Maximazing the Audience

Spain' s elections

Pedro Sanchez deserves the misfortune that is about to befall him, for allowing his pride to take precedence over the country's needs. All this nonsensical theatre in order not to coalesce with Unidas Podemos. Now the country will have to put up with either a pact between PP and the far right-wing party Vox or go back to where we came from: a bland coalition between PP and PSOE. Pedro was indeed a great disappointment to me, personally, and politically weak, by allowing himself to be checkmated by the forces in power. Spain does not deserve this misfortune, however.

Why should life be a struggle? -- On the privilege of a chronic condition

As people with a chronic condition, we should ask ourselves: why feeling our condition as a constant struggle means so much to us?

It's easy to find reasons to single yourself out as someone especial, either in a good or really bad way, to deal with the struggles of mind. But why do we do that? Whats is the real need for life to be a constant struggle in order for us to feel special about ourselves?

This is probably a boring essay on loose questions to most people. However, I believe them to be important to uncover issues that underlie our human condition as individuals of our time --(yes, individuals whose capitalist, Christian background may, strangely or not, have a great deal of influence on such issues). I, for example, as a person with a chronic condition, have to deal with such questions on a daily basis. Not because I necessarily need to, but because I am not the kind of individual who likes to hide away from my thoughts or lie to myself to find a resolution to my problems or keep my imaginary identity untouched; on the contrary, I find such habits of men somewhat pathetic and useless. What is identity if not a fallacy? Everything changes all the time, including ourselves. Why lie about it or hold on to imaginary me's?

So, by being honest to myself, I ask. Why do I need to feel the struggle to live life in such a "especial" condition? Why such a condition, after labelled by a diagnostics, has suddenly become a property of mine to be aware of and respected by others? Should I hide this 'condition' in a cupboard of keeps and memories? Is it really a privilege to have property over such a thing or even over anything at all? Should I feel special for being "the one"?-- maybe not as the sole wizard on the whole world capable of defeating evil, but as a bearer of a somewhat unknown disease.

Yes, maybe I'm a communist. My blood has shown signs of redness and my mind attributes of negation of property and ownership. Maybe I should move to Venezuela or North Korea, although the latter is now BFFs with the USA, our model of great society and civilization. Perhaps, let's wait and see how things develop.

Christ our Lord has gone through so many hardships to attain his enlightenment and immortality that maybe that is what we are all supposed to follow. In life we are driven by the final reward, either financial, in the material plane, or in the afterlife, where ideally things should be better and peaceful, but in the afterlife only. All the other stuff that Jesus said doesn't really matter that much, because it all sounds unattainable in a world where we are all individually struggling with our individual minds and life.

How can we look at others when we are so attuned to our struggles? Struggles of self delusion, ideology and selection of choices, as fortunately there are many.

When someone comes to you with good intention on comparing diseases, "mine is worst than yours." -- You ask yourself "are you trying to diminish my experience?" Or "do you believe you have got a privilege?" I then cannot deny but ask about my own prejudices and racism. As it all comes to fear of loosing something, even if it is something you would rather really loose.

We are all ill. In an ill society. We all look toward a betterment of something outside of ourselves, when everyone knows that nothing good can come of a person who is not in peace with him or herself.

Sorry about the nonsensical litany. As they say and I repeat with a sacrifice "We always hear the same old thing: liberalisation of the markets requires sacrifices!"

Atraso o tempo

Para Soraia

Nos dias de hoje

Nos dias de avó Liana serpenteia

Azul como na maior parte dos dias

E assim agradeço ao meu corpo

O deus das manhãs.

Atraso o tempo

E os dias me juram lembranças

os dias e ela.

A encontro num sonho

e dançamos de mãos dadas.

Nos sonhos,
No sonho juramos ___

Juntas para sempre

E, entao, afundada em seus peitos

__ Peitos que envolvem o planeta

Eu dancei

Uma dança que afundava a sua ausência.

Nos dias de hoje,

avó,

Todas as janelas olham para ela

E também para mim.

Por que dizer adeus?

• 
  

Karinna Alves Gulias

The original question

After watching the interview of Pope Francis to the Spanish TV (channel 6), some issues that have condemned his church into a stagnated position in regards to the old patriarchal values were brought to the surface once more; and then, again, I remembered why I dislike Christianism, even though I have a huge admiration for the current Franciscan Pope.

The original question is that that bears the Catholic church. But what is the question?

Pope Francis says that the woman is the church ("La Iglesia" - feminine) and therefore women should not be treated as servants, but taken for as co-operators (-- not exactly his words). In this regard, I think the Catholic church is at loss in comparison with the Protestant church of England or Scotland, for example, who have female ministers and vicars, who try at least to be consistent to their will to update themselves to the current times and hermeneutics.

If we take what Pope Francis says as a truth, then as the church, what is a woman if not a mere chalice? The womb to the blood of Jesus. The recipient of life?

The Pope then comes to the topic of abortion. Cleverly enough, he doesn't answer if not with another question, which he believes to be a basic question: "Is killing a life a good reason enough to solve a problem?". This question did make me think on the possibility that maybe I should be against abortion, but then it came to me that the problem is that this is not the basic question to ask at all. This because this question is based on the preconceived idea that a woman is a recipient of life.

Why suddenly, in our history, has the individual life (as a religious conceptual term) become so undoubtedly important, in its initial potential as a seed at least, that it creates a chasm between a woman and her own body? Why should her womb be of any one's but her own business? Is it because she is an institution instead of a complex, individual human being?

To answer that basic question, which comprises whether or not a woman should abort, is not possible with the judgemental eyes of a simpler being, such as the man. First, no judgement at all should be at place. If it is indeed a divine question, that of abortion, it was given to the woman to make. As after all, she is the one who bears the life. But most important than that, the basic question to ask oneself before thinking of "killing a life to solve a problem" is a different one from the question the Pope presented. The woman who bears the life should ask herself, and only to herself, alone:

-- If I have this child, will I be able to heal afterwards? If I do not have this child will I be able to heal afterwards?--

And from the answer to THIS/these basic, true, and compassionate question(s), she should decide for herself, with the support of health professionals, in order to help keep HER life. In either case, her psychological and physical health should be of great concern to the social health institutions, because she is a human being, a complex one who can multiply, and who is looking for the best way to achieve happiness in her life. And mothers should not be unhappy if we want a sane and healthy society. This decision, therefore, should be of no one else's business but hers.

4 Dimensions

Direct link: https://youtu.be/t-WyreE9ZkI

'Me' and the 'world' (#1)

"It is by refraining from grasping; it is by non-clinging, that the awakening person cultivates wisdom. But what does non-clinging mean? To cling is to unwittingly divide everything into two ( 'me' and 'the world'). The undivided is the non-clinging".

(Ramanan on the "Shastra", 163). - Quoted from New Buddha Way's Newsletter.