Drifting off, my mind wanders back to a summer evening in 1980 when a group of us volunteers linger around a campfire in Kibbutz Misgav-Am in upper Galilee, Israel. We enjoy the moment, absorbing the calmness of the evening after a week of continuous cross border shelling and bombardment.
Guitar music fills the air to the tune of all the alleluia lyrics, alternating with rock’n’roll, blues and country music, which becomes increasingly more pleasant to the ears, the more we indulge on cheap beer, wine, vodka and Israeli brandy.
Having reached a higher state of oblivion, a drunken Dutchman throws his empty bottle into the darkness with great pitching skills. Shortly after and unannounced, our concert is interrupted by search lights and an army unit on night guard, who expect to find terrorist insurgents from Lebanon. Their search proves fruitless, there is no sign of any attempted border crossing.
What they do find, is the Dutchman’s empty bottle, which has hit the electric wire on the Lebanese border fence, only ten metres from where we are sitting and triggered off the alarm.
Every performer knows that ‘the show must go on’, so we compose a song: “Dutchman throws the bottle away – Alleluia”, where it falls, he has no say, “Allelu-u-ia”…
Cry Freedom
Living in a democratic society we imagine that we are free. Business and media Guru’s tell us we are free in that we buy their commodities and/or services. Governments are trying hard to make us believe we are free as long we support them and their policies. The rock band ‘Queen’ sang: “I want to break free”, though questions arise: Do we really understand the concept of freedom? In fact, do we really want to be free? In my view freedom is born, lives, evolves and rests more internally than on the external and superficial spectrum. ‘True freedom has few takers’. It is a state of mind that comes with a responsibility and it requires change from existing mindsets. This calls for effort, the reason why most people rather dwell in the misery of their comfort zone than try and liberate themselves. For a profound and extensive, yet simple and compact view on freedom, download now and read ‘Real Bold & Simple’ chapter 3 (Born to be Free). “Freedom is not a privilege granted to us by someone else or some authority, but a basic human right which we inherit at birth”.
Happy Easter
Dear Members of the Australian Taekwondo Academy Marmion Coast. Conditioning is an integral component of the Martial arts. The unusual situation we presently find ourselves in offers an excellent opportunity to enhance the conditioning of our Martial Arts mind, in that it posts yet another picture in the album of our life experiences. Amidst the global medical threat we face, we have to deal with unprecedented panic, uncertainty and high levels of anxiety. The answer is: Take some time out, practice your techniques and patterns, grappling defense, hand sparring, kick sparring and free sparring. All this can be done in a visualised version. It requires your undivided attention, taking focus away from all the troubles of a confused world. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Happy Easter, from Brian and myself. God Bless
Hubert
A virus like no other
Congratulations to the creators of all those psycho-actively inspired virus images floating in the background of the current news reports, which are constantly changing contour, colour and their subliminal messages. This is creativity at its best, enhanced by abstract surrealism, or perhaps, LSD.
Food for thought
Fluctuations in forward estimates and predictions on COVID-19 cases, climate change etc. have left the stock market and petrol prices for dead. Extracted answers become fact and gospel in the minds of gullible people. Doom and gloom is the best- selling commodity. The current lock-down and travel restrictions have resulted in a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Climate change activists have all but fallen silent, wouldn’t it be noble of them to make a positive comment?
Guru, MP, & Prophet seedlings, striving for recognition in the quest for status are plentiful.
The gradual eradication of small business has been under way for decades. The government has now ordered most small and medium sized businesses to close while large multi-national corporations are allowed to operate. Does the COVID-19 know the difference? Interestingly, these corporations, are now being portrayed as saviours, for hiring.
Panic buying has become a rapidly escalating world-wide phenomena. Have we learned from Wall Street, where panic is the norm? Has the ‘competition mentality’, ‘win at any cost’ mindset blown out of proportion? Winning, in this instance means snatching up groceries before anyone else can lay their hands on it.
