Stranger things

[Nungali]

I spent the day with   his Mom .... she is holding up rather well considering - so far .    She is still staying with one of her daughters  and two women friends  - thats probably for the best  - one is being her 'secretary ' ( navigating communications with lawyers, mental health etc .  the other is emotional support , cooking etc ) so she seems in good hands . 

 

I got a call from a younger guy I know that needed to talk  as he said 'to someone not in the middle of it' .  That means , that although I know the perpetrator's  family and friend circle , I dont know the victim's .  Thats not the case  in the area ; many of the younger people know both and are all interconnected  eg ; the victim's remaining  two sisters are friends of the perpetrator's  two sisters . 

 

So there is a lot of 'social shock ' going on out there .  However , as it usually pans out   IF I am 'emergency needed '    I am called upon and  do my best to deliver , after that I am totally ignored and on my own . Thats okay I am used to it and prefer it , so now I am back in hermitage  and relatively  isolated  'out here '  , suits me fine at the moment  - even the local store  has a huge cloud of freaked out around it  ( those two guys and one of their girl friends had been camped at the local camp ground  next door to the shop  for a couple of weeks  before they moved further out into the wilderness , where  'it' happened . - so they were all well known there  ) . 

 

[Taomeow]

@Nungali That's awful.  

 

I wonder if things are as bad in Australia with mental health "handling" by the system as here.  Probably not...  Here they "do something" pretty much only after the mentally ill person kills someone, otherwise -- even if they keep committing crimes -- they are just let loose, no help for them and no safety for their potential victims.  There used to be 550,000 mental institutions in the US in the 1950s -- then they just shut down the whole thing, only about 600 remain today.  One would think the need just disappeared overnight...  and that's so very the other way around. 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 03:45 PM by Taomeow

[Nungali]

19 hours ago, Taomeow said:

@Nungali That's awful.  

 

I wonder if things are as bad in Australia with mental health "handling" by the system as here.  Probably not...  Here they "do something" pretty much only after the mentally ill person kills someone, otherwise -- even if they keep committing crimes -- they are just let loose, no help for them and no safety for their potential victims.  There used to be 550,000 mental institutions in the US in the 1950s -- then they just shut down the whole thing, only about 600 remain today.  One would think the need just disappeared overnight...  and that's so very the other way around. 

 

 

 

Of course, that was the case here , with the one concerned . 

 

A while back a woman I know left her kid at a friends house and went off to 'kill herself'  ... as she told her little daughter   .... 

 

who then told her minders , who then told  authorities . They found her  locked in her car , she went to psyche ward , they shot her up full of drugs and released her ... to continue 'caring' for her daughter . 

 

 

 

 

[steve]

21 hours ago, Taomeow said:

no help for them and no safety for their potential victims. 

 

For all the lip service about our addiction problems, Fentanyl, the need to kidnap foreign leaders and such…  addiction treatment programs are completely inaccessible for most who need them in the US

 

Quote

 

There used to be 550,000 mental institutions in the US in the 1950s -- then they just shut down the whole thing, only about 600 remain today.  One would think the need just disappeared overnight... 

 

And those folks for the most part comprise our homeless population. I was working in hospitals in a major city when some of the largest inpatient facilities closed. Our homeless population exploded overnight, overwhelming ERs and outpatient clinics. Many of them ended up in prison or dead of hypothermia.

Edited Wednesday at 11:50 PM by steve

[old3bob]

 

Many of the "powers that be" and various people in various government's could care less about human suffering along with the vast harm being done to all forms of life on Earth... it is mostly or often in vain to point out or harp about the lack of ethics, morals, and conscience to those that have willfully destroyed the same within themselves for a buck and or dark power. Also with those taken in by cults of false promises (lies) of glory that really bring destruction, including their own when the piper comes to collect;  although some can finally turn away from destructive cults after painfully seeing the wool that has been pulled over their eyes!

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:19 AM by old3bob

[Nungali]

12 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

Many of the "powers that be" and various people in various government's could care less about human suffering along with the vast harm being done to all forms of life on Earth... it is mostly or often in vain to point out or harp about the lack of ethics, morals, and conscience to those that have willfully destroyed the same within themselves for a buck and or dark power. Also with those taken in by cults of false promises (lies) of glory that really bring destruction, including their own when the piper comes to collect;  although some can finally turn away from destructive cults after painfully seeing the wool that has been pulled over their eyes!

 

 

 

 

Mark Carney Candaian PM's visit to Oz and  his  an talk about 'middle powers'   ...   It could be the   seed   of a  future alternative stance ... maybe ?  

 

We certainly need something  ... anything   !    ....   different ! 

 

 

[old3bob]

15 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

Mark Carney Candaian PM's visit to Oz and  his  an talk about 'middle powers'   ...   It could be the   seed   of a  future alternative stance ... maybe ?  

 

We certainly need something  ... anything   !    ....   different ! 

 

 

Ditto on that!   Many of us have lived fairly long and fortunate lives and have gotten to do stuff, (as in experiences) alas I feel very sad and bad for some the younger people around the world and more so for the little kids that have not, with many being killed in all the military or fanatical religious cross-fires of madness, along with some of the killing being willfully pre-mediated against civilian families!!

 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by old3bob

[Apech]

15 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

Mark Carney Candaian PM's visit to Oz and  his  an talk about 'middle powers'   ...   It could be the   seed   of a  future alternative stance ... maybe ?  

 

We certainly need something  ... anything   !    ....   different ! 

 

 

I see the relevance but please don’t dig too deeply into politics.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[old3bob]

 

And when does silence on matters of violence act to contribute to violence?

 

[steve]

44 minutes ago, old3bob said:

 

And when does silence on matters of violence act to contribute to violence?

