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[29 Dec 2004|08:28pm] |
The news reports now say that the Earth's axial tilt momentarily changed during the earthquake:
"...the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.
"We can detect very slight motions of the Earth and I would expect that the Earth wobbled in its orbit when the earthquake occurred due to the massive amount of energy exerted and the sudden shift in mass," Hudnut said."
Now read this:
"The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.
The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind" (Isaiah 24: 18-20)
Seem eerily accurate? Keep in mind the fact that this is Old Testament prophecy from well over 2000 years ago when there would have been no conceivable way for anyone to understand the science involved in earthquakes and their possible effects on axial tilts.
The floodgates of the heavens...: According to the news (thank you Tara), "The quake originated in Tasmania and the storms that we [West Australia] experienced over the weekend were warning signs for the Tsunami."
The earth is broken up...: 50'000 and above now considered dead
The earth reels like a drunkard...: The earth wobbles upon its axis
The final line from the verses of Isaiah, above:
"so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it [the earth] falls - never to rise again."
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[29 Dec 2004|08:27pm] |
I know there are a lot of people on my lj list with varied beliefs when it comes to religion, and probably a lot of people who don't normally read my journal too, but I ask you to bare with me for this one post, please. This isn't me being pushy, this is me being concerned. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, and I respect that, I just want for a moment, for you to listen to mine.
On Christmas eve there were floods and a range of metropolitan accidents.. a truck leaking waste, and a street light toppling onto a busy road.
On Christmas day there were great winds and storms, the sky over the river was a colour I hadn't seen before, the Christmas trees had dropped their flowers and the winds blew them violently among the streets.
On the day after Christmas tsunamis killed over 20'000 people.
So what's with the weather changes and the massive natural disasters so close to the birthday of Jesus Christ?
Now I know you're about to scroll away and ignore the rest of the post - don't. Just listen for a little longer.
What is it that makes discussion about God such an agravating subject? The thing I've found is that most people's qualms are about people or religion rather than with God.
The people of the church are hypocrites, or religion is the cause of all the major wars in the world. The truth however is that some people within a religion will manipulate the words of God in order to fulfill their bloodlust and cravings for war. There's nothing in the the Bible that says to go forth and slay the people of all other religions. And some people say there are too many rules. But the truth is that when you begin a relationship with God, you get to decide how far you go with it. You get to decide whether God is asking you to change things in your life. Too fond of beer? That's absolutely fine, there's nothing in the Bible that says you have to abstain from drink all together. The confusion with abstanance was probably caused by the Temperence movement, which originally never planned to advocate abstinence until fundamentalists took the movement too far. Plenty of people I know drink a couple of cans on occassions but still pursue a strong relationship with God. So what's holding you back?
If you're like me you'll have a lot of questions to ask. Things like "why did the innocent people in Phuket die". I can answer those questions, but not indefinitely. The thing is, I've been a Christian for only a year and a half and I've had all my questions answered. Questions of gender equality and whether the life of Jesus could really be true were answered in due time, but the answers came from God and personal curiosity. But God only grants wisdom to those who are willing to receive.
You probably think that I'm just another Christian looking to fill some "saved" quota to look good in front of God. Or you proably think I'm a delusional member of some cultist group. Why am I doing this? Because the natural disasters and the wars that have been happening in the past few days are outlined in the prophetical part of the Bible. Because I care for all my friends and am genuinely scared for what could happen soon. Because as soon as it's finished, it's already too late. There's no time left to decide.
If you've never taken the time to visit a contemporary church service, or if you manage to wrap your mind around the fact that 20'000 are dead like I just have, then let me know!! It's not a thing of being "not for me"... Ignore the church and seek for God! Do it in your home, whatever! The only reason I advocate going to church is because it provides one with time to get to know God and hang out with great friends
Ask me questions, ask me for transport, be curious! Think of it this way, if there really is a God out there, wouldn't you want to let him know that you're interested in his existence? If there really is a God who is capable of anything and everything. Maybe God has put me in your path for a reason. Maybe you know me for a good reason. Maybe we've never spoken much, but we've stayed friends for what seems like an intangible reason. Maybe now it can be become more tangible.