Here is an extract from my book ‘Journey of Life’, Chapter 20, ‘Competition & Success’: For many people life is about winning and losing, or success and failure. When we view success for what it really is, i.e. a journey (part of the journey of life) and not a destination, we are able to enjoy life at a higher level. Most of the ‘food for thought’ I have to offer the world is manifested in my 2 books, so ‘read on’ and enjoy the journey.
P.S. Let me add a copy of a letter I wrote to the editor of the ‘West Australian’ newspaper that was published in the early 2000’s, after the government had finally admitted that the country was in recession.
‘Good recession’
Now that the R-word as been spoken I believe the time has come to reflect and review the situation realistically and discover the benefits of a recession. Let’s face it, we live an extravagant lifestyle where luxury has become the norm. We live in mansions, not houses, drive cars that out-perform our needs and buy goods on a whim that soon end up on the rubbish tip. A recession is usually a return to reality and moderation. It allows us more time to educate ourselves, acquire some spiritual wealth and who knows, we might even re-discover the art of having a face to face conversation, free of charge, rather than texting or talking on the mobile phone whilst standing in the checkout queue with yet another
gratuitous item.
Sabomnim Writes
Dear members of the ‘Australian Taekwondo Academy Marmion Coast’
While the world faces the challenge of yet another virus, this time called corona, or crown, it helps to view the present situation in perspective. Most experts agree that medically this pandemic will eventually come to an end, like every preceding one. The mental bug which has infected society at large, however, proves to be a much harder nut to crack. Whilst much has been said, addressing the ridicule of all the hysteria, panic and phobia, the fear mongering still escalates creating wide-spread anxiety and depression, which weakens the immune system and hence, makes us more vulnerable to infection. We live in an era where prayer and focus has been substituted with panic and despair. This presents us with yet another opportunity to utilise our ‘Martial Arts Mindset’, which equips us to deal with any difficult, challenging or threatening situation in a civilised and competent manner. It enables us to respond to the facts at hand, distant from fear, worry, assumptions, and most of all, to remain calm, as we would do in a ‘real life fight’. For a deep insight into our martial arts mind’ read ‘Journey of Life’, download it directly from this website. If you have already read it, read again. Recommend it to your family members and friends for it is beneficial to anyone, not only martial artists, especially during the present, trying times. The corona virus will be defeated so long as we follow the expert and government guidelines. Let’s unite to fight and defeat the mental bug.
In modesty & calmness
Hubert
Toilet Paper Apocalypse
In response to the present irrational panic buying of toilet paper, let me offer some advice based on ‘hands-on’ experience. Who needs toilet paper, made in China. Newspaper works well on a thunder dunny, but don’t put it into a flush toilet for it will block the drain. Just place it into a sealed bag and then into the bin as you would do with dog poo. Make sure you read the news before, not after use. If the ‘great necessity calls when you are in the bush, bundles of grass will come handy but may cause a rash. And, of course there is ‘Aqua Normale’, known in modern English as water, or snow in winter, the best cleaning agent of all times. If you don’t have a bidet, just use a mug.
