@KnowledgeIsQueen what's the word for today?
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Quote of the night
- Thread starter KnowledgeIsQueen
- Start date
rocksteady
Pro
("caress sur l'océan" - french)
caresse sur l'océan
Porte l'oiseau si léger
Revenant des terres enneigées
Air éphémère de l'hiver
Au loin ton écho s'éloigne
Châteaux en Espagne
Vire au vent tournoie déploie tes ailes
Dans l'aube grise du levant
Trouve un chemin vers l'arc-en-ciel
Se découvrira le printemps
Caresse sur l'océan
Pose l'oiseau si léger
Sur la pierre d'une île immergée
Air éphémère de l'hiver
Enfin ton souffle s'éloigne
Loin dans les montagnes
Vire au vent tournoie déploie tes ailes
Dans l'aube grise du levant
Trouve un chemin vers l'arc-en-ciel
Se découvrira le printemps
Calme sur l'océan.
( "caress of the ocean" - english translation)
caress of the ocean
carries the bird so light
returning from the snowy land
ephemeral air of winter
off your echo moves away
castles in spain
turns to wind swirls
spread your wings
in the gray dawn of the rising
find a way to
to bare any spring
caress of the ocean
carries the bird so light
on the stone of a submerged island
ephemeral air of winter
finally your breath moves away
away in the mountains
turns to wind swirls
spread your wings
in the gray dawn of the rising
find a way to
to bare any spring
calm on the ocean
---- to me, the poem is about a dying bird trying to reach a destination only in its dreams ("castles in spain" - in french, it is a beautiful place only in ones dreams)...
it passes away, with its breath escaping to the mountains and now perhaps it has a chance to spread its wings and reach spring, "calm on the ocean."
a metaphor of a life constricted, yearning for more.
---- heard this song/poem in the movie, "the chorus" (2004). french name: les choristes
The Chorus (2004) - IMDb
about a group of orphans (innocent children) and their instructor trying to give them an escape or hope for a better life and future.
---- here is the song in french (with english translation).
---- what's amazing is that the main child actor is the actual singer and an accomplished singer. same song this time with the kid actor singing the song in concert; his solo begins at about 1:03
Peace
caresse sur l'océan
Porte l'oiseau si léger
Revenant des terres enneigées
Air éphémère de l'hiver
Au loin ton écho s'éloigne
Châteaux en Espagne
Vire au vent tournoie déploie tes ailes
Dans l'aube grise du levant
Trouve un chemin vers l'arc-en-ciel
Se découvrira le printemps
Caresse sur l'océan
Pose l'oiseau si léger
Sur la pierre d'une île immergée
Air éphémère de l'hiver
Enfin ton souffle s'éloigne
Loin dans les montagnes
Vire au vent tournoie déploie tes ailes
Dans l'aube grise du levant
Trouve un chemin vers l'arc-en-ciel
Se découvrira le printemps
Calme sur l'océan.
( "caress of the ocean" - english translation)
caress of the ocean
carries the bird so light
returning from the snowy land
ephemeral air of winter
off your echo moves away
castles in spain
turns to wind swirls
spread your wings
in the gray dawn of the rising
find a way to
to bare any spring
caress of the ocean
carries the bird so light
on the stone of a submerged island
ephemeral air of winter
finally your breath moves away
away in the mountains
turns to wind swirls
spread your wings
in the gray dawn of the rising
find a way to
to bare any spring
calm on the ocean
---- to me, the poem is about a dying bird trying to reach a destination only in its dreams ("castles in spain" - in french, it is a beautiful place only in ones dreams)...
it passes away, with its breath escaping to the mountains and now perhaps it has a chance to spread its wings and reach spring, "calm on the ocean."
a metaphor of a life constricted, yearning for more.
---- heard this song/poem in the movie, "the chorus" (2004). french name: les choristes
The Chorus (2004) - IMDb
about a group of orphans (innocent children) and their instructor trying to give them an escape or hope for a better life and future.
---- here is the song in french (with english translation).
---- what's amazing is that the main child actor is the actual singer and an accomplished singer. same song this time with the kid actor singing the song in concert; his solo begins at about 1:03
Peace
Last edited by a moderator:
KnowledgeIsQueen
Duality Duel
6-10-2013
"Unless we have chosen the life of a hermit we will come into contact with other people in our daily lives and therefore be affected by their thoughts and behavior. First I am going to look at the problem of what I call 'passive negativity'. This is the form of negativity that is created by the thoughts, attitudes and behavior of people who are not intending to harm us or disturb us, but who are carrying around their problems and so will cause a reaction in our own emotions and feelings if we come into contact with them.
When your energy field comes close to another person's you absorb some of the energies of that person. If they are happy and cheerful this can give you a lift, but if they are depressed and downcast you will be affected by the negativity in their aura - it will move across into your own.
Self-Pity
This is the most draining of personality types to cope with. People who feel sorry for themselves are energy thieves. They will talk to you for hours and hours about their problems then leave you drained of energy. Of course, we all have bouts of self-pity in our lives but I am talking here of people who are perpetually looking for someone to listen to their woes. You will be able to identify them:
- They will tell you the same story over and over and over again, even when you have shown sympathy and caring on each occasion.
- They rarely follow any of the advice you give them
- You hear them telling the same tales to every other person who is willing to listen
- They consider themselves to be victims of circumstances and show no indications that they are prepared to take responsibility for what happens in their life.
Sulking
Persistent sulkers are also energy thieves. Sulkers are usually looking for attention and are also very manipulative. Sulking is where a person who doesn't get their own way makes obvious signs to all around that he or she is upset. Sulkers only perform to audiences. Sulking is petulance. It is the behavior of self-absorbed people, because they don't care too much about the effect their behavior has on other people.
Egotistical behavior
This is the behavior of a person who wants the world to orientate itself around them. A person who believes they are important - not to be confused with one who knows themselves and accepts themselves for what they are, whether good or bad. Egotists tend to bore people with their own importance. They can be snobs. They are often selfish - considering only themselves. Egotists will not care for the feelings of others - they will be concerned with their own comforts and will want to win all arguments and have their way in all decision-making situations. You will know when you have met one - you will feel emotionally steamrollered.
Low self-esteem
People who have low self-esteem or little self-respect can be very draining. They will be constantly seeking approval and will have very little confidence. They may show signs of self-pity. They will often have secondary problems as a result of their own lace of self-love - they may have problems making decisions, develop eating disorders or other sicknesses, lean on those near to them for moral and emotional support, find it difficult to engage socially and be disinclined to join in group activities.
They can be so keen to gain approval that they may drive themselves too hard to reach an unattainable perfection. These traits will be quite trying for those around them, whether family members or work colleagues.
Fearfulness
Fear is a very negative emotion. It creates negativity like nothing else apart from hatred. An anxious and fearful person is difficult to live or work with because they will drain you of energy and will be reluctant to move forward in life. Their lives are limited by their fears and anxieties. They will often have love self-esteem and there is the chance that they will develop panic attacks, paranoia and other serious psychological and mental problems. Some fears arise from clear and obvious sources, others are unreasonable.
Smothering love
Smotherers seem to be full of care for you but in reality their love is overwhelming and suffocating - like a soft yet heavy and unyielding blanket. Their love is often conditional and manipulative ('Oh, don't worry if you can't come, I suppose I'll have to manage somehow', 'You wouldn't do this if you really cared about me') and can create feelings of guilt in the receiver. You feel guilty because you are not returning their love in the same all consuming way.
The person who tries to control and own a person in this way is lacking self-esteem and self-confidence and has either been treated in this way themselves or, more likely, has experience a lack of love. They are fearful of losing the person they are smothering - although their behavior is likely to make this happen.
