agkistrodon_c_c

09:43 pm - favorite writers

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Here is something from an old favorite writer:

"What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love. "

Beautiful Losers (1966) ~  Leonard Cohen

Part of why that kind of love is scary, I think. but if you are fortunate enough to find it either in your own heart or the heart of the other; you are fortunate, indeed!!

Current Mood: creative

09:39 pm - relationships

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I have to be really careful how much I expect of other people. I have found relationships much easier as I damp down expectation and start just playing the cards as they are dealt, one by one by one. No past, no future, no maybe ... it is there or it is not...if it is I respond and if it isn't I fold. Oddly enough, I am geting a lot more out of this than I got out of my old ways. Like I can see more possiblity without constantly scripting what I expect\what I want\what THEY should be. Now what *I *should be is a different story.

There, anything I survive is good training!

***

Here is something from an old favorite writer:

"What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love. "

Beautiful Losers (1966) ~  Leonard Cohen

Part of why that kind of love is scary, I think. but if you are fortunate enough to find it either in your own heart or the heart of the other; you are fortunate, indeed!!

***

Current Mood: loved

10:34 pm - Philosopy and learning

When you get deep enough in any discipline you start to encounter subtle knowledge.  It CAN be communicated but it exsists at a level one step closer to reality than words exsist.  ... It is more real than the abstraction of language is real.  It cannot be communicated in words.
Words are always second to Deeds.
When you know that inside your gut and not just inside your abstracting brain;
You are close to a a major AHAH! in the wisdom department.
However, it is also a really frustrating cusp to approach.
Paradox is hard for the mind to handle. It makes people testy.

    It is a really amusing paradox when one grasps that Absolute Freedom is only the other side of the coin from Absolute Responsibility.  If one wants IT ALL then one must be prepared to sign off on all the grubby little details of the maintenance...      

Current Mood: thoughtful

10:30 pm - Moon Greeting ~'stay in touch'

Moon Greeting

I do have several friends who unite on full moon night to aid each other in spiritual growth. We simpy ask that as the reflected light of the sun is returned to the earth by the moon, may our energies and ability to direct our energies be reflected back to each of us according to our present needs. And our pact is that whenever we glimpse the full moon we send and receive the greeting of brothers and sisters who are faithful wayfaring companions. Any who read this in a spirit of good faith and fellowship are welcome. No religous requirements - (bring your own), no memberships, no dues ...LOL.

Current Mood: grateful

10:26 pm - Warriors

I.  Mercenaries

My experience with mercenary soldiers is confined to those I knew who served in the US Army in the mid to late 60's in the Vietnamese War. I met Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, Welsh, Irish, French, Swiss, Maori and Arab mercenaries. To a man, the ones I became well aquatinted with were mercenaries because they were first and foremost, professional fighting men. As mercs they had a choice that nationals do not have; they could pick the military organization they wished to join and thus the conflicts they would participate in. Some wanted citizenship as well; as the old Roman Legions granted their recruits. It wasn't quite that easy in the USA, but veterans did have quota preferences that ordinary foreign nationals did not. Some wanted access to the latest military technology. Some just fought better than they did anything else. Mercs with a wife and family, - and that was more of them than you might believe, wanted military benefits and GI insurance for their wives and children. Contrary to popular opinion, you don't get rich as a mercenary soldier. These men were almost universally valued very highly by the units they belonged to for their professionalism, and their loyalty to their chosen organization.

II. Dog Soldiers

Here is a brief synopsis of what I found in a couple hours of searching on the topic Dog Soldiers. I would encourage anyone interested to run the same searches because there is a lot of information available.

Dog Soldiers among the Indians of the Great Plains

The Dog Soldiers were the elite military society of the Plains Indians. They were founded out of the prophecies of Sweet Medicine, an archetypal Cheyenne medicine man reputed to have brought back the rules, laws and mores that established civil society among the Cheyenne; after he visited the spirit world inside Bear Butte Mountain. The Society spread to the surrounding and related tribes of the plains. The Dog Men were NOT the same as another military society, known as the Crazy Dogs. There were six or seven other similar societies and there was much rivalry between them, but the Dog Men were the dominant group.

