Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Mural on Carnalea?? Gardens... community centre???  Today i dropped Peter off at a friend's house and i saw this astonishing mural. Belfast is like that. You think you sort of know it and then you turn the corner and there is this astonishing thing that befalls you. Like this mural. I think it is enhanced by the graffitti which brings it some kind of aliveness. Like some sort of hope. But if you think this photo is great, you should see the thing itself. The thing about murals is that often they are distorted. Any mural you see. The faces are sort of not right, there is foreshortening, the perspective is off, and you accept that - it's part of the grammer, the convention of street art. But this one was pristine. It might even be the best mural i've ever seen. See if i had doen it, i'd be back everyday to stand in front of it and gaze in wonder. Assume this is the handle of the graffiittist... Before there was Banksy there was Basquiant. I saw an exhibition of ...

Well, soon the days of lolling about in bed and doing things in between that will be over and it's weird. Because at first when the holidays hit it was like M-U-S-T-R-U-N-A-R-O-U-N-D-L-I-K-E-H-E-A-D-L-E-S-S-C-H-I-C-K-E-N and then when i discovered i didn't have to do the decapitated bird thing, it felt awkward and strange. Am i such a loser that i don't have many busy things to do? And then it was fuck it, i run around ALL THE TIME CONSTANTLY, so if i'm going to be able to stay in bed and play with my new toys and OD on Ambient till i have a nose bleed i'm so going to do this. In between that we did some things, but really, with the shitey weather, just staying at home and doing home things while spending time in bed was really the best thing ever. I did manage to sort out the gazillions of bedclothes that we have and i have to throw a few duvets away. Or give them to HomePlus but they quite mangy that i wonder if they would accept them. Then I switched my bags, f...

This morning everyone was up before 8 am, and that included Peter, which was impressive seeing how he slept at like 2 am. I was, of course, making breakfast and doing the laundry, and Ghin arrived down. Sleep still smudged all over his tiny wee face, with his THREE teddies now. Oisin was up but sort of just lolling about and while they eventually got down and were having breakfast of pancakes and Muttella, as Ghin calls it, Peter arrived like Athena, fully clothed and ready to do a day's work. It's not like i'm complaining but i do enjoy my mornings pottering about and listening to music, mostly the same damn tracks over and over again. But ... anyhow. Oisin got his long division in, and then began to ask me if he could play the Xbox, and one LOOK from me silenced him because not only was he only thinking about the Xbox, he also was just neglecting his pets. Everytime people mention a dog, I point to the rabbit hutch which i more or less single handedly maintain and say, No...

Is life not very weird? I met a friend in Homebase on the Boucher and told her we were going swimming at Falls. Andersonstown has a good pool too, she said. Really? I have NEVER been to Andys'town i told her. And then later on, when we went to Falls it was closed, so... yep, after 14 years in Northern Ireland we visited Andys'town. But first.... here are photos of Oisin's room before we cleared it of his first ten years of his life. The reason why i was in Homebase to begin with was because we have decided to redecorate Oisin's room, which will doubtless take the next six months. But i took pictures of it before we took everything down. Now that it's all gone, it looks like a really dubious bedsit. But here it is before it all went. We both actually felt quite sad doing that... After the swim we went across the road for dinner, to the Kelstar which is clearly the place to get your battered fish and gourmet pizza in these parts. The traffic never l...

So here we are, the reset button for the nexy year has been mostly pressed... panckase in the morning followed by maths and some laughing with the boys. The comforting routines and activities of domesticity.... Ghin, the first photo of him taken on this camera Oisin and the giant nutella bottle and hand... Say AAAAHHHHH!!!! Lots of chocolate please mom I completed chapter four at about 3 am this morning, after mostly giving up in trying to understand what the heck was going on, but it was mostly to do with the incarnation of Christ, so... but at least now i have the back story. I did try to remember the dreams, but since i only recall a small fraction and it was mostly about trying on outdoor walking jackets, this one was red in colour, i reckon it's pretty mundane. BUT the interesting thing is that some time back i had a dream about Hermes and Steiner talks about Hermes Trimegestes so that was interesting. I'm still trying to sort it out. But yes, i think ...

So if people think i am not really concentrating on my book they would be absolutely right... not only have i managed to rearrange and organise my YouTube Playlists, fiddle around with my camera, but i have also managed to bake the bread instead of proof it. Wonderful. But i just had to share my delicious new cameras macro, zoom and then ... Look at that, National Geographic here i come Every speck of dust on this pinecone... That guinea pig was so far away and that turned oput so clear... That's just me... like self-portriat... I just need to finish chapter four and then i'll go for a walk in Stormont and take lots and lots of lovely photos of the world around me :-) I have just pain in bed for most f the day trying to get this fourth chapter done. I'm finally at the Earth incarnation and i'm now just going yeah, um, ok, whatever. Just get it over and done with. I think that when i finally finish this the overwhelming feeling i will get is firstly,...

"When, therefore, after an interval of rest, our Earth system appears as the successor of this Cosmos of Wisdom, all the beings newly emerging on the earth. developing out of their Moon germs, prove to be filled with wisdom. And this is the reason why earthly man when contemplating the things around him, is able to discover the widsom concealed in their inner nature. The wisdom in each leaf of a plant, in every bone in animal and man, in the marvelous structure of the brain and heart, fills us with admiration. If men requires wisdom to understand things, and therefore gathers wisdom from them, this shows that there is wisdom in the things themselves. For however much man might have striven to understand things by means of wise perceptions, he could not draw wisdom from them unless it had irst been put into them." I am trying to piece together the similarities between Occult Science and Hindu Cosmology, and the similarities are striking. But while reading the excerpts from t...

