All You Need Is Love?


In the coming week, I will be blogging about two poetry readings I recently attended - at Madison Rose in Lakewood on Wednesday and at Joe Sundae's in Sandusky on Sunday.  But for today I'd like to do something different. 


The following is one of my favorite songs ever.  It's the first song I taught myself how to play on the keyboard, long before I learned to read music.  And its lyrics are, well, like... better heard than described!  

I want to know what you think.  Are the words to this song brilliant and wise?  Or incredibly naïve?



by The Beatles

 
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  • 8/4/2008 11:04 AM smith wrote:
    a bit of hope, a bit of wish, a large dollop of naivete, and a wee bit of truth.
    Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 11:05 AM smith wrote:
    added a comment. it didn't take. so i'm not supposed to say.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 11:26 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Both comments ended up posting somehow...
      Perhaps the forces who wanted it said were stronger than those who did not.

      Reply to this
      1. 8/4/2008 12:02 PM Anonymous wrote:
        I might as well leave another of my poems here since then someone might read it. lol

        NIGHTFALL

        In the light I learned of Hieros Gamos
        A sacred union in an ancient sect
        The goddesses of antiquity
        Danced on the manuscript
        To the tune of Amor Brujo

        The Star of David has two triangles
        One feminine and one masculine
        Intersection and creating
        Points of connectivity
        One on the other

        Venus is the Star of Love
        Mars is the planet of strength
        Sunday is the day of the gods
        Saturnday is my planet
        Moonday is today

        Time is eternal

        What is This Thing Called Love?
        This funny thing called Love?
        Is it Love for Sale? or is it
        I Fall in Love Too Easily?
        Is it really ALL we need?
        Or are we just trying to fuck the pain away?
        Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 11:46 AM Tara wrote:
    I think that the words of this song are brilliant and wise if you consider love in it's broadest interpretation. We all choose to love certain people. But we can choose to love all people, to see some goodness in each person, to have more empathy, more forgiveness. These are components of love. I often ponder the idea that if all of the people in the world had a love of life, all life, even life being lived in ways that an individual may not agree with or understand, the world would be a much better place. It is contrary to human nature to kill and maim those that we love. It is also against human nature to stand by and watch those we love unsheltered, unfed and unclothed. We are all capable of this kind of love. We show it in the wake of disasters on small and grand scales. Now more than ever, we understand how as individuals, communities and nations we are all interconnected. Because of this love has the power to move us to actions that would have a powerful healing effect for all of us.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 9:14 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Love can be defined/interpreted a lot of different ways.  Would you say that love only fails when it is narrowly interpreted?
      Reply to this
      1. 8/5/2008 10:30 AM Tara wrote:
        What a great question. I don't think that love ever fails, even when it is narrowly interpreted. I do think that there are a lot of missed opportunities when love is not allowed to reach it's full potential. I don't think that many would disagree with me that some people are easy to love and others are hard to love. I do believe that everyone has the potential to give and receive great love from many sources. The variable is how willing a person is to risk their heart, open their eyes to suffering, walk a mile in someone else's shoes and realise that we are all wonderfully different but we are all going through this life together. We have that in common. That being said, I think that a person who can love one other person, animal, or pursuit is getting great fulfillment from a love that is closely held and not far reaching. Without that ability, a person's soul is diminished. A big part of being human would be missing.
        Reply to this
        1. 8/5/2008 10:38 AM Tara wrote:
          I also wanted to say that any amount of love has value. Mother Theresa said, "You and I have been crated for greater things. We have not been created just to pass through this life without aim. And that greater aim is to love and be loved."
          Reply to this
          1. 8/5/2008 2:24 PM Elena wrote:
            The greatest thing in life is to love and to be loved in return. I believe this is true. However, one becomes a bit jaded when the only news on the front page is violence, war, crimes, etc. Human nature is and always has had two sides and there is good and evil in all of us. I leave this blog just by saying I hate nobody but I just hate the hatred in others. We all hate war but the past century and this one there has been a war going on somewhere in the world every year. I just wish peace and love to all who wrote comments on this blog.
            Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 11:51 AM Terese wrote:
    Well, I think that love is the most powerful thing in the universe but it works both ways. It can make ya or break ya. So be careful how you bet. I think maybe you need a bit of luck on the side.....
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 9:08 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      e.e. cummings said, "love is the every only god."  Do you think he was right?

      Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 1:22 PM lady wrote:
    Love? Sure - all things spring from keenness of being.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 1:44 PM Rollo May wrote:
      it is in the shift from drive to desire that we see human evolution. We find love as personal. If love were merely a NEED, it would not become personal, and will would not be involved: choices and other aspects of self-conscious freedom would not enter the picture. One would just fulfill the needs. But when sexual love becomes DESIRE, will is involved; ...for human beings, the more powerful need is not for sex per se but for relationship, intimacy, acceptance, and affirmation...
      The polarity which is shown ontologically in the processes of nature is also shown in the human being. Day fades into night and out of darkness day is born again; yin and yang are inseparable and always present in oscillations; my breath expires and I then inspire again. The systole and diastole of my heartbeat echo the polarityh in the universe, it is not mere poetry to say that the beat of the universe, which constitutes its life, is reflected in the beating of the human heart. The continuous rhythm of each movement of existence in the natural universe is reflected in the pulsating blood stream of each human being.

      The fact that love is personal is shown in the love act itself. Man is the only creature who makes love FACE TO FACE who copulate looking at his partner. etc. etc.
      Love and Will

      ALL WE NEED IS LOVE AND WILL.
      Reply to this
    2. 8/4/2008 9:23 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      So much food for thought in your words, Lady...
      And amazing that Rollo May is still sharing his insights from the grave.

      Would you agree that love can be defined as the ultimate "keenness of being"?

      Reply to this
      1. 8/5/2008 7:18 AM lady wrote:
        I think the two terms are equivalent. Love is a kind of ecstasy of reception of the senses.
        Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 1:47 PM Suzette wrote:
    Love has certainly gotten me through quite a few rough patches.

    I wish it were all we needed.

    Hugs,
    Suze

    Love this song!
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 9:28 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Me too, Suze... on all counts.
      Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 4:33 PM Susan wrote:
    It's a brilliant song and a brilliant concept, although in reality we are required to have more 'things" in order to live in today's society. But if you have love, are capable of loving, and of being loved, it makes everything else easier and worthwhile. Yes, it's a bit naive, but that's OK. It's lovely and beautiful and idealistic, and what's wrong with that? I realize that I'm biased when it comes to anything from the Beatles or John Lennon in particular, but I don't care. Love creates a feeling that can't be beat by anything else in this world.

    I am going to continue to search for the goodness in people if I don't see it right away. I do think that most people are good, and if they are not, there is usually a reason why. Sometimes the reason is because they have never known love.

    Love may not be all we need, but it is something that we all should have.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/5/2008 8:04 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Thank you, Susan!

      Here's another Lennon song I like about love:


      Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 5:05 PM Pinky P wrote:
    Sorry but I do find it hopelessly naive on The Beatles' part but think it is a product of the time it was written. The sentiment is certainly a worthy one and fits right in with most of the world's religions.

    But does it really do the world good to spend all your time viewing it through rose-colored glasses? I don't think so. And I don't think there are many people who do always think in terms of loving everyone all the time or even remember to try. (But I could be wrong.)

    And then there is love? Anonymous wondered what it was and I do too because I think that sometimes love can be destructive and unrealistic and painful and unrequited and is only ever true and pure and happily ever after in the romance novels that everyone makes fun of. So if someone out there can give me a good definition of love, I'd be happy to hear it.

    (Sorry, had a rather awful Monday... who was it sang the song that went something like "I don't Like Mondays"? Especially since I've had to bring home another four hours worth of work to do tonight... and the cat's laying on my paperwork!)
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 5:33 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      I've had a fairly crappy Monday, too.  But I'm aware it can always be be worse.   At least I didn't have to either go to work or bring work home with me today.  But that said, everything I've done or tried to do today seems like work. 


