Kubonismo©

Hmm… My flu is gone.. Thank you modern medicine. Oh well….

Clothing, food and shelter.

these are the 3 basic necessities for living.
They are not luxuries but a requirement.

How do you provide housing to 6.5 Billion souls in the world?
It’s not easy especially considering the number does get bigger everyday, it might be 7 billion before the end of the year.

We can build McMansions for everyone of them… everybody can afford the $200K houses that builders are charging for right? Why does it cost so much to build one? I’m not going to try to answer that one.

A long time ago, in a different part of the galaxy… There was this blue planet called Gaea or Terra. And when people that lived there wanted shelter they built it…… with their own hands, with what was available in the surrounding areas. Thus houses sprang up in the hot and dry climates built with clay and mud, huts in the tropical islands built with straw and bamboo walls, and in some places brick houses and even stone. These buildings were enough for them and sheltered them from the elements. There were extended families living in these shelters, and the houses were transfered from one generation to the next.

All I can say is: We need to stop building homes as if they are
disposable pieces of junk. There was a time when houses were built to
last generations, built to be efficient and in harmony with the
surrounding landscape.

We don’t build that way anymore because we do not have time, no patience, we want instant gratification, we want our houses like our food fast. Hell, if we can only get them through the drive-thru we would.

Well maybe if we are going to be this way we need to at least re-think and re-design the basic ‘home’ from the ground up. We have the knowledge, we have the technology. Instead of recreating the same flawed design five million times over, we need to start building organically, we need to learn from our mistakes. No parent hopes that their offspring are dumber than them. We must strive to procreate into perfection. Devolution is retardation, but we also need to get back to basics. "Kiss", A great engineering concept which come to mind, It stands for "Keep It simple, stupid!". A project can be so complicated that it becomes devolutionary.

We need to really take stock with what is available at the building site and use it. Build with what you have. The ancients have done this many times over and most of their structures still stand today, save for the ones that have been sacked or burned down. Let us learn from the past. "Ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinanggalingan, hindi makakarating sa paroroonan", somebody famous and dead from my grandfather’s time said. He who do not know how to look where he has been, cannot reach his destination.

The typical house nowadays are composed of different building
materials, each piece traveled an average of 500 miles or so. Most of
the materials we cant even begin to understand how they were
manufactured in the first place and most of these materials are
considered hazardous but nobody seems to care, certainly not the
builders they don’t have to live in them.
    Just how toxic is
that PVC pipe that delivers the supposedly safe drinking water to your
faucet? How much VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are constantly
leaching out of your new house that you are breathing in? How about
paint? How safe is it? Radon anyone? Treated wood? Anybody know how to
make cement from scratch? We have perfected the art of creating a toxic
home with our wall to wall carpeting.

Our shortcuts are causing ourselves and the planet irreparable damage.

According to people much smarter than me, our planet earth is moving away from the center of our galaxy, and our galaxy is doing the same thing from the center of our known universe. Our planet was not in the same space now as it had been millenia ago, or a second ago. We can never be in the same space and time ever again. Crap.

I’m still reading:
1633 by David Weber & Eric Flint
(McMansion photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMansion)

It has only been 3 weeks since I’ve started to get into my no-mammal diet and it has been great so far… except that I’m still sick from a flu virus that I’ve caught last weekend, I’ve only started taking meds yesterday and hopefully I’ll be well before the weekday starts. Last weekend after showing up for mass at Hyehwah, me and a couple of friends had late lunch at a Pinoy place close to the church. Hmm… Until you decide to skip meat then it hits you… Philippine cuisine outside the Philippines is mainly composed of Pork & Beef and lots or animal fat (this explains all the fat Filipinas in the states.)… Ouch! No vegetables that day… And I’m not about to pay 6000 won to chow down on rice alone… so instead I just got me a "san Miguel" for late lunch.

Then the four of us hit the Hyehwah tourist area, got shooed-away by two shop owners and of course Ronnel got his pictures taken with a random victim… I mean pretty Korean girl. The "Ajuma" pretty much kicked us out of her store after buying what look like "camote-que" w/o the stick. Clearly there was some miscommunication going on except for the "GO AWAY!" that the "auntie/ajuma" yelled in perfect American English, after that the same thing happened while trying to figure out why the heck those little "pocket manstah" were able to stay afloat and dance without any sign of strings or sticks, lil’ picachu just danced, in defiance of science (must be some Korean technology I haven’t heard about) but again the street vendor yelled "GO AWAY!!" to us after Ronnel started mimicking the eight inch paper picachu’s dance moves. Laughter and hilarity ensued. Anyway, I’ve convinced the trio to get some sushi (I’m the only one that ordered) but they soon found out why the place i great and got some pics with Gandalf and some more pics of Ronnel with the cute Korean ladies. Well… not eating meat seems to be working fine for me, i might have to start taking creatine but all in all I don’t miss meat at all. What a great day!

