Palavras / Words
“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate but is fear.” -Gandhi
LXIV.
A BOOK.
1.
He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust,
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!
Dickinson, E. (1993). The Collected Works of Emily Dickinson. New York: Chatham River Press.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead.
Contemplate:
BEWILDERMENT / Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
There are many guises for intelligence.
one part of you is gliding in a high
windstream,
while your more ordinary notions
take little steps and peck at the
ground.
Conventional knowledge is death to
our souls,
and it is not really ours.
It is laid on. Yet we keep saying
that we find “rest” in these “beliefs.”
We must become ignorant of what we
have been taught
and instead be bewildered.
Run from what is profitable
and comfortable.
If you drink those liqueurs,
you will spill the springwater of your
real life.
Distrust anyone who praises you.
Give your investments money, and the interest
on the capital, to those who are
actually destitute.
Forget safety. Live where you fear
to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.
I have tired prudent planning
long enough.
From now on, I'll be mad.
(translated by Coleman Barks) in Cosmo DooGood's Urban Almanac 2006, p. 168.
We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
Quem teve a idéia de cortar o tempo em fatias,
A que se deu o nome de ano, foi um indivíduo genial.
Industrializou a esperança, fazendo-a funcionar no limite da exaustão.
Doze meses dão para qualquer ser humano se cansar e entregar os pontos.
Aí entra o milagre da renovação e tudo começa outra vez, com outro número e outra vontade de acreditar, que daqui para diante vai ser diferente.
Who ever had the idea to cut time into slices
Was the one who gave the year a name, and was a brilliant individual.
They industrialized hope, making it function to the limit of exhaustion.
Twelve months gives any human being time to be tired and to give up.
There the miracle of renewal entered and everything started again, with another number and another will to believe, that from here forward things will be different.
Dream Big
If there were ever a time to dare,
To make a difference,
To embark on something worth doing,
It is now.
Not for any grand cause, necessarily --
But for something that tugs at your heart,
Something that’s your aspiration
Something that’s your dream.
You owe it to yourself,
to make it count
Have fun
Dig deep
Stretch.
So, Dream big.
Know, though, that things worth doing
Seldom come easy.
There will be good days,
And there will be bad days.
There will be times when you want to turn around,
Pack it up,
And call it quits.
Those times tell you
That you are pushing yourself,
That you are not afraid to learn by trying.
Persist.
Because with an idea,
Determination,
And the right tools,
You can do great things.
Let your instincts,
Your intellect,
And your heart, guide you.
Trust.
Believe in the incredible power of the human mind.
Of doing something that makes a difference.
Of working hard,
Of laughing and hoping,
Of lazy afternoons,
Of lasting friends,
Of all the things that will cross your path this year.
The start of something new
Brings the hope of something great.
Anything is possible.
There is only one you,
And you will pass this way only once.
So, do it right!
Anon.
En épocas remotas, hubo una vez un país donde en una ocasión se encontró que la cosecha obtenida ese año producía un efecto nefasto: aquellos que la comían, perdían la razón.
“No nos queda más remedio que comer del grano para sobrevivir,” dijo el rey, “pero entre nosotros deberán haber quienes no olviden que hemos perdido la razón.”
- Anónimo.
In ancient times there was a harvest that came in and was found to be poisonous. Those who ate of it, went insane.
“We must eat the grain to survive,” said the King, “But there must be those among us who remember that we have all gone insane.”
- Anonomous
Em tempos antigos, a época da colheita chegou e descobriu-se que a mesma encontrava-se envenenada, pois todos aqueles que dela comiam, ficavam loucos.
“Nós devemos comer as sementes dos cereais para que possamos sobreviver”, disse o Rei. “Porém, deverá haver aqueles entre nós que se lembrarão que todos nós nos tornamos loucos”.
Anônimo
Ere time journeys on
And years pass by
Come listen to the song
I would sing.
Incline your heart and
Lend your ears
To the message of love
That I bring.
When flowers can bloom
Without sunshine
When night time no more
Follows day
When rivers can flow
Without channels
To guide us along the rough way.
When God gives us Spring
Without sunshine –
And flowers cease to wane with the dew.
When this world can live without loves tender blossoms
Then I can live without you.
A love such as mine
Were laid in the heart
Of a rose that is faded and bare
Though summer were
Gone and flowers were dead
A new rose would
Blossom there.
Found in the Hall at Parkview Nursing Home, Portland Oregon
May 3, 1978
I Found My Sources
I found my sources
In old archives
Books
I found them
In accursed objects
Posts and chains
I found my sources
In the East
On the sea in filthy slave ships
I found them
In sweet words
Songs
In furious drums
Rituals
I found my sources
In the color of my skin
In the wounds of my soul
In me
In my dark people
In my proud heroes
I found them and at last found myself.