      I remember whining in 1991 because I had to serve 3 days in jail for driving while intoxicated.
      In retrospect... I most certainly deserved it, and it largely deterred me from such reckless stupidity in the future (who knows?  might even have saved someone's life).  My whining then seems sadly amusing to me now....  I whined about the three days I deserved - but then later had to serve 11 years I didn't deserve.  Reminds me of when I was a kid and dad told me "Stop crying, or I'll give you something to cry about"... lol.  It's like fate or the universe was playing the role of dad in my case, and carrying through on its threat.

      I'm just talking about myself here though (I've been in a very reflective mood today, despite having very little time to reflect). 

      I appreciate your comment - and everyone else's.  Just stopping in to let folks know I'm grateful for their feedback so far....  And after the final comment (so far) seemed like a good place to chime in.  I'll try to return to give individual responses to everyone later when I have more time.  But please keep your thoughts and opinions coming!

      P.S.  the Boomtown Rats did "I Don't Like Mondays."  Bob Geldof (who played Pink in the movie The Wall) was their lead singer.  Strange... I didn't even realize it's Monday.  My sense of time has not been as crisp lately as it once was.  Weird... since in a larger sense I seem to be more acutely aware of time than ever before.

      Reply to this
      1. 8/4/2008 6:37 PM Pinky P wrote:
        Sorry to whine, didn't realize it came out that way. Hope your day gets better.
        Reply to this
        1. 8/4/2008 7:01 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
          No, Pinky... I didn't mean to imply that you were whining.  I'm sorry it came across like that.  Just meant that I felt like whining...  

          You just happened to be the last in the line of comments at the time, so you received my whining.
          Reply to this
          1. 8/4/2008 8:23 PM Pinky P wrote:
            Whine away, my friend...
            Reply to this
            1. 8/4/2008 9:07 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
              red wine
              Reply to this
              1. 8/5/2008 11:20 PM meribeth wrote:
                is this a UB40 vintage?
                Reply to this
                1. 8/6/2008 7:13 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
                  Yep... a classic!

                  Even though it might seem so last year in light of that fact that now IB41.


                  Reply to this
                  1. 8/6/2008 12:32 PM meribeth wrote:
                    ah, it's just ripening.
                    Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 5:24 PM meribeth wrote:
    love is the easiest and hardest thing in the world to do, especially when you're made for passion in your life, and not everyone is.

    are there really soul mates out there? i think that everyone who touches you in some way is a soul mate.

    is there someone out there, someone who is for you and only you? i think there is for everyone, and we find them over and over again, until we get it right..
    Reply to this
    1. 8/5/2008 8:13 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      You say you think "everyone who touches you in some way is a soul mate."  An interesting idea....
      Could the word soul be defined/interpreted as many different ways as the word love?

      Reply to this
      1. 8/5/2008 9:45 PM meribeth wrote:
        indeed, yes i believe it can. they are both like eskimo's having so many different names for snow. i believe that a person's soul is their very essence, but there are also other ways of looking at it. i believe that a lot of my friends and i are soul sisters and brothers. then there's the way to use the word soul as it's used in the song soul man. those are just off the top of my getting sleepy head right now.

        there are so many different kinds of love. being in love with a mate is different than loving your parents say, even though can also be described as being in love.

        i frequently think that loving someone is much easier than liking someone. there have been times in my past where i loved my brother for instance, but didn't always like him. truly liking someone can be a very difficult thing to do on occasion, and i think it runs in cycles with those we love more than the actual love does.

        i keep thinking about the ending of this song, where lennon starts singing she loves you (i'm trying out the tags for italics and hope they work for me this time).

        " She said you hurt her so
        She almost lost her mind.
        But now she said she knows
        You're not the hurting kind."

        ties in, to me with:

        "Nothing you can know that isn't known.
        Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
        Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
        It's easy."

        and, in my strange, roundabout rambling way, this all leads me back to what i got from the last poem you posted, "is rain or rhyme the greater crime". how we see ourselves and how we see others.

        and i'm typing out loud again...
        Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 6:38 PM Edwinna wrote:
    The song is brilliant. I believe love is all that really matters.
    Pinky P said that "sometimes love can be destructive and unrealistic and painful." It can be if you aren't honest with yourself or forthright about your intentions. Love, in and of itself, is true and pure. It is when we place our personal expectations on love, that we experience disappointment. Love is not responsible for our pain and suffering, our own unrealistic ideas of what love should afford us, is the cause of so much sorrow.