People are almost undescribably complex. The Earth we live upon is so full of life when compared to the life on others. People are capable of creating such amazing things, like rocket ships and planes, but monkeys aren't. We don't really fit in, do we? Is the evolution theory seeming strange to you? Why aren't there any half evolved people walking around? We all evolved exactly at the same time? Seems pretty unlikely.
I made this post because I am concerned for my friends. I think something is going on overhead. Please, if you care for me at all, or even if you think that something might be out there but don't really agree with the Christian thing, send me an email or hang out with me sometime or leave a comment. Questions are welcome, but as I said, not indefinitely. Be curious, rather than skeptical. If you have no intention in beliving in a God, even amongst the emotions in your heart, the thoughts of your mind and movement of animals and trees, then you will be shut to anything that is said. If it's possible, isn't it worth giving yourself the chance to believe? You owe it to yourself. You don't know what you could be, or what could be out there. So give it a chance and you might be able to see.
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[29 Dec 2004|08:26pm] |
Something can't just come into being. Nothing can just, suddenly exist, appear. It has to be created. Computers, books, were created by man.
Similarly, the world couldn't just exist. It had to be made.
You can't just turn to the big bang theory to back you up in atheism either. What is commonly unknown is that the big bang theory was first propogated by a priest.
The big bang theory does not even oppose the notion of a God existing! God created the universe "using the big bang". That is to say, the big bang theory is just a way of explaining how the earth came into creation, that is, how it was created by God.
Similarly, the most influential scientists and inventors of our time were Christians, or had religious devotion. Poets like Donne grew up within a flourishing scientific community, his poetry full of both religious and scientific commitment and imagery. Science has always been a way of observing something and explaining it at the deepest level possible. For example, I once worried that the feelings of joy and spiritual nourishment I received from church were all based in the brain... simply the result of a combination of love and home and extreme emotion. But the thing is.. who put the processes that lead up to this spiritual feeling there in the first place? Who configured the body and brain to evoke this spiritual feeling under these circumstances and conditions? It could only have been God!
Read this:
"According to the Big Bang theory, some 10 to 20 billion years ago, all of the matter and energy of the universe was compressed into a cosmic egg, or plasma ball, consisting of sub-atomic particles and radiation. Nobody knows where the cosmic egg came from, or how it got there -- it was just there."
How can something just exist like that, without first being created by someone or something else? How can our world, our environment, our landscape, our atmosphere.. this background on and through which we walk.. how can it just exist without something first creating it?
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[02 Aug 2004|12:59am] |
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~love song for a savior~ ~jars of clay~ |
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Chapter 23
"I did not sleep that night."
There is something about this sentence that makes sleeplessness seem not like torment.
So placidly and factually stated, as if unburdened by the obvious emotional distress that would accompany it.
It almost suggests that sleeplessness is heroic, not debilitating or draining; the reason for insomnia epic, and the proceeding or preceding event noteworthy in its ability to disrupt sleep. It suggests the insomniac worthy of praise for his admirable night spent unwell, and a vague look of "it was nothing" strapped gallantly upon his or her brave face.
I suppose, upon reflection, it is easy to make obsolete the feelings of the past, with the countenance you possess come the future. So in application, all I need to do to ruin the pressure I feel today about tomorrow, is to apparate in the day after, write a report on the uneventful proceedings that tomorrow will bring/had brought, and then somehow return to read it before the day begins.
Maybe you can tell I've been watching Dr.Who lately ... =P
And perhaps this easy retrospect offers insight into therapy against anxiety in future events.
All we must do is rationally and pragmatically assume a point of view which considers the future event as already passed. And from there we merely must summarize the occasion as if it were a monotonous non-event - a happening without emotional influence or pain.
