Before going to bed the night of the election with a foreboding that Trump had won again, I listened to the “Largo” movement of Dvorak’s “New World” symphony. And wept.
Antonin Dvorak was a Czech composer in the 19th century. During the time “From the New World” was composed, he was working as musical director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. The symphony premiered with great anticipation on December 13, 1893, by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
The anticipation, which was such that Carnegie Hall had to install a significant amount of seating to meet the demand, was fueled by public comments Dvorak made months earlier. As reported at the time, he said, “the core of an American sound could be found in Native American communities and African-American spirituals, and it was these sensibilities he brought to his new composition.”
Given how the election turned out, especially how during his victory speech Joe Biden literally pounded the lectern while thanking the African-American community for supporting him, and then explicitly referred to the plight of Native Americans, my choice of music on election night was very apropos.
Listening to the “Largo” movement, you can hear the mournful echoes of innumerable Africans torn from their lands and families to become property, slaves of even the author of the Declaration of Independence (“all men are created equal”), Thomas Jefferson.
You can also hear strains of sorrow of the indigenous people that the waves of European settlers, fulfillers of “Manifest Destiny,” had conquered, displaced, assimilated or exterminated.
There are even echoes of the sadness of millions of immigrants, after leaving the Old World for the opportunities and possibilities of the New World, knowing they would never see their parents, siblings and homelands again. Dvorak had waded into deep rivers of sorrow indeed.
The first soaring notes of joy in the New World symphony aren’t heard until eight and half minutes in, and then only last for a minute before returning to the ache of wrongs never sufficiently righted, and sorrows never fully felt.
Is the joy and celebration of the apparent ending of the 21st century’s political manifestation of hate and malevolence premature? Almost certainly, but for a day at least, one shared them, as did the rest of the world.
Why is America still the hope of the world? Because there are no more new worlds to inhabit, Elon Musk’s creepy obsession with colonizing Mars notwithstanding.
The hyperbolic rhetoric by the commentariat about how America has resumed its “vital role as lodestar for the world” rings hollow. There is too much internal healing needed for the United States to resume being a beacon for the world. We have to now learn how to be a light for ourselves.
The tendency will be to become inward turning in the negative sense of the phrase—to think first and last about our own nation and locality. That propensity is strong on both the right and the left.
The right embraces a crude nationalism, waving symbols of division from the backs of pick-up trucks, totems of belonging to their version of the tribe.
The left advocates a ‘diversity’ of identities, promoting the ideology of localism, believing that if people disaggregate into the smallest possible units of communities and return to a Rousseauian ideal of ethnic tribalism, the Earth will eventually heal and humanity will magically be whole.
The ecological and evolutionary crisis of human consciousness is too urgent for any ideology of a return to the past, either a white nationalist past or an ethnic identity past. They only feed and intensify human fragmentation, disorder and destructiveness.
An hour before a dialogue I had with a group of people from Central and South America, as well as North America and Europe, Biden was declared president-elect. More than half of Americans, and most people abroad, immediately felt an enormous sense of relief.
One of the people in the zoom dialogue, a Dutch fellow based in Frankfurt, told of reading letters between Claude Eatherly, the tormented pilot of the Enola Gay that gave the all-clear for dropping the bomb on Hiroshima, and the German philosopher Gunther Anders.
As the description of the book, “Burning Conscience: The Case of the Hiroshima Pilot Claude Eatherly,” says: “Over the course of some 71 letters, Anders and Eatherly struggled with the problem of taking moral responsibility in a time when ethics were the last thing most people seemed to want to discuss.”
Anders came to the conclusion that our cognitive abilities as humans had outstripped our spiritual and emotional capacity to understand what we are doing.
Emotional perception has nothing to do with indulging one’s emotions, nor is it the same thing as “emotional intelligence.” Emotional perception is insight, and insight and action are one.
Martin LeFevre
Dvorak’s “From the New World” Symphony, “Largo” movement:
1,872 people are in shelters, after Cyclone Eta damages 60 cantons in Costa Rica. The tropical storm is responsible for a rupture of a dam that protects Ciudad Neily. Experts hope that this weekend the storm will come to an end.
Effects of Eta were felt from Sunday to Friday. By Friday, the rainfall had decreased, but the National Emergency Commission explained that the effects of the storm are just starting to emerge in dozens of communities.
57,474 subscribers suffered from power cuts in recent days. 5,322 of them are still waiting for power to be restored.
