Forgiveness

The late post is due to a sadness in my heart and soul. Someone I love very much offended me badly tonight. Sometimes we seem to say things that sound like our heart and soul when they come out, but that turn into disgust when reflected over. I think that's what happened tonight. A hurt soul spit out words that seemed so right at the moment. I believe, although the pain I feel in my heart for being utterly hurt (pain can only be caused by the people we care for), probably does not compare to the pain the other person feels right now.

I thought I'd find something that would help me understand on the paulocoelhoblog.com and I did. There it was, loud and clear: Forgiveness.

During his pilgrimage to Mecca, a holy man was suddenly aware of God’s presence beside him. He fell into a trance, knelt down, hid his face and prayed:

‘Lord, I ask only one thing in my life, that You give me the grace never to offend You.’

‘I cannot give you that grace,’ replied the Almighty.

Surprised, the man asked why.

‘If you never offend me, I will have no reason to forgive you,’ he heard the Lord say. ‘And if I have no need to forgive you, you will soon forget the importance of being merciful to others. Therefore, continue on your way with Love, and allow me to forgive you now and then, so that you do not forget this virtue either.’

From paulocoelhoblog.com, March 5th 2009

Last beauty of winter

Morning of March 1st, 2009.

These pictures are probably showing one of the last days of the beautiful winter of this year. Spring is on its way and that makes me happy, but it cannot stop me from enjoying the beauty that revealed itself outside the window when I opened my eyes this morning.

Touched by love

For a short moment
I felt touched by love
This morning.
Like someone through a dream
would've reached for me.
For a moment of time.
A fraction in life.
Creating a wave of tender love,
it surrounded me.
For a short moment
I saw the reflection of a blue sky in my own eyes.
And the sky was full of love
as the pink petals slowly were pushed forward in the wind
as on their way through life.
As I saw them fall down
through the blue existence
I felt like moving through a dream
being touched by love
as the petals touched the ground.

Music of today: Laleh's Big City Love

Riff me up, Tamarama

I'm in love. I'm in deep love with Tamarama. I'd just wanna say "Riff me up, boys". Because what they do with that guitar is excellent. It's an instant move from ordinary life to dreaming, vacation, sitting in the car heading for the airport.

There's so much Jack [Johnson] in it, that I start to get the same feeling of being blessed, when listening to the boys of Tamarama.

This time I'll have to thank The City for introducing these soulful people to me. Jay Lyon and Nicolas Potts are doing it just right. You can here it in their riffs: the beaches of Australia, the sun, the sand, the surf. You can hear it all. You can feel it. And even though based in New York, I hope the music will keep its sense of beach.

My favourites from the Wonderland City album?
- Everything to me
- Illusions
- Sunsets

come on sunset fill our eyes
we love to watch the clouds roll by
if we hold up a second we might learn a lesson
if we hold up a second this moment’s a blessing
[Sunsets]

Get you share of love:
www.tamaramamusic.com
MySpace

Modern times of Playtime

This Valentine's day I'm giving myself a treat: I'm gonna see Jaques Tati's Playtime on the big screen for the first time. I've seen this marvelous movie a couple of times before, and I must say it's one of my all time favourites.



What's the most intriguing part is all the modernity, the bigness and beautifulness of modern ways, the almost extra-terrestrial settings of steel and glass. All of this made in 1967, a brave move from Tati, I'd say. Playtime is a film to be enjoyed with all senses, but if you are looking for a plot or a storyline - forget it. Mon Oncle that came out almost a decade before is a fabulous work of art as well. In it, the same kind of love for modernity, consumerism, all-round use of gadgets.

Shocking Politics

This Saturday morning I finally take time to promote a book I've been reading for months. Still got some 40 pages left, but I feel it's on the safe side to make my comment on it.

The book of the day is:

Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine
Read all about it

The book explores how crisis gets exploited, disaster capitalism, offering plenty of examples within its 500 pages or so, including Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Southeast Asia, September 11th, Pinochet's coup in Chile in the 70's, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Asian financial crisis.

Klein has been criticized for oversimplifying. How ever - the book is - at least for me - yet another story about how this world is showing its ugly face even when what would be needed the most is love and compassion. How a crisis can turn out to be just another mean of exploitation. How one person's disaster is another person's fortune. Klein is no economist and neither am I. That is probably why the book is both criticized and thanked. Popularisation at its best.

Some reviews:
The New York Times
The Guardian
International Herald Tribune

Read it. You don't have to agree or disagree. You just need to think.

Inspirational day

Today, starting from early in the morning, I felt this is an important day, a day of significance. Why - that I don't know. How ever, time will maybe tell.

I felt inspired right from the start. I felt happy. I felt fulfilled. That is not a bad sum for one day. I was thinking - what else has happened on this date?

Well, a lot of things, and many of great importance. But scrolling the Wikipedia I found one thing in particular that I wanted to bring forward.

1870 The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of race.

Not a bad day, February 3rd.