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21/6/2013

3 Comments

 
Independence? What does it really mean? Where is Scotland going? Will it allow Scotland to express herself as a more progressive country? A socially, economically and environmentally just country, with a more inclusive and welcoming nature, proud, humble and peace-loving? Or is it better for all of us to remain together, part of a strong and internally war-free 300 year political, social and economic union with England; a union that has served Scotland well for centuries? It is the choice of all of us who live in Scotland in September 2014.

How many of us feel informed enough to know how to make an educated cross on a slip of paper? Lets do away with any sense of petty nationalism (on both sides) and focus on what kind of country we want post-referendum, whichever way we decide to vote as a country. 

It feels like this is a ripe time to evaluate what really matters in life. What kind of country we can pass down to our next generations? I believe we need humility, courage, openness, and commitment to work together. I believe we need to talk about what we really want for Scotland; what’s important deep down. I believe we need to know how we can best support, encourage and empower all those who are defranchised and marginalised in our society.

Let us walk forward, and talk. The campaigning is far too soon for people to align themselves with NO and YES camps. I believe most of us don’t yet know what we are voting for.

Its time for conversations, let the campaigning wait…     #conversations
3 Comments

Butterfly mind

12/6/2013

3 Comments

 
According to Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, by Lafcadio Hearn, a butterfly was seen in Japan as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the bamboo screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. 

The Russian word for "butterfly", бабочка (bábochka), also means "bow tie". It is a diminutive of "baba" or "babka" (= "woman, grandmother, cake"), whence also "babushka" = "grandmother".

The ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή (psȳchē), which primarily means "soul" or "mind".[51]

According to Mircea Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion, some of the Nagas of Manipur trace their ancestry from a butterfly.[52]

Butterfly and Chinese wisteria flowers, by Xü Xi (c.886–c.975), painted around 970 during the early Song Dynasty.
In Chinese culture, two butterflies flying together symbolize love. Also, Butterfly Lovers is a famous Chinese folktale. The Taoist philosopher, Zhuangzi, once had a dream about being a butterfly that flew without care about humanity; however; when he awoke and realized that it was just a dream, he thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"

In some old cultures, butterflies also symbolize rebirth after being inside a cocoon for a period of time.

Jose Rizal delivered a speech in 1884 at a banquet and mentioned "the Oriental chrysalis ... is about to leave its cocoon", comparing the emergence of a "new Philippines" with that of butterfly metamorphosis.[53] He has also often used the butterfly imagery in his poems and other writings to express the Spanish Colonial Filipinos' longing for liberty.[54] Much later, in a letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal compared his life in exile to a weary butterfly with sun-burnt wings.[55]

Der Schmetterlingsjäger (The butterfly hunter) by Carl Spitzweg(1840), a depiction from the era of butterfly collection.

Some people say that when a butterfly lands on you it means good luck.[citation needed] However, in Devonshire, people would traditionally rush around to kill the first butterfly of the year that they see, or else face a year of bad luck.[56] Also, in the Philippines, a lingering black butterfly or moth in the house is taken to mean that someone in the family has died or will soon die.[57]

The idiom "butterflies in the stomach" is used to describe a state of nervousness.

3 Comments

    Robin Naumann

    Now down by the sea in our own house. With Anna and her kids, and Moey, Six Dinner Moey.

    The sea waves crash as I type, the wind howls and daffodils are slowly opening on the windowsill.

    I cycle up the river to work at the top of the hill, where I help other people with the scones, cakes, puddings, soups, loaves and more. We celebrate festivals and teabreaks, developing rhythm and structure through the year and the day. We grow fond and old together.

    The ceilidhs breathe life, and I can't stop turning, burling and spinning to the next one. Not long now to Valentine's.

    I get married in September, when it all steps up a gear. Stepchildren. Long term commitments.

    The pulse of the men, and the steady pace of hope in a world going slowly crazy. Inside feels a little more peaceful, a little more sane, a little, just a little, content.

    The wildness is not far away, however, and so is the pain.

    I'm still here. Me. Robin.
    ​
    __

    Living in Roslin, in a beautiful flat with two wood burners, two minutes from Roslin Glen. I cycle into work, 35 minutes to work. There I help about twenty adults with extra support needs to bake organic cakes, scones, puddings, biscuits and oatcakes. We laugh, joke around, even attempt to sing. We go dancing on Thursday mornings. 

    Back in Edinburgh, the ceilidh collective is growing, and boe is starting to stir again. The men are powerful, family are close by, and love is all around.

    I'm still here, just me, Robin.

               -   -

    Working and living on the Ross of Mull, in Fionnphort. Pondering on the sense of it all whilst baking bread at the Bunessan Bakehouse, co-ordinating the Ross of Mull Community Cafe, gardening at Leob Croft and with greenleaves, planning ceilidhs with the ceilidh collective, and trying to come to terms with decades of cyclical clinical depression. A life of flitting from one thing to the next, of starting many things, and finishing quite a few. With highs of event management, and lows of endless bedridden days. A life, say some, of the butterfly mind. Who knows what happens when we flap our wings...

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