Water supply has been a problem near Buenos Aires, because rains washed away the pipes.
Homes have been flooded and destroyed leaving 1,872 people in 59 shelters in various locations throughout the country.
26 points on roads have been closed, mainly due to fallen materials. On the South Inter-American Highway, there are seven points with total closure. On Route 237, a section of the highway completely disappeared.
Those in at-risk areas are urged to call 9-1-1 in case of emergency and transfer to temporary accommodation if needed.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office appeals to request to suspend the sanitary vehicle restriction, for now, it continues. Drivers are urged to respect all traffic laws, including restrictions, in order to avoid sanctions.
The Minister of Communication refutes the affirmation of a judge of the Contentious Administrative Court, who had said that the sanitary vehicle restriction is not effective against the spread of covid-19.
The minister’s point of view is that “Scientific and epidemiological matters are better handled by epidemiologists than people from other professions who are not experts in health, or much less in epidemiology.”
He deeply disagrees with the judge and states that there are a series of international scientific studies demonstrating the importance of the sanitary vehicle restriction as a tool to reduce the levels of contagion.
The other side of the argument is that vehicle restriction actually creates more contact with infected people because it forces us to conglomerate on shared transport like public buses and taxis where appropriate social distancing is nearly impossible.
Because of the popularity of jewelry, it is natural to assume that there would be many specialized versions of it’s category. Even for containing the jewelry- or even for spirits themselves. Jewelry is made to be ornamental, so therefore can dress up your body and spirit as well. In fact, anything with ornate details can be regarded as jewelry itself, as anything divine is usually crafted with gold, silver and copper metals and the most beautiful gemstones one could hope to find.
Below, I have compiled a short list of modern objects fastened to our culture’s myths in the western world today. These items have derived from long ago and are the most sacred forms of new age belief and philosophy that exist today and they must be mentioned and treated with grace because of the fragile nature of their metamorphosis. Jewelry has a very important power over us and it’s important to understand and take hold of it instead of disregarding the true magic of Earth, which it holds.
By all means, I am sure we can blend the spirit world with many different elements in our fashion, design, technology and more, to serve higher purpose and form, but the truth is still undiscovered when it comes to everything that exists in the spiritual realms. Please take a good look at these objects and remember their blessing and energy next time you come across them as they will speak to our heritage and resonance of a nonphysical existence on another plane- to which we can one day travel together.
Chests
Chests are deeply regarded in history as safe places to guard what we hold precious, not only as individuals, but as a whole society as well. For example, the Ark of the Covenant, built by the Israelites is an ornate chest which was commanded to be built by their God, in order to establish a sentimental place & feeling for us to leave our own sins and burdens behind. One would imagine laying them out before God, as the vast space inhibited between both worlds, separated by the most holy and precious objects, stones, gems and metals available, which would span the distance and ages in between (like a bridge in time) metaphorically to reach him.
Probably the most common reason for the use of boxes in all forms was for storage and safe keeping. Anything with four sides and a lid can become a box, for a chest- it should be hinged. Chests are most typically made of wood, but special exceptions are made for religious ceremonies, anniversary celebrations and more. A chest is to be filled with spiritual energy and in turn it would be transformed into a blessing that would be bestowed in the future as an act of karma and decision, sent through the divide. The most delicate finishing and design were meant for the purest and lightest of requests, while those built thick and sturdy were made to carry only Earthly holdings, such as foods, weapons and other stock.
Pet Collars
Pet collars have been used since at least the receptions of the Egyptian pharaohs, dating back to at least the reigning of Ancient Mesopotamia, thousands of years ago in the BCE eras. The collars are worn around the animal’s neck and were used for many purposes. One such reason was to keep one’s dog (or other pet) safe and close. Although, generally they would be made of typical jewelry material and temporarily connected to a leash by a clip or other such attachment. Spikes and points were also gradually introduced into European cultures- in order to ward away dangerous wild predators of the area- such as wolves.
In fact, most pet collars are made for protection- even nowadays, where they are fashioned to ward away parasites, being lost (by engraving information) and to light up at night. Collars change in design depending on their purpose. They can be made of almost anything solid and malleable. Because dog’s were considered to be the spiritual guardians of the household- they are often depicted in ancient art walking alongside of Inanna- the legendary goddess of love and war in the original folklore, wearing leashes and collars.
Jewelry Casket
Any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box used for jewelry, the word “casket” in this formulation, began as a euphemism introduced by the undertaker’s trade. A casket or jewelry box, by definition- is a container that is usually smaller than a chest, and in the past were typically extravagantly decorated to represent abundance and subconscious formulation of expression of our unaddressed mortality.
