The means to an End

On the whole asylum seeker, refugee, prison camp humanity, compassion, situation...

This will be brief, just wanting to lay it down somewhere.

Having read Saul Alinsky's book 'Rules for Radicals' I was struck by two significant ideas:

1.

There is a statement at the beginning of the book before the contents devoted to Lucifer (the Devil)

 "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer" 

2.

Though the book discusses the topic of 'means and ends' the author does not attempt to moderate the reader's choices in method of achieving their goal.  (A scary thought if you consider what this could result in)

 

Some people say he must have been a satanist or evil or something. I took the statement as a warning that the methods he is suggesting must be tempered by a person who knows the nature of evil and their own capacity to commit it. He gives freedom to choose and leaves the responsibility for the course of action with the reader. (here it is and, you've been warned)

As I read this book I continually asked myself, what would I be prepared to do, what would I not do? What are the consequences? What would I gain?


The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr supplied an answer.

Recently a friend gave me an old copy of 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.' It was sitting on my shelf for a couple of months when my wife decided to read it. When she was done, she wanted to read some pages which had resonated with her, out loud so I could get a sense of just how profound a thinker Dr King was.

One line from that reading put into perfect unison a lot of the things I'd been feeling and thinking when confronted with the rationalizations put forward by politicians and armchair experts regarding Australia's bizarre and cruel treatment of asylum seekers. For me it cut to the core of the moral discussion about 'what must be done'.

Here it is:

"Constructive ends can never give absolute moral justification to destructive means, because in the final analysis the end is preexistent in the means" 

(Martin Luther King Jr. 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr' Edited by Clayborne Carson. p.20)


"... the end is preexistent in the means"

End of January

It's nearly the end of January... nothing much to talk or post about really but I just wanted to stick something in here so the blog doesn't go completely stagnant.

I've been off work for most of the School holidays in an attempt to keep the kids entertained and the wife a little saner than she otherwise would be at this time of year. I'm not sure having me pinned down at home has been the relief she'd hoped it would be! Sorry about that darling... I'm hopeless at being housebound!

READS:


Pedaling Revolution by Jeff Mapes. Read it! A great bicycle advocacy book which, although a few years old and written from an American perspective, was quite relevant to Australian conditions. There were heaps of references to blogs I read regularly and to incidents I'd read about at the time they happened. Although a book that focuses on policy, infrastructure and town planning might be boring I found it interesting enough to knock it over in about 3 days!

The Last Navigator by Steve Thomas.  Am 3/4 through this. The author of this book had a very unique opportunity to meet and be taught by true navigators from another age! Sadly the art of navigation and the traditional culture of the Caroline Islands have probably given way under the weight of western culture, technology and all that. Some of the magic of the ancient guild of navigators from that region is alluded to through the book along with many reflections on the terrible fate their culture faces as young people loose their respect for the ancient knowledge having been exposed to all the stuff that is offered by a contemporary consumer society... or something like that. Many of the reviews I read about this book appeared to have been written by people from an anthropological background rather than sailing buffs. There is so much that I am finding familiar with what I am seeing happening to Yolngu culture. It's quite frightening to see how generic the destruction of traditional cultures can be.

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien: I started reading this with my eldest child this week. As a pretty crappy reader I this is the first book I've ever attempted to read a second time.. (Excluding Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I chose to read twice at school!) We're reading a chapter a night and are really getting into it! We've just met Gollum in the cave, I love those riddles and the way he talks to himself.

