Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Power... a one syllable word that has multiple definitions but they all imply strength or force. Every thing has power. It's within all living things. Power is life... it can give or take another life. The battle of power is everywhere from the nucleus of an atom to the black holes of the universe swallowing galaxies.

We hu'mans have power and go to great lengths to hold on to that power whenever we realize what it gives us. Nations that have power shows it's strength in military might, The nation that has the greatest military strength is the most influential of nations, be it for the good or the evil. History is littered with such nations that once had the greatest strength. But power requires more power to maintain the power it has. When power begins losing its source of energy, the power begins waning. Even Nature's power cannot be consistent. Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and whatever else Nature throws at us, the living, is not a constant. The winds will subside, the clouds will empty the waters, the earth will find stability and no longer quake and the lava will spew what it must before it subsides.

Great nations are no different. They will eventually become memories of their own history. But a nation's demise usually is permanent, unlike the power of Nature, which has power without corruption. With nations another will take its place by the same means - the opposing side will have the will and strength to overcome the mighty, becoming the mighty themselves. Power in the hands of hu'mans can be fatal for the same hu'mans. Hu'man power will eventually reach the point of corruption... our hu'man frailty to foolishly defend our national ego at the price of destroying the nation itself. The national ego is falsely called nationalism... that state of affairs where a nation boasts of their past in order to defend their current failures... the larger their inner weaknesses the louder the boasting, the flag-waving, the patriotic songs. When a nation reaches this mind set, they become the prey of another nation that sees the weakness and willfully attacks that weak point.

Some nations declined due to lack of leadership... the father figure that defends and supports the family... doing what he can to provide, not diminish, from the family.. the national unity. When this 'national father' is corrupted by power and neglects the family, it is the family that suffers in health, physical or mental. Then again another nation family can see this weakness and monopolize upon it. It is power corruption that eventually destroys all because of an ego mind that translate power into a gift from a far greater power. - god-given to the holder of power... the foolish belief that their god has chosen them in trust to use the power of a nation for their leader's own benefit.

We homo sapiens, as we call ourselves, give too much credence to our 'thinking' which drives our excesses - lust, greed, sloth, anger, pride, envy and gluttony, confusing our basic goodness, not only as nations but as individuals. Mind is at fault when we allow it to run free and ignore any consequence to our actions. The voice within cannot be heard by our boasting ego at what we've done and what we can do. If these seven excesses are not tempered by the seven opposing virtues: humility, kindness, abstinence, chastity, patience, liberality and diligence, we find our own inner-corruption. The same with our national acts.

We homo sapiens have a responsibility of balance... to keep our sins balanced with our virtues... to not let one side control the other. The equality of both sides diminishes the power of either. We cannot falsely accuse others of those things which we recognize as being within ourselves. To attach or surrender to sin or to virtue is obsessiveness... it requires a fixed mind to fulfill either. Guilt is lessened by the acceptance of both as is our human condition... non-attachment evaporating guilt into the great ethers of being. That is our one true power - non-attachment from all that hinders knowing the Self.


cecil
12 august 2007

thanks for the stream, Cecil!!!
saludos,

Arcadia

The voice within cannot be heard by our boasting ego at what we've done and what we can do. If these seven excesses are not tempered by the seven opposing virtues: humility, kindness, abstinence, chastity, patience, liberality and diligence, we find our own inner-corruption. The same with our national acts.

In a nut shell

Did you see this last saturday?
Masters of Science Fiction
I think it is another twi light zone

The first episode was like someone wrote the script after reading your stream.

Gracias

This is the episode I am refering to. It is called a Clean Escape.
It could have been called an Escape From the Self.
http://www.mastersofscifi.com/site/mast ... scape.html

Teleplay by Emmy Nominee Sam Egan
Based on the short story by Nebula Award Winner John Kessel
Directed by Academy Award Nominee Mark Rydell (For the Boys, On Golden Pond)
Starring Two-time Academy Award Nominee Judy Davis (The Break Up, Marie Antoinette) and Academy Award Nominee Sam Waterston (The Killing Fields, ‘Law & Order’)

A dying Dr. Deanna Evans refuses to believe that her patient, Robert Havelmann, cannot remember the last 25 years of his life. It remains unclear why she has been so obsessed with this particular patient until the final, shocking conclusion.

de nada, arcadia... de nada. gracias a usted!

thx for that info, truck... i missed the 1st episode. didn't even know about it. sounds like a program that i may very much enjoy.