The association with the dead is another example of the unyielding favoritism for acquiring jewelry which will last for centuries and most likely eternity, if the energy is interwoven correctly. One can collect pieces of time within these objects and they will hold value throughout Earth and the Heavens- maybe even the whole universe as well. The jewelry will remain with us through lifetimes and may come back to you, in essence or dream if treated properly.
Sigil
A sigil is known as a seal, sign or symbol which can ward away evil and curses. It can also be invoked in order to bring the magician the spiritual energy they request, information and authority, in order to heal and renew their spirits. It has become common to inscribe these sigils on pieces of stones, jewelry and anywhere you can imagine really to guide unwavering destruction departed from us before we knew what we did.
They hold a lot of spiritual power which one can access when they are in need of a boost of positivity and love. In regards to being used as a seal, they can also contain extreme chaos- by preventing the acceptance of negative attachment, restless spirits and even demons themselves- as the power of belief is known to be the strongest ability to have to overcome anything as it strengthens our faith and desire, leading us to gradually focus and connect with the other world in love and passion.
Sigils have been found dating far back to these times as well, with numerous gods and goddesses, such as Ishtar- Queen of Heaven, who is often shown with a lion in front of her, wearing a collar for divine protection and her honor. Lions in this sense represent her mightiness and they were both regarded as royal heros, companions who would detest the impure and fallible nature of mankind. If only for the ability to be tamed by the God’s themselves in acts of high intelligence, noble fate and cleverness to carry out their plans and lay the foundations of a moving, living kingdom. (Originally- she was known in other places as Inanna).
Prayer Box Necklace
Prayer box necklaces are like id tags for the God’s. They contain religious information for communication and spiritual programming. You can access other realms, worlds and portals with them as you pray- which will summon up the spirits who relay the messages back and forth between the worlds of logic, solitude and unreasonable requests of the supernatural, outside the gates of our worlds. For assistance, one can typically beg to be noticed by the God’s, but there is no such guarantee and so most are made with substances to invoke the presence of the immortals, where one lacks the righteousness and recognition to attract them themselves.
A Tibetian Gau necklace is an example of one of these pendants, which is also known as an amulet, meant to guard the wearer from others and contains polished stones and corals for godly reception. You can contain your guardian spirit in one, as the voice of your heart and mind. They can bring powerful visions and premonitions, especially when immersed in water and allow us to transport from where we are to impossible places on our spiritual journies and path’s, where we let our true purpose and being unfold with vulnerability and praise of beauty in an indulgent restoration and reception of heart.
5 Out of the Ordinary Jewelry Objects
In fact, putting emotion into jewels, rare objects and out of the ordinary seems to be the basis for gathering luck and warding off death in all it’s dooming choices as we rise above our moralities with the help of the hands of the God’s- our ancestors and the dead. Our folklore carries on through legacies of people and name ships- which reintroduce the practical cosmic ideas which we have already inside of us and mirror the reflection of our creators intentions as well.
One can trap their hopes and desires in here and will that they purify us. From beyond ourselves to the eternal existence of life most incredible acts of love transcends limitless possibilities & dimensions made to be released from the abyss of the depths of tragic human circumstances and doom. Spirit’s love boxes and can easily fold to the circumferences of our divinity- through space and time in order to manipulate our memory for the greater good and empower us, so that we are not attacked for our weakness and made to fall apart at the sight of unwavering corruption and that the objects are also a reminder of the solid structure of everything.
In conclusion, these 5 out of the ordinary objects are uncommon devices which are at our disposal today. We can ask for the assistance of our ancestors, bodies of movement and the holy divine. Because the God’s and angels are made of the most holy light of God- they cannot refuse in their purity to comfort the sick and dying- this being in an ethereal sense and the way it impacts us for generations, lifetimes to come and the pain it may forever mark us with is reason. It is lifted up by the enlightenment in spirit of ourselves and how we effect those around us, who are like pillars of height and direction to enforce matter for which God can stand upon with us.
The objects we use to ascend and leave this world to travel onto higher realms of consciousness span the horizon of possibility and are brought back around again, until the cycle eventually overflows within and outside of us like a full moon- breaking light into extraordinary fractions and reasons, sharing this state of being to all- in forgiveness, repentance, realization and release. Also, knowing that each time, we go through difficulties with one another, we reach away from our highest selves and instinctively go to the chaos from where it has came in fear- (which we regret) until it reaches the direct location of force itself, flooding over what we had done which broke us down so that God had to release our burdens from us and turn them like a wheel, into nothing again and we could find peace in our salvation.