Attempt:
"He parked his car outside any viable sight of person, building or vaguest suggestion of life, and began the day long trek into the university campus. He passed a tumbleweed, mocking him with its lazy direction and harmless indecision. He passed it twice. He wondered if it was the same one.
On arrival at his first tutorial, he found the faces cheerful yet unwelcoming. The class was issued with an assignment, fearfully little instruction, and then they were dismissed.
A two hour long break yielded little of thought, fact or fiction.
The proceeding lecture concluded after a mere thirty minutes, and the day seemed to likewise concur, under human ordain, and the sun quickly set into an uneasy rest.
The first day had finished, but the semester had only just begun."
Well, although I fell into the trap of suggesting emotion, I can definitely vouch for the therapy provided by solemn prediction.
No.
(uni tomorrow)
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[16 Jun 2004|11:39pm] |
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( .prose. )
Fiction's less fictional side.
Thanks to Kodi, for the concept.
X-posted with DevArt.
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[14 Apr 2004|10:34pm] |
you don't know it, but you're walking through my day-dream
talking about movement and dandelions
that are only half there
as they give up their stems to be in a highly defined world
guided by faith and life, not sight
they swim up through the moon's silver sleeping steps
into Heaven
television breaks the commitment
distorted semi-vision takes its stand
walks out of your eyes and places days apart
shows you what lies inside
a week where nothing happens, nothing transpires
and you glow amongst the emptiness
as its protector - and it sends you warmth
but never, when clouds gather, do you wish for sunshine
because the ground on which you walk is sunshine -
shattering, breaking into millions of woven stars
and with a hand so pure it trembles in a dirty world
you sprinkle safety upon the air
and i am taken by your sweet confession
that bliss can be an empty flame -
and i am terrified of how the world will change
when the air has expressed its last regrets
of supporting a timeless, defiant cause -
our search for safety,
found in tearing our own worlds apart
but deep inside the glimmer of the bubbles you blow
on the hill in my garden, as the wind sends your voice into space
i sleep within certain comfort
that the safety of stars (,that your soft dance brings)
is completing me
-
(to Tara, for taking me home)
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| emo day#1 |
[04 Apr 2004|07:58pm] |
Today was my emo day, inspired by a great aquisition of borrowed music from the loverly ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) secludedsoul.
Was it a success?
The day was overcast and even with the light on, the room was cold. The window and door were closed, the light fitting snug around my shoulders and carpetted a sheltered closed-in box of comfort from the niggly, contrived and pedantic outside world (weather dreary and forlorn: check! comfortable environment for emotional security: check!)
I listened to Thursday on my headphones, and was soon attacked with the frantic urge and desire to write poetry in a well-loved pad. (emo music: check! headphones for secure listening, because the outside world just won't understand: check! emo creativity stirring from deep within a cynical and uncertain soul: check!)
I told Mum to hold any phonecalls that came for me. My relatives were due to come over later in the day, but I didn't really feel up to seeing them, so after watching the first episode of Noir, I drove to Curtin to relive some painful memories of a time before... (extreme measures to avoid socialization: check! geeky tendencies of some description: check! willingful confrontation with a murky past: check!)
As I arrived, jocks were warming up for an atheletic process of some description, to the sound of *doof-doof* music, and as I passed I raised a diligent and obvious eyebrow in their general direction. Sitting by the duck pond, I confided in the strange black birds (they only wanted me for my food *sigh filled with longing and despair*) and read numerous articles in Grok. I took photos of the crucifix I had met the night before, and wrote what little came to my head. (contemptuous pseudo-interaction with an enemy personality: check! cathartic discussion with a willing non-human ear: check! reading of alternative literature (music and social subjectivity): check! processes involved in an expressive hobby of choice: check!)
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I listened to additional emo music and experienced both feelings of achievement, and feelings of utter defeat in the face of FFX-2.