RIDES:
I have really missed my daily 20km commute to work and back! Seriously! I loose my mind when I can't ride my bike once a day! The time I spend riding to and from work each day is my great escape! This is my mellow time, my undisturbed meditation space and my only exercise. Since I've only been working two days a week over the past month I have noticed I am more easily agitated, I'm also noticing that the gut I grew over Christmas has settled in with me getting no exercise!
I was able to ride to work on Tuesday, (The day that the monsoonal trough arrived in Darwin). There was so much rain on Tuesday, we had flood warnings. There was no way I was going to let that stop me from riding. I happily cycled home in the rain. I was in a state of bliss! Riding in tropical rain is quite a pleasure actually. I even had music! I discovered an old bum bag with a headphone socket that I'd squirreled away ages ago. It worked beautifully with the mp3 player safely inside and the headphone jack plugged into a waterproof socket. Cool! As I rolled over the bridge at Rapid Creek a whole bunch of micro bats came swarming out of the tunnel under the road, some of them flew straight into me... or I rode into them, not sure who had right of way when it comes to bats in the rain. It was quite a funny thing to happen. One of them hit pretty hard but I noticed he straightened up and kept flying so I assume he/she's OK.

There have been other short rides closer to home with the family. Most afternoon's the kids and I take the cart out and accompany Sam while she walks the dog.

My only longish ride over the past two months has been the ride out to Howard Springs.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

Ummm Mulch Pit for gardening, (only occasionally), Litchfield Park, Wildlife Park and today Fog Dam.

Geting radical

At play with devils...

Don't be alarmed! It's only a book... I'm not about to go out and stock up on 'Brown rice and kerosine!'

What I like about this book... Well I like the Type set used on the cover... And if the prologue is anything to go by I am really going to enjoy reading this book!
Sometimes when I'm scrounging through piles of books at the tip shop or an opp shop I am lucky and find a real gem! Mostly children's books but last week I discovered this classic at the Church Opp Shop in Cummins Street! As I read through the prologue I just knew I was meant to find this book! Whether or not I can find a practical application for it isn't really the point. It is a portal to a reality we've been brainwashed out of thinking can even exist. If Orwell's hapless protagonist, Winston, had discovered this book he would have stashed it away and read it in secret when he thought no one was watching! Well thankfully treasures like this can still be found and read, pondered and put to good use... in dice games with devils, heroes and fools!

Reading the prologue I realize how messed up we have now become. Alinski talks about the overwhelming amount of information that young people have to deal with... This book was written in 1971! Imagine if he'd been plonked down in 2012!
I remember reading that in the frightening dystopia of 1984 information would be recalled and republished in order to alter the public's perception of history, or even current events. Well in 2012 it's much easier to alter documents, which are stored online but there's no need! Good information can simply buried in plain view under a plethora of useless information, which we are bombarded with daily. Short attention spans and no training in critical thinking has eliminated the need to fool us into believing lies... The perfect solution was not to hide the lies... Better to remove the public's interest in discerning truth from lie...
Who Cares...Right!

The books on your shelf

Recently we were given the opportunity to accept a pretty hefty increase to our rent or consider finding cheaper accommodation. Since we for about the past 13 years we've been paying about the cheapest rent in Darwin, we realized that finding anything suitably cheep would be far too difficult. We'd been holding our breath and crossing our fingers, hoping that our rent wouldn't go up for a couple of years as we watched house prices sky-rocketed in our area. But we knew crunch time was bound to come!

About 6 weeks ago the landlord contacted me and hit me with some news, which we'd been expecting but it still sent us into a brief state of shock, for a short time we were afraid we'd have no choice but to move out. We went through a little fear for our future security but when the various stages of grief had passed we were ready for the worst case scenario. After all this place does not belong to us, (nowhere really can) but we've been here for many years and call it home. We thought about the prospects of having to move all our stuff out and realized that in 13 years we had accumulated a whole lot of stuff. It's time we considered, what we would do if we had to leave? Where would we go, what would we bring?

As it happened we came to an agreement with our very generous landlord that we could just afford. Thankfully we can stay. Now we don't have to move out but there are renovations planned and we have to clear all our stuff out of the living area. It dawned on us that we have a lot of stuff to move! Amongst all our gear are two book cases full of most of what we have read over the past 13 years and a bunch of stuff I may never read! I'm a slow reader but in 13 years even I can accumulate a lot of books. Why do I think I need to keep them?

