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29 April 2011

Throw Your Love

I often feel as though prefacing any piece of text ruins it however before anything gets muddy, I would just like to clarify that I am in no way an expert on socio-political issues nor have I been involved in radical actions in the grand scheme of things. After all, it is an ongoing learning process.
What I do know is that us human beings are ferocious and though we use that ferocity in god-awful ways to pleasure ourselves, we are also highly capable of being compassionate, empathic mammals. Perhaps the coupling of that fierceness and instinctive compassion would allow room for us to grow together. I know this sounds severely romanticised and it is often what many anarchists speak about but I think the reality of it is, we have seen a beautiful relationship between these two instincts evolve into what we now call the Arab Uprising. Though there is bloodshed and copious amounts of death and destruction, there is also a new wave of hope that has taken over. Never in my life had I imagined a revolution of this sort to happen.
A lot of Westerners are under the impression that this uprising is distant but it is not. It is in every place you look. A very brief example of this is when Egypt overthrew their dictator, the Egyptian families in South-West Sydney danced in their victory - Copts and Muslims held hands. Now Syria is under fire and every Syrian man I speak to in Bankstown has deep fear in their eyes.
I choose to stand with the Arabs throughout all of this. The Wests "democratic" structure and form may not work within the Arab world and it's not up to us to make the call. I believe the people know best and the people will make the decision.

-S

22 April 2011

Stand Tall


This is Indonesia. With all the corruption and poverty, this is Indonesia at its absolute purest. It's hard not to come across as nationalistic - even though as far as "nations" are concerned, technically I am Australian - but this makes me so damn proud it brought a tear to my eye. This is all soul. Listen to the percussion and observe the synchronisation. Feel the history. You don't have to be Indonesian to be ecstatic about living in a world where treasures like this exist.

-S

18 April 2011

How We Do







Photos by Jack Bruun

-S

10 April 2011

Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 111

"The greatest gift of man is universal love – that magnet which renders existence eternal. It attracts realities and diffuses life with infinite joy. If this love penetrate the heart of man, all the forces of the universe will be realized in him, for it is a divine power which transports him to a divine station and he will make no progress until he is illumined thereby. Strive to increase the love-power of reality, to make your hearts greater centers of attraction and to create new ideals and relationships."

-S