Pale Blue Dot

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.” 

Carl Sagan

You're The Why

I shuffled through the modes of bad behaviour

And hankered for the desolated dawn

I couldn't cope with yet another saviour

To steer me from the way that I was born





Then like a ton of bricks the dawn descended

Recalcitrance was hurtled to the floor

The citadel lay breached and undefended

You brought a love I'd never known before





I'll want you till the seasons lose their mystery

I'll need you till the birds forget to fly

I'll love you more than anyone in history


Wherever there's a wherefore 

you're the why 







PMV changed my life in ways unimaginable and there isn't a day that I don't give pause and express gratitude for his love, patience, intelligence, humour, kindness, honesty and respect.







Happy Anniversary my dearest. 


I love you indubitably!



R3

Break The Silence

Leslie Morgan Steiner is a writer and outspoken advocate for survivors of domestic violence -- which includes herself. The embedded video below explores why domestic violence victims don't leave, and is one of the most powerful TED talks videos I've watched, it really hit home as i was involved with an emotionally and at times physically abusive individual years ago. It took time but i eventually got out and escaped from the situation/individual. It's not something i speak about often but i am always honest if the subject of domestic violence and abuse arises. I speak up as i feel that open and honest dialogue is needed from everyone, to expand people's perception and to shed the stigma attached.

The who's and what's and why's of domestic violence are complicated and there is a perception that it applies only to women but the reality is that it affects both men and women. Domestic abuse applies to everyone, all demographics, sexes, colours, shapes and religions. The following excerpt comes from Lundy Bancroft, author of 'Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men' and  eloquently describes a common dynamic (but i should add that I strongly feel that His/Him is interchangeable with Her). 

"The abusive man’s problem with anger is almost the opposite of what is commonly believed. 

The reality is: Your abusive partner doesn’t have a problem with HIS anger; he has a problem with YOUR anger. One of the basic human rights he takes away from you is the right to be angry with him. No matter how badly he treats you, he believes that your voice shouldn’t rise and your blood shouldn’t boil. The privilege of rage is reserved for him alone. 

When your anger does jump out of you —as will happen to any abused woman from time to time —he is likely to try to jam it back down your throat as quickly as he can. Then he uses your anger against you to prove what an irrational person you are. Abuse can make you feel straightjacketed. You may develop physical or emotional reactions to swallowing your anger, such as depression, nightmares, emotional numbing, or eating and sleeping problems, which your partner may use as an excuse to belittle you further or make you feel crazy."

If you are suffering from domestic abuse or violence, please know that you are not alone. 

You are not crazy. 

You do not deserve to be treated this way. 

Regardless of your situation, you can change it.

Talk to someone, break the silence. 

Google domestic violence aid and the city you live in, there are services and people out there who can assist and guide you through your options.

http://www.lesliemorgansteiner.com/

http://www.lundybancroft.com/

Image: Inkweartattoos

The Four Walls

"In many shamanic societies, 

if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, 

they would ask one of four questions: 

When did you stop dancing? 

When did you stop singing? 

When did you stop being enchanted by stories? 

When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?"

                                                                            Gabrielle Roth



Image: Katherine Crockett by Albert Watson

Ohrwurm

Chrome Sparks is Jeremy Malvin, a young musician and producer living in Brooklyn by way of Pittsburgh and Ann Arbor. Marijuana is a hypnotic, spiraling ear worm of a track and so darn catchy i'm surprised that some big corporation hasn't licensed it for an advert yet. 

Fresh Blood

No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow. 

Euripides 

Brazilian filmmaker and writer Edson Oda has created one of the most stunning and unusual short films I've seen by taking a comic book story and bringing it to life.

Malaria tells the story of Fabiano, a young Mercenary who is hired to kill Death in an intriguing turn of events. The short runs for over five minutes and combines a variety of techniques including Origami, Kirigami, time lapse, nankin illustration, comic books and western cinema. 

