NAVIGATION

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GEIFN | MIXING | Media | July 2023

Best wishes for less Suffering, more Happiness with Good Health and Time to Enjoy it. Welcome to Coptic calendar 1739–1740.

Sharing a timely aspiration:
“I didn’t fall in love, I rose in it.”
Toni Morrison, American writer (1931-2019 CE)

If having no reason to celebrate this month, here are 3 prepared earlier:

This edition we visit Re:zoom – a place; an expressed sentiment and/or a state of mind. And its interplay. Or not.


Re:zoom = Latin: Re = again; Modern English: zoom = fast change, or change from far-sighted to close-focus and/or vice versa.

(Previous' modification of:
Resume = Latin: Re = again; sumere = take)

Previously we have been exposed to the view that to live is to Suffer. Suffering has a Cause and the root cause is Ignorance. The Suffering is ended by knowing the Cause, applying its Medicine and using it Mindfully.

Sounds a bit too simple, boring and not enough sex for the modern sophisticated marketplace. So marketing have released:

  • "Angry Movie, starring thrills, spills and bursts of blood.
  • Individual Pride Movie, starring division, loneliness and craziness.
  • Desirable Movie, starring passion, longing and overflowing tears.
  • Enviable Movie, starring jealousy, paranoia and discontent.
  • Confused Movie (Subtitles by Not Knowing, False View and/or Neutrality), starring fear, uncertainty and/or boredom.
  • or alternative screening by request: Wise Action Hero Movie, starring wisdom and striving while conquering Suffering."

Generally, while the Sufferings from Anger, Desire or Confusion can be mindfully minimised or avoided, the Suffering of this Mindful Effort is still to be endured. Also, even though an individual might free themselves from Suffering, they are not free to enjoy this if others nearby are still Suffering.

Specifically, we mistake our perception of individual separation as real. We then think, say and do more things that causes more Suffering. Its like going to a cinema, being in a room with many others, viewing a movie that was constructed in the past by mostly unseen others, then walking out thinking your experience is individual and more important than anyone else's. 

Now, back to our movie. If we look at our motivation to see a movie, it is usually some form of retreat or refuge from our immediate real-life situation. 

Simplistically, the ones going with friends wish to retreat from aloneness, the ones going for education wish to retreat from ignorance and the ones going for spectacle wish to retreat from the mundane. The correct identification of the craving and the clarity at which the choices are made determines the outcome. And then when the movie ends, so too does our brief altered experience so we return to our unaltered Suffering.

Read on and let's see what is to discover this edition. Subscribers decide if anything is useful.

Time for a musical interlude?


Topics

  1. Guest Sings
  2. Stream Jives
  3. Wisdom Reconciles
  4. Media Writes
  5. TED Talks
  6. Music Challenges
  7. Acknowledgments

    1. Guest Sings

    Approx 5 min presentation 

    2. Street Jives

    Approx 2 min presentation 

    3. Wisdom Reconciles


    4. Media Writes

    Approx 5 min reads

    Intro
    Jason Steger explores asylum seeking, migration and calling a place home with author Kgshak Akec who wrote "From South Sudan to the Miles Franklin shortlist, with ‘a novel of national significance’” via The Sydney Morning Herald

    Satara Uthayakumaran explores reflection, critical thinking and peaceful coexistence recounting when "I lost my faith in God’s CV, so I did a reference check” via WA Today

    Garry Maddox explores identity, existence and legacy when "Dark Emu documentary reveals new evidence of Aboriginal mining and trading” via WA Today


    Intra
    Kris Kneen explores body, communing with nature and collective celebration recounting how "Tassie’s midwinter nude swim exposes more than skin” via The Age

    Benjamin Law talks dicey topics Religion, Money and Politics with Marcia Langton who recounts "‘I was amazed’: The statement that stunned academic” via The Sydney Morning Herald

    Megan Backhouse explores living shade, growth and lightness in "How air plants can work together to create much-needed city shade” via The Age


    Inter
    Joanne Karcz explores love, identity and growing up when recounting reasons why "‘I was terrified of my father and told Bobby we had to run away’” via The Age

    Kimberly Gillan explores addiction, rehabilitation and recovery recounting how "I’ve been 10 years clean. This is what I’ve learned about addiction” via The Brisbane Times

    Lisa Visentin and Paul Sakkal explore identity, referendum and towards reconciliation with "‘Right balance’: PM defends Voice model as referendum bill clears the parliament” via WA Today


    Multi
    Nell Geraets explores identity, neurodiversity and loving relationships when reviewing a documentary of "Janet, Buddha, and the film about their family that is anything but neurotypical” via The Brisbane Times