Dithering
Ditherers are people who lack the confidence to make up their minds. They find it incredibly difficult to reach a decision because they are forever looking at all the alternatives. They are out of touch with their intuition and are letting fear stop them from listening to their inner self. Therefore all options feel the same to them, and they can't trust their feelings to help them make decision on what is right or wrong for them. Often they are worrying about the outcome and how it will be perceived in the eyes of others. Ditherers can be very infuriating and a trust test of your patience.
Unreliability
Unreliable people are frustrating to work with and annoying socially. They often cannot arrive on time and forget appointments and meetings. If you always keep people waiting it can come across as a lack of care and even as selfish - 'my time is more important than your time'. Very often unreliable people are not able to say no to anyone and overfill their lives. If someone regularly makes promises and forgets to fulfil them or otherwise doesn't perform they are also showing themselves to be careless of your trust.
Over-zealousness
This is not always necessarily a negative state - over-zealous people are often the 'movers and shakers' of the world and may leave a positive mark - they are often those that turn situations around and work with good causes. Still, their energy can be very graining for those who come in contact with them. They are often living in the fast lane and crash through our lives creating tidal waves of backlash energy. They can be 'wired', hyperactive chaotic and undisciplined and quite difficult to live with. They may also occasionally be egotistical.
In the same way that thoughts affect your energy, the intention to protect yourself will strengthen your energy field. There are a number of simple visualizations techniques you can use to preserve and protect yourself when you are in the presence of disruptive and draining energies.
The egg
This is a very simple but effective way to protect your aura and personal space from other people's emotional outbursts or negative thoughts. It takes only a few seconds to visualize. I suggest that you get into your egg whenever you encounter any of the energy types mentioned above, and also when you visit hospitals and other places where people are sick or needy.
- Imagine yourself stepping into a large egg. Step in through a doorway and close the door behind you.
- The egg has thick walls that keep out all negative emotions
- Know that these walls will protect you, and only love will come through
- Put as many windows as you wish into the walls of your egg
- If you are in an ongoing contentious situation then renew your egg every few hours. Otherwise visualizing it every morning will be fine.
An alternative to the egg is the bubble - a big, clear bubble around you that again keeps out negativity. You can see through it and positive energies can penetrate to you, but anything negative just sits on the outside and bounces back."
Healing Negative Energies: Simple Steps to Improve Your Energy At Home and At Work
~*Anne Jones
"I attract people who are passionate but not angry, calm but not selfish, loving but not possessive. These people will share my life and will have mutually beneficial relationships. I commit to creating true happiness and as I create it, so I will keep it."
"Unless we have chosen the life of a hermit we will come into contact with other people in our daily lives and therefore be affected by their thoughts and behavior. First I am going to look at the problem of what I call 'passive negativity'. This is the form of negativity that is created by the thoughts, attitudes and behavior of people who are not intending to harm us or disturb us, but who are carrying around their problems and so will cause a reaction in our own emotions and feelings if we come into contact with them.
When your energy field comes close to another person's you absorb some of the energies of that person. If they are happy and cheerful this can give you a lift, but if they are depressed and downcast you will be affected by the negativity in their aura - it will move across into your own.
Self-Pity
This is the most draining of personality types to cope with. People who feel sorry for themselves are energy thieves. They will talk to you for hours and hours about their problems then leave you drained of energy. Of course, we all have bouts of self-pity in our lives but I am talking here of people who are perpetually looking for someone to listen to their woes. You will be able to identify them:
- They will tell you the same story over and over and over again, even when you have shown sympathy and caring on each occasion.
- They rarely follow any of the advice you give them
- You hear them telling the same tales to every other person who is willing to listen
- They consider themselves to be victims of circumstances and show no indications that they are prepared to take responsibility for what happens in their life.
Sulking
Persistent sulkers are also energy thieves. Sulkers are usually looking for attention and are also very manipulative. Sulking is where a person who doesn't get their own way makes obvious signs to all around that he or she is upset. Sulkers only perform to audiences. Sulking is petulance. It is the behavior of self-absorbed people, because they don't care too much about the effect their behavior has on other people.
Egotistical behavior
This is the behavior of a person who wants the world to orientate itself around them. A person who believes they are important - not to be confused with one who knows themselves and accepts themselves for what they are, whether good or bad. Egotists tend to bore people with their own importance. They can be snobs. They are often selfish - considering only themselves. Egotists will not care for the feelings of others - they will be concerned with their own comforts and will want to win all arguments and have their way in all decision-making situations. You will know when you have met one - you will feel emotionally steamrollered.
Low self-esteem
People who have low self-esteem or little self-respect can be very draining. They will be constantly seeking approval and will have very little confidence. They may show signs of self-pity. They will often have secondary problems as a result of their own lace of self-love - they may have problems making decisions, develop eating disorders or other sicknesses, lean on those near to them for moral and emotional support, find it difficult to engage socially and be disinclined to join in group activities.
They can be so keen to gain approval that they may drive themselves too hard to reach an unattainable perfection. These traits will be quite trying for those around them, whether family members or work colleagues.
Fearfulness
Fear is a very negative emotion. It creates negativity like nothing else apart from hatred. An anxious and fearful person is difficult to live or work with because they will drain you of energy and will be reluctant to move forward in life. Their lives are limited by their fears and anxieties. They will often have love self-esteem and there is the chance that they will develop panic attacks, paranoia and other serious psychological and mental problems. Some fears arise from clear and obvious sources, others are unreasonable.
Smothering love
Smotherers seem to be full of care for you but in reality their love is overwhelming and suffocating - like a soft yet heavy and unyielding blanket. Their love is often conditional and manipulative ('Oh, don't worry if you can't come, I suppose I'll have to manage somehow', 'You wouldn't do this if you really cared about me') and can create feelings of guilt in the receiver. You feel guilty because you are not returning their love in the same all consuming way.
The person who tries to control and own a person in this way is lacking self-esteem and self-confidence and has either been treated in this way themselves or, more likely, has experience a lack of love. They are fearful of losing the person they are smothering - although their behavior is likely to make this happen.
Dithering
Ditherers are people who lack the confidence to make up their minds. They find it incredibly difficult to reach a decision because they are forever looking at all the alternatives. They are out of touch with their intuition and are letting fear stop them from listening to their inner self. Therefore all options feel the same to them, and they can't trust their feelings to help them make decision on what is right or wrong for them. Often they are worrying about the outcome and how it will be perceived in the eyes of others. Ditherers can be very infuriating and a trust test of your patience.
Unreliability
Unreliable people are frustrating to work with and annoying socially. They often cannot arrive on time and forget appointments and meetings. If you always keep people waiting it can come across as a lack of care and even as selfish - 'my time is more important than your time'. Very often unreliable people are not able to say no to anyone and overfill their lives. If someone regularly makes promises and forgets to fulfil them or otherwise doesn't perform they are also showing themselves to be careless of your trust.
Over-zealousness
This is not always necessarily a negative state - over-zealous people are often the 'movers and shakers' of the world and may leave a positive mark - they are often those that turn situations around and work with good causes. Still, their energy can be very graining for those who come in contact with them. They are often living in the fast lane and crash through our lives creating tidal waves of backlash energy. They can be 'wired', hyperactive chaotic and undisciplined and quite difficult to live with. They may also occasionally be egotistical.
In the same way that thoughts affect your energy, the intention to protect yourself will strengthen your energy field. There are a number of simple visualizations techniques you can use to preserve and protect yourself when you are in the presence of disruptive and draining energies.
The egg
This is a very simple but effective way to protect your aura and personal space from other people's emotional outbursts or negative thoughts. It takes only a few seconds to visualize. I suggest that you get into your egg whenever you encounter any of the energy types mentioned above, and also when you visit hospitals and other places where people are sick or needy.
