What good is a lion without a lioness?

A while back, I joined some groups online, which I found more interesting and even stimulating than what I was seeing on regular Facebook. 

Here's an example from yesterday. I joined the discussion at the end.

Order of Pen 

 

Manoj 

“Our generation is so busy trying to prove that women can do everything men can do, women are losing the unique qualities that set us apart. The God-given femininity & unique way our Creator designed us. Women weren't created to do everything a man can do.... Women were created to do everything a man can't do." - unknown
The lioness does not try to be the lion. She embraces her role as the lioness. She is powerful, strong, and nurturing. She does not mistake her meekness for weakness. The world needs more kind, compassionate, humble, faithful, persevering, confident, fierce, bold, pure, and tender-hearted women.

Be one of them. 

Susan

Gender is a spectrum. To be expected to perform certain tasks, a certain way isn’t conducive to balance. Partners should do anything that works best for their own situation and family. The fact that religion tries to control literally aspect of life is insane when you think about it. 

 

Ben

Susan White I agree 100%. People who struggle to understand the infinite variety of humanity like to reduce everything into just a couple of categories to help them understand whats going on. 

 

Susan
Ben completely. I feel like they’re imposing their limited view of the world on everyone and expecting them to behave according to their own limited experiences and personal expectations. It’s quite egoistic of them when you really think about it.
 
Jade
Susan no its not, you either have male attributes or female attributes and often we all have a, mix of both. Science
 
Sal
Susan your way of thinking is failing as evidenced by the state of western society.
 
Teresa
Humble and bold and fierce? Contradictions. A human is a human is a human. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. No matter our gender, we thrive when we pair with someone who complements our own abilities. Some men like to clean and cook. Love that. Just for one example. Couples wind up sharing all the tasks, finding their own balance. Oh, and this comparison between humans and lions—female lions are not gentle. Come too close to the offspring of any species in what is perceived as a threat and you will get a fierce and maybe deadly response.
 
Zennon
Susan if religion tries to control every aspect of life, then modern progressives have created a religion matched by no other
 
Evan
Zennon and that God is unregulated uncontrolled emotional response that takes priority over critical thought and common sense

Charlie
Susan - someday, try reality.

Susan
Perhaps if more men would treat women as equal contributors instead of considering half the population second class citizens, we might not have such a big problem and a lot more women would be kind, compassionate, plus all the other adjectives you used to describe what every human who’s a human should be. Men can blame themselves for women’s rights movements. There shouldn’t have been a need for a “women’s” rights movement in the first place. The fact that there even had to be one is a testament to the poor treatment women have suffered at the hands of small, weak, power hungry men. What kind of society doesn’t value it’s life-bearers?

Sloan Bashinsky
Susan Some years go, a poem on the abused feminine fell out of me as I sat waiting for a monthly Key West Poetry Guild reading to begin.
Sloan Bashinsky

I recently posted the poem in an online spirituality group,under the title, "Bi Polar" disorder - absence of the feminine, and was blasted by several people for being disrespectful to people diagnosed with bi polar disorder. I explained to them that the post and the poem were about spiritual bi polar disorder, and they kept after me.
Finally, the moderation board posted this comment and then took down my post:

Spirituality-ModTeam

Stickied comment

The post does not meet the criteria: there is insufficient information to initiate a meaningful conversation, or the quality of the content is inadequate.

Here is the poem.

