strangling heaven

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

How do you know that
you're strangling heaven?
Taught to irrelevant
standardized scales
Taught to be standardized,
Christian White Males
or wherever you're placed
and timed
Taught to believe the sublime
is but an affectation,
drug-induced hallucination,
not to be relied upon
when creditors come to call
demanding payment
for providing you with life.
Selling your soul for nickels and dimes,
the working-class creed.
Giving in to everyday crimes,
habituated to need
secondhand pleasures,
pirated treasures
that never succeed in
destroying the pain,
the long season of Hell
you strive to explain
"it's his fault" "it's their fault"
"it's my fault"
all victims of blame.
And you're strangling heaven.
You're making it impossible to survive,
denying your passion to thrive,
denying your worth,
the blessing of birth onto
this mortal stage.
You pace in your cage
as if castrated of will.
And heaven so wants you,
surrounds you, offers
your most deeply hoped for love,
boundless happiness, life eternal,
every pocket of your soul
exquisitely fulfilled.
Heaven offers you her open arms,
and you, in your hellish nightmare,
strangle her
unaware.

(c) March 12, 2008 Laurie Corzett/libramoon

eclipse prayer

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Neptunian Moon [Grandmother Moon]
unveil my deepest sorrow
Give me the power, the words and the way
Oh, Goddess, dance with me
Spinning in trance into your mystery
Smiling sunshine into my heart
Grant me the wisdom and grace
to translate Your perfect Face
Your living radiance
that all may understand
the necessity of peace

War Profiteers Profit from War; Everyone Profits from Peace

War Kills. Peace Mends & Grows

Blowing Ourselves Apart, Or Working Together Toward Common Wealth

Stewards or Destroyers

Joyous Assemblage or Hate-Filled Mob

Good Neighbors or Armed Camps

Why not have faith that we are, all of us, here for a purpose; and at least
part of that purpose is to get along. Why not set our minds to
the world beat of peace?

Mindful Design, Emerging Visions #9

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Submit to Mindful Design Emerging Visions #9
Enjoy the waning days of Enchanting Romance


http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/


then lazily scroll down to the Submission Guidelines that you may know how to

SUBMIT to Emerging Visions #9

Mindful Design

send your Mindful Designs to libramoon42@mindspring.com

BONFIRE TOPICS

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Sifr, the arabic word means zero (English: Cipher). It is nothingness, void, the perfect circle, a cycle of unending. The ancient philosophers would say nothingness is the absence of something and anything. The invisibility.

Here, we dwell on that nothingness. Sit in a circle around an invisible bonfire and construct ourselves from that nothingness that each of us holds within ourselves. Share our experiences and points of view on a multitude of topics discussed by turns.

Every month or so, we'd find ourselves a topic on which each of us could discuss. Share your thoughts through articles and by commenting on other's articles. If you think you've already written something on the current topic in the past, feel free to share it with us. You're free to publish as many articles as you wish pertaining to the topic. For who knows, your article might just change the outlook of a fellow bedouin.

How to Publish:

This is how it works - publish your article in The Bedouins blog. While you're posting just copy-paste this link - Read All Other Articles on This Topic Here at the end of your article (on the post page itself). You must do this so that I can understand that your article is meant for this section. On my part, I'll make sure that your article is featured under SUBMITTED THOUGHTS in this page. All articles on the topics raised would be cataloged properly and archived for easy access in the future for any reader browsing the web. So, don't think of your articles as insignificant. ALL YOUR THOUGHTS COUNT.

Also, make sure that you comment on your neighborhood bedouin's articles giving your genuine thoughts.

Now let's move on to this month's topic -

Topic # 1: CHILDHOOD & PARENTING

"I do not know how it happened myself! From childhood I feared everybody; as I grew up I began to hate everybody, some for their meanness, others--well, I do not know why--just so! And now I see all the people in a different way. I am grieved for them all! I cannot understand it; but my heart turned softer when I recognized that there is truth in men, and that not all are to blame for their foulness and filth."

- Maxim Gorky, Mother

How much of ourselves do we carry from our childhood? Does our childhood ever turn into obscurity with time or does it get itself seated deeper into our sub-consciousness ultimately becoming our personality? Have you ever wondered if you're still a child?

Share with us the thoughts and experiences of your childhood, your days with your parents. Or if you're a parent yourself, your experiences of parenthood - the innocence and the fragility of your child. Tell us about the times in which you grew up (or you find your child growing up now). Enlighten Us!

SUBMITTED THOUGHTS

My thoughts on Childhood. by MotherSky

Share Yours!

