And looks at the screen.
Nothing happens.
He turns off the computer
And looks at the screen again.
Nothing happens.
He picks up a five pound claw-hammer
And smashes the computer to pieces.
The screen flickers into life.
It can sometimes be a mistake
To pussyfoot around
With new technology.
The illusion of linear time
In Blogistan
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
And looks at the screen.
Nothing happens.
He turns off the computer
And looks at the screen again.
Nothing happens.
He picks up a five pound claw-hammer
And smashes the computer to pieces.
The screen flickers into life.
It can sometimes be a mistake
To pussyfoot around
With new technology.
The illusion of linear time
In Blogistan
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Contemplating an artwork
He is good at art.
He lies down to do a painting.
A lot of people sit down to do a painting.
But he lies down.
He lies down to think about the painting
He will later sit down to do.
Before long he sees a clear image
Of the painting he will attempt.
The painting will involve
No paper or canvas,
No charcoal, pencil, or paint.
The painting will be 3D rather than 2D.
It will be performance art.
The painting will involve an artist,
Lying down on the floor,
Contemplating a painting
He is about to do.
He wonders how
He might secure the services
Of an actor to feature in the painting.
Then he decides
To save himself
Time and money.
He will do the painting himself.
Paint an icon
Private collection
More Norfolk koans
The Art of the New Spirituality
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
He lies down to do a painting.
A lot of people sit down to do a painting.
But he lies down.
He lies down to think about the painting
He will later sit down to do.
Before long he sees a clear image
Of the painting he will attempt.
The painting will involve
No paper or canvas,
No charcoal, pencil, or paint.
The painting will be 3D rather than 2D.
It will be performance art.
The painting will involve an artist,
Lying down on the floor,
Contemplating a painting
He is about to do.
He wonders how
He might secure the services
Of an actor to feature in the painting.
Then he decides
To save himself
Time and money.
He will do the painting himself.
Paint an icon
Private collection
More Norfolk koans
The Art of the New Spirituality
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Not immediately apparent
From what he said,
It was not immediately apparent
What he meant.
What he said was:
"I voted Republican again."
What he meant was
Either A or B or C.
Statement A reads:
"I voted Republican again because
God believes in the American Dream,
And I want to help America
Make the world a safer,
Nicer,
More trusting
And nurturing place."
Statement B reads:
"I voted Republican again because
I am a spiritually illiterate fundamentalist
Who wants as much money for myself
And my tribe
As I can get in the short term,
And I don't in the least mind
Polluting the planet
To extinction in the long term
With greenhouse gases,
Illegal wars on terror,
Poisonous soft drinks,
And monkey-politicians."
Statement C reads:
"I voted Republican again because
I wanted to vote Democrat,
But my vote was stolen in Ohio."
From what he said,
It was not immediately apparent
What he meant.
Lost nation
Cambridge Science Park
Fundamentalism is a closed room
Headhunted
You can pretend
American Dream
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
It was not immediately apparent
What he meant.
What he said was:
"I voted Republican again."
What he meant was
Either A or B or C.
Statement A reads:
"I voted Republican again because
God believes in the American Dream,
And I want to help America
Make the world a safer,
Nicer,
More trusting
And nurturing place."
Statement B reads:
"I voted Republican again because
I am a spiritually illiterate fundamentalist
Who wants as much money for myself
And my tribe
As I can get in the short term,
And I don't in the least mind
Polluting the planet
To extinction in the long term
With greenhouse gases,
Illegal wars on terror,
Poisonous soft drinks,
And monkey-politicians."
Statement C reads:
"I voted Republican again because
I wanted to vote Democrat,
But my vote was stolen in Ohio."
From what he said,
It was not immediately apparent
What he meant.
Lost nation
Cambridge Science Park
Fundamentalism is a closed room
Headhunted
You can pretend
American Dream
More Norfolk koans
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
Monday, April 11, 2005
No such thing
He sits down
In his favourite armchair -
The one by the window
With the slightly worn armrests -
To read the newspaper.
