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Monday, November 30, 2009

The law of life


The way the world is!

A little boy was walking along the bank of a river.

He sees a crocodile that is trapped in a net.

The crocodile says, "Would you have pity on me and release me? I may look ugly, but it isn't my fault, you know. I was made this way.

But whatever my external appearance, I have a mother's heart. I came this morning in search of food for my young ones and got caught in this trap!"

So the boy says, "Ah, if I were to help you out of that trap, you'd grab me and kill me."

The crocodile asks, "Do you think I would do that to my benefactor and liberator?"

So the boy is persuaded to take the net off and the crocodile grabs him.

As he is being forced between the jaws of the crocodile, he says, "So this is what I get for my good actions."

And the crocodile says, "Well, don't take it personally, son, this is the way the world is, this is the law of life."

The boy disputes this, so the crocodile says, "Do you want to ask someone if it isn't so?"

The boy sees a bird sitting on a branch and says, "Bird, is what the crocodile says right?"

The bird says, "The crocodile is right. Look at me. I was coming home one day with food for my fledglings.

Imagine my horror to see a snake crawling up the tree, making straight for my nest. I was totally helpless. It kept devouring my young ones, one after the other.

I kept screaming and shouting, but it was useless.

The crocodile is right, this is the law of life, this is the way the world is."

"See," says the crocodile.

But the boy says, "Let me ask someone else."

So the crocodile says, "Well, all right, go ahead."

There was an old donkey passing by on the bank of the river.

"Donkey," says the boy, "this is what the crocodile says. Is the crocodile right?"

The donkey says, "The crocodile is quite right.

Look at me. I've worked and slaved for my master all my life and he barely gave me enough to eat.

Now that I'm old and useless, he has turned me loose, and here I am wandering in the jungle, waiting for some wild beast to pounce on me and put an end to my life.

The crocodile is right, this is the law of life, this is the way the world is."

"See," says the crocodile. "Let's go!"

The boy says, "Give me one more chance, one last chance. Let me ask one other being. Remember how good I was to you?"

So the crocodile says, "All right, your last chance."

The boy sees a rabbit passing by, and he says, "Rabbit, is the crocodile right?"

The rabbit sits on his haunches and says to the crocodile, "Did you say that to that boy?

The crocodile says, "Yes, I did."

"Wait a minute," says the rabbit. "We've got to discuss this."

"Yes," says the crocodile.

But the rabbit says, "How can we discuss it when you've got that boy in your mouth?

Release him; he's got to take part in the discussion, too."

The crocodile says, "You're a clever one, you are. The moment I release him, he'll run away."

The rabbit says, "I thought you had more sense than that. If he attempted to run away, one slash of your tail would kill him."

"Fair enough," says the crocodile, and he released the boy.

The moment the boy is released, the rabbit says, "Run!" And the boy runs and escapes.

Then the rabbit says to the boy, "Don't you enjoy crocodile flesh?

Wouldn't the people in your village like a good meal?

You didn't really release that crocodile; most of his body is still caught in that net.

Why don't you go to the village and bring everybody and have a banquet."

That's exactly what the boy does. He goes to the village and calls all the men folk.

They come with their axes and staves and spears and kill the crocodile.

The boy's dog comes, too, and when the dog sees the rabbit, he gives chase, catches hold of the rabbit, and throttles him.

The boy comes on the scene too late, and as he watches the rabbit die, he says, "The crocodile was right, this is the way the world is, this is the law of life."


Awareness
Anthony de Mello

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Wandering


Wandering

In life I see a treasure

Dilapidated with each night

Days escape this ruination

Only time is undermined

Such days shatter all deception

The man denied a crust of bread

A shirt to close, a time to meet

Will prove himself a hard binger

I rise to combat or for pleasure

Can your opprobrium immortalize?

In your impotence to say my death

Let me contemplate it with my means

Never will I cease to drink

And savor pleasure

In reckless squandering

Of property and heritage


Tarafah ibn al 'Abd (c. 543-569)
Tarafa, or Tarafah ibn al 'Abd ben Sufyan ben Malik al Bakri (Arabic: طرفة بن العبد بن سفيان بن سعد أبو عمرو البكري الوائلي‎), was a 6th century
Arabian poet of the tribe of the Bakr.

After a wild and dissipated youth spent in Bahrain, left his native land after peace had been established between the tribes of Bakr and Taghlib and went with his uncle Al-Mutalammis (also a poet) to the court of the king of Hira, 'Amr ibn-Hind (died 568-9), and there became companion to the king's brother. Hira was as the time a vassal of the Persian
Sasanian Empire. Having ridiculed the king in some verses he was sent with a letter to Dadafruz Gushnasban, the Persian Governor of Southern shores of the Persian Gulf, but Tarafa and his uncle managed to escape underway.

One of his poems is contained in the Mo'allakat.

His Diwan has been published in Wilhelm Ahlwardt's The Diwans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets (London, 1870). Some of his poems have been translated into Latin with notes by B. Vandenhoff (Berlin, 1895).

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Competition


Competition

When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills;

when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous;

when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets,

and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him.

He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power."

Isn't that an image of what most people are?

When you're living for nothing, you've got all your skills,

you've got all your energy, you're relaxed,

you don't care, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose.


Tranxu (a.k.a. Zhuangzi)
(369 B.C. - 286 B.C.)
Zhuangzi (simplified Chinese: traditional Chinese: pinyin: Zhuāng ZǐWade-Giles: Chuang Tzŭ) was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of Chinese thought. His name is sometimes spelled Chuang Tsu, Chuang Tzu, Zhuang Tze, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, Chuangtze or – in English – Master Chuang.


And I suggest to award athletes-winners by paper medals

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Woman

Woman


First creature, perpetual knowledge

Crystal-clear water, primeval desire

Everlasting fire

Primitive thrill

Woman, you are the tender secret

If you disappear, the earth will wither

Goodness will fade away from the universe

Source of fertility, means of all life

Woman, you defeated death

Daughter of Canaan, Babylonian melody

Star of the morning, child of the moon

Sister of the sun.

Woman, you are the mother of men

In your hands, you hold the reins of mystery

Your word is a promise,

your promise is virility

Wedding among men

Woman, there I am, signing your glory

Cluster of grapes, taste of the fig

Savour of feast and festivity

Spirit of adventure in us

Celebration of the soul,

near and far

Woman, you are the present and the forever

Despair that haunts us

You are the wise one

Mouth of life

Place of birth

In your hands, you hold will

And carry destiny

Smiling jewel, perfumes shell

Woman, you are ornament and fragrance

Inhabited place, wind and tempest

Violence among men

You are the familiar being

Woman, you are the forgotten prophecy


Abed Azrie
(1945-)

It is also written as Abed Azrié (Arabic: عابد عازرية), is a Syrian singer who performs Arab classical music, although he claims to belong to no particular music tradition.
In his work he sets ancient and modern Arabic texts to traditional instruments (such as the ney, kanun, darbuka, violin, flute and lute), and synthesizers.
He was born in Aleppo, and after living for a time in Beirut moved to Paris at the age of 22 where he studied Western classical music.
While there he translated classical poetry, such as the Sumerian
Epic of Gilgamesh, into French.