It was also my Mum's birthday today! She has had the Beegee's CDs on unrelentless repeat all day, and seems to have enjoyed herself very much!
And in uncertain news, I am considering disassociation from the church... more on this later.
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| Being Anti- something, Being Pro- to the reverse |
[31 Mar 2004|07:56pm] |
Similar terms for basically the same concept? A self-administered label which provides, perhaps, a little insight into the countenance of the user?
Proclaiming Pro-Animal Rights would assume a negative but similar position when exposed to a pessimistic mind: Anti-Animal Slaughter. On the same note, but reversed, claiming an Anti-Establishment stance would imply one of Pro-Freedom.
Does the terminology used to describe one's point of view dictate their relationship with a glass of water? Is the glass half empty, or half full?
Teenage alternative personalities are the first to assume an anarchistic stance towards the domineering authorities of society. Anything considered as a removal of rights is given the angsty-red stamp of disapproval. They call themselves an individualistic group of Anti-conformity.
However, those who grow into (plausibly subconsciously) 'Pro-Freedom of Speech' ideals - perhaps stereotyped by flowing blonde hair and an impressive smile - are immediately, by the anarchists, regarded with contempt, and labelled as the enemy.
So is there a determinable difference between a 'pro' and 'anti' labelling which in actuality points to the same or similar stance of opinion? Emotionally: yes. Functionally: yes. But effectively: no.
Emotionally we see an obvious difference in the perspective of the ideal. An anarchist might approach the idea with a cynical outlook and a general apathy that seeks to undermine the thoughts and ideals of individuals opposite in thought process to themselves.
One of their better natured cousins however, might view their own cause as something which needs to be supported, and they would benefit emotionally from the satisfaction of standing up for their cause.
Though it cannot be said that an Anti does not receive satisfaction from his or her countenance. But they are less likely to be acknowledged by society as doing any universal good and therefore they need to be of self-compliment in order not to suffer a detriment to their emotional status due to their own pessimistic views.
Perhaps this is the reason behind an extrovert's requirement for social acceptance, and an introvert's complacency with the company of self; because one cannot take pride in their own design without outside commitment to the task, while the other is fully capable of satisfying his or her own peace of mind (yet again, in the case that either party cannot either find another to share solace in, or lacks the positive self-concept to take pride in their identity, they might instead feel despair, rejection and/or depression.)
Functionally, they both differ in the actions they partake in, in order to support their beliefs. Their argument will often be pointed at the same establishment, but the way in which they react to provocations of conflict will reflect the 'nature' of their stance.
But effectively the two factions fight for the same freedom. And if a unity cannot be resolved in the midst of a competitive feud of ideals which are internally the same, then surely... it won't really matter because both paths potentially lead to well developed characters.
But can being Pro- come without the cost of being Anti- something else? And does one not imply the other? No, and yes, respectively (although I would imagine some exceptions to the first question would occur.) And it is the fact that one implies the other that makes a falling out there-in quite ludicrous in nature. So does the self labelling lose relevance? No, it is still an interesting factor which might in some cases provide insight into the countenance of its user.
So do Anti-'s fight Pro-'s anyway? Perhaps this is a war not waged between two people, but within yourself. Pessimism is a disease which can spread through the eyes used to look upon many different things. The soul would rejoice, given a moment in relief from a negative slant.
end.
p.s. i have a new profile picture!
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[27 Mar 2004|11:51am] |
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The Cure - Just Like Heaven [in head] |
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secludedsoul spoke of life before 'The Flood', provoking the following. My perspective of a world without technology will surely differ from others - so please feel free to comment about your own conceptions of a predominantly natural world . . .
It would be a spiritually fulfilling world - the satisfaction of both self and environmental exploration (doesn't self exploration sound like the most beautiful and important experience a human can undergo?)
No distractions from a true (self designated) purpose by the existence of popular media, which in addition, aids in the degeneration of the mind and body with toxic influences, such as the espousal of stereotypical images to the detriment of individuality, and the justification of mindless process by displaying it as real-life or 'how things work'.
No jobs with which to trade our time for money - a meaningless leaflet of numbers used by modern society to propel the world's technical functioning forwards without relax or delay.
Hm =) it would indeed be wonderful, though I realize now that I have justified it only with the failings of our current society, rather than illuminating the beauty of the natural world of which you speak. So let me try again =) ...
Nothing in my mind would be more emotionally fulfilling than to stumble out of a dry, wantless bushland into a clearing of peaceful pouring light, as if designating a place of sanctity.. to come across a sheering cliff face with a seemingly impassable drop into a sparkling expanse of water with the knowledge that the only means to pass such an occurrance will take physical endurance and ingenuity of mind - rather than the modern ease of a ladder or bridge..
To sleep under the stars of the night sky, wrapped in a warmth of the mind - the knowledge that you sleep with the natural world, not in spite of it.
A world without a map.. Without a single documented local to influence your own exploration or opinion of place.. A world which forwards notions (that I consider to be the most important in life) such as spirituality, relationships both with nature and with kin..
A world that doesn't restrict time, but provides time, making it a beloved resource with which to embrace any passtime of your choosing.. No requirement of schedule, no work to tear you away from loved ones, nor social preconceptions to doubt your sense of self-integrity.
A world where the sun will everyday, rise in your eyes...
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| a . g a r d e n . l i f e . through . t i m e |
[17 Mar 2004|07:48pm] |
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Blink182 - [self titled] |
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Remember the garden I spoke of? The aphids who called those flowers their home?
The day after I wrote words of their being, they were chopped from this world, and thrown to the trash.
Mum said they were becoming overgrown. Interesting concept "overgrown". Would imply some sort of theoretical limit to the extent to which growth can occur before it must be destroyed and done away with.
But they die to grow again. They experience the severing low only to breathe the stunning high. Anyone can complain of the mundane, and then complain again when in the middle of a drastic change. The key is stress appraisal - see your problems as challenges, rather than threats. Completely achievable destinations, rather than inevitable failings.
And I have recently wondered whether people who experience extreme lows also receive astronomical highs.
Would you be happy to put up with soul dissolving depression if it meant gleeful periods of ultimate satisfaction?
I'm okay with it.. =)
Or the alternative, the middle of both, and not a lot of either?
..Hmm..The dastardly spectrum again comes into play...
In the finish I suppose it depends on which end you will choose to foreground. The happiness or the sad.
I resolve to experience both, and vent explosions when I do.
Life cannot be lived on only one side of the line.
Enjoy the complications..
(edit:23:56)
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[14 Mar 2004|07:25pm] |
I spent some time in the garden earlier, getting to know the aphids spread out upon the flowers. I jumped through the tangled ladder and discovered the magic of an odd piece of wood which causes sand to tinkle out in strange high pitched sound.
I was waiting for an aeroplane go by. To pass over our backyard - just a wooden square in a pattern of houses like a maze to the birds of prey above. And I wander in it, looking up into the cheat sheet of the sky.
It had been low enough to paint a perfect picture in my mind, process and delight myself in the prospect of catching a similar recurrence on my digicam when next one passes by. The clouds were moving.
But it became dark at night. I came inside.
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[14 Mar 2004|03:20pm] |
"this is where i say i've had enough" of not writing in this darned journal!
Materialism is a saving grace if it's all you have between insight and loneliness. If it comes in the form of music. And we all know it to be true that we would procure this music for ourselves without any exchange of money if such a possibility legally arised.
Though I suppose a spiritual ascent is meant to be unaided. Yet if that were the case, Gregorian Chant would be free. No matter then...
I have reserved myself from writing here in order to spare a new journal for the best of me. And though I'm of a high contentment as of late, my words still focus on the harsher aspects of life. No inspiration for others, no open doorways into treasured realms just beyond our field of view. Yet now that the lock has been released, the chain is free from fighting, and it will be just me.