These were the bravest of the brave. Each year the four most distinguished warriors in each band became the designated protectors of the band. They each carried one of the Four Sacred Arrows,the heart of the Medicine Bundle of each band; and they each wore a long sash known as the Dog Rope. Attached to it was a pony picket pin. In desperate situations when the tides of battle turned against them, these four would pound the stakes into the ground that they chose as the site of what would be their final battle. They then fought to the death to hold that piece of ground while the rest of the band escaped to fight another day. It is said that before the days of whites and the 50 caliber buffalo rifles, very few Dog Men ever died, due to their tenacity and ferocity. They characteristically painted their faces half black and half white, or half black and half red. When you see an Indian pony depicted with one human hand print on the haunch, you are looking at the mount of a Dog Man.

They had an intricate culture of song and dance and special costume that distinguished them from the ordinary Indian fighting man. There were 4-500 songs attributed to the Dogmen and about 1/3 of those songs are still sung by their descendants. They are also responsible for the Gourd Dances that open multi tribe powwows by cleansing and purifying the ground the dances will be held on.

Dog Men were responsible for policing the bands, especially during multi band or inter tribal powwows or buffalo hunts. They had a great deal of political power within the bands, and no treaty was every signed without their approval. When you see depictions of treaty negotiations and see a line of mounted men in battle finery sitting like statues and watching and listening; these are the Dog Men.

At the Little Big Horn, Lakota warriors neutralized Reno's column and the Dog Soldiers of the Cheyenne wiped out Custer and his troops. The Dog Man Society arose with the coming of the horse to the Plains Indians and they are still a force in American Indian Culture. Dog Men have fought in the American military in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and are still fighting in Iraq today.

Perhaps the true victory is in the face off and stand off. My enemy and I encounter, measure and appraise one another and then we both take one step out of the path of the Other and agree to disagree. Joy in the rage of battle is a very real phenomena. It is more addictive than heroin, and kills far more quickly and not as cleanly in many cases. What happens if you do not die into paradise, but live on and on and on, crippled and impaired? My buds living out their lives in the VA old soldiers homes could tell tales that would freeze your blood to solid chunks. Their daily lives in some cases would also do that. Plan, train, prepare, practice, fast,study and pray ...and then pick an enemy with more care than you would select a wife....
We who will ALL eventually die salute you.

IV.

Back in the days when oral history was the only history, memory was revered a bit more than it is now (in the days of teeny tiny cyber storage)...
The Druids memorized songs of their history and the best of them are spoken of as having numbers in the thousands. And bear in mind some of these "songs" might take more than one full day to recite...\

***

Before they got the horse, the Commanche raided from Canada to the Yucatan on foot (from central Texas). Some buck who decided he wanted to lead a party would attach himself to someone who HAD led a party and learn the route, which was literally memorized from landmark to landmark. Then he would recruit a few friends and RUN all the way to their destination and raid, and then run back home to Texas, recalling all he had learned and then seen once... BACKWARDS.  (1.)

He then had a moral obligation to teach the route to other yonger men. Can you imagine what minds like that felt when they got and realized the potential of the horse? Wheeew!

        1.  Wasn't it Ginger Rogers who did everything Fred Astaire did in high heels and BACKWARDS?
who said that first?

Current Mood: nostalgic

10:12 pm - Spirtual stance

I have taken NO refuge vows in buddha, dharma or sangha... I have made no bodisattiva vows. But I do revere the wisdom of the Shakamuni Buddha:
"You should examine my teachings thoroughly. Like a gold merchant looking to acquire pure gold, you should thoroughly go through the process of analyzing these teachings. It is extremely important for you to analyze and examine my teachings, and then, in the end, you can decide whether to adopt them. If there is any wisdom, you can adopt it. If there is nothing, just leave it. You do not have to accept these teachings. Do not accept my teachings because they are taught by a King, or a Prince. Do not accept them because they are taught by someone called "Buddha." However, accept them if they are logical, if they are reasonable, if there is wisdom in them, and if there is some benefit."

(As the Dali Lama *paraphrased* the buddah: "These are my core beliefs. Think about them and exeriment with them and if they work for you, in your own life, adopt them with my blessing. If they do not work for you, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.")

Also, when the buddah was asked if he were a god or a demon or a spirt, he answered that he was not. When they then asked him what he then WAS; he replied that HE WAS AWAKE.

From the warrior way of Zen: "If you meet the Buddah on the road, kill him."
And there ARE no contradictions here. Hmmmmmmmm.

Current Mood: awake

10:22 pm - new

new journal; a work in progress.

Current Mood: geeky