To see the things

in the present moment 

is to see all that is now,

all that has been since time began, 

and all that shall be unto the world's end;

for all things are of 

one kind and one form

The author of the above words the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius was killed by a mosquito. 

To gain enlightenment

you must want it 

as much as a man whose head 

is held under water 

wants air 

Anon/ 

Adonis and Pulsatilla

Today's creation, to celebrate the clocks going forward, is a poem of three words: 

Summer

Time 

Flowers

Adonis

Pulsatilla

Summer Time. I enjoy the lie-in. This morning I was up at seven instead of six. 

Here are more photos taken on the training run by the Neusiedlersee on the last day of winter time. I selected this particular area in order to see the flowers and the birds and to stock-up on my pesticide-free red wine!  

22nd March

Heinrich Maier died on the 22nd March 1945.

Heinrich Maier (1908 -1945)

The 22nd March.


Terrorist attacks.

Brussels.

London.

±

Heinrich Maier was a priest.

He was a man of peace.

He lived in Austria.



He was a Doctor of Philosophy.

A Doctor of Theology.

And a teacher.


He was a patriot.

He joined the resistance in 1940.

He was betrayed in 1944.


He was arrested by the Gestapo.

He was tried and convicted.

He was guillotined.


But not silenced.  

His last words are written below.

±

He ascended into Heaven

on 22nd day


of March

1945.

"Long live Christ the King. Long live Austria"

Ancient Chinese Wisdom

There exists in the world a permanent state of war.

This is business as usual.


Tried and tested war tactics can be detected when one knows what one is looking for. Some of these are thousands of years old. And many of them are still in use today. Here are some from China.


Killing with a borrowed sword.

Creating something out of nothing.

Sacrificing plum trees to preserve peach trees.

Raising a corpse from the dead.

Removing firewood from under the pot.

Disturbing water to catch fish.

Playing dumb while remaining smart.

The beauty trap.

Exchanging the role of guest for host.

Sowing discord.

Running away.

Attacking Wei to rescue Zhao.

Resting while the enemy exhausts himself.

The empty fort strategy.

Clamouring in the East, then attacking in the West.

Observing the fires on the opposite shore.

Pretending to follow one path and taking another.

Hiding a dagger behind a smile.

Leading the sheep away.

Stomping on the grass to scare snakes.

Luring tigers out of mountains.

Replacing strong beams with rotten timbers.

Pointing at mulberry trees while cursing locusts.

Removing the enemy's ladders.

Decking the trees with false blossoms.

Inflicting self-injury.

Using chain-stratagems.



The above list is by no means complete and continues to evolve.

"Will it never end?"

The short answer to Heute's question is: It will end when the "Mother of all Parliaments" decides it is time to cross the Rubicon. It may be that with this piece of cowardly terror at the heart of Britain that that time has finally come.

To the Creator all are family

We've come a long way.

Yesterday morning I was watching one of my Italian TV channels. There are 3 to choose from.

I'm trying to teach myself Italian and when I have time I watch 30 minutes of Italian news before or during breakfast.

After the news the screen immediately went blank. When this happens, as it does now and then, a notice appears to tell me that the next programme, usually a sporting event, is not available outside of Italy.

But this time there was no such notice and I wondered if there was something wrong with my television.

After two or three minutes of staring at a blank screen, I checked some other channels. They were all transmitting normally.

And then I saw it. On the information bar which I could access on the functioning channels: the missing programme was about anti-semitism.

Something clicked.

And the euro-cent dropped.

Anti-semitism is a sensitive subject in some countries. Too sensitive to be broadcast, especially if it's a live transmission with a studio audience. I mean somebody could stand up and say the P word.

In Italy the programme was deemed to be suitable for viewing. And that's OK. After all, it's a topical subject, in these times of mass migration.

Here presumably it was deemed not suitable for viewing. Which is not OK.

The censor's cut?

1984?

We're beyond that.

Well beyond it.

We've come a long way.

Of course I may be wrong.

There's always that possibility.

Isn't there?

The Big Red Spot (and the Little Red Spot)

The Big Red Spot 

The massive storm on Jupiter

And the Little Red Spot
On the outstretched wing of the telescope,

Earth's heavenly watchman   Hubble, 
(close observer of the Big Red Spot)

Struck by a micro-
meteorite

No larger than a grain of sand 

A singular impact crater
    .

Two red spots in space. 

Thinking of Andy Warhol

Here's a piece of wood I recently used as a palette for mixing paint and afterwards for cleaning the brushes.

I habitually block-in with surplus  paint. It''s  a fun thing to do.

By the way, I've seen pictures, so-called masterpieces that look a bit like this being seriously offered for sale in art galleries here in Vienna for thousands of euros.

As Andy Warhol famously said: Art is what you can get away with. 

I'm convinced he was right.

Memorable Sunset

 A weather report in the weekend paper informed me that many millions of tons of sand were on the way north from the Sahara. Winds were blowing the sand into the air and it was being carried along at a height of between 5 kms and 7kms above the ground.

It was likely that Sunday's sunset would be memorable.

Five minutes after I'd taken the above photo the sky was a fiery orange. I was in a car and was unable to take a second photo.

With a computer tool I've coloured the photo and created an image that reminds me of how dramatic it was.

Silence is golden?

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil . . . 

Not to speak is to speak 

Not to act is to act" 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer  (1906 Poland - 1945 Germany)

It appears to be the case that Tony Blair wants to go to Syria as some kind of peacemaker and that he has gone to Washington to get his official pass stamped. 

It won't be easy for Blair to undo the multiple Gordian knots. Perhaps impossible. They may have to be cut. But it's a try. 

Here's one end of the string:  Who was behind the Syrian 2011 protest movement? 

A Present from Nepal

My friend was recently in Nepal. He returned with a present.

It's a cheap and cheerful calendar with printed pages to tear off as time passes.

I enjoy the colours, the bold lines, and the light and shade contrasts. I think it's something I will keep and treasure.