Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

The Tree of Knowlegde and the Tree of Life First i want to apologise for this posting. It is going to be my thoughts on education - since i have been living with this thesis now for such a long time and writing it up now for the last few days. I am apologising because it is going to be quite negative about the current education system - and i also want to confess that i do not know an awful lot about the current education system because really i do not operate in it. I know people get very upset when we talk about education and they feel like hostages to the system. But really we are hostages in more ways than one...and it goes like this... Society. What the hell kind of society do we want to have? I can tell you right from the start it is not the kind we have right now. A disaster ecologically, economically, socially and culturally. If you disagree it is a disaster - most certainly ecologically it is a disaster - then it is at best lost. I am not going to quote stats, but if w...

A really weird thing happened when i wrote my conclusion, i realised that i should have written my essay in a completely different way! ;-/ Here the conclusion is:- It is telling how in not a single lecture nor line, does Steiner opine about results or ‘excellence’. He reiterates the importance of the human being’s relationship to the spiritual realm, cosmos as well as its surrounding environment. In this the challenge of Waldorf education is two-fold: 1.        Firstly, how do we adapt the teachings and principles given in this lecture to present-day culture where children are overstimulated, awakened by this overstimulation at an ever increasingly young age and exposed to forms of play or cultures which have little to do with the healthy development of the human being e.g. gaming culture, and 2.        Secondly, how a bridge, if it is at all possible between the current expectations of mainstream educatio...

At the Crawfordsburn Inn Folk and Transport Museum I love this pic... Such lovely shots of the four cousins The Result, the last schooner to be built in Carrickfergus From the Olympia Ghin at KFC, our last meal together It has been a really really really busy couple of weeks. We moved into my mom's new place in Ardmore and i feel so bad not having introduced ourselves to the neighbours yet. My mom and sis and her family left today back to Singapore, which left me and the boys in the house alone. I rearranged many things and got a few things as well. Just to pretty the place up. Tomorrow i think i'll do some gardening as i take a break with the thesis. It has been a strange time really. The children in school did soooo well with the play. I thought so anyway. They were perfect and they drew many a laugh from even the older boys and girls. It was funny, light hearted and really demonstrated how wonderful they were as a unit. I...

Oisin awaits his turn to sing... Jac and the kids My other babies! Alex enjoys the play park Introduction to dandelions Rolling about the grasses Mama's kitchen! Isn't she gorgeous?! The three amigos Mama and her eldest grandson Honestly the weeks have flown and the year is now half over. It has been such an exhilirating one and something yesterday reminded me of the adventure i had wanted to set out on when i left Singapore. And looking back on it all from here, it has been SUCH a ride! I thought to myself, you know what, so many things i have wanted to do have happened to me...and then so many things i never thought i would do...well that has happened too. And really can i complain? No, not at all. Here for instance, we have spent a beautiful afternoon in Glencraig, walking around. We then go back to Mama's house and we have food to eat. My mom, sis and i sit and yak while the kids enjoy themselves. It is a...

Following in his brother's footsteps, Ghin... All nervous before the performance Before i sent the boys to circus school, i did not know anything about retained reflexes or working with the physical to develop the spiritual. Now that i do, i see what the boys do with completely new eyes. All the work the children do in circus school is excellent to overcome retained reflexes. I was watching them do cross brain stuff as well. Actually i dont really think about this, i just think how wonderful and fun and how the girls are parties are going to be soooo impressed. But the whole balance and reflex overcoming is a bonus. Score big time for the circus! Auntie Jackie and Als Pirate circus Ghin made his own costume - ok i made his costume from him. I cut the RSPB Love Nature polo shirt to make a pirate skull and cross bones. It was v therapeutic. Yep this was an RSPB polo T-shirt before... Now it is the Jolly Roger. Say nuthin' Ghin specialises in the fe...