I’m currently reading:
1633 by Eric Flint
(animal photo taken without permission from www.cuteoverload.com)

I feel like crap today… Must have caught something while taking the subways here in South Korea. I’m just tired. Hopefully its not avian Influenza. I haven’t slept last night since I have been kept awake by my coughing. I need all the sleep I can get so my immune system can fight off whatever bug has gotten me, but I can’t get enough sleep because of the symptoms… go figure.

Could it be I’m just feeling weak and tired because of not letting go? Not forgiving someone i thought has somehow either wronged me or I have wronged and I just cannot forgive them or myself for not being able to forgive. Maybe I’m just burnt out because my anger is consuming me again.

At what point does love and trust for someone turns into burning hate and indifference?

As a child I’ve grown up in an environment of negativity, where "revenge" is a virtue and is venerated, where forgiveness can be only handed to someone after they lay bleeding and in the threshold of death. Where swift punishment is law. the problem with this way of thinking is that people tend to focus on the negative things in life, wasting time and energy scheming about how best to inflict pain on someone who has hurt you, and eventually it just consumes the one who hate, drives them down to a spiral of remorse, and after revenge had been served (preferably cold, as in cold-blooded) the feelings of hate subsides but is immediately replaced by shame and anguish over the realization that you have done something wrong. Evil begets evil. It took me awhile to understand this and I still fall into the trap once in a while, I’m sorry to say that I am still human, still…

"Don’t be a player hater…" sounds stupid, but that one phrase has wisdom, Instead of being angry and be schemeful, why not concentrate on other things, each one of us has the ability to change and to change the cards we are dealt with, if not replace the cards, look at it in a different way. There is reason "Wrath" is one of the seven deadly sins. What a waste….. Bushido tells us that revenge must be swift. True, but there is a need for balance. We should never strike in anger, the fullfillment of justice must always be executed in out best possible composure with compassion and skillful means.

Currently Reading:

In Enemy Hands (Honor Harrington Series, Book 7)
by David Weber

Listening to news we usually just hear about the bad stuff happening everyday, this article just tells us there are good people out there making a difference.

  http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2768789

Here’s the gist of the article:

A 19 year with some kind of medical problem falls into the subway tracks in New York, a 50 year old man traveling with his two daughters tries to help him out of the tracks, kid starts having convulsions again, and the man jumps in with the kid to push him down to safety, so that the trains don’t hit him. They both survive the potential dismemberment and possible death.

There are people like this all the time, but they do not receive proper coverage. All is not lost. There are good souls out there.

Resolutions for 2007? Not much of a resolution but more of a change in lifestyle… This year the goal is to cause as little suffering as possible to all beings. This last December I was in a unique situation where its either I become morose about life and be sulking the entire new years or I could use the pain and come back to myself, to rediscover. I chose the latter and reflected upon the noble truth that have always helped me in the past.
Meditation focused on the first four of the eightfold path was much easier than last years… On the 30th of December, the fourth day, and on the fifth path I broke down…
There was so much pain and suffering that focusing on that path has brought about that I’ve spent most of the day, coming in and out of reflection, to not lose myself. In the end, yet fragile and weak, I walked through that path with greater understanding, and for the first time I could see, on to the 6th through the last.

What makes us human beings? What separates us from other beings? What makes us humans? It’s our separation and transcendence apart from the things that makes us animals. To go beyond our instincts, to be fearless, to love in so many levels. To connect with other beings who do not necessary love us, out of their fear of getting hurt. How did we develop this transcendent qualities? Millenia of being the top predator in the planet, we have lost all fear of other beings, the fear of being hunted and consumed, we have effectively developed methods to prevent others from doing so. We became experts in defense and hunted others. In exchange for all this we have developed war. All beings except humans, still live in the shadow  of fear for their life and their families, not just from us but from other animals at the same time. Focusing only on one’s survival brings out the animal within us, we become feral and lose compassion, we do not love because of fear. Trust disappears.

Cannibalism is taboo, not because it is unhealthy nor illegal, but because it is immoral and develops fear. In some cases where people are faced with starvation or eating the dead,  people have chosen the later and lived normal lives after wards. Nor did hey did not hunger for human flesh later on, unless the intentions of consumption were wrong in the first place. Societies where cannibalism was the norm disappeared. Headhunters vanished, great societies emptied and forgotten. There is no way to maintain a transcendent cannibalistic society, because it awakens a great fear among us, a fear that our offspring will live in a cruel world, we lose hope.