Olveira Silveira, Brazilian Poet, 1981
(1999). Baedeker's Brazil, 2nd Edition. World Travel Guides: London. (p. 69)
Encontrei Minhas Origens
Encontrei minhas origens
Em velhos arquivos
Livros
Encontrei
Em malditos objetos
Troncos e grilhetas
Encontrei minhas origens
No leste
No mar em imundos tumbeiros
Encontrei
Em doces palavras
Cantos
Em furiosos tambores
Ritos
Encontrei minhas origens
Na cor de minha pele
Nos lanhos de minha alma
Em mim
Em minha gente escura
Em meus heróis altivos
Encontrei
Encontrei-as enfim
Me encontrei
Oliveira Silveira - Roteiro dos Tantãs
A new civilization is emerging in our lives, and blind men everywhere are trying to suppress it. This new civilization brings with it new family styles; changing ways of working, loving, and living; a new economy; new political conflicts; and beyond all this an altered consciousness as well. Pieces of this new civilization exist today. Millions are already attuning their lives to the rhythms of tomorrow. Others, terrified of the future, are engaged in a desperate, futile flight into the past and are trying to restore the dying world that gave them birth . . . . The dawn of this civilization is the single most explosive fact of our lifetimes.
Alvin Toffler, 1990, The Third Wave.
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world"
"Se muitos de nós valorizassem o alimento, a diversão e a canção além do ouro acumulado, o mundo seria mais alegre"
When I Heard at the Close of the Day
By Walt Whitman
1819-1892
When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv'd
with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for
me that follow'd,
And else when I carous'd, or when my plans were accomplish'd, still
I was not happy,
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health,
refresh'd, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the
morning light,
When I wander'd alone over the beach, and undressing bathed,
laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise,
And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was on his way
coming, O then I was happy,
O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day my food
nourish'd me more, and the beautiful day pass'd well,
And the next came with equal joy, and with the next at evening came
my friend,
And that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly
continually up the shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to me
whispering to congratulate me,
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in
the cool night,
In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast--and that night I was happy.
Courtesy of http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1926.html
All those histories of this country centered on the Founding Fathers and the Presidents weigh oppressively on the capacity of the ordinary citizen to act. They suggest that in times of crisis, we look to someone to save us… And that between occasional crises everything is all right, and it is sufficient for us to be restored to that normal state. They teach us that the supreme act of citizenship is to choose among saviors, by going into a voting booth every four years to choose between two white and well-off Anglo-Saxon males of inoffensive personality and orthodox opinions. The idea of saviors has been built into the entire culture, beyond politics. We have learned to look to stars, leaders, experts in every field, thus surrendering our own strength, demeaning our own ability, obliterating our own selves. But from time to time, Americans reject that idea and rebel. These rebellions, so far, have been contained. The American system is the most ingenious system of control in world history. With a country so rich in natural resources, talent, and labor power the system can afford to distribute just enough wealth to just enough people to limit discontent to a troublesome minority. It is a country so powerful, so big, so pleasing to so many of its citizens that it can afford to give freedom of dissent to the small number who are not pleased. There is no system of control with more openings, apertures, leeways, flexibilities, and rewards, for the chosen, winning tickets in lotteries. There is none that disperses its controls more complexly through the voting system, the work situation, the church, the family, the school, the mass media -- none more successful in mollifying opposition with reforms, isolating people from one another, creating patriotic loyalty.
Howard Zinn. (1980). A people's history of the United States. Harper & Row: New York. (570-571).
A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house that I lived in, or the kind of car I drove… but the world may be a different place because I was important in the life of a student.
- Anon.
Thompson, C.L. & Rudolph, L.B. (4th Edition) Counseling Children. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." (Unknown)
Dylan Thomas - DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
"Politics is driven by power, more or less constrained by justice. Power works by pretending to be just. In thinking about human rights we should distinguish between what justice requires and what those with power demand." - Michael Freeman
"War is a cowardly escape from the problems of Peace." -Thomas Mann
I have no name (from The Song of Life)
I have no name,
I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains.
I have no shelter;
I am as the wandering waters.
I have no sanctuary, like the dark gods;
Nor am I in the shadow of deep temples.
I have no sacred books;
Nor am I well-seasoned in tradition.
I am not in the incense
Mounting on the high altars,
Nor in the pomp of ceremonies.
I am neither in the graven image,
Nor in the rich chant of a melodious voice.
I am not bound by theories,
Nor corrupted by beliefs.
I am not held in the bondage of religions,
Nor in the pious agony of their priests.
I am not entrapped by philosophies,
Nor held in the power of their sects.
I am neither low nor high,
I am the worshipper and the worshipped.
I am free.
My song is the song of the river
Calling for the open seas,
Wandering, wandering,
I am Life.
I have no name,
I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains.
I am a failure!
I do teach mathematics
I do solve problems
I do get correct answers
But.… I think I am a failure
I do write textbooks
I do train teachers
I do conduct seminars
But….I think I am a failure
My students do secure distinction marks
They do memorize all the facts
They are outstanding to write mathematical syntax
But….I think I am a failure
I could not find mathematics of my community
Neither I found mathematics of students’ locality
I drew cylinders with markers on the board
Never I showed Markers as Cylinders
So, I think I am a failure
I never observed my mother’s estimation on work
Never acknowledged my father’s calculation on force
I thought I am a very good mathematician
Who cares the local compendium?