 

 

Silence can certainly contribute to violence.

Silence can also contribute to solutions to violence.

The inner and outer voices that are rooted in emotional reactivity and intellectual over-activity can be a formidable obstacle to discovering something new and unprecedented; and the old answers clearly aren’t working.

Creativity comes more often from inner quiet than from strenuous effort.

[old3bob]

1 hour ago, steve said:

 

Silence can certainly contribute to violence.

Silence can also contribute to solutions to violence.

The inner and outer voices that are rooted in emotional reactivity and intellectual over-activity can be a formidable obstacle to discovering something new and unprecedented; and the old answers clearly aren’t working.

Creativity comes more often from inner quiet than from strenuous effort.

 

right, with silence based in wisdom backed up by power and silence based in powerless fear being very different...

 

With those undeniably promoting powerless fear via violence being front and center in the world (or with some being behind the scenes) and often succeeding.

 

Edited 16 hours ago by old3bob

[Apech]

1 hour ago, old3bob said:

 

right, with silence based in wisdom backed up by power and silence based in powerless fear being very different...

 

With those undeniably promoting powerless fear via violence being front and center in the world (or with some being behind the scenes) and often succeeding.

 

 

 

[Cobie]

@old3bob Beats me why you keep on posting about ‘doing something’. I asked you before if you do something and you didn’t reply to that, so I assume you don’t.  You did say you do some charitable donations, but that imo does not constitute ‘doing something”.

 

[Cobie]

A lot of (all?) evil deeds are rooted in righteous indignation.
How can you be sure you are on the right side?
 

[Cobie]

As I see it: if nobody does anything, no evil deeds get done.
Wuwei.

[old3bob]

10 minutes ago, Cobie said:

As I see it: if nobody does anything, no evil deeds get done.
Wuwei.

 

in no space and no time (or formlessness and timelessness) nobody does anything,  but Tao gave birth to the one and from there space and time came to be thus the two to the ten-thousand.

[old3bob]

2 hours ago, Cobie said:

@old3bob Beats me why you keep on posting about ‘doing something’. I asked you before if you do something and you didn’t reply to that, so I assume you don’t.  You did say you do some charitable donations, but that imo does not constitute ‘doing something”.

 

 

hmm, I'm not a master who does nothing (aka pure karma yoga) yet everything gets done...how about you?

 

Edited 13 hours ago by old3bob

[old3bob]

 

What no answer?

 

[Taomeow]

 

[Nungali]

17 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

Ditto on that!   Many of us have lived fairly long and fortunate lives and have gotten to do stuff, (as in experiences) alas I feel very sad and bad for some the younger people around the world and more so for the little kids that have not, with many being killed in all the military or fanatical religious cross-fires of madness, along with some of the killing being willfully pre-mediated against civilian families!!

 

 

 

Even just 'generally ' I have stopped telling the younger generations how good I had it  ,  its too sad ( for me )  to see the look on their faces  . Lust a few examples  of what I got ; 

 

Free University education - many  have a debt hanging over their heads .

Virtually unknown for young people to have high personal debts 

Abundance of cheap housing and good jobs . 

vehicles and fuel much cheaper  ( compared to wages ) 

 

etc etc etc 

[Nungali]

8 hours ago, Apech said:

I see the relevance but please don’t dig too deeply into politics.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[Nungali]

2 hours ago, Cobie said:

As I see it: if nobody does anything, no evil deeds get done.
Wuwei.

 

 

 

[steve]

4 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

right, with silence based in wisdom backed up by power and silence based in powerless fear being very different...

 

With those undeniably promoting powerless fear via violence being front and center in the world (or with some being behind the scenes) and often succeeding.

 

 

2 hours ago, Cobie said:

Beats me why you keep on posting about ‘doing something’. I asked you before if you do something and you didn’t reply to that, so I assume you don’t.  You did say you do some charitable donations, but that imo does not constitute ‘doing something”.

 

 

I often think about what I can be doing, feeling like I should be doing more, and one thing that keeps coming up is the silence; connecting with the silence in myself, and helping others to hear the silence, to feel the stillness and spaciousness of Being. In a time when I feel so impotent, I think that inner quiet is so rich with potential that it should not be under-estimated. For me it is far more valuable than expressing and reifying my anger and frustration through social media. 

 

What does that do but fan my own flames and those of others? 

I haven't seen much benefit from it in my own experience.

 

Consequently I've gotten back to teaching more and it's been really rewarding to hear the stories of the benefits of meditation, small and large, in people's lives. One recent story was of a young mom who has been struggling with the chaotic experience of caring for her toddler, worrying about their future... In a particularly frenetic moment she remembered her informal practice and was able to connect with inner stillness and silence. It took her only a few moments and out of that inner peace came the spontaneous warmth of connection with her precious child, transforming frustration into joy. It was beautiful to hear her describe her experience. 

Edited 12 hours ago by steve

[old3bob]

42 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Even just 'generally ' I have stopped telling the younger generations how good I had it  ,  its too sad ( for me )  to see the look on their faces  . Lust a few examples  of what I got ; 

 

Free University education - many  have a debt hanging over their heads .

Virtually unknown for young people to have high personal debts 

Abundance of cheap housing and good jobs . 

vehicles and fuel much cheaper  ( compared to wages ) 

 

etc etc etc 

 

there was also the idealism that sometimes took more concrete form back in the 60's and in other years,  On a side note Vietnam and civil rights violence were of hellish times but who would have believed back then that parts of Vietnam would now become nice tourist destinations along with the progress that was made in civil rights for several years?  (until you know who) 

[old3bob]

.

Edited 8 hours ago by old3bob