- Imagine yourself stepping into a large egg. Step in through a doorway and close the door behind you.
- The egg has thick walls that keep out all negative emotions
- Know that these walls will protect you, and only love will come through
- Put as many windows as you wish into the walls of your egg
- If you are in an ongoing contentious situation then renew your egg every few hours. Otherwise visualizing it every morning will be fine.
An alternative to the egg is the bubble - a big, clear bubble around you that again keeps out negativity. You can see through it and positive energies can penetrate to you, but anything negative just sits on the outside and bounces back."
Healing Negative Energies: Simple Steps to Improve Your Energy At Home and At Work
~*Anne Jones
"I attract people who are passionate but not angry, calm but not selfish, loving but not possessive. These people will share my life and will have mutually beneficial relationships. I commit to creating true happiness and as I create it, so I will keep it."
going to have to check out this anne jones.
Many people don't want the truth unless if feels good to them. They will love you as long as what you share with them continues to make them feel good. The moment what you say offends their ego (unobserved mind and emotions) they are mad at you and don't want to be around you anymore.
-IronFist
-IronFist
HarlemsOwn
RIP Fresh
"You ain't gonna let me fukk and I feel you, but you gon' suck my dikk or I'll kill you."
-Chief Keef
-Chief Keef
KnowledgeIsQueen
Duality Duel
6-11-2013
"Knowledge of one's own deep nature is also simultaneously knowledge of human nature in general"
The climax of self-actualization is the peak experience. "Peak experience" is a splendidly naturalistic idiom, hospitable to all similar meanings in the vocabularies of religion and mysticism, yet confined by none of them. A peak experience is what you feel and perhaps "know" when you gain authentic elevation as a human being. We don't know how the peak experience is achieved; it has no simple one-to-one relation with any deliberated procedure; we know only that it is somehow "earned". It is like the promise of the rainbow. It comes and it goes and it cannot be forgotten. A man somehow knows better than to try to hold onto a state or condition of awareness that is not meant to last except in persistent recollection of the total acceptance that it brings. A peak experience is a coming into the realization that what "ought to be" is, in a way that requires no longing, suggest no training, to make it so. It tells human beings something about themselves and about the world that is the same truth, and becomes the pivot value and an ordering principle for the hierarchy of meanings. It is the merging of subject and object, involving no loss of subjectivity but what seems its infinite extension. It is individuality freed of isolation.
There are two ways to arrive at a difficult but valuable conclusion. You can climb up a ladder of related syllogisms, tightening the rungs as you go by the use of precise language. The other is simply to be up there, high above distracting obstacles, seeing the final stages of the logical climb, but seeing also dozens of other passages of ascent, all reaching the same real place, the same exalted height - and, being there, freely able to look in all directions instead of having to cling to the ladder of reason, hoping it wont topple over.
A great orchestra is a combination of rare skills, a company of musicians who have learned to play their instruments and to know music better than most other people. If you listen to them talk music among themselves, you will not understand half of what they say, but when they play then you will know that whatever they said to each other, it wasn't just idle chatter.
It is so with any distinguished human being. He speaks, in relation to his particular attainment, from a height. The meaning of what he says may not always be immediately plain, but the height, the attainment, is real. You feel it even if you cannot grasp it to your satisfaction."
The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
~*Abraham H. Maslow
"The pioneer, the creator, the explorer is generally a single, lonely person rather than a group, struggling alone with his inner conflicts, fears, defenses against arrogance and pride, even against paranoia. He has to be a courageous man, not afraid to stick his neck out, not afraid even to make mistakes, well aware that he is as Polanyi has stressed, a kind of gambler who comes to tentative conclusions in the absence of facts and then spends some years trying to find out if his hunch is correct. If he has any sense at all, he is of course scared of his own ideas, of his temerity, and is well aware that he is affirming what he cannot prove."
"Knowledge of one's own deep nature is also simultaneously knowledge of human nature in general"
The climax of self-actualization is the peak experience. "Peak experience" is a splendidly naturalistic idiom, hospitable to all similar meanings in the vocabularies of religion and mysticism, yet confined by none of them. A peak experience is what you feel and perhaps "know" when you gain authentic elevation as a human being. We don't know how the peak experience is achieved; it has no simple one-to-one relation with any deliberated procedure; we know only that it is somehow "earned". It is like the promise of the rainbow. It comes and it goes and it cannot be forgotten. A man somehow knows better than to try to hold onto a state or condition of awareness that is not meant to last except in persistent recollection of the total acceptance that it brings. A peak experience is a coming into the realization that what "ought to be" is, in a way that requires no longing, suggest no training, to make it so. It tells human beings something about themselves and about the world that is the same truth, and becomes the pivot value and an ordering principle for the hierarchy of meanings. It is the merging of subject and object, involving no loss of subjectivity but what seems its infinite extension. It is individuality freed of isolation.
There are two ways to arrive at a difficult but valuable conclusion. You can climb up a ladder of related syllogisms, tightening the rungs as you go by the use of precise language. The other is simply to be up there, high above distracting obstacles, seeing the final stages of the logical climb, but seeing also dozens of other passages of ascent, all reaching the same real place, the same exalted height - and, being there, freely able to look in all directions instead of having to cling to the ladder of reason, hoping it wont topple over.
A great orchestra is a combination of rare skills, a company of musicians who have learned to play their instruments and to know music better than most other people. If you listen to them talk music among themselves, you will not understand half of what they say, but when they play then you will know that whatever they said to each other, it wasn't just idle chatter.
It is so with any distinguished human being. He speaks, in relation to his particular attainment, from a height. The meaning of what he says may not always be immediately plain, but the height, the attainment, is real. You feel it even if you cannot grasp it to your satisfaction."
The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
~*Abraham H. Maslow
"The pioneer, the creator, the explorer is generally a single, lonely person rather than a group, struggling alone with his inner conflicts, fears, defenses against arrogance and pride, even against paranoia. He has to be a courageous man, not afraid to stick his neck out, not afraid even to make mistakes, well aware that he is as Polanyi has stressed, a kind of gambler who comes to tentative conclusions in the absence of facts and then spends some years trying to find out if his hunch is correct. If he has any sense at all, he is of course scared of his own ideas, of his temerity, and is well aware that he is affirming what he cannot prove."
KnowledgeIsQueen
Duality Duel
6-12-2013
"One of the biggest assumptions we make is that the lies we believe are the truth! For example, we believe that we know what we are. When we get angry we say, "Oh, that's the way I am," When we get jealous: "Oh, that's the way I am," When we hate: "Oh, that's the way I am." But is this true? I'm not sure about that.
I used to make the assumption that I was the one who was talking, that I was the one who said all of those things that I didn't want to say. It was a big surprise when I discovered that it was not me; it was the way I learned to be. And I practiced and practiced until I mastered that performance.
The voice that says, "That's the way I am," is the voice of knowledge. It's the voice of the liar living in the Tree of Knowledge in your head. The Toltec consider it a mental disease that is highly contagious because it's transmitted from human to human through knowledge. The symptoms of the disease are fear, anger, hatred, sadness, jealousy, conflict, and separation between humans.
My grandfather told me in the simplest way, "the conflict is between the truth and what is not truth," and this was nothing new. Two thousand years ago one of the greatest masters, at least in my story, said, "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Free from what? From all the lies. Especially from the liar who lives in your heard and talks to you all the time. And we call it thinking! I used to tell my apprentices, "Just because you hear a voice in your head doesn't mean that it's speaking the truth... don't believe that voice, and that voice won't have any power over you."
