Mindfulness and Serendipity – From the Travel diaries.

 

Journeying into the unknown, assuming the mental state of adventure and serendipity, can present the most interesting results. 

 All too often we are bogged down (without realizing it) in our day-to-day routines: bed by 9:30, rise at 6:30, drink coffee and take one’s vitamins; drive to work seeing the same people on the road because they leave at the same time you do; work hard and drive home, seeing the same morning drivers; drink the happy hour cocktail and eat dinner at the same time you’ve eaten for many years; back to bed, read and beg for sex but you know every Saturday night is a sure thing and has been a sure thing in your marriage for the last twenty years. Rise in the morning at 6:30 and…you get the point. 
 
Breaking the chain of habits is a difficult thing to do. For some, it can be almost physically painful because change of any kind means death. 
 
Many, including myself, find routine a type of security blanket, no surprises, and no sudden changes, just more of the same equal comfort. But is this so-called “comfort place” the place you really want to be in? 
 
Similar to the man who has the proverbial paper bag over his head, does not know the difference because he knows nothing else. For many, it takes courage to change and sometimes a tremendous amount of effort. 
 
Then, of course, life throws you a curve ball, change is thrust upon you without mercy, and there’s no choice; you must change and adapt. Some never recover and withdraw further into their self-created caves of desperate solitude. The again, some have the stamina to meet change head-on, like Jacob wrestling the angel. Life is designed to be engaged with, getting one’s hands dirty, so speaking, otherwise what’s the point? 
 
The reason I brought this topic up is my experience this morning. My friend and I decided to go to a different shopping center than the usual one to do a little clothes shopping. I bought a few items and then decided to have lunch. Rather than our places of secure habits, we decided to drive in the opposite direction, heading towards the countryside. We continued to drive admiring the landscape - olive groves and wineries abounded. 
 
Only about 15 miles from where we started, we came across a local pub. Walking into the place reminded me of the country's bars in mid-west America. It was if we transported back in time to circa 1970; live Blues music filled the air from an old guy on the stage who sounded like the country music and Blues artists of the fifties and sixties. He played that guitar like a third arm and had the perfect gravelly voice that gave his music an authentic quality like we were hearing the real thing…and we were. 
 
The lady tending bar, a middle-aged ex-hippy, suggested we try the local wine and set two glasses on the bar. Wow, it had to be the best tasting Cabernet I’ve had in many years. Her smile would melt the hardest of people, and you simply felt welcome. 
 
Our meals were excellent for a meagre price, and the wine alone, worth the trip. 
 
Although the sound of the Blues filled the air, everyone looked to be very happy, eating and drinking, enjoying the sunshine in the leafy open area out of the back. 

Unfortunately, it was time to go because of our habitual obligations and our daily routines. 
 
Returning to our “normal” lives, surprisingly, was not a let-down because we had journeyed forth into the unknown, breaking with the humdrum, thus feeling re-energized, more positive about the world in general. 
 
Change can be rewarding and necessary to merely stay awake and appreciate what one has and what one is mindful of the moment. 

The Sadistic Torture of the Innocent – When Enough is Enough.

 

The latest report of a Palestinian baby tortured with cigarette burns and nails to his feet by an Israeli IDF solider confirms my long-held view that the State of Israel have crossed all moral and ethical lines. These people brag about rape and torture and continue to engage in perverted and cruel acts posting their atrocities online for the world to see. Their smugness and deluded pride for committing these acts of pure evil only adds to their vileness. Evidently, it is said, that there is no consequence for these acts because these morons believe they are “God’s Chosen People”, and anything they do is God’s Will. These people are not God’s people but agents of the deity Baal and the fallen Satan. From a spiritual perspective, there is no other explanation. From a political point of view, this is nothing other than pure fascism. 

Israel is a 70-year-old construct created by Satan worshiping ethno-supremacists, an elite group of wealthy, sexually perverted freaks who are in love with war and chaos. Over these 70 years, they have managed to brainwash 2 generations into believing the only good Palestinian is a dead one. These evil idiots even have a policy called “mowing the grass” where bombing Gaza consistently over time is necessary to keep the population at a manageable level. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has committed a genocide on the Palestinian people while our so-called western Christian world has supported it. Currently they have waged war on Iran, Lebanon, and the world hasn’t begun the feel the repercussions economically or otherwise. 

To be sure, I’m disgusted with the Australian government who are in bed with the Zionists. Our PM is a simple and spinless little man who follows orders from Tel Aviv and Washington DC. The man has as much knowledge of geopolitics as a 9th grade history student. 

To justify the mass murder of a people and the illegal settlement of said people’s land based on an interpretation on the Old Testament of the Bible, is absurd. We had what is called ‘The Enlightenment’ in the 18th century where Reason and rationality replaced religious superstition and religious oppression. The founding fathers of the US emphasized the necessity of the separation of Church and State for the fledging Republic to survive. Viewing the current US administration, Thomas Jefferson would be turning in his grave. It seems our leaders have cast their minds back to medieval times starting ‘holy wars’ on behalf of God. I can’t state emphatically enough how stupid invoking religion to justify the mass murder of innocents. It’s wrong, a ploy, and it is evil.

We have observed Israel commit genocide, bombing hospitals, schools, destroying defenseless tent cities, shooting into Palestinian crowds attempting to attain food, imprisoning doctors and children; assassinating more journalists on a grand scale than has been seen in our lifetimes; intentional murder of children with gunshots to their heads, and now the latest is an IDF solider torturing a 18 month year baby with cigarette burns and nails. Yet, the western Zionists continue to commit these atrocities without consequence. Our western so-called democratic leaders either ignore these war crimes or respond with cliched platitudes. This is not to mention the pro genocide idiots on the internet denying the genocide and calling Israel’s atrocities as “fake news”.  

When the US and Israel started this war with Iran, the first cab off the rank was the bombing of an Iranian girl’s school murdering over 160 children under the age of 13. This is pathetic. I wrote about this war crime a day after it happened when the US denied the murders, for it to be consequently confirmed by the world. Again, no consequences, and only those with a sense of basic morality made their disapprovals known on social media. 

What is disturbing for many is our leadership are ignoring these war crimes and seemingly giving their stamp of approval. Our legacy media are fueling constant lies about this war and ignoring the actual crimes against humanity. 

This is not a war of defense; it is a war of aggression and territorial expansion. For Iran, however, this war is about defense and basic survival.

And again, criticizing Israel and the Zionist political ideology is not antisemitic, this has nothing to with Judaic religious tradition. 

When they begin torturing infants for military and/or sadistic purposes, it’s time for all humanity to stand up and say enough. 

I’m afraid that is all we can do.