balance

there can be no balance in the force. one side must always trump the other. otherwise good and evil nullify each other and there is no need for that battle. and that is the pinnacle of human existence, when these clashing pairs of opposites are no longer identified and balance is achieved. then, there is only the force.

;)

Self-composed Eulogy

I had to write my own eulogy for a class...so I'm sharing it with you. Someone, please read it at my DeathDay Rave and make sure you don't get caught aiming flaming arrows at my raft as it floats off to the great blue sea...gracias:

She journeyed in another reality and she died without a grip on ours. It would be un-Chelsie-like to loiter here, reminiscing about how we miss her or want her back, or how we wish she could’ve moved on at a different time. She would want us to enjoy the memories, yes, but waxing about their greatness or whining about their shortcomings, she’d rather we avoid. Guaranteed, she is not sad to depart this world, nor advance into the adventure of the next.
Instead of fearing the unknown, she would say that beauty exists where you choose to see it and in this choice we become either selfish or compassionate. In selfishness, we lose sight of who we really are, and in compassion we exemplify our identity. Living in such a reality does not depend on a physical existence at all, so shall she continue in spirit to navigate the wonders and mysteries of where and who we are, never-minding the ugliness so many of us see in death.
It would be so easy to attempt her summation, only to realize its impossibility. I can’t define her in any way but Love. I can’t describe her in any other qualities than those given to Love.
She took many seemingly unnecessary roads, but somewhere along each, a lesson greater than necessity arrived.
Every path on her journey lead her somewhere unanticipated. For Chelsie, control was a passing thought-one fought and defeated by tolerance, acceptance, spontaneity, and enjoyment. She found it impossible to control the moment and saw attempts at such domination selfish and unforgiving. However, she did enjoy each moment with the awareness of the past and hope for the future. It was in these moments that she arrived at wisdom, perspective, Love, freedom, and her soul’s match in this life. Her greatest hope for the world is that it realizes the perfect love it already possesses and uses this identity to unconditionally accept its idiosyncrasies and remove all lines that cause us to doubt our ultimate unity. She knew its fulfillment to be long in coming, but nonetheless attempted it in her own life, illustrated in her marriage, family, companionship, and a genuine regard for others.
She saw freedom, not as whatever she wanted when she wanted to, but as the ability to live without regret or hesitation, making every choice and every endeavor in conscience awareness of who she is and seeing that same identity in others’, no matter how little they perceived it. She danced through life, not with the boredom of a walk or pace of a run, but a Cha-Cha hidden in a Waltz with Lambada flowing deep in her veins*. She made her life rich in detail and in wonder; her day was never void of questions and determined to enjoy their mystery. As a true student of life, she viewed it as an ant views the ocean, infinitely smaller, yet essentially apart of its greatness. Such a perspective remains with her now—after all, eternity is what we’ve all been waiting for. She realized that it is now.

“May the extraordinary days of her past be the common days of her future.”

*Ryan Guillemet (me hubby)

Circle of Life...really.

I talked to Beth this morning about some of last night's discussion and she asked what Ryan and I came up with as an answer to the creation question: is there an intelligent creator? some source-being behind life? As we discussed the matter, I came to better-grip the concept of life--and even still, the mystery of it. So here's my thought. Look at life in itself, conceptually. Life is what? Existence? Positive or pro-creative energy? Self-sustaining? Right. So is it necessary for life to have a source, a starting point? (At least for all practical purposes?) The truth is that life is. Doesn't matter if the chicken or the egg came first; they're both life. And our wondering at both is both purposeful and endless...as it should be.

Nothing

So, I asked a friend the now-classic question "what if perfect love ruled the world?" with the prompt "what would we need?"
The best answer I've gotten yet followed: "Nothing. We'd have everything we need."

It kind of made my Thursday. So I'm passing it on ;)

Namaste, all...

Be Love

Saw a license plate bearing this message on Wedgewood last night...the dude in the truck had just finished handing a hobo something...cash or what not...now, in strange coincidence for our culture, the message met and interacted with the medium...people...that's all I got...but I think it's enough

Be. Love.

:c:

Here and there and everywhere dribbling: Subjectivity, Africa, & Love

Good and bad are subjective. Completely subjective. Right and wrong, moral objection. All subjective. How so?