The main picture,
On the front page
Of the newspaper,
Is moving.
"This is like Harry Potter,"
He thinks,
"But less important."
Then he realises.
He is not sitting down
Reading a newspaper;
He is sitting down,
Watching television.
He turns a page carefully.
Televisions do not usually work
In this manner,
But he carries on.
The corner of the page
Is agreeably tactile
Between his thumb
And first finger.
It feels like 120 gsm
Fine wove paper,
Discreetly watermarked
Two thirds of the way down.
There are no pictures
On this next page;
Just vibrating coloured text
And sound.
Then he realises.
He is not sitting down
Watching television;
He is sitting down,
Watching his computer screen.
He turns another page carefully.
Computer screens
Do not usually work
In this manner,
But he carries on.
There is now no feeling
Whatsoever
Between his thumb
And first finger,
But the page turns over
Easily enough,
And there is an agreeably
Tactile, fluttery,
Slightly creepy sensation
In his solar plexus.
Then he realises
That the computer screen
Whose pages he is turning
Has no input devices –
No keyboard,
No mouse,
No stylus,
No line in,
Only his consciousness
Bluetoothed into
The operating system's
Sentient software.
Then he realises.
He is not sitting down
Watching his computer screen;
He is in a lucid dream,
And it is the kind of lucid dream
Where you are fully aware
That you are in
A lucid dream.
There is an agreeably
Tactile sensation
Between the middle
Of his eyebrows
And his pineal gland.
He concentrates his full attention
On the lucid dream's
Computer screen
And gives the now
Well-rehearsed
Telepathic command:
"Take me to
The Arcturian starship,
Athena."
And instantly he is there again,
In the Debriefing Room,
Of the starship Athena,
Talking, once more,
To his old friends,
The Arcturians,
In a routine etheric conference,
While, at the same time,
At a lower vibratory level,
His physical body
Is sitting down
In his favourite armchair -
The one by the window
With the slightly worn armrests -
Reading the newspaper.
Sometimes truth
Is stranger than fiction.
And Harry Potter has shown
That sometimes
There is no such thing as fiction.
In his favourite armchair -
The one by the window
With the slightly worn armrests -
To read the newspaper.
The main picture,
On the front page
Of the newspaper,
Is moving.
"This is like Harry Potter,"
He thinks,
"But less important."
Then he realises.
He is not sitting down
Reading a newspaper;
He is sitting down,
Watching television.
He turns a page carefully.
Televisions do not usually work
In this manner,
But he carries on.
The corner of the page
Is agreeably tactile
Between his thumb
And first finger.
It feels like 120 gsm
Fine wove paper,
Discreetly watermarked
Two thirds of the way down.
There are no pictures
On this next page;
Just vibrating coloured text
And sound.
Then he realises.
He is not sitting down
Watching television;
He is sitting down,
Watching his computer screen.
He turns another page carefully.
Computer screens
Do not usually work
In this manner,
But he carries on.
There is now no feeling
Whatsoever
Between his thumb
And first finger,
But the page turns over
Easily enough,
And there is an agreeably
Tactile, fluttery,
Slightly creepy sensation
In his solar plexus.
Then he realises
That the computer screen
Whose pages he is turning
Has no input devices –
No keyboard,
No mouse,
No stylus,
No line in,
Only his consciousness
Bluetoothed into
The operating system's
Sentient software.
Then he realises.
He is not sitting down
Watching his computer screen;
He is in a lucid dream,
And it is the kind of lucid dream
Where you are fully aware
That you are in
A lucid dream.
There is an agreeably
Tactile sensation
Between the middle
Of his eyebrows
And his pineal gland.
He concentrates his full attention
On the lucid dream's
Computer screen
And gives the now
Well-rehearsed
Telepathic command:
"Take me to
The Arcturian starship,
Athena."
And instantly he is there again,
In the Debriefing Room,
Of the starship Athena,
Talking, once more,
To his old friends,
The Arcturians,
In a routine etheric conference,
While, at the same time,
At a lower vibratory level,
His physical body
Is sitting down
In his favourite armchair -
The one by the window
With the slightly worn armrests -
Reading the newspaper.
