Monday, October 22, 2007

The Stare

" In silent night when rest I took
For sorrow near I did not look
I wakened was with thund'ring noise
And Piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.."


( from: Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666: Anne Bradstreet)
-----------------------------

Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.
( The first of the 4 Noble Truths which Buddha taught was "Life is Suffering".)

It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.


M. Scott Peck worded it clearly but the principle isn't new. All manners of faith speak on suffering and what one must do when confronted by it. Such powerful words to be read...giving internal power and resolve to stand strong when crises hits...only of course tragedy visits without prior notice...at times with such merciless viciouness that leaves one no space to gather the strength of all learned affirmations stored somewhere within one's soul.

Evil has visited my island. Not its footman or right hand...but Evil itself. Dressed in shreds of tattered hope and faithless seams...it gleefully tap danced in a prime area where innocent people converge....in an area where my family and I frequently stroll..


Nobody had the faintest notion that Evil was in town....We merely view its presence in our glowing plasma screens and internet connections...so remotedly far flung from our little city island air conditioned shopping malls....It wouldn't bother us here...We are too insignificant.

Ah' what small foolish whimpering manner of thinking!....
The flame and fury I wrote off a post down has unmistakably flashed it's toothless blood smeared grin over my city and left death and destruction and fear in all our hearts....

Safe within the confines of my home..I view the swaying leaves of my mango tree...I feel the coolness of the breeze as it alights on my skin...The birds are deep into their own secret conversings....
and to my right..as I chanced upon my screened window...
a glowing pair of strange peering eyes has set its stare on me...

11 comments:

darkfoam said...

i almost don't know what to say. i've lived in Germany where on an almost weekly basis during the 70s the American high school I attended was evacuated due to bomb threats. Turned out it was a student who was calling in those threats. But, the threat of terrorism was real in Germany.
Of course, here in the US we've had 9/11.... but even prior to that terrorism attacks that were homegrown, ex: Oklahoma City ten years or more ago.
Here in the U.S.A schools are trained in how to effectively lock down the schools in case of a threat. we've had these gun shootings ...

i'm sorry this happened so close to you. it's scary..

Guatyen said...

sorry to hear of what happened. tension is everywhere, even in our country, where we can't even blog about it, i no longer read the newspaper nor do i watch tv news, too much negativity and so depressing. i try to focus on more bright and positive side of life, spead a little kindness. did you know my blog title 'metta' means 'loving kindness'? ;P

goodie, you gonna get a kitty? when? wonder how bushy will take it? kiki and chewie are like tom and jerry! they play and tease each other! our laughter theraphy... i'm so glad.

Unknown said...

Evil is ever prevelent. It comes into all of lives and it is up to us to give our souls to this energy or let the feeling of positive forces rule our minds and our thoughts. We have to the choice to let evil things rule us or to learn the lessons that are being taught by this episode in our life and continue on our journey with the lessons we have learned. The fright is real enough but ask the universe to help an then listen for the answer.
Blessing to you

Lady Prism said...

Foam: Oh' believe me..I couldn't find the words to describe what has happened at the time that it did....Sure..we're used to hearing about possible threats but nothing has really been carried out for years and years..We don't really know who the heck did this or why?..

Alison: Somehow there seems to be a general feel of tension..you are right..I wonder why there seems to be so many weird things going on most especially lately...

I'm persuading my hubby that we need the cat..He says cats do nothing...can't bark and are a whole lot hoity toity...We also dunno' hoe Bushy will take it..Hbz said he thinks the dowgie will go soft on the kitty...

Dave: I was thinking of that as well. I mean..do we let evil run ur lives..isn't it that the more hate you give back the greater the energy you give it as well?..I think staying positive will tip the balance somehow...I don't want to live in fear..

Mayden' s Voyage said...

Dear Friend...
I am so sorry- and full of heartache for the dead and injured, and for you- and all the "what-if's" that are floating in your heart.
There is a very real Evil in this world, always lurking--but there is a very real Love as well- and it is greater than Evil.
I hope and pray for Love to be with you and your countrymen in this sad time of destruction and loss.
Love to you friend...so much of it~

Merisi said...

I am so sorry.
Having lived through 9/11 in Washington DC and the dread in the following years, making things like a Metro trip a scary enterprise, thinking in the reading room of the Library of Congress that it would be a perfect tomb while before it always was a sanctuary of books, I empathize with you.
I feel safer here in Vienna now, but even here, people, coming from faraway lands, have been plotting the most dreadful things. They are in jail now, but one never knows when the Hydra is going to rear another one of its hideous heads.

Helene said...

It is scary, and disheartening.

Lucky none of your family was there. I guess all you can really do is be cautious... and go on living. In the end, when its your time, its your time.

I am thinking Blockbuster and Netflicks(do you guys have those movie rental places you can do it in the store or online and they mail the movies)movies and some delivery food sounds good... I think I'd invite all my friends to my safe home and skip the going out for a bit! Party at Luxies!

Marion said...

Here, on Vancouver Island, usually a peaceful, retiring sort of place, we also have Evil, as you describe. But as Mayden wrote...Love is greater than Evil. Evil will skulk away in the presence of Loving Energy sent towards it.

This sounds so naive, but, luxie, I've actually been able to send that loving energy to what I consider Evil, and I have seen it wither.

You have such a positive blog, it sends those loving vibrations farther than you can imagine! Good post, as usual!

X. Dell said...

Your words remind me of what I felt and thought after watching the Twin Towers fall on 9/11. The building was one I spent time in five days a week, and I spent a good deal of time (and money) there. When we finally got the official go-ahead to go back into our offices, I had the grim task of calling around to find out who was still alive, and who wasn't.

I didn't lose any of my informants. But in the office that day, we pulled fourteen files, each representing a life lost in the catastrophe.

That sort of thing is quite rare in the US. I have read that in the Philippines you guys have suffered more of this sort of thing, primarily in the south.

Right now, as you point out on my blog, a lot of things aren't making sense. We'll just have to wait and see where the informatin lies.

In the meantime, my best wishes to you and your family.

Amber Cargile said...

Luxie, my heart is so sad for you. I know how it feels. Like Foam, I lived as an American in Germany. I lived and attended junior high school at Ramstein and remember like yesterday the day our USAFE headquarters, just blocks from my apartment, was bombed. I can still hear the sound and remember the fear that followed. Evil is definitely out there. Good will triumph. I just know it will. One way it will triumph is through the love and connections of the good people around the world like those woh read your blog and are touched by your message. Thoughts and prayers are with you, dear friend.

Lady Prism said...

MAyden: I am banking on love. Hoping that there is enough still to go around to make all hearts heal and move on..Thank you for dropping by.

Merisi: Sooo strange..that all these people who brand themselves under a cause would have the cruelest of intention. Are they still human..I would often ask myself...What made them stoop to the very core of hate?..Lack of love?..dysfunctional family?...But then..life must certainly go on...Thank you for dropping by..

KAte: We have all sorts of film rentals..and the DVD's are up to date so we have a nice collection...We are a family of film aficionados so that's what we often do...I am out of popcorn though..I think I burned the last two bags..wrong microwave timer...

Now that you've mentioned it..I think I'd like to plop on a film..