Bothered

To those of you that do not do the work week after week

Do you not realize that you affect others by your actions ?

For life is not a free ride as you seem to think

Often success is only perhaps 5 % inspiration

Followed by 95% perspiration

That means that the more you put in

The more you get out

Grades are not the only way to mark an education

The other is the contribution to not just to class

We get out of life what we put in

Even when we might not like what is being taught

You never know you might just learn something

If you put the work in

The surprise is that often biting on the Brussel sprout of life

Is not as bad you might think

I write as a struggling student

Who tries week  after week

Often reading things that seem to have very little meaning

But at least I can place my hand up

And contribute with an open honesty

Soon you may have to go out into the world of work

You may find that no matter how cute

Or charming you might be

Others will suss you out

And when they do

Perhaps instead of complaining

Pause and reflect your own input

For by not  doing the work week after week

You affect not just your education

But mine as well

 We really do create our own reality

And as one of the polite masses

I'm tired of you affecting mine

 So to be honest if you cannot be  bothered

Then neither can I with you 

Now I have to go

As next week's reading calls 

I have been working on a book for a long time.
The book is will be called Raki Without the Bollocks, and here is an extract of an idea I'm working on.

Newbie Group

A few years ago I had an idea for a spiritual and paranormal exploration group as it struck me that many people seem to be interested in the whole area but had very little idea where to start.

With the aid of few friends I created a group called the Newbie Group, the concept was explore some aspect of the spiritual or paranormal every fortnight, at first we met in a pub, then as the summer season kicked off we moved to a local wellbeing center.

Most groups or development circles seem to be run by someone with a particular talent, what was unusual about this one was that I had talent or agenda other than providing something that people wanted to participate in. Often this meant calling on the many and diverse skills of my friends to provide a small talk or demonstration each week. The only cost was a small a small one to cover costs, the feeling being that if someone took the group for one meeting, during the next they might learn something from someone else's area of expertise.

 My role during the meetings was to act as a ring master, sometimes asking questions to clarify some point. We always started with a small mediation and ended with one, this to me always seemed to make sense as it ensured that the group was always in the correct space and provided a very definite start and ending to the meeting.   

We were very lucky to have Dr Alan Jones supporting the group from the very start, what Alan provided with his immense understanding of how the mind interprets stimuli was a counter balance to the more mystical aspects of the group. Alan demonstrated that often what we think happened was not what actually what  happened. For  instance  for one of the earliest meetings he provided a  piece of film of a group passing a basket ball among themselves, what he did not tell us that someone dressed in a monkey costume ran through the group and waved at the camera.  Most of the group, and I hate to admit myself included never noticed the person in the costume. Only when told about the man in the costume and shown the film again did the everyone  see the what was clearly on screen for at least 30 seconds. What was very clearly shown that often we only ever see what either what we expect to see, or perhaps what we want to see. The human mind that by its very nature is always slightly behind events creates patterns to allow an understanding of the world around us. So in essence what we think has happened is not what actually happened.

The world that we think is so real and solid is often a construction of our own ideas ..

Wow that is a really deep idea, OK I think we better both take a deep breath and think about that for a moment.

How often are we sure that we see something, but when in fact what we have seen is our  own interpretation of those events. I'm not discrediting the validity of those experiences, just creating a space where we at least allow the possibility of  another understanding of those events. I have met many in not only the 'New Age' world but also in the more general world (to be honest I do not see any difference) that seem to be unable to accept that we are all fallible and that what we understand of the world around us is based on our own personal bias.

For example, if a car was painted down its middle in two different colours, say red and green. Two people on different sides of the car would swear that car was only the one colour. Unless they could walk around the vehicle they would naturally assume that the whole car was the colour that they could see. Apart from being a really unusual way to do a cut and shunt job, what this clearly shows that we can never be truly sure that what we experience is what actually has happened. This does not invalidate the experience, just means that everything is open to more than one interpretation.