Now imagine the same thing happening to a different specie, if they have the same animal instinct that we did. Society will not advance. I will personally will opt for death if faced with a life of ignorance and bliss, caged in a room, taken care of, but not offered a way of enjoying to raise my young ones. To not be able to pass the knowledge experienced through years of living in this world. Having to live according to the whims of others appointed over me without any hope of advancement, to have my life forfeit and judged by a society by laws not of my own making. Just because a book says so. To have your mate culled and consumed by a different specie without a way to defend your family, just because they are smarter than you. How would you live, how smart would you be? How psychotic is this world that we live in?

Faced with starvation, people will hunt, beings will do what they can to survive, but we are definitely evolved and are smarter than this, Hunting as a way of life has died. It is not sustainable.

Reflecting on this, I have given up eating the flesh of Mammals, they are our closest cousins, they care for their young and develop strong bonds. It may not make any difference to the world as a whole, but it will make a lot of difference to me, how I will live my life and the choices that I make. Maybe it will change my body, health-wise, I’m going to have be smarter about what I eat, how I get the substitutes for complex proteins. I’ve tried being a vegetarian before, it just didn’t work out for me, and I don’t think I could live without sushi anyway. Baby steps. This year….  less suffering.

(pictue courtesy of: my.opera.com/Mathilda/albums/show.dml?id=98847)

Still here in Eujungbu province, South Korea. The year 2006 is over and 2007 has begun, So what’s my resolution? Resolution defined as "a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner", meaning to change either for the better or for the worst.
Starting last year I have decided to only buy things that are essential and to buy it local. Why?, because we are used to the global market as it operates today. We take for granted commodities that are available for sale at the lowest price, not even giving a second thought to weather the process that made that "stuff" come to be, may not have been in the best ethical conditions. I am saying that a lot of the things that we buy, we do not need, and most of the things that we buy cheap are there because someone has suffered needlessly for it to exist.

Why buy local? In the first place it helps the local economy grow and creates jobs, second it does not have to travel 12,000 miles to get to you and this costs fuel, and lastly you are sure if its origin and most of the products you buy locally are of better quality than most. Not convinced? Consider eating a mango… Is there a difference in taste and quality between a mango eaten seconds after being picked ripe off the mango tree in the Philippines and another that has been picked "green" and has been gassed to preserve and delivered 12000 miles to your nearest grocery and will probably sit there for another month? Of course! We are used to paying so little for things that we started to take them for granted, we forget the effort that made it into being, likewise the steps taken to make things as they are are being taken for granted also. People are taking shortcuts and this is causing problems with our health and the world economy and ultimately the planet’s happiness as a whole.

Only buying local or from within a 100 miles radius for food is hard enough, imagine when you have to do this for everything. I tried last year and one thing I’ve learned is that I bought less, but the products I’ve bought are of superior quality. We definitely have to eat local and in season, because it affects our "mother’s" eco-system. Eating strawberries in season saves the planet refrigeration, fuel and energy costs.

There is nothing with making profits.. but within reason. We must prevent unnecessary suffering from happening.  Some companies will manufacture anything and dump it anywhere without a single thought about its impact in the target buyer’s economy, What is wrong with Walmart? Nothing! But just because you have developed an efficient way to move merchandise doesn’t give you the right to abuse it’s potential by dumping sweatshop products and dirt-cheap items on any gullible consumer on any country. Walmart is changing for the better I hope. They promised.

Well this post is getting longer that It should.. I’ll have to cut it here…
The main point in all this is "Buy local", cheap means exactly how it sounds like …"cheap"… Anything manufactured takes energy, we should not take anything for granted. It’s preposterous that something such as an Italian shoe ‘made in China’ exist. But there are exceptions to this rule. I’ve bought Texas port wine when I was in Texas and they are up to par with their Portuegese conterparts. Support the local economy.

In the Christian tradition, when JC came back to Jerusalem, and saw the moneychangers outside his father’s house, He immediately casts them out in probably one of his first acts of violence towards his fellow man. He has taken action towards what is perceived as evil by himself, but seemed to everyone "status quo" at the time.
I’m sure someone else had seen what was happening around the temple before but did nothing towards solution.

The Sin of Inaction or what in the Catholic Church is called the Sin of Omission, (well, the sin of omission has a wider scope but it applies at this time) The failure to take action to defeat evil is sin. (I’m not even going to explain what sin is… Let’s use the more gentler word: "ethics".) Doing nothing to stop a wrongdoing being committed to a fellow being is "Unethical".

It is not enough simply to do good, we must also take action against unethical practices being committed by ourselves and others towards our fellow beings and to the mother earth, our environment. We have for so long taken for granted each other and the place we live that it has become the "norm", the "status quo". We have become blinded of the ‘evil’ that we and others are perpetrating towards our brothers and sisters and to our ‘Mother’. "Taking for granted". That is the sentence to reflect upon.

What can we do to prevent the Sin of Omission? Well, we might not be able to cleanse the world governments’ corrupt political system in a day, but each of us can start small.. A wise friend has once told me.. "Baby steps, to learn to walk."
That little plastic candy wrapper that you just tossed at the side of the road, seems trivial now but is clogging the planet’s water systems, creating pollution, we need to be mindful of the little things and all the big things that we do to ourselves and to each other. Preventing unnecessary suffering as much as humanly possible to all beings. We cannot freeload and treat our ‘Mother’ like a giant trash can. Pay your taxes. Wear your safety belt. Raise your kids properly, give them hugs and kisses. And recycle. We all need a change of lifestyle, We cannot live in this world as if we have a disposable planet. Maybe one day we might be able to live on other planets but the same thing will happen.. If we do not start now, we will leave in our wake a string of dying worlds. Then we will be no better than a plague spreading across the known universe and raping each planet as we pass by.

Please take action, pick up your trash, Do it.

It hurts me… this pain that I feel inside, the longing that I feel. .is so strong…

It drives me crazy… I have always had this… this feeling before… the point where it is more than just jealousy… I have nurtured this negative feeling and it has come back to me now… again… Like an old friend, it knows how to push the right buttons and anger grows… doubt… hatred.. loneliness… fear… Why?

The person that I cared for has not changed… nor does the situation. What is wrong is what’s inside me. This destructive feeling.. This child that I have fed for so long… will need to grow up and stop its tantrums. You will not do this to me now. This child has hurt the ones I cared for by my reactions to the negative feelings that I felt. This child has driven me to paranoia long enough, but never more.
The third eye, helps us see ourselves in the third person, the detached mind, the impartial observer, the third eye gives us the point of view to clearly see what eludes us. It is hard sometimes to see the mountain when you are standing on it.

If all this is confuses you… do not worry.. unless you are in the situation I have just mentioned, then all of this may seem absurd… But trust me it all works out fine.

P.S.: By being able to look at yourself impartially as a separate being, you can analyze what emotions are being brought about, why those emotions are there, what’s causing them, realizing that the beloved has not caused the hurt but the message that they have imparted seems to have done so. Still more, if you reflect upon it, then you realize that the message cannot be the problem… It is the receiver who must change, for the receiver seems to be who is greatly effected by the message.. which were merely words… nothing more. The beloved has not changed, they have not done the wrongdoing. It is merely the illusion built up by not reflecting upon the message. I hope this helps.

I am suffering…. for some reason or another

the Four noble truths:

1. suffering - I am suffering…

2. the origin of suffering - I am suffering because of my clinging

3. The cessation of suffering - I must remove my clinging to remove my suffering

4. the way leading to the cessation of suffering - I can remove my clining thus removing my suffering by following the eightfold path….

The noble eghtfold path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfullness and right concentration

Now about my suffering… Because i am alive i suffer, and I suffer because I am longing and clinging to a concept, memory, thing, person, or place. The same source that brings suffering brings joy and beauty to life. Sometimes you experience a thing of beauty and you do not want to let go, even though deep within you you know that it should belong to someone else. I’m talking about the inpiration for poets and song writers… the thing that breaks down even the strongest of the strong. It makes them seem like masochists.. like moth drawn to the fire… the beauty that smolders and consumes… But this is all ego.. sometimes the ego is so strong that i believe i am real. I am not a complete truth, and i am not a fallacy, i am just am… If i follow the noble truths and remove my suffering, i must remove the clinging of the mind, i must let go…. and follow the eightfold path, then the suffering will just be but a memory… But it is so hard to let go… to let go. I tell myself, that which does not belong to me should belong to someone else. true. But the truth hurts, that is why there is poverty, the ego becomes greedy.. But to really care and love means to let go.. to let be. But so sweet and wonderful is the blade that cuts through my flesh since it reminds me that i am indeed alive and the flesh is still present, the hunger pangs felt sometimes is so better than the satiation of the soul. Siddharta how do you do it? Letting go… getting a glimpse of what JC was talking about before that last breath. such sweet sorrow.

-Ego-

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