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The NHS Proposals
THE NHS PROPOSALS
The British Medical Association has weighed in on the Prime Minister, David
…..Cameron’s health care proposals.
The Allergists voted to scratch it, and the Dermatologists advised not to make any
…..rash moves.
The Gastroenterologists had a sort of a gut feeling about it, and the neurologists
…..thought the administration had a lot of nerve.
The Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception, and were
…..afraid it might be premature. Some even called it an abortion.
Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted.
The Pathologists yelled, “Over my dead body!” while the Paediatricians said, “Oh,
…..grow up!”
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could
…..see right through it.
The Surgeons were fed up with all the cuts and decided to wash their hands of the
…..whole thing.
The ENT specialists didn’t swallow it, and just wouldn’t hear of it. Plus, it left a nasty smell.
The Pharmacologists called it a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said,
…..“This puts a whole new face on the matter …”
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at
…..the whole idea.
The Anaesthetists thought the whole idea was a gas, while the Cardiologists didn’t
…..have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to those
…..arseholes in London.
——————————————————————
As a rule I post nothing here apart from my own writing or grapheosy. However this piece relates to a subject (health services) which is of great importance (to those of us who live in the UK at least). It is also both amusing and cleverly written. I friend of mine (an ex-nurse, as it happens) sent it me. I’ve no idea who composed it, but I am more than happy to credit her/him/them with the acknowledgement and kudos, which is richly deserved. (Disclosure: I did tweak it a bit too from the version I received.)
Merry-go-round
MERRY-GO-ROUND
Involve! Evolve! Revolve! Devolve!
Evolve! Revolve! Devolve! Involve!
Revolve! Devolve! Involve! Evolve!
Devolve! Involve! Evolve! Revolve!
‘Stop’ signs ‘Give Way’
No ‘But’s; only ‘And’s
For each one committed to social change
Another one is committed to an asylum
All God’s chillun
Got dancin’ feet
An’ so don’t you step on my
Lew Grade Blues
——————————————————————
Notes on “Merry-go-round”:-
”Blue Suede Shoes” is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955 and is considered one of the first rockabilly (rock and roll) records and incorporated elements of blues, country and pop music of the time. The song was notably covered by Elvis Presley. (Wikipedia)
If you do not know of Lew Grade, there is always Google.
Rainbow Bridge
RAINBOW BRIDGE
……………………………………………………………………..“All the world’s a stage”
…..SUBSTANCE
The original Unset of the Show was One
But with no Set the Show could not be shown
So the Formless Form, to see who it might be
Formed an Idea called Reality
Dissolved its unity into two
The Projection Room and the Angel/Man you
The freedom of the sands of Time was formed into bricks
And this ordering of freedom was named Politics
…..SPACE
Angels are mermen who swim in the See
But dwell for a season in the Sardine Factory
In the Sardine Factory they all become Preachers
And everyone has their uniform, even the art teachers
At the door of the Projection Room some aspect of your Mother
Dressed up as an usherette is bound to stop you, brother
To see that you’re not taking any matches through
And everyone is Man/Angel/Mother/Politician/Me/You
…..RAINBOW BRIDGE
As the One/Not One became two, don’t forget
That three and four were needed to complete the Set
Nothing motivates like a puzzle unsolved
So three possible forms of Politics were evolved
The Politics of East/West, Experience and Ecstasy
And each Sardine was held by the four Chains of the See
The four major suits in the Game That Binds
Substance, Space, Power … and Time
(Rainbow Bridge is the game and the place where we play it
Though those who sense this transience may seldom dare to say it)
…..POWER
So the Sardine can be Man the Seer
And sit in the stalls with a can of beer
Or the Politician and Moral Defector
And sit in a Cabinet and run the Projector
He can be Mother and remain on the ground
Ushering all the others around
Or escape into Angelic Space and See
- If not he is inevitably all the other three
…..TIME
The Politics of East/West race the projector hour by hour
And try to hold the trumps of Time to make a bid in Power
The Politics of Experience hold the film at one small frame
Know Now and Here is Nowhere and it’s (really) all the same
The Politics of Ecstasy require you bring a match
And set light to the held frame – celluloid burns like thatch
Wave Politics goodbye, let the Freedom of Angels float
Smuggle in a match and don’t forget to register to vote …
——————————————————————
With acknowledgements to R. D. Laing (“The Politics of Experience”),
Timothy Leary (“The Politics of Ecstasy”) and Robin Williamson (“U”),
himself owing something to L Ron Hubbard’s concept MEST (Matter, Energy, Space, Time).
Integrity
INTEGRITY
Fashion and custom,
belief and law,
come and go;
dissolve and evaporate.
Yet there is always
(however forgetful we become)
always, always,
two of us:
the actor …
and the observer;
and things work best
when we remain eye to eye
and hearken to
the primal
that feeds both heart
and soul;
tiller when we act,
anchor when we stand firm;
father and mother beyond this realm
and I your dutiful child.