There is a movie that illustrates my point beautifully. It's called A Beautiful Mind. At first I thought, "Oh, another spy movie," but I became more interested when I realized that the main character is schizophrenic. He is a brilliant man, a genius, but he sees people who don't exist. These people are controlling his life because he listens to their opinions and follows whatever they tell him to do. They are lying to him, and by listening to what they tell him, his is ruining his life. He has no idea that these people are hallucinations until his wife puts him in a mental hospital, where he is diagnosed as schizophrenic and given medication. The visions disappear, but the drug has secondary effects, and he decides to stop taking it. Without the drug, the visions come back, and he finds out that it's true that nobody can see the people he sees. Now he has to make a choice: go back to the hospital, lose his wife, and accept that he is mentally ill, or face the visions and overcome them.
When he finally has the awareness that the people he sees are not real, he makes a very smart decision. He says, 'I will not pay attention to them. I will not believe what they tell me." The power the visions have over him is lost when he no longer believes in them. With this awareness, he finds peace, and after many years of not putting his attention on them, the visions hardly talk to him anymore. Even though he stills see them, they don't waste their time because he doesn't listen to them anyway.
This movie is wonderful because it shows that if you don't believe the voice in your head, it loses the power it has over you, and you become authentic again. The voice in your head isn't even real, but it's ruling your life, and it's a tyrant. Once that voice hooks your attention, it makes you do whatever it wants you to do.
How many times has the voice made you say yes when you really wanted to say no? Or the opposite - the voice made you say no when you really wanted to say yes? How many times has the voice made you doubt what you feel in your heart? How many times have you missed opportunities to do what you really want to do in your life because of fear - fear that was a reaction to believing the voice in your head? How many times have you broken up with someone you really loved just because the voice of knowledge told you to do it? How many times have you tried to control the people you love because you follow that voice? How many times have you gotten angry or jealous or lost control and hurt people you really love just because you believed that voice?
You see what you have done by following instructions from the voice of knowledge - by following the lies. That voice tells you so many things to do that go against yourself, just like the visions of the character in the movie. The only difference between you and that man is that maybe you don't see the visions, but you hear the voices. it's overwhelming, it never stops, and we pretend that we are mentally sane!
It is obvious that the voice of knowledge is the story talking by itself. As soon as an idea hooks your attention, your story goes in that direction. Then it takes you anywhere and everywhere without any direction. Every idea is repeating itself, and there are so many ideas in your heard competing for your attention that the voice is changing from one moment to the next - boom, boom, boom!
I compare the voice of knowledge to a wild horse that is taking you wherever it wants to go. You have no control over that horse. But if you cannot stop the horse, at least you can try to tame the horse. I tell my apprentices, " Once you learn to tame the horse, you will ride the horse, and thinking becomes a tool that takes you where you want to go. If you don't believe that voice, it becomes quieter and quieter, and speaks to you less and less until it stops talking."
The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace
~*Don Miguel Ruiz
"Life is the only truth; it is the force that is creating all the time. When you see this force in yourself, and you put your faith in this force, you are truly alive."
"One of the biggest assumptions we make is that the lies we believe are the truth! For example, we believe that we know what we are. When we get angry we say, "Oh, that's the way I am," When we get jealous: "Oh, that's the way I am," When we hate: "Oh, that's the way I am." But is this true? I'm not sure about that.
I used to make the assumption that I was the one who was talking, that I was the one who said all of those things that I didn't want to say. It was a big surprise when I discovered that it was not me; it was the way I learned to be. And I practiced and practiced until I mastered that performance.
The voice that says, "That's the way I am," is the voice of knowledge. It's the voice of the liar living in the Tree of Knowledge in your head. The Toltec consider it a mental disease that is highly contagious because it's transmitted from human to human through knowledge. The symptoms of the disease are fear, anger, hatred, sadness, jealousy, conflict, and separation between humans.
My grandfather told me in the simplest way, "the conflict is between the truth and what is not truth," and this was nothing new. Two thousand years ago one of the greatest masters, at least in my story, said, "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Free from what? From all the lies. Especially from the liar who lives in your heard and talks to you all the time. And we call it thinking! I used to tell my apprentices, "Just because you hear a voice in your head doesn't mean that it's speaking the truth... don't believe that voice, and that voice won't have any power over you."
There is a movie that illustrates my point beautifully. It's called A Beautiful Mind. At first I thought, "Oh, another spy movie," but I became more interested when I realized that the main character is schizophrenic. He is a brilliant man, a genius, but he sees people who don't exist. These people are controlling his life because he listens to their opinions and follows whatever they tell him to do. They are lying to him, and by listening to what they tell him, his is ruining his life. He has no idea that these people are hallucinations until his wife puts him in a mental hospital, where he is diagnosed as schizophrenic and given medication. The visions disappear, but the drug has secondary effects, and he decides to stop taking it. Without the drug, the visions come back, and he finds out that it's true that nobody can see the people he sees. Now he has to make a choice: go back to the hospital, lose his wife, and accept that he is mentally ill, or face the visions and overcome them.
When he finally has the awareness that the people he sees are not real, he makes a very smart decision. He says, 'I will not pay attention to them. I will not believe what they tell me." The power the visions have over him is lost when he no longer believes in them. With this awareness, he finds peace, and after many years of not putting his attention on them, the visions hardly talk to him anymore. Even though he stills see them, they don't waste their time because he doesn't listen to them anyway.
This movie is wonderful because it shows that if you don't believe the voice in your head, it loses the power it has over you, and you become authentic again. The voice in your head isn't even real, but it's ruling your life, and it's a tyrant. Once that voice hooks your attention, it makes you do whatever it wants you to do.
How many times has the voice made you say yes when you really wanted to say no? Or the opposite - the voice made you say no when you really wanted to say yes? How many times has the voice made you doubt what you feel in your heart? How many times have you missed opportunities to do what you really want to do in your life because of fear - fear that was a reaction to believing the voice in your head? How many times have you broken up with someone you really loved just because the voice of knowledge told you to do it? How many times have you tried to control the people you love because you follow that voice? How many times have you gotten angry or jealous or lost control and hurt people you really love just because you believed that voice?
You see what you have done by following instructions from the voice of knowledge - by following the lies. That voice tells you so many things to do that go against yourself, just like the visions of the character in the movie. The only difference between you and that man is that maybe you don't see the visions, but you hear the voices. it's overwhelming, it never stops, and we pretend that we are mentally sane!
It is obvious that the voice of knowledge is the story talking by itself. As soon as an idea hooks your attention, your story goes in that direction. Then it takes you anywhere and everywhere without any direction. Every idea is repeating itself, and there are so many ideas in your heard competing for your attention that the voice is changing from one moment to the next - boom, boom, boom!
I compare the voice of knowledge to a wild horse that is taking you wherever it wants to go. You have no control over that horse. But if you cannot stop the horse, at least you can try to tame the horse. I tell my apprentices, " Once you learn to tame the horse, you will ride the horse, and thinking becomes a tool that takes you where you want to go. If you don't believe that voice, it becomes quieter and quieter, and speaks to you less and less until it stops talking."
The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace
~*Don Miguel Ruiz
"Life is the only truth; it is the force that is creating all the time. When you see this force in yourself, and you put your faith in this force, you are truly alive."
Begin Thus: "I am" -This is the most natural recognition and knowledge. The sense of existence is spontaneously felt in you as "I am". No-one taught this to you. Be aware of this simple intuition without associating it with any other thoughts. Feel how it is to be simply present, in this instant, without holding on to any intention. Don't touch any thought of doing something special. Keep quiet. If suddenly, a wave of thoughts should come, don't panic. There is no need to control or suppress them. Simply, let them play without your involvement. Observe with detachment. Remain empty of intention. Keep quiet....Mooji.
KnowledgeIsQueen
Duality Duel
6-18-2013
Why Is America Afraid Of A Weed Called Hemp?
