Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

This is the Key of the Kingdom: In that Kingdom is a city; In that city is a town; In that town there is a street; In that street there winds a lane; In that lane there is a yard; In that yard there is a house; In that house there waits a room; In that room an empty bed, On that bed a basket - Of Flowers, of Flowers, A Basket of Sweet Flowers . Flowers in the Basket; Basket on the bed; Bed in the chamber; Chamber in the house; House in the weedy yard; Yard in the windy lane; Lane in the broad street; Street in the high town; Town in the city; City in the Kingdom - This is the Key of the Kingdom; Of the Kingdom this is the Key. The thingness of things and how just touching the solidity of life is enough reassurance. It must be, it has to be. What's the point of all this seeking when we already have? A couple of guys turned up at the house today - returning Oisin home - oh how wonderful to have him back!! - but at some point in the conversation they began talking about the arms...

Storytelling is interesting isn't it? We do it every day, all the time. We tell stories. And the greatest of our stories is ourselves. We create narratives by which we allow ourselves to live and then proceed to live it. Should that narrative be attacked successfully, that's when we become defensive. Or at least if perceive the threat to be real. Sometime back, i wondered, if there were commonalities between creation myths - and it was difficult to see what a Blackfoot First Nation myth would have in common with a Chinese one. They are in fact so different, you'd think we came from differente planets. But the one thing that marks us out as human beings is that we need to tell stories. We have myths in common. We love telling stories - and the day we cease doing that is the day we die. Our stories sometimes live beyond the grave - it's what we call immortality. It is the only way we can be immortal. To have our names and stories remembered. However, the sad thing is that...

Yesterday...it's been a sociable and domestic two days. Ghin loves feeding himself - here are the results - and Oisin helped make salad for dinner. We raided the garden for fennel and nasturtiums - and he helped make the dressing. He loves cooking. Today we baked chocolate crackle tops for the last day of school. I really felt it yesterday as we stood in the sunshine and talked about our plans. Where would i find a school where i not only knew every child in Oisin's class, but every child's sibling and every parent of each child. This school is a precious place and the ethos is unique. I felt so held and loved by everyone who said that they were going to miss us as we were going to Singapore for sometime. It simply isn't fair. Life here is good. I talked to Julia today about the Marxist conspiracy, how Singapore had the death penalty for drugs and how while being on holiday there was good, the six month stay might be something quite different. I loved my family, but the...

I've been reading a friend's blog and she's so honest about what she's going through - down to the naming of names. And it's great. Good for her. Sod the asshole who deluded himself into thinking he deserved her and more. I wonder if i give the impression that all's well, because even though yes, all IS well, there are times when it has been so bloody hard. Last week for example was excruciating when i suggested that we try again only to have all the reasons why i am such a waste of time rehearsed to me once more. Since i KNOW i'm NOT a waste of time, that was a waste of time, but why did i have to put myself through it again? The fact is that i'm an eternal optimist. Put it down - or up - to being a Saggitarius and being ruled by Jupiter the most Tiggerish of planets. Put it down to my upbringing in sunny Singapore. Put it down to the wonderful friends and support i've had. But after awhile i begin to think, yes, there's stuff that can be salvag...

If Gordon Brown lived in Shakespeare's England, he would have been carted off to the village square, shoved on a very large pyre and burnt. His coronation in the Labour Party was met with the worst flooding in the midlands since Noah. Tomorrow he will be PM. Talk about bad omens. On top of that, a very ugly MP from the Tory party has defected to Labour. When they say that politics is show business for ugly people they must have been thinking about him. When they say beaten with the ugly stick...I know i shouldn't say such awful things because i have two young sons who although are very lovely now have all the time in the world to evolve into scary beings, but bejesus, you should see this guy. If entry to the Labour party was a beauty contest, he'd be patted on the back and be told to apply for Extreme Makeover UK. Or told to wait for the next remake of the Lord of the Rings. Chief Lord Uruk Hi. See for yourself: Quentin Davies Uruk Hai It has been a busy week thus far alrea...

It was a weekend i floated around in. Yesterday was chracterised by waiting around for Peter to say whether or not he'd turn up - he wouldn't because he was too tired to drive - and then just meeting up with friends. At about 10.30 Liz called to say she wanted to go for a walk - which we did. Although that lasted about 20 minutes - most of which time was spent shouting at Jarlath - who was running off on the steep, muddy and dangerous slopes of the Crawfordsburn forest. After that i headed for the Arnarchists Plot in Eglinton Gardens. There saw loads of people whom i hadn't seen for ages - but without the alcohol and in bright afternoon light of Sunday, everyone looked tired and worn down. I could see it, that tidal turn from twenty to thirty beginning to sweep in for so many of them. Some were in paying jobs, others leaving for better paid ones. Others for different parts of the UK or Ireland - in search of new beginnings. They seemed tired. We seemed tired. There was litt...

It's 1 am. I thought it'd be later. I spent the evening watching the documentary The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair . Then it was The Trail of Tony Blair , followed by a Dispatches on what Gordon Brown would be like as PM. It has been yonks since i watched anything on politics and it feels like i overdid it. The hypermasculine world of politics - it's the only game that's going in town and i think we deserve better. Ritualised combat which explodes into real war - discussions about fighting which then lead to fighting. I nearly met Lisa today - but she took awhile appearing at the markets, so i went home instead. As i drove back, i realised that i wasn't bothered about being alone. Yes, the logistics of it were difficult, but the metaphysics of aloneliness wasn't at all worrying. Of course, technically i'm never ever alone, with Ghin attached to me, but it would have been lovely to have the company of a husband, someone with whom life's little journey would...