X-Men born 1963 - the 60's influences

The 1960s spawned innumerable new social, political and religious movements.  After the austerity of the post-Second World War period there was an economic boom in the West.  The decade opened as South Africa left the Commonwealth with the then Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, giving his famous 'Winds of Change' speech in which he argued for a 'partnership of races' in that continent, and for inclusion of all in political and economic power.   However , the struggle against apartheid and brutal white supremacist regimes was not to be complete until almost three decades later.  In 1962 the USA became very nervous about the fact that the Soviet Union was building medium range missile sites in Cuba with strike capability on the USA.  After supporting an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, the US blockaded Cuba.    Despite the exhortation of his chiefs-of-staff to use nuclear weapons to end the confrontation, President John F. Kennedy insisted on negotiation and averted what could have been the first (and probably last) nuclear war.  In 1964 in Great Britain the Conservatives lost the general election and Harold Wilson became the first Labour prime minister since 1951.  The United States became involved in a war in Vietnam, supporting a series of Saigon-based governments against rebels who appeared to have backing from Communist China and/or the Soviet Union. The US poured in resources, including up to 500.000 troops in the country at any one time.   This war was one of the first in which a civilian population was attacked as much as the forces against whom was undertaken.  The use of chemical weapons such as napalm (a jelly-like chemical flammable substance dropped from the air) and Agent Orange (a herbicide) did vast and terrible damage to the country, its people and the food systems that supported them.  A huge popular protest movement in both the US and across Europe developed against the war.  The ethic of rebellion and questioning of the traditional status quo fuelled the development of protest and alternative cultural, arts and religious movements too.   These movements included the Pop Art movement, modernism and minimalism in art and architecture, the rock, soul and motown movements in music, and transcendental meditation, many cults of various kinds and the alternative lifestyle called 'hippy'.  The idea that individuals should explore their own inner psyches and develop spiritually was also connected to particular drug cultures, where drugs like LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) were purported to produce the same self-knowledge and awareness as meditation and religious experience did.  The chief proponent was an American psychologist Timothy Leary, who famously exhorted his followers to 'Turn on, tune in, drop out'.   This decade spawned relaxation of dress codes and liberalisation of sexual behaviour, enabled by the development of a contraceptive pill, which enabled women for the first time in history to control their fertility.  Despite the apparent tremendous optimism and energy with the decade opened, it closed more sombrely with the promise of wars and destruction becoming ubiquitous.  The Vietnam war continued with thousands dead and opposed by violent demonstrations across the US and Europe; the six-day Arab-Israeli war occurred in 1967; in 1968 Martin Luther King, a US black rights activist was assassinated and Enoch Powell in the UK gave his notorious 'Rivers of Blood' speech opposing immigration; in 1968 also the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia after its liberal leader Alexander Dubcek had introduced the 'Prague Spring' of liberal reforms; in response to sectarian conflict over civil rights in 1969 British troops began to patrol the streets of Northern Ireland.  The continuing sectarian conflict and its consequence became know as the 'Troubles', and has continued into the new century;  in 1969 the there was a very severe famine amongst the Biafran people of Nigeria.  For the first time television began to bring the acute suffering of people of the developing world into the living rooms of every industrialised nation.

Bliss
XX

Where did all the anger go?

Baby souls follow.
Young souls lead.
But old souls, Bliss, are happy to dance alone.
Not that I'm spying on you,
    The Universe