"The world's view of the hemp plant is related to derogatory connotations similar to narcotics or cocaine with the status of an illegal drug by state and federal standards. In fact, hemp is the world's premier renewable resource of food, fiber, and energy. The global hemp market is a thriving commercial success. Unfortunately, due to the outdated attitu...des and drug war paranoia in the District of Columbia, America is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing and processing of hemp. Since Jamestown and up to 1937, American farmers cultivated industrial hemp without restrictions. Today, a large, cross-section of citizens is demanding that right to be restored.
For a government to falsely charge hemp with a crime of this magnitude, it had to be something else about this extraordinary plant besides getting high and having a sexual appetite. Could it be that hemp is the standard fiber of the world, which has great tensile strength and durability? Over 5,00 safe textile products can be produced from hemp ranging from rope to fine string. The woody "pulp" remaining after the fiber has been removed contains over 77% cellulose, which can be converted to more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to cellophane.
Henry Ford built his Ford Model-T using hemp to line the side panels. The impact of strength was measured to be ten times more stronger than steel alone! This could reduce many vehicle fatalities today! The Model-T was also designed to run on hemp fuel, which Henry Ford grew from his own yard. This was illustrated in the Popular Mechanics Magazine in the February 1983 edition. Concentrated extract of cannabis from the flowers was the second most used medicines in America for over 150 years, for over 100 separate medical illnesses.
Hemp contains several medicinal benefits and can be considered a natural medicine for glaucoma, stress, nausea, arthritis, asthma, and even epilepsy. It is estimated that hemp would have at least 50,000 commercial uses if it were legal in America today.
The Cannabis/Hemp plant has been used throughout the world since the beginning of time for just about everything that mankind needed. The paper produced from hemp was used for books, bibles, maps, and even money. You can produce 4 times as much paper from an acre of hemp as you can from an acre of trees at 1/4 the cost and 1/5 the pollution. It is 26 times stronger than cotton and can last up to 1,000 years instead of only 50 for cotton. Hemp can be recycled at four times the amount of paper from wood pulp, which could save the destruction of the rain forest from the Americans and the Japanese. The American Constitution was originally written on hemp paper as well as the drafts of the Deceleration of Independence.
Hemp is one of the strongest natural fibers on the planet, not to mention among the fastest growing plants, growing four times faster than corn. According to studies, the seed of hemp contains a very high source of vegetable protein. It also contains essential fatty acids that are not matched by any other plant. Hemp can be produced into machine-grade lubricants for engines, which can actually replace petroleum oil. It seems as though when any herb, weed, perennial, or any viable resource is available with little cost, it becomes practically banned. Just as corn can be converted into clean-burning ethanol fuel so can hemp. In 1794, President George Washington quoted " make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere."
Another reason that hemp is so intimidating is that it threatened the cotton industry. On an annual basis, one acre of hemp will produce as much fiber as two to three acres of cotton. It is much stronger and softer than cotton, lasts twice as long, and it will not mildew. Fortunately, many textile products like jackets, pants, backpacks, paper and even houses are available from 100% hemp. Hemp is also an easy crop to grow and will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grow corn, wheat, or oats. It can also be grown in any state in America. Due to its short growing season, it can be planted after other crops are planted. The long roots will penetrate the soil without harm, leaving it in perfect condition for following year's crops.
Today, we are told that hemp is bad, but for the first 162 years of American existence, hemp was totally legal and was a common crop. However by the 1930s, American citizens were receiving derogatory press about this amazingly resourceful plant, which led to its prohibition. Some of the headlines made about hemp in the 1930s were: "Marijuana: The assassin of youth", Marijuana: The devils weed with roots in hell." In 1936, the liquor industry funded the infamous movie titled Reefer Madness. This movie depicts a man going insane from smoking marijuana, and then murdering his entire family with an ax. It was campaigns and media press like this that created such an illegal stigma on hemp. Let it be noted that prior to 1935, the word marijuana was NEVER used to identify hemp. This connotation was started by William Randolph Hearst (who owned all newspapers at the time) and DuPont (chemicals) to make sure it carried a negative idea in the minds of the masses, because it supposedly was being used by Mexicans to get high. While DuPont was protecting his empire (chemicals in which hemp would have eliminated the use of), Hearst was being paid to write the falsehood!
Thanks to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, hemp was declared illegal. New technologies were being developed that made hemp a potential competitor. The newly founded synthetic fiber (nylon, polyester, etc.) and plastic industries joined forces to get rid of it. Hemp's potential for producing paper also posed a threat to the timber industry. There is much evidence that commercial interest had a great deal to lose from hemp resource competition, so there had to be propaganda created to foster hysteria. Corporations used their heavyweight influence to lobby for Marijuana Prohibition.
In 1937, Harry J. Anslinger, the director of Furniture Brands International (FBN), was the leading advocate of Marijuana Prohibition. Anslinger testified before congress in favor of banning marijuana stating that, "Marijuana is the most violent causing drug in the history of mankind." Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marihuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes." This is how desperate corporations can get when it comes to a natural product potentially compromising their corruption.
The main reason that hemp is illegal in America today is because the families of wealth like the Harrimans, the Rockefellers (Standard Oil), the Whitneys ( Eli Whitney-Cotton Gin), DuPont (chemicals in wood pule processing and cotton pesticides), and Hearst (newspapers, media) find it more profitable to sell the masses cheap unnecessary chemicals, petroleum products (from gasoline to cosmetic ingredients) that are immune system destroying pharmaceuticals. Not to mention the destruction of trees, all at inflated prices and at the expense of our health and life sustaining environment. Almost everything that is considered a commodity in America is exported across the globe. The estimated value of oil, petrochemicals, and pharmaceutical sales has reached the trillion dollar mark. However, if America was humble enough to see the 50,000 commercial products and the potential for the production of farm raised hemp, America would become a richer nation. By the way, man made alcohol and God made hemp. Whom do you trust?"
Medisin: The Causes & Solutions to Disease, Malnutrition, And the Medical Sins That Are Killing the World
~* Scott Whitaker & Jose Fleming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JHlG5N1ZBag#!
"The doctor of the future will prescribe no drugs but will interest his patients in the care and nutrition of the human frame and in the cause and prevention of disease." ~*Thomas Edison
Why Is America Afraid Of A Weed Called Hemp?
"The world's view of the hemp plant is related to derogatory connotations similar to narcotics or cocaine with the status of an illegal drug by state and federal standards. In fact, hemp is the world's premier renewable resource of food, fiber, and energy. The global hemp market is a thriving commercial success. Unfortunately, due to the outdated attitu...des and drug war paranoia in the District of Columbia, America is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing and processing of hemp. Since Jamestown and up to 1937, American farmers cultivated industrial hemp without restrictions. Today, a large, cross-section of citizens is demanding that right to be restored.
For a government to falsely charge hemp with a crime of this magnitude, it had to be something else about this extraordinary plant besides getting high and having a sexual appetite. Could it be that hemp is the standard fiber of the world, which has great tensile strength and durability? Over 5,00 safe textile products can be produced from hemp ranging from rope to fine string. The woody "pulp" remaining after the fiber has been removed contains over 77% cellulose, which can be converted to more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to cellophane.
Henry Ford built his Ford Model-T using hemp to line the side panels. The impact of strength was measured to be ten times more stronger than steel alone! This could reduce many vehicle fatalities today! The Model-T was also designed to run on hemp fuel, which Henry Ford grew from his own yard. This was illustrated in the Popular Mechanics Magazine in the February 1983 edition. Concentrated extract of cannabis from the flowers was the second most used medicines in America for over 150 years, for over 100 separate medical illnesses.
Hemp contains several medicinal benefits and can be considered a natural medicine for glaucoma, stress, nausea, arthritis, asthma, and even epilepsy. It is estimated that hemp would have at least 50,000 commercial uses if it were legal in America today.