The first three cultivars of industrial hemp are now in Costa Rica, at experimental stations in Cañas and Guápiles, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) has started an evaluation about it’s growth and potential.
This marks the first authorized planting of industrial hemp in Costa Rica. Observations will be made regarding the adaptation of the plant to climate, precipitation and hours of sunshine, with the first results available in about six months.
The trial uses two zones to determine differences in the plant’s behavior under various conditions. Both are in experimental stations, in Guanacaste and the Caribbean, but one is in a greenhouse and the other outdoors.
All permits to grow the plants have been managed, however, there is still no law outlining the development of this activity. While industrial hemp is of the Cannabis family, as is marijuana, the production of the psychoactive component THC is very different. All parts of the plant can be used to make food supplements, topical solutions, bioplastics, sustainable construction materials, soaps, lotions, and clothing.
The men who murdered model Isamara Villalta, her boyfriend, and her brother, and threw their bodies in the river, in 2017, were given the maximum prison sentence, 80 years, by the Alajuela Criminal Court.
One of them was an officer of the Public Force and the other an active official of the delegation. They belonged to a criminal organization which devised a plan to steal money from the model’s boyfriend. They dressed as police and intercepted the car in which the victims were travelling. Under intimidation, they forced them to call someone to deliver a safe. After receiving the money, they murdered the three victims.
The mastermind behind the plan was assassinated, three months after the triple homicide. Another suspect was acquitted and yet another sentenced to 65-years in prison. The sentences can still be appealed but all three men are being held in preventive detention. Although sentences of 80 and 65 years were achieved, the law establishes that the maximum a convicted person can stay in prison is 50 years.
The father of the murdered model is satisfied that they have to pay for their crime yet dissatisfied by the fact that nothing can give him back his daughter.
Usually, an encounter with a wild animal, even in town, isn’t given a second thought. But encounters with animals in a meditative state (which essentially means a spontaneous state of inward stillness) ripple with meaning beyond words.
After sitting for an hour at the edge of town, with a smoggy view of the canyon and foothills, and the stones of the dry creek bed at my feet (the rains haven’t begun in California yet), the chatter and associations of thought give way to silence and responsiveness.
Since one doesn’t have a goal of quieting the mind, and effort and concentration have nothing to do with meditation, what compels one to sit for an hour?
Yesterday in the park alongside the creek that flows through town (which thankfully flows year around), a young fellow was frenetically piling stones on stones about 200 meters downstream. Shirtless in the last hour of sunlight on an unseasonably warm day, his energy was prodigious.
It was as if he was racing against the end of summer, which hangs on even as the leaves begin to turn in California, until the rains return (hopefully) in a couple weeks. There’s no debate about climate change in this state, as the dry season gets longer and hotter every year.
At first the plunk and thud of rocks hitting rocks in the water was annoying, but watching my reactions, the sound became simply factual. Then I was curious. Why do people find it so hard to sit still?
Even after decades of meditating in nature, I sometimes feel restless, with an itch to do something, though I don’t get the urge to pile rocks on each other and build a makeshift dam like some human beaver.
Listening without judgment to the young man wasting his energy and time piling stones in the stream, I saw that we’re all prisoners laboring in the quarry of thought. It’s just that a few of us realize it, and are disturbed by the fact.
Meditation is freedom from this unseen prison, at least for some timeless interval.
It isn’t a goal of the mind but a drive of the heart.
One doesn’t think, “I must focus on my breath, and on quieting the mind;” one simply enjoys watching the play of light and shadow on the water and leaves, and delights in hearing the rippling current, and the sounds of the jays, hawks and ducks.
Even the sounds that humans make are interesting and enjoyable to listen to—as long as it isn’t an infernal leaf blower or people fighting.
Today, taking the loop back on the bike from the bone-dry creek along the edge of town, an eagle took off from the top of a lamp pole as I approached, spreading its massive wings. I squeezed the breaks and slowed to a crawl. The eagle circled around me, shocking the mind and heart with its grandeur.
Meditation is not a positive movement, but a negational one. It springs from passive watchfulness, which ends the observer, the ancient root of psychological separation.