Bi Polar

the world's favorite

mood disorder

the cause of all

human ails,

including wars,

if the demons aren't counted

bi polar disorder,

the destruction of the

south pole,

the feminine,

the north pole,

he ain't been

right in the head

since she's been gone 

Sloan Bashinsky
something about lions …
Once upon a time there lived a woman named Alya. She was the medicine woman in her tribe, using herbs and poultices and spirit ways to help her people. Yet she had one flaw: she hated lions, because a lion had killed her father. Her hatred caused her to cast spells against lions, which caused her husband great concern. He often told Alya that her war with lions was going to get her into big trouble, but she was a medicine woman, she knew the ways of the spirits, and she did not listen to her husband.
One day while Alya was out gathering herbs, she spotted a lion sunning himself in tall grasses on the savannah. She hatched a scheme in her mind to sneak up on the lion and cast a spell on him, which would enable her to steal his spirit and have it for herself. As she crept closer to the lion, she began chanting softly and seeing in her mind’s eye her spell taking over the lion. However, she was so focused on what she was doing, that she did not see in her mind’s eye the lion’s mate returning from hunting. Nor did she see the lioness catch her sent, drop her kill from her mouth to the ground and circle around behind. Too late, Alya realized her peril, just as the lioness took her from behind.
Next thing Alya knows, she is in the spirit world, standing before the Lion Spirit. Trembling with terror, Alya wants to run away, but the Lion Spirit speaks to her heart, says, “There is something you do not yet know.”
Then, Alya is back on the savannah, watching a hunter from her tribe sneaking up on a nest of lion cubs, whose parents are away hunting. The hunter has a twisted spirit, and decides to kill the lion cubs just for the fun of doing it, even though killing any animal just for sport is taboo in his tribe, which worships the Lion Spirit. On returning to his village, the hunter tells no one what he has done.
When the lion and lioness return to their nest and find their dead cubs, they are enraged. They catch the hunter’s scent and track him back to the edge of the village, where the lion hides in a thicket and begins roaring and bellowing out his rage over what has happened. The hunter knows why the lion is there, doing that, but still he tells no one.
Alya’s father, the tribe’s leader, prepares to go out and face and kill the lion, because it his duty to protect his tribe from marauding lions. And so he sets out to face the lion, even as the hunter lets him go without saying what has happened to bring this about, and that a lioness is also out there with the lion.
Alya’s father quickly finds and confronts the lion, and is preparing to kill it with his spear, when he is taken from behind by the lioness. In her horror, Alya helplessly watches on, even as she now realizes that her hatred of lions was completely misplaced. She feels awful.
Then suddenly she is back on the savannah, stalking the lion whose spirit she once wanted to steal for herself. The lion looks up, stares into Alya’s eyes. She shakes all over, is terrified, but does not look away. Then something takes hold of her, she says to the lion, “I have lost my father and you have lost your cubs. I will be your cub.” The lion looks deep into Alya’s spirit, nods, says, “And I will be your father, and will always protect your front.” Then beside the lion is the lioness, who says to Alya, “And I will always protect your back." 

 

Helen

Sloan Bashinsky thank you for sharing this. We have much to learn from animals. Sadly, we have lost our way as a species. We need each other, yet we are tearing each other apart over ideology that diminishes our humanity. 

Sloan Bashinsky

Helen you’re welcome, it was the 2nd of 3 visions I lived over several days in early June 1995; about a week later, a 4-year dark night of the soul lifted. 

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

Ernest Hemingway was absolutely positive there was no symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea

 

The Order of Pen

"The Old Man and the Sea" is a novella by Ernest Hemingway that tells the story of Santiago, an old, experienced fisherman who has not caught a fish in 84 days. Santiago sets out to sea early one morning with his small skiff, determined to catch a fish to prove his worth. He rows far out into the Gulf Stream, where he finally hooks a giant marlin. The fish puts up a fierce fight, pulling Santiago's boat for days. Despite the struggle, Santiago is determined to land the fish and ultimately succeeds. However, as he is on his way back to shore, sharks attack and devour most of the marlin, leaving Santiago with only the skeleton.

The novella is a reflection on the human spirit and the struggle to find meaning in life. Santiago's battle with the marlin is a metaphor for the human struggle against nature, and the sharks represent the obstacles that can prevent us from achieving our goals. Despite his hardships, Santiago remains determined and never loses hope. His journey is a testament to the human will to persevere and find meaning in life.

The story also touches on themes of loneliness, love, and respect for nature, and the importance of relationships. Santiago's deep connection with the sea and nature, and his love for his boat and the sea creatures, make his story a powerful reflection of man's relationship with the natural world.

The novella is also an exploration of the concept of heroism and the idea that true heroism is defined by one's perseverance and willingness to keep going, even in the face of defeat. Santiago's determination to catch the marlin, despite the odds against him, is a demonstration of this heroism, and his journey serves as an inspiration to readers.

In summary, "The Old Man and the Sea" is a powerful and moving story of one man's battle against nature and his determination to find meaning in life, which is rich in symbolism, imagery, and themes, written by one of the most prominent authors of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway.

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  Sloan Bashinsky

  In the novel, The Old Man caught the great marlin with a handline, not a harpoon. 

  When I was a boy, my mother, knowing now much I loved to fish, gave me the serialization of the novel in I think Life Magazine. 

  The Old Man and the Sea was part of an American novels course I took as an elective in college. The professor thought there was Christ-like symbolism in the old man's saga. However, in Carlos Baker's book of Hemingway's letters, Hemingway was adamant in a letter to his Scribner editor, Maxwell Perkins, that there was no symbolism: the old man was an old man, the boy was a boy, the sea was the sea, the fish was a fish. That's all there was to it. 

  My professor also said Hemingway was about sticking with something regardless of how tough the going got, grace under fire; and you knew when you met the bad guy in a Hemingway novel, because he didn't drink. 

  I also read Baker's biography of Hemingway, and fancied myself a writer some day, but it was a long time coming. 

  After it came, I was invited to present at a writer's workshop, so I came up with a title for my presentation, "Writing as a mystical experience." Then, out of the blue, it came to me that The Old Man and the Sea, the last novel Hemingway completed, was his unconscious suicide note, despite what he had written to Max Perkins. The great marlin, a phallic symbol, represented Hemingway's manhood, which he was ever intent on proving. The sea represented Hemingway's unconscious and the sharks represented his rejected internal feminine, who came to claim her just due. The boy, whom the old man left behind at the dock, was the young boy Hemingway, rejected by his father. In the end, Hemingway had brain cancer, and instead of succumbing to going totally insane and dying an invalid in a facility, he blew out his own brains with his favorite double- barreled shot gun.

  The audience at the workshop was not interested in my theory, but they very much wanted to know what I did about writer's block? I said I didn't get writer's block. When it was time for me to write, I wrote and could not stop writing. When there was nothing of rme to write, I did something else.

  When later I lived in Key West, I was urged several times to enter the Hemingway look alike contest, because my heard somewhat resembled Hemingway's. I always declined. Sometimes I said why. I didn't drink. The contestants were old, inebriated, white-bearded men in Orvis fishing costumes. They didn't know how to write or fish, and I knew how to do both.

  
  
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    Sloan Bashinsky

    The writer's workshop was around September 1, 1990. ln 1992, I completed my first novel. In the fall of 1993, a lot of poetry started leaping out of me. In early 1994, a lot of prosaic verse started falling out of me, one slow word at a time, as if it was being dictated. Here's one:

    "Although he sometimes tries to write fiction, when the tale is told, every character is a character in himself, every plot a plot in him; there are no surprises - only his, to discover parts of himself he has forgotten, lost, thrown away, or never even knew were there."

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

The pen is mightier than the sword, thus the sword defends the pen

I posted this below into The Order of Pen, and after some people had commented, I joined in.

The Order of Pen

Sloan Bashinsky 

The pen is mightier than the sword, thus the sword defends the pen.

Cody

Yet, it is the sheath and cap which keeps it.

Dave

The pen is mightier than the sword because the sword, unlike the pen, does not and cannot lie.

Ammar

Nether the pen is mighty nor the sword,

Mightier is the hand holding it .

Damon

Not entirely true at all. Both the pen and the sword wield a power of their own. Let's say that some written words teach, inspire, help, guide, heal, direct, instruct etc etc millions of people around the world for thousands of years? I'd say that's far more powerful than what a sword can do. I have mastered both just for good measure, and I wield them both in an honourable way !!!

Kelvin

Sloan Bashinsky

Author

When that little verse fell out of me in 2000, i was homeless and I knew it was a knockoff of what others had said down through history. I was getting up each morning and going to a public library and getting on one of their online computers and writing something provocative about local politics, which seemed to write itself as fast as I could type it, and then I printed a dozen copies and delivered it to local government official and private citizens. I felt the verse was a message to me from above that I would be protected. Little did I then know that my daily writings eventually would be read by a lot of people in that community for many years. I upset some powerful people, and though there were some serious close calls, I was protected , sometimes in just barely the nick of time.

Anna

Yes

Jessica

The sword is Sharpest, Thus cutting deepest!! 

THE PEN  ONLY SCRIBBLES OF THOUGHTS NOT ACTIONS

Sloan Bashinsky

Author

Jessica Often that is true, not not always. The American Declaration of Independence was both thoughts and action; its signers knew it was their death warrant, if they were caught by the British; and many of the signers wrote their names very small, hoping to hide who they were. I have seen writings that really got under people's skins, stirred them to action, or to retaliate against the author. I have seen my own writings do plenty of the latter and perhaps some of the former.

Jessica

Sloan Bashinsky it’s your story… 

You write it

Jennifer

Sloan Bashinsky Very brave - and a lot more difficult than causing problems for people who disagree with your pov - Kudos to you

Jennifer

Jessica Thinking is much more dangerous than any sword.

Jessica

Jennifer

 Jennifer 

Jessica Let's write a book - that survives centuries and changes the lives of millions of people

Jessica

Jennifer it won’t prosper for you… but yes go ahead! Do my work for me.

Jennifer

Jessica Prosper by violence? That would never be my style - First of all, that kind of win/lose mentality is not healthy

Jessica

Jennifer first of all you don’t even know me

And 2nd of all nobody said violence… just because a sword is referenced does not mean I wish violence

Jennifer

Jessica  You seemed to be saying that the use of the sword was preferable to use of the pen - You stated that the pen would not prosper - (as if the sword would?)

Jessica

Jennifer you seem to assume you know everything alot

Jennifer

Jessica I thought the sword was a weapon?

Sloan Bashinsky

Author

Jennifer Heh, in the Gospels was a man whose thinking and words got him in deep doo doo with the establishment, and look at how history remembers him today. Also, a man today called The Buddha. And quite a few others, whose thinking and words and lifestyles altered human history.