    Dani Valent explores life, love and separation when recounting when "‘He told me he was seeing a guy’: The ex-spouses who stayed best friends” via WA Today

    Brooke Boney explores the value in truth telling, honesty and reconciliation "As a descendant of the Myall Creek massacre, there is one story I cling to for hope” via The Age


    All
    Lauren Mosso explores cherishing life, balanced living and unconditional loving when recounting "At the end of life, no one wishes they worked longer hours” via The Age

    Ross Gittins explores work, life and balance with "Wish you had more days off? Well, you could have” via The Sydney Morning Herald

    Jordan Baker explores enduring childhood, supportive teamwork and enabling love over lunch with Mark Dadds who recounts how "‘I was a golden child. Then I just went a bit nutty’” via The Sydney Morning Herald


    Togather
    Maida Pineda explores curiosity, friendliness and sharing experience in “Most of my life my friends were much older than me. Now it has flipped” via The Age

    Kerrie O’Brien has lunch with Kimberley Moulton who’s passion is "Bringing Indigenous stories and objects into the light” via The Age

    Carolyn Webb explores initiative, perseverance and collective benefit in "Earth angels: King’s Birthday Honours shine light on community heroes” via The Age


    Nobly
    Benjamin Law talks dicey topics Death, Bodies and Religion with Sinead Burke with “On the ‘brave and rebellious act’ we all need to do often” via The Sydney Morning Herald

    James Norman explores consistency, business and community when "$5 for a feed? The cheap, cheerful eateries building a community and defying inflation” via The Sydney Morning Herald

    Paul Sakkal explores a uniting northern front declaring "‘We are the voice from the bush’: Spirit of Yunupingu to spur Yes campaign” via The Sydney Morning Herald



    6. Music Challenges

    Approx 30 min presentation + reflection times

    If desired, a short selection of publicly available material on a chosen theme for personal reflection. 

    For best results, sit comfortably with a straight back, have headphones in a shared space, after each clicked link, allow a little reflection with your personally-held view before clicking on the next link.

    Get ready to Reflect!
    Choose your playing level:
    Be introduced at 1.
    Be soothed at 2-4.
    Be shocked at 5.
    Be inspired at 6.
    Fuller illumination 1-6.
    You be the judge. Or not.

    Cryptic Clue:Where is the right place to understand the truth of a situation?
    1. Inspire
    2. Perspire
    3. Collaborate
    4. Engage: Test for personal circumstances, if useful keep, if unuseful discard, if exceeds needs, share mindfully
    5. Endure: Adapt for present times without sacrificing intent
    6. Endear: (Inspiring Others To Tend the Flame) live/ demonstrate/ inspire/ teach experience with others
    This challenge is sharing sit, site, situation, posit, opposite & apposite.

    sit
    [sit]
    From Old English sittan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zitten, German sitzen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin sedere and Greek hezesthai.

    verb 
    1. adopt or be in a position in which one's weight is supported by one's buttocks rather than one's feet and one's back is upright. Ie, I sit next to the band at tonight’s dinner. Ie, you can sit wherever you like. 
      • cause (someone) to sit. Ie, I sat the baby on my lap. 
      • (of an animal) rest with the hind legs bent and the body close to the ground. Ie, it is important for a dog to sit when instructed. 
      • ride or keep one's seat on (a horse). Ie, have you never sat a horse before? 
      • (of a table, room, or building) be large enough for (a specified number of seated people). Ie, the chapel sat about 3,000 people. 
      • (of a hen or other bird) settle on eggs for the purpose of incubating them. Ie, don't introduce a new male when the hens are sitting. 
      • (North American) not use (a player) in a game. Ie, the manager must decide who to sit in the World Series. 
    2. be or remain in a particular position or state. Ie, the fridge was sitting in a pool of water. 
      • (of an item of clothing) fit a person well or badly as specified. Ie, the blue uniform sat well on his big frame. 
    3. (of a parliament, committee, court of law, etc.) be engaged in its business. Ie, Parliament continued sitting until 21 December. 
      • serve as a member of a council, jury, or other official body. Ie the Senate has 100 members who sit for 6 years. Ie, they were determined that women jurists should sit on the tribunal. 
    4. (British) take (an examination). Ie, pupils are required to sit nine subjects at GCSE. Ie, they were about to sit for their Cambridge entrance exam. 
    5. live in someone's house while they are away and look after their pet or pets. Ie, Kelly had been cat-sitting for me. Ie, I puppy-sat for the residents a couple of weeks ago.
    noun
    1. a period of sitting. Ie, a sit in the shade. 
    2. (archaic) the way in which an item of clothing fits someone. Ie, the sit of her frock.

