your guardian response to Dawkins

Dear Stephen Unwin,

1. Dawkins is more than able to look after himself. Nevertheless: it's not true that (in his book) he"comes down firmly on the side of certainty" (that there is no god) . He admits the possibility , but passionately and caringly opposes the imposition of obscurantism and sectarianism and above all fear on children. Myself I'm impressed by my understanding of Ockham's Razor: we have no hope of discovering any order there may be (and indeed is) in it all if we allow needless concepts into our reasoning: they are legion. Only therefore accept god if you have to.

2. My complaint against Dawkins is however not dissimilar : his polemical stridency , even when in response to that of others, will only intensify division - and division is what bedevils our species beyond all else. And now when we both can (in the global village) and need (in an ecological collapse) to unite for the common good, it behoves us to think again. Dawkins seems quite ignorant of the nature of redemptive empathy. The fearsome dogmatists who preach a heavenly eternity for their martyrs or a hellish ditto for their opponents are surely trapped (more blatantly but not essentially differently to the rest of us) in prisons of the mind. To release them one has to enhjoy wide understanding, and visit their prisons and appreciate their logic - and its place in the logic of it all. Without minding ! One gets released oneself in the process.

In my opinion that is the sort of thing true religion (wisdom) is about - something which if generally dispersed could change and "save" our species. I will take the liberty of forwarding, immediately after this, my own "response" to Dawkins, since it elaborates these points (to which in my turn I am exceedingly attached!)

yours sincerely, Hugh Sacker (81 years old, scholar, traveller, grandfather) , Knockandarragh, Donard, Co Wicklow, Ireland

hell - or heaven - on earth

The story of our species to date is best regarded as a prolonged residence in hell on earth. Caught up in our own predicament, we have struggled to "conquer" the planet , indeed if possible the cosmos. and make it serve us. There have been exceptions to this norm, but increasingly as we learnt more and more, we have idolised ourselves. Seemingly masters of our destiny, responsible for our own fortune, we now wallow in awe-inspiring pyramids of power and money. Many if not most of us wish it were otherwise, but despair of an alternative, and are engrossed in making the best of our particular situations while we can. Doom is prophesied on all sides, and generally feared, however much denied. We no longer trust our leaders: hypocrites, seeking their own success.

In claiming to offer the one and only solution , to prophesy a transformation of the entire species, in the nick of time before we are finally engulfed by our own folly, I assert, like my predecessor Jesus of Nazareth, that we are destined to exist as wisdom incarnate, idolising not ourselves but the whole thing, of which we are but an integral part . We shall come to appreciate we live in a miracle not of our making, to regard every detail of it as sacred, the body of our god - whose self-understanding and self-appreciation are located in our maturity in us.

This is the alternative "way", the "tao" of the chinese, the "yoga" of the hindus, a way of humility, and compassion, and wisdom, that permits no deviation but rewards with bliss beyond present understanding. All peoples have knowledge of it, virtually no one treads it - because it has to be trodden by the entire species together for this present hell to transform into heaven, a sapient paradise very possibly unique in the cosmos. To change to it, together, we simply have to
institute universal peace - by practising NO Coercion under any circumstances except to prevent coercion (the only enforceable law, which within a generation would need no enforcing, become self-perpetuating), and cooperate with hope and goodwill. And this I believe to be our cosmic destiny, whether we know it or not.

During the 29 years I have been convinced of this and been ignored, I have worked out a simple set of guide-lines for starters. Fundamental are peace (no violence), logic (not the self-justifying sort the present Pope is feared to believe in, but that which seeks dialogue, reasonable agreement between diverse individuals and groups, all equal and free) , and love (goodwill to all and the whole). These three form a trinity, in that each is dependent on the other two, the logic being the logic of peace and love, etc).

Then in considering action, we should always, now that we know we share this finite planet between us, consider local and global aspects of our behaviour. And finally, in forming opinions, judgments (for we must always form our own judgments, but tentatively, learning all the time), we should always be impartial (seeking the good of the whole, not our own), and compassionate : for whatever apparent mistakes one or other of us falls in to, that is reality, part of the sacred whole, without which nothing is that is - but changing all the time - and improving unbelievably as we learn union.

I have grown old and frail in this conviction, this endeavour, and little acknowledged. I assert defiantly that it is not because my logic and wisdom are so much inferor to those of "the world" that you shun me, but because they are superior, and threaten if and when properly respected to shame and transform you : a shaming and transformation well and truly deserved and needed. The way my species presently behaves on earth is disgraceful almost beyond conception. Remember the admonitions of my predecessor (a man like myself; "divine" only in being right and having the courage to show the world how you treat the admonition of virtue), and apply them to yourselves. I have no more to say, and hope to stop broadcasting the seeds of my wisdom - a deplorable if necessary activity - and wait in peace and quiet for enquiry.