So, I think I am a failure
Pant, Binod (2015)
I can do nothing! I can do everything!
Government determines Objectives
Experts assemble Curriculum
Trainers prescribe Teaching Methods
I go to the classroom
I try to teach mathematics
But, I can do nothing!
I give meanings to the objectives
I can develop my own curriculum
I have choices to apply many methods
I can see mathematics around us
I help students to learn mathematics
So, I can do everything!
Pant, Binod (2015)
The Fable of the Roasted Pig
from: Schools for a New Century: A Conservative Approach to Radical
School Reform by Dwight W. Allen
Once upon a time, a forest where some pigs lived, caught on fire and
all the pigs were roasted. People, who at that time were in the habit
of eating raw meat only, tasted the roasted pigs and found them
delicious. From that time on, whenever men wanted roasted pork they
set a forest on fire.
Due to the many bad points of "the system," complaints grew at an
increasing rate, as the system expanded to involve more and more
people. It was obvious that "the system" should be drastically
changed. Thus every year there were any number of conventions, and
congresses, and a considerable amount of time and effort was spent on
research to find a solution. But apparently no way of improving the
system was ever found, for the next year and the year after and the
year after that there were once more conventions and congresses and
conferences. And this went on and on and on...
Those who were experts on the subject put down the failure of the
system to a lack of discipline on the part of the pigs, who would not
stay where they should in the forests; or to the inconstant nature of
fire, which was hard to control; or to the trees, which were too
green to burn well; or the dampness of the earth; or the official
method of setting the woods on fire or....or....
There were men who worked at setting the woods on fire (firemen).
Some were specialists in setting fires by night, others by day. There
were also the wind specialists, the anemotechnicians. There were huge
compounds to keep the pigs in, before the fire broke out in the
forest, and new methods were being tested on how to let the pigs out
at just the right moment. There were technicians in pig feeding,
experts in building pig pens, professors in charge of training
experts in pig pen construction, universities that prepared
professors to be in charge of training experts in pig pen
construction, research specialists who bequeathed their discoveries
to the universities that prepared professors to be in charge of
training experts in pig pen construction, and...
One day a fireman named John Commonsense said that the problem was
really very simple and easily solved. Only four steps need to be
followed: (1) the chosen pig had to be killed, (2) cleaned, (3)
placed in the proper utensil, and (4) placed over the fire so that it
would be cooked by the effect of the heat and not by the effect of
the flames.
The director general of roasting himself came to hear of this
Commonsense proposal, and sent for John Commonsense. He asked what
Commonsense had to say about the problem, and after hearing the four
point idea he said:
"What you say is absolutely right--in theory, but it won't work in
practice. It's wasteful. What would we do with our technicians, for
instance?"
"I don't know," answered John.
"Or the specialists in seeds, in timber? And the builders of
seven-story pig pens, now equipped with new cleaning machines and
automatic scenters?"
"I don't know."
"Can't you see that yours is not the solution we need? Don't you know
that if everything was as simple as all that, then the problem would
have been solved long ago by our specialists? Tell me, where are the
authorities who support your suggestion? Who are the authors who say
what you say? Do you think i can tell the engineers in the fire
division that it is only a question of using embers without a flame?
And what shall be done with the forests that are ready to be burned -
forests of the right kind of trees needed to produce the right kind
of fire, trees that have neither fruit, nor leaves enough for shade,
so that they are good only for burning? What shall be done with them?
Tell me!"
"I don't know."
What you must bring, are realistic solutions, methods to train better
wind technicians; to make pig sties eight stories high or more,
instead of the seven stories we now have. We have to improve what we
have; we cannot ignore history. So bring me a plan, for example, that
will show me how to design the crucial experiment which will yield a
solution to the problem of roast reform. That is what we need. You
are lacking in good judgement, Commonsense! Tell me, if your plan is
adopted, what would I do with such experts as the president of the
committee to study the integral use of the remnants of the
ex-forests?"
"I'm really perplexed," said John.
"Well, now, since you know what the problem is, don't go around
telling everybody you can fix everything. You must realize the
problem is serious and complicated; it is not so simple as you had
supposed it to be. An outsider says, "I can fix everything."
But you have to be inside to know the problems and the difficulties.
Now, just between you and me, I advise you not mention your idea to
anyone, for your own good, because I understand your plan. But, you
know, you may come across another boss not so capable of
understanding as I am. You know what that's like, don't you, Eh?"
Poor John Commonsense didn't utter a word. Without so much as saying
goodbye, stupefied with fright and puzzled by the barriers put in
front of him, he went away and was never seen again.
It was never known where he went. That is why it is often said that
when it comes to reforming the system, Commonsense is missing.
- Anonymous
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.
Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?
All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade.
~Rumi
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