So because it took me an age to charge the caemra, this is the first image. I could of course go around theb house taking photos like a eejit, but i won't. Delighted with new toys... here's to a great pictorally exciting 2012...

We went to Slieve Croob this afternoon to watch the starling murmaration. Kevin said it wasn't as great as it was the last time he was there, so i said, well we can come back another time. It was so lovely to spend the day to myself out in town and the entire Belfast seemed to be filled with such lovely people. The Curry's man actually helped me get my cashback, despite the store being utterly bunged, and at the John Hewitt, everyone was so lovely too. I have no idea what is happening to the world. Anyhow, despite the boys not being there at my side, i did manage to have a great time. When we got back, at was tres dark and i got a text that they weren't coming home at all, which meant only one thing, i could play with all my new toys to my heart's delight. So i plugged in the speakers, heated up the leftovers from the Chinese on Christmas Eve, and then began reading through all the camera instructions... and then got round so some bedroom dancing... I have continu...

In Cafe Nero, i was SUPPOSED to be editing, but there is no one in NVTV... so i'm here, having an utterly indulgent mid morning before heading for Castlewellan to gawp at some starling murmuration. I am told it blows Rathlin right outta the water... with apologies to Damian. However before i subjected myself to an Americano high, i did go some consumer therapying. Well i got the new camera which i had been threatening to get now for months and months and with some cash infusion from the Far East, i have not just a new camera, but also speaker for my laptop, headphones and a new camera case. A Lowenpro, if you please. I thought fuck it, if i can spend all this money on a camera, but not on a cameracase that will be looking after it for sometime to come. That is just a fals economy. And the Curry's woman was so lovely, she like charged me only £10 for the case when it was £19.99. That has to be a first. Hmmm... my cashback from Panasonic seems to have disappeared. I did have ...

So by now it must be clear that i am - and do struggle - with a lot of the Steiner philosophy. Most especially, and recently, the creation of the cosmos, which has been hard going. I question everything, but this aspect, like some more 'spiritual' aspects are hard to question because questioning requires language and these aspects are, believe you me, beyond language. So there is only the wordlessness of our existence, ie intuition. I have been reading and rereading and finally in an effort to both stay awake and make sense of what the heck is going on, i started taking notes. Joining the dots on the page so that at least i can understand the sequence, and what is being said, even if i'm going 'This is nuts'. I am keeping an open mind, because it is critical to practise this faculty, no matter how nuts you think something it, it then enables growth, possibility... even if a tiny bit of it survives to fertilise one's own present. So after almost a week of doi...

We will now commence a round of visiting to deliver presents we didn't manage to deliver before Christmas. When i say presents they really are just the chocolates, really. Newcastle yesterday was amazing. It was 13 degrees and Ghin and i walked the low tides for at least a km. Now when i sai a km, it doesn't seem far, but my darling Ghin is not, or at least i thought he was not a walker. His usual thing is, i'll just stay here... you go... so when i began the walk i did not expect him to be the one driving it. Determined to throw stones into the water that were beyond the stones of the high beach, we walked to the far end where it was sand and water only. The walk was stunning. When i first came to this part of the world, i thought, this beach is awful. Compared to the beaches of South East Asia, which were WARM for a start, and then to the beaches of Donegal, though cold were sandy and pristine, the beaches here were terrible. Newcastle especially was terrible. The gre...

To forget about the mad cooking for four we decided to go to Slieve Donard for dinner... but it was so eye wateringly expensive that i think this is the last year we'll do this. The food was lovely but not THAT lovely. Anyhow the best part of it was being able to go walking after that on the beaches. So here are the highlights... Oisin has definitely become the clown. It was a non-stop comedy routine with him. I was exhausted. Santa got a real chatting to. Never shut up that man. Then there was the walk about the beach... mad wind swept trees Ghin was incredible and i'll say why later... How gorgeous am i? Arty shot of beach at low tide... So, the day began simply enough. The present unwrapping. They have a civilsed number of presents. Ghin got this Scaletrex set and Oisin got a pool table (second hand). Mama and Kong Kong gave them some cash. I got Ghin house slippers which he hated and a wind up lamp that he loved. Oisin got bedroom slippers ...

So for Christmas i am breaking the back of Chapter 4, Occult Science. I have attempted to read it three times and this is the fourth. To help concentrate, i'm taking notes... and really there could not be a more appropriate thing to be reading at this time of the year. Human beings were created by Angels. Well, several sets of Angels. I am at the starting stages of the creation of the physical body and it is fascinating, so fascinating that i can't wait to be doing embrology, which is what we'll be touching on next year. The effect of various 'Lords' or the Christian Heiarchies on our own evolution is central to everything. Why the heck this has happened, i have not got to yet. But at some stage we are to become one of them, in fact, one of them was one of us in the past, and when they were at their human stage, they were helping to shape the essence of personality, hence they are the Sons of Personality, or the Archangels. To think they were human once. I...

Here's some pictures from today, after i managed to retrieve my camera off Peter and get round to charging it. The presents are wrapped and we are going to a hotel for Christmas lunch. So we are not going crazy with trying to get things done. Oisin the clown... Ghin eating, his favourite past time. The wreath that Oisin made Our Christmas tree The branch in the kitchen Gnomies!!! Looking at the gingerbread house!!! Right finally got the pictures uploading again. I have thrown the boys out of the house so that i can clean it. I will get started at 1.30. We are later going to the Christian Community session this evening and then tomorrow the children's service. It has been a baffling and astonishing week. I really could not have predicted being here at all. Suddenly all the cards have been thrown out of the window and a totally new pack has been brought in and then the game has also changed and i'm sitting there going, what the - ? It...