December 2, 2016 by IdealisticRebel

Dakota Pipeline Protesters Brave Winter’s Chill

GALLERY

DEC 2 2016, 11:45 AM ET

Dakota Pipeline Protesters Defy Winter’s Chill

Snow and biting temperatures are just a few of the challenges faced by protesters camped out near the site of the Dakota Access pipeline.

16 PHOTOS

1.So far, those fighting the Dakota Access pipeline have shrugged off the heavy snow, icy winds and frigid temperatures that have swirled around their large encampment on the North Dakota grasslands. But if they defy next week’s government deadline to abandon the camp, demonstrators know the real deep freeze lies ahead. Life-threatening wind chills and towering snow drifts could mean the greatest challenge is simple survival.

Above: A student walks into the school at the Oceti Sakowin camp where people have gathered to protest the Dakota Access pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The school teaches on average 20 students a day in the traditional Lakota curriculum as well as math, reading and writing.

David Goldman / AP

2.Loretta Reddog of Placerville, California, shovels a walkway to her tent while followed by her dog Gurdee Bean at the camp on Nov. 29.

“I’m scared. I’m a California girl, you know?” said Reddog who arrived several months ago with her two dogs and has yet to adjust to the harsher climate. Reddog has confidence in the camp community. “Everybody’s really stepping up and taking care of each other,” she said.

David Goldman / AP

3.Demonstrators sit on a closed bridge across from police protecting the Dakota Access oil pipeline site next to the camp on Nov. 30.

The camp is on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

David Goldman / AP

4.Military veterans walk onto a closed bridge to protest across from police protecting the Dakota Access oil pipeline site on Dec. 1. Large groups of U.S. military veterans have said they will serve as “human shields” in any possible clashes with law enforcement at the site.

More than 525 people from across the country have been arrested since August. In a recent clash between police and protesters near the path of the pipeline, officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and large water hoses in sub-freezing temperatures.

David Goldman / AP

5.Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson of the Ojibwe tribe leads a song during a traditional water ceremony along the Cannonball River at the camp on Nov. 29.

The pipeline is largely complete except for a short segment that is planned to pass beneath a Missouri River reservoir. The company doing the building says it is unwilling to reroute the project.

David Goldman / AP

6.A person prays along the Cannonball River during a Native American water ceremony at the camp on Nov. 29.

The government has ordered protesters to leave federal land by Dec. 5, but they insist they will stay for as long it takes to divert the $3.8 billion pipeline.

David Goldman / AP

7.A protester walks through a snow storm at the camp on Nov. 29.

David Goldman / AP

8.Grandma Redfeather of the Sioux tribe sits by the wood stove in her yurt at the camp on Nov. 29.

“I love it because I get to live my traditional way of life,” said Redfeather of living at the camp. “To see all the different tribal nations living together as a community, I would have loved my grandpa to see that.”

David Goldman / AP

9.A man stands inside a bus turned into a camper at the Oceti Sakowin camp on Nov. 30.

The camp covers a half square mile, with living quarters that include old school buses, fancy motorhomes and domelike yurts. Hay bales are piled around some teepees to keep out the wind. There’s even a crude corral for horses.

David Goldman / AP

10.Smokey, a member of the Sioux tribe, rides the horse Prophecy, a descendant of the horse belonging to war chief Crazy Horse, as he pulls a sled at the Oceti Sakowin camp on Nov. 29.

David Goldman / AP

11.Blackhorse Shasta, of Oregon, chops wood at the camp on Nov. 29.

Mountains of donated food and water are being stockpiled, as is firewood, much of which has come from outside of North Dakota, the least-forested state in the nation.

David Goldman / AP

12.Grandma Redfeather of the Sioux tribe walks in the snow to fetch water on Nov. 29.

“It’s for my people to live and so that the next seven generations can live also,” said Redfeather of why she came to the camp. “I think about my grandchildren and what it will be like for them.”

David Goldman / AP

13.Cat Bigney, of the Oglala tribe, waits on the shore of the Cannonball River for travelers to arrive by canoe at the camp on Dec. 1.

David Goldman / AP

14.Virginia Redstar, a member of the Colville tribe from Washington state, celebrates upon reaching shore by canoe at the camp on Dec. 1. Redstar and fellow tribal members traveled by canoe for 10 days down the Missouri River from Montana to reach the camp.

