pleth·o·ra/ˈpleTHərə/

Noun:

An excess of.

Haters be hatin'

I hate you. Not because of who you are, but because you're the only person I let in, and then you broke me.
I hate you for having brought out my emotions and for leaving permanent scars.
I hate you for hiding from me and I hate your nonchalance.
I hate your false pretences that fool everyone else. 
I hate that I know you well enough to have known you'd never fight for me.
I hate that you haven't been given the advantages in life that I have, 
I hate that that has made you cynical about a person who wants to treat you right.
I hate that you're not in my life and the void that remains after all this time.
I hate that I can't call you or drop by to say hi.
I hate that I lost you, 
But what I hate most is that I once had you, 
because if I never had you then I wouldn't hate at all.

I'm not sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm sorry if you find it inconvenient,
but without you we wouldn't be in it,
you ate too much, and cared too little,
you littered too much, and reused too little,
you trashed the world, and now your melt,

explain to me, how you thought it felt,
when the sun shone down, 
as you tried to tan,
but tan time is up,
you're sizzling now.
Heaped up hype, how high is the sky,
higher than humans can afford to buy,
now summer time, come out beach bum,
beach is gone? waters on the rise,
retreating sand dunes, 
once seriously smooth,
desertify your garden,
no more tomatos? i beg your pardon,
Harden up young soldier skin,
it's more than cancer you'll have to face,
it's food you'll fight for soon.
Sayonara Kiribati,
you'll be the new atlantis,
you didn't make enough fuss,
drowning now, howling aloud,
sincerely sorry, world's weeping now.
And what of us? Can you keep your cup?
Can you try resuse your chopsticks too?
There isn't space for infinite refills,
chuck cups, chuck us, land fill, ground us.
Beep beep, I'm coming through,
why would I walk when I can drive to you?
smell that oil? burn that fuel, 
be like Bush, I'll fool you too,
motor way, zoom and stray,
surely there's another way?
Fossil fuels, respon-see-bulls, 
Bulls-eye, no wings to fly,
Carbon tax? Leave no tracks,
change your ways?
Are you insane!
You're more than welcome to stay this way,
but tell me now if thats your plan,
for I refuse to introduce children,
to a world left in your hands.

Hello.

        Attention given is 
        attention deserved.

        And the way you've been acting, 

        you don't even deserve hello.

On another note, sitting in the Doctor's waiting room last week I watched a few minutes of the film 'A lot like love'. This line made me chortle:

                                           "Strike two was that I didn't play guitar. 

                                            Strike three was that I was born under the wrong start sign. 

                                            What was strike one?" - boy

                                            

                                                        "Strike one was that I had to make the first move" - girl
                                           
                                           "I got strike one before we even met???" - boy

A thing called..

                     There was a time
                There was a place
          But there was fear inside
                A witty line to save my face

                                             The parachute of pride.

          To cross a line, takes a tiny step
               But will this spark, 
                    cause the bridge to burn?
                         My fear entwined with my regret

                                             I beat a path of safe return.







(Lyrics: Above and Beyond - A thing called love)

Dear Grammar,

Be not dismayed...

"Be not dismayed if your endeavours are dismissed as utopian by the voices that would oppose any suggestion of fundamental change. Trust in the capacity of this generation to disentangle itself from the embroilments of a divided society. To discharge your responsibilities, you will have to show forth courage, the courage of those who cling to standards of rectitude, whose lives are characterised by purity of thought and action, and whose purpose is directed by love and indomitable faith. As you dedicate yourselves to healing the wounds with which your peoples have been afflicted, you will become invincible champions of justice... "

- Excerpt from a Letter to the youth of Paraguay from the Universal House of Justice , 6 January 1998

See-through soul.

What would life be like if we could see the soul of each person rather than what we wear on the outside?


Thank you, Mercedes Dauphinais

Five minute mental vomit.

Not being too quick to judge, 

quick foot, quick run, 

stomp around, hold no grudge,

goosestep, ground swept,

leaves gathered, time well spent.

Suck it up, rough it out, 

scream it loud, now I'm fizzled out. 

feel the ground? It's beating now.

Mother nature, she's hurting now.

Hear your heart, it's beating proud.

Proud of what? Palpitating, wow.

Round the bend, speeding up,

wrong turn, double back,

racing space, boiling face,

double up, there's trouble now,

wobble some, joke around,

lighten up, lay back down,

there's more to this,

but it's not profound.

Beauty fades, it's the second round,

up in smoke, who's dancing now?

Killer beat, newly found,

who they be? Not world-renowned,

quietly achieving, stereo's out,

carbon be leaking, oil depleting,

cap and trade or taxing you slaves,

inaction till D-day, delays until we belay.