Let us draw a line in the sand, and rise to the occasion! It is unique.

the divine present

Experiencing the wonder of the passing scene, whatever it is, however terrible or delightful from our personal point of view: this is the ever-changing face of our divinity, contemplate it, in the knowledge it is a construct of sub-atomic particles and energies. It is evidently not geared to the well-being of every human : to suggest that is human-centric, hubristic. To believe it is our job to meddle with it in order to make it more accomodating to us - a total misunderstanding. Our species has learnt the secrets of IT's structure by meddling self-centredly. Now we change. What IS is right because it IS. This is how it IS at each and every point of time and space, and it should be wondrous in our eyes: the very idea that understanding and appreciation of THIS can exist within it, in our heads and hearts - that is amazing. And it is possible. What is more, when we discover this wonder and acceptance in us, then we behave in a way that improves our situation - especially when we all do it, so that we are not in conflict with IT, but an appreciative part. When we as a species discover this truth, then in harmony with one another and with the cosmos, we cope with the passing natural phenomena of global warming etc far far better than seems at all likely to most people as I type - Doing what comes selflessly, living in the moment intelligently but without care for past and future , is the key to our future, a sapient paradise.

And the muslims are right : it is all determined - whether by an omnipotent living god, or by the logic of an omnipotent set of cosmic laws should not prove divisive. We all experience compassion, and the system proves compassionate. All peoples that on earth do dwell can share in this , perhaps greatest of wonders. The source of the wonder lies not in us, but in the Whole.

my words

Following the legendary example of jesus of nazareth, in whose tradition i was brought up, i say now in all simplicity : we ourselves and all the material objects we cherish will crumble to dust before my words are forgotten. They lay the foundation of the coming mature stage of our species on this planet, the fulfilment of prophesy, a period of peace and wisdom. What geographical extent this coming age has remains to be seen : at present our species is behaving as a cancer on the body of life on earth. A sapient paradise will however occur perfectly logically, at exactly the right moment, as all who live after will understand. Be not attached to your trivial selves, but to the wonder of the whole!

hugh sacker, knockandarragh, donard, co wicklow, using the name obol as prophet

science & religion

Dawkins is a militant atheist, with a book just published; this is my reply It attempts to show the true point of "religion": a different "Way" of life, perhaps only generally possible now that science has discovered how our cosmos and planet are constructed. Hugh


Knockandarragh
Donard
Co Wicklow 24th September ad 2006

Dear Professor Dawkins,

No no no no, you are a very intelligent man,
and you're not trying.

Religion is not about a supernatural being fashioned in the image
of a human patriarch, nor is it about an imagined afterlife, in
which we may be rewarded or punished for behaviour down here. Nor is
it about an ultimate sanction for a particular sect's way of life.
etc. All that is the lamentable distortion of religion, developed
to harness a strictly other and alternative "way" of looking at
things and acting consequently, without changing over to that other
way.

Religion is about losing our self-centredness, as individuals ,
as groups, as a species, and identifying with the other and the
whole. When you say that you might yourself be religious in your
admiration for the logic of the cosmos of the physicists, and
your delight in natural phenomena, you are half way there.

But you fail to concede that every human act, thought and
emotion appears as part of the logical wonder of the cosmos to a
non-biassed scientist as to a truly religious person,group or
species - the idiocies and criminalities of your fellows included.
What an amazing thing that this fertile planet should derive from
elements created in nuclear explosions in stars! What a further
amazing thing that, amongst the animal life on this planet should
occur a weird species that has been driven (largely by internecine
competition,by fear and greed) to uncover the structure of our cosmos!

Now, at this stage, when for the first time in our history,
we have an outline of how it all hangs together, we are bedevilled
by the very fear, greed and selfish competition that have
brought us so far. Now, as I see it - and I admit very few others
do, but so what? that may change - what we need is to rediscover
the essence of the religious way, that love of the other and the
whole that science and religion can unite in propounding.

We have to see ourselves, not through self-projection (as you
seem to, along with the prevailing ethic ) but as our enemies see
us, including the other species which we self-obsessively seek
to harness for our imagining of our own good - which threatens to
lead to our self-destruction.

This is redemptive compassion, the understanding of the logic
of the other's position, an empathy that releases them from their
prison cell, even as it releases us. And this is what , surely,
jesus of nazareth, or gautama buddha was on about. It is not
sectarian, it is known to simple people the world over - and you
could express it ever so much better than I. Furthermore, it
could logically only flourish when we correctly understand the
structure behind our sensory impressions. Before science,
religion had no chance.