David Goldman / AP

15.Dan Nanamkin, of the Colville Nez Perce tribe in Nespelem, Washington, drums a traditional song on the shore of the Cannonball River before a group arrives by boat at the camp on Dec. 1.

David Goldman / AP

16.A protester is bundled against the chill at the camp on Nov. 29.

bjwordpressdivider-1

I am feeling a lot of admiration for the native people who are in the Dakotas in the freezing temperatures and the snow. They are proving that they come from a much hardier stock that those of us from European stock are. I am going to follow them all weekend because there are events unfolding that I believe warrant documenting. Say a prayer for their health and tenaciousness and say a prayer that they can find food.

Namaste

Barbara

April 16, 2016 by IdealisticRebel

Playing for Change

This year’s sixth annual Playing For Change Day is September 24, 2016.

Here’s some of what happened in 2012, as musicians around the world Played to make the world a better place.

Sing along, dance along, hum along, work for change!

Namaste,

Barbara

bjwordpressdivider (1)

November 18, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

Stand by Me

One

Speak your truth.

Listen when others speak theirs, too.

when you let go of fear, you will learn to love others;

and you will let them love you.

Do not be afraid of dying.

But do not be afraid to live.

Ask yourself what that means.

Open your hearts to love, for that is why you’r here.

And know that you are, and always have been One

with Me and all who live.

— Melody Beattie, author

Let us be united;

Let us speak in harmony;

Let our minds apprehend alike.

Common be our prayers;

Common be the end of our assembly;

Common be our resolution;

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings;

Unified be our hearts;

Common be our intentions;

Perfect be our unity.

—Rig Veda, Hindu

All people united in One World living in peace and harmony.

January 16, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

Where is Unity and Peace?

Unity, the ability to come together in harmony and compassion. Unity brings with us peace that flowers within us and then flows out into our worlds. Is Peace possible without unity? I don’t really think so. Perhaps this is why peace comes and goes in our lives.

So, let’s look at unity. Unity is not everyone thinking alike. Or as they are told to think. I believe that Unity is a process where we come to really know one another, our deepest selves. Within Unity, we find differences of education, race, religion or no religion. We see people with different dreams. Unity can bring us together despite that I don’t look like you. I possibly don’t think like you. I don’t, perhaps, dream like you.

Unity is people, whoever they are, coming together for a common goal. With all that is happening here and around the world between me, you and the other people, we need to know that each attack, each death brings us together. There have been two recent times of extreme love, compassion, forgiveness and kindness in America. Twice we have recently come together out of shock, horror and unbearable pain. One was Pearl Harbor, which effected my immigrant father more than I realized. The other was 9-11 and I don’t think I have to discuss this one.

Pain, tragedy, suffering pulls people together. Hitler found this out. There have been, there are, and there will be evil in the world. At least until we fix all of the problems humans are dealing with. When there is huge amounts of evil in the world, the events which effect humans are put into their proper importance.

I had a horrific migraine yesterday and it was hard to get past the pain. But today, with the pain mostly gone, what matters to me is sleeper cells, the homeless people, the war on women and the journey to truth and peace.

Focus on the positive

We need to remember that the most terrifying serial killer has a spark of goodness within. Divinity is in there. So suicide bombers, lone terrorists, and Jihadists who decapitate innocent people are barbaric, yet there is that one small drop of Divinity within. Are they harmful? Yes. Do they need to be found and punished? Yes. Does their existence mean we can’t have Unity and Peace? No, it does not. But it may seem that way at times. I think that is why we form connections to people we will never meet. And we become friends and care about them and want them to be happy and safe. Each of us has created a network of people with whom we are safe. Now, let us grow our networks, spilling peace out into the world.

Let’s celebrate every positive act we see. Let’s not take them for granted. Let us be sad for the attack on Charlie Hebdo, and celebrate that no one else was killed and those who are guilty of this barbaric act were caught. It was barbaric. But people around the world are now working together to find these cells and stop the Jihadists from bringing more death to a world that has plenty without any help.

May we choose unity and peace and may we not hate “others”. May we find forgiveness for those who hate and kill. May we live centered and in contact with our inner peace.