    I'm sorry about your Monday Pinky P., but if you had only looked right in front of you, your cat was offeing you exactly what you are looking for. Comfort and unconditional love.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 6:46 PM meribeth wrote:
      cats are funny that way. they almost always seem to sense when they're needed the most.
      Reply to this
      1. 8/4/2008 7:03 PM Susan wrote:
        Yes, cats are wonderful people!!

        I guess I am one of those rose colored glasses wearing people, and I know that not everyone is good and not everything is perfect, but I want to believe...that it can be pretty darn good. I have bad days too and am having one right now, but I know everything can change in a second and it can always be worse or it can always be better. I have hope and I have faith in myself and most other people. I know that things will turn out alright..well, OK, I don't "know" but I think so. I am pretty certain that I've "found" the person who compliments me and though no one can complete another person, there are some who can resonate with you and make you want to be better as a human. I have that right now and thankful for it. I love all the different viewpoints..that's one aspect of what love it...accepting and being accepted for whomever you are.
        Reply to this
        1. 8/4/2008 8:22 PM Pinky P wrote:
          Cats are indeed wonderful people and both of mine had given me many loving doses of unconditional affection tonight.

          I am so glad that there are those like you in the world who wear rose-colored glasses to remind the melancholics like me that not all of life is doom and gloom. I went from watching "All You Need Is Love" to watching a YouTube of the Rolling Stones' "Paint In Black" of Soliders in Iraq... talk about gloom.

          And I agree, Edwinna, that love is easiest when it is unconditional like my cats have for me and I have for them. If only everyone couldn't love each other as unconditionally as our pets love us...
          Reply to this
        2. 8/5/2008 12:06 AM Susan wrote:
          LoL. I meant complement, not compliment, although he does that too. But I don't mean to say that he completes me as a person, but we complete each other as a couple. I love it when I'm human like that! LOL!
          Reply to this
          1. 8/5/2008 5:11 AM Elena wrote:
            I conclude after reading all the comments that the truth is that we are in love with love. All we need is love is a lovely sentiment but do we really know the objects of our affection? Make nice to me please and I will love you. But slap me and I won't turn the other cheek I will hate you. Love your neighbor as yourself. But do we really love ourselves? Love your enemies? That is an unrealistic thought, isn't it? I wonder if all you lovers love Bush? I don't think so. But if anyone needs love from us it has to be our leaders. Do you love your country. Many are beginning to hate it. So, yes, all we need is love, love is all we need. But needing is not having it is lacking. If you have love you don't need it you have it. So that is my final statement on love. And please don't ask me if my cats love me. They are cats. I don't love them unconditionally because they sometimes pee and shit outside of their litter box or have hairballs and I have to clean it up. Do I love them when they do this? Not really, and not unconditionally.
            Reply to this
            1. 8/6/2008 8:15 AM Pinky P wrote:
              Oh, I love my cats unconditionally but can still get pissed at them when they crap on the floor or snag the hell out of my shower curtain which is their latest greatest trick. Because I know they are following their nature and are not doing it to be malicious or mean. They are just being cats--or dogs or ferrets or llamas or snakes or whatever...

              Can't say that for people and maybe that's why it's so hard to love them... you can never know the other's real motives.
              Reply to this
              1. 8/6/2008 12:25 PM Elena wrote:
                I think the dilemma we face is the failure to understand the real meaning of love and will. What, indeed, is unconditional about any kind of love, or hate for that matter. Everything changes, there are always conditions that make things change.
                Why do 50% of marriages end in divorce?
                What does this do to our children? Sure we need love but is that ALL WE NEED? We need to understand, appreciate, feel from our hearts and have a lot of patience for any kind of love to be given reciprocally. That is where WILL comes in. We wish for things like love but it takes a lot of determination and will to make it work. A genie doesn't pop out of a bottle and make your needs or wishes come true. I like what Smith said on the very first comment...a bit of hope, a bit of wish, a large dollop of naivete, and a wee bit of truth. I would add this: and a large amount of will to have what we need.
                Reply to this
                1. 8/6/2008 12:36 PM Elena wrote:
                  And then there is flexibility. The latest sermon for some of you who read the Minister of the Church of Crisis's blog is about inflexibility. One must learn to bend over backward and be flexible with others or there is NO love nor reciprocation. None of us are totally lovable, are we? We all have our faults. our differences and our needs. Inflexibility to me means to be stuck in the glue of one's life and never find a way to get free. If you want to know someone read their poetry or their writings and there is a lot of that on My Space, especially with the chosen few most bloggers. lol
                  Reply to this
                  1. 8/6/2008 7:35 PM Elena wrote:
                    Hey, Meribeth...I think it is already over ripened.
                    We all see what we wanna see and we be what we wanna be. We is all deceived from time to time, not only in love but in life. That's why people sing the blues. There are poignant feelings and promises that haven't been kept. My favorite Beatles song is Yesterday. That one was the first I learned to play on the piano.
                    Reply to this
                    1. 8/6/2008 10:03 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
                      I've only just begun to ripen.