One big problem for me is the so-called acquisition of knowledge! I want to know stuff, I want to learn about the world, people and things, there is information in books. Most of the books can be dispensed with once I have read them... but for some reason I have kept them.

Lately I've managed to take some time to re-assess my priorities and consider how I have been approaching the business of life. What is my purpose etc... What am I clinging to? What do I really need? I know that I don't need many possessions but constantly find myself hording stuff. Building up a stock pile that could come in handy... but when? Bike parts, computer bits and pieces, and books mostly. I admit my life is cluttered with stuff. I remember a line from a Redgum song 'Where Ya Gonna Run To "...And the books on your shelf are a measure of all that you've earned..." Well I always thought the last word of that lyric was 'learned' but in the end both words add up to the same thing. Are my books only a manifestation of my own attachment to stuff, status, achievement? If I have learned something surely I can move on to the next lesson, why do I need to cling to the vessel? Am I ever going to read a novel a second time? It takes me so long to read them once! Do I keep these books as resources or trophies?

I dumped a bag full of books on Saturday... It's a start but I'm not ready to part with most of them. Maybe one day.

Book of the week

(Scan of book cover - with apologies)

OK I know the title of this post implies that I might actually review or at least comment on a book every week. Well actually I don't review or even rate books every week... but this one was so cool I thought I'd arbitrarily name it my 'Book of the Week'!

The book is called Bubblegum, Bubblegum by Lisa Wheeler, Laura Hliska-Beith (Illustrator)
and it Rocks!

It's a book aimed at kids 3-6 years old and it's funny! The words work so well, they lead me into singing the book out loud as I read to my kids, who were happy to listen to it over and over again!

It's a pretty simple story... It's about a variety of animals who stumble into some sticky bubblegum. Every time a new creature comes along it gets stuck too. Pretty soon the wad of gum has caught a whole mob of critters.

If you have kids give this book a go. It's fun to read!

The End.

Peace of mind

What gives me Peace of Mind?




This little wind up music box contraption fascinates me! It's simple and beautifully designed, the sound can be amplified simply by putting it on top of a piece of wood or anything else that carries good vibrations. I love watching it click away and hearing it's metallic musical chimes.





Kids Books... This week they brought home a book called Talk Peace... It's very cool!

Talk Peace by Sam Williams, Illustrated Mique Moriuchi (Illustrator)

Living in an amazing part of the world! Flying foxes crap on my clothes line, there are at least six species of lizards living in my back yard, some of which are DRAGONS, Green Tree Frogs sing when it rains and Orange Footed Scrub Fowl lay eggs in the sand pit at our local playground.

Too many wonderful things to count! I am grateful for them all!

There's a lot of things I could blog about this week but frankly I don't have the emotional energy to even start! It's been a busy funked out week. Bad, Sad things have happened, some wonderful things too. A tragedy, Loss, I've glimpsed beauty and sensed grace and disgust. I've acted properly and I've behaved badly and I'm in a state of shock!



Confused?

(If it weren't for all the darn beauty!...??? where would we be?)
Blessed are the anglophiles.... They must be good for something!

Peace, Love, Grace, Serenity, Peace, Bliss, Good night.

Gardening (for food) in the town

(Bundoora Park Community Garden, Bundoora, Victoria)

It's been great to see a revival and growth in Urban food production, which is apparrently becoming hugely popular in Australia, UK and the USA. To grow your own food is now considdered to be cool... (Common practice in most other places)
A couple of years ago I discovered the Life Island website after viewing an amazing video about the Manor Gardens in Hackney, UK. At the time they were fighting to protect their 100 year old garden allotments from being leveled to make way for a sporting complex for the Olympic games... Sadly they lost the battle and the whole site has since been completely cleared! But! I will be very difficult to rebuild the sense of community that appeared to have existed in that special place and I was really saddened when I learned about the garden's demise.