Namaste

Bloggers 4 Peace

bjwordpressdivider

Achieve peace with understanding.

November 29, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Choose Peace

Life is thankfully full of choices for us all to make. I am sure we make hundreds each and every day. Each of us can choose peace or we can choose greed, a desire for money and power, or not to love or care for anyone else in life besides ourselves. This might well be said to be the most important choice we will ever make in our lives. Our choosing to reject war may even save lives. Yes, I realize I am idealistic. I confess, if you hadn’t already guessed. 🙂 There is much on the line, innocent lives, returning soldiers who will never be the same mentally and emotionally. There is also the physical cost of sending our young bright kids off to a war that could be avoided.

“Let us be united,

Let us speak in harmony,

Let our minds apprehend alike.

Common be our prayer,

Common be the end of our assembly,

Common be our resolution,

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings,

Unified be our hearts,

Common be our intentions,

Perfect be our Unity.”

—–From the Rig Veda of the Hindu path

” Life and death,

a twisted vine sharing a single root.

A water bright green

stretching to top a twisted yellow

only to wither itself

as another green unfolds overhead.

One leaf atop another

yet under the next,

a vibrant tapestry of arcs and falls

all in the act of becoming.

Death is the passing of life.

And life

is the stringing together of so many little passings.

Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro

Use this time for recreation, to look within and see if you are everything you want to be. On this full moon, it is a good time for a little inner tweaking. Blessings to all.

Beaver Moon is a time of preparation for winter and reminder to recreate ourselves. Photo by Barbara Mattio

October 11, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Through Life’s Experiences

” A person who has gone through all experiences and has held his spirit high, not allowing it to be stained, such a person may be said to be pure-minded. The person who could be called pure because he had no knowledge of either good or evil would in reality be merely a simpleton. To go through all that takes away the original purity and yet to rise above everything that seeks to overwhelm it and drag it down, that is spirituality; the light of the spirit held high and burning clear and pure.”

—-Hazrat Inayat Khan

Water garden. Cleveland Botanical Gardens; Photo by Barbara Mattio

God and man are not two; a spiritual person does not consider God separate from him/herself. God is not in heaven alone; The Beloved is everywhere. We see God in the unseen and in the seen; the spiritual person recognizes The Divine within and without. So, in reality there is no name which is not the name of God, and there is no form which is not the form of Divinity.

We need to recognize the imperfect and mortal aspect of our being as well as the perfect, the immortal aspect of our beings. The imperfect self covers the soul and confines it in a limited being, and calls itself “I”, a servant of God, and the calls The One, the Lord of the whole of existence.
–Excerpted from The Unity of Religious Ideals

In our daily lives, if we can grasp the truth that the all-knowing Divine is within us and everywhere we travel or have experiences then we will truly begin to experience the unlimited, infinite aspects of God. How you choose to work on this in your life is your choice. All paths can take you to the experience of the infinite , all encompassing experience of God in the Universe. Simply put, The Beloved is everywhere and within all sentient beings. Being God-conscious gives us the ability to see all people as children of the Universe. Not different, not hateful, not wrong; just other children of the Universe. The spiritual path shows us that God is in the seen and the unseen. There is no name which is not the name of God.

The Universe

“The Beloved is all in all; the lover only veils Him/Her; the Beloved is all that lives; the lover is a dead thing.”

—Rumi

September 14, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Love, Harmony and Beauty

I am writing because despite the fact I am not 100%, the world is calling to me.
I am so sorry that this man made a video which disrespected Allah. This is a thoughtless, selfish and sad use of free speech. The ability to exercise free speech is a responsibility and this man ignored his responsibility.

It is of no comfort, I understand, but people have made fun of Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Buddha, and the Goddess religions.

What I have seen on the television is a situation where hatred and violence have erupted and lives have been lost. Not just Americans, but also many protesters.

People who have a love of the Divine need to remember that violence and hatred are not in harmony with sacred writings or sacred love.

I ask all of God’s people here on Mother Earth to reach out in love, harmony and beauty to heal the hearts of all who are in pain and grief. There is Unity in our beliefs and the love of The One who is everywhere and constantly within us even though you may not understand or believe .