What is it that I'm trying to say?

I hold no pretence, to make any sense,

Poor reference, pour vanilla, essence

is lost.
Prolific is naught,

knotted in nine, it's time to thrive,

we're hard wired to survive.

The Plan is Divine.

How could we go wrong,

with You as our Guide?

It's time to realign, project our desires,

promote Your ideas, 

stand tall and admire.

Now lay down, mind at rest,

gather your strength,

don't try to protest,

gear up, head space,

the time has come,

for your greatest test.

Don't fret, don't cry, 

you'll make it through,

your strength wont subside,

Be at rest, no sign of distress, 

we're all under arrest, 

standing over the greatest abyss.

You were, then you were not.

Source

A place once called home

This video evokes so many emotions that I forgot even existed in my memory bank of an enigmatic place that I amazingly once called home.. 



This Isreal from Matthew Brown on Vimeo.

The photo below is taken from the Baha'i Terrace Gardens facing the Shrine of the Báb, set atop Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. The Holy Land for the followers of Bahá'u'lláh (adherents to the Baha'i Faith) and also the Administrative Centre for this faith. I had the honour of living and serving in this Most Holy Spot for 12 months in 2007/08, but no matter how much time passes, it continues to, and always will be home home.

Photo courtesy of S.Rouhani

Lost in yOUR world

If I were the aviation authority I could ban your excess baggage, 

Make you suck it up and leave behind all that extra carnage.

Severe all remaining ties, forcing you to disconnect,

Recollect, re-compress, reload then reconnect,

Detach you from the past that left you all delusional,

Left you believing that love only be illusional.

Lost your self, your soul, your sanity,

Sold debt, soul wept, sole self, so inept,

"Excuse my anger, I'm not always like this", 

From outrage to nonchalance,

Turn my anger into apathy,

But wait, no, I can’t morph your identity,

Can’t make you leave behind your attaché, 

And now I see in front of me my whole future,

How to make each morn even more the richer,

Everyone’s a hero trying to save the old world,

But world unity starts with your own word,

Not saying you didn’t hurt me, you made me sick,

Flick of a stick and you were gone; crack and whip,

And I sink, and then think how much I hated this,

I reminisced, so please excuse this,

But life is rare and the world is beautiful,

No one said it was easy, we are all soul-full,

And we each have a body like Lewis told you,

We got one shot no chance to renew,

So I’ll forgive and forget what we did and said,

With love and kindness, I tread with my legs,

As I head on out, I hold you in respect.

N.Homsey & S.Rouhani

26/10/2011

Pure thoughts, pure words, and pure deeds.

"To enjoy the benefits of providence is wisdom; to enable others to enjoy them is virtue. He who is indifferent to the welfare of others does not deserve to be called human. The best way to worship God is to ease the distress of the times and to improve the condition of humanity. This is true religion; to cleanse oneself with pure thoughts, pure words, and pure deeds." 

- Zoroastrian Scripture

A love for all things Ludovico.

"Life, however, had other plans - when fate is very generous with us, there is always a well into which all our dreams can tumble."

Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

It's only page 14 and I'm already entranced.

Rainer Maria Rilke

"For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks... The work for which all other work is but preparation."

(Songs To Raise Your Dead Spirits)

A friend told me about the Blue Scholars about 4 years ago, I played their LP 'Bayani' to death but never thought to follow up on whether they released any further music...until now. In a moment of rediscovered I went on a search for anything they might have released since. Much to my excitement, I found that they released a brand new album in June (Cinemetropolis)- I immediately went to itunes and purchased the album!


Also, I found that DJ Sabzi (one half of the Blue Scholars) has recently collaborated with with Kelsey Bulkin to create 'M∆DE IN HEIGHTS'. They released an EP at the end of last year, Winter Pigeons, and just last month they released an 11-track album, both of which are currently being overplayed in my ears, throughout the house, while driving in my car, while walking the dog, while grocery shopping. It was exactly what was missing from my music playlist and I only wish they had more songs!


This is on the very top of my recommendations list, and just to give you a sample of their stuff here is a link to (one of) my favourite song(s):

Repeat and reload

I waste my time on you and you,
for what but wasting time from You,
blurring the line between waste and want,
slurring my thought of what I want,
for me,
my thoughts, my dreams,
where I want to be.

Stagnated, stipulated, 
sluggishly insinuated,
slushy, slurpy, 
from 7 til 11,
(but really until 3),
then sleep becomes me.

Dilated, debilitated, directly disorientated,
linear projections swerving to diagonal distractions,
treading along the path now faded,
faded and wasted, lying in wait,
plod along, redirect, reconnect,
the time has come to stipulate.