When the last tree is cut, when the last river has been poisoned, when the last fish has been caught, then we will find out that we cannot eat money Well, i'm finally committing pen to paper tonight - metaphorically of course. i'm starting to write my essay. Today was one of those amazingly good days. Because of this kid. There is this kid in my craft class who is the cutest and sweetest. OK, they all are, but he is just the bee knees. Last year while i was explaning how to make beeswax decorations on candles he interrupted me and said, Stephanie. Yes? I said. You look really nice. Awwww.... but TODAY he said, i want to sit next to Stephanie, she is kind. Yes! said his friend. Stephanie is kind. Isn't that just the loveliest best thing anyone can say to you? I nearly hugged him, but restrained myself and said, instead, why THANK YOU! Then today when i came home, Ghin ran down the stairs and said, Mommy mommy mommy!!! Can it be true?? Are you home?! God, i felt...

Scene from The Juniper Tree All my life i have written essays like this: i read and read and read. Often i do not make notes. then i feel completely overwhelmed at the size of the topic chosen. Being sanguine of course i would have chosen a mountiain of information to have to digest. Then i forget about it. Then i panic. Then i become very organised and read stuff again, and panic some more as i realise i completely have forgotten everything i have read. Then i think about it, a lot, but don't do anything about it. Then i start to make notes. Then i reread it. Then when the essay is due last week i start to write it, two days to my extension deadline. Usually i do ok. It is a terrible indictment of my will. It has been exceedinly hectic for me though recently. However i have managed to read Study of Man seven times, panicking a little bit more each time i read it because it is so profound and i develop new ideas each time i read it. To be honest, the firt four times i ...

Ghin enjoys chocolate for breakfast :-) It's been a really busy few weeks. Jac and Ma will soon be gone and i will truly miss Ma. I know i can never be the wonderful mother she has been, but i shall try my best. Well, i can only try. I looked at the senses section of my well thumbed and well scored Study of Man last night. It was how are dreaming on the surfaces of our bodies and on the inside. But we are fully awake in the spaces in between, thanks to our nerves. Our nerves are transparent to the spirit, says Steiner. They are in in effect dead, and because they are dead material we then can let spirit enter us and create us, make us awake. I really wish i was a medical student. Steiner also gave a series of lectures to doctors, which talked about the spiritual nature of our organs. Each organ is related to a zodiac sign as well, in addition to being part of our cosmic karmic development. The body is literally a temple.  When i do not know enough about something i tend to reserve ...

Ghin showing us how it is done People who follow this blog know i am a sleep whore. I LOVE sleeping. It is probably my hobby. I can sleep for Ireland and Singapore and the G8. It does not matter if the world is falling about my ears, i will enter a state of narcrolepsy and just leave this mortal realm for the stars. I am happiest when i am curled up in bed with a book, my laptop, and my sons about me. And when i have had enough of everything else, there is SLEEP. I was thinking as i was driving to and from Lurgaboy about how exciting life was. Of course it is a bitch as well, but i am also a bitch. However, i was thinking how so many things have happened this year. My teaching, Forest School, new beginnings...i was also thinking especially of Forest School. It goes something like this: which is a bit of how my life is like. When i first heard of Forest School i knew it was something which i really desperately wanted for my class. But the course was super expensive and a...

About an hour from Belfast is the Lurgaboy Adventure Centre run by the nicest chap known as Richard. This is what Oisin wanted for his birthday. To do an assault course. Never say that he was not a melancholic-choleric. Just like his dad. Who is choleric-melancholic. Anyway, after some researching, we found this place and what a splendid setting it was too. All the mountain systems in NI surrounding us, including the Cooley mountains, which are not NI...the only thing we could not see was the Geopark in Fermanagh. Everything else was there. Anyhow the boys were completely up for it. It is astonishing how completely full on they are about what they were doing. They had an absolute blast. I just stayed on the ground and took photos. I did this for real in Harapan last year and twice was more than enough for me. I think those are the Black Hills...imagine, you can see Belfast!!! Strapping on the harnesses Add the helmets...and we are ready to go The Leap of Faith ...