Somewhere in my trawling of the internet I discovered that there was a cookbook produced with photos of the people and their special places in the Manor Garden. The Book is called Moro East.
I managed to order a copy of it online and it was delivered toward the end of last year. It's a wonderful book full of very rustic recipies and images, the cover features some beautiful Islamic art.

(Moro East Cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark)

It may be idealism or escapism but this stuff really inspires me. The book is wonderful and I like just flicking through the pages.


Sliver Gardening

Back at home our little garden is providing shade and green where once there was only the blinding glare and heat of too much concrete ... We've eaten a delicious pumpkin, snake beans, heaps of basil and enjoyed Lemongrass tea. We only harvest food occasionally but the aesthetic value of a food garden makes enormous improvements to our peace of mind regardless of limmited crops.

Leviathan, Taniwha or something far scarier?

A friend lent me the damnedest audio recordings, from a remarkable book, by the persona of a fella who possibly doesn't even exist; well not in the usual sense that we would expect anyway...

I'd be reading the book but besides being short on reading time and lazy I'm really enjoying listening to it.

If you've delved into the depths of the place I've been advised never to go alone then you may have caught a glimpse of the light that shines from behind the door... But like me you surely haven't kicked the door open or burst through the window!If you had you'd see right through these meaningless rants and move on.

If I were given the choice between the blue pill and the red pill, would the blue pill option still exist?
Soon I must read Moby-Dick... I grabbed the book a couple of years ago when I worked at the Uni Library. They'd closed down the English Department and the book served no purpose to the market driven curriculum. I saw it on a pile of discards and grabbed it. I read a few pages, my jaw dropped in wonder and I quickly stashed it in my bag to bring home and read, some time when I have time... It's been on my book shelf ever since!

Some times when we search for something our looking reveals ourselves to what we seek, the table turns and it sees us, somehow the roles are reversed! like the bird attracted to the tail of a snake that looks like a worm... Where will that book take me? I believe, as has been suggested, it is more than a nice piece of classic literature or a fine piece of period literature or a story about a White Whale or Whaling. I know where it goes but, why must I read it?

There are creatures lurking... Some we have slain more yet remain. Dare we seek them?

Below is a great song by SPLIT ENZ. Just like Tim, I don't want to sail! “…You can jump out midway but whatever made you get aboard in the first place will probably make you get aboard again.” Jed Mckenna

What Impact?

Climate meetings in Barcelona will be wrapping up tomorrow and in just one month World Leaders will be gathering in Copenhagen. The meetings in Copenhagen are supposed to be the place where the Governments of the World unite to answer the challenge laid out to them two years ago at talks in Bali where the "Bali Road Map" was created. As I recall that was when they stalled proceedings and claiming two years to consider their options. Now our time is up and our leaders must take real action to reduce worldwide CO2 emissions or we will face Runaway Global Warming.

Well the 350.org events held in 181 countries throughout the world have set a very determined and clear expectation for what many of us are aware is the necessary target for action. However it is highly unlikely that international targets will come anywhere near the commitment necessary for abating Global Warming or runaway Climate Change.

I have heard so many times, from too many people, that we are powerless to do anything about Global Warming, "There's nothing we can do that will make any difference..." there's nothing the average person can do to change the state of the world.
More commonly than not when the subject of climate change comes up I am bewildered by the indignant protagonists from the 'head in the sand' school of thought. "Oh the scientists will come up with something", "It's a lot of crap anyway the greenies just want to stop us driving our cars!"
I think these two remarks are saying is: 'How dare you challenge my illusion! I am happy in my beliefs and I will not have them questioned or challenged by party poopers or rational argument!