Contemporary Reality
Recently I indulged on some bacon, which was de-constructed, then re-constructed from local and imported ingredients; guess it was a synthesised, multinational pig. Hunger stilled, I turned on the TV where, after missing half the news due to updating and answering all sorts of on-screen questions, I learned that there will finally, for the first time since Abraham, be peace in the Middle East, brokered by an American president facing impeachment, in league with an Israeli Prime Minister on corruption charges. “Bloody Brilliant”, to say the least. Perhaps I should consult an intellectual to explain how this will work, because realistic people just can’t. Switching channels, I was reminded that much of the greenhouse effect is caused by cows farting and, if this wasn’t enough, their burps also pollute the air. In contemplation I wonder: why do the poor cows get all the blame? Don’t all the other creatures and seven billion humans release any gas? If they do, ‘Should we farm less humans’? Next, the corona virus was created by Chinese scientists experimenting with biological warfare. At least 150 million people are going to die worldwide. “Doomsday is neigh”. Perhaps not, because the on-line News told me it is caused by people eating ‘bat soup’ and it is similar to a bad flu, not exactly life threatening to healthy people who are living under sound hygienic conditions. According to the Chinese president, the outbreak was to blame on the devil, that mischievous bugger who always comes handy when things go wrong. Then, Australian evacuees from the affected province in China, who have been placed into quarantine on Christmas Island, made the most traumatising experience of encountering some ‘cockroaches’, a rarity that puts any true Elvis sighting to shame. If this was not enough, they also have bad internet. Apparently, this is thousands of times worse than they expected. May I mention, my internet has been very bad for the last couple of months and insects are part of life everywhere, but obviously not in China. Perhaps that’s the reason the Great wall was built; to keep the cockroaches out. Adding to my bewilderment, a scientific documentary revealed that God is a particle and we are nothing but pixels on some screen. Trying to escape the fiasco I sought some relief in natural medicine but was baffled when I read the outside of some ‘natural medication’ bottles: it may help, assist, with mild arthritis, joint pain etc., it may improve liver function and so on. Well, next time I install a door I’ll tell the customer: “It may open and close”. “It may also jam or fall off”. Or I’ll try and sell my car stating: ‘it may drive’. Back to the TV, I was bombarded with the usual warnings of harmless, common meteorological events, now reported as ‘extreme’ and ‘severe’, in contrast to the ‘mild conditions’ my medication treats. For a bit of comfort, I heard that the weather shares one thing with the medication; ‘it may happen’. ‘May’ed off’, I find relieve in a glass of wine, because I know for sure that it works.
Mental Health – an empty page
Now, that the hype of the festive season has faded off and left our brain and body cells ‘silently stressed’, we return to the bizarre ‘21st century normality’ of cut-throat competition at work, school, and even during our recreational and social activities, in the quest for status and wealth beyond reason. Reality TV shows have become little more than moral and ethical murder, promoting dirty, undermining and backstabbing tactics. We (society) live life on the edge, in fear of being sued, saying or doing the wrong thing, or making unpopular politically incorrect comments. An unhealthy stress generating urgency, is widely promoted through ‘high speed reading and learning’. We are no longer left to focus on anything on screen let alone to finish reading some text without the distraction of pop-up’s, often calling for an urgent, hurried response. No wonder anxiety and depression has reached epidemic proportions, even in children. In response I am glad to say that mental health awareness has greatly improved in recent years, though attention is mainly focused on treatment not prevention.
It helps to cultivate some balance, to pause and open an ‘Empty Page’, which is the most important component of both my books and of life supreme. Blessed be the day when businesses, the authorities and media promote the ‘Empty Page’ rather than hype and sensation.
For more on the prevention of mental agony, known as burn-out, download now and read ‘Journey of Life’, chapters 3 (Anxiety) & 20 (Competition & Success). Most of all, savour the ‘Empty page’.
A Christmas Story
Trying to untangle a strand of Christmas lights which seems to be as impossible as folding a fitted bed sheet, I endeavour to escape frustration and drift off into a mental numbness, leaving a vacuum for the mind to travel back in time, carried by the Christmas spirit, to Christmas eve anno 1979, landing softly in ‘Moshav Netiv Hagdud’, Israel. As the curtain of time defeats gravity, vivid images appear of this farming community, beautifully nestled between the Jordan river and biblical mountains that are not real mountains, for the valley lies well below sea level. A group of about twenty of us foreign workers enjoy some pre-journey drinks in anticipation of our planned pilgrimage to Bethlehem tonight. Silhouetted by the descending sun we sway down to the bus stop which is littered with ‘live’ machine gun cartridges, as all bus stops (in Israel) normally are. The law requires that the