I stepped back from running the group after I started at university, I tried to ensure that the group continued, but it taught me that often the best way to make things happen is by having a benign dictatorship. One of the other things running the group taught me was that I could it and did make it work. Some of the egos that that seemed very secure became threatened by the most gentle questioning and this was something that I had remember when Dez Richards asked me to co present on his new radio show.

By our minds very nature what we understand of the worlds is an illusion. But it is one that allows us to function in it, but please do not mistake it for being real. 

One  last term

Like warn out sailors facing one last push

The students drift in ones and twos

Facing the last part of something far greater

Simple words say so much

"How much have you done?"

Always the answer is not enough

Only 6 weeks left and  our world changes for good

The experience has changed many beyond all recognition

Others less so

They used to sent the upper classes to Cambridge to learn to rule

 What has Falmouth  indoctrinated us into?

Not to rule

But maybe to think for ourselves a little more than most

To question and create a new World with things that they have helped unlock

Yes one last push to safety

Once more into the library we go dear friends

Remember those who dropped out

Not everyone found a place

But soon it will be to time to create a new one

After one last push again

 I feel the library beckon   

Reflection

The recent events of the last week have made pause for thought.
People reactions to the death of Margret Thatcher have raised some questions.
Whilst I would never condone the reactions of some, for instance holding parties etc..
It must be remembered that she with her party did split the country, those who loved her and those who hated her.
When she came to power Britain was almost on its knees, being only 8 years old at the time and living in Cornwall I do not remember the rubbish piled high or the dead not being buried, the unions running wild and industry creating badly made products that no one wanted. But if the solution to those problems was the policies that her party ruled the country with for 15 years then was it really worth the cost?
We now have very little skilled working class jobs anymore, once to aspire to be a fitter, welder, printer etc etc would have been an option for those with a working class back ground. You worked as an apprentice for up to 7 years and came out as a skilled person, but you also gained the values of those who taught you.
Within this system based on mutual respect, one of the most positive  aspects was the idea of social responsibility, that the more you have the more you need to put back to help others.

One of the perhaps nastiest legacies of that period is now that seemingly we live in a society where it is right not to care for others, that the idea of social responsibility almost seems dead. Perhaps best shown by the banking system...

When it was suggested by a younger student that all   I'm is an 'arm chair' critic, the question is do they vote?
At the very least and even with a voting system inherently unfair as ours, to vote is at least to give give a right to comment. But if we really ask the question of nature of how politics affects us and what can we do, then all I can answer is that politics affects every aspect of our lives, every choice we make is a reflection of our own individual political perspective.
Compared to the politicians  that we now have at least Margret Thatcher was upfront about what she stood for unlike the faceless lot we now have. It must be remembered that during her reign in power that the only constant within her government was Thatcher herself, every other member of the cabinet changed jobs at least once and as leader she chose her own cabinet, so it could be considered her policies that she and her party implemented during this period.

As a country we knew where we stood, now the blurring of the left and the right has left very little choice. Tony Blair is often considered to Margret Thatchers truest air and of course he was meant to be Labour.
I for one will never be vote Tory and unless Labour finds a back bone again, I would struggle to vote for Labour, for many years I did vote Lib Dem, but I think Nick Glegg has done is best to kill that party with the unholy alliance with the Torys, never again will anyone trust them.

The last election I placed a large black mark through my ballot paper and wrote the words, none of the above, but at least I took the time vote. With the up coming local elections please take the time to vote, then at least you have a right to comment on those issues that affect you on a local level.
The national first past the post system in unfair, but it is in the interests of the main parties not to change this, but again please  take the time to vote, for some vote is better than no vote however unfair the system is.

And if someone makes a comment that you are just an arm chair critic, smile and walk away, for between us we know that really every choice we make is a reflection of our own individual political ideology.

Back to the creative stuff for the next blog,

Alex