I hold myself that we shall find ourselves able to accept our
"automatism" , our lack of free-will, once we lose our fear in
wonder at the whole. If, as I myself rather expect, the tables turn
(umkippen), without our lurching from one extreme to the other, and
find that we are individually far happier, and as
a species have a far better chance of coping with the future than
at present, realising that your cosmos of the physicists includes
in its logic this "maturation" of our species _ then "religion" will
be a normal, everyday affair, doubtless varying in fancy-work from
one spot to another, but uniting all in adoration of the "thing"
we now find ourselves part of (no longer "separate").

And I may as well admit here that, to individuals who do thus lose
attachment to their own self in the wonder of the whole, the
relationship does seem to be reciprocal, the "whole" does seem to
be living and loving. Just precisely what is at work here, a mental
delusion or something outside the individual mind should not matter,
and certainly need not be prescribed. Since the experience does occur,
however, I would hope that be regarded as a plus, not a point of
dispute.

Dear Professor, you have never replied to a communication from me.
I shall continue in hope (how many letters did Bernard Shaw send to
newspapers before one was published ?)

with kind regards, Hugh Sacker, retired academic and traveller, age 81

attachment

Sat, 23 Sep 2006

so, after 29 years, i have solved the characteristic problems of our species (how it all makes sense, and how we best live with it), and characteristically am ignored for doing so.

(diis)-unity

Like it or not, my mind runs on...as ever, but we don't now meet to exchange chat. I presume that that separation, like all else, is part of the pattern leading to the needed culmination.

The rule seems to be, that so long as one's mind supposes our thoughts, emotions, deeds etc are our own, our doing, - for good or ill - one c a n n o t experience the bliss of integration, union, harmony with the cosmos...the unio mystica of the saints . Disharmony is disruptive, even though it has its essential place in the pattern and logic of it all, - specifically in the creation (seen in a time-unrolling way) of the self-understanding of the cosmos, or if you like of understanding and appreciation of the cosmos existing in the body-minds of creatures on a particular planet in the cosmos. (Who then experience timelessly, without bonding to before and after: "eternity in time", from one point of view.) To appreciate the wondrous unity, and act and think and feel in such a way as to serve it, one has to lose the delusion of separateness, of free-will, of independence. Then it appears just how wonderful we are - like any other part, but special, possibly unique. - Without "us" the wonder of the whole is incomplete.

No individual can fix this change in the mind , but it can happen, and as you know, i am convinced it will "now" happen species-wide....That there is little sign of it generally beforehand , when everything seems to require and make it possible, is no reason for despair, but will underscore our utter dependence when and as it happens....."not of us, but of it". (I was of course brought up far more steeped in religious tradition than you, it only remained for it to be cleared of dross, integrated with the cosmos of science and scholarship, and feet on the ground. "It" is almost certainly

Yes, your pessimism incites my good cheer - as always - maybe its justification?!

Look at it this way (my mind says) : if we accept (provisionally) the analysis of sensory perceptions offered by modern science , the cosmos of the scientists , then what a wonder our planet is, and what a wonder that people should exist on it who appreciate this wonder, indeed the wonder of the whole! (Only if we accept an infinite number of planets in all, is it perhaps inevitable that among them would occur one like ours, with us on it, made in some sense from the elements produced in nuclear breakdown in our, and perhaps other stars, and situated just at the right distance in orbit, etc).

Then, this wonder of appreciation of the whole in the minds of some sapient animals on this planet for a few millennia, or decades, is bound to pass away some day as the sun goes through its life cycle : just how many minds appreciate these wonders and for how long seems rather trivial compared with the amazing fact of such appreciation exixting at all. What is more the knowledge and understanding of the workings of the cosmos and of our "illusion" of the solidity of our sensuous experiences , this knowledge and understanding derives without doubt from the sense of apartheid of our species, intimately allied to our hubris: the humble appreciation could not exist without , or at least in fact does not derive from anything else than the delusion of superiority our species has long been liable to.

Thirdly, it is surely true that the possibility of the entire species realising "enlightenment" (in the sense of appreciation of the wonder of the whole as above, and the personal and group compulsion to live accordingly) could only result from those of us who are lucky enough to experience this state ahead of our fellows feeling love and compassion for our less privileged fellows in ways that they do not experience as patronising or pissed off or at all "apart", but as their ordinary fellows - somehow infecting them with this wonder of wonders, the natural logical appreciation of the wonder ot it all at this stage , when not to experience it surely threatens to abort a maturity greatly to be desired.

Myself, even as you feel increasing despair, I experience increasing confidence, and seem increasingly well "embedded" in society compared with a few years ago, when my mind broke out of its erstwhile bonds and entered a very excited state . \you and others took much of the brunt of that - hence your relief that "obol" did not intrude in our phone chat some while back - but to me that break and excitement seem just part of the process, now with the years, and abrasions soothing all round, less disturbing to all concerned - but as much part of your old buddy as the rest.