magazine is removed from the gun when boarding a bus, and frequently a bullet falls out whilst doing so. After loitering under and on top of the roof of the bus shelter for a while, our moment has come, and we board the bus to Jerusalem. Past Jericho and up the slopes, the beer makes its calling, so we ask the driver for a toilet stop. He agrees, for a modest fee of one beer and pulls over to the side, where we relieve ourselves in a civilised manner, girls squatting, and boys standing up in line next to them as gentlemen do. Soon we find ourselves on another bus for the short trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where large crowds of people from around the globe portray an image of what it would have felt like for Mary and Joseph. The Roman soldiers with their swords have now been replaced by Israeli soldiers with their ever present Uzi and M16 machine guns, trying to keep us safe from terrorist attack while we disperse, wander around and join the queue to visit the birthplace of Jesus, elevated by the angelic tunes of various international choirs. A few hours later a small group of us find ourselves back in Jerusalem, ready to share a maxi taxi back to the Moshav. Sitting on the footpath, my inner voice tells me to stay on, against the persuasion of my well-meaning friends. So, I walk the streets of this holy city, to nowhere in particular, on this chilly winter’s night. Overcome by tiredness I soon lay down to rest on a park bench. After an hour or so, my well-worn ‘American army fighting jacket’ from the army surplus store proves to be no match for tonight’s temperatures, causing me to rise and keep moving, through the fortified walls of the ‘New Gate’ when I feel invited by the beautiful sound of Christmas carols in the distance. Guided by this heavenly music I soon wander into the foyer of a crowded church, where midnight mass is being celebrated in German, my mother tongue. As I enjoy the comforting warmth, the priest delivers his sermon: Blessed are the hungry. Blessed are the lonely. Blessed are the homeless, and I realize that for tonight I am all of this by choice, yet I found my spiritual home at this mass in the foyer of this church. I am not lonely, but one with all the people in this congregation and the world. I am not hungry, for my spiritual hunger has now been stilled. I stay until the end of the service and while the parishioners make their way home, I continue my journey with divine reassurance, through the streets of the old city, feeling carried by angels. A passer-by calls my name and I recognise Sheila, a girl and two of her friends I know from ‘Kibbutz Manara’ where I had worked a few months earlier. She asks where I was going, I reply “don’t know”. When angels call it’s wise to follow, so we join forces, finally landing up in an Arab tea house across the road from the Damascus gate. As time goes by, we form a merry crowd of backpackers from all corners of the earth. We drink tea whilst savouring some delicious Arabic sweets. An Austrian keeps the audience entertained, pointing out that Hitler was an Austrian, to the amusement of the local Palestinians. To my surprise, ‘Ulli’, a German friend whom we lost earlier in Bethlehem, stumbles in showing acute signs of intoxication. The teahouse breaks out in laughter and the party goes on until dawn, when we take to the road and everyone continues to travel their journey of life. Ulli and I decide to go back to the Moshav when we spot and get side-tracked by the entrance of a cave in the rocks under the northern city wall. For a modest entrance-fee we are allowed in and find a large cavern extending far beneath the old city. We learn of exciting biblical stories and events relating to this cave, right back to the time of Abraham. Back in daylight, a few market stalls have opened, where I treat myself, after a hard bargain, to a Christmas present, a ‘keffiyeh’ Palestinian head scarf. We proceed to the Arab bus station, the very place where, according to some archaeologists, the crucifixion took place. The seventy-plus looking Palestinian bus driver greets us warmly like he always does. We commence our journey to Jericho, mostly downhill, he puts the gears of his converted WW2 truck into neutral, as he always does, praying loud for the brakes not to fail. His prayers are answered when we stop at a checkpoint, where all the men must disembark and stand in line to be searched for weapons and explosives, by Israeli soldiers. Once in Jericho, we try our luck hitchhiking home to the Moshav, when another angel answers the call. It is Wahid, who manages the Palestinian workers whom we share our days with working in the fields, and he is heading for Moshav Netiv Hagdud. But first, after we help him unload some cargo from his van, in typical middle eastern fashion, we are invited to his house, privileged to meet his family for a round of traditional Arab tea. The sun is high when we reach home and find that we are the last ones to return. We all hang out and loose, booze flowing. I hit a few strings on the guitar wearing an old, rusty British army helmet that someone had picked up from amongst all the exploded mortar shells which were littered around the local area. Peacefully I doze off sitting in a chair this Christmas day 1979, and I time travel forty years forward. The lights are still only 70% untangled, nevertheless, I lay them onto a large bush and wait for the night. Later, holding a glass of red wine, I admire a mini universe consisting of a strand of stars with a cluster resembling a galaxy.