It’s The Wine Talking
IT’S THE WINE TALKING
The scum rises to the top
The dregs sink to the bottom
I’d point this out more pointedly
But my mum always said
It’s rude to stir (or point)
She also said
There are three things you should never discuss
Politics, sex and religion
Unfortunately
Nothing else has ever interested me much
Except
Of course
Writing
… She’d be appalled
The Arrow Within The Circle (not a poem at all)
The Arrow Within The Circle
I invite you to perform a small experiment with me. Take a moment to become as aware as you can of yourself, your body, the words in front of you, your immediate surroundings. Now imagine that, instead of perceiving in the normal way a number of discrete objects – hands, display device screen or paper and so forth, you are seeing at the subatomic level. All around “you” is a field of tiny points of light, particles of matter/energy moving around, colliding, transforming, winking in and out of existence. As you remain still, a small point of observation, notice that here is one continuous interplay of energies; there are no boundaries between different objects, no “empty space” or “solid matter”. Stay in this place for a few minutes and allow this view of the way things are to come as close to a personal experience as possible. Then gently allow yourself to return to the everyday mode of perceiving. It may help to reach out and touch a few objects, or to get up and walk around a little to reorient yourself.
If successful, this experiment should have allowed you to taste two very different things. Firstly, the interrelatedness of everything (including your own body), and secondly your own essential aloneness and separateness as the observer of this interrelatedness.
The human being possesses a dual nature, being in one aspect a part of the material world and in another aspect a spirit, capable of detached observation and the exercise of will. This basic truth is expressed by one of the levels of symbolism of the Christian cross: the vertical axis representing spirit, the horizontal our (and Christ’s) sharing in the flesh and the world. The two worlds we inhabit – the physical and the spiritual – each have a “game rule” which, once identified and acknowledged, can give purpose and direction to our struggle to live and understand correctly. Should we ignore, or confuse them then we do so at our peril, as our history and present situation bear witness.
The game rule for the physical universe can be found in the book of nature, as interpreted through the commentaries of ecology. From an evolutional viewpoint it did appear that nature was indeed “red in tooth and claw”, that its law was that “of the jungle”, of “dog eat dog”. The perspective of ecology, however, has illuminated systems within systems of balance and overall harmony, a planetary organism whose motif is the circle. The end products of any natural cycle become the material for another cycle. There are no loose ends.
The game rule for the spiritual life of a human being is admirably explained, among many other places, in Aldous Huxley’s “The Perennial Philosophy”, an especially useful source since it does not belong within any specific “religious tradition”, but draws inspiration from all the major religions to illustrate that which is common to, and lies behind and within them all. It consists in a striving away from separateness and an ascent to a (re)union with the ground of being, the lived experience of which our experiment a few minutes ago is but a pale imitation. The arrow can serve as a fine motif for this aspiration and process.
It seems to me that if we review our behaviour as a race, what becomes clear is that there has been a radical confusion between circling and striving when deciding on an appropriate way to conduct ourselves in each of the two realms we inhabit. It is within the spiritual arena that we tend to circle round and round the same tiny enclosure of our separate selfhood, saving our unswerving linear striving for the outer material world, with the goal of “As Much As Possible”. Unfortunately “As Much As Possible” is both a logical absurdity and a planetary tragedy perhaps approaching its final act.
If “green spirituality” has any meaning, then I believe it relates directly to everything I am suggesting here. In just the same way that a human being cannot be a human being without both the physical and the spiritual aspects of their nature so, I believe, there can be no real greenness without spirituality, and no true spirituality without greenness. The need to manage our physical existence on this planet in a manner which the planet can sustain – by ensuring that the outputs from all our cycles can be incorporated as materials for other natural ones – must follow from our developing a sense of relatedness to all that is. The need, I might even say the hunger, which exists in each person and which arises from our essential isolation from the source of our being, must be assuaged through striving within the spiritual, not the material realm, where it cannot be satisfied. In the physical realm this hunger only leads to insatiability or exhaustion, and we can see plenty of evidence of both around us.
Thus we need to remain aware of our dual nature. We need to remember the game rule for each realm: the circle of physical nature; the arrow of spiritual ascent out of selfishness and separation into reunion with a greater system of consciousness. As above, so below. At the present time, as a race, we are isolated and in conflict on both levels. We are damaging ourselves, each other, our surroundings, both physically and spiritually. We have the potential to reverse this tendency, and the responsibility to begin with ourselves.
Meanwhile, I invite you to perform a small experiment with me …
Each Time We Pass (Reposted)
Jun 2
Posted by Ben Naga
EACH TIME WE PASS
……………………………………………………………………………………………For Jean Giono
Each time we pass
In the corridor or on the street
Let us look at each other and laugh
Let us never be thinking of something else
Until one day in the midst of all the noise
And having pardoned one another for disturbing the silence
Let us begin to laugh
And wait for the idea to catch on
“We have to choose between two alternatives
Progress and peace”
As a beggar once said
And let us choose peace
Let us retrace our steps to the eighteenth century
And try again
Let us admit poverty and famine
Discipline ourselves in trust
Let us stop manufacturing
And make things again
Take the patience to make things
That last a thousand years
Let us close our schools
And begin to teach again
Let us learn to love life with passion
And to prefer death to life
Give back his function to Time
And leave all the destruction to him
Let us think in terms of centuries again
Leaving birth and death to control our population
Let us plant fields of flowers
Use our seeds to feed the birds
Bring deer down from the mountains
And light our skies by the stars
One day in the midst of all the noise
And having pardoned one another for disturbing the silence
Let us begin to laugh
And wait for the idea to catch on …
Posted in Poetry, Writing
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Tags: Nature, Politics, Reflection, Revolution, Social commentary