Ideas spook the night
Hardly the will of people
Who were told lies & fed
Bizarre facts or fake events
By those who contrived
This fear that rocks the cradle
And will have it swing
In brittle boughs of nothing
Rock-a-by baby
They sing while fanning the wind
Of your discontent
I’m flabbergasted by the sheer absurdity of the present political poker games. No use imagining I’m a stranger that landed on this planet by mistake. I’m here – feeling overwhelmed when watching clips that show the hardship refugees endure with slim hopes for building a life, and the helpless helpers who offer support without solutions in sight?
I dream of patches of land or purpose-build islands/ships, where migrants are allowed to build fresh communities and gain self-respect. Where are the pragmatic deals to alleviate this suffering, and the help for countries unable to cope with the influx of people?
Commentaries on events in the wake of the Brexit referendum vote leave me distraught, angry, compassionate, ironic and detached, all at the same time. How to evade the bug of collective despair? Not good, not good at all. I want to shout from the rooftops: read the history of excessive nationalism. Do not – I implore – succumb to fear-mongering.
Today I played my small reed-harmonium in a meditative way, following one note to the next, and the next, forming melancholic rhymes, prolonging and softening notes, the charm a reed-harmonium offers. From a strong upward scale a melody formed. My heart calmed and my mind cleared enough to allow these words to tumble onto the screen.
If I were in full time employment, I’d skim through news, ridicule stuff with colleagues and do what the job at hand required. But since I work from home, in charge of my days, I make space to write – and think – though it goes nowhere, this thinking, other than to ponder the theme of globalisation – a phenomenon long before the term was coined. If time allows click the link to this worthwhile long read.
Insights could be applied to address the hyper race of progress that rewards only short term goals. The main cause for all this mess, in my view. Do away with all benefits and provide everyone with basic income, so people can relax, start innovative & creative community projects, or study, or build a career, whatever. Why not work for the common interests of our shared humanity and celebrate this gift of life? I’m dreaming, I know.
The robins in my garden have more sense. Animals, guests from a wholesome planet.
Other relevant posts:
Course of Mirrors 
‘Why not work for the common interests of our shared humanity and celebrate this gift of life’ Oh, how I hear you. Why not, indeed??? I’m trying to express my own disbelief and frustration in a positive way. The ability comes in waves; no, fits and starts, actually. I both appreciate and applaud your approach. Today I played with images, made a few collages. Not music but similarly grounding. Maybe tomorrow the words will come.
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Thank you, Sarah. It’s vital to do the small things one enjoys doing, when one is powerless to change the big ones. Collage is a powerful form of expression. I hope to make it to the Robert Rauschenberg exhibition in London’s Tate Modern and get inspired. Have you heard of him?
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/robert-rauschenberg
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Your words clearly stated my mindset… with Trump as the President here in the U.S. How in God’s name did this happen? Why is it so hard for people to be nice to one another.. stop “man’s inhumanity to man.”
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Gwynn, I feel for my American friends and the heartache they must experience under a government that encourages bias and intolerance in the name of ‘safety,’ which only achieves the opposite. I watch with trepidation what happens over here. Thankfully, journalists are not afraid to speak up.
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Hello Ashen.
It saddens me to think good people are being drawn into such affairs.
Were we to ask : “Has the humanity within the hearts of leaders, dried up so much as to cause this crisis of confidence?”
We would surely give a resounding “No!”
Yet we are constantly dismayed at the bad behaviour and seemingly constant disregard for all things compassionate.
It is for us all to generate such faith and goodwill in these times, so as to scuttle the omnipresent news cycle of carelessness.
I believe in people such as yourself and others, to offer something which marks your strength. The message of hope and of gratitude.
Your work over the years I have come to know, has and remains some of the most beautiful work I have had the privilege to read.
The birds in your garden and the sculptures guarding those birds, generate a quiet and trusting, which slows the senses and balances the maddening world events.
Many thanks to you Ashen.B
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You’re very kind, B. Yes to goodwill. One can only hope that people come to their senses and stop behaving like lemmings. That the positive forces there are will offer constructive proposals to slow and balance our runaway capitalism and introduce some humane and effective social engineering.
My robins are building nests in the ivy around my shed. They swish to and fro against the morning light, their wings and the fluff they carry in their beaks glowing transparent. I clean my hairbrush outside because they love hair as material for nests.
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We have to continue asking the questions knowing there are no immediate answers, and also I guess to help out where we can in our own small sphere of influence. Meanwhile to allow our hearts to be softened by those natural inhabitants of the land – and to be softened by this post of yours Ashen thank you ..
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Thanks Susan. Yes. Questions are alive, a friend of mine used to say. Nature cheers me. One can’t measure the things that make us smile. If only this was understood better. People get seriously depressed if there is nothing in their life that softens the heart, even if it’s just pebbles one collected and displays on the window sill, or watching a bird in flight.
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We are living through challenging times aren’t we and it’s particularly difficult to watch people struggle and watch helplessly as they are used as pawns. Unfortunately it is difficult to even think of something upbeat to say these days as even that feels like desperation.
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Precisely. To witness struggle, unable to fix things, this helplessness can be unbearable, often more painful than being in the middle of a pain, where a numbing can set in. Says something about how deeply connected all life is. In Buddhism they have a meditative technique called ‘Tonglen,’ to deal with anguish. Here Pema Chödrön in a short video:
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I am mostly out of words but just wanted to say I hear and endorse! The idea of allocating land and opportunity for enterprise rather than aid and imprisonment is ( as my neighbour would say) a ‘no brainer’. But brains are in pretty short supply! A ‘living allowance for all’ might have been an answer before ‘entitlement’ ‘rights’ and the destruction of responsibility happened. Not sure about it now. We have a population un-used to work, creativity and seemingly without appetite for anything but an excess of food.How to reactivate a participatory society from a passive one is a big brainer!
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I’m afraid you’re right. The welfare system was a good idea at the time but since technologies made countless jobs superfluous the system can’t cope. Then again, those supported by welfare and trapped in that lifestyle have presently little incentive to work, because any additional income could lose them the support, followed by a quagmire of bureaucracy. Even a voluntary job is considered suspect. Pretty depressive. I’ve met such situations while working in a social department for a while.
I believe however that most people want to be of some use, or learn new skills. This is where a living allowance would be different, as a base, if it was guaranteed no matter how much is earned on top.
Some pilot schemes are happening in various countries.
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Reblogged this on KATE JACK'S BLOG.
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So many people share your dream, Ashen. Can only hope it becomes a reality sooner, rather than later.
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