Wednesday, January 7, 2009

killing for peace

KILLING for PEACE


how many civilians must be killed to buy peace?
isnt that a stupid question?
it seems that in most if not all the wars going on right now ..in the name of "religion". "peace", "democracy" and other such 'desirable' things.. more innocent civilians and children are being killed than bad guys.
this baffles me
shall we just keep killing until everyone who differs from us in any way is dead..until each of us is the last one standing.
then have we won? proudly put our foot on the chest of dead mothers and children and raise our guns in victory in the name of our cause? ......we have WON peace.....

oil on masonite

painted during some war news
[there is plenty of it]





















the madonna

16"x20 oil on canvas

painted from my wife carol and daughter

represents that all mothers are madonnas and

that all children are the blessed one

*********

"What triggers you can get less and less in your life. But, you know, if you're trying to avoid being triggered, I read something recently where someone said that's like becoming a celibate nun like me or monk and then trying to get rid of all the sexually attractive people in the world in order to keep your vows. You know, it just doesn't work. You have to work on your side of it, you know? ."..........................pema chodron

**

"This lousy world, this lousy people, this lousy government, this lousy everything. Lousy weather, lousy blah blah blah blah. Pissed off, you know, it's too hot in here, it's too cold, I don't like the smell and, the person is too tall in front, and -- too fat next to me, and they're wearing perfume and I'm allergic, and just -- unnnh! So he says, the analogy is that you're barefooted, it's like being barefooted and walking across blazing-hot sand or across cut glass. Or in a field with thorns. And your feet are bare, and you say, this is just, you know, it's really hurting, it's terrible, it's too sharp, it's too painful, it's too hot. Do I have a great idea! I am just going to cover the whole, everywhere I go, I'm going to cover it with leather. And then it won't hurt my feet anymore. That's like saying, "I'm going to get rid of her and get rid of him and get the temperature right, and I'm going to ban perfume in the world and, you know, there will be no, nothing that bothers me anywhere. There -- I am going to get rid of everything, including mosquitoes, that bothers me, anywhere in the world, and then I will be a very happy, content person." We're laughing, but it's what we all do. That is how we do approach things. We think, if we could just get rid of them or cover it with leather, then our pain would go away. Well, sure, because, you know, then it wouldn't be cutting our feet anymore -- I mean, it's just logical, isn't it? But it doesn't make any sense, really. So he [shantideva] said, "but if you simply wrap the leather around your feet" -- in other words, shoes -- then you could walk across the boiling sand and the cut glass and the thorns, and it wouldn't bother you. So the analogy is, if you work with your mind, instead of trying to change everything on the outside, that's how your temper will cool down. "

pema chodron

***

we can never have world peace until we are at peace with our neighbor

From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows