Emptying Minds…Filling Bellies

Lesson from the Tao Te Ching

Microsoft Word – Tao Te Ching – trans. by J.H.. McDonald

Ancient wisdom blended with modern images and music.

Chapter 3

First Archetypal Animation & Stanza

If you overly esteem talented individuals, people will become overly competitive. If you overvalue possessions,
people will begin to steal.

If you overly esteem talented individuals, people will become overly competitive… | Music: I’m Makin’ Money | Moreira Aldrich

Second Archetypal Animation & Stanza

Do not display your treasures or people will become envious.

Do not display your treasures or people will become envious… | Music: Envy of None | Envy Of None [3] Look Inside    4:44

Third & Feature Archetypal Animation & Stanza

The Master leads by
emptying people’s minds;
filling their bellies,
weakening their ambitions,
and making them become strong.
Preferring simplicity and freedom from desires, avoiding the pitfalls of knowledge and wrong action.

The Master leads by
emptying people’s minds;
filling their bellies,
weakening their ambitions,
and making them become strong…
| Music: Complex Simplicity | Kyle Bent | Complexity

For those who practice not-doing, everything will fall into place.

Last Stanza & Videos Related to Not-Doing and Falling into Place

Complexity
5,845 views | Jan 18, 2019

Alan Watts Lectures | The Silent Mind
273,201 views, Jan 14, 2019

First Archetypal Animation

Music Cello Artist Performance Musician Cellist | Ri_Ya | Ri Butov  •  Israel  •  Member since June 29, 2019  •  #175

Chess Couples King And Queen Pair Of Horses Pairs | Ri_Ya | Ri Butov  •  Israel  •  Member since June 29, 2019  •  #175

Arm Wrestling Bet Monochrome Sport Competition | RyanMcGuire | Ryan McGuire  •  Ithaca/NY  •  Member since Jan. 4, 2014

Suit Business Man Business Man Male Person White | RyanMcGuire | Ryan McGuire  •  Ithaca/NY  •  Member since Jan. 4, 2014

Money Shark Businessman Greed For Money Rich Showy | Alexas_Fotos | Alexa  •  Steh über den Dingen  •  Member since Jan. 6, 2015  •  #387

Ecommerce Selling Online Online Sales E-Commerce | Mediamodifier | English  •  Member since Oct. 27, 2015

Skeleton Glass Seeks Addicted Dice Map | Noupload | Andy  •  Halbinsel Eiderstedt/Germany  •  Member since April 16, 2016

Taxes Tax Evasion Police Handcuffs Fraud | Alexas_Fotos | Alexa  •  Steh über den Dingen  •  Member since Jan. 6, 2015  •  #387


Second Archetypal Animation

Jewels Silver Gold Treasure Gems Ransom Pearls | JamesDeMers | Charlottesville/USA  •  Member since March 6, 2012

Woman Face Diamonds Model Person | Nika_Akin | Nika Akin  •  Age 30  •  Germany  •  Member since Sept. 5, 2019

Man Rich Treasure Money Business Investment | Tumisu | Tumisu, please consider ☕ Thank you! 🤗  •  English  •  Member since Feb. 3, 2014

Griffon Fantasy Drawing Creature Vintage Griffin | squarefrog | Amy  •  Age 53  •  United States  •  Member since July 30, 2018

Skull Moon Tree Scary Horror Gruesome Grim | kalhh | kalhh  •  Age 55  •  Deutschland  •  Member since Nov. 8, 2013

Music: Envy of None | Envy Of None [3] Look Inside    4:44


Third & Feature Archetypal Animation

Fantasy Background Image Arch Climber Plant Gothic | Darkmoon_Art | Dorothe  •  Deutschland  •  Member since Nov. 19, 2015  •  #680

Platter Food Starters Meal Feast Dining Table | buffetcrush | 지원 이  •  Age 49  •  대한민국  •  Member since Dec. 30, 2016

Business The Next Step Next Success Stairs Board | geralt | Gerd Altmann  •  Freiburg/Deutschland  •  Member since Sept. 15, 2012  •  #14

 Joy Freedom Release Happy Happiness Girl Summer | TheVirtualDenise | Denise Husted  •  Age 40  •  Rio Rancho/United States  •  Member since July 3, 2017

Beauty Woman Female Girl Long Hair White | ThePixelman | Hong Kong  •  Member since Aug. 27, 2014

Longing Survival Strategy Yearning Plot Plan | johnhain | John Hain  •  Age 72  •  Carmel/United States  •  Member since July 24, 2014

Music: Complex Simplicity | Kyle Bent | Complexity

Acting Without Doing Anything

Lesson from the Tao Te Ching

Microsoft Word – Tao Te Ching – trans. by J.H.. McDonald

Ancient wisdom blended with modern images and music.

Chapter 2

When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created.
When people see things as good, evil is created.

First Stanza & Archetypal Animation

When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created… | Music: The Beauty in Ugly – Ugly Betty Version | Jason Mraz

Being and non-being produce each other. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short define each other. High and low oppose each other. Fore and aft follow each other.

Second Stanza & Archetypal Animation

Being and non-being produce each other. Difficult and easy complement each other… | Music: High And Low by Andreas S. Möhle

Therefore the Master
can act without doing anything
and teach without saying a word.
Things come her way and she does not stop them; things leave and she lets them go.
She has without possessing,
and acts without any expectations.
When her work is done, she takes no credit.
That is why it will last forever.

Third Stanza & Archetypal Animation

Therefore the Master
can act without doing anything
and teach without saying a word…
| Music: The Giver | Livingston

For Chapter 1, see What Is Your Source of Energy?


Feature Archetypal Animation

Wall House Art Graffiti Elephant Decoration Home | RichardMc | Richard Mcall  •  Ireland/UK/Thailand  •  Member since Jan. 1, 2016

Rajasthan Camel Safari Trekking Evening Dusk | RichardMc | Richard Mcall  •  Ireland/UK/Thailand  •  Member since Jan. 1, 2016

Cobra Snake Reptile Basket Danger Serpent | RichardMc | Richard Mcall  •  Ireland/UK/Thailand  •  Member since Jan. 1, 2016

Art Painting Lady Woman Girl Head Shoulders | RichardMc | Richard Mcall  •  Ireland/UK/Thailand  •  Member since Jan. 1, 2016

Large Bronze Head Pietrasanta Plaza Italy | RichardMc | Richard Mcall  •  Ireland/UK/Thailand  •  Member since Jan. 1, 2016

Body Painting Makeup Cosplay Portrait Dark  | Vic_B | press 👍 and ⭐  •  Moscow/Россия  •  Member since Aug. 30, 2017  •  #12

Bulb Idea Fantasy Lighthouse Art Birds Beach | Vic_B | press 👍 and ⭐  •  Moscow/Россия  •  Member since Aug. 30, 2017  •  #12

Fantasy Space Stars Universe Starry Sky Galaxy | Willgard | Willgard Krause  •  Age 59  •  Lutherstadt Wittenberg/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 25, 2017  •  #449

Music: Time | Mr.Kitty | [15] Child of the Earth   


First Archetypal Animation

 Dandelion Seeds Dew Dewdrops Droplets Weed Plant | InspiredImages | UK  •  Member since Sept. 27, 2013

Art Portrait People Old Antique Retro Mirrors | SarahRichterArt | Sarah Richter  •  Deutsch  •  Member since Oct. 21, 2015

The Ugly Duchess Painting Portrait Quentin Metsys | Zephirx | Pascal  •  Age 23  •  Germany  •  Member since Dec. 17, 2020

Girl With A Pearl Earring Painting Portrait | Zephirx | Pascal  •  Age 23  •  Germany  •  Member since Dec. 17, 2020

Environmental Protection Environment The Atmosphere | Inactive account – ID 81349

Clown All-In-One Character Fun Evil Bad | isabellaquintana | Isabella Quintana  •  Cali/Colombia  •  Member since Sept. 22, 2014

Music: The Beauty in Ugly – Ugly Betty Version | Jason Mraz


Second Archetypal Animation

Woman Yoga Pose Wellness Well-Being Meditate | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016

Star Child Star Children Angels Meditation Unity | PapaOsmosis | Anthony  •  United States  •  Member since Oct. 4, 2016

Maze Labyrinth Solution Lost Problem Challenge | qimono |Arek Socha  •  Stockholm/Sweden  •  Member since Jan. 27, 2016

 Giraffe Animal Mammal Tree Long-Legged Long-Necked | HowardWilks | English  •  Member since March 31, 2017

Danbo Nyangbo Figure Doll Gray-Scale Loneliness | IraEm | M K  •  Ch/Korea  •  Member since Feb. 3, 2014

Storm Sea Lightning Ship Adventure Ominous | ChadoNihi | Alexandr  •  Age 29  •  Cambridge/UK  •  Member since Dec. 8, 2014

 New York Sea City Skyline Buildings Cityscape | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016


Music: High And Low by Andreas S. Möhle


Third Archetypal Animation

Hip Hop Dance Girl Woman Young Lifestyle Artistic | ArtTower | Brigitte Werner  •  Age 68  •  Canim Lake/Canada  •  Member since June 15, 2012  •  #72

Waters Move Flow Action People Rope Waterfall | Dieterich01 | Lothar Dieterich  •  Age 62  •  Germering/Deutschland  •  Member since June 26, 2016

Colorful Five Fingers Kid Fingers Playful Rating | yohoprashant | Prashant Sharma  •  Age 37  •  Bhaktapur/Nepal  •  Member since Feb. 22, 2018

Girl Cat Moon Wall Melancholy Sad Alone Romantic | Tumisu | Tumisu, please consider ☕ Thank you! 🤗  •  English  •  Member since Feb. 3, 2014

Child Girl Winter Snow Face Fairy Tale | Pezibear | Petra  •  Österreich  •  Member since Oct. 22, 2014  •  #82

Hand Gift Bouquet Love Congratulate Give Flowers | klimkin | svklimkin  •  Age 45  •  Moscow/Russia  •  Member since Aug. 13, 2015

Fantasy Galaxy Universe Stars Cosmos Night | JuliusH | Julius H.  •  Age 69  •  Niedersachsen/Deutschland 🇪🇺  •  Member since Dec. 4, 2016  •  #165

What Is Your Source of Energy?

Lessons from the Tao Te Ching

— Written by Lao-Tzu — trans. by J.H.. McDonald

Laozi and Mozi

The Tao Te Ching was written around 400 BCE by Laozi (also written as Lao Tzu). He is the founder of Taoism, which is one of the philosophies flourishing during the time in China known as the time of The Hundred Schools of Thought, which thrived from the 6th century BCE to 221 BCE.

According to Mozi, another of China’s great philosophers born c. 470 BCE and died to c. 391 BCE, the achievement of social goals necessitates the unity of thought and action by the people and their rulers. His political philosophy bears a resemblance to divine-rule monarchy: the population ought always to obey its leaders, as its leaders ought always follow the will of heaven.

He is the first major intellectual to rival Confucius, founding the school of Mohism during this period of The Hundred Schools of Thought. His teaching have been summed up into 10 theses that have since been extensively argued. His most famous these is that of:

Jian’ai: This is the injunction that one ought to be concerned for the welfare of people in a spirit of “impartial concern” (jian’ai) that does not make distinctions between self and other, associates and strangers, a doctrine often described more simplistically as “universal love.” -- Encyclopedia of Philosophy

It would not be long before how well the leaders of the people would (or could) follow the will of heaven would be tested.

The Rise of Strongmen and Ruthless Rulers

Qin Shi Huang is the second of the Ruthless Rulers I highlight in my book Sapience: The Moment is Now (not yet published, but soon).

He is the first of the feudal kings of China to conquer all of the Warring States in 221 BCE, which included six dynasties, to create the Qin Dynasty. These territories include most of what we consider modern China today. Upon doing this, he declared himself the first emperor of China and assumed a title implying he possessed divine powers. He begins his rule by persecuting monks and philosophers, which cumulates in the burning of the books and termination of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Qin Shi Huang, portrait in 18th century album Lidai diwang xiang. Artist unknown.
"Beginning in 213 BCE, all classic works of the Hundred Schools of Thought — except those from Li Ssu's own school of philosophy known as legalism — were subject to book burning. "Qin Shi Huang burned the other histories out of fear that they undermined his legitimacy, and wrote his own history books. -- History of Information

It is a pattern that has repeated itself over and over and over again since the first Ruthless Ruler walked the Earth. The inability of the people to tolerate diverse groups of thoughts seems to lie at the heart of how and why Ruthless Rulers rise to power.

And yet walking alongside Ruthless Rulers are men and women of rich intellectual mastery and wisdom such as Mozi and Confucius, Plato and Aristotle, Laozi and Zhuangzi who are only a few of individuals who have delved deeply into the human psyche and wrestled with the unknowable.

More than any time in our collective history, we need so many more people to take the plunge and do the same. To wrestled with the monsters that live inside all of us. We need groups of people in greater numbers than ever before to contemplate, debate, mutter and muster greater understanding for the tremendous diversity of thoughts, ideas, and philosophies we are capable of conceiving and creating into reality using nothing more than our minds to imagine something different than nature would have previously allowed to exist. We must work and stretch our minds far beyond the simple ploys Strongmen use to generate arguments and embed slogans into minds meant to bend the into little boxes that are easy to control and use like disposable commodities.

This is what Strongmen do, as they endlessly dream of becoming the next great Ruthless Ruler.

We see it playing out again, right here, right now, in our own countries wherever they are as the tide of intolerance, bigotry, racism, nationalism, patriotism, partisanism sweep strongmen into powerful positions–Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orbán, Marine Le Pen, Rodrigo Duterte, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Putin, and formerly Trump.

They use righteous ideas and righteous talk like jack hammers that steadily chip away at the unity of thought and action Mozi talked about centuries ago as essential for collective good of all. When their speech doesn’t flame the right pit of emotion and opposition arises, they use violence (if they can get away with it) to silence those who don’t agree with them.

Images from the bottom to the top:


What Will We Do?

Will we let ourselves be torn to pieces by ideas and thoughts flung about by Strongmen and Ruthless Ruler? It always ends the same way. They reign with terror tearing down and destroying anything good and wholesome a country or group of people has managed to achieve, turning on those who turn against them, annihilating anyone or anything who dares to question them. They tell their followers they have been sent here on a divine mission, they have been sent by God, or indeed, they are God and everyone must bend down before them.

It is for this reason I will highlight parts of Laozi’s book written so many centuries earlier. A man who was believed by the people to be a god and worshipped, though I suspect Laozi would have tolerated this as a bit foolish…he knew he was a man with faults and foibles…that is what his teachings are about navigating the stream we call ourselves full of faults and foibles, wisdom and knowledge, danger and destruction. He advocated the middle way. His system of thinking would serve modern men and women well right now in the dangerous tides we ourselves have created and now must swim.

Here is his first chapter of his masterpiece of thinking animated with modern images and music from our time now.

Chapter 1 — Tao Te Ching

First Archetypal Animation & Stanza

The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be spoken is not the eternal Name.

The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao… | Music: Tao of Healing Dean EvensonPond Reflecting Stars   

Second Archetypal Animation & Stanza

The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of creation.

The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of creation. | Music: The Other Side of Darkness — Guide Me Home (One Misstep)

Third Archetypal Animation & Stanza

Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery. By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.

Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery. By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real. | Music: Freed From Desire Strange Fruits Music [1] Freed From Desire    2:24

Fourth Archetypal Animation & Stanza (also Feature Animation)

Yet mystery and reality emerge from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness born from darkness. The beginning of all understanding.

Yet mystery and reality emerge from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness born from darkness. The beginning of all understanding. | Music: Source of Energy | Clear Conscience[1] Source of Energy

Addition Relevant Resources

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
The most certain way to succeed is always
to try just one more time
.” — Thomas A. Edison

Hernan Diaz’s anticipated novel ‘Trust’ probes the illusion of money — and the truth

Scott Simon talks with Hernan Diaz about his novel, “Trust.” It tells the story of a New York tycoon who takes advantage of the 1929 crash, and his attempts to rewrite and control his own story. In this interview, Diaz tells Scott that power is the ability to bend reality and shape what others perceive as real. Power imposes someone else’s reality onto others. Wealth and money (and the desire to get more money) does this to people. They burn with the desire to have more of that kind of power over others. Great fortunes create a reality in and of themselves that others are eager to have a part or piece of.

Images from: The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It; Trust by Hernan Diaz; Power Wealth Classics; Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World


What Leadership Looks Like | Ted Radio Hour

From workplaces to schools to national governments, leaders everywhere are being called on to solve complex problems with humility and bravery. This hour, we consider what it takes to be a leader.  Guests include executive coach Patrice Gordon, organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, and educator Shabana Basij-Rasikh.

I found the first interview particularly compelling as the speaker relates our ancient programming to have strong men leading a tribe or clan. These were times when groups were small and all members knew the integrity of every other member and whether they could be trusted or not. However, as our small bands and groups of people surviving together against vast and overwhelming odds have grown into vast civilizations, the qualities of a good ruler have shifted tremendously.

A good ruler today does not act on gut instinct, as would have been the right thing to do 10,000 years ago. A good ruler today actually must go against gut instinct to grasp the greater complexities of our modern realities and make more calculated, incremental moves that benefits all members of the collective, even those who are against the leader. But as people electing who to rule us, we are still vastly informed by our own gut instincts and emotions choosing ruler who we feel we could have beer with rather than rulers who could stare down the missile silo of a narcissist idiot threatening to use nuclear weapons on the world.

Images from: What Leadership Looks Like | Ted Radio Hour; Trump may tweet better. But nobody rides an ICBM like Putin; Russia nuclear threat: Putin’s deadly underwater nuke which can devastate US targets; Russia warns that it will see any missile launched at its territory as a nuclear attack; Russia has ‘unstoppable’ supersonic nuclear missile that cannot be traced by Western defence systems, says Putin; Vladimir Putin’s 4,000mph nuke can reach Britain in 13 MINUTES – and it CANNOT be stopped

What lovely, reassuring smile Putin has on that last picture!


The New Gilded Age | Throughline

“The World Economic Forum annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland, 2019 – an exclusive event where the world’s richest and most powerful people get together to solve the world’s problems. I was there when David Attenborough, you know, was showing his new film. The Garden of Eden is no more. Beautiful – you know, absolutely beautiful, stunning footage of how we’re wrecking the planet. And people were literally crying while they were seeing it. And I was thinking, but, guys, you arrived here in your private jets.”

Images from: File:World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2005a.jpg; World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020; ‘Garden of Eden is no more’, Sir David Attenborough tells Davos; Prince William turns interviewer in Davos appearance with Attenborough; Too much money is bad; May 23, 1937: The Death Of The Ultimate Oil Man; The First Battle for Oil in Norway: The Long Arm of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil; The Ultimate List of Corporate Philanthropy Benefits and How To Achieve Them; The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills; The Self-Help Myth: How Philanthropy Fails to Alleviate Poverty; Were the Titans of the Gilded Age “Robber Barons” or “Entrepreneurial Industrialists”?; Gilded Age Blog; Up To a Point: Robber Barons Make Way For Robber Nerds; The Modern Robber Barons; Ludlow Massacre; On This Day April 20, 1914: Remembering the Ludlow Massacre; Ludlow Massacre: PBS;


Why Russia’s military appears to be struggling in Ukraine

Aired May 1, 2022 on Heard on  All Things Considered

Why does Russia's massive and powerful military force continue to struggle against a smaller, less well-equipped opponent? Journalist David Volodzko wrote about this in a recent piece in The Daily Beast titled "The Embarrassing Truth Behind Putin's War Failures." He says the Russians appear not to have internalized the lessons they could have learned during other conflicts, particularly the civil war in Syria, where Russia backed the government of dictator Bashar al-Assad. -- MICHEL MARTIN, HOST
The problem is, in April 2021, I believe, the company that makes the Azart and its owner, Leonid Reiman, who's the former minister of communications, came under investigation for fraud. They had evidently been using cheap Chinese parts. This led to a bunch of problems, including the batteries didn't really work that well. So they've had to switch instead, and they're largely using mobile phones and things of that nature. And this is just one example of how corruption has left Putin and his army out in the open, in a sense, and exposed. -- DAVID VOLODZKO
I think that we all have overestimated Russia's military capabilities. And, I would add, I think that Putin did, too. One point that I make in the piece is that Moscow recently purged 150 Federal Security Service agents, and they sent the head of the FSB's fifth service, which handles counterinsurgency ops in Ukraine, to Lefortovo Prison. Now, there's a couple different theories as to why, and I'm inclined to go with the official explanation on this one, which is that Beseda lied to the state and stole funds. -- DAVID VOLODZKO
So again, as with the radio communications issue, we see corruption coming back to bite Russia. And as a consequence of that, Putin may have gone in on bad intel, thinking that the Ukrainians were going to be waiting with flowers instead of Bandera smoothies - which is, you know, Ukraine's version of a Molotov cocktail - and going in with bad gear, thinking that he had the best and the latest. And so as much as we fell for this idea of Russia being much more powerful than they are, much more capable than they are, Putin fell for that himself. -- DAVID VOLODZKO

Ridley Road | Masterpiece Theater

`Ridley Road' is the story of the 62 Group, a collection of anti-fascists who stood up against the rising neo-Nazi movement in Britain after World War Two, based on Jo Bloom's book of the same name, released in 2014. In the summer of 1962, twenty-year-old Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser from Manchester, arrives in London following the death of her father. Alone in the world, she is looking for Jack Fox, a man she had a brief but intense love affair with some months before. Her search leads her into the fight against resurgent fascism in East London, where members of the Jewish community are taking to the streets, in and around Ridley Road. -- Google Knowledge Panel

Note: This is 1962 this movies is about; just 17 years after Nazi Germany almost successfully invaded England.

Images from: Ridley Road; Ridley Road review – fascism thriller resonates in our current dark age; What is Ridley Road About?; Ridley Road: Viewers are all doing the same thing after episode two of the BBC drama; Ridley Road reviewfascism thriller resonates in our current dark age

Archetypal Animations

First Archetypal Animation

Buddha Yoga Meditation Relax Welfare Buddhism | PatrizioYoga | Patrizio  •  Italia  •  Member since March 21, 2018

Fantasy Transcendence Composing Magic Gold | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #240

Matrix Communication Software Pc Virus Computer | geralt | Gerd Altmann  •  Freiburg/Deutschland  •  Member since Sept. 15, 2012  •  #13

Music: Tao of Healing Dean Evenson [1] Gentle Season    6:46 [2] Clouds on Mountain    7:30 [3] Pond Reflecting Stars    6:14


Second Archetypal Animation

Astronaut Astronomy Satellite Moon Future | PIRO4D | PIRO  •  Heidelberg/Deutschland  •  Member since June 7, 2016

Background Stationery Guestbook Heaven Moon Swans | pixel2013 | S. Hermann & F. Richter  •  Germany  •  Member since April 9, 2016

Woman Mother Nature The Excitement Creation Birth | Ka_Nia | Katarzyna Micińska  •  Age 42  •  Częstochowa/Polska  •  Member since Sept. 25, 2017

Fantasy Dark Gothic Goth Surreal Ethereal | darksouls1 | Enrique Meseguer  •  Age 49  •  Madrid/España  •  Member since March 9, 2016  •  #812

Music: The Other Side of Darkness36 [1] Take Me by the Hand    9:42[2] Spinning Around    5:11[3] To Start Again    4:28[4] Shelter  3:09[5] Ripples    3:57[6] Past Self    5:12 [7] Guide Me Home (One Misstep)    4:53


Third Archetypal Animation

Portrait Look Red Scarf Mystery Hidden Eyes | lanamorphose | pamela laporte  •  Age 36  •  limoges/france  •  Member since March 5, 2017

Fantasy Surreal Mask Wall Eye Mysticism Girl | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #240

War Ukraine Landscape Girl Emotion Destruction | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #240

Surreal Eye Fantasy Mysterious Halloween | blende12 | Gerhard G.  •  Deutschland  •  Member since March 25, 2014  •  #149

Dove Of Peace Flag Symbol World Peace Ukraine | blende12 | Gerhard G.  •  Deutschland  •  Member since March 25, 2014  •  #149

Music: Freed From Desire | Strange Fruits Music[1] Freed From Desire    2:24


Fourth Archetypal Animation & Feature Animation

Hands Water Wash Color Source Hand Background | drfuenteshernandez | Manuel Darío Fuentes Hernández  •  Age 27  •  Guantánamo/Cuba  •  Member since Jan. 19, 2018

Nature Source Fountain Water Reflection Trees | Antranias | Manfred Antranias Zimmer  •  Chiemgau/Germany  •  Member since Aug. 27, 2013

Alive Energy Divine Body-Mind Mind-Body Faith | johnhain | John Hain  •  Age 72  •  Carmel/United States  •  Member since July 24, 2014

Woman Waterfall Naked Landscape Mountain | Mysticsartdesign | Mystic Art Design  •  Deutsch  •  Member since July 3, 201

Library Heaven Birds Mystical Clouds Sun | Mysticsartdesign | Mystic Art Design  •  Deutsch  •  Member since July 3, 201

Music: Source of Energy | Clear Conscience[1] Source of Energy    2:30

If It Was My Last Day on Earth?

What would you do if this was your last day on Earth today?

Perhaps write a poem?

It is our perception of reality that determines so much of what we allow ourselves to accept or not accept, what we allow ourselves to believe or not believe, how much we allow ourselves to love or not to love.

Poems are wonderful transformers of perception.

Here are some poems about nature, Earth, and life that have been written at very different periods in time, and yet, there is something universal, something incredibly current, something worth paying attention to in each and every one of them, especially today.


A Minor Bird by Robert Frost (1874-1963)

I have wished a bird would fly away,

And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door

When it seemed as if I could bear no more..

The fault must partly have been in me.

The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong

In wanting to silence any song.

From 7 Poems To Read In Honor Of Earth Day, Bustle, By E. Ce Miller, April 14, 2016

“I have wished a bird would fly away… and not sing all day…” | Music: A Minor Bird by Victoria Darian

Ryokan (1758-1831)

When all thoughts
Are exhausted
I slip into the woods
And gather
A pile of shepherd’s purse.

From Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf:  Zen Poems of Ryokan, translated by John Stevens. Published by Shambala in Boston, 1996.


Basho (1644-1694)

Nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die.


The bee emerging
from deep within the peony
departs reluctantly.


Summer grasses:
all that remains of great soldiers’
imperial dreams.

From The Essential Basho, Translated by Sam Hamill.  Published by Shambala in Boston, 1999.

“Nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die…”

Music: When Dragons Cry by Bo Johnson

Ikkyu (1394-1481)

My Hovel

The world before my eyes is wan and wasted, just like me.
The earth is decrepit, the sky stormy, all the grass withered.
No spring breeze even at this late date,
Just winter clouds swallowing up my tiny reed hut.

From Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu, translated by John Stevens. Published by Shambala in Boston, 1995.

The world before my eyes is wan and wasted, just like me… | Music: Time Travelers Coyote Oldman [4] The Fourth Dream    5:26

These Zen poems come from A Sampler of Zen Poetry. The author of this sampler says, “These are a few of my favorite poems by three of Japan’s greatest Zen monk-poets, Ikkyu (1394-1481), Basho (1644-1694), and Ryokan (1758-1831).”

They are indeed very beautiful and holy.


Today is Earth Day!

Go ahead, write a poem! Transcend space and time and perceptions of reality using nothing but your mind.

We never know when our last day on Earth will be.

Seize the moment, see more, feel your rightness in this moment, know you belong and you matter, right here, right now. You are it!

Feature Archetypal Animation

Fantasy Girl Rock Space Earth Moon Composing | Willgard | Willgard Krause  •  Age 58  •  Lutherstadt Wittenberg/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 25, 2017  •  #316

Space Galaxy Universe Sky Night Cosmos Star | gene1970 | English  •  Member since Dec. 10, 2017  •  #385

Eagle Girl Moon Mountains Fantasy Dream | gene1970 | English  •  Member since Dec. 10, 2017  •  #385

Astronaut Space Planets Astronomy Galaxy | gene1970 | English  •  Member since Dec. 10, 2017  •  #385

Earth Blue Planet Globe Gaia Planet People | spirit111 | beate bachmann  •  Age 59  •  berlin/germany  •  Member since April 6, 2017

Earth Universe Flammarion Science Spiritual | ChristianBodhi | Christian Bodhi  •  Santa Cruz De Tenerife, London/Spain and United Kingdom  •  Member since Aug. 19, 2018


First Archetypal Animation

Kerala India Manipulated Bird Nature | ambadysasi | Ambady Sasi  •  Age 28  •  Thodupuzha/India  •  Member since Nov. 15, 2017

Bird Singer Singing Chirp Tweet Chirrup Robin | Pfüderi | Age 30  •  Schweiz  •  Member since March 24, 2014  •  #810

Bird Songbird To Sing Spring Nature Park | jggrz | Jürgen  •  Age 66  •  Thüringen/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 10, 2018  •  #57

Bird Starling Crested Song Feathers Plumage | YK333 | Yadvendra Kumar  •  Age 62  •  Delhi/India  •  Member since July 11, 2021

King Medieval Celebration Man Handsome | Wadams | William Adams  •  Age 69  •  Manhattan/US  •  Member since April 20, 2015

Belgium Statue Knokke Beach Man On The Beach | pixel2013 | S. Hermann & F. Richter  •  Germany  •  Member since April 9, 2016

Music:

Music: A Minor Bird by Victoria Darian [1] A Minor Bird    5:08


Second Archetypal Animation

Canthigaster Cicada Fulgoromorpha Insect Trunk Long | Josch13 | Deutsch  •  Member since Aug. 17, 2013

Dragon Golden Dragon Statue Sculpture Art Artwork | Josch13 | Deutsch  •  Member since Aug. 17, 2013

Wild Bee Blossom Bloom Peony Close Up Yellow | jggrz | Jürgen  •  Age 66  •  Thüringen/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 10, 2018  •  #59

Mountain Field Sky Agriculture Nature Countryside | SwidaAlba | Leng Kangrui  •  Age 23  •  Beijing/China  •  Member since Feb. 13, 2018

Poppy Flower Nature Wild Flower Wild Flowers Field | Candiix | CANDICE CANDICE  •  Français  •  Member since Nov. 19, 2017

Warrior Fallen Combat Dead Injured Viking | Garyuk31 | Gary Chambers  •  Age 52  •  English  •  Member since Oct. 25, 2015

Carving Stone Rock Stone Carving Dragon China | PublicDomainPictures | English  •  Member since Dec. 11, 2010

Music: When Dragons Cry by Bo Johnson [1] When Dragons Cry    4:32


Third Archetypal Animation

Apocalypse Clouds End Time Atmospheric Mystical | Mysticsartdesign | Mystic Art Design  •  Deutsch  •  Member since July 3, 2014

Skin Eye Iris Blue Older Folds Wrinkled Skin Man | analogicus | Tom  •  Andernach/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 25, 2018  •  #144

Wood Statue Sculpture Statue Wooden | terimakasih0 | Dean Moriarty  •  Age 67  •  cardiff/United Kingdom  •  Member since Dec. 3, 2014

Thunderstorm Weather Storm Thunder Lighting Bolts | Inactive account – ID 12019

Nature Straw Hay Grass Field Wet How Come Swamp | EM80 | Deutsch  •  Member since March 13, 2015

Lakeside Reed Hut Timber Construction Piles | webentwicklerin | Gabriele Lässer  •  Österreich  •  Member since June 18, 2012

Mushrooms Moss Fungi Lichen Forest Nature | adege | Andreas  •  Age 65  •  Gelterkinden/Schweiz  •  Member since April 3, 2017  •  #128

Music: Time Travelers Coyote Oldman [1] Time Travelers    8:04[2] Dark Beauty    5:07[3] Peaceful Blue    4:09 [4] The Fourth Dream    5:26

The Peace of Wild Things

Please note Chrome works best for the Archetypal Animations in this post.

— By Wendell Berry

First Archetypal Animation & Stanza

When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s live may be,

When despair for the world grows…” | Music: Goodbye Then | Crippled Black Phoenix

Second Archetypal Animation & Stanza

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I go and lie down…” | Music: Wild Imagination | Kurt Vile

Third Archetypal Animation & Stanza

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

“I come into the peace of wild things…” | Music: The Peace Of Wild Things | Keith Kauspedas [1] Deep Echoing (Fox In The Snow)

Fourth Archetypal Animation & Stanza

I come into the presence of still water.

“I come into the presence of still water…” | Music: Watermark Enya | [9] River  

Fifth Archetypal Animation & Stanza

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.

“I feel above me the day-blind stars…” | Music: Stars Night Mantra

Sixth Archetypal Animation & Stanza

For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

“For a time I rest in the grace of the world,…” | Music: Peaceful Piano Musicals Cover Kid | La la Lu (From “Lady and the Tramp”)    

Reflections On Wendell Berry’s Poem to This Moment in Time

When the forces of man’s collective psyche gather into a maelstrom sending destructive vortexes this way and that into the world, it is hard not to feel as Wendell Berry begins his timeless poem:

...despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's live may be...

Putin blows his devil’s breath from high within his isolated, depressing Moscow tower. A devil’s wind that makes his warrior vortexes go this way and that. Everywhere they go, the leave behind trails of blood, of dead bodies and blown up buildings, trees, and earth. Up there in his tower of desolation, he bloats in his madness as he congratulates himself over and over again about how he is getting away with unleashing his Hell-scape fantasies, deathly desires, and foolish folly into the world.

If you are a person with normal capacity for human empathy and compassion, then it is impossible to turn away and ignore what is going on in Ukraine. And you must not turn away.

We all must witness this wicked madness straight on, just as the Ukrainians are meeting Putin’s little devils straight on. If we don’t want to become like Putin, we must feel this destruction deeply and furiously. And we must feel down deep into our bones all the other tragedies unfolding in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa, Central America, South America, in the heart of all major cities and super rick countries in this world.

If you do, this means you are still human.

Wendell Berry describes the monsters inside us all. And he also tells us how to quell them and to sink into the peace that passes all understanding.

I wonder when was the last time Putin went down to where the wood drakes gather? When did he last lay down on his back, belly exposed to the light, the air, the sun, the stars and breathe in the beauty of this world? When did he last see a heron eat a snake or ponder the peace of still water? When did he last look up into the night sky and wonder about how implausible any of us are here at all?

When did Putin cut himself off from his curiosity, his wonder, his inner grace and awareness that he is alive in a magnificent world with enough bounty for all, if only we would tap into our inner wild nature where the wild wisdom of life runs free with the knowledge there is bounty all, if only we take our fair share? When did Putin become a narcissist blob cut off from his body, his heart, and his humanity? When did he become a monster?

Seventh Archetypal Animation | When Grace Is Lost

“And then the sun went out bright…” | Music: Dark Bloom | Darkness | The Sun Went Out Bright    

Putin lost his inner grace long ago, and now, alone and cold in a forbidding world, he opens a gate for devils to tumble and fumble their way out into this beautiful world. They rape women, shoot children, bomb maternity hospitals, children’s hospitals, and recreation centers where 1,000 women and children huddle in the dark and cold hoping they might just stop their bombing. Instead, they are crushed under the rubble of another bomb.

I hate Putin. I hate Putin’s army of dead and dying souls. I wish the Free World would grow a stronger backbone and kill this man who has become a Dracula overseeing an army of Zombies. But, we are playing on the “civilized” game board, while Putin plays on the barbarian game board.

However, he won’t win. He might kill a Hell of a lot of people. He might even launch a nuclear bomb, but like so many Ruthless Rulers before him, he will crumble into the dust bin of life. Ruthless Rulers always do.

Oh yes, they might win for a time. And, they might press their smelly likeness onto other human beings, adding to the blob, but he will never win. His zombies will never rule over the multitude as he has promised.

Evil never wins! At least not for long…not as long as there is life to live. Not as long as wood drakes sail on lakes or great herons hunt and devour snakes. Not as long as a single human being wanders down to the waters edges and wonders why this whole thing exists at all. Ponders why we are here amongst the divine majesty of the trillion billion stars above.


Being Human by Being Connected to Each Other & the World

My friend Karen shared this poem with me. We both feel deep pain for suffering the of the people of Ukraine. We both feel helpless in the face of such evil, and yet, we live…and…in the face of such horror, in retaliation to the demonic evil unleashing death, destruction and horror on Earth, Ukrainians fight! They live!

And yes, they are dying by the hundreds of thousands because Putin is a coward and his army is ill-equipped and ill-prepared, indeed, they are unwilling to wage this war, expect for the beasts he’s imported in and the degenerate ones who glory in the gross and disgusting side of life…the ones who are too afraid to love or to know who and what they really are.

Ukrainians know the price of this evil, and they stand against it, and they are winning! They are winning because they remained connected to their humanity and grounded to this Earth–our home, our mother, our true nature. They show us, the Free World, each and every day how to fight for what is right and how to be better human beings!

Fight for the people of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!

Feature Archetypal Animation

Covid 19 Coronavirus Dystopia Dystopian | toyquests | Elliot Alderson  •  Age 35  •  Los Angeles/United States  •  Member since March 31, 2020

Male Wood Duck Duck Animal Wildlife Drake Pond | muskrat55 | Robin Arnold  •  Age 66  •  Port Clinton/United States  •  Member since June 9, 2017

 Iceland Arctic Fox Fox White White Fox Canine | Inactive account – ID 12019

Rest Relax Lie Comfortable Sleep Man Person | Hans | Hans Braxmeier  •  Neu-Ulm/Deutschland  •  Member since Nov. 24, 2010

Composing Woman Fantasy Face Beauty Mystical Root | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #391

Sunset Tree Water Silhouette Tree Silhouette Dusk | Cleverpix | Cindy Lever  •  Age 57  •  Melbourne/Australia  •  Member since May 4, 2016

Meadow Green Meadow Flower Meadow Grass Nature | spirit111 | beate bachmann  •  Age 59  •  berlin/germany  •  Member since April 6, 2017

Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls Iceland Falls Cliffs | Inactive account – ID 12019

Music: The Peace of Wild Things | Wendell Berry

The Peace of Wild ThingsWendell Berry


First Archetypal Animation

Man Portrait Homeless Poverty Male Poor | Leroy_Skalstad | Leroy Skalstad  •  Age 74  •  Milwaukee/uSA  •  Member since July 14, 2015

Mental Health Brain Thinking Tree Branches Disorder | Tumisu | Tumisu, please consider ☕ Thank you! 🤗  •  English  •  Member since Feb. 3, 2014

Lights Candle Man Old Fire Flame Candlelight | Skitterphoto | Rudy and Peter Skitterians  •  Groningen/The Netherlands  •  Member since July 5, 2014

Covid 19 Coronavirus Dystopia Dystopian | toyquests | Elliot Alderson  •  Age 35  •  Los Angeles/United States  •  Member since March 31, 2020

Music: Goodbye Then | Crippled Black Phoenix


Second Archetypal Animation

Rest Relax Lie Comfortable Sleep Man Person | Hans | Hans Braxmeier  •  Neu-Ulm/Deutschland  •  Member since Nov. 24, 2010

Male Wood Duck Waterfowl Bird Swimming Wildlife | JamesDeMers | Charlottesville/USA  •  Member since March 6, 2012

Male Wood Duck Duck Animal Wildlife Drake Pond | muskrat55 | Robin Arnold  •  Age 66  •  Port Clinton/United States  •  Member since June 9, 2017

Heron Snake Wader Bird Kill Ardeidae Prey | mkzsfoto | steven arnold  •  reunion  •  Member since Sept. 11, 2018

Music: Wild Imagination | Kurt Vile


Third Archetypal Animation

Fantasy Butterflies Mushrooms Forest Insects | Stergo | Игорь Левченко  •  Age 32  •  Владикавказ/Россия  •  Member since Jan. 2, 2017

Composing Woman Fantasy Face Beauty Mystical Root | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #391

Tree Lake Water Nature Landscape Forest | Leslin_Liu | Shanghai/China  •  Member since June 16, 2017

Fantasy Eyes Forest Branches Face Portrait | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #391

Fantasy Deer Mammal Forest Nature Outdoors Light | peter_pyw | Peter  •  KUALA LUMPUR/Malaysia  •  Member since July 19, 2016

Fantasy Forest Dog Monster Girl Snow Winter | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #391

Nature Outdoors Ants Forest Light Bulb Light | peter_pyw | Peter  •  KUALA LUMPUR/Malaysia  •  Member since July 19, 2016

Music: The Peace Of Wild Things | Keith Kauspedas [1] Deep Echoing (Fox In The Snow)    6:06


Fourth Archetypal Animation

Still Calm Tranquil Moon Sunset Sky Ocean Lake | WelshPixie | Delyth Williams  •  Age 41  •  Western Cape/South Africa  •  Member since Sept. 14, 2018

Cutter North Sea Port Shrimp Fishing Vessel | ArtTower | Brigitte Werner  •  Age 68  •  Canim Lake/Canada  •  Member since June 15, 2012  •  #89

Sunset Still Water Splash Water Reflection Liquid | truthseeker08 | 🆓 Use at your Ease 👌🏼  •  English  •  Member since April 18, 2016

Still Calm Tranquil Sunset Sky Ocean Lake Water | WelshPixie | Delyth Williams  •  Age 41  •  Western Cape/South Africa  •  Member since Sept. 14, 2018

 Nature Waters Lake Island Landscape Thunderstorm | jplenio | Joe  •  Munich/Deutschland  •  Member since Jan. 9, 2018  •  #295

Sunset Tree Water Silhouette Tree Silhouette Dusk | Cleverpix | Cindy Lever  •  Age 57  •  Melbourne/Australia  •  Member since May 4, 2016

Music: Watermark Enya | [9] River    3:12


Fifth Archetypal Animation

Wall Blind Alley Dead End Impasse Lockup Deadlock | ChadoNihi | Alexandr  •  Age 29  •  Cambridge/UK  •  Member since Dec. 8, 2014

Red Planet Moon Alien Arid Abiocoen Ancient | ChadoNihi | Alexandr  •  Age 29  •  Cambridge/UK  •  Member since Dec. 8, 2014

Stargate Heaven Gate Science Fiction Futuristic | spirit111 | beate bachmann  •  Age 59  •  berlin/germany  •  Member since April 6, 2017

Meadow Green Meadow Flower Meadow Grass Nature | spirit111 | beate bachmann  •  Age 59  •  berlin/germany  •  Member since April 6, 2017

Wormhole Time Travel Portal Vortex Space Warp | Genty | English  •  Member since May 20, 2016

Galaxy Fog Kosmus Universe Milky Way Night Sky | spirit111 | beate bachmann  •  Age 59  •  berlin/germany  •  Member since April 6, 2017

Music: Stars Night Mantra


Sixth Archetypal Animation

Mountains Smoke Portrait Girl Field Romantic | manhhongdldhv | Hong Manh  •  Age 32  •  Vinh/Việt Nam  •  Member since July 4, 2020

 Sunset Mountains Trees Silhouettes Conifers | Inactive account – ID 12019

Mountains Hills Sky Clouds Sunset Dusk Twilight | Inactive account – ID 12019

Iceland Aurora Borealis Northern Lights Beautiful | Inactive account – ID 12019

Kingfisher Bird Close Up Perched Perched Bird | Inactive account – ID 12019

 Iceland Arctic Fox Fox White White Fox Canine | Inactive account – ID 12019

Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls Iceland Falls Cliffs | Inactive account – ID 12019

Music: Peaceful Piano Musicals Cover Kid | La la Lu (From “Lady and the Tramp”)    


Seventh Archetypal Animation

Black Hole Art-Optical Black White Contrast | dric | Français  •  Member since Nov. 30, 2016

Colour Farbklex Embroidery Blob Drops | Bru-nO | Bruno /Germany  •  Age 47  •  Thank you for your Donation!/Please like your download!  •  Member since June 29, 2015  •  #255

Abstract Astral Astrology Astronomy Background | Buddy_Nath | A Owen  •  Age 39  •  United Kingdom  •  Member since Feb. 4, 2016

Music: Dark Bloom | Darkness | The Sun Went Out Bright    

Kindly Let Me Help You or You’ll Drown

Kindly let me help you or you’ll drown!”

“Kindly Let Me Help You or You’ll Drown” | Music:How Do We Love Each Other” — Alan Watts

Said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree.

— Alan Watts


Why This Story?

Alan Watts often tells this short story about the monkey and the fish. It is so short, I wasn’t sure it was worth blogging about, and then this happened yesterday.


Watts in His Own Words

Minute 6:23: “Because the road to hell is paved with good intention. Because all the do-gooders in the world whether they doing good for others or doing it for themselves are troublemakers on the basis of ‘Kindly let me help you or you’ll drown,’ said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree.”

Alan Watts – what did the monkey say to the fish

Alan Watts on Virtue (around minute 32): “The highest virtue is not conscious of itself virtue (…) in other words when you breathe you don’t congratulate yourself on being virtuous but breathing is a great virtue.

Diabolical things are done in the name of righteousness.”

“Rest assured everybody regardless of nationality, political frame of mind, or religion always goes to war with a sense of complete rightness...the other side is the devil.”

 How To Be A Better Person – An Alan Watts Lofi Hip Hop Mix

Putin is an Evil Monkey

Except Putin is an evil monkey like the ones from the Wizard of Oz because he knows he’s telling a lie! He knows he’s deluding his people by telling them the war he’s waging on Ukraine is righteous. It’s a righteous bunch of lies! He’s the Nazi the world needs to be rid of. See the resemblance?

Leave Ukraine Now Putin! You Ignorant Monkey!

Feature Archetypal Animation

Wildlife Ape Primate Capuchin Monkey Cute Forest | blende12 | Gerhard G.  •  Deutschland  •  Member since March 25, 2014  •  #90

 Animal Fish Koi Carp-Like Swim Water Pond | rschaubhut | René Schaubhut  •  Age 60  •  Baden/Schweiz  •  Member since Feb. 11, 2019

Music for Feature Animation:

WATTSWAVE VI: The Web of Life 2Akira The Don[1] The Secret    4:33[2] From a Certain Point of View    6:10[3] Gangster Arrangement    5:03[4] Consider Death    3:08[5] You! Love! Yourself!    4:46[6] The Shadow    5:01[7] Completely Honest    5:47[8] That Thing Which Really Is Genuine    4:07[9] It’s a Trap    4:59[10] The Sound of the Rain Needs No Translation    7:22[11] Patterns    3:09[12] Your Idea of Heaven    5:50[13] Playful    5:53[14] What Games People Are Playing    2:52

Music for Second Archetypal Animation:

WATTSWAVE II: How To Be A Better Person Akira The Done    2:56
Alan Watts Motivational WordsAlan Watts[1] Go Out With A Bang Not A Whimper    3:12[2] Overthinking    2:47[3] Dont Be Tone Deaf    3:12[4] What You Really Are    1:21[5] Man & Nature    3:04[6] Zen Stories    5:20[7] The Symbol Has No Value    5:09[8] Nirvana    3:19[9] Come Unhinged    3:34[10] How Do We Love Each Other 2:18[11] Existence Is A Relationship    3:12

For more about Ukraine and the evilness Putin has unleashed into the world, see:

Ukraine Letters | Four Letters to the World of Free Men and Women: Letter to the Ukrainian People; Letter to the Free World; Letter to Russian people; Letter to Americans
Help Ukraine | Calling All People Who Value Freedom in the World

Ukraine Letters

Four Letters to the World of Free Men and Women:
Letter to the Ukrainian People; Letter to the Free World; Letter to Russian people; Letter to Americans

Help Ukraine | Calling All People Who Value Freedom in the World | 22 views | Premiered Feb 27, 2022 | Music: Jupiter & Jaguar — Blond:ish (Album: Welcome to the Present) & Chants of Native Earth (Album: Shamanic Moon Native American Drums)

First Letter

Letter to the People of Ukraine

How can we let this happen to you on Our Watch? | Free World how long are you going to simply watch? The time for meaningful action is NOW! Our platitudes and policies are barbaric.

Dear People of Ukraine —

I have let you down and the Free World has forsaken you.

You are dying because we are weak and afraid.

Please forgive us. We have forgotten how to live in the Present and how to be Present for each other.

If I could kill Putin with my thoughts, he would be dead 10,000 times already. And I would just be getting started.

The Russians don’t remember how Scythians fight, how long your unique and long history is.

They will remember when they see your eyes.

Know that you have already won.

Putin, his followers, enablers, and supporters wherever they are in the world will be uttered in the same breath as Hitler, Stalin, and all men who have chosen to become monsters instead of men.

The oligarchs full of piss and fear, the Chinas suppressing their people, the stupid ones like Trump and his menagerie will snivel like snails beneath the shadow of your courage, compassion, and willingness to die to live free.

If only the Free World had a smidgen of your dignity, courage, and spirit.

Instead, we sit and watch your pain, your suffering, your deaths like the spineless creatures we have become hiding under out fragile, artificial shell of civility.

We are not civil or modern.

We hide our barbaric nature with platitudes and policies and lies.

What good is civility when evil manifests in men like Putin?

Would Hitler have stopped his demonic rage had the Free World not finally intervened?

You have warned us: Putin’s madness will not end when Ukraine falls.

An evil like this is never satisfied by what it has.

It only has an endless hunger for more of what it already has and is willing to inflict great pain, agony, and destruction to get it.

How can we (the people of the Free World) abandon you at your greatest time of need?

How can we let this happen on OUR WATCH?

You are showing us (the Free World) how to be human when evil rears its ugly head.

Your dignity, courage, and spirit show us that to be fully human and not simply shells filled with doubt and fear, we show up to help our brothers and sisters.

Humans show up when their brothers and sisters are staring down the demons of destruction trying to devour their freedom like snakes from hell bent on turning our shared reality into a field of horror and our world into a living Hell.

You are precious. Every life Putin takes is a crime. I feel so helpless watching this happen to you. Please forgive us. Our failure to not do more is wrong.

Know you have already won | Putin will be uttered in the same breath as Hitler and Stalin and you are showing the whole world what it means to be human and fully alive… because fully alive people show up for each other and face their problems head on embracing their fear, the danger, the risk

Reactions of a Helpless Watcher Witnessing Evil Live on TV #1

Instagram Posts Beginning Night of Russian Invasion

Night of Russian Invasion
Night of Russian Invasion
Morning of Russian Invasion
Morning of Russian Invasion
Day 1 of Russian Invasion
Day 1 of Russian Invasion
Day 2 of Russian Invasion
Day 3 of Russian Invasion
Day 3 of Russian Invasion
Day 4 of Russian Invasion

Putin will be uttered in the same breath as Hitler and Stalin… but the price is hard to accept because it means your blood, your land, your freedom… the Free World is forsaking you to this evil.

Second Letter

Letter to the People of the Free World

To All People Who Value Freedom in the World —

This is a struggle in which the Free World cannot sit on its hands and watch. This is a struggle for all persecuted, suffering people anywhere in the world. People who are persecuted for any reason–racism, religious beliefs, gender, sex or political beliefs. The Ukrainian people are being overrun and killed by a ruthless dictator.

Do you think this ends when Ukraine falls? Putin’s vile plan seeks to destroy freedom and democracy anywhere it appears in the world. He has chosen evil and he will keep moving steadily destroying democracies and freedom wherever it appears in the world. I do not agree with Biden saying it is going to be OK. It is not OK watching the Ukrainian people being slaughtered. In what world that values freedom and human life is this OK?

Our world has drastically changed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The Free World is weak. It stares at its own navel hung up on its own comforts and conveniences. We (the people of the Free World) have left so many people behind who have been struggling for freedom, self-determination, and sovereignty over their own lives. The United States was particularly cruel and careless in its withdrawal from Afghanistan; however, the Free World has done far too little for the peoples in countries where “Arab Spring” protests were brutally put down, where protests in Hong Kong were harshly suppressed, where the military takeover of Myanmar and Rohingya genocide was savage, and this list goes on and one.

The Ukrainian people are fighting for their lives and freedom. They are standing up against a vastly superior force. They are showing the entire Free World how to fight for freedom. How to be human! Their courage, compassion, and dignity stands mighty before the rest of the world concerned about themselves and sadly it seems little more.

Putin is a maligned, demonic force of evil in the world. Such evil must be fought by all who stand for the right for life and freedom. This evil is never satisfied by what it has. It constantly hungers for more than it already has. It takes pleasure in inflicting senseless horror and pain on others. This fear, this pain that we are watching the Ukraine people suffer feds this kind of evil. It will never rest until it destroys all free people and all freedom in all lands everywhere in the world. Only then, will it finally turn on itself and devour itself.

Where Will You Go When It’s Your Turn to Run? | Music: [3] Anybody Out There, 3:48 | Ouroboros | Saint Punk
This is the same interview (a piece of it) as the Twitter link above that is not working

Putin is a man who has chosen to become a monster. His madness is spawning thousands of minions who are carrying out his biddings. Yes, there are Russian soldiers shocked at what they are being asked to do and surrendering to Ukrainians.

This is the same video as the Twitter link above that is not working.

But, there are also soldiers who are dragging people out of apartment buildings, lining them up along a wall, and shooting them. The longer this goes on, the more harden and brutal some soldiers will become to accomplish Putin’s ruthless wishes, indeed, they will be ordered to become ruthless killers. Huge explosions are being now used to destroy and level civilian infrastructure (e.g., apartments, schools, hospitals, colleges), not military as Russian “officials” said would be the focus. There are also reports of Russian soldiers shooting fleeing civilians in their cars as well as desperate phone calls to family members who made it across the border to Poland or Hungary of Russian soldiers coming into family homes and terrorizing loved ones who could not escape in time.

Putin lives in a world of savage fantasies. He lusts for ultimate power and glory, which sprouts from the demon seed buried deep in his depraved soul. His heart has been corrupted beyond all repairs. And his barbarism is being carried out with cold calculation by suicidal army meticulous trained to turn off their humanity and act like Putin’s attack dogs from hell. They have only heard and been fed a constant stream of distortions, lies, and misinformation. It keeps them in a foggy, soggy, sub-human conscious state of being, making them perfect puppets who carry out one man’s mad rage upon the world.

Deep down they know what they are doing is wrong. But I doubt it will burn away fast enough to save the people of Ukraine. And then, Free World, we are next.

Where will you go when it’s your turn to run?


Russia’s invasion led to a million people fleeing Ukraine. That number could grow (1A | WAMU)

Image from 1A: A Ukrainian militia waves goodbye to his family evacuating Kyiv by train to western cities in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pierre Crom/Getty Images

This episode discusses what is happening in Ukraine with Leila Fadel (reporter on the ground in Ukraine), Kurt Volker (former US Special Representative for Ukraine), and others in the know about what is going on. What jumped out to me were the following elements.

Leila Fadel told about one woman she met on a train going back into Ukraine. She told Leila she felt Ukraine is a proxy war, a game being played by Russia, the US, and China for influence and power in the world. She is right.

Leila also talked about how all lives matter. She told about how she has met and talked with individuals who fled other war zones (e.g., Syria, Afghanistan, and many other places where the super powerful have violently suppressed the super vulnerable) and settled in Ukraine and now they are fleeing again.

Kurt Volker talked about how there is much more the US can do for Ukraine while walking the line of avoiding an outright conflict between nuclear powers. Yes! That is what I feel and desperately want the Free World to push it leaders to do (no more watching!!!).

And they discussed discrimination that African and Asian individuals in Ukraine have faced. They are also trying to flee violence and annihilation. Sara Sidner (American journalist with CNN) is in Poland and talked with individuals facing this sort of discrimination and says that they just don’t understand why they are being treated this way. There have been terrible documented treatment of foreign nationals with dark skin, but also many instances of compassion and humane treatment.

This is a very complex, fast moving tragedy that is changing constantly. All experts of this episode urge watchers, especially on social media, to dig for the latest information, not media and posts that are several days old. They also warn of misinformation efforts launched by Russia and Russian sympathizers around the world–vet the information you consume and vet your own systems of belief! ( I get into this much more deeply in my letter to Americans.)


https://twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/status/1498697710429425672
This is banned weapon as signed by Russia stating it would not use, and here the Russians are using it to level Ukrainian cities. This thing creates successive concussion waves that suck the air out of the atmosphere, even sucks the air out of human lungs. It can level buildings. Use it on the Russians now and see how they like it!

#RunRussiansRun


Third Letter

To the Russian People

The Free World is not at war with you. We are not your enemy. The anger you see from the world is directed at Putin. You are as precious to the world as the Ukrainian people who are being slaughtered by your President Putin. You are not being told the truth about this war.

You know all the courageous Russian journalists who have been assassinated or killed in Russia between 1992 and 2022.

Abdulmalik Akhmedilov

Hakikat and SogratlAugust 11, 2009RussiaMurder

Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev

Novoye DeloJuly 9, 2013RussiaMurder

Aleksei Sidorov

Tolyatinskoye ObozreniyeOctober 9, 2003RussiaMurder

Anastasiya Baburova

Novaya GazetaJanuary 19, 2009RussiaMurder

This list goes on to account 58 journalists who have been killed in Russia between 1992 and 2022 with Motive for Death Confirmed as accounted for by the Committee to Protect Journalists. You may not trust anything except Putin’s State TV, but you know who are the Russians who have died.


You know critics of Putin have ended up dead.

Boris Nemtsov, 2015 — political leader of Russia’s “young reformers.”

"In Feb. 2015, just hours after urging the public to join a march against Russia's military involvement in Ukraine, Nemtsov was shot four times in the back by an unknown assailant within view of the Kremlin. Putin took "personal control" of the investigation into Nemtsov’s murder, but the killer remains at large." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

Boris Berezovsky, 2013 — A self-styled tycoon who become a fixture in Yeltsin’s inner circle in the late 1990s, Berezovsky is believed to have been instrumental in Putin’s rise to power (including a media campaign that smeared Nemtsov)

"Berezovsky was found dead inside a locked bathroom at his home in the United Kingdom, a noose around his neck, in what was at first deemed a suicide. However, the coroner’s office could not determine the cause of death." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, 2009 — Markelov was a human rights lawyer known for representing Chechen civilians in human rights cases again the Russian military.

"Markelov was shot by a masked gunman near the Kremlin. Baburova, also a journalist from Novaya Gazeta, was fatally shot as she tried to help him. Russian authorities said a neo-Nazi group was behind the killings, and two members were convicted of the deaths." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

Sergei Magnitsky, 2009 — Lawyer who uncovered evidence suggesting that police officials were behind the fraud

"Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in police custody in November 2009 after allegedly being brutally beaten, then denied medical care." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

Natalia Estemirova, 2009 — Journalist investigating abductions and murders that had become commonplace in Chechnya.

"Estemirova was kidnapped outside her home, shot several times — including a point-blank shot in the head — and dumped in the nearby woods. Nobody has been convicted of her murder." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

Anna Politkovskaya, 2006 — Russian reporter for Novaya Gazeta whose book, “Putin’s Russia,” accused the Kremlin leader of turning the country into a police state.

"She was shot at point-blank range in an elevator in her building. Five men were convicted of her murder, but the judge found that it was a contract killing, with $150,000 of the fee paid by a person whose identity was never discovered. Putin denied any Kremlin involvement in Politkovskaya's killing, saying that her "death in itself is more damaging to the current authorities both in Russia and the Chechen Republic ... than her activities." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

Alexander Litvinenko, 2006 — Former KGB agent

"Alexander Litvinenko was a former KGB agent who died three weeks after drinking a cup of tea" laced with deadly polonium-210 at a London hotel, as Business Insider wrote a year ago. "A British inquiry found that Litvinenko was poisoned by Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who were acting on orders that had 'probably been approved'" by Putin." -- Here are 10 critics of Vladimir Putin who died violently or in suspicious ways | Washington Post By David Filipov, March 23, 2017

This list goes on. Again you may think the Washington Post is fake news, but you know these Russians are dead.


You know Alexei Anatolievich Navalny sits in prison because Putin fears him. And you know that Navalny has called Putin insane and urges anti-war protests. Putin is insane. What man would kill innocent children?


The Free World knows you are afraid. Putin has terrorized you with his slow steady trickle of threats, deaths, assassinations, and unjust imprisonments of anyone Putin fears. Heck, he’s even afraid of a fragile but brave old woman.

You have every right to be afraid, but should this also inform what you know?

The world stands with you, but please wake up to steady lies Putin feeds you to put you into a catatonic state of frightened inaction. Putin does this to you, the Russian people, because you have collective power. He knows that and he is afraid that you will wake up.

Look at what Putin’s restrained and targeted attacks look like on the ground by your brothers and sister in Ukraine.

Please wake up.
The world needs you now.
We need you conscious and alive and human more than ever!


We stand at a precipice inside the human soul. This precipice exist inside every human being alive right now.

People of Earth, do you call yourself human or monster?

Your actions (and inactions), your words, your thoughts tell us which you chose to be.

Those who call themselves human must reckon with this moment fully to the very core of who they are and what they believe, what they love, what they hate, what they know (or think they know) and what they don’t know.

Each person alive on this planet right now is choosing a stream of thought and system of belief that inform your actions in the next weeks, the next days, the next hours, the next minutes, and the next seconds.

And each second that goes by, each choice made realizes who lives and who dies in this brutal war waged on the innocent people of Ukraine.

We must chose something different than we have ever chosen before to stop this senseless slaughter that stalks the entire human race ever since we crossed the demarcation line that lets us know that we know who we are. The lists of genocides and ruthless slaughter is very long. It will not stop unless we change it inside ourselves. Each person must embark on this work. It will hurt, but it will not hurt you. It will wake you up.

Peoples of the World, you must chose to protect and sustain all life or let it continue to be destroyed by men who have chosen to become monsters.

Sad Piano Music (THIS WILL MAKE YOU CRY / Saddest Piano & Violin Ever!) |
46,933,029 views | Jan 14, 2014

Every human choice matters to alter the course of our shared fate.

What will you choose?

Reactions of a Helpless Watcher Witnessing Evil Live on TV #2

Twitter Posts Beginning Night of Russian Invasion

Day 1 of Russian Invasion
Day 2 of Russian Invasion
Day 2 of Russian Invasion
Day 1 of Russian Invasion
https://twitter.com/DMann2017/status/1497626175262318593
Day 4 of Russian Invasion
Day 5 of Russian Invasion
Day 6 of Russian Invasion
Day 6 of Russian Invasion
Day 6 of Russian Invasion
Day 7 of Russian Invasion
https://twitter.com/DMann2017/status/1498706918646468616
Day 7 of Russian Invasion
Day 7 of Russian Invasion
Day 7 of Russian Invasion

We hide our barbaric nature with platitudes, polices, and lies.

Fourth Letter

Letter to American People

If you call yourself a patriotic American, you don’t root for Putin and you don’t spread Russian misinformation.

Americans rooting for Putin are imitating evil. It will lead us to the same remorseless, ruthless state that Russia has become.

American rooting for Putin, do you really want to cut your soul off from your humanity? From the very essences that make you human? Do you really think it is worth it to become a demon just so you can control everybody and everything to your desires?

Yes, I hear your complaints levied at the liberal left. You feel that you are being overlooked and left out by political correctness and cancel culture, but you have persuaded yourself to feel this way. You know darn well you have the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges as every other American, except those who are not white. You know darn well you fear the power that white male supremacy has conferred to you is slipping away. And this is why you bawl and brew and stew.

We have paid a terrible price in the United State for nursing our grievances by using the fake news and misinformation spread by Putin to further our own cause. Now evil grows on American soil inside American minds and it will not be long until Ukraine’s fate is America’s fate as well.

Think hard about how easy your comfortable American life is, even poor Americans have it 10,000 times better than the people in Ukraine right now.

It is so disheartening to hear a poll after Biden’s first State of Union address that said 60% of listeners thought the US economy was more important than Ukraine.

This is why we are not doing more to help the brave, compassionate, and beautiful people of Ukraine survive. This is why we are watching them being slaughtered.

Because we prefer our own comforts over someone else’s?

Yes, it has been a hard 2 years. There are still supply chain issues and higher prices, and these are probably going to get worst. Yes, wearing masks to protect others who are more vulnerable to COVID has been hard, but it is worth it, isn’t it to save someone else’s life?

Or are we a people who just think about ourselves obsessively and shallowly?

These things have made life harder to juggle, but American people, you can still juggle these things. You still have homes. You still have jobs. You can still go to the store without being shot at or bombed. You can still go outside and go about with your life without fear of being burned alive in your car. Ukraines are being burned alive in their cars. They are being shot. They are being bombed. They are being hunted like animals.

Are so many Americans really so blind and so heartless?

This is a disgrace.

We are a nation disconnecting from our capacity to empathize with other people.

How heartless the American heart seems tonight.

The frontline that Ukraine 🇺🇦 is fighting is EVERYWHERE!

There is no place to hide from this kind of evil for comes from inside us. If Ukraine falls, this horror rests on us for failing to put aside our differences as Americans, our comfort, and our policies and act like human beings.

Ukrainians are showing us how human beings act. Human beings help each other when trouble descends, especially when evil manifests its ugly power in the world.

Are you going to be human or monster?

Fight the Fade — Where Do You Hide Your Hate | Music: Bullet | Masks (Deluxe) | Fight The Fade

I know my words are harsh. Please look into your heart. Please feel the pain of the Ukrainian people and the pain of all persecuted people because you can do something about it. It may hurt, but it will not hurt you. It will wake you up.

The choice is yours.


From the Perspective of Americans Working to Destroy Democracy

The Letter to the American people is informed by a former friend who I e-mailed the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. My husband and I had happened to see Matthew Chance putting on his flak jacket the night the first bombs started dropping all over Ukraine. We were shocked and horrified knowing we were witnessing the beginning of the War.

The next morning, I sent an email to a person who I have been very tolerant of in his support of Donald Trump. Knowing how cowardly Trump was in standing up to Putin, I asked my former friend flat out, who does he support–Putin or Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine. Here is his reply.

What a bunch of cat poop!

I sent him a scathing reply, then blocked him. I told him he is not my friend, his beliefs are cat poop, and I stand in opposition to him. Even 10 days into the heroic fight the Ukrainians are giving the Russians, some Americans are still rooting for Putin.

A Trump-appointed former senior advisor to the secretary of defense says Russian forces were ‘too gentle’ on Ukraine and called Zelensky a ‘puppet’ | Business Insider by Sarah Al-Arshani and John L. Dorman Mar 6, 2022, 2:36 AM

Image from Business Insider: A street after a missile hit near the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building in Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 1. 
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images

I tweeted: This man is a traitor!! Anyone rooting for Putin is not for democracy, not for freedom, not for America. Lock him up! #UkraineRussianWar #Ukraine #Russia #StopPutinNOW

These are not Americans that believe in freedom and democracy. These are wannabe dictators who are just as insane and mad as Putin. I say lock them up just as they chanted to lock up Hillary, but really they are just sad anti-Americans who have every right to voice their cocky, cockeyed opinions. And, they are really, really sad examples of being human in this century.


From the Perspective of Americans Working to Save American Democracy

1A’s March 7, 2022 episode highlights what is so good about democracy and why every person has a foot in this fight to Save Ukraine. It is titled: How Ukrainian and Russian Americans are supporting victims of the invasion

Image from 1A: Svetlana Suvorova and Andrey, who only gave first name, hold signs as people gather for a rally in support of Ukraine on the Brighton Beach Boardwalk in New York City.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The guests included Julia Ioffe, Mariya Soroka, Marta Farion, and Natalia Arno. It is a very powerful and moving one hour conversation on how the whole world is mobilizing to Help Ukraine.

One of the guest said, “This is a fight to be a human or a monster. Every person on this planet is part of this fight,” one speaker said today. I have been echoing this too. Action is required NOW.” #UkraineRussianWar #Ukraine #Zelensky #StopPutinNOW

Another guest said, “Two weeks ago, Zelenskyy was unknown. Today he is the most loved man on the planet. Courage is the sexiest trait a man can have…so don’t be afraid!” says one of the speakers today. Listen to this. #UkraineRussianWar #Ukraine #Zelensky

This is what makes America and democracy great. Diversity and lots of different people with different ideas who can come together to do something worth doing, something essential, something that will leave a mark on the world of mankind that is good, that humane, that is for life and all living beings not against it.

Feature Archetypal Animation

Music: Jupiter & Jaguar | BLOND:ISH [1] Jupiter & Jaguar    6:09

Images for this animation come from the video featured at the top of this blog and from my previous blog: Moonlight Shaken from a Cranes Bill (Oh how so much can happen in such a short amount of time. I published this blog 7 days ago when the world was a different place.)

Feature Archetypal Animation from Moonlight Shaken from a Crane’s Bill — posted February 22, 2022 — Two days before Putin unleashed hell into the world
Original Feature Archetypal Animation of blog: Moonlight Shaken from a Cranes Bill

First Archetypal Animation

Music: [3] Anybody Out There    3:48 | Ouroboros | Saint Punk

Image from: Ouroboros, the World Serpent & Jörmungandr | Symbols from Folklore & Mythology — “The depiction of a serpent or dragon consuming its own tail is an old one. A symbol of the cyclical nature of things – and linked to the end of the world and immortality – it’s woven its way through time and across cultures for over a millennia.”

Image from: Ouroboros | Nether Realm on SoundCloud

Image from: Legends and Secrets of the Cosmic Ouroboros
“There are few creatures that evoke the range of emotions like the earthbound snake. Across ancient cultures and civilizations, snakes have been viewed as mystical, dangerous, repulsive, and ultimately one of the most fascinating beings in the animal world. However, there might be a deeply rooted reason for human’s fascination with this creature, one that is embedded in the oldest mythology known to humans: Ouroboros, or the one who devours itself.”

Image from: Ouroboros Meanings & Symbolism: Mythology of the Snake Eating Its Tail

“It’s an ancient circular symbol, dating back to 5000 BC, which depicts a snake or dragon eating its tail. Archaeologists discovered the oldest known example of an ouroboros on a jar that is possibly 7,000 years old. It belonged to the neolithic Yangshao People, who lived along the Yellow River in what is now eastern China.”

Image from: Hindu Cosmogram is a painting by Granger which was uploaded on June 11th, 2012.


Second Archetypal Animation

Music: Bullet | Masks (Deluxe) | Fight The Fade

Mask Art Color Venetian Italian Carnival Face | VinnyCiro | Vincent Ciro  •  Age 73  •  Wantagh/United States  •  Member since April 10, 2014

Clown Circus Painting Art Disguise Show Artist | jackmac34 | jacqueline macou  •  Saint Gély du Fesc/France  •  Member since Oct. 3, 2014  •  #281

Carnival Mask Venice Disguise Costume | AldoDK | Aldo  •  Italia  •  Member since April 28, 2016

Mask Demon Fasnet Gruesome Drive Out Winter Satyr | beejees | Bernd Schray  •  Stuttgart/Deutschland  •  Member since Oct. 12, 2012

 Man Faceless Horror | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016

Fasnet Carnival Disguise Mask Masculine Female | Couleur | IlonaF❤️🍀❤️🍀  •  🇩🇪Deutsch🇩🇪Land🇩🇪  •  Member since July 11, 2015

Carnival Mask Costume Disguise Lucerne | Boenz | Bruno Müller  •  Age 74  •  Luzern/Schweiz  •  Member since May 25, 2015

Moonlight Shaken from a Crane’s Bill

Note to viewers on iPhone, animations don’t load well on Safari…sorry for the inconvenience this causes.
Chrome on computers handle graphics pretty well.

Time for a Zen poem by Dogen about the art of living in the Now.


First Stanza

To what shall
       I liken the world?

First Archetypal Animation

To what shall I liken the world? | Music: Distant Worlds | Purrple Cat | Lunar Eclipse

Second Stanza

Moonlight, reflected
       In dewdrops.

Second Archetypal Animation

Moonlight reflected in dewdrops… | Music: Dew Drops On Spider Webs | Verne Langdon

Third Stanza

       Shaken from a crane’s bill.

Third Archetypal Animation

Shaken from a crane’s bill… | Music: Twisted & Shaken | Oscar Hollis

                    –    Dogen, 1200 – 1253
The Zen Poetry of Dogen
                         Translated by Steven Heine


The Eternal Now

Alan Watts refers to Dogen quite often in his lectures. I know so very little about Zen or Dogen, but I want to learn more.

A synchronicity as I was thinking about this blog, a Watts lecture, the book I am writing, and this poem t occurred on Wednesday, February 17, on 1A: Going back to the ’90s with Chuck Klosterman who says:

“What I mean by that is that it’s the last ten-year calendar span that seems to have immutable values, and immutable old fashions, and immutable ideas that make it seem separate from the period that it came previously. I think we are now more in a period of perpetual now where the difference between 2009 and 2019 seems almost impossible to perceive outside of discussions about politics.”

Watts talks about the eternal Now, which Dogen taught about as well centuries earlier, and yet today living and acting in the Now is harder than ever before. To describe how to do this to anyone tethered to modern Western man’s linear view of time and progress, teachings that have made us compulsive creatures ever seeking the big reward and perfection we were taught we should obtain, if we work hard enough for it, only to get towards the end of life and it never ever quite showing up.


Space-Time Isn’t Straight

And another fantastic synchronicity to the theme of this blog is from The Takeaway (NPR) and the interview with Physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein Expands How We Look at the Cosmos and her new book Black.Queer.Rising that talks about the work she’s done to rethink our understanding of the cosmos and make space for more Black, queer people in STEM!

In the interview she talks about how amazing it is that we are even here since most of the universe is made out of something invisible, light goes right through it, scientists call it Dark Matter, which has taken on an entirely different sphere of meaning for many black people. She also says, “Space-time isn’t straight…” and so does Watts in many of his leturces from the 1960s. He too echoes how amazing it is that we are here. My book also explores these ideas.

Feature Archetypal Animation

Meditation Man Meditate Quiet Yoga Moonlight Moon | Myriams-Fotos | Deutsch  •  Member since Nov. 10, 2015

Dragonfly Dew Spider Web Cobweb Web Dewdrops | AdinaVoicu | Adina Voicu  •  Age 42  •  Oltenita/Romania  •  Member since Oct. 4, 2014

 Dandelion Seed Dew Dewdrops Droplets Wildflower | iemlee | myungho lee  •  Age 60  •  seoul/korea  •  Member since June 25, 2017

 Earth Moon Space Planet World Blue Planet | qimono | Arek Socha  •  Stockholm/Sweden  •  Member since Jan. 27, 2016

 Migratory Birds Cranes Moon Flock Of Birds Birds | Lolame | Melanie  •  Age 45  •  Niedersachsen/Deutschland  •  Member since June 2, 2013  •  #274

Music: [15] Chants of Native Earth    3:11 | Shamanic Moon – Native American Drums for RelaxationNative Classical Sounds


First Archetypal Animation

Just Assumption Summer Solstice Just Flower | Ri_Ya | Ri Butov  •  Israel  •  Member since June 29, 2019

Water Lily Flower Botany Aquatic Plant Bloom | Couleur | IlonaF❤️🍀❤️🍀  •  🇩🇪Deutsch🇩🇪Land🇩🇪  •  Member since July 11, 2015

Fractal Digital Art Computer Graphics Abstract | Inactive account – ID 189748

 Earth Planet Space World Blue Planet Outer Space | WikiImages | Deutsch  •  Member since Dec. 13, 2011

Music: Distant Worlds | Purrple Cat | Lunar Eclipse


Second Archetypal Animation

Hot Air Balloon Lake Balloon Sky Clouds Night | Bessi | Besi  •  Age 36  •  Podujevë/Kosovo  •  Member since April 4, 2015

Night Moon Night Sky Moonlight Blue Trees Dusk | susan-lu4esm | Susan Cipriano  •  Buenos Aires/Argentina ♥  •  Member since Nov. 11, 2017  •  #65

 Flower White Flower Dew Dewdrops Petals Bloom | Myriams-Fotos | Deutsch  •  Member since Nov. 10, 2015

 Leaf Droplets Reflection Grass Water Drops | ju1959jjj | ju Irun  •  Age 62  •  Irun/Guipuzcoa  •  Member since April 5, 2017

Music: Dew Drops On Spider Webs | Verne Langdon


Third Archetypal Animation

Crane Bird Animal Zoo Wilderness Feather Plumage | KRiemer | Kerstin Riemer  •  Greifswald/Deutschland  •  Member since April 13, 2015  •  #246

Crowned Cranes Birds Animals Cranes | strh | Kassel/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 2, 2021

Peacock Feather Dewdrop Dew Colorful Water Liquid | michaelcalumross | Michael Ross  •  Age 44  •  Forres/United Kingdom  •  Member since April 11, 2021

Music: Twisted & Shaken | Oscar Hollis


Check out my Big Sky Series all about how nature grounds, nourishes, and sustains us during the most stressful times.

The Tyger

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

First Archetypal Image
Tyger Tyger, burning bright… | Music: Tiger King [1] Tigers are Forever    0:42

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 
In the forests of the night; 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 


Second Archetypal Image
In what distant deeps or skies… | Music: In What Distant Deeps Or Skies | Kabanjak

In what distant deeps or skies. 
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand, dare seize the fire? 


Third Archetypal Image
And what shoulder, & what art… | Music: Tiger (Extended Version) Joon Moon

And what shoulder, & what art, 
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 
And when thy heart began to beat, 
What dread hand? & what dread feet? 


Fourth Archetypal Image
What the hammer? what the chain… | Music: [12] The Blacksmith Stomp – Radio Edit  (4:19)| Noble Jacks

What the hammer? what the chain, 
In what furnace was thy brain? 
What the anvil? what dread grasp, 
Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 


Fifth Archetypal Image
When the stars threw down their spears… | Music: Tyger Qntal

When the stars threw down their spears 
And water’d heaven with their tears: 
Did he smile his work to see? 
Did he who made the Lamb make thee? 


Sixth Archetypal Image
Tyger Tyger burning bright… | Music: Priviet (Easy Tyger Remix) | Pierce Fulton [1] Priviet – Easy Tyger Remix  

Tyger Tyger burning bright, 
In the forests of the night: 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?


To hear it read, go to The Tyger BY WILLIAM BLAKE (The Poetry Foundation)

Sources for Archetypal Images

Feature Archetypal Animation:

Tiger Predator Fur Dangerous Big Cat Feline | Alexas_Fotos | Alexa  •  Steh über den Dingen  •  Member since Jan. 6, 2015  •  #62

 Tiger Siberian Tiger Big Cat Zoo Predator | Joachim_Marian_Winkler | Deutsch  •  Member since May 2, 2016

Tiger Siberian Tiger Snow Predator Carnivore | Pixel-mixer | Marcel Langthim  •  Age 74  •  Regio Bodensee/Schweiz  •  Member since July 12, 2015

Tiger Swamp Big Cat Wild Cat Jungle Water | andibreit | Andreas Breitling  •  Himmelkron/Bayern  •  Member since June 14, 2016

Tiger Head Face Feline Wild Cat Big Cat Animal | blende12 | Gerhard G.  •  Deutschland  •  Member since March 25, 2014  •  #144

 Tigers Cub Tiger Cub Mother Snow Snowy | WikiImages | Deutsch  •  Member since Dec. 13, 2011

Music: William Blake’s The Tyger | Charles Szabo Music

First Archetypal Image

 Tiger Animal Wildlife Mammal Sumatran Tiger | No-longer-here | English  •  Member since Jan. 25, 2013

Tiger Swamp Big Cat Wild Cat Jungle Water | andibreit | Andreas Breitling  •  Himmelkron/Bayern  •  Member since June 14, 2016

Sparkler Lightbulb Spray Candle Spark Star Splatter | Myriams-Fotos | Deutsch  •  Member since Nov. 10, 2015

Forest Path Lights Nature Trees Night Woods | jplenio | Joe  •  Munich/Deutschland  •  Member since Jan. 9, 2018  •  #420

Eye Manipulation Galaxy Creative Artificial | VISHNU_KV | vishnu vijayan  •  Age 28  •  kerala/India  •  Member since Aug. 29, 2016

 Architecture Skyscraper Perspective Glass Windows | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016

Music: TIGER KING | Tiger King | [1] Tigers are Forever    0:42

Second Archetypal Image

Fantasy Clouds Woman Castle Sun Heaven | KELLEPICS | Stefan Keller  •  Deutschland / Germany  •  Member since March 22, 2017  •  #239

 Fantasy Beautiful Dawn Sunset Sky Cloud Women | peter_pyw | Peter  •  KUALA LUMPUR/Malaysia  •  Member since July 19, 2016

Tiger Feline Savage Wild Animal Zoo Animal | WenPhotos | wendy CORNIQUET  •  Age 61  •  Parly/France  •  Member since Dec. 21, 2015

Barn Owl Bird Flying Wings Owl Bird Of Prey | dannymoore1973 | danny moore  •  Age 48  •  hawick/scotland  •  Member since Dec. 25, 2015

Hand Fire Finger Burn Flame Light | Inactive account – ID 12222786

Fire Flame Burning Combustion Heat | Hans | Hans Braxmeier  •  Neu-Ulm/Deutschland  •  Member since Nov. 24, 2010

Music: In What Distant Deeps Or Skies | Kabanjak

Third Archetypal Image

Female Long Hair Back Shoulder Lips Nose Girl | garyporephotography | Gary Pore  •  Age 41  •  Adelaide/Australia  •  Member since April 21, 2017

Mountain Colors Paint Colorful Art Abstract

Mountain Colors Paint Colorful Art Abstract | Leolo212 | Antonio López  •  Murcia/Spain  •  Member since Jan. 23, 2020  •  #453

Hands Heart Red Paint Heart Shape Art Group Paint | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016

Angel Ali Heart Aquila Clouds Fly To Dream Float | Inactive account – ID 6557056

Pirate Seafarer Captain Sailors Evil Halloween | sik-life | Felix Lichtenfeld  •  Age 32  •  Jever/Deutschland  •  Member since March 6, 2016

Tiger Cat Predator Carnivore Wildlife Animal Wild | tony241969 | Age 53  •  London/England  •  Member since April 17, 2017

Music: Tiger (Extended Version) Joon Moon

Fourth Archetypal Image

Hammer Sledgehammer Mallet Tool Striking Hitting | stevepb | Steve Buissinne  •  Age 72  •  Sedgefield/South Africa  •  Member since June 4, 2014

Chain Security Metal Iron Metal Chain Chain Link | analogicus | Tom  •  Andernach/Deutschland  •  Member since Feb. 25, 2018  •  #178

Metallurgy A Ferro-Alloy The Electric Arched Furnace | kepinator | Slovenčina  •  Member since March 10, 2017

Brain Anatomy Abstract Art Branches Computation | GDJ | Gordon Johnson  •  USA  •  Member since June 3, 2015  •  #51

Anvil Ironworks Blacksmith Forge Tool Rust | nightowl | USA  •  Member since Dec. 21, 2010

Forest Dark Magic Surreal Trees Mysterious Nature | jwvein | J.W.Vein  •  Konin/Polska  •  Member since June 8, 2017  •  #453

Dry Head Skeleton Fear Death Die Dead Head Dry | Engin_Akyurt | Engin Akyurt  •  Age 41  •  Türkçe  •  Member since Nov. 1, 2016  •  #21

 Tiger Head Face Feline Wild Cat Big Cat Animal | blende12 | Gerhard G.  •  Deutschland  •  Member since March 25, 2014  •  #145

Music: [12] The Blacksmith Stomp – Radio Edit  (4:19)| Noble Jacks

Fifth Archetypal Image

Manipulation Monkey Animal Fire Wire Shooting Star | janrye | janrye  •  Denmark  •  Member since Feb. 20, 2017

Mermaid The Sea Maid Mythical Creatures Ocean | Mysticsartdesign | Mystic Art Design  •  Deutsch  •  Member since July 3, 2014

Heaven Clouds Cloud Shape Swelling Cloud Weather | geralt | Gerd Altmann  •  Freiburg/Deutschland  •  Member since Sept. 15, 2012  •  #45

Water Drops Blue Liquid Clear Macro Wet Splash | InspiredImages | UK  •  Member since Sept. 27, 2013

Shiva The Hindu God Shiva India Rishikesh | InspiredImages | UK  •  Member since Sept. 27, 2013

Kyoto Japan Statue Jizo Japanese Religion Culture | JordyMeow | Jordy Meow  •  Age 39  •  Tokyo/Japan  •  Member since April 16, 2015

 Tiger Animal Wildlife Mammal Sumatran Tiger | No-longer-here | English  •  Member since Jan. 25, 2013

Music: Tyger Qntal

Sixth Archetypal Image

 Tiger White Tiger Asleep Big Cat Wild Cat Feline | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016

Forest Trees Mystical Light Mood Mysterious | pixel2013 | S. Hermann & F. Richter  •  Germany  •  Member since April 9, 2016

Diwali Navratri Religious Worship Holiday Hinduism | vinnyspice | English  •  Member since Oct. 22, 2018

Music: Priviet (Easy Tyger Remix) | Pierce Fulton [1] Priviet – Easy Tyger Remix  

Happy Year of the Tiger!

A Stormy Moment

The wind’s in the willows

My heart is in two.

The wind’s in the willows…my heart is in two| Music: 50 Shades of Purple | Songs For the Brokenhearted by Maria Paloma

I sit being billowed

Thinking of you.

Thinking of You… | Music: Molly (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco) | Lil Dicky

The wind’s in the willows

It’s starting to rain.

It’s starting to rain… | Music: Thunderstorm & Rain (Sleep & Mindfulness) | Sleepy John

I sit getting drenched

Both with droplets and pain.

I’m getting drenched… | Music: Pain PinkPantheress | [1] Pain    1:39

Poet unknown, but I found a copy of this very same poem in Chapter 55 of a Timeless Place.

For a dear friend who shared this poem recently. I love its imagery and was inspired to animate parts of it with Archetypal Animations.

Have a beautiful and soulful day.


Following are sources for the images and music used to create each Archetypal Animation. All images for this blog come from Pixabay and all music is from Spotify. To hear the music, just click the little sound box in the upper right-hand corner of each animation.

You can follow my Pixabay account to see collections of spectacular photos I have encountered in my searches for images for Archetypal Animations. And follow my Spotify account for meditative and powerful playlists of musicians I have discovered in my search for musical soundtracks for Archetypal Animations.


Feature Archetypal Animation:

UnderWater Fashion Woman Art Water Tank Fine Art | Engin_Akyurt | Engin Akyurt  •  Age 41  •  Türkçe  •  Member since Nov. 1, 2016  •  #25
Willow Tree Winter Light Color Sky | elvina1332 | Эльвина Якубова  •  Age 29  •  Каспийск/Россия  •  Member since Jan. 22, 2018  •  #869
Match Smoke Match Head Sticks Matches Burn | roegger | Deutsch  •  Member since Nov. 25, 2014
Girl Nighttime Lantern Oil Lamp | Greyerbaby | lisa runnels  •  Age 59  •  magee/united states  •  Member since Jan. 13, 2012
Love Heart Valentine’s Day Red Affection Hearts | marcosaasilva | Marcos Silva  •  Age 58  •  Macaé/Brasil  •  Member since Nov. 19, 2016

Music: Day 28: Mantra for Moving Forward (So Dar Keha) | Meditative Mind


First Archetypal Animation:

Weeping Willow Willow Tree | MabelAmber 👀 who will one day  •  make you hide…/your face in your hands 👀  •  Member since Sept. 6, 2015
Heart Broken Nature Love Leaf | Modman | Kevin McIver  •  Age 59  •  English  •  Member since April 22, 2015
Hourglass Shattered Broken | Heather_Ann | Heather Plew  •  Age 32  •  Grapeview/USA  •  Member since Jan. 25, 2018
Heart Crack Broken Pain | chadkrue17 | Chad Krusenstjerna  •  Age 25  •  Lynnwood/United States  •  Member since Aug. 24, 2015

Music: 50 Shades of Purple | Songs For the Brokenhearted by Maria Paloma


Second Archetypal Animation:

Abstract Background Grey Billow | yadiyadi | English  •  Member since Jan. 28, 2013
Background Abstract Etherial Billows | yadiyadi | English  •  Member since Jan. 28, 2013
Paraglider Leisure Sports Free Flight | JACLOU-DL | JackieLou DL  •  La Baie du Mont saint Michel/France  •  Member since June 10, 2017  •  #72
Woman Face Light Painting | Inactive account – ID 19833603

Music: Molly (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco) | Lil Dicky


Third Archetypal Animation:

Weeping Willow Willow Tree | MabelAmber 👀 who will one day  •  make you hide…/your face in your hands 👀  •  Member since Sept. 6, 2015
Window Glass Water | Pexels | English  •  Member since March 26, 2016
Rain Umbrella Pavement Red Black | nikondian | Souvick Ghosh  •  Age 32  •  Kolkata/India  •  Member since July 22, 2017
Cloud Heart Love Wind | Kranich17 | Michaela  •  Germany  •  Member since Jan. 6, 2019  •  #332

Music: [1] Thunder & Rain Sounds, Pt. 01    1:05 | Thunderstorm & Rain (Sleep & Mindfulness) | Sleepy John


Fourth Archetypal Animation:

Hand Hyperhidrosis Sweating | BarbaraBonanno | Barbara Bonanno  •  Massa (MS)/Italia  •  Member since Feb. 20, 2015
Scream That Weather Breath | Engin_Akyurt | Age 41  •  Türkçe  •  Member since Nov. 1, 2016  •  #25
Under Water Fashion Woman | Engin_Akyurt | Age 41  •  Türkçe  •  Member since Nov. 1, 2016  •  #25
Under Water Fashion Woman Art | er Water Fashion Woman | Engin_Akyurt | Age 41  •  Türkçe  •  Member since Nov. 1, 2016  •  #25
Under Water Fashion Woman Art | er Water Fashion Woman | Engin_Akyurt | Age 41  •  Türkçe  •  Member since Nov. 1, 2016  •  #25

Music: Pain PinkPantheress | [1] Pain    1:39

My small insight in animating parts of this poem is:

Keep moving forward no matter the weather inside or outside.

Every emotion, feeling, and mood is rocket fuel powering us ever forward through new beginnings and endings on our endless and indestructible journey through the feeling of being.

It is only through the dark that we know the light.

It is only by descending to our deepest depths that we can reach our highest heights.


One more insight, actually it is a synchronicity between working on this poem and a movie that my husband and I watched last night. We saw a BBC version of Great Expectations. Neither of us had ever read Charles Dickens book nor seen any of the movies made about it.

Both of us were spelled bound by the convoluted beautiful tale Dickens weaves through all his stories. We were particularly captivated and appalled by Miss Havisham.

"Humiliated and heartbroken, Miss Havisham suffered a mental breakdown and remained alone in her decaying mansion Satis House – never removing her wedding dress,..." -- Wiki

Here is a sense of the depth of despair she has descended to and refuses (or cannot) let go of in this complicated story.

great expectations | miss Havisham
57,082 views, Jan 2, 2012

Her endless pain bends and distorts her until she appears more dead than alive, more witch than beautiful maiden, which she was. Still she clings to her unendurable pain, the consequences of which ripple through and define the rest of her life and beyond.

I listen to a lot of Alan Watts, and he talks a lot about letting go because there is no way to hold on to it. It can be pleasure, pain, money, status, whatever it is a person is tempted to hold on to. He also talks about peaks and troughs. You can’t have one without the other.

I immediately sought to find an example of what would happen to a human being who only held onto pleasure. A person who refuses to see, feel, or know their own pain. I could not think of a literary example, but my mother-in-law sprang to mind.

I realized a person who holds on to pleasure also is beaten and battered into more of a monster than a human being by this force–for pleasure is an energy just as pain is energy. We feel these energies as emotions inside of us.

A person who clings to pleasure becomes dim, shallow, and cruel. They become a person who takes pleasure in other people pain, misfortune, and sorrow. They have forgotten their soul needs food to grow and that consuming someone else’s pain is a pretty poor substitute for their own.

To grow, a soul needs to sink into the depths of being a mortal being. Denying their own pain and suffering, cuts them off from other people and slices themselves in half. A person who clings to pleasure becomes the same type of pitiful monster that Miss Havisham becomes due to clinging to her pain.

You can follow my journey in exploring what happens to a person who clings to pleasure through my Big Sky Series.

Traveling to Big Sky Country — September 22, 2021 — Moab — Junction
26 views
Premiered Oct 15, 2021

Have a beautiful day!