The branch explained how it came from a long line of noble trees. It told of its family’s high positions and broad influence. Many birds had visited its branches. It went on and on about the glories of its past.
The bird eyed the approaching storm and decided it would fly away. Besides, it didn’t speak Treeish and couldn’t understand a word the branch spoke.
(Tomorrow: Humanity’s Possible Futures)
When age has filled us with life
I want to sit beside you
and find enchantment
in the wrinkles of your hand
I want to share the horizon
as it receives the sun
and provokes lust in the fibers of heaven
I want to hear the earth
murmur our names
when your eyes tell me
the first star has arrived
on the last night.
(Tomorrow: Communicating Heritage)
Everytime we are given a choice we think that we are free to choose. It’s an old trick.
We’re only free when we choose the choices. What’s the good of coffee or tea when we thirst for a beer? What’s the good of a ton of information that doesn’t answer our 20 gram question? How many pigs, frogs, rats and snakes must we be offered to kiss that will satisfy our desire for a pair of sweet lips?
(Tomorrow: Vintage Love)
Great fools are characterized by their fear of acting foolishly.
Original picture, a damaged door frame caused by the pressure of a chinning bar.
In an unknown universe, a wise old horse contemplates the invasion of foolishness. Each little fool imagines it will become important. Some struggle to become famous for their humility. Some believe themselves to belong to an elite breed of fools and claim they would excel in foolishness if they weren’t surrounded by so many incompetent fools that hold them back. Nearly every fool is convinced that they are a better fool than the rest.
The horse waits. She knows that they will soon choke their universe and she will be transformed into a blind butterfly with a sensitive nose. Before long the scent of pure nonsense will tell her which way to fly.
She will flutter between universes until she arrives to a universe of sacred nonsense. Here she will be transformed into a perfect fool, the only one in her universe. Confusion will whirl angrily about her. The confusion will confuse her and the anger will anger her, but she’ll never suspect her foolishness to be the cause.
”It’s all nonsense,” she’ll say foolishly and thereby increase the confusion and anger in the universe of sacred nonsense.
How long will it take before the combined efforts of the moss and tree together with other vegetation completely cover the stones? 800 million years ago not a single plant or animal existed on the surface of the earth and the seas contained nothing more than some single-celled organisms.
These organisms were the instruments of life and life’s power sings to the glory of light. It is the power to survive and reproduce, the power of hunger and love.
On the one hand the picture needs no explanation. On the other hand it begs for captions.
Have any suggestions? (Use comments.)
– No thanks, but could I get a cup of herring tea?
– Yes, of course Starbucks feels threatened.
– Do you take milk or soya with that?
– …
Human = of the Earth
The word human comes from the Latin word humus meaning earth or soil. The Hebrew name Adam meant ”formed of the earth”.
From the earth have you come …
Modern people seem to have forgotten that humans are part of the earth, that we are earthlings, or should we say earth things.
What is this thing called humanity that is so powerful upon the earth and in its arrogance appears to be challenging nature itself?
___________
(The book System Humanity answers this question. It will soon be available in paperback, but can be acquired as a .pdf now. You can take a look at the first 21 pages and get more info by clicking System Humanity in the blogroll.
The picture illustrates nature’s power as opposed to the human touch.
The cultivated plants in the bucket are having difficulties surviving and are failing miserably at providing esthetic value. The foxglove thrives naturally in a crack between the wall and the pavement and puts its bucketted neighbors to shame in question of size, health and beauty.
The foxglove (digitalis purpurea) has been used as a heart medicine for hundreds of years but this practice has been abandoned in recent times. The digitalis medicine, with its variations of preparation, dosages and state of the patient, was just as likely to kill as to cure.
Its beauty on the other hand has the power to cure the saddest heart.
Don’t try to be unique. You can’t become what you already are.
(From Natures Jinns, Naturens Väsen (Swedish), Naturlig Vis (Norwegian))
Millions of us are practicing the art of communication,
writing, drawing, acting, designing, ”photing”, filming … uniquely.
We are also reading, looking, listening, asking and researching to gather information to communicate.
We are the future filling our creative forms with viable, sustainable and supportive content.
We can do what needs to be done. No one can do it for us.
Life is our boss, the earth our home and love our product.
The old churches illustrated death to teach about life.
Death contains no pleasures and no light, but its soul lives in the memory of the living. Does the memory fly on a bat’s wing or an eagle’s? Our actions survive us. They are our contribution to life.
System Humanity 