Although he originally intended on submitting Malaria to the Django Unchained Emerging Artist contest, it was behind schedule and instead he submitted and won first place with The Writer .

http://www.edsonoda.com/

Au Courant

Some of my favourite graffiti recently has come from the spray can of Goin, a French artist who has make a name for himself within the graffiti community over the past decade. His socially aware work casts a critical eye over big business, politics, modern living, materialism, greed and corporation. Although he mainly works with stencils for his street art, he also creates sculptural pieces and prints. 

His involvement in the world of street art stemmed from his time playing guitar in a French punk band in 1994. The bands bassist created artwork for their albums and Goin became interested in how images could be used to manipulate the masses (slogans, advertising, logos etc) and how by putting a personal spin on these, viewer perception could be modified. His art acts as a wake up call to critical thought and a willingness to create change.

To see more of his work:

http://www.goinart.net/

Bliss Like This

As time flies by - seriously, how the heck is it already December?! - I'm taking a moment to stop and review the past twelve months. It has been one of the best and busiest years of my life and as a result i wasn't online, researching or blogging as much. I was however busy throwing myself headfirst into new experiences, meeting new people and gaining new perspectives. The photo above is me wandering barefoot on a beach in one of my favourite places and was taken by one of my favourite people.

Some of the highlights from this year include:

• Gaining some new friends
• Seeing old friends move away, take risks and explore new opportunities.
• Disengaging from negative or toxic individuals.
• Traveling to Ireland for the first time in 3.5 years
• My mum having a successful recovery after major surgery
• Getting engaged to PMV, my loving, respectful and hilarious partner in consciousness/mischief :)
• Getting my Canadian Permanent Residency
• Traveling to new places
• Taking up Bikram Yoga and practicing regularly throughout the week.
• Becoming more self aware and health conscious.
• A new apartment a stones throw from the sea
• Became the delighted owner of some beautiful artwork by Famous Empty Sky and Alice X.Zhang
• Landing a new, bigger and better job that's a ten minute walk from my home with a boss who actually treats me with respect.
• Learning that as i left my 20's behind that I still have the capacity to surprise and challenge myself. That doing so may not always be easy but the results have been more beneficial than i could ever have imagined.

2012 was a year where i made an active effort again to dispel 'that which does not serve me', whether it was negative/toxic individuals or situations; and realised that i have the power and capacity to direct and shape my life. It's a strangely enlightening experience to sit down and work out what in your life (people, habits, situations etc) is beneficial and what makes you feel sad, angry, inferior, manipulated etc.

You may not always choose your circumstances but you can choose how you react to them. I strongly believe that if something is contributing to your stress/upset/unhappiness, you have the power to change it. Do it. Trust me, it may not be easy and it may take time but the results can be astounding.

I'm so grateful to those who are present in my life (be it near or far away) and have found that taking stock of the things I'm thankful for has actually allowed me to focus on the positive which in turn appears to have invited more of the same into my life.

Thank you for reading and stopping by even though i haven't posted much this year.

With love and light,

Green of Eye

Oh Canada!

It's been a bit quiet around these parts for the past few months as I've been busy off line with a variety of projects.  I'm starting to catch up on blog related activity and wanted to start this off with some good news.

Long term readers may remember previous mentions of my efforts to stay in Canada. 

It's taken a long time, stacks of paperwork coupled with lots of tenacity and patience: 

Green of Eye is now a permanent resident.

My heart will always be with my homeland Ireland but my home is now Canada.

Thanks to those of you who sent words of support, advice and humour through the process :)

Normal transmission resuming in 10...9...8...7...

Wake Up!

'I, Pet Goat 2' is possibly one of the most visually densely packed videos I've seen in a while (on par with Logorama) containing symbolism relating to media, new world order, politics, business, spirituality etc that I'm only beginning to scrape the surface on. 


Bringing together dancers, musicians, visual artists and 3d animators, the film takes a critical look at the events of the past decade that have shaped our world. It is Heliofant's first short film and was totally self-financed with no outside help, either governmental or corporate.

Heliofant is a nascent independent computer animation studio focused on creating experimental and challenging content and is based just north of Montreal, Canada. Bringing together artists from the fields of dance, music, computer animation and visual arts, the company is interested in exploring the common ground that underlies many spiritual and philosophical traditions in a lyrical form.

http://www.heliofant.com/index.html