2008 October (|_| Drink Deeply |

Halloween is an opportunity waiting to be seized; not only to let our imaginations run free but as a meeting of minds. Originally celebrating summer’s end, over time — as holidays are wont to do — it got hijacked became more. Having long been a festival of the dead & now the lead-in to All Saints’ Day & All Souls’ Day, those whose Eve this is are a hallowed bunch. Always a celebration of spirits, as cultures merged, it also became spiritual. It’s marvelous mesh of ancient & religious traditions dates back to the pre-Christian Celtic calendar since its year ended on 31 October, the eve of Samhain (pronounced SOWin); celebrated with religious & harvest rites together. Samhain is also the name for November in the modern Scots Gaelic and Irish languages.

Consistently a time to celebrate harvest & honor the dead, All Hallows’ Eve is also about the protection of the living. For many, this night is a time to face fears, literal as well as figurative, & we’ll never make the most of these mortal lives without that willingness. Many who are more conservative in their beliefs cite religion as cause to ban or boycott Halloween but even Christmas & Easter have each been banned for religious reasons. When we recognize Religion as the human construct with which we grapple huge Truths, its varied forms & extreme fallibility make sense if still maddening saddening. Any exploration of truth should have no — & needs no — boundaries. I do believe in an ultimate Truth but that very belief dictates more possibilities encompassed by such an origin than we can imagine.

Like anything, this holiday’s what you make it thus its traditions should be afforded respect & understood rather than feared. Celebrating strictly from an occult perspective is dangerous, given the forces at play, but intention comes into play too. Trying to eliminate or avoid any occult associations becomes equally dangerous by ignoring very real powers that be & peddling fear. We’re creatures that require balance, living in a world striving to maintain that balance so it’s extremes we ought to be wary of. The more I understand of God, the less I find it possible to fear anything. A foundation of faith needs to foster appreciation for all we humans have wrought not to mention all that exists beyond us.

True to the spirit of this holiday, El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) represents a mixture of Christian devotion with Pre-Hispanic traditions & beliefs. The result of Catholic Spaniards & the native Aztecs in what has since become Mexico influencing each other, it continues to incorporate other cultures. Every culture in its own time & distinct fashion has come to understand Truth. Whenever we try to segregate those truths or traditions, we lose much of what it truly means to be part of the human race. We are all one & most dynamic when our traditions are kept alive — in a phenomenal, thought-provoking, life- (& death-) honoring mix.

May we enjoy this hallowed eve, appreciate everyone’s pursuit of holiness & proudly honor the dead with respect for each other, our cultures & an openness to other traditions insofar as it affords us all
a Hell of a good time.

(|_|*Happy Hallowe’en*|_|)
“One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.”
~ Emily Dickinson ~

PS: Now that I’ve tricked you into thinking, here are a few treats..

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Perspectives have been written, definitions offered & statistics studied yet, amidst it all, two things hold true; poverty is more widespread than people realize & there, but for any moment’s given grace, go all. We’ve all suffered setbacks, perhaps even encountered a chain reaction of them & our successes are as attributable to us as made possible by circumstance. Although our individual brands of success aren’t just the luck of the draw, each draw plays its part.

“In a country well governed,
poverty is something to be ashamed of.
In a country badly governed,
wealth is something to be ashamed of.”
~ Confucius ~

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature,
but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
~ Charles Darwin ~

Location, location, location. As with any money-making endeavor, it plays a huge role. Locale not only impacts our solvency but changes the scale on which it’s measured. Due to living in the United States, there’s a level of poverty I’ll never know for even homelessness here is not without clean water & the refuse of the wasteful. In turn, what money we manage to make does surprisingly little in this ridiculously (if falsely) rich country of mine.

“We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition.”
~ William James ~

“You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life
and your reward will be that you will eat,
but you will not live.”
~ George Bernard Shaw ~

When inherent value is ascribed to a place, its people are valued accordingly. The resulting range of presumption leading to prejudice cuts both ways. RhodesTer & I are oft assumed better off then we are, based solely on where we live. Devaluing areas like New Orleans & so-called third world countries which are all amazingly rich in culture is equally backwards. Whether living someplace you can scarcely afford or where survival is scarcely affordable, benefits do exist but are never financial.

“Poverty is no disgrace to a man,
but it is confoundedly inconvenient.”
~ Sydney Smith, ‘His Wit and Wisdom’ ~

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty,
nor weakness weakness.”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

“You can turn painful situations around through laughter.
If you can find humor in anything,
even poverty, you can survive it.”
~ Bill Cosby ~

Riches that aren’t monetary need greater priority, not only in seeking them for ourselves but ensuring them for all. It’s possible that love, self-worth & fulfillment aren’t rights but we can’t truly live without them. By recognizing those as the worthy goals & true measurements of success, we’ll better understand how to foster survival for all people in all circumstances. In both our own lives & the aid we hope to give, it’s the small acts that sow magnificent change.

“Empty pockets never held anyone back.
Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”
~ Norman Vincent Peale ~

“The poor man is not he who is without a cent,
but he who is without a dream.”
~ Harry Kemp ~

“Who, being loved, is poor?”
~ Oscar Wilde ~

Poverty is never a lack of things but is any lack of sustainability. Each accomplishment matters & every gift makes a difference yet they must be part of a greater good to have a lasting impact. Although still [monetarily] poor, my hunny & I are defeating various forms of poverty. From spending what little we have on healthier food to not spending what little we have on a bed when we also need a sofa, our choices may not readily change our circumstances but do improve our chances.

“My poverty is not complete: it lacks me.”
~ Antonio Porchia, ‘Voces’ ~

“Poor and content is rich, and rich enough.”
~ William Shakespeare ~

“They say it is better to be poor and happy
than rich and miserable,
but how about a compromise
like moderately rich and just moody?”
~ Princess Diana ~

As a people, the populace of this planet, we’re called upon to take this crazy ride called life together. Look beyond circumstances without ignoring difficulties to see people for who they are & understand their needs simply are. In recognizing our own blessings, regardless of the trappings, we can’t help but want to enrich any other life we can. The miraculous thing is that there’s not a life we can’t touch & we already affect more lives than we realize. Let’s invest in each other’s wealth of being.

“The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other.
It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity,
but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied…but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing.”
~ John Berger ~

(|_|*cheers*|_|)
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it:
do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

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