I am not sure what I think about this comment from The Universe. I write The Universe because it's really a money making enterprise that I am hooked up to and receive these little daily messages. They are at times incredibly inspirational.
There is something about young and old souls. Of course no one really knows. But I do get a sense of a difference. I have always hated the idea that I might be a new or young soul. It seems cooler somehow to be an old soul. And that in itself makes me smile and the child in me. Never ever happy just where I am right now. Always wanting something else. I do wonder what this unrest in me is all about? I think it has been with me from a very young earth age. Everything else that I haven't got or done or everywhere else that I haven't been or am not right at this moment or everyone else is better. This can be time and space - spatial and ???? what is the word. Oh I do get fed up with the menopausal memory blocks. Which also makes me smile because I have always had this gappy memory. Spatial and ........ in social psychology the two were used a lot. In biological psychology it's temporal but somehow the word doesn't seem quite right for the fact that temporally I am never happy with the now.
For this now moment I am grateful for the mean to be able to type out my thoughts. And I am grateful for the desire to be literally creative by getting down my thinking. In the here and now I am grateful for a desire to eat healthier. Oh I need to be grateful for something in the past - yesterday talking with the one of the housekeepers at work. Wow gran words we use for cleaner. Isn't it funny how we use words and over time they become politically incorrect because humans attach meaning to the words that someone else doesn't like. Anyway the cleaner or housekeeper (which in time will have some derogatory meaning and will be re-named) and I were talking somehow about over eating. I was talking with an addictions therapist head on as she asked me my opinion on hypnosis as a means to overcome smoking and over eating. I was brilliant I thought ha ha! I was talking about how well it can work but not in isolation. I explained that I thought hypnosis can temporarily seem to alter the conditioning that I believe is a part of "addictive" behaviours. Such as when we are children and crying quite often parents use sweet things to pacify or soothe. And so, as with Pavlov's dog, the ways in which synapses alter in the brain with the pairing of food and attention becomes learnt, the hypnosis might temporarily put some control over this. However, hypnosis doesn't deal with the emotional reactions to everyday life. Therefore unless these are addressed, the hypnosis never seems to have a long lasting affect in altering the learnt behaviour. It is apparent for instance that smoking is a great suppressant for anger. So whilst hypnosis has removed the desire to smoke using all sorts of clever alarms - maybe even implanted memories - it hasn't removed anger. Thank goodness as anger is a valid and necessary emotion. I loved the lecture I gave yesterday on becoming aware of anger as a trigger to relapse.  Anyway stop bragging. The anger rises as a result of life and this is more powerful than the hypnosis and so the addict returns to smoking to manage the anger.
I just have to say that I heard a while ago that the gift of anger is energy. And this tied nicely with something I heard years ago and held onto that emotion is energy in motion e-motion. Loved it. So this two together make total sense. The difficulty is learning to separate the emotion from the behaviour and start identifying the variations of anger and choose to behave differently - not to get rid of the anger but to use the energy in a healthier way. Where on earth am I going with all of this. Oh yes the cleaner/housekeeper and over eating. So as I was explaining my theory she spoke about being out with friends who were all eating things she wanted so in the end she gave in and put down her less fattening foods and succumbed to eating the things she wanted so much like her friends. I said that with alcohol or drugs we tell people that in early days they need to avoid alcohol and drugs. To get some strength in their recovery rather than put themselves at the risk of temptation. When feeling OK it's no problem but if unaware of emotions bubbling underneath relapse is much more likely. And then I said it's a matter of acceptance that we cannot eat like other people just like the alcoholic has to accept that they cannot drink like other people. Despite having said this over and over for 10 years or so and applied it to myself with substances including nicotine, it was like a thunderbolt of revelation, like I had never heard it before .... amazing. I just need to accept that I cannot eat like others. That for some reason I have an addiction to sugary foods. I think white flour in this country doesn't help either. White flour is less refined in places like France and so the bread etc is very different.
I just need to accept that I cannot touch those things. And as much as I want want want them I need to stay off them. Alcohol and drugs were easy compared to this..... smoking was difficult enough but I used sugar. When I hear people talking about just being able to have anything but needing to manage it - well this is like telling an alcoholic to control their drinking. It rarely if ever works out.
So I need to apply the same to my food. I have tried all sorts of ways to be able to allow myself sweet things. Chocolate and sweets and cakes and so on. If M sticks with the Dukan diet she too will have a maintenance programme that is for life. I feel jealous immediately of people that can have ..... and it seems to me that others won;t understand it or take it seriously. And this is just how the folk in our treatment think. They go through doubts and fear. Ugh the shame of telling people that I may have got it wring and actually I cannot have. But even worse the disbelief in me that I will be able to stick to it so already building up the case for when I relapse. Actually I hope I can hold onto this as I can relate it so well with people in the group. I know myself the similarity in the thinking when deciding to give things up. There is such a negotiation in my head. And if I can be honest about it then I can get the support.
So for today I will not have sugar. I will be stressed at times as I am starting essay 1 - funnily enough much to do with learning and memory and the Hebbian learning of changes at the synapse.
How interesting how much more I know as a result of my course that helps with every day things. I didn't know it would be so useful. My problem is explaining things clearly and usefully.

Man! How I wonder off topic. That's going with the flow of the thinking. All the little electic sparks firing off and awakening different pockets of information. One day they may discover where the store of information is beause right now there is no knowledge of hos the electricity becomes conscious thoughts and memories. Amazing humans!!
So as for baby, young and old souls. In my opinion there is something in this. However, I do think different life circumstances can awaken the old soul.
With a more direct reference to what is being siad about the baby, young and old soul, yes I see that with wisdom there is less need to be with a someone. I still would like to meet a someone to share with. I am wondering if the longing is more prevalent when I am lower in mood. When everything seems so bleak and lonely and pointless. And that is possibly where the addictive element gets triggered. The desire and "need". When I am feeling uplifted and skipping along my path, the need is less. I can think more freely just how people come and go. Friends, partners and acquaintances. I meet an array of personalities that contribute greatly to the moments a long the way. Some stay and some are momentary. And I am at ease with that so long as my mood isn't in the pits and my path looks narrow with barbed wire fencing lining the route, dead animals rotting on the barbs, trees over hanging blotting out any sunlight, unfirm ground and in places bogs to navigate, empty of people, silent of life, no one and nothing ahead just more of the same. Still that's improvement on the tiny black sealed box I used to be in at my lowest.
Now the same path has fileds either side, stretching to hills or sea, forests. The path is windy and beyond each corner there is something that looks interesting to explore. There is sunlight and moonlight, there are people criss-crossing the path. Unicorns and faeries. So so so many things of interest that there isn't enough time in my life to pursue them all. So suddenly who needs one person.
Does this mean that I have an old soul? If so what happens to the old soul when the bleak blackness descends? Who knows? Nobody really knows. Do we need to know? Only when we are looking for certainty. Trust is the response to fear rather than certainty and control.
For today I trust. Lovely.