Procrastinated from purpose, 
unyielding and unnerving,
fighting to regain composure,
uncertainties overwhelm,
off the track, double back,
totally out of whack.

Crack my head on pathways closed,
pathways so old, no path to follow,
dusted, covered, crushing my bread crumbs,
no Hansel to my Gretal,
no gingerbread foes.

No route, no map,
gps can't load,
inhale, exhale,
repeat and reload...

Have patience, wait but do not sit idle

"The darkness of this gloomy night shall pass away. Again the Sun of Reality will dawn from the horizon of the hearts. Have patience, wait but do not sit idle; work while you are waiting; smile when you are wearied with monotony; be firm while everything around you is being shaken; be joyous while the ugly face of despair grins at you; speak aloud while the malevolent forces of the nether world try to crush your mind; be valiant and courageous while men all around you are cringing with fear and cowardice. Do not yield to the overwhelming power of tyranny and despotism. Serve the cause of democracy and freedom. Continue your journey to the end. The bright day is coming. The nucleus of the new race is forming. The harbinger of the new ideals of international justice is appearing. The trees of hope will become verdant; the copper of scorn and derision will be transmuted into the gold of honor and praise; the arid desert of ignorance will be transformed into the luxuriant garden of knowledge; the threatening clouds shall be dispelled and the stars of faith and charity will again twinkle in the clear heaven of consciousness."

- 'Abdu’l-Bahá' (Bahá'í Scriptures -- Selection from the Utterances of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá edited by Horace Holley, Page 551)

(For full text, click on either of the links just below:Baha'i Scriptures: chapter 9  and a Complilation for Tests and Difficulties)

You got me for nothing.

I suppose lawyers can also be profound..

In the process of completing an assignment for my 'International Environmental Law' subject, I have been required to do an immense amount of reading and research, primarily from my set-text. Amongst many a profound statements and ideas, this excerpt stood out:

"Our consciousness extends throughout the world passing freely across political frontiers. Our sympathy extends to the whole of humanity. Our moral and social responsibility extends to the whole of humanity and to the whole of the physical world which we transform by our actions. But our social ideals and our social possibilities are trapped and stifled within the mental structures which divide and disable the human world, structures which human consciousness has made and which human consciousness can remake.

The necessary revolution will free human consciousness from its self-subjection, from its self-disabling, from its self-destroying, allowing our ideas and our ideals, as well as our willing and our acting, to include the whole world, the physical world and the human world. The necessary revolution will leave us free to make and remake a human society which does not abolish our national societies but embraces and completes them.

The necessary revolution is a world revolution. The world revolution is a revolution not on the streets but in our minds."

 David Hunter et al., International Environmental Law and Policy (4^th Edition, 2011) p 280

My head is a convenient store

Way to go making me miss Copenhagen Yoav, cheers mate.

My mind fights on in a battle against self,

For years trying to sever the ties and disconnect, 

In a moment left to wandering thoughts, 

You reemerge and destroy my progress,

The moments we shared so vivid and alive,

Taking me back when all seemed fine,

Forget my time and place and space,

Your life is again in sync with mine.

The frozen moments lost in time,

The smiles, the silence, the unspoken signs,

The motives, the motions, the millions of miles,

The dreaming, the delirium, the daily demise,

The feelings, the flaws, the faltering fears.

Tarnished, ungreased, I'm like a rusted gear.

[Special thanks to Saba for assistance with the last line.]

Charlie breaks the silence.

Taken from Charlie Chaplin's film, The Great Dictator (1940). It was released just prior to the US entry into WWII. It was a huge act of defiance against Nazism and an act of courage given the political climate at the time.


Absolutely inspiring. (It gives me goosebumps)



Next step: to watch the film.

‎"The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds,  through commendable and seemly conduct". - Bahá'u'lláh

Reminiscing my mind.

Thought of the day (28/09/09)
- Some things ought not to be recorded as a means of forgetting or, at the very least, in order to not be reminded of them.

Resonance..

A poem I found quite a while ago. It held meaning to it then, just as it does now. But naturally, different circumstances, difference experiences mean I read it quite differently now...

Kurban Said

A book that I read, put down, read, thought about, read and finally finished... The Orientalist. 

"Dont be frightened - but I regret to tell you with all formality that I have lost my mind." p335

I still don't quite understand the life and times of Lev Nussimbaum, but it was refreshing to read a biography about a man who eluded all manner and form of stereotype and expectation.

Heart (e)scape

With the natural progression of time,

we went our separate ways,

even if that meant you pushed me left,

then ran to the right,

leaving no trail to follow, 

After much hesitation I had no choice,

I continued on the path you set,

but my heart left a lingering path,

needing only a sign to sling-back,

double over, return like a boomerang.

