The Transformative Poverty of Confucian Wisdom

“According to the story, Confucius’ mother went outside to the wilderness and in her dream she saw a figure called the Black Emperor, it appeared to her being a god figure and in the dream they had union and after that she woke up and found herself pregnant.” – Julia Ching, Professor of Religious Studies at University of Toronto (from "Confucius: Words of Wisdom")

“Ancient chronicles say that while he governed Lu, the streets were safe. Crime virtually disappeared. Merchants no longer cheated their customers. It is said that during this extraordinary time, Confucius’ face shone with joy his dream of saving China was becoming a reality.” – Narrator from "Confucius: Words of Wisdom"

“Twenty-five hundred years after his death, Confucius influences more people than he had ever dreamed possible. In today’s booming Asia, his teachings have brought on unparalleled prosperity to millions, who believe as he did, in hard work, education and the capacity of every human being to succeed. And to this day, the spirit of Confucius still inspires courageous reformers who fight for an end to bloodshed and tyranny in China.” – Narrator from "Confucius: Words of Wisdom"

__________

Border states, a pristine “Stalker” environ, with wispy fog steam curdling through spotlight manufactured by the windless machinery. A gated threshold opens to allow me inside. Unseen eyes blink, careless behind the tinted glass incarceration, joyless dutiful souls expert following.

The narrow skylight pierces indirectly through overhanging metal and high-rise density. Wet air seethes with living smog, a sunless damp hole of raw, entrenched artificial glow. Soon, I take my place on the street, sitting with an opened, near-empty bag of mushrooms, and two other miscellaneous items for beggary exchange. I am met with scowls and glares, violent and piercing, awfully threatening.

“Is that the moon?” I’ve forgotten, nearly blinded by a pointed spotlight. “A plain-clothes guard? Or just an asshole?” he kicks and harasses my desolate state. A passerby throws a bag of chips at me, after which the harassment continues from the mysterious formidable presence, hovering above, silhouetted in the lifeless black and white smoke and steam, dirt writhes with my flattened body on the dismal street, a wasteful sight.

I am beaten mercilessly. My beggary is reduced to scraps of plastic wrap and bleeding bruises. Penniless, I wander to find shelter. Where is my Love? Hallucinating, I tell her my story, she is asleep, unaware, and soon I realize, I am too. Not another word is said outside of my own spit, falling from a mouth too dry to release any more. 

_________

Poverty

"Most spiritual paths respect or require material poverty so that spiritual wealth may be acquired...In medieval times they called it a 'perfect poverty,' where the individual would give up material wealth and seek spiritual development. In Islam, this quest for spiritual development through material poverty is called 'faqr.' If in real life you are not poor, dreaming that you live in poverty or experiencing great poverty in your dreams may be considered a dream of the contrary or a compensatory dream. 

Gypsies by Raja Ravi Varma (1893)

Superstition based dream interpretation would say that if you are poor in your dream you will gain material luck in the near future...This is simply a way by which you obtain psychic balance...To dream of poverty, or that you are poor, means you may be taking on too many responsibilities and working too hard, and not taking the time to cater to your need for pampering and self-care." (iDream)

_________

sick in a sick society: new thought

immersed in a temptation for new thought and identity

and no more pool
wherein the drunkard washes clean human emotion
drinking his own fluid

the fluid turns to sludge and foam
flooding him with thirst

March 10, 2011

Return to the High and Mighty Imbalance of Mind and Body, Chinatown Calgary

Unearned Happiness from the Dream City of the East

Beginning of Film

"Verily, the works of those gone before us have become instances and examples to men of our modern day, that folk may view what admonishing chances befel other folk and may therefrom take warning.

Introduction to the Arabian Nights"  

"A street in Baghdad, dream city of the ancient East -" 

Sheikh

“Toil – for by toil the sweets of human life are found.”

Theif

“Thou liest! What I want – I take. My reward is here. Paradise is a fool’s dream and Allah is a myth.”

End of Film
starlight forms a message as the thief and his love fly through on a magic carpet 

“Happiness must be earned”

 _________

My face brims with a Cheshire grin as I watch myself practicing lively positions from the Kama Sutra. Hovering above, and fading in and out of my view in my space of “practice” His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appears smiling with equal grace directly into my eyes as I lay down under my “dakini consort” if you will. He says to me without speaking, “Enlightenment is in a smile.” As if never there, he fades from my vision and my “practice” vanishes with equal mystery.

Standing up in the opaque darkness of my surroundings, I open a door to a small theatre. My wife accompanies me, wrapped around my arm. We are attending a slew of Spoken Word performances. The first performance portrays a sterling might and inventive will unlike anything we have seen pass through the English language outside of song. The subsequent acts are less impressive however we enjoy the entire show.

Walking from the theatre venue, the road reflects the night sky as flood lights bedeck our footsteps along the thin, snow-laden sidewalk. We continue on without a glace forward, watching our feeble footsteps upon the icy pavement. Without heed, we enter a rundown apartment duplex in our small, industrial city.

As we walk in, we find there are a number of past friends and friends of friends sitting on couches and occupying the entirety of the now tense indoor space. The silence is masked with intensive body language, mostly through the eyes. Our compatriots are from Colombia. I ask them about their experiences in Colombia. Two popular African-American entertainers, sit comfortably upon the upholstery and creaking wooden chairs. Lauryn Hill begins an eloquent diatribe about the situation of the people in the room, connecting the struggles of each and every one present to us all.   

________

Placeless Human Society

”If there is anything

less humane

than global urban centers,

it is their suburbs,

for they render

human society

placeless…”

- Calgary Winter 09’

Jelaluddin "Rumi" and His Unheard Voice

Koran, Tableau: Ornament by Ibn al-Bawwab

A man pleads with Rumi. "I want to be a Sufi!"
"Can you wrestle?" asks Rumi.
Seasoned wrestlers circle the ring in an encampment.
Menacing physiques tower and surround the man.
"First, you must get our tatoo," the wrestlers respond.
The elder tattoo artist moves hestitantly from his chair.
At the shoulder, he begins.
"No! not there," cries the man, in unbearable pain only minutes later.
The elder tattoo artist begins again, a little lower.
"No! not there," cries the man, in agony only minutes later.
"You must feel pain," the tattoo artist advises.

A Dream begins...to scribe 40 anecdotes of as yet untranslated Farsi, directly, and with utmost brevity, from His Unheard Voice