Jessica

Jennifer but I thought your brain was most dangerous?!

Jessica

Sloan Bashinsky accurate but had it not been for the efforts put forth through their own thought… would they ever have been as historically monumental?!

Sloan Bashinsky

Author

Jessica Of course, first they had to have a thought, or thoughts, but if they had not spoken or written or put that into a poem or song, and if they had not preserved with it, no matter what kind of blowback or flack they caught, we'd never have heard of them. 

 

I'm a mystic, and because of that I have experiences not recognized by human conventional thinking. Here is Wikipedia summary of the Akashic records, which cannot be proven to exist, but exists nonetheless. 

 

"In the religion of theosophy and the philosophical school called anthroposophy, the Akashic records are a compendium of all universal events, thoughts, words, emotions and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, or future in terms of all entities and life forms, not just human. They are believed by theosophists to be encoded in a non-physical plane of existence known as the mental plane. There are anecdotal accounts but no scientific evidence for the existence of the Akashic records."

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

survival of the fittest won't include Republicans who abolish the federal income tax and the IRS

This meme was posted on Facebook by The Order of Pen:

I replied:

A retired lawyer friend and I batted around the other day the Republican Party notion of abolishing the federal income tax and the Internal Revenue Service. Some of our conclusions were, there would be no money to fund such things as the US Military, FEMA hurricane, flood and other disaster relief, and maintain and repair US highways. And it would doom churches and private schools, which depend heavily on federal tax deductible donations.

When I shared that with a friend who had taught economics in several colleges, whereas I only had majored in economics in college, he agreed, and we added to the casualty list: non-profits off all kinds; the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court and Department of Justice; NORAD, NASA, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, CDC, NIH, CIA, NSA, FBI, Secret Service, DEA, Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and air traffic controllers, farm subsidies, etc.

He said the other way the federal government gets money to pay for itself and all of the above and more is by borrowing money, which will greatly increase if there is no federal income tax. I said, imagine no federal farm subsidies. Imagine massive food shortages in America. Imagine a whole lot of starving Americans- unless they become cannibals in a zombie-like apocalypse, as the rest of the world watches.

When later I posted the above in The Order of Pen as an original comment, it was automatically deleted, because it contained political views, which might offend some people.

Another comment tread inspired me to join it:

Charles

My survival is in the hands of God, the holy spirit and Christ, my saviour!! Amen 

Patrick

Charles well, what if he doesn’t exist ?

Charles

Patrick He lives in me because I have whole heartedly accepted him!! My choice!! Take it or leave it

Patrick

Charles I left it

Charles

Patrick your choice

Patrick
CharlesI have no Proof god doesn’t exist.

Could you please provide me with proof of his existence. Thanks in advance.

Charles

Patrick with your permission, I may have nothing to teach you ,but,I know there is just no true atheist !! This is so because life has a beginning and an end guided by a super natural force beyond science!! I call this force God's spirit that has and control the undying essence of the human being called the soul !! His spirit is equally manifested in the wonderful natural environment he has created!! I have the honour most respectful to plead with you to listen to your heart honestly and God will not only bless you, but will use you as his messenger on this earthly pilgrimage!! May God bless  my humble opinion.

Patrick
Charles well, we partly agree on one thing. God is nature and the environment and we are guided by science.

There is no tooth fairy god, no ghost in the sky looking over us. We determine our own lives. Good luck with yours. 

 

Charles
Patrick ok, you win, good luck also to you 

 

Sloan Bashinsky
Charles Hmmm, are you sure God is a he? I was born into the Southern Baptist Church, and my mother took me with her to the Episcopal church, and back then and even today the Christian Trinity is all male, which causes me to wonder how do that Trinity reproduce? As for whether or not God exists, in early 1987, I had my first experience with beings from another realm, who slowly took me under their wing and stood me before many mirrors in stages and turned me every which a way but lose and upside down and inside out. Later, I came to know them as Jesus and Michael, the archangel. Later, they were joined by Melchizedek, and then the going got really rough. I no longer believed they and God exist, I knew. Yet, talking with Christians about what I was experiencing was sort of like what I imagine an ET talking with them would feel like. I was not on the same planet, nor in the same universe with them any longer. I thought, and still think, if they were getting treated to the same refurbishing I was experiencing, then they might wish they had never heard of God, Jesus, angels known in the Bible. I'm 80 now, and it's still in progress. It seems what "they" think is really important is how we iive, behave, relate to other people, experiences, and the planet. They promote existential spirituality, versus theoretical. They do not dis atheists, but instead look at how atheists live, same as how they look at how Christians live. At how Muslims live, and Buddhists, etc. Meanwhile, here's a soul drawing that fell out of me maybe 20 years ago, called "Feather Talk."

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com