Looking for peace is like looking for a turtle with a mustache: You won't be able to find it. But when your heart is ready, peace will come looking for you.”
Ajahn Chah [Famous Thai buddhist, 1918-1992]

Why Trees Whisper

Estonian Legend
Retold by Anne Pellowski

In the early days of earth, not long after the trees were created and humans were forced to leave Paradise to work, a man went out to the forest to cut wood. The first tree he came to was a pine tree. But as soon as the man lifted the axe he heard a voice cry out.

"Don't strike me. Can't you see the sticky tears that are already coming out of my body? If you hit me it will bring you bad luck."

The man did not indeed see the sticky sap coming from the several cuts in the tree trunk, so he moved on farther into the forest. He came to a spruce tree and again raised his axe. But the spruce tree protested.

"Don't cut me down. You will find me of little use for my wood is twisted and knotty."

Unhappily, the man went on until he came to an alder tree. Once more he raised his axe to strike but the alder shrieked at him.

"Be careful that you don't wound me. Whenever I am cut, blood runs from my heart. It will stain my wood and your axe blood red."

The man went no farther but called out to God.

"How am I to get wood to make fire and to build shelter? Every tree I meet cries out and pleads that I not cut it down."

God took pity on the man and said: "Return to the forest. I will see that hence forth no tree will talk back or contradict you."

The man did as he was told and this time no tree spoke to him. None protested as he cut down to make shelter and to make a fire.

The trees were not happy about this. They dared not complain aloud to God. Instead, they began to whisper softly, each time a person entered their domain in the forests. If you approach a group of trees anywhere, you can still hear them softly whispering to each other. They are gently complaining about their poor treatment at the hands of humans.

Commentary:

Many of our musical instruments are made of natural materials, but they have been refined to such a high degree that it is difficult to find the natural object behind all the polish. Also, we forget that music often imitates natural sounds in the environment: the brushing of leaves against each other; the wind whistling through trees or rocks; the songs of birds; the snap, crackle and pop of growing and dying trees and plants.

When I tell "Why Trees Whisper," I like to have on hand some tree branches to wave through the air to create different kinds of "whispers." It is challenging to see what range of sounds one can come up with while using only natural things, without altering them in any way.

Like the floss of dandelions and milkweed, ancient stories like this one should continue to be sent floating out into the wide world, in much the same way they have drifted down to us across centuries. By telling them, we keep alive our wonder at the tremendous variety of life on our planet.

Goodbye...
And it's emotional
Good night...
I'll be up with the sun
You're still holding on
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down

from, U2 "Gone"

U2: Acrobat

Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
When I first met you girl
You had fire in your soul
What happened your face
Of melting in snow
Now it looks like this

And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down

No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you'd hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I'd join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I'd break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
'cause I need it now

To take a cup
To fill it up
To drink it slow
I can't let you go
I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And don't let the bastards grind you down

Oh, it hurts baby
(What are we going to do now it's all been said)
(No new ideas in the house and every book has been read)

And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And you can find
Your own way out
You can build
And I can will
And you can call
I can't wait until
You can stash
And you can seize
In dreams begin
Responsibilities
And I can love
And I can love
And I know that the tide is turning 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down

| | | | |

This song too, is from the absolute classic U2 album, Achtung Baby, and is perhaps the most underrated U2 song of all. This would also make my top ten all-time album tracks.
The lyrics, sentiment, sound all combine with the quintessential U2 style, this is about being lost, with nowhere to turn, the feeling of being trapped entrenched in the morass that is hopelessness. The terror and treacherous nature of life is here, the tightrope and the search for something or someone to cling to, and it all ends in failure, nothing is honest enough to hold your faith.

This is, sadly, how I feel tonight, that finally, ...finally, my hope is dashed, my fight is nearly over, my energy is reaching it's end...where else can I go, what else can I do, when all else fails, my country fails, my health fails, my dreams shatter, my NHS laugh, my world dies, and who can stop me falling.
This song captures the fall perfectly, so very, very perfectly.