It's the 29th anniversary of going literally out of my mind, and landing in paradise here and now, this Saturday night. By chance and design it looks as if all my six children and four grandchildren will be here for it, and Kali has designated the afternoon as the occasion for some ceremony here of "baptising" her two in a pond in the garden, itself a little "paradise" in the persian and 17th century sense of pleasure garden. and so we shall be overfull. It will likely pass over without noticeable fireworks, but it's odd just the same.

It's also, my calendar tells me, jewish new year, and the next day the first of ramadan - the religions of the book coming together - and hopefully being purified. "Religion" in my use of the term refers to an absolute attachment to the only possible alternative Way of thought and life for our species, totally subservient to the womder of it all - and not by our choice so much as by the logic of the whole thing, producing as out of a hat this crowning wonder of understanding and appreciation in the heads and hearts of a weird, and suddenly humble species on a fertile planet...in the heavens.

christians and muslims etc

Tue, 19 Sep 2006

yes indeed, and more so - but myself, I analyse from increasing idiocy all round the imminent collapse of our civilisation, and rather hope a purified one may be born from the ashes.. Meanwhile, it always amazes me that muslims and jews do not generally call in question the irrationality, improbability and indeed (self-)idolatry of one religious tradition regarding its particular founder as uniquely divine - especially since 2000 years ago it had long been customary for distinguished individuals to be so considered (and performing miracles remained a common event of hagiography for at least a further 1000 years).


I myself was reared in a totally christian tradition, and became a medieval scholar , so I have some knowledge of the issues concerned - and indeed wonder if you are acquainted with the crusading epic "Willehalm" by Wolfram von Eschenbach , around 1200? It shows great respect for muslims, and debates the whole question, taking the view that defence is alright, but attack not, since all are children of "Altissimus", "Tetragramaton", juden , heiden unde kristen - if I remember right. I refer you to my fellowshio thesis "The Tolerance Idea in Wolfram's Willehalm", a copy of which was deposited around 1952 in the library of Caius College, Cambridge. If Willehalm was an exception in its time, nevertheless an indication of the folly of dismissive generalisations about an age, any age. (Folly only exists to nurture wisdom)

Christians do not follow in the footsteps of their legendary founder , as recorded in the gospels they venerate. Indeed I would hold that true religion is the same the world over , and essentially free from the local colour in which it appears and is later clothed. Selflessness, the recognition that one sees one's reflection in the scene around, not by self--projection, love of the scene around - as christ said love of one's enemy is a crucial test. It is the "other" way , not the way of worldliness, absolute equality, immediate preference for own's own death rather than sacrifice of such a position - and now that other species are going down so fast before human self-regard, preference by our species of the others -this is "religion", in no way sectarian, and may yet be the saving of a species driven mad by its unique penetration of the mysteries of the world of the senses, needing now only to appropriate the wisdom latent in all communities, prevalent nowhere.

Forgive an old man rambling on. Your chosen field of study and obvious righteous wrath inspired me.

adequate response to al gore

release people everywhere to cooperate in solving problems in a non-coercive and promising frame. that's what obolworld offers. "what a nutter !

ridiculus mus

friedland@guardian.co.uk
Wed, 13 Sep 2006

Is a vote for gordon brown really an adequate response to al gore's film? no wonder the guardian elect deride my blogsite.

we're all in limbo now

the stand-off

Tue, 12 Sep 2006

no one approaches the redeemer.........family assembles.........

gateway

the gate of NO COERCION, so long the stern aspect of the entrance to obolworld, transforms as one passes through in to the MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, a sort of Versailles or Kew Gardens, delighting in its ever-cordial arrangements. and there is the bus-stop for joining the PAGEANT ASPHODEL , the vehicle for the triumph of love over fear for generations to come.

where there's muck...

is excrement the other face of increment ?

that final fell scoop

the guardian offers 50% profits any agency/individual with info on hugh sacker (obol) . charter flight booked from california to investigate claims of human genius in ireland - solution to all our woes

how then ...?

how then would we integrate as a group , hugh ? - just like any other group, groups integrate pleasingly in obolworld where the guidelines pll lg ic are observed. every one likes meetings we see ourselves in others one amazing re-conciliation

but just define your group to me, and you will see as you do it we will see together and the power of fear will pass away

christ-buddha obol

it's the integration

it's the integration

call it obol for entry to hugh's other mind all these years, where much of use calculated out for you , ok ?

this is our heavenly form

inhabited now by an association of good souls

in peace, logic and love

thinking locally and globally always

judging impartially inconsiderately but always compassionately , for only if one loves does one see, and seeing is redeeming

it is the natural chemistry of healing

now operating as obolworld here on planet asphodel

perfect puppetry

self-knowing by seeing non-self

eternal logic in peace and love

obol

obol

obol

nice to get on with the inheritance now

hugh

struck dumb

the realisation strikes one dumb,
instant change
but the world around in state of shock,
sleep-walking
old tracks
new meaning barely discernible
pll lg ic
thank hugh/obol for the guide-lines
but above all
wait for the mist to rise
the vision of our sapient paradise
what we had dismissed as childhood fantasy
unreal other-worldly
reality
everyday reality
the vision taking form as a negative appearing gradually on print paper clear to see.
no violence
all one family
simplicity itself
the path of perfection

and then...