                      Reply to this
                      1. 8/7/2008 8:01 AM Elena wrote:
                        Are you ripening unconditionally?
                        Reply to this
                        1. 8/7/2008 9:35 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
                          Is anything unconditional?
                          Reply to this
    2. 8/5/2008 8:29 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Thank you, Edwinna - and everyone else who's responded.  Cat people are cool.  We're kinda cat people without the cats, since my wife learned a year or two ago that she's allergic to them.  Lately we've become dog people, too.  We have three.  So now every night with us is a Three Dog Night.


      This song might have nothing to do with the discussion, but it started playing in my head when I read everyone's cat remarks.  "Cat People" by David Bowie....




      Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 8:04 PM Chris Brooks wrote:
    I read everyones comments and have a lot of thoughts on the topic and want to chime in... but not feeling up to it today.... I'll be back at a later time...
    Reply to this
    1. 8/4/2008 9:26 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Looking forward to it....
      Describes how I felt when I read your recent blog, which I still want to revisit.
      Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 8:54 PM The Minister-Church of Crisis wrote:
    Not that it's a bad thing! But, I think it's interesting that the focus is always upon the chorus of "all you need is love, love is all you need", when there are other affirming messages in the song's lyrics... "nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time" and "nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be"... nuggets of truth and positivity. Of course, love is indeed the thing that ties it all together.... When asked to come up iwth a song containing a simple message to be understood by all nationalities, Lennon wrote this song. When asked if songs like his "Give Peace A Chance" and "Power To The People" were propaganda songs, he answered "Sure. So was 'All You Need Is Love'. I'm a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change." This song seems to celebrate change and acceptance and empowerment, along with the beautiful and repetitive insistance that "love is all you need". Naive? I don't think so. Brilliant... absolutely. And wise... oh, yes.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/5/2008 9:11 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Thank you, Minister!  I realize that my title might have suggested that I was primarily interested in whether "love is all you need."  And I am very interested in that.  But I'm also very interested in the other lyrics.  "There's nothing you can do that can't be done," "no one you can save that can't be saved," et cetera....  There's so much to mull over in these lyrics.  And I'm glad you pointed that out.  We'd probably need a whole blog (or book... or library of books) to do each line justice.

      Reply to this
  • 8/4/2008 9:38 PM Rollo May wrote:
    e.e.cummings is a poet. I am an existentialist psychologist. If love is god ...the microcosm of our consciousness is where the microcosm of the universe is known. It is the fearful joy, the blessing, and the curse of man that he can be conscious of himself and his world.
    For consciousness surprises the meaning in our otherwise absurd (note that word)
    acts. Eros ,infusing the whole, beckons us with its power with the promise that it may become our power. And the daimonic--that often nettlelike voice which is at the same time our creative power--leads us into life it we do not kill these daimonic experiences but accept them with a sense of the preciousness of what we are and what life is. intentionality, itself consisting of the deepest awareness of one's self, is our means of putting the meaning surprised by consciousnes into action.
    ...
    History--that selective treasure house of the past which each age bequeaths to those who follow--has formed us in the present so that we may embrace the future.