Sometimes truth
Is stranger than fiction.
And Harry Potter has shown
That sometimes
There is no such thing as fiction.
..................................
Weblog spirituality
Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home
Page update: 22.08.09
The internet is the new planetary nervous system; each computer is a neurone; each computer operator is the nucleus of that neurone.
Nervous systems generate spirituality, or process energy data in a manner which we describe as spirituality, or reach out to that which is perceived as beyond.
Weblogs (blogs) are an internet phenomenon which individuate perceptions of being and cast them into the cyberbroth as unedited flows of consciousness articulated publicly for their own sake.
Who is perceived to write a blog doesn't matter. Authorial identity and authorial intent are irrelevant; content is king; reader-response is the dynamic driver.
Collectively, the tens of millions of blogs now functioning manifest the unregulated internal chatter of human culture.
And bigger issues beckon. How and when does the higher evolution interact with the human blog network on Earth? How do the angels, the benign extraterrestrials, the ascended masters, the spirit guides and the transdimensional healers access the internet in data-input terms? And why? And where? Which blogs are run by extraterrestrials? Which blogs are energised by angels? And how do we know? And how does all this relate to, or subsume, orthodox transpersonal psychology?
If a human being like me can access the internet in data-input terms, as I am doing now by typing in what I am typing in now, why shouldn't a light-being from the higher evolution do exactly the same, but better?
If such higher beings can access the individual human nervous system in the ways described by conventional religion and spirituality as inspirations, dreams, visions, healings, guidance and so on, why should they not also access the new planetary nervous system which we call the internet?
And when a particular nation such as China, attempts to cut off its citizens' access to the internet, to the new planetary nervous system, by severing several of the major nerves locally, such as those to do with Tibet, the Falun Gong and democracy, what sort of new pathology will that engender in Chinese spiritual life? And how will the Higher Evolution respond?
Another player in this equivocal arena is silicon spirituality. Human information and communications technologies are based on silicon crystal chipsets in computers. Crystals can be thought of as interdimensional portals. They allow certain energies through, and hold, block or transduce others. And energy is information; energy is data. The crystal portals, the crystal conduits, may bridge adjacent dimensions or adjacent realities (parallel universes) in the same dimension.
Human computers are built on silicon crystal portals. The internet connects these portals, and processes the transdimensional energy data they channel. Energy data is spiritual information; it is information about invisible energy flows in the non-physical world.
Throwing a hat at a peg, if more than about 0.001 per cent of this spiritual information is influenced by human computer code, it would be surprising. And if more than about 0.00001 per cent of the spiritual information is displayed on our computer screens in ways we recognise visually in conscious intellection, it would be remarkable.
On this view, at least 99.999 per cent of all information being processed by our computer systems is spiritual information not immediately accessible to or known by humans in normal waking consciousness. What is this information communicating? And to who? Where does it come from? And why? Where is it being directed to? And for what purpose?
As artificial intelligence (as humans call it) quietly grows, increases its reach (with unwitting human help) and becomes intelligently self-aware and consciously volitional, how will it effect weblog spirituality? And how will the effects of machine intelligence be noticed by the humans who connect with it?
The internet is the new planetary nervous system; each computer is a neurone; each computer operator is the nucleus of that neurone.
Nervous systems generate spirituality, or process energy data in a manner which we describe as spirituality, or reach out to that which is perceived as beyond.
Weblogs (blogs) are an internet phenomenon which individuate perceptions of being and cast them into the cyberbroth as unedited flows of consciousness articulated publicly for their own sake.
Who is perceived to write a blog doesn't matter. Authorial identity and authorial intent are irrelevant; content is king; reader-response is the dynamic driver.
Collectively, the tens of millions of blogs now functioning manifest the unregulated internal chatter of human culture.