Anyway if you're interested in what we can do to make an Impact, assuming that by changing the individual we are changing a part of the world. Affecting those around us, sending revolutionary ripples across the surface of the lake of indifference and turning the tide on the seven seas of apathy!
There are heaps of books, videos and stories offering alternatives to the way we are currently living that would do a lot to help the human race reduce it's carbon emissions help the planet regenerate into the life giving organism we need it to be.

You might like to check out the book No Impact Man. The author Colin Beavan is no enlightened Eco Guru, he's not a scientist or a politician, he's not a spiritual leader and he doesn't hold any mystical secrets! He doesn't always get it right, he is not perfect. He's just an ordinary guy who decided he'd have a go at reducing his impact on the planet and proved that it not only can be done but it can make life even more enjoyable... Believe it. Or not.

I take from this book I resolved after having read the book rule No.1. Don't let the bastards convince you that you've no right to try just because you're human and may not always reflect every ideal you strive for! Basically Rule one says. "So you're gonna screw up... You'll make mistakes, you might even get some things wrong! You might chose the loosing team! So F--king What! Do it anyway!

After reading the No Impact Man Blog for about 2 years I was very keen to read the book when it was published. It has been and I ordered 2 coppies which arrived in the post about 2 months ago. They are now in circulation among my friends and are destined for a couple of local libraries. There is plenty we can do.

(2 copies of No Impact Man - currently being re-used)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure..." (Marrianne Williamson A Return to Love)

Let freedom reign!

More on Hodgkinson, Tom, How to be free (London. Hamish and Hamilton. 2006)

"...absolutely everything - these days appears to be made of plastic. It's just as Woody Guthrie predicted in his song 'Talking Columbia', trains, clothes, furniture. White plastic is the triumph of quantity over quality, of factory over handwork. Plastic is cold, sterile, humourless, poisonous, ugly, wasteful, unrottable, unburnable; it is a stinking nothing made of oil and money. Plastic drips greed..."
(Tom Hodgkinson, How to be Free, p.287)

Right on Tom!

Hail the spade, the horse and the quill! Let's make music and quit moaning! Thrift is freedom, play is natural, compost is sweet nourishment for our gardens of fruit. I will gladly shovel my own shit. Supermarkets will fall and ugliness vanish as quickly as we can realize the fact, and the enlightened ones would agree. "Life is Absurd, We are Free".

On The Home Front

All the extra travel we've done this year was a deliberate attempt to break free of a Rut. Taking our holiday to Bali and down the Centre was basically an attempt to break free of the rut, of stress, pressure, disharmony and monotony that our family had fallen into over the past few years.

Things were actually getting pretty grim at home and a fair measure of intolerance and aggravation at each other's idiosyncrasies was leading us down a path of despair! We thought, it's time to hit the road! We'll try it together before circumstances lead us into taking completely different paths... (Which would be a disastrous prospect for our little family). So we planned and booked a trip to Bali, Sam booked tickets for her and the kids to visit her mother for a period when I would be busy at work and we planned our Christmas break. Then there was the recent drive down through the Red Centre which just had to happen, (even though our credit card was already overloaded with debt and the bank account was empty) because neither of us could imagine life at home during school holidays with a couple of hyperactive kids! Thus to prevent the family imploding we resolved to get out of Dodge (Darwin/or at least our flat) at every opportunity to prevent a domestic Apocalypse!

The problems that besieged us appeared to be the result of what happens when two people, who have been living together for more than 10 years, move in two philosophically opposed directions. Or at least when their ideals appear to become incompatible.
My focus had been to reduce my impact on the Earth and live in the most sustainable manner I possibly can. My wife's approach had been totally focused on providing for our kids. (Not a bad objective in itself) Unfortunately though, contrary to what the TV adds tell us, consumer desires can never be satisfied by any quantity of junk purchased from Big W or Kmart! Happiness can not be found inside the plastic wrapper of a McDonald's Happy Meal treat! (Sorry but that stuff really peeves me!). Although we usually only watched ABC and SBS the amount of TV hours in our house was far too high!