To: Alison.Sedgwick@guardian.co.uk
Mon, 11 Sep 2006

and then there's p a g e a n t a s p h o d e l which introduces the fairy-tale world of obol. fantasy drama for real on planet asphodel....it all fits
it all fits
the cap fits
nutter indeed !

time for armistice in the terror wars

letters@guardian.co.uk
Mon, 11 Sep 2006

the terror of the in-law-group against the terror of the out-laws, both sides unable to secure victory in this life, quality-of-life attrition rapidly destroying us all. time to consider the non-violent alternative, well presented by www.obolworld.blogspot.com , on which news-channel this email soon appears : the ultimate alternative channel, kept quiet , totally censored by terror-happy media till now. obol of obolworld
at your service, free of charge,
c/o hugh of knockandarragh, donard, co wicklow, ireland
first come first served,
more haste less speed.
open every day this month to all who come in peace.
bring tents.

trumps

incarnating our highest possible meaning
knowledge and compassion combined
that gives meaning to it all
we cannot fail
it will not let us fail now
just a tiny further tremor through our common mind
and all is union
harmony
perfection
proven in our selves
good souls in good bodies on a healing planet
asphodel
to give it its heavenly name
in adoration
as ever
obol/hugh

nolite me tangere!

- i'd be clawed to death......!
christ as living present redeemer

"blinkers off !"

this is the biggest story of all time - so big you cannot deal with it

"sleep-walkers!

be not afraid !" it's not your life that shrivels at my approach - it's your death.

our species was taken prisoner by death. subject to fear : now we adore every passing moment, open full open wide , in wisdom's paradise.

appearance of obolworld

Sun, 10 Sep 2006

this is the biggest story of all time - so big you cannot deal with it

- "sleep-walkers!"

Re: invitation renewed

yes. most everyone, including neighbours, "prefer to keep their distance" ' but you are the one to put it into words. And most everyone has something else to do. thus the paradigms appear and self-incapsulate. as ever hugh/obol

advert

Sat, 9 Sep 2006
in Tinoran now
obol himself interviewing for close associates in new non-coercive era anyone may call in peace daylight hours.
withdrawing from other pursuits for one year

Sat, 9 Sep 2006 - compassion with natasha's gaoler

involves experiencing his accusers' hell of evil and then seeing it as his redemption in a light he had barely known could shine transfiguring on his sad shrine of soul believed long dead

natasha pronouncement

natasha granted freedom from public notice for life....may only be noticied publicly on occasion after prior consultation access to media of course as anyone else. edict of obol i should appreciate reporting offenders to me personally....hugh strictly non-coercively of course....

natasha again

Alison.Sedgwick@guardian.co.uk, international@guardian.co.uk, letters@guardian.co.uk

you see, i know she's different because she had in mind a world in which her gaoler did not need to kill himself, but simply to have worked that one out of his system - with her help. that is obolworld, where all is forgiven when confessed, and the complex confusion of the preceding "world" rapidly unwinds and reappears as if by magic as an intricate pattern of great beauty whch one cannot but love and lose oneself in. ok ?

natasha

make no mistake, my call is for r e v e r e n c e for natasha, not exploitation for money....she is so far superior to our normal, her choosing to live amongst us is a privilege for us, let us rejoice to welcome her to any home to tell us how she sees us now she's out. as my daughter as any other daughter of mine daughters sisters mothers i demand men show you every respect and affection, untainted by lechery, the equivalent of incest in our universal and universally chaste family. sex-games are for adolescents, no one else, and never exploited.. the deadly sins are deadly and were killing you, you now know.

resistance

you must know
that what ever you resist about me
is not me

i am

and so thou art

before thou wast not

in time bound

now thou art

in obol as the paradise of obol reigns like a fairy-tale

on planet asphodel

a state of perfection

yes, but...

yes, i am master of the world, but only by offering and embodying a non-coercive, rational, humane and transcendental solution - the only one possible, perfectly adjusted to our exact position today. a perfect fit

and you are bound to pay attention not by physical coercion but by the irresistible attraction of such a resolution of all our anxieties.