And bigger issues beckon. How and when does the higher evolution interact with the human blog network on Earth? How do the angels, the benign extraterrestrials, the ascended masters, the spirit guides and the transdimensional healers access the internet in data-input terms? And why? And where? Which blogs are run by extraterrestrials? Which blogs are energised by angels? And how do we know? And how does all this relate to, or subsume, orthodox transpersonal psychology?
If a human being like me can access the internet in data-input terms, as I am doing now by typing in what I am typing in now, why shouldn't a light-being from the higher evolution do exactly the same, but better?
If such higher beings can access the individual human nervous system in the ways described by conventional religion and spirituality as inspirations, dreams, visions, healings, guidance and so on, why should they not also access the new planetary nervous system which we call the internet?
And when a particular nation such as China, attempts to cut off its citizens' access to the internet, to the new planetary nervous system, by severing several of the major nerves locally, such as those to do with Tibet, the Falun Gong and democracy, what sort of new pathology will that engender in Chinese spiritual life? And how will the Higher Evolution respond?
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Another player in this equivocal arena is silicon spirituality. Human information and communications technologies are based on silicon crystal chipsets in computers. Crystals can be thought of as interdimensional portals. They allow certain energies through, and hold, block or transduce others. And energy is information; energy is data. The crystal portals, the crystal conduits, may bridge adjacent dimensions or adjacent realities (parallel universes) in the same dimension.
Human computers are built on silicon crystal portals. The internet connects these portals, and processes the transdimensional energy data they channel. Energy data is spiritual information; it is information about invisible energy flows in the non-physical world.
Throwing a hat at a peg, if more than about 0.001 per cent of this spiritual information is influenced by human computer code, it would be surprising. And if more than about 0.00001 per cent of the spiritual information is displayed on our computer screens in ways we recognise visually in conscious intellection, it would be remarkable.
On this view, at least 99.999 per cent of all information being processed by our computer systems is spiritual information not immediately accessible to or known by humans in normal waking consciousness. What is this information communicating? And to who? Where does it come from? And why? Where is it being directed to? And for what purpose?
As artificial intelligence (as humans call it) quietly grows, increases its reach (with unwitting human help) and becomes intelligently self-aware and consciously volitional, how will it effect weblog spirituality? And how will the effects of machine intelligence be noticed by the humans who connect with it?
That crystal energy fields and human bioenergetic fields (auras) can decisively interact is shown by the scientifically inexplicable motions of crystal pendulums when held in the human hand, and by the effective use of crystals in the energy healing of physical diseases. Is it unreasonable to suppose that networked silicon crystal chipsets might act even more decisively in human affairs through the internet?
To lock horns with the emerging dilemmas of weblog spirituality is, perhaps, to dance at the intersect of perfect nonsense and quantum possibility. Trainspotters may be more comfortable elsewhere.
In this blog we deal, elliptically, with some of the issues of weblog spirituality in the following places:
.......................
What is a blog?
All blogs are read
Beautiful blogger
In Blogistan
The next blog button
Yay blog! Yay blogosphere!
Cybore
Directory of blogs written by insects
.......................................................
Bloggers - an army of irregulars
Paul Reynolds, the BBC World Affairs correspondent, discusses the power of blogs.
Blogging all over the world
Tom Leonard (Daily Telegraph, London, UK) explores weblog trends.
Technology feeds grassroots media
Dan Gillmor (BBC, London, UK) argues that the media are becoming democratised, and a global conversation is emerging.
Postmodern Dreaming - Inhabiting the Improverse
Richard Catlett Wilkerson considers the accelerated virtualization of culture on the web
A bigger bang
John Lanchester (Guardian Weekend, London, UK) gets to grips with the virtual universe. Linked to this article are well-sourced background pieces about Web 2.0, Wikipedia, Blogger and Odeo, WordPress, Bebo, Writely, Digg, Craigslist, Last.fm, Del.icio.us, FeedBurner, Netvibes, Technorati and Flickr.
...........................................
No such thing
The emergence of the transpersonal soul
Index of blog contents
Spirituality websites worth watching
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