We decided that allowing child no. 1 to watch videos on her own TV at night was counteractive to her sleep, play, reading, socialization needs. So we got rid of one TV, introduced a bed time routine and read stories at night and stopped watching Teley between the hours of 6pm and 8:30pm ourselves.

Not long after this we made our trip to Bali, and found the experience kind of stressful, especially at meal times and in restaurants, but the family was together and we managed to have some pretty special experiences.

Some time not long after returning from Bali our 10 year old family TV fizzed out and ceased to work... I drew a sigh of relief and asked Sam what she wanted to do. Knowing that we were already overdrawn on the credit card she looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. Taking the prompt I immediately said, "I don't if we have no TV!" She agreed and we have now gone about two months or so without at TV. Our only regret is that SBS have been screening the second series of Flight of the Conchords!
The benefits of living without a TV have been too numerous to count but basically we now read more, and argue less, the kids get more attention and our power bill has dropped... stuff like that.

We learned somewhere along the way that our youngest has an unusual bone condition and will require specialized surgery later this month! He is likely to be off his feet for at least 3 months and will require a great deal of attention. This made the holiday to Alice Springs an absolute must! We had to get the kids out and have a good time together before the pressures of immobility and full time care take their toll on us all.

The getaway was great. Our little fella ran around everywhere with the kids we met along the way, the place we stayed at in Alice had these enormous jumping pillows that he bounced on every day. On the way home we stopped in Mataranka and watched a local singer perform at the Homestead. Our little bloke danced and danced all night and had the crowd in stitches of laughter and joy!
As we traveled along the Stuart Highway we all had a wonderful time, camping, walking, playing. The desert can be a restorative place and I think we all came back to Darwin with a certain feeling of calm and contentedness. Along the way Sam and I got right into reading a book called How to Be Free. The book is written by an Anarchist who believes life would be so much better if we took on values more like they had in the Middle Ages! Somehow he struck a chord with me and I found the first half of the book absolutely inspirational! It was an affirmation of so much of how I've been trying to change my own life. What was more miraculous was that Sam and I found we shared a lot of the same ideas! Although we'd been struggling to agree on anything previously the simple act of reading the book out loud as we drove brought us closer together. Amazing. The Author Tom Hodgkinson often runs of on flights of fancy and makes some pretty hefty judgements, generalizations and occasionally, omits important facts when accusing others, however he is enormously entertaining and often hits the nail right on the "... F-cking Head." (Damien Hirst).
I don't care if he gets his facts slightly distorted. Just because I don't agree with him advocating smoking in community halls where there are children, or I can't stand the way he raves incessantly about the joys of drinking Ale doesn't alter my acceptance of his basic argument. Even though he makes a few misinformed and obviously antagonistic attacks on Alcoholics Anonymous, the first half of the book has been great! (I'm only now growing weary as I attempt to finish reading it on my own). If you want to make a leap out of the consumer trap give it a go. Along the way I also read Henry Reynolds book 'Why Weren't we told'.
A great read and once again reminding me of the need to live an authentic life, not accept the status quo and always question anything presented to me as "The Truth".


Youtube review here


Our trip down the center has prompted us to make positive changes in our lives. Since returning two weeks ago I have collected 4 bags of horse manure on my Xtracycle, prepared some of the garden for sheet mulching and have been watering our little herb garden every morning and in the evenings with the kids!

Yesterday while at the tip shop I discovered a copy of "Introduction to Permaculture" by Bill Mollison. This book is: ***GOLD***

Life is taking a turn for the better things are looking better every day! Who cares that we spent all our cash and available credit? Soon our second car will burn it's clutch out and we will go back to being a one car family! Who knows what opportunities that will bring with it? Maybe we'll travel by horse??? Or at least give more incentive for cycling?

So all that travel used up quite a bit of carbon, I know! However it may have saved us all our sanity and brought us one step closer to a more satisfying future with less.
Freedom is just around the corner!