For too long my heart waited,

but like bait never bitten, 

it lost its scent,

it lost its strength,

the trail faded away.

My heart is mine again,

it no longer lays at an angle,

waiting for its escape,

it settled back into its cavity,

allowing the blood to flow,

beating returns to regularity,

freeing me from any entanglements.

Artist: S. Rouhani

The Faith of God has lost a distinguished servant.

The sudden passing of our beloved Dr Peter Khan on 15 July 2011 has brought to an end a "remarkable life, one of earnest striving, of unbending resolve, of unflinching dedication to principle, and of constancy of effort". The following video was prepared by a friend for a memorial service held in Dr Khan's honour.

"By any measure, his was a remarkable life, one of earnest striving, of unbending resolve, of unflinching dedication to principle, and of constancy of effort."

I can earnestly say that Peter was one of the most amazing individuals that I have ever had the bounty of meeting. I especially remember that during my year of service at the Baha'i World Centre during 2007 and 2008, he was serving as a member of the Supreme Body of the Baha'i Faith, The Universal House of Justice. He was a member during the years 1987 to 2010. For more information, see the following article: Dr. Peter J. Khan: A "remarkable life"

I will end this post with a Baha'i Prayer for the Departed:

Omy God!  O my God!  Verily, thy servant, humble before the majesty of Thy divine supremacy, lowly at the door of Thy oneness, hath believed in Thee and in Thy verses, hath testified to Thy word, hath been enkindled with the fire of Thy love, hath been immersed in the depths of the ocean of Thy knowledge, hath been attracted by Thy breezes, hath relied upon Thee, hath turned his face to Thee, hath offered his supplications to Thee, and hath been assured of Thy pardon and forgiveness.  He hath abandoned this mortal life and hath flown to the kingdom of immortality, yearning for the favor of meeting Thee.
O Lord, glorify his station, shelter him under the pavilion of Thy supreme mercy, cause him to enter Thy glorious paradise, and perpetuate his existence in Thine exalted rose garden, that he may plunge into the sea of light in the world of mysteries.
Verily, Thou art the Generous, the Powerful, the Forgiver and the Bestower.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Climate change is a moral issue.

Although I don't side with any political party, this is a brilliant speech given by Malcolm Turnbull MP earlier this week that shows due respect to the science behind climate change and the imperative need to take action.

"The consequences of getting our response to climate change wrong will not likely be felt too severely by us, or at least not most of us, but will be felt painfully and cruelly by the generations ahead of us. And the people in the world who will suffer the most cruelly will be the poorest and the people who have contributed the least to the problem. There is an enormous injustice here. When people try and suggest to you that climate change is not a moral issue, they are wrong. It is an intensely moral issue, raising grave moral issues."

http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/homepage-speeches-articles/inaugural-virginia-chadwick-memorial-foundation-lecture-sydney-july-21-2011/


It is quite the long speech, but I would highly recommend reading it, een if only to gain greater perspective on the issues that the world around us are facing with the reality of climate change.

My thoughts, not yours.

But, it doesn't matter what you think, for it can't change the uncontrollable thoughts that constantly stream between my ears. The realities I face are mostly in my subconscious and no manner of explanation or justification will bring you to a sufficient level of understanding or acceptance.

"All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the minds." (Kahlil Gibran)

This is my plea to you, do not try and bring reason into the discussion. Matters of the heart and, by extension, the subconscious, rarely take notice of reasoning. There is no reason. I have accepted this, and beg of you to do the same.

Falsified truth.

What a great danger we can be to ourselves, 

when we become so accustomed to lying, that 

we even convince ourselves of such untruths.

The persecution continues.

The arrested associates of the BIHE

After a long history of systematically denying the Bahá'ís living in Iran the right to an education, amongst many other things, the Iranian Government has taken it even further. The Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) is a initiative offering higher education to the young Iranian Baha'is that have been barred from attending university. They have been the victim of the latest attacks. 16 people with association to the BIHE were arrested just short of a month ago, not to mention at least 39 homes have been targeted. 


The reaction to this inhumane and unjustifiable act has aroused international condemnation, including the Austrian government, top academics in the United Kingdom, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom just to name a few. For further information, please read the following: Worldwide outrage at Iran's attack on Bahá'í educators

FutureSpeak

Who would've thought a song could be written, using google! The Guitar Doodle appeared in place of the regular google logo last week. The clip below is a song written by a friend (Arlen), and his group FutureSpeak, wrote using this funky little doodle. Enjoy!





To listen to some of their other songs: CLICK HERE