Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Nataraja, dancing the world to destruction Over the last few weeks i have been attending a Bible study group! I know! I attended it because a friend invited me, and because i am interested in different interpretations of the Bible, especially from a esoteric perspective, i said yes. I mean it would be idiotic for me to be so interested in every kind of world mythology going and not be interested in Christianity, right? I approach the Bible in EXACTLY the same way i approach the Gita or the Norse myths or the Journey to the West or Legends of the Knights Templar. There is no difference to me. They are all sacred texts and they have all been used by humanity at some point or other to guide them spiritually. We are reading the Gospel of John and the seven signs. They are events, specifically mentioned in John which are part of Jesus' ministry. When you read the Gospels in the light of the other myths it is very interesting. Especially the elements in it which have to do with...

Well the hair is staying i think! Perfectly happy with it white! And i have gotten over the calf muscle tear and i am happy running again. I now know why i was so miserable.... It was because i wasnt running. Well there you go! Simple things, eh? Look at those bags! Not good! OK, things that go around in my head... the rakshasa were the nephilim. And according to some writers, they were also the frost giants. This would account for the frost giants being friends of the gods - like Loki. OK, he is not a friend of the gods, but he did accompany them on many of their travels. According to the Book of Enoch, the nephilim were bound and remain bound - like Loki - until the end times - or Ragnarok. In Hindu mythology, they were vanquished by Rama - the seventh incarnation of Vishnu. As i read these myths more and more closely, a hazy pattern begins to emerge. There are so many common threads, so many common stories, so many common characteristics amongst these seemingly un...

Mount Meru Reading the Ramayana and the Bagavita, is like having your brain pushed and pulled in a way which myths can only do. Myths work on at least two levels - ok, three. Firstly, the compelling narrative, which drives the story on. It is the most familiar part of the myth. Then, the fairytale part of the myth - so how it is surreal and amazing and magical - like being in a dream. And finally the subconscious part of the myth - the part which speaks to you and you don't know why it speaks to you. There are secrets being imparted which are timeless and unfathomable, if only that secret is that you, the reader or the listener is the inheritor of this piece of human wisdom. And this is before you start analysing the text. So why know myths? Because they are our human psyche's DNA. They are the stories which we have told ourselves since time immemorial. Over millennia they were laid down for us, stories which had evolved to try and help our communities, our tribes, to...

The Ramayana is a very ancient text. It predates the Mahabarata. Reading the Ramayana and the idea that a god can come to Earth and not remember who he is in order to do battle with evil, it reminds you of so many stories in mythology where we have disguised supernatural beings which help us. We are not alone, is the message of the Ramayana. So, why do human beings insist that we are? Why do we insist that there is nothing beyond the material world? These texts tell us again and again that we are being looked after by the cosmos and the gods' interest in us, ensuring that we defeat evil is so great that in Indian mythology they have incarnated as human beings. Also in Christian mythology, Norse mythology, Chinese mythology. We are told over and over and over again that our lives are an interplay between the sentient cosmos and the physical world. Hopefully we are slowly stepping into this consciousness again. It is a much kinder consciousness. Meanwhile, I have developed a ...

It is raining now. I now love the rain. After spending one week in a very hot place like Spain where everything is brown, i now love the rain in Ireland. I do not complain about it. I am feeling very much better. I have spent the best part of the last few hours reading the Ramayana. It is, like all mythological texts, full of layered meaning. Ask me what I have learned about life so far? I have learned this: 1. The most important thing one can do is to have a structure into which action is then poured. Myths provide us with this. The structure can shift and change. So MEANING is critical. 2. After that comes, in equal part, art and science. Art and science are the twin activities under which meaning can be experienced. People kind themselves if they think they are neutral. There is no such thing as being driven by art or science. We are all driven by meaning. If we do not make this apparent, what drives us, then it becomes the subconscious and we do not control it, but it control...