and as you know, and everyone else does too, i want a very quiet happy scene wherever i go and everywhere else too

as it dawns on us what is happening. "so help us god ! " (a word and phrase which fit here, in my opinion, and are better not used regardlessly)

collapse of liberal democracy world-wide

letters@guardian.co.uk
Sat, 9 Sep 2006 12:24:39 +0100

the power to wage war, which in a liberal democracy so many bestow upon so few, has been cruelly abused. it tempted an american neo-con global putsch, whose apparently irresistible success tempted the british prime minister - and great portions of our fellows fell for it - as they did on the apparent success of a previous german dictator - when i was being rescued from the disastrous aftermath of the socalleGreat War , which prospered manufacturing in the heart of industrialism, tempting my father to join in the pickings, then turning sour and ruining him and his young wife and family.

we all have our stories, and if we see a rosy past or future in the world of liberal democracy , we deceive ourselves. privately, most people today are in despair, despair of the future of our species, either competing for pickings of the carcase or just trying desperately to cling on to traces of a vanishing normality.

you will , probably, prefer to publish letters exclusively addressed to you, o letters editor, but every email of mine of any public interest goes automatically on to my blog site, thus [providing for anyone interested almost anywhere on earth a remarkable running account of my present campaign for what why, to be heard, do you understand ? you know well that terrorists resort to terror only when they are not listened to as equal human beings wirth a viewpoint different from that of those who will not listen to them.

me. you will not listen to me. i offer a non-violent satisfactory answer to your every dilemma. you will not listen..

do you see yet why i regard the Guardian as dead exposed along with bush and blair for what you are ::: a contributory part of that which we abhor. ????

i abhor bullying, cruelty, self-righteousness, inequality, having to conform in order to be listened to.....u name it i give you my opinion why not enquire ???????

chaos point

Sat, 9 Sep 2006 11:46:02 +0100
office@clubofbudapest.org

dear ervin laszlo and associates, we are at the chaos point now....can you not see it ?

september 8

guilt of guardian

"I've always had the inverse quote to Godard : film lies 24 times a second" he (De Palma) says, "And anybody that's used to using moving images like a film director, when we see stuff on TV, it's all positioning and public relations, there's not an ounce of truth to any of it I always look behing the image and say , "why are we seeing children with flies on their eyes this week?" Those images are always out there. Like the war in Iraq. If you think Americans are ignorant, it's because we're not seeing anything. We're constantly being manipulated by images (( a n d w o r d s ~obol)). They're lying to us all the time. We have no idea what we're doing".

so, Alison, another nutter. and how creditable it is that the Guardian reports this, while continuing in the farce described ?? that's what i call (un-)(re-)fined hypocrisy, the ultimate lie....its only divine) justification that it's so blatant that , to open eyes it carries only dead weight. o b o l w o r l d by contrast is the life of the world, the rebirth, damaged but wise, knowledgeable, fearless, paying no inner respect to media , politicians, or vested privilege of any sort. what a nutter !! ~all criminally insane today....how recognise a sane wizard? how even conceive it?

the absurdity of it

know it's absurd, but it's not me that's absurd, and no gallant would attribute it to you....it's the juxtaposition....the very extreme unlikelihood and exact rightness of it....a time of paradox like no other

the fernhill function

a mature human being

the genius of the garden
of the place
of the world
of the species
of the biomass
gaia's representative in the counsels of humankind

each one of us

so very sacred

our incarnation of the
self-intelligence of the
cosmos so very frail a
prevalent entity

~ obol

michael jackson

my son gives me no peace.....and now his boyhood idol - and my son is infinitely loyal, why else would he still be here? - is reported living with family in wicklow. and please stephen so wants just simply to be with them for a day or so....and i so want to welcome michael to my home, and let our 2 families meet in pure human affection and without commitment except to purity of intent and act. no past no future the now the sacred moment the actors in the now michael will understand

alison you fix this and you're our best friend for ever and ever amen for the now is the eternal now which is timeless and divine