It deepens with attention gathering unseen, and dissolving the dense ‘me’ that forms the gravitational center of thought and from which ‘my thoughts’ seem to arise. There are just conditioned thoughts; there is no ‘me’ in actuality.
Allowing awareness to grow quicker than thought, the mind falls silent, and time, which is the continuity of thought, ceases.
There is no time in nature; there’s only unfolding and ending, death and birth. That movement is within one when thought folds its wings and is completely silent within one.
As meditation deepens, one unexpectedly leaves the stream of the known and enters the house of death, which, as strange as it may sound, is synonymous with creation, love and perpetual beginning.
Make no effort to meditate, and follow no system, method or technique. Simply watch every thought and emotion as they arise, like you watch leaves passing by on a stream. The very act of passively watching quickens awareness, gathers attention, and ends the flow of detritus, which is the past.
Each person has to do his or her own inner spadework. No one can do it for us.
Solitude and sociality rightly exist in balance, different for each person.
Solitude is primary however, since all that is true and good flows from it, not from the group, much less the herd or the mob.
On the eve of the most consequential election in US history, what is the significance of the American election to the human prospect?
As difficult as it is to conceive, would it be better for humanity if America’s current malignant, malevolent administration continues, or would a return to some semblance of decency and fairness be better for all people, not just Americans?
The answer may seem obvious, but as with all true questions, there is no answer. We can only allow valid questions to seep into the mind and heart.
Before taking up this painful question however, we have to address the problem of evil and power.
Normally, in the course of human events, evil (which is man-made rather than supernaturally overlaid) exists as an undercurrent. It erupts and is expressed in many different ways, most visibly through acts of mass murder by individuals, such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Also by the depraved indifference of corporations or presidents, such as Big Pharma pushing doctors to prescribe opioids, or the malign neglect of an administration that’s allowed more twice as many people to die from Covid-19 as would have died with competent leadership.
There are times in human history when the intentional, collective darkness in human consciousness so permeates a people that it leaches up and seizes the levers of power. The 20th century examples of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin are obvious examples.
Though it’s still denied by the vast majority on the right and the left, the loss of “the soul of America” is precisely what has happened to the people. That enabled a narcissistic, amoral man to tap into the long-neglected darkness in the American psyche, giving expression and catalyzing it.
Denial and hope still rule even the most decent-minded political and ‘thought leaders.’ For example, Leon Panetta, the former Obama defense secretary, said recently, “The only pillar of our democracy I haven’t wavered on is our sense of trust in the American people.” Really, given Trump’s hard-core 40% mob base, plus another 40% of zombie Democrats?
I don’t mean to imply that there’s an equivalency; the rally habitués on the right are proud of their projections, and have made a science of hatefully “triggering the libs.” Even so, “polarization” is an empty catchall, and demonization occurs on both sides.
Since the post-World War II international order has fallen onto the ash heap of history, the centrality of American leadership, such as it was, is moot. The issue is the difficulty of facing, understanding and meeting the darkness in human consciousness. Which, in the beginning and the end, is within us.
At a fundamental level, there is no adequate philosophy of evil that has explanatory and therapeutic power. This is the kind of thing that passes for it in the MSM:
“When a toxic political idea is turned into a literal demon in a horror movie, the audience can imagine slaying it and escaping from its gory reign of terror… Horror is a call to action. It’s time to slay some monsters.”
As organized religion on one hand, and the Enlightenment ideal of reason on the other have eroded beyond repair, the conspiracy-mindset has taken root in the putrid soil of the rapidly decaying Western order.
Asia is hardly exempt, since man’s ecological crisis is global, as is the crisis of human consciousness itself.
I’ve been amazed at how many people around the world are taking a “wait and see” attitude toward the outcome of the American election. Especially since Pax Americana is already history.
To my mind, where this election is concerned, it comes down to this. If a breakthrough in human consciousness is imminent, then the last strut needs to be kicked out of the old order, so that a true global order can begin to emerge.
But if a breakthrough in human consciousness is not imminent, then the best we can do is hope for a return to decency and muddling through. Of course muddling through won’t be good enough, since the climate is collapsing and man is decimating the Earth.
What is required is an insight explosion in a sufficient minority of people worldwide to change the basic course of humankind.
That has never happened before, not since the emergence of so-called civilization, and not since the Cognitive Revolution ushered in “fully modern humans” some 70 millennia ago.
One thing is for sure—the entire Enlightenment project of evidence-driven reality is a bucket with a hundred holes that can’t be plugged. It’s high time to find a new container.