President Bush thinks good is intervening in Middle Eastern affairs (bad)-kill Iraqis. He has his reasons:

Homeland security

Economics-which benefit the US and “others”

Protection of Israel (religiously speaking, God’s people)

Christian/American values, adhering to them whatever the cost, whatever the sacrifice

The “terrorists” (aka Bin Laden and gang) think good is intervening in America’s affairs (bad)-kill Americans. He has his reasons:

Homeland security

Economics-which benefit his nation and their peoples

Protection of Islam (religiously speaking, God’s people)

Muslim values, adhering to them whatever the cost, whatever the sacrifice

Seem strikingly similar? Let’s continue:

Hitler thought good was purifying the world of inferior races (bad)-kill Jews. He has his reasons:

National pride

Apparent superiority of Aryan accomplishment to others’

Belief that the Nazi way was the most effective

Racial cleansing is the path to a more perfect, productive world

Billy Graham thinks good is purifying the world of sin (bad), one grand lecture at a time-convert all to Christianity. He has his reasons:

His religious beliefs he’s learned and held all his life

His personal experience that Christianity changes people

Considering ‘sin’(bad behavior) the ultimate enemy

Career- verbal crusades gather attention to a cause

Bono and many non-celebrities think good is helping Africans where they’re at-kill disease, apathy, and poverty. He has his reasons:

Disease, Apathy, and Poverty hurt people

Africa is a neglected continent torn by wars begun by their own kind and others who make Africa’s loss their gain (genocide, pharmaceuticals, throwing guns in tribal squabbles)

The cure for hurt is Love (affection, attention, and acceptance along with those 1 Cor. 13 traits)

I was thinking the other day how I’ve been saying Jesus came to show the JEWS a way out of their religion-a religion that bound them to law and ritual instead of “walking with God.” It’s true. Jesus was a Jew who didn’t follow the Jewish belief system, but fulfilled it (aka completed, peace-out Judasim) by his demonstration of perfect love-letting the Christ in him out. However, I’ve heard several times now the question of Jesus’ intended audience. Was he just for the Jews? What about the Gentiles? Didn’t he come to SAVE THE WORLD?! :-O

My response to this is: slow down. Separate that Christian doctrine from Judaism-quit mixing the two…religion is supposed to separate. That’s just what it does. It’s expected to. But most of all, remember that Jesus belongs with Judaism, not Christianity. He might be the champion of the latter, but it was not around when he lived, nor did he create it. Humanity did as humanity does—makes tools to help it see what it can’t seem to understand themselves. And more often than not, it’s better off without those tools because humanity doesn’t recognize tools’ limits. Religion is such a tool.

Israel is referred to as God’s people. That’s Judaism. But it’s also metaphor for us-the world. Yep, just like those 10 Commandments aren’t applicable to us because they’re “law” (taking the bible literally would mean they’re nothing but good ideas to Gentiles) but because we are the God kind of people-because they demonstrate Love. Today, now, here. We have Love/God/Source Energy/the freakin Force-whatever- within us. Makes me ask why America is protecting Israel? Is the land truly holy? No; the people are. Just like people everywhere. In Africa. In the States. In Australia. You name ‘em, they’re holy-set apart for a purpose they/we may not know, understand, or truly live-or may know, understand, and truly live. We allowed these religions to create differences, and while calling upon the names of the very ideals that should unify us essentially, we divided. It’s still happening.

So Jesus (the biological person, from Nazareth, ya know?) was for Judaism. What Jesus lived as his true life, perfect love (Christ), was for the world- Jews and Gentiles. I think it’s pretty valid to say that love is the world’s salvation. Most folks I know have some kind of Christian background or know something about Jesus, as do I, so I tend to approach questions from that angle.

Just a thought:

Sometimes I even wonder why we don’t just let Africa return to its primal roots-tribal. How cool would that be?! But it doesn’t fit in with modernity. Modernity says money, lifestyle, commodities, and technology. But for me I guess the reason for awareness isn’t so much their economy relative to the rest of the world, but disease and conflict that continues to kill many, giving them no real chance at life, and they should have that, regardless of how they (chose to) live it. Doesn’t everybody?

the house that jack built

During a conversation with some folks last night, I noticed metaphor occurring in the most extraordinary ways and producing the most controversial results. By the terms of our human means of explanation, foundations are laid for life that, perhaps, truly limit our perception and perspective. It made me consider that as wonderfully expressive metaphor is, as much it allows our minds to open and creativity to explore, it cannot "bottle" what can't be known in our human/temporal minds. It is, like everything man-made, a temporal tool 'whose' purpose goes only so far until its limitations catch up with it. And I wonder if we aren't better off without these tools since we have such trouble recognizing their limits. We seem to take a tool and build life with just that one, or just tools, neglecting every wandering thought that tells us life isn't about those tools, or, trying to fit those thoughts into what we've built by our tools. And what really is "out there," the great expanse of eternity, can't fit into anything tool-made. I guess it's only when we accept the nature of our tools that we can use them in any way truly beneficial to us, because we wouldn't be depending on them. Or maybe we decide we don't have/want to use a tool at all. Maybe we can experience what is without any man-made crutch and maybe that experience can indeed be communicated without a crutch-but I have no idea as to how we could operate without them in this humanity-linguistics/communication is society. Such a great deal of unlearning would have to occur that it seems easier to simply shed the mind. We'd truly be operating in a different reality, or, rather, the ever-existant reality we've never made ours.