the mythic war of christ with the world

To: Alison.Sedgwick@guardian.co.uk
Fri, 8 Sep 2006 14:32:43 +0100

dear alison, i have nothing personal against you or anyone else. i believe absolutely in the inviolability of the person, and dissociate myself utterly from physical coercion (the forcing by individual or group of her/his/their will on anyone else at all against the will of that other person no matter on what pretext, nor especially with the agreement of most or all members of a coercive group that they must so coerce whenever for the good of all, etc) . i can see and debate how our troubled species may find all the worrying problems that beset us now resolved to the delight and fulfilment of all - if only my fellows would treat the p o s s i b i l i t y that one of them has stumbled upon the answers (like other pioneers before) and lived with them now for 29 years amongst you - learning all about your resistance to the ideas year by year, hour by hour, till , alison sedgwick of the london g u a r d i a n, it comes to my typing this ultimatum to an unkown lady of a highly and widely respected media institution, rather worldly successor of the m a n c h e s t e r guardian of cp (?) scott, one of the most justly famous of all newspaper editors. i'm a birmingham lad myself, of the blackheath family of george potts sons, edge-tool makers in the works in the field where my mother grew up , long since buried in quinton cemetery, my grandfather and later my uncle cecil would have travelled to manchester on business. in the international wing of the new dublin gaol which i visited recently i discovered from people of all races that manchester is fondly thought of today...especially when compared to d u b l i n. and in a couple of weeks i expect a visit from my mixed-race cousin joseph potts, who lives in birmingham.

YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT FEATURE ME NOW
even tho it starts a scramble i am prepared, i have prepared the police and the district.
i have devised a global pageant to divert attention in the most delightful way to their/our p a r a d i s a l state.

head in hands ??? don't know whether to laugh or cry ?? like an acid trip """

give up alison whoever you are and come yourself now, leaving note on desk, grabbing cash and flying to dublin, hiring car and first come first served others have to wait turn won't be hurried ring of cameras round townland no penetration any found are outlaws will be stripped and mercilessly returned to the rest for judgment no credit no pornography tolerated inside that townland boundary paradise starts here and when featured lifts all hearts at once, amazement universal ok
what the hell are you waiting for now ??? permission ? k a f k a
walk in,
all welcome
price paid.

Condi

.Q. has the resemblance of Rice to Goebbels yet featured in american media (cartoons?)

see today's Guardian p.33 sidney.blumenthal

condemnation of entire civilisation, e.g. guardian (london 14.35 6th sep eo29th)

international@guardian.co.uk

THE GUARDIAN

GUILTY OF (UN-)REFINED HYPOCRISY thro and thro "pharisaic" whitened sepulchre etc

see emeil earlier today to guardian's foreign editor, arising from (un-)refined pornographic interest in natasha's "plight" and subsequent exploitation - instead of common cause" with such a wonderfully educated and intelligent young woman, from whom we have so much to learn, as she mingles with them from the taint of whose corruption he secluded her, preserving an earlier model of young womanhood that those fashionable in an openly corrupt world since.

Q. WHO SEES IT FROM HIS VISIONARY EYES ? ,saved "immaculate but not ignorant" she can surely teach us so much to our advantage....if we just took her back with reverence....REVERENCE 11111 REVERENCE do ye hear, ye corrupt pornographers. ours is a terribly CORRUPT SOCIETY a cancer on the earth A CANCER ON THE EARTH do ye hear ???DO YE??? either it now dies in transformation, the triumph of good over evil, of wisdom over folly etc, or it is killed as a healthy body (Gaia) must kill a growth that promised well but turned malignant, self-aggrandising at the host's expense to a threatening extent....and with us go much of life on earth, in global death-throes of our internecine species, forgetting all else in rivalry for goodies, no longer seeing the possible transcendental sense in it all....the very predicted point, when all seems black, that the globally ultimate light shines forth, transfiguring the entire scene. ok ? fellows......will ye join in my birthday celebrations this year, or must i taunt you longer...i will surely do so till ye recognise my claim to be heard understand? this is not blackmail, this is above board....this is permitted to the living messiah demanding recognition from a people living in darkness.

this appears on my blogspot very soon. when outsiders check on my blogsite, they read this, and THEN THE BALLOON GOES UP, my friends. i struggle to survive till then and help my kids and their kids, all of whom in your terms my special responsibility - but in my terms YOURS,,,,,,,other-interest prevailing. such a change for us all, and not least my beleaguered and obstinately affectionate progeny....thank alma.

personal Ms Harriet Sherwood please

To: international@guardian.co.uk
Thu, 7 Sep 2006 13:09:59 +0100

Ms Sherwood, Harriet,

I write to you because you are the foreign editor of The Guardian - a paper I read even though I despair of it - but I write to you as an individual human being, a fellow human being , before, do-existent with, and after your professional life. You live in a world that most ordinary people I meet - such as a young and lively vet who came to administer a lethal dose to an old and sick dog of ours yesterday evening , but stayed to talk wonderfully openly - or such as the unassuming family of natives on the coast of County Clare I had the good fortune to live among for a couple of days late in July - take it for granted that our species is fucked , out of control, led by insane blind power-happy individuals who could be us, futile to some extent trying to mend what is broken , only invariably to worsen the whole. Meanwhile we soldier on, our families and friends dysfunctional , pitted one against the other and group aganst group in a lust for power, wealth, sex, entertainment and the devil's work of material gain at the expense of sanity and, soon, of life itself. Fear the Chinese , and work harder and more cunningly ! Invest in the Chinese , and screw your mates ! And , if you're controller of The Guardian, publish clever articles on every aspect of all this as it happens, meanwhile participating knowingly - that's hypocrisy, you know , Ms Harriet - by simultaneously deploring the evils of and whore-like earning your keep by selling global tourism. In your own interests you cheat, like everyone else. Amd you denounce such cheating, and justify doing it because it allows you to earn a good material life-style printing virtuous words - and you believe it your duty to keep the paper going with even more disreputable material year on year (like the others)...that's the devil's price for mammon-worship....degradation and death....it's logic, you know