    For in every act of love and will--and in the long run they are both present in each genuine act--we mold ourselves and our world simultaneously. This is what it means to embrace the future.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/5/2008 7:50 AM lady wrote:
      I like this, but do we know for sure that the common characteristic of man is really consciousness? Seems our big battles are with obliviousness of the consequences of our actions that we perpetrate on the Earth & each other. Animals seem much more 'in the moment' than I. If consciousness = thought, Perhaps consciousness is just a diversion, a tool from which we estrange our species from the world. If I am thinking, am I seeing? Or am I laying my template on the land. Do I make everything a symbol of my story? Or do I recognize quotidian differences as unique & precious. Maybe consciousness & being work against each other. (Just being the devil's advocate.) Or maybe thought is a nest I weave from strands of collected perspective. Maybe it transcends being 'in the moment.'

      History: certainly I believe in a physical universe, but I'm not sure I believe in continuous universal mind. I don't know, I don't know. History is that into which we're thrown through via chain of consequence. My wish is that there is some a priori part to thought, a genie within who hasn't arisen from the yoke of consequence. I used to think that man was ever progressing, but in reality man is just a blight. Maybe man on the whole is not part of universal mind.

      Thinking about my own intentionality - my self-consciousness when performing actions is a kind of reflection of mirrors. I get a kind of vertigo of worry - am I being "authentic" if I'm not responding "in the moment" but actually according to an agenda of intent?

      I'm jaded about future in the context of man.

      Not meaning to be combative. This is just how I think. I'm ever proposing concepts in my head and tearing them down.
      Reply to this
      1. 8/5/2008 8:52 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
        Through school and upbringing I learned to believe that mankind was constantly progressing.  It seems so true - based on technological advances (from my transistor radio to Super-8 8-track tape player to cassettes, then CDs then Laser Disks....) and philosophical advances.

        But I think that along with our progressing creativity has come a progressing destructiveness.  In the early 1900s we smugly thought we'd come so far from the days of Crusades, plagues and burning witches.  Then came concentration camps, atomic bombs, newer, dealier diseases, Stalin, Pol Pot, Darfur, George W. Bush, and the current environmental crisis.

        Maybe we WERE progressing for a long time.  But just like a baby "evolves" into a full grown man, a full grown man "devolves" into an eventual corpse.  This is nature - the natural course for not only all physical beings, but perhaps all species, all planets, all nations....  America won't last forever anymore than the Roman empire did.  Mankind won't keep progressing forever anymore than the dinosaurs did.  Who knows?  Is it possible that "Consciousness" is the full grown man who must devolve as he has E-volved?

        Then again, maybe I'm looking at things narrowly by calling it a "devolution."  Maybe it's just another form of progression - a way to fertilize the earth for a higher form of being, capable of higher "consciousness."  I know I'm way out there with this train of thought - perhaps ridiculously so.  I'm just brainstorming.  But is it possible?

        And if it is possible, how can we factor love into the equation?  What role does it (or should it) play?
        Reply to this
        1. 8/5/2008 10:27 AM charlax wrote:
          http://poetrypoem.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?poemnumber=894573&sitename=charlax&password=&poemoffset=0&displaypoem=t&item=poetry
          this LINK takes you to a poem and a UTUBE is on the poem and ITS a BEATLES song yes JOHN good luck in COURT and listen eye got beat up and broke a tooth its always something more can go wrong sorry yew
          Reply to this
          1. 8/5/2008 10:38 AM charlaxcharlesrhice wrote:
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-4t9drUlM

            eye just noticed this utube has other videos on it look at the menu on th ebottom
            Reply to this
        2. 8/6/2008 6:51 AM lady wrote:
          Love is the only thing that compensates for the futility of our efforts in the world. I was trying to die & then Smith saved my life, gave me faith, gave me reason to create.

          We covet our techno baubles like so many rosary beads, praying to progress.

          I think the mainstream narrative of history as an ideological progression so much koolaid & positional pomp. While talking about the rights of men, the revered fathers of the country had slaves. Just as today, when we call this country a democracy (it isn't) and when people in other countries dare self determination we try to steer them to use leaders who are amenable to our financial goals. I just don't see any progress, just words to obscure & blur and ways to incur more murder. We've bombed fifty countries since WWII. Our progress? More chemicals and gadgets that kill.