A quite brilliant song.

"Ultraviolet"

Sometimes I feel like I don’t know
Sometimes I feel like checkin’ out
I want to get it wrong
Can’t always be strong
And love it won’t be long...

Oh sugar, don’t you cry
Oh child, wipe the tears from your eyes
You know I need you to be strong
And the day is as dark as the night is long
Feel like trash, you make me feel clean
I’m in the black, can’t see or be seen

Baby, baby, baby...light my way
(alright now)
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

You bury your treasure
Where it can’t be found
But your love is like a secret
That’s been passed around
There is a silence that comes to a house
Where no one can sleep
I guess it’s the price of love
I know it’s not cheap

(oh, come on)
Baby, baby, baby...light my way
(oh, come on)
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

Oh...ultraviolet...
Ultraviolet...
Ultraviolet...
Ultraviolet...

Baby, baby, baby...light my way

I remember
When we could sleep on stones
Now we lie together
In whispers and moans
When I was all messed up
And I had opera in my head
Your love was a light bulb
Hanging over my bed

Baby, baby, baby...light my way
(oh, come on)
Baby, baby, baby...light my way

Ultraviolet...
[repeat 4 times]

Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...
Baby, baby, baby...light my way
[repeat 3 times]

Baby, baby, baby...light my way

U2, from 1991's classic "Achtung Baby" album, this song can be intepreted in different ways, a conventional love song, a cry for help, a desire, a dream, inexperience, showing weakness to someone you love, truth and trust, religious; a song about God, mysterious, vulnerable yet strong, it has everything a song could ever want in my view, and I adore this track...one of my top 10 favourites of all time.

[so many memories for me, and so many feelings now]

You should be the change that you want to see in the world.

Six years ago this week was a time I'll never forget, the time my grandmother left us.
She was truly inspirational, at a time when her generation were (and still are) not revered by the ridiculous media or state, and seemingly without any allies in our nation.

I'm my eyes, she not only restored the balance against this appalling indictment of modern society where age is treated as an irritation to those age-ignorant souls, but she made me realise the importance and value of age...to fear not. Sometimes, I wondered how she could ever be over 80, latterly, over 90...seemingly of Europe, of Asia, of nature, of literature, of theatre, of the east and west, of one and all.

She was incredibly modern, as my non-European friends discovered to their delight, and their pre-meeting fears about her generation looking down upon foreign nationals were quickly allayed, for my grandmother always welcomed them, literally, with open arms, and loved to learn of their ways. (She enjoyed telling me of the invitations she gladly accepted to attend Jewish and Indian weddings in London; of Mediterranean parties; of countless 'world gatherings'). How dare any media-based bias against her generation claim they were a ghastly lot...if any generation is at fault, and guilty of scandulous views it is the present one.

She embraced technology at every turn, more than my parents ever have.

If there is one difference which is very apparent to me, it is that many people currently make rash claims, judgements, reports, statements, without delving deeply into the subject in question. Sound bites, for example, tell us all we need to know??? Really???
It is the ultimate irony, with so much information at hand, ignorance still plagues us.

Use words as if you have to pay for each of them, value them more highly, for they are the makings of richness.

My grandmother readily spoke of the mistakes and pains of her time, the errors of her generation, but the mind of her contemporaries always seem more focused than today's lost beliefs, however, she often said, "I'm glad that I am old, to soon escape what I see in the world today".

She was one of the two most important people in my life, (the other left the world in 1997). She prompted my first forays into driving, and paid for my lessons as soon as was legally safe to do so; she encouraged my drawing as nobody else did; she comforted my fears; taught me the importance of talking regularly, if not for long, but always enough to keep ties; she taught me that if you are truly proud of who you are, you NEVER have to tell anyone the fact...ever; she shared her world, one which I never saw with my own eyes; she enriched my heart and gave me a gift that will remain forever, the one of giving and loving...I miss you so much, but in my heart, you are there, always.

fondest memories,
lauren6

Seven Blunders of the World
1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle

-Mahatma Gandhi