    site
    [syte]
    From late Middle English (as a noun): from Anglo-Norman French, or from Latin situs = local position. The verb dates from the late 16th century.
    noun
    1. an area of ground on which a town, building, or monument is constructed. Ie, the proposed site of a hydroelectric dam. Ie, the concrete is mixed on site. 
      • a place where a particular event or activity is occurring or has occurred. Ie, the site of the Battle of Flodden. 
      • short for building site. Ie, site visits. 
      • short for campsite or caravan site.
    2. a website. Ie, the site has no ads and is not being promoted with banners. Ie, some servers use cookies to track users from site to site. 
    verb
    • fix or build (something) in a particular place. Ie, the hall is sited behind the classrooms. 

    situation
    [sit’yoo’ay’shon]
    From late Middle English from French, or from medieval Latin situatio(n-), from situare = to place.

    noun 
    1. a set of circumstances in which one finds oneself; a state of affairs. Ie, the situation between the two students had come to a head. Ie, the political situation in the past. 
    2. the location and surroundings of a place. Ie, the situation of the town is pleasant. 
    3. (formal) a position of employment; a job.

    posit
    [poh’sit]
    From mid 17th century: from Latin posit- = placed, from the verb ponere = set, put.
    verb (posits, positing, posited) 
    1. put forward as fact or as a basis for argument. Ie, the Confucian view posits a perfectible human nature. 
      • base something on the truth of (a particular assumption). Ie, these plots are posited on a false premise about women's nature as inferior. 
    2. put in position; place. Ie, the Professor posits Cohen in his second category of poets. 
    noun 
    • (Philosophy) a statement which is made on the assumption that it will prove to be true. 

    opposite
    [op’poh’sit]
    From late Middle English: via Old French from Latin oppositus, past participle of opponere = set against.

    adjective 
    1. situated on the other or further side when seen from a specified or implicit viewpoint; facing: a crowd gathered on the opposite side of the street. 
      • (Botany) of leaves or shoots, arising in pairs at the same level on opposite sides of the stem. 
      • (of angles) between opposite sides of the intersection of two lines. 
    2. completely different; of a contrary kind. Ie, a word that is opposite in meaning to another. Ie, currents flowing in opposite directions. 
    3. being the other of a contrasted pair. Ie, the opposite ends of the price range. 
    noun 
    • a person or thing that is totally different from or the reverse of someone or something else: we were opposites in temperament | the literal is the opposite of the figurative. 
    adverb 
    • in a position facing a specified or implied subject: she was sitting almost opposite | he went into the shop opposite. 
    preposition 
    1. in a position on the other side of a specific area from; facing. Ie, they sat opposite one another. 
    2. (of a leading actor) in a complementary role to (another). Ie, the star was a young teen playing opposite an older woman.

    apposite
    [ap’poh’sit]
    From late 16th century: from Latin appositus, past participle of apponere = apply, from ad- = towards + ponere = set, put.

    adjective 
    • apt in the circumstances or in relation to something. Ie, an apposite quotation. Ie, the observations are apposite to the discussion.
    [Practice]

    Optional
    -- Chant Mantrastyle

    Why? Why not?
    Start today. 
    As the case may be.
    Or not.




    7. Acknowledgments

    Reconciliation
    Acknowledging traditional inhabitants of Cities of Port Phillip and Glen Eira are the Boon Wurrung, Bunurong and Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation. Respect is offered to past, present and future elders of all spiritual traditions. May we find together a generous way to accommodate those in need of refuge. Let us be cool, strive individually and together to overcome inequality, violence, disengagement, tragedy and injustice wherever it may be. Let us honour, savor and enjoy results of mindful effort so more thrive peacefully with less effort in our place called home.

    Invitation to Support Content Creators
    The music/stories/videos have been sourced from public domain. If you like any of the content, please consider buying directly from online marketplaces to support creators and truth telling in the public interest.

    Caretaker Disclosure
    Words and concepts are conditional things that point to a 'reflection of experience'. They are limited and do not adequately describe the 'full lived experience'. Like the moon's reflection on a lake's surface, it is not the moon, nor the experience of gazing up at the darkened sky transformed by the presence of a full moon. It is in the eyes/ears/nose/mouth/touch/cognisance of the beholder.

    This curation is an interpretation of the universal basis of re:lig:ion (Latin = again:uniting:energy) or bodhicitta (Sanskrit = Awakening Consciousness). This email invites a sharing of countless thoughts, words and actions wishing, causing and receiving less Suffering and more Happiness. For benefit initially of the individual increasing in beneficiaries until it includes all across the 3 times and 10 directions. Or not. As each case may be.

    It is not personal, it just the way things are.