The face of beauty can sit on a soul of beauty.
This is the wall of an apartment building in the medium-sized Swedish town of Norrkoping.
Who lives behind these windows?
The Swedes are fanatical about having light in their houses, yet these people sacrifice some of that light to preserve the wild beauty of the ivy.
Rather than clip the ivy from around their windows, they offer the people going by the full spectrum of nature’s generosity. They obviously feel that such beauty should not be tamed.
What should we say about the generosity of the people living behind the ivy? We should say thanks. If they should look out of their windows as I walk by, they should be able to see my smile. They can’t see my heart dancing a naked polka of joy, but I hope they feel pride in putting the smile on my face. They are undoubtedly wildly beautiful people.
This can be a UFO coming out of the sky to land on a wild imagination. Or it can be a little indoor ceiling lamp shot with outdoor white balance and washed with saturation.
We all see the light. From different perspectives and with difference imaginations.
In the slums of commerce the stink of conventional wisdom drugs us with fantasies of salvation through consumption.
Nature contains the fragrance of life that can inspire us to release our untamed imagination. It can teach us to pursue the satisfaction resulting from accomplishment. It encourages us to climb the heights of respect and provokes us with beauty to nourish our capacity to love.
Unlike the ad-contaminated commercial centers, nature doesn’t lie.
This is the first in a series of articles about racism.
Racism is a cold dark place where life cannot thrive. It lives in the hearts of most people. Unfortunately. For most people.
Racism in its mildest form sees other people through the superficial filter of race. No hatred need be involved. Believing that racial characteristics affect the quality of character displays a basic ignorance of human nature. It also deprives us of the abilities to see beauty and discover wisdom.
Black Americans (people with dark skin who have traces of African ancestry) often speak of slavery as an evil perpetrated by white people. Slavery was a monumental evil that caused unimaginable misery. White people were deeply and broadly involved in supporting and promoting slavery. Many Black Africans were also directly responsible for the slave trade and all that it implies.
After the initial surprise of the first slave raiders (from Portugal), the Africans mounted effective resistance and beat the raiders back. The Africans had better boats, knew the territory and the waters much better and displayed clever tactical maneuverability and fierce courage. The European aggressors were simply no match for the native defenders.
The raiders did not give up. They shed their raider skin and returned as traders. If anyone said, “Beware of Europeans bearing gifts.” the Africans receiving the gifts didn’t seem to hear. Trading things for people opened the door to the well-stocked slave shop. Over the next three centuries the slave trade would kill millions upon millions of Africans and enslave millions and millions of others. Africans and their obedient gangs of slave hunters killed and rounded up other Africans who they served packaged in ropes, chains and cages to the European traders. The slave trade, this monumental evil devouring some 20 million people over hundreds of years could not have been possible without the willing and active participation of generations of Black Africans.
Viewing slavery as a crime of White people is a dim view. So dim that is nearly blind. And it’s racist. Money puts people in chains. Money. As long as we allow ourselves to be blinded and driven by racist perspectives, the moneyed rulers will remain enthroned in positions of power. Until we learn to see each other as people—equals—regardless of the superficial differences of our appearance (or our nationality, religion or sex), we will remain the subjects and slaves of “traders” who view people as commodities.
Racism is a cold and dark place. It can be found anywhere. Even in the warm light of beautiful Africa.
According to a book I read there was a time when the highest authority in the world, known as God, forbid the only two people to taste knowledge. Without knowledge these two people were so ignorant that they didn’t even know what sex was. A lowly creature who crawled near grass roots convinced the woman, who then convinced the man, to bite into knowledge.
When they had tasted knowledge, the two young people ran out of the authority’s garden (it was boring as hell) to live life on life’s terms.
It was a very old book.
”Do youI believe in God,?” he asked
”What’s God? What do you know about God? What does God look like to you?”
My questions surpised him. Then he surprised himself by his inability to answer my questions.
”I only know one thing about God,” I said. ”God is for everyone.”
That seemed to surprise him as well. Or he was surprised that I said it, or surprised that he didn’t?
God, it seems, is full of surprises.
The tall weeds bent down in gratitude to thank life for the nourishing rain.
Here is Maiion on the left and Koefor on the right. They are dancing.
Human perspective cannot see their dance.
Flora dances differently than fauna.
A fauna dance lasts a few minutes. But even an all night dance is nothing compared to a flora that dances all year. They dance so slowly that their movements are barely noticeable during an hour or a day.
They are moving all the time. Growing. Twisting. Turning. Changing color.
Life for them is a dance and they dance for life.
We find their dance boring. They think our dance is foolish.
We use energy to dance. They collect energy while they dance.
When they finish collecting energy and their dance is ending,
they dress up in colorful costumes to beautify the world
to thank life before they plunge to the earth to provide nourishment
for next year’s dance.
When the wolf donated to the Feed the Chickens Charity, the foxes praised his generosity.
Those who live by the sword slaughter those who live like sheep.
That’s history’s version. You might read another book.
System Humanity 