Thank God. After a year of fractious Parliamentary behaviour, scandal and something like ten non-confidence motions, Parliament finally passed Bill C-38 and gay marriage is finally legal nationwide in Canada. Of course it has been legal for two years now in what has become seven provinces and one territory. That inevitability however did not seem to dissuade the opposition. The opponents of gay marriage continually made the point that legalizing the same would result in a denial of rights for straight marriages. No one, not my MP John Reynolds nor anyone I ever asked about this could point out how …
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An integral look at the world has us noticing both the external nature of things and the corresponding interiors. Ken Wilber says this repeatedly and with much hubris. Henry David Thoreau says it better: There are meteorologists, but who keeps a record of the fairer sunsets? While men are recording the direction of the wind, they neglect to record the beauty of the sunset or the rainbow.
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From Through The Prism of Human Collectivity by Huck Gutman: “As I walked, I passed a dry cleaner�s shop. At its front, immediately behind a large plate glass window, was a man ironing a shirt. I stopped and watched…He ironed, and I watched. And watched. He ironed one shirt, then a second. There was a defined progression for each shirt. First, he sprayed the shirt lightly with water to dampen it. Then, as he ironed each successive portion of the shirt he sprayed on a light dose of starch to make the fabric stiffer. He proceeded to iron the collar, …
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I have always loved Erik Satie. The French composer wrote beautiful modern music, tying much of his creativity to the explosion in avant garde modes of expression sweeping Europe in the early part of the last century. This piece is called “Gnossiennes No. 1.” and the score has little verbal instructions for the pianist that are intended to guide one’s approach to the music: “Shining”, “Questioning”, “From the tip of the thought”, “Wonder about yourself”, “Step by step”, “On the tip of the tongue.” Taken together, this short piece captures the process of the emergence and expression of a thought …
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Interesting stuff…Rykodisk has released a podcast (mp3) of Brian Eno talking about his new album, Another Day on Earth. The interview is accompanied by a rather nice little ten minute mix of most of the tracks from that album, all of which are songs. Some of the transitions are a little rough, but there is a nice overall feel. The album sounds great. You can see all the lyrics here. My favourite section is from “Caught Between” which captures some of the sense of what it’s like to facilitate a learning process with a group: Reaching out To still the …