"Religion" is the alternative, but in a world of mammon-worship, it is not understood as alternative, but as adjunct - and as adjunct (even of tribal identity) it is a ghastly thing, a parody of itself. In itself it is characterised by selflessness (not self-interest, individual or group), absolute equality , freedom to think, feel , speak and do anything that does not violate another's identical freedom, cooperation in good and abhorrence of evil, perfect willingness to die at any moment rather than compromise such principles for personal or group death is nothing to the religious person, for she or he values not self but the wonder of it all when so loved - "it all" as reported by the senses and interpreted by the perfect mirror of the mind , a mind entranced by the meaning of everything separately and together, and ignorant of anxiety.

Ms Sherwood, for 29 years later this month, I have been investigating the meaning and practicality of this alternative to our present way of life, and living it as far as consistent with surviving to tell the tale. This last 29th year I have been registering thoughts that occurred to me - in my 29th year of such study - on a blog set up for me by my eldest daughter in Singapore (married to a man you, as foreign editor of the Guardian either already know or shortly will, a research fellow of the southeastasian institute of the University of Singapore, ooi kee beng by name, whose new book is expected to make quite a stir in the Malayan archipelago and beyond), but virtually no one on earth has shown interest in my thoughts. After all, they are quite other, and the thinker is known to be quite mad. ( Imagines he must be the predicted second appearance of "christ", since his ideas would complete the story if adopted...think of it!)


My daughter and family will spend the next three weeks at my home here in Ireland....you could scoop a story on kee beng...but my other five children will be here too, and 4 grand-children, and one of my two elder sisters, and later a mixed-race young cousin from Birmingham, a video-film maker who this time comes with camera....you see I am quite mad....all those who actually check me out know it....'fwd a recent email from a hiker confirming it,,,(malicieux = mischievous pardon my french ) if I remember and am not distracted...family life in these circs is almost insupportable...no secretary, constant threat of on-the-spot car-theft or personal arrest by friendly but mercenary police...etc etc. So you could with other journalists scoop the world and help change it once and for all infinitely for the better....but, I was forgetting, you are a mercenary too, committed to belief in mammon, in liberal democracy where any surplus should be used to increase same, not distributed to those in deficiency out of common cause, common decency ... the clear teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, and the clear logic of your present emailer's position.

with all good wishes - for all on earth and the rest of life of which we understand ourselves to be but a surprisingly intelligent and appreciative part - in obolworld. Hugh Sacker, Knockandarragh, Donard, Co.Wicklow 00000000000000000+353 (0)45 404049

Subject: President Bush's horizon

To: international@guardian.co.uk
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 8:06 PM

The "civilised world" in which we live is not an ultimate, any more than any of the many and various cultures which have made and do make it up. From within it may seem so, but to one who knows it well and has stepped outside, everything points to its present collapse. Whether we face annihilation or transformation is the question many would like to see addressed. I myself have elaborated the transformation i hold logical and satisfying for nearly 30 years now, without media interest. It seems to me the media are content to go over and over the same ground indefinitely, and ever more pessimistically - just so long as it sells. But I repeat "our (so-called) civilised world is not an ultimate", and when we face this obvious truth, the mood may lighten..

the monomania of hugh/obol

"Forgive me", i wrote. "For what ?" you replied.

It is my monomania that sets me apart, as i suggest (in their ways) it did jesus/christ or gautama/buddha.

It may yet prove the salvation of the species.

I think we three (and unspecified others) discovered the bliss of a different experience of life on earth from that customary around us, and completely integrated it with everything known in the society of our various times. And i think the present instance of this phenomenon is the final one in the series, and should logically result in the entire species together discovering this experience and the reasoning that accompanies it. Then "all things will be made plain" in principle, and as daily life unrolls in continuous wonder and delight.

I accept no particular responsibility for it, or for any thought or deed of mine, nor do i attribute such responsibility to others. Blame and honour do not belong to humans in obolworld. What i do do is labour on until either my story flashes across the earth or death do me part, whichever comes first - but i doubt very much whether my story will have the imagined effect if only widely known after my death.

Forgive me.
hugh/obol