GET INTRODUCED TO THE BEDOUINS

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Yes, just that. This is where you can get to know thy neighbor. Learn what they say about themselves. Say Hi! to them on their introductory posts or visit their personal sites to chill out. Just to mention, all of us have a refrigerator in our tents with ice over-frozen on our shelves. So, whether you're thirsty or have bruised yourself, just crash in!

D4doppleganger
Introductory Post
HIS BLOG: Who Am I? I Am ...
A Peek Inside his Tent: A doppelgänger (as in German) or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation. In the vernacular, it has come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person—most commonly an "evil twin". The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection.

Wandelaar125
Introductory Post

Mothersky
HIS SITE: Mothersky on DeviantArt
A Peek Inside his Tent: You can come here and learn more about me than almost anywhere else. I post my thoughts, my creations, and my emotions here. If you want to know how I tinker, then this is the place to do it. Enjoy =)

OKAY. YOUR TURN!

My thoughts on Childhood.

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Childhood. What a beautiful, beautiful thing. The wish that one could pertain their childhood seems to be an omnipresent one; a wish that contains all the endless hopes and dreams of a race that has lost it's way through time and space.

Whether this be an argument of nature vs nurture, or something far more spiritual than that, I will hope to delve into it.

There is something about innocence that appeals to every human being. Purity of the mind, a will to accept all people as they are; these are the things that flee from us as we grow older and become acustomed to the wills of the world around us. As children, all we could think of was getting older and doing cooler things (and, of course, these thoughts only permeated our mind after we had watched such horrid things as T.V. and movies, or experienced a day with a high schooler or lifetime idol), and now, as adults or adolescents, all we want is to go back to simpler times.

Childhood is a simple thing. There is not anything more simple. I follow the motto that "Life is to complex, and this is something that needs to be seen to." Simply put, life is too complex. Why should we have to care about the latest fashions? Should what an actor has done to themselves really matter to me? (or anyone, for that matter?) Why do I have to fight so hard to give up values I hold so dear in order to become something that I don't want to be? Do I really have to work all my life in order to be happy?

The world is big to a child. As the child grows, the world around it does something strange; the world tells the child that it is actually smaller than it is. That it is A-OK to find a niche in society and sit there. There is a term for water when it sits. Stagnant, I believe. I think that we're meant to be like water--flowing--not stagnant. If one could only open there eyes and see that, as we grow, the world does not become smaller! It becomes bigger, oh so bigger, with so many things to see and do. . .so many people to talk to!

What we're doing to our children wrong. I've seen children wondering around with cellphones (and the attitudes that accompany them) and saying things I didn't say till my Sophmore year in high school! Parenting is a part of this.

Parents are becoming ever more lazy in their job. This is something we all have to live with, and always have had to live with. Now, more so in such startling numbers.

I can go on forever about what I don't like about parenting or how children are being raised; I can go on forever about how the world needs to be fixed and how things are wrong. . .but why? Why be such a pessimist? The show must go on. . ..

Childhood is something we should carry with us our whole lives. It would be wrong not to. With childhood and good parenting comes warm memories of the seasons--of smells and tastes--and of fun had at places like lakes or plains. Our childhood is what we are, and we should not forget that. Without it, we are incomplete beings (only drones among the endless waves of work). Childhood is truly, I think, what spawns a soul--what gives us the ability to smile and love--and what gives us our values and beliefs.

Those of us who can remain children even in a life that is too complex for us, too large for us, and most definitely too fast for us, can find some sort of solace or peace among this fact. If we can be children while we are adults, then we have found a sort of happiness and tool that reaches far beyond the constraints of the real world.

So! I think we should all retain our childhood--that we should be happy, fun, and innocent among other people; that we should show them what it is like to not care.

Salaam~

Read All Other Articles on This Topic Here

PSEUDO-PHILOSOPHICAL SOUP: July

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Our first topic for this month is The Meaning of "Meaning".

So, put your heads together or bang them. And let your pseudo-philosophical ideologies out of that head.

Choose a character for yourself and let me know what it in your very first comment and your name would be added under characters. This being the first time I'll take the lead -

Characters

1. The Clown as himself
2. Ela as Native Red Ant
3. [this could be you]

Who am I?

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

I am wandelaar. This is a nederlands word meaning "wanderer". I chose this name because I have been walking around my whole life long, figuratively and literally. Lately however I seem to be settling a bit so who knows!
I think that this group will suit me because in my mind I see the Bedouin as the ultimate wanderer.
I have been writing on and off all my life. I hope someday to finally publish something really worth reading but 'til then I will keep on trying.
The computer is, in spite of all my endeavours still a bit of a mystery to me so I am sure to make a lot of mistakes with posting and such. Do have patience with my fumblings.
Pleased to make your aquaintance fellow bedouins,
greetings

A Sort of Introduction to The Bedouins

Welcome to our newly refurbished desert. And as we move from dune to dune, together, let me tell you something about ourselves.

Bedu, the Arabic word from which the name bedouin is derived, is a simple, straightforward tag. It means "inhabitant of the desert," and refers generally to the desert-dwelling nomads of Arabia, the Negev, and the Sinai. For most people, however, the word "bedouin" conjures up a much richer and more evocative image--of lyrical, shifting sands, flowing robes, and the long, loping strides of camels.

We are here to conjure that exact magical existence within our lives. We sit in a circle and interact - That's the idea that went behind in creating this blog.

And for all of these you just need to be a Bedouin yourself - be part of the community. All you need to do is mail me at clownscape@gmail.com letting me know that you'd like to become a Bedouin yourself. And I'd send you an invitation to join in as a co-author, along with a detailed mail about some of the basic stuffs in this blog. The rest is pretty simple - accept the invitation, if you don't have an account with Blogger already - it's ask you to create one. Do it. And you're ready to post. For those of you who already have an account, you'd see this blog add up on your dashboard.

After you've gone through the introductory mail and you feel you've more questions, you can always ask them over here (as comments on this post) or mail me back with your queries.

But before you make a decision to join (or not to), take a stroll. Wait! Lemme roll the magic carpet first. Okay. we're ready.

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

The Bedouin Lounge

Mind some coffee? Or is it just listening to your folks that interests you? The Bedouin Lounge is the place you come for all of these and more. Yeah, people! It's the place where you can sit back and enjoy or be part of the events - take the centrestage; find out what your fellow bloggers have been saying and include your own inputs on the same. Whatever you say in any of the events in here would be carefully organized manually with what everyone else had to say. Be creative, be funny, be nostalgic or serious. Your thoughts always count. And what's more - you do so in front of an audience that's always present - the tribe of Bedouins, flesh and bone, always ready to react from the inner core of their hearts or by a perfect rationality if the needs be. We all know our folks and I hope you won't disagree with me on that.

Here's a list of events that's currently going on in the Lounge. Check 'em out! .... And don't forget to take part. See ya in some other part of the tent.



THE BEDOUIN STUFF

• GET INTRODUCED TO THE BEDOUINS
• MAKE SUGGESTIONS
• BEDOUINS' NEWSROOM
• BLOG ARTCYCLOPEDIA

THE ON-GOING EVENTS

1. BONFIRE TOPICS
2. PSEUDO-PHILOSOPHICAL SOUP
3. CREATIVE CROSSINGS
4. VISUAL GALLERY
5. SPECIAL EVENTS

So, if you consider yourself to be a wanderer, mail me at clownscape@gmail.com and I'll add you as a co-author which is all you need to take part in most of these events. It all comes with a Bedouin's metaphorical wardrobe.

PSEUDO-PHILOSOPHICAL SOUP

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."

- Bertrand Russell

" What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?"

- Woody Allen

" I think, therefore Descartes exists."

- Saul Steinberg

I think you've already got a fair idea of what would be the general mood in this tent. If you haven't as yet, then you've perhaps been all too philosophical and my suggestion would be you stop being thus if you want to take part in this philosophical discussion. Now let me answer your queries -

What is this discussion all about?

Philosophy.

Who can take part?

All people who know little or nothing about philosophy.

How is that possible?

It's not.

Then, how do I take part?

Look, you've already started considering yourself as one of those "people who know little or nothing about philosophy". But you've still been a part of this discussion. Haven't you?


Discussing about philosophy can be fun when you assume that you know nothing about it - because it gives you infinite freedom on what to discuss and how. You don't need to remember all the "-isms" [such as rationalism, existentialism, post-structuralism, prism (oops, sorry not the last one)]. We'll create our own Pseudo-philosophical universe (yeah, whatever that word means!)

HOW TO PLAY

First of all, there would be a topic. Second of all, the entire discussion would be taking part in the comments section in form of dialogues (as in a drama). Third of all, each of you'd be playing a character - You may choose to play as yourself or any other character chosen by you (say, "The Senator" or "Spiderwoman"). In case you choose to play someone else, mention the character you're playing in your very first comment. Fourth of all, anyone can take part in this dialogue including NON-MEMBERS. Last of ... whatever's left, each discussion would run for exactly a month after which no more new comments would be allowed.

