corimagua

It’s fascinating to me how preoccupied people are today with catastrophic prognoses, how books containing evidence of impending crises become bestsellers, but how very little account we take of these threats in our everyday activities….What could change the direction of today’s civilization? It is my deep conviction that the only option is a change in the sphere of the spirit, in the sphere of human conscience. It’s not enough to invent new machines, new regulations, new institutions. We must develop a new understanding of the true purpose of our existence on this Earth. Only by making such a fundamental shift will we be able to create new models of behaviour and a new set of values for the planet.

-Vaclav Havel

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

 

-Marianne Williamson

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(Espanol)

Nuestro Miedo mas Grande

 

Nuestro miedo más profundo no es que somos ineptos.

Nuestro miedo más profundo es que somos poderosos sin medida.

Es nuestra luz, no nuestra oscuridad que más nos asusta.

Nos preguntamos, ¿quién soy yo para ser brillante, encantador, talentoso, fantástico?

Al contrario, ¿quién eres tú para no serlo?

Eres un hijo de Dios. Al fingirte poca cosa no sirves al mundo.

No hay iluminación en reducirse para que otros no se sientan inseguros juntos a ti.

Nacimos para hacer manifiesta la gloria de Dios que existe dentro de nosotros.

No sólo en algunos: Existe en todos.

Cuando permitimos que nuestra luz brille, inconscientemente le damos permiso a otros a hacer lo mismo.

Cuando nos liberamos de nuestro propio miedo, nuestra presencia libera automáticamente a otros.

 

-Marianne Williamson

I like to accredit the right person when I post work which isn’t my own but i’m not exactly sure who the author or this piece is. It is generally attributed to Walt Whitman, a genius of the written word, but I couldn’t confirm it. Regardless, I’m sure whoever wrote it did it with the hopes that it would inspire others. That being said, the most important thing is to share it. Inspire and be Inspired !

Carpe Diem 

Don’t allow the day to end without having grown a bit,

without being happy, without feeding your dreams.

Don’t be defeated by discouragement.

Don’t allow anyone to take away your right to express yourself, 

which is almost a duty.

Don’t abandon the desire to make something extraordinary of your life.

Don’t stop believing that words and poetry can change the world.

No matter what happens, our essence is intact.

We are beings filled with passion.

Life is both desert and Oasis.

It knocks us down, it hurts us, it teaches us,

it turns us into the protagonists of our own stories.

Even if the winds blow against us,

the powerful masterpiece continues:

You can add a stanza.

Never stop dreaming,

because in Dreams Man can be free.

Don’t fall into the most fatal of errors: Silence.

The majority live in a frightful silence.

Don’t resign yourself to this, flee…..

“I emit my screams from the roofs of this world”, says the poet.

Value the beauty of the simple things.

One can make beautiful poetry about little things.

Don’t betray you beliefs,

because we can’t row against our own selves:

That turns life into hell.

Enjoy the panic provoked by having your life in front of you. 

Live it intensely, without mediocrity.

Remember that the future is within you,

so face your duties with pride and without fear.

Learn from those who can teach you.

From the experiences of those that preceded us,

our “Dead Poets”,

They will help you walk through life.

The society of today is us:

The “Living Poets”

Don’t allow life to get by you

without living it….. 

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(Spanish)

 

No dejes que termine el día sin haber crecido un poco,

sin haber sido feliz, sin haber alimentado tus sueños.

No te dejes vencer por el desaliento.

No permitas que nadie te quite el derecho a expresarte,

que es casi un deber.

 

No abandones las ansias de hacer de tu vida algo

extraordinario.

No dejes de creer que las palabras

y las poesías, sí pueden cambiar el mundo.

Pase lo que pase nuestra esencia está intacta.

Somos seres llenos de pasión.

La vida es desierto y es oasis.

Nos derriba, nos lastima, nos enseña,

nos convierte en protagonistas de nuestra propia historia.

Aunque el viento sople en contra,

la poderosa obra continúa:

Tú puedes aportar una estrofa.

 

No dejes nunca de soñar,

porque sólo en sueños puede ser libre el Hombre.

No caigas en el peor de los errores:

el silencio.

La mayoría vive en un silencio espantoso.

No te resignes, huye…

 

“Emito mis alaridos por los tejados

de este mundo”,dice el poeta.

Valora la belleza de las cosas simples.

Se puede hacer bella poesía sobre pequeñas cosas,

No traiciones tus creencias.

Porque no podemos remar en contra de nosotros mismos:

Eso transforma la vida en un infierno.

 

Disfruta del pánico que te provoca

tener la vida por delante.

Vívela intensamente, sin mediocridad.

Piensa que en ti está el futuro

y encara la tarea con orgullo y sin miedo.

Aprende de quienes puedan enseñarte.

Las experiencias de quienes nos precedieron,

de nuestros “Poetas Muertos”,

te ayudan a caminar por la vida.