It is very frustrating looking at the things which are sending the world up in flames. Which are ensuring that if we continue the way we have continued, we are almost going to end up with our backs against the wall. Previously these conflicts were contained and we thought we could get over them. Like the 30 years war. Like the Northern Irish Troubles. Like the invasion of Hannibal. But really it is getting harder and harder. This is because of ecosystem failure. We are painting ourselves into a corner and we are almost certainly heading towards a post apocalyptic world unless we wake up and realise that equality is not a luxury, it is a necessity in order to stablise the system which we have. Equality not just in income but also gender, culture as well as power. Unless we have this, we are going to end up being ruled by assholes. Which we already are. And by assholes, i mean people who are only interested with their own reflections in the mirror. Narcissists and meglomaniacs.  T...

I am now sick. I suppose it was bound to happen at some stage. I do think i get sick about once every four months or so. Usually at the changing of the seasons. This time it is a cold which came on so suddenly and violently that one minute i was find, and the next, literally, i could not think. My nose began dripping, my eyes streaming, my head thumping and then i had to lie down. I can safely say that it is the first time that this has ever happened to me - to suddenly be laid so very low so quickly. I am hoping i get back quickly too though - i do not do sick well at all. I usually skip all the bits in between and am convinced that i will be dying very soon. I am also convinced that u have never ever felt so sick in all my life when clearly, i have. As a result i don't have a very good gauge for how sick i really am because whenever i am sick it feels like i am at death's door. Life has never been so terrible and i want to die. Then as quickly as it has come, it will go and...

I have come to a stage where the smallness of things are the things which i find most delightful. Simple things. Observing the insects in my garden. Invoking memories as i fold clothes. These socks.... i remember when i bought them in between sending the boys to classes. Stirring a pot and enjoying the sound the bubbles make. Watching the sunflowers fade in my vase of murky water. Small things. I don't need the grand gestures anymore. Of course this is entirely contingent on my having any energy at all. Because yesterday i was soooo tired i could not lift my arms, or even put pen to paper, to think or say anything. Which is highly unusual for me. I always journal, but yesterday i could not. Instead i had to stay in bed all day and read the Ramayana. I know, such hardship. But i have now learnt to listen to my body very carefully and if ti says, well, i think you are going to have to sweep everything you thought about doing today aside and just lie in bed, even if the sun is shining...

Oh my goodness, what a day of emotions all over the place. The biiig thing in did this weekend was learnt to breathe. If you are feeling shite, you must just concentrate on your breathing and it will be better. So i am practising listening to radio four and not turning it off whenever something exceedingly facile comes on. I have more or less lost all respect for the BBC. It seems stuffed with right-winged nutjobs who are smug self-satisfied talking heads. Who cannot contemplate anything else apart from the reality which has been handed to them by the establishment. Just the pure condescending patronising ooze that comes from it - it is so depressing that this is what it has come to - the BBC. Putting up with the likes of Laura Kuensberg and Jacob Rees-Moggs or whatever the heck his name is. But, that is besides the point. I have learnt to breathe into their idiocy. I think this is a skill which will be required more and more. BUT i also know, having spent most of my life tellin...

So the week suddenly passed. It was over very very quickly. What happens is Sunday... then Monday then by the time Tuesday ends, Wednesday just zips past and then before you know it, it is Friday afternoon. Tomorrow i start running again. I tried a week and a half ago and it didn't work. So tomorrow i am going to try once more. Does it matter, I mean? Does it matter? Whether i run or not? Yes, because not running makes me a bit crazy. Since the detox i have stopped being in FB so much and i have spent more time doing other things. Like getting ready for class and cleaning. Yesterday was not a great day. Sometimes i just wonder what the point of everything is. It feels that the stupid have taken over the world. Don't believe me? Then watch the X factor. Watch Britain's Got Talent. Watch Strictly. Watch the Great British Bake off. It is alright of these are just tiny erruptions of distracting fluff, but they are not. They are everywhere and they are meant to distract ...