If you have any questions ask them here (as comments), otherwise move on to This Month's PSEUDO-PHILOSOPHICAL SOUP and take part. Make it funny and have fun!

"To all those who still wish to think about man, about his reign or his liberation …who still ask themselves questions about what is man in his essence…who wish to take him as their starting point in their attempts to reach the truth…to all these warped and twisted forms of reflection, we can only answer with a philosophical laugh -- which means to a certain extent, a silent one."

- Michael Foucault

CREATIVE CROSSINGS

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Feeling creative? Want to set your imaginations free in words? This is where we challenge you to a "creative crossings". That being said let me tell you how it works -

Every month you'd be given two words starting with an alphabet. Let's say, "creative" and "crossing" are the two words. Your job is to connect this two seemingly unconnected words with a third word of your choice starting with the same alphabet and write something creative. Let's say, you chose the word - "challenge". Your job would be to write a story, a poem, a dialogue or for that matter, anything creative using the three words.

There would a winner every month - based on who derives maximum relevance and meaning using the three words. Your piece may be as long or short as you wish. You may submit as many entries as you wish, the only constraint being that you cannot choose the same word twice. For instance, if you've already used up "challenge" you may choose - "constraint", "cannot" or maybe, "choose". Even, "cannibals" would be accepted.

How to Publish

Mention the 3rd word starting with the chosen alphabet of the month, that you've opted for, at the beginning of your post.

Publish your post in this blog and select-copy-paste this link at the end of your post - this entry is meant for CREATIVE CROSSINGS. You must do this so that I can understand that your post is meant for this section. I, on my part, will make sure that your entry is submitted under COMPLETED CROSSINGS. At the end of the month a winning entry will be selected.

Don't forget to check the other entries of your fellow bedouins and comment on them.

Did someone ask about the prizes? Well, we are too poor for that. The only prize you get is that your name gets featured for the next month on the walls of The Bedouin Lounge

CREATIVE CROSSINGS # 1

Here are the two words for this month -

1. Bullet
2. Blind

COMPLETED CROSSINGS

Add Yours!

If you feel like reading a few more fiction and/or poetry blogs, visit our BLOG ARTCYCLOPEDIA section.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

Sorry! It seems we don't have any Special Events going on inside this tent.... But you can always suggest one. After all, it's you who decides on what goes on in this tent (section).

So, come on, think, think, think of something!

VISUAL GALLERY

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

These are the walls that are specially reserved for all your visual blogposts - which means that this is where you post all your photography and/or paintings.

How to Publish

Publish your posts containing paintings and photography in the Bedouins blog and select-copy-paste this line at the end of your post - More Visual Posts Here. You must do this so that I can understand that your post is meant for this section. I'll make sure, on my part that your posts are featured under the BEDOUIN VISUALS. There are no rules whatsoever.

And oh yes.... before I forget.... There's one restriction - In none of your visual media may you use colors close to ultra-violet or infra-red. The Bedouins authority have imposed a ban on them.

BEDOUIN VISUALS

Share Yours!

If you feel like viewing a few more painting and/or photography blogs, visit our BLOG ARTCYCLOPEDIA section.

MAKE SUGGESTIONS

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

We welcome all your suggestions in this section. If you think this blog could be improved or some more fun and informative sections can be added to it, don't think twice to suggest it over here. Also, we're mostly looking to add SPECIAL EVENTS in which the community could participate and enjoy. So, if you have any new ideas for such, do enlighten us.

At the same time, if there's any kind of problem you're facing while posting or otherwise, this would be the right place to tell us.

There's anything else in this world that you'd like to steer our attention towards, let the voices be heard!

BLOG ARTCYCLOPEDIA

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

An on-going anthology of blogs dedicated to any form of art.

This section is still in its initial phase. So, your inputs are welcome. If you think you know of any blog that's dedicated to these art-forms or if you think your personal blog is dedicated to the same, let me know and I'll try to feature the blog(s).

Photography

Coming Soon!

Paintings

Coming Soon!

Fiction

Coming Soon!

Poetry

Coming Soon!

BEDOUINS' NEWSROOM

Welcome to The Bedouin Lounge

The Newsroom is divided into two sections.

1. Bedouin News - Read and post news pertaining to the bedouins (members) and this blog.
2. General News - any article pertaining to this world or beyond that can be described as news.

Select-copy-paste this link at the end of your news article: Read more news here

Bedouin News

Add yours!

General News

Add yours!