The Cannabis/Hemp plant has been used throughout the world since the beginning of time for just about everything that mankind needed. The paper produced from hemp was used for books, bibles, maps, and even money. You can produce 4 times as much paper from an acre of hemp as you can from an acre of trees at 1/4 the cost and 1/5 the pollution. It is 26 times stronger than cotton and can last up to 1,000 years instead of only 50 for cotton. Hemp can be recycled at four times the amount of paper from wood pulp, which could save the destruction of the rain forest from the Americans and the Japanese. The American Constitution was originally written on hemp paper as well as the drafts of the Deceleration of Independence.
Hemp is one of the strongest natural fibers on the planet, not to mention among the fastest growing plants, growing four times faster than corn. According to studies, the seed of hemp contains a very high source of vegetable protein. It also contains essential fatty acids that are not matched by any other plant. Hemp can be produced into machine-grade lubricants for engines, which can actually replace petroleum oil. It seems as though when any herb, weed, perennial, or any viable resource is available with little cost, it becomes practically banned. Just as corn can be converted into clean-burning ethanol fuel so can hemp. In 1794, President George Washington quoted " make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere."
Another reason that hemp is so intimidating is that it threatened the cotton industry. On an annual basis, one acre of hemp will produce as much fiber as two to three acres of cotton. It is much stronger and softer than cotton, lasts twice as long, and it will not mildew. Fortunately, many textile products like jackets, pants, backpacks, paper and even houses are available from 100% hemp. Hemp is also an easy crop to grow and will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grow corn, wheat, or oats. It can also be grown in any state in America. Due to its short growing season, it can be planted after other crops are planted. The long roots will penetrate the soil without harm, leaving it in perfect condition for following year's crops.
Today, we are told that hemp is bad, but for the first 162 years of American existence, hemp was totally legal and was a common crop. However by the 1930s, American citizens were receiving derogatory press about this amazingly resourceful plant, which led to its prohibition. Some of the headlines made about hemp in the 1930s were: "Marijuana: The assassin of youth", Marijuana: The devils weed with roots in hell." In 1936, the liquor industry funded the infamous movie titled Reefer Madness. This movie depicts a man going insane from smoking marijuana, and then murdering his entire family with an ax. It was campaigns and media press like this that created such an illegal stigma on hemp. Let it be noted that prior to 1935, the word marijuana was NEVER used to identify hemp. This connotation was started by William Randolph Hearst (who owned all newspapers at the time) and DuPont (chemicals) to make sure it carried a negative idea in the minds of the masses, because it supposedly was being used by Mexicans to get high. While DuPont was protecting his empire (chemicals in which hemp would have eliminated the use of), Hearst was being paid to write the falsehood!
Thanks to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, hemp was declared illegal. New technologies were being developed that made hemp a potential competitor. The newly founded synthetic fiber (nylon, polyester, etc.) and plastic industries joined forces to get rid of it. Hemp's potential for producing paper also posed a threat to the timber industry. There is much evidence that commercial interest had a great deal to lose from hemp resource competition, so there had to be propaganda created to foster hysteria. Corporations used their heavyweight influence to lobby for Marijuana Prohibition.
In 1937, Harry J. Anslinger, the director of Furniture Brands International (FBN), was the leading advocate of Marijuana Prohibition. Anslinger testified before congress in favor of banning marijuana stating that, "Marijuana is the most violent causing drug in the history of mankind." Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marihuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes." This is how desperate corporations can get when it comes to a natural product potentially compromising their corruption.
The main reason that hemp is illegal in America today is because the families of wealth like the Harrimans, the Rockefellers (Standard Oil), the Whitneys ( Eli Whitney-Cotton Gin), DuPont (chemicals in wood pule processing and cotton pesticides), and Hearst (newspapers, media) find it more profitable to sell the masses cheap unnecessary chemicals, petroleum products (from gasoline to cosmetic ingredients) that are immune system destroying pharmaceuticals. Not to mention the destruction of trees, all at inflated prices and at the expense of our health and life sustaining environment. Almost everything that is considered a commodity in America is exported across the globe. The estimated value of oil, petrochemicals, and pharmaceutical sales has reached the trillion dollar mark. However, if America was humble enough to see the 50,000 commercial products and the potential for the production of farm raised hemp, America would become a richer nation. By the way, man made alcohol and God made hemp. Whom do you trust?"
Medisin: The Causes & Solutions to Disease, Malnutrition, And the Medical Sins That Are Killing the World
~* Scott Whitaker & Jose Fleming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JHlG5N1ZBag#!
"The doctor of the future will prescribe no drugs but will interest his patients in the care and nutrition of the human frame and in the cause and prevention of disease." ~*Thomas Edison
The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it. "Epicurus"
In a man devoted to knowledge, pity seems almost ridiculous, like delicate hands on a cyclops. -Nietzsche
KnowledgeIsQueen
Duality Duel
7-1-2013
"African American women are standing in a room skewed by stereotypes that deny their humanity and distort them into ugly caricatures of their true selves. As they struggle to find the upright in this crooked room, they are beset by emotional, physiological, and political consequences of race and gender shaming. This shaming has tangible, even disastrous consequences: it can decrease their opportuni...ties for recognition by the state, reduce the effectiveness of speaking on their own behalf, and set off spirals of fury that lead to further victimization. Under these conditions, one might expect to see black women in public life rarely, if at all. The realities of black women as church organizers, community activists, and elected officials indicate that sisters have developed strategies to push back against both the stereotypes and shame.
One way black women have demonstrated their agency under difficult circumstances is by crafting alternative images of themselves. The strong black woman is the most pervasive and widely accepted of these self-constructions. By its idealized description, black women are motivated, hardworking breadwinners who suppress their emotional needs while anticipating those of others. Their irrepressible spirit is unbroken by the legacy of oppression, poverty and rejection. Whereas the negative iconography of black women as lewd, angry, or unnaturally devoted to their domestic employers is reproduced by the state and in mainstream popular culture, the image of black women as unassailable, tough, and independent is nurtured within black communities. You can hear this insistence on strength in the music of popular black women artists across generations. Think of Aretha Franklin belting out an anthem of independent self-reliance, "Sisters are doing it for themselves." Or picture Mary J. Blige assuring her listeners, "You can't keep a good woman down." Even young Alicia Keys promises, "I am superwoman, yes I am."
The strong black woman serves as a constructive role model because black women draw encouragement and self-assurance from an icon able to overcome great obstacles. She offers hope to people who often face difficult circumstances. Independence and self-reliance can be crucial to building and maintaining a positive image of blackness in a society that often seeks to negate and vilify it.
African American women do not define themselves as Jezebels, Mammies, or Sapphires; instead they call themselves strong and proudly drape the mantle of self-denying independence across their shoulders. This itself is a triumph of emotional and political resistance because black women have consistently demanded a right to name themselves. But there are dangers to allowing this symbol to remain unchallenged at the center of African American understandings of womanhood. When black women are expected to be super-strong, they cannot be simply human.
What beings as empowering self-definition can quickly become a prison. By adopting and reproducing the icon of the strong black woman, African American women help craft an expectation that they should be autonomously responsible and self-denying caregivers in their homes and communities. This means that they are validated, admired, and praised based on how they behave, not on who they are. Loss of social standing is an ever-present threat for individuals whose social acceptance is based on behavioral traits rather than unconditional human value. Any mistake, bad act, or bad outcome can be translated into a global sense of failure. While all individuals are publicly judged by their actions, the strong black woman imperative is unusual in that it requires tremendous personal fortitude from a group with few structural resources. It thus exposes black women to more opportunities of shaming. African American women hold up the strong black women as a shield against the shame-inducing negative stereotypes of the crooked room. To protect against always being seen as inferior, they declare themselves uniquely capable, but this strength is a shield full of holes; it sets up new possibilities for being misrecognized.