La sociedad de hoy somos nosotros:

Los “Poetas Vivos”.

No permitas que la vida te pase a ti

sin que la vivas …

 

 

The following is an excerpt from the book Cosmography by the Great Buckminster Fuller. He was an American architect, system theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and all around genius.

“We have reached the point where no more mining need be done. In my tracking of resource curves, I discovered that the average of all metals recirculates every twenty-two and a half years. Each time they come around again, we have gained so much more know-how and can do so much more for so many more people with so much less in the way of physical resources per function that ultimately we need not mine any more. 

Long ago I saw that we could take the metals that are in all of our weaponry, melt them down, and implement them directly for livingry. I see that it is now highly feasible to institute a millennial then-year design revolution that could take care of all humanity at a much higher standard of living than anybody has ever known and could do so on a sustainable basis. During those ten years, we could also phase out forever all further use of fossil fuels and atomic energy. We can live entirely on our energy income from the Sun.

We presently have the technological option to establish 7 billion billionaires on our planet. I saw that humanity, largely unaware of its potential, might not exercise its options in time. A sense of urgency fueled my invention implementation strategies, my writing, and my speaking engagements. 

Though we humans are here in Universe to use our minds to discover principles and to employ them objectively, I find that today muscle, cunning, brains, fear, and selfishness are in control of human affairs–not mind. If mind were in control, or comes into control in time, we would certainly exercise our option to have everybody in ascendancy and come to a new kind of operating relationship with the Universe. “

 

 

 

 

-Segment taken from “The Holy Alternative: Art as Medicine, Ritual, and Environmental Activism“,

 by Katie Clancy and Emily Moore.

Deep in the backwoods of our bodies lives a wild creature that we call Soul. She is a mystery, a mystical myth that slips between the shadows and sings out through our dreams. She is faster than the speed of light, the very spark that ignited the Big Bang. Prophetic visions, irrational images, and guttural emotions–She speaks to us from within the dark pools of our subconscious.

But the engine of daily life drones into us, and we often stop listening. We forget, it seems, how to turn towards and listen into the forest. Instead, we get drunk on distractions. We funnel noise into our inner ears with fancy headphones. We stay stuck to the bright screens instead of gazing up to meet another’s eyes. 

It’s as if we are being hypnotized by a mysterious force: It keeps us taut, controlled, confused; it suffocates us with a belief that we are isolated. We toss and turn in the night, wake with a sense of anxiety, an impending doom that taunts and tells us that we are lost, that we have no home. Our bellies bloat, our bones grow brittle from poor nutrition. Why are we so tired? Why do we feel so disconnected from our bodies? Why do our brains eat themselves, and from where is that insatiable hunger churning?

This is a critical moment to heed the call of our Soul. We are confronting what Carl Jung describes as the true religious experience: when the unstoppable bullet hits the impenetrable wall. It’s time to break the spell and return back to the wilderness.

From the deeper chambers of our bodies, an uprising surges. Soul’s voice grows louder. Her song fills us with an equally intense amount of terror and ecstasy. But eventually we realize that we have no choice. Our inner warrior heart will not settle with mediocrity. We must march inwards, towards Her rhythm, blind riders moving into the unchartered psyche, to find Her again.  

 

 

 

Modified from the Original from the book Days of Destruction Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco

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As we approach the end of the twentieth century, we witness a world society that is rapidly approaching a ‘must change society’. The earth’s ecosystem can no longer tolerate the devastating demands of this society’s narcissistic definition of prosperity. Much of contemporary literature suggests that a cultural revolution is needed….. but unlike other revolutions that perpetrate doom and destruction, this pending rebellion shall be positive, reinstating optimism and renewed favorable expectations for a better society. It will be a revolution for something, rather than against something. Embodied within this pending revolution will be a consciousness-raising, new paradigm intellectualism, and perhaps, greater cosmic awareness.

-Christopher Peters, Poliklah Indian

I couldn’t find the source for this wonderful short story but good work must be shared. Enjoy 

A Recovering Thinker

It started out innocently enough….

I began to think at parties now and then — to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone — “to relax,” I told myself — but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. 

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life.She spent that night at her mother’s. 

I began to think on the job.I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka.

I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly we are doing here?” One day the boss called me in.

He said, “Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.” 

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confessed, “I’ve been thinking…”

 “I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!”

 “But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”

 “It is serious,” she said, lower lip aquiver. “You think as much as college professors, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won’t have any money!”

“That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

“I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors… They didn’t open. The library was closed. I had reached the absolute nadir of my life…

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker’s Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. 

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was “Porky’s.” Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. Our motto is ‘never have an original thought’, and we take it one step at a time. I am now at a point where I deny cause and effect, eschew science, idolize industry and business, and always think I am the only one who is right….. and I even believe that privatization is God’s rule on earth. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed…easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today, I even registered to vote…

 

-Anonymous