I look around my room and see a world on every shelf. A segregation in society that holds in each, an all too different world.
I look around my room and into the Windy City. Terrorized by science that moves sand for purely presentation, motor movement just for show. Globules of undocumented goop slide down ladders and exchange frightened glances with the passers-by that come, to "know".
Were the ground to be flipped around above your head, how would you feel now? For them the sky merely becomes another ground, and for those of which who have "manipulated gravity" as their purpose for display, the ground becomes their heaven in which these masses make their stay.
This, the tormented land in which the buzzing sound by the side of your head might just be the sound of (your physical body) ariving at death. Atop this world, frozen in time, crackles a storm of static electricity, the product of too many towers rubbing against a windy sky.
Were movement still considered a popular way to travel, the rain outside each reinforced window would burn havoc into childish smiles and open eyes that dare to ponder: "what is the colour of our sky?"
Leading words are my trap. If you follow a directionless string of words, will it betray you of its path halfway, and leave you looking a fool for it? In poetry and writing it hardly matters, for what is written can be erased. But the shallow amount of time most people will allow you gives no chance for errors, no time for space.
"Enough, enough" of this chatter. This is where I am, and there is where I've been...
Lately I've managed a smile in all, bar a few, situations (an inwards smile, and God forbid any other.) In fact the time that meets my heels is probably the happiest time I've ever had. The reasons for this are full and plenty, for one my university life has seemed to bring with it more than just a fleeting novelty. I have managed to make new friends and further friendship with older ones.
The environment is perfection, people sitting in a park so unsecluded that the silence is unsafe. In such regards it is quite unlike the outside world in which a curly path through stalk of grass and timid tree is meant only for the dog or the morning run.
Through and through, relaxation has been the key and granted all the work is left in our responsibility - something to too well kept by myself and keeping ahead might soon just be a distant dream. But to not enjoy what I have would be a ludicrous felony.
This is the inside world - tranquility we keep; and revenue is the air i breathe.
A secondary point worth consideration is an open mouth and two walking feet. Now keep in mind i consider such a stance to be the opposite of direction - a mindless approach to a mindless world, used only as a function for fitting in. But how can I not enjoy now what I've not once in my life had? To rate whether this transformation is good or bad, is opinionated and in mine is either/or. True enough my poetic nature has lay dormant until some sooner behind me days, and thankfully this, today. One wonders whether I will only ever love this language when some part of me is trapped in torment.
Which is not to say I'm falling now - just that recently ... well ...
The only gap in this happiness i have described took place on Wednesday - which is like the stereotypical monday for me (a day in which the worst goes wrong).
It was my first glance in quite some time, at the aura of uncertainty that my presence generates in the movement of others.
Like the maniacal commander leading troops unto death's door - I proceeded to awake a fear around me that pulls up from within a fear inside me. So it's a paranoid expression, when I see faint contempt in someone's eye and think I am the only one to have put it there.
Perhaps it is untrue, and yet, regardless on occassion, I will let this fact destroy my own comfort of mind.
On relating this tale to a friend of mine she reminded me of my inability to smile, or look any other way than the world upon my shoulders. I felt at once that self-provided pain should come, yet I was saved by the only beauty who resides within my heart (thanks Em).
So whether this incident was enough to strike a match upon today, or any other creative display, is without my knowledge. It is more likely a coincidence that I am more willing to sponsor, than if creativity were felt and a tragedy were to not occur at all.
But this is where now I stand, and hopefully all of the above will come to pass again.. for it is the equilibrium I once sought - not a mixture of all at once - but both sides, and one at a time.
This indeed must be the best way to experience a balance of any kind, for this way one can experience extremes of both lands, instead of sitting empty in the middle not really feeling either nor both.
And one of the greatest things about my life right now, is love. The most beautiful Emily <3
Because I can tell you anything
Because what you tell me is everything
Because an absense of telling is just as treasured
Because you're the most fun
Because there is no-one as true
<3
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