Through the ideal of the strong black woman, African American women are subject not only to historically rooted racist and sexist characterizations of black women as a group but also to a matrix of unrealistic intraracial expectations that construct black women as unshakable, unassailable, and naturally strong. Many African American women have internalized self-reliance as central to their identities. They believe that to be a good black woman is to be strong; therefore, strength is foundational to who they are. As long as they can present themselves as self-sacrificial and independent, their identities feel firmly rooted. While this attachment to strength may be adaptive, it also creates dangerous exposure for black women.
"Picture number nine is definitely a strong woman," says Gloria, a talkative and opinionated fifty-year-old black woman in my New York focus group. Picture number nine, one of the two dozen images of women that Gloria considered, shows a young black woman standing on a deserted urban street, holding a girl child. Both the woman and the girl are staring intently into the camera. The women in the other pictures are various ages, ethnicities, and national origins. Some are photographed alone; others are with partners, with other women, or with children. Some are at work, some are at home, and some are vacationing.
Participants in all of the focus groups were asked to look at each photo and then list the ones that depicted strong women. Some thought a group of Latina waitresses were strong, but others thought they looked simply carefree. Some thought an older white couple embracing in an intimate dance depicted strength. Others felt that the couple did no convey anything about strength. Some thought a white woman mechanic was a strong photo, but others disagreed. The one subject nearly every respondent chose as strong was the woman in photo number nine. For the women in the focus groups, this young woman represented struggle, self-reliance, and strength: "You know she is strong because she is struggling to raise her child in a ghetto." "You can tell from that picture what she is thinking: I got my baby and we're going to get through this together." "You can see the strength in her eyes: I can do this even if the daddy isn't around." "She is strong just because she made it. She survived." *
The women in the focus groups provide a more detailed understanding of the idea of strength. As they discussed what strength means to them, they suggested that it is "just a given when we are talking about black women."They explained that strong women are able to handle everything they are given, endure difficult circumstances, act as a backbone for families, and show both mental and physical toughness. They also described strength as a kind of resilience: "It's like the rubber band effect. You stretch a rubber band as far as you can but it always comes hurling back. The ability to bounce back off whatever."
Mothers were regularly invoked as representatives of strength. Exposed to mothers, grandmothers, aunties, and teachers who were crucial to their own survival and development, these women looked at maternal figures as icons. They saw the photo of a young single mother as an image of strength, as was a photo of an older black woman comforting a girl and a boy. "You can see the strength in her face and it's not from too much sun. That's from worry, that's from encouraging and caring, decision-making." That is the wisdom of the older black woman."
Both photographs prompted respondents to talk about their mothers and the lessons of strength they drew from being their daughters. They spoke of their mothers as "remarkable," "independent" and "dependable." Many women described their mothers as the ultimate role models of strength: they were committed to family, available as advisers, stern but loving, and able to cope with difficult circumstances. As they talked about the women in these photographs and reflected on those in their own lives, their descriptions underscored that African American women are deeply attached to an ideal of self-sacrificial strength evidenced by overcoming adversity.
Unlike the stereotypes of Jezebel, Mammy, and Sapphire, the strong black woman is widely embraced by these women as a truthful depiction of themselves and the women in their lives. Although they are affected by how others see them, African Americans have developed a communal self-understanding at odds with negative stereotypes. As black women move through their personal lives, work at their jobs, and engage in politics they not only react against external myths but actively create new ones.
Does the strong black women imperative influence black women's politics? Remember that this book does not define politics narrowly as vote choice, partisan preference, or engagement with government entities. When I ask about women's politics I am asking about the constellation of ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that contribute to how black women see their relationship to society and the state. It is possible that the attachment to self-reliance pushes black women in a politically conservative direction by encouraging a politics of self-help rather than one of structural change. The intuition is simple: to the extent that black women believe they are naturally endowed with a superhuman capacity to overcome life's obstacles, they may be less likely to support political agendas and public policies that seek to dismantle the structural barriers facing black women and more likely to support those aimed at individual empowerment.
The strong black woman is a complicated cultural myth. On one hand, she is a deeply empowering symbol of endurance and hope. Her unassailable spirit is uplifting. Her courage is the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity emboldens black men and women when facing their own life challenges. But in her perfection, the strong black women is also harmful. Her titanic strength does violence to the spirits of black women when it becomes an imperative for their daily lives. When seeking help means showing unacceptable weakness, actual black women, unlike their mythical counterpart face depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The strong black woman is not meant to be Polly-anna. Rather, she is expected to show negative emotion, but that emotion is anger, not sadness. The neck-rolling, finger-snapping, tooth-sucking demands of an angry black woman are entirely consistent with the myth of strength. But this no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners woman offers no expectation that the black woman is supposed to be happy, content or fulfilled. Her sometimes explosive anger is part of what distinguishes her from the ideal of white femininity. This right to own and express anger is among the more potentially powerful psychological and political elements of the construction of black women's strength. That the black women is not denied an angry voice within an authentic definition of her femininity makes her a powerful ally for both black men and white women in their political struggles.
The emotional consequences for black women are not solely individual. The mental health of marginalized people has important political implications. Feminist theorist bell hooks contends, "The mental-health dilemmas of black people . . . are very real. They persist in our daily life and they undermine our capacity to live fully and joyously. They even prevent us from participating in organized collective struggle aimed at ending domination and transforming society." The icon of the strong black woman is a bridge between black women's emotional lives and their politics. African American women perceive and describe themselves as strong, beautiful, independent, and kind - self-definitions that are both positive and powerful. The strong black woman does battle against the vicious stereotypes of black women perpetuated by racism and patriarchy. But while she creates a standard for self-improvement and racial empowerment, she also encourages silence in the face of structural barriers."
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America
~*Melissa V. Harris-Perry
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEddixS-UoU]Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. feat. Erykah Badu [Official Video] - YouTube[/ame]
"Will you be electric sheep? Electric ladies, will you sleep?...... Or will you preach? ~*Janelle Monáe
"African American women are standing in a room skewed by stereotypes that deny their humanity and distort them into ugly caricatures of their true selves. As they struggle to find the upright in this crooked room, they are beset by emotional, physiological, and political consequences of race and gender shaming. This shaming has tangible, even disastrous consequences: it can decrease their opportuni...ties for recognition by the state, reduce the effectiveness of speaking on their own behalf, and set off spirals of fury that lead to further victimization. Under these conditions, one might expect to see black women in public life rarely, if at all. The realities of black women as church organizers, community activists, and elected officials indicate that sisters have developed strategies to push back against both the stereotypes and shame.
One way black women have demonstrated their agency under difficult circumstances is by crafting alternative images of themselves. The strong black woman is the most pervasive and widely accepted of these self-constructions. By its idealized description, black women are motivated, hardworking breadwinners who suppress their emotional needs while anticipating those of others. Their irrepressible spirit is unbroken by the legacy of oppression, poverty and rejection. Whereas the negative iconography of black women as lewd, angry, or unnaturally devoted to their domestic employers is reproduced by the state and in mainstream popular culture, the image of black women as unassailable, tough, and independent is nurtured within black communities. You can hear this insistence on strength in the music of popular black women artists across generations. Think of Aretha Franklin belting out an anthem of independent self-reliance, "Sisters are doing it for themselves." Or picture Mary J. Blige assuring her listeners, "You can't keep a good woman down." Even young Alicia Keys promises, "I am superwoman, yes I am."
The strong black woman serves as a constructive role model because black women draw encouragement and self-assurance from an icon able to overcome great obstacles. She offers hope to people who often face difficult circumstances. Independence and self-reliance can be crucial to building and maintaining a positive image of blackness in a society that often seeks to negate and vilify it.