I loved the sunday stream, cecil! thank you!

and thank you, 'truckin, for the link.. I'm looking forward to this show... finally REAL tv, not frickin garbage so-called reality tv.. i haven't watched tv in many years but I will watch this show.. a cross between twilight zone and star trek and night gallery and ... even lost... 21st century style.. just spent an hour watching the clips. I'm impressed! TY!

And as always, cecil, I'm impressed by your column! I surrender. I've been obsessed for years with a fixed mind, watching and reading. I don't reply as often as I should. I'm sorry about that. I have no excuse. Not humility, but I should be more kind, not abstinence because believe me I've been here reading, I appreciate your patience and diligence, and I don't believe you will ever be innerly corrupted. Good take on the national acts, though.

I attempt to remain in balance, peeking in as many times as I can, trying to stay guilt-free. Thanks for accepting me. I'm so damn busy. Much love to you. Thank you again.

Doreen said

finally REAL tv, not frickin garbage so-called reality tv..

I am kind of burned out on the serrials, I just am not compulsive enough to follow them week after week. So when I tune back into one I am so "Lost" in the story I don't care anymore.
This one is fresh every week. A new story.
THe first one I liked better than the second one.
But it was excellent too. There is only one theme that I saw in both shows.
It is a "today" genre of science fiction, not a "tommorow" They both dealt with war and they both had a character that reminded me of "the leader of the free world."


Cecil I would really like to describe that first one to you just to see if you think it relates to your stream but I don't want to spoil it for you. Very interesting character played by Waterman..

Dor', thx so much (from here to there and back! ). i do appreciate you droppin' by and replying. glad that you enjoyed.

truck - ima gonna have ta rememba to watch dat series this saturday. do you tink dey will show da show you talkin' bout agin some-a time soon?

I don't know Cecil
I probably gave too much away already.

I will write it up
let me know if you want to read it.

You know me any old excuse to write.

truck - write it up??? you mean to write up the whole story? that sounds like an ordeal to moi. where would you get the script from?

I meant re tell it in my own inimickackical l style.

But only if you want to read it.

The national ego is falsely called nationalism... that state of affairs where a nation boasts of their past in order to defend their current failures... the larger their inner weaknesses the louder the boasting, the flag-waving, the patriotic songs

I have a letter to the editor i need to write, in response to a guy who spouted about how John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and Joan Baez were aiding and comforting the enemy, and making life harder for the POW's in Hanoi.
think I will incorporate this into the blurb, I should try and pay more attention to the Rio Grande kid.

later, ah, here tiz

Subject: "In defense of a real hero" Aug.15th

A letter writer (In defense of a real hero, Aug 15th) stated that John Kerry "directly caused greater suffering and misery for the POWs" in Hanoi, and that he, Jane Fonda, Ramsey Clark and Joan Baez provided "aid and comfort to the enemy."

One of my AFROTC classmates was a POW in Hanoi. I met him in Vietnam shortly before he got shot down. He told me he "wanted to get into the action."

Those of us who returned home from the war and joined the anti-war movement were not concerned with "aiding the enemy." We wanted our brothers home and we wanted the American people to know that our nation, with mis-directed military power, sufferred from an inner weakness. And it's true today.

J W
© Copyright 2006 St. Petersburg Times.

the punch line from the rio grande
couldn't of said it quite like that before
who knows
it might make the paper
and piss off a few right wingers

jimbo: "...it might make the paper and piss off a few right wingers"

not my intent, jimbo... only an observation worth sharing with anyone, right or left. but thanks for the notice!

Oh not my intent either,
but cracking cosmic eggs is just my job.

jimbo: "cracking cosmic eggs is just my job."

good one, jimbo!