Bliss
XX

Prison of geneology

Outram Road Prison

Freedom from bondage

Facing the truths hidden behind our fears is a path not easy to take; it can be a dark & difficult path to walk.You don’t walk this journey alone, Divine protection & love is always with you.With each step you take the path will become brighter as you’re set free from the bonds we have put on our hearts, minds & soul.You will emerge from the darkness with a new freedom, a richer love & acceptance of self

Bliss
XX

Discerningly judging

Years ago now I was wondering about judgement - and as I gently enquired without insisting on learning, I was gently provided with information.

Judgement needs to be made but to give judgement justice, it needs time.

Judgement cannot be made by time alone.

Bliss
XX

Moon rise

There is a beautiful silvery light breaking through the darkness. A darkness that is more than just a room with no light. It's a darkness that actually has removed the light. A darkness that is not just around me it is actually a physical being that is upon me, all around me. And it's lifting. I feel more engaged with me recently. It is with relief. And with the silvery light I feel awe and wonder in not just the world and Universe but with my path.
My heart is singing and my soul is flying. It is sure to pass but so does the darkness.
I want to dance and play in the silvery light whilst it glistens all around me.

I am about to embark on  new set of step work. I know already that it is a look beneath another layer of the onion skin and am excited to discover and new depth of myself.

I would so like to be brave enough to put the writing on this blog but bloody hell that would require me to truly trust andyou know what? Sadly I am afraid still.
Perhaps there is a way I can use the awareness in another form, maybe fiction.
Crikey! This will be the most personally revealing stpe work so far. The layers are peeling away.

I am sad about the bi-polar though. I am sad what this can do. I LOVE LOVE adore the highs and even the nuttiness that this can involve. It's just adventurous although at times quite dangerous and potentially destructive. The lows can kill in another way. I really don't find it wasy how they seem to blacken the flow of spirit and will to live.

I can't truly begin to put into words how wonderful it feels to be showering in silvery light. I know it can be a fleeting moment. It could be longer but I amwriting this to cherish the moment.

It' a funny, wiggeldy, piggeldy path ......





Life can be hell, or life can be heaven, all dependent on your own outlook and vision

Bliss
XX

Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century foxy

Brassaï, Robert Capa, André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy and Martin Munkácsi each left Hungary to make their names in Germany, France and the USA, and are now known for the profound changes they brought about in photojournalism, as well as abstract, fashion and art photography.
Others, such as Károly Escher, Rudolf Balogh and Jószef Pécsi remained in Hungary producing high-quality and innovatory photography. A display of approximately two hundred photographs ranging in date from c.1914–c.1989 will explore stylistic developments in photography and chart key historical events. These striking images will reveal the achievements of Hungarian photographers who left such an enduring legacy to international photography.
Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts on the occasion of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU 2011

Unless A cancels this is what I am looking forward to on Sunday. Royal Academy, London.

 Capa

Brassai

Kertesz

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Munkacsi
Oddly enough I am going to see an exhibition of Frida's work next month. Feeling so so lucky.

I am liking Munkasci a lot. I read about the skill he showed in capturing action.

There are so many I truly like - I wouldn't know which one to print - someone choose one for me please. I bet I end up buying a book if there is one.

Self-taught, Martin worked since 1912 as a sports reporter in Budapest, and, in the early 1920s, started to publish his first photos. At the time, sports action photography could only be done in bright light outdoors. His innovation was to make sports pictures as meticulously composed action photographs, which required much artistic and technical skills
Munkácsi's break-through was to happen upon a fatal crime scene, which he photographed. Those photos affected the outcome of the trial of the accused killer, and gave Munkácsi considerable notoriety. That notoriety helped him get a job in Berlin in 1928, for the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, where his first published photo was a race car splashing its way through a puddle. He also worked for the fashion magazine Die Dame. Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung was a weekly magazine with a circulation of 2 million copies. It was Germany's first magazine where stories were told by photos primarily. Muncácsi there worked alongside with the ingenious Erich Salomon who was the first who called himself a "Bildjournalist".

"My trick—is there one? Well, perhaps a bitter youth with many changes of occupation, with the necessity of trying everything from poetry to berry picking. These difficult early years probably constitute the sources of my modest photographic activity." (Martin Munkácsi)Dog Market England





I seem to get the impression that photography before this time was "still". Munkasci's shots were unique, somehow angular (although that probably only means something to me), alacritous. I am sure I can learn more whilst there at the Roayl Academy. Reading and preparing is certainly giving me a greater understanding of the term street photography.  Well at least I think I am gaining a different understanging. I am now so looking forward to seeing these photographs. Sheer brilliance


Bliss
xx