African American women do not define themselves as Jezebels, Mammies, or Sapphires; instead they call themselves strong and proudly drape the mantle of self-denying independence across their shoulders. This itself is a triumph of emotional and political resistance because black women have consistently demanded a right to name themselves. But there are dangers to allowing this symbol to remain unchallenged at the center of African American understandings of womanhood. When black women are expected to be super-strong, they cannot be simply human.
What beings as empowering self-definition can quickly become a prison. By adopting and reproducing the icon of the strong black woman, African American women help craft an expectation that they should be autonomously responsible and self-denying caregivers in their homes and communities. This means that they are validated, admired, and praised based on how they behave, not on who they are. Loss of social standing is an ever-present threat for individuals whose social acceptance is based on behavioral traits rather than unconditional human value. Any mistake, bad act, or bad outcome can be translated into a global sense of failure. While all individuals are publicly judged by their actions, the strong black woman imperative is unusual in that it requires tremendous personal fortitude from a group with few structural resources. It thus exposes black women to more opportunities of shaming. African American women hold up the strong black women as a shield against the shame-inducing negative stereotypes of the crooked room. To protect against always being seen as inferior, they declare themselves uniquely capable, but this strength is a shield full of holes; it sets up new possibilities for being misrecognized.
Through the ideal of the strong black woman, African American women are subject not only to historically rooted racist and sexist characterizations of black women as a group but also to a matrix of unrealistic intraracial expectations that construct black women as unshakable, unassailable, and naturally strong. Many African American women have internalized self-reliance as central to their identities. They believe that to be a good black woman is to be strong; therefore, strength is foundational to who they are. As long as they can present themselves as self-sacrificial and independent, their identities feel firmly rooted. While this attachment to strength may be adaptive, it also creates dangerous exposure for black women.
"Picture number nine is definitely a strong woman," says Gloria, a talkative and opinionated fifty-year-old black woman in my New York focus group. Picture number nine, one of the two dozen images of women that Gloria considered, shows a young black woman standing on a deserted urban street, holding a girl child. Both the woman and the girl are staring intently into the camera. The women in the other pictures are various ages, ethnicities, and national origins. Some are photographed alone; others are with partners, with other women, or with children. Some are at work, some are at home, and some are vacationing.
Participants in all of the focus groups were asked to look at each photo and then list the ones that depicted strong women. Some thought a group of Latina waitresses were strong, but others thought they looked simply carefree. Some thought an older white couple embracing in an intimate dance depicted strength. Others felt that the couple did no convey anything about strength. Some thought a white woman mechanic was a strong photo, but others disagreed. The one subject nearly every respondent chose as strong was the woman in photo number nine. For the women in the focus groups, this young woman represented struggle, self-reliance, and strength: "You know she is strong because she is struggling to raise her child in a ghetto." "You can tell from that picture what she is thinking: I got my baby and we're going to get through this together." "You can see the strength in her eyes: I can do this even if the daddy isn't around." "She is strong just because she made it. She survived." *
The women in the focus groups provide a more detailed understanding of the idea of strength. As they discussed what strength means to them, they suggested that it is "just a given when we are talking about black women."They explained that strong women are able to handle everything they are given, endure difficult circumstances, act as a backbone for families, and show both mental and physical toughness. They also described strength as a kind of resilience: "It's like the rubber band effect. You stretch a rubber band as far as you can but it always comes hurling back. The ability to bounce back off whatever."
Mothers were regularly invoked as representatives of strength. Exposed to mothers, grandmothers, aunties, and teachers who were crucial to their own survival and development, these women looked at maternal figures as icons. They saw the photo of a young single mother as an image of strength, as was a photo of an older black woman comforting a girl and a boy. "You can see the strength in her face and it's not from too much sun. That's from worry, that's from encouraging and caring, decision-making." That is the wisdom of the older black woman."
Both photographs prompted respondents to talk about their mothers and the lessons of strength they drew from being their daughters. They spoke of their mothers as "remarkable," "independent" and "dependable." Many women described their mothers as the ultimate role models of strength: they were committed to family, available as advisers, stern but loving, and able to cope with difficult circumstances. As they talked about the women in these photographs and reflected on those in their own lives, their descriptions underscored that African American women are deeply attached to an ideal of self-sacrificial strength evidenced by overcoming adversity.
Unlike the stereotypes of Jezebel, Mammy, and Sapphire, the strong black woman is widely embraced by these women as a truthful depiction of themselves and the women in their lives. Although they are affected by how others see them, African Americans have developed a communal self-understanding at odds with negative stereotypes. As black women move through their personal lives, work at their jobs, and engage in politics they not only react against external myths but actively create new ones.
Does the strong black women imperative influence black women's politics? Remember that this book does not define politics narrowly as vote choice, partisan preference, or engagement with government entities. When I ask about women's politics I am asking about the constellation of ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that contribute to how black women see their relationship to society and the state. It is possible that the attachment to self-reliance pushes black women in a politically conservative direction by encouraging a politics of self-help rather than one of structural change. The intuition is simple: to the extent that black women believe they are naturally endowed with a superhuman capacity to overcome life's obstacles, they may be less likely to support political agendas and public policies that seek to dismantle the structural barriers facing black women and more likely to support those aimed at individual empowerment.
The strong black woman is a complicated cultural myth. On one hand, she is a deeply empowering symbol of endurance and hope. Her unassailable spirit is uplifting. Her courage is the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity emboldens black men and women when facing their own life challenges. But in her perfection, the strong black women is also harmful. Her titanic strength does violence to the spirits of black women when it becomes an imperative for their daily lives. When seeking help means showing unacceptable weakness, actual black women, unlike their mythical counterpart face depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The strong black woman is not meant to be Polly-anna. Rather, she is expected to show negative emotion, but that emotion is anger, not sadness. The neck-rolling, finger-snapping, tooth-sucking demands of an angry black woman are entirely consistent with the myth of strength. But this no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners woman offers no expectation that the black woman is supposed to be happy, content or fulfilled. Her sometimes explosive anger is part of what distinguishes her from the ideal of white femininity. This right to own and express anger is among the more potentially powerful psychological and political elements of the construction of black women's strength. That the black women is not denied an angry voice within an authentic definition of her femininity makes her a powerful ally for both black men and white women in their political struggles.
The emotional consequences for black women are not solely individual. The mental health of marginalized people has important political implications. Feminist theorist bell hooks contends, "The mental-health dilemmas of black people . . . are very real. They persist in our daily life and they undermine our capacity to live fully and joyously. They even prevent us from participating in organized collective struggle aimed at ending domination and transforming society." The icon of the strong black woman is a bridge between black women's emotional lives and their politics. African American women perceive and describe themselves as strong, beautiful, independent, and kind - self-definitions that are both positive and powerful. The strong black woman does battle against the vicious stereotypes of black women perpetuated by racism and patriarchy. But while she creates a standard for self-improvement and racial empowerment, she also encourages silence in the face of structural barriers."
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America
~*Melissa V. Harris-Perry
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEddixS-UoU]Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. feat. Erykah Badu [Official Video] - YouTube[/ame]
"Will you be electric sheep? Electric ladies, will you sleep?...... Or will you preach? ~*Janelle Monáe
First one must control his speaking power. Every one of us has the power of speech; as soon as we get an opportunity we begin to speak. If we do not speak about Krishna consciousness, we speak about all sorts of nonsense. A toad in a field speaks by croaking, and similarly everyone who has a tongue wants to speak, even if all he has to say is nonsense. The croaking of the toad, however, simply invites the snake: "Please come here and eat me." Nevertheless, although it is inviting death, the toad goes on croaking
^old Hindu Proverb
^old Hindu Proverb