          Philosophical traction? Maybe. There's greater literacy & ability for interaction & expression via the Net. I don't trust traction from universities - rather than bastions to preserve & extend knowledge, I see them as obstructionists.
          Reply to this
        3. 8/6/2008 8:04 AM Pinky P wrote:
          Love... there's that slippery word again. You know that Truman's justification for the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima (63rd anniversary today) was the saving of a million of American GI lives, right? He and all those GI's mothers would have justified that as love of family and country even though it certainly was not a love of humanity at all. But then every conflict from a schoolyard shoving match to 9/11 becomes a matter of power--I hate clichés but they work sometimes--it's either "turn the other cheek" and die or beat the snot out of the other guy and kill him (hmm, just assumed the combatants were male)...

          From what I've read of history, the idea of "progress" is an invention of the industrial revolution (no pun intended!) Prior to that people were quite happy to live in their static little world of filth and prejudice and hand-copied Latin texts that only priests could read.

          But I think what really accelerated our notion of progress was advertising! Yep, progress is the next newest greatest refrigerator or TV set or H-bomb! Think of those great corny commercials you see in documentaries of the 50's where they show off the house of the future and it's all about things. (If you haven't seen it, you should see if you can find a great documentary from the mid-80's called "The Atomic Café." It's all about the culture of the 40's and 50's and how the period was affected but the arms race and atomic/nuclear testing--very chilling!)

          Anyway, I've gotten off topic. I think that if we can get beyond all our things--and remember that part of the problem with the world today is that the vast majority of the problems with the world is everyone else doesn't have our things and wants them--and think with our hearts about the world and everyone and everything in it, we wouldn't be worried about progress or about who wins or who loses but who's fed and who's healthy and who's not forced to prostitute themselves or their children or who's not destroying their environment or killing their neighbor because they don't believe the same thing, etc.

          Maybe love is being willing to understand or open enough to accept a difference between peoples or thoughts or feelings. I'm still trying to figure out what "it" is... love, I mean.
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  • 8/5/2008 5:46 PM Chris Brooks wrote:
    “There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
    Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
    Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.”


    It’s taken me a bit of thought to come back here and express what I want to say….

    You ask, “are the words to the Beatles’ song brilliant and wise? Or incredibly naïve?“

    I guess I would have to answer maybe not brilliant or naïve, but definitely wise. I guess the reason I say that, is that often the simplest truths in life are the most profound… and love is one of those truths. My own opinion.
    I was trying to think about how to share the ideas I shared on my blog about love and creativity but not use the Taoist allusions that I used from the I-Ching. I’m not sure I can do that but I’ll try.
    As a result, it’s taken me a bit of thought to come back and try to do that.
    I think the first three lines I excerpted from the lyrics express a little of the idea I’d like to convey that love means to me. That everything in life is touched by love, or can be. Everything can be solved with love, if you choose it to be. And every action in life is an expression of some degree or another of love whether we know it or not. Love is the glue that holds everything in the Universe together… In the I-Ching as I said it is referred to as the “power or the Creative and the Receptive”… the two ways it can manifest in the world. Simply said, the giving and receiving of love…. something very simple at its root… but with far reaching consequences if you really look at it.

    Anyway…. I could say more.. because it’s something I’ve given a lot of thought to, but this is your blog not mine. And if I wish to elaborate.. I can do it on my own page not taking room up on yours. But I think I shared enough of it in a simple way to express a little of what I think.
    Anyway, those are a few of my thoughts. Love is a bright spot in the Universe…. it make all else worth while.
    Reply to this
    1. 8/5/2008 9:46 PM Chris Brooks wrote:
      realized I should have said allusions not illusions.... hope you can fix that or I look like a bit of a prat...
      Reply to this
  • 8/30/2008 7:04 AM keijo wrote:
    SO much pain and tears and hate from anothers religion around the world , see in the Indiens the believer how they are attacker from hateful men and how theys church they will destroy and kill the christian and cast out from the landet,let us fight for them and pray and pray and take care,thanks and bless and love and pretect to them in Christ and evil must resist out,thanks and bless and hope,keijo sweden
    Reply to this
    1. 8/30/2008 7:40 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Thank you, Keijo!

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