Please stop the violence and hatred. We must all live here together. The only way to do that is to live in love, harmony and beauty; to grasp that all the illuminated souls are united within Divinity. It matters not what Divinity is called, there is One World, One love, and One life. We are all loved and we must begin to acknowledge our responsibility to live in a manner that will bring us closer to the One.

“Thy light has illuminated the dark chambers of my mind;
Thy love is rooted in the depths of my heart; Thine own are the light of my soul; Thy power worketh behind my action; Thy peace alone is my life’s repose; Thy will is behind my every impulse; Thy voice is audible in the words I speak;
Thine own image is my countenance. My body is but a cover over Thy soul; my life is Thy very breath, my Beloved, and my self is Thine own being.”

—Gayan

May we all forgive those who are unable to see the world through God’s loving eyes. May we embrace each other with harmony and may we see The One in every other person we meet. Blessings to all.

August 29, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Our Home Mother Earth

Well, yes I am writing again about our beloved trees and caring for Mother Earth. We have a responsibility to her and yet it is more than responsibility.
Mother Earth gives us our home and amazing beauty. If you love something, you need to care for it. Caring for our home is imperative or else she and we will die. There are a million things each of us can do, one simple thing is to plant a tree somewhere. The energy of trees is so tremendous and we need all of our growing things.

There is a very simple scientific principle which brings home the importance of our trees and flowers and gardens. When humans breathe we exhale carbon dioxide which plants and trees need. The trees and flowers and crops give off oxygen which we need to breath. It is a cycle that happens every second of every day. It takes no effort, except that we not cut down our rainforests and green areas. It is vital though to our existence.

“May our corner of the earth join us
in blessing the Lord
fruit-laden papayas, fig trees in bud
You, guavas, replete with promise,
bougainvillaeas of every color,
beans that twist and clamber,
tomatoes and all green vegetables
and you, fields of rice in the valleys,
O praise the marvels of the Lord!

And you, Bamboo, who own neither flower
nor fruits, sing a song of praise to the Lord,
for you are rich in other ways:
supple and lively, hold your head high,
yield before the storm, but do not break.
Your shoots, hugging to one another all close,
will confront the hurricane.
Then, when it’s passed,
lift up your head!
And if the typhoon sweeps you away,
let it carry you with it.
Someone will find you lying on the road
or maybe you will kindle a poor man’s fire
or be made into a balance pole
to ease Man’s burdens!

If need should arise, let yourself be split
into strips by the hand of a clever craftsman.
Thus you will become a mat or a basket,
a broom or a brush—-again, on demand,
let yourself be used whole, without hesitation,
to support the sail of a sturdy junk
or enable a fisherman to cast his net.

In you, Bamboo, some will seek inspiration
to guide their brush towards lines of beauty,
or make of you a flute or a pipe.
Let yourself be emptied of self that you may
sing a melody new.
Some may try to make of you a barrier
to separate people one from another
Then let your leafage vibrate with the rustle
or a call which will resound near and far
and invite them to live in unity and love!

—Translated from the French by Mary Rogers

July 5, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Spiritual Unity

Throughout history, there have been many different religions. Religions have destroyed many lives. The reason is that they focus on the differences between religions. “My religion is the only correct one so everyone’s else’s beliefs are wrong.” “If you are different you are wrong and God doesn’t love you.” This disharmony causes much suffering and even the wars we have gone through. Everywhere in the world unity is lacking. There is now a new spirit afoot to “rise above the differences which divide us”.

All of the scriptures given to the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and Christians have unity as the common thread throughout their sacred writings and beliefs. Mankind has forgotten the inner meaning, the inner voice that can be found in these writings. All scriptures contain words spoken from the same Source. The reason scriptures are given is to promote the unity of the spirit.

Billions of people believe in Divinity but very few actually make God a reality in their lives. Part of the problem is that God is infinite and as humans we tend to attempt to make God understandable. In doing so, we make God finite. We then miss the full experience of the God of the Universe. Humans can only perceive so much and then they let the rest slide by. As human beings having a spiritual experience we need to rise above our imaginations, what we are used to and what we can not reach. Our finite minds can’t easily perceive the hidden secrets of God. The unity of God is a hidden secret.

What a blessing to humanity to experience nations, races, and religions coming together in unity and love for the Divine.

Photograph by Barbara Mattio