Rain on the way du côté de Galway

Du côté de Salthill ( une photo de Audray lee)

Autrui

"Contemplate to see that awakened people, 

while not being enslaved by the work of serving living beings, 

never abandon their work of serving living beings." 

Regardez et voyez que les gens éveillés 

qui ne se sentent pas esclaves de servir autrui 

n'abandonnent jamais le service à autrui

Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Le Service

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." 

Le service aux autres est le loyer que vous payez pour votre place ici sur terre 

Muhammad Ali (b. 1942)

Deux étapes / Two steps

PROSPERITE : 

1)  Ne dépensez pas plus que vous n'avez 

2) Cessez d'emprunter 

CONFIANCE EN SOI 

1) Aimez-vous tel que vous êtes 

2)Ne vous occupez pas de ce que les autres pensent 

SUCCES 

1) Arrêtez de vous dispersez

2) Travaillez dur 

AUTO-GUERISON

1) Pardonnez-vous vos actes stupides

2° Pardonnez aux autres leurs actes stupides

CROISSANCE EMOTIONNELLE 

1) Arrêtez de vous prendre en pitié 

2) Cessez de blâmer les autres pour tout

 REGULATION DU POIDS

2) Fermez votre bouche 

2) Faites de l'exercice 

FORME  PHYSIQUE

1) Douchez-vous, lavez vous les cheveux , brossez-vous les dents 

2) Tenez -vous droit 

TROUVER L'AMOUR 

1) N'acceptez pas moins que vous ne méritez

2) Ne craigniez pas de rester seul

VALEURS AU TRAVAIL

1) N'entubez pas les autres 

2) Aidez les 

COMMENT ÊTRE LEADER 

1)  Ayez les couilles de demander ce que vous voulez 

2) Donnez l'exemple

24 janvier : Michel aurait 75 ans

"Enfant, je me sentais solitaire, et je le suis encore aujourd’hui, car je sais et dois mentionner des choses que les autres, à ce qu’il semble, ne connaissent pas ou ne veulent pas connaître. La solitude ne naît point de ce que l’on n’est pas entouré d’êtres, mais bien plus de ce que l’on ne peut leur communiquer les choses qui vous paraissent importantes, ou de ce que l’on trouve valables des pensées qui semblent improbables aux autres. Ma solitude commença avec l’expérience vécue de mes rêves précoces et atteignit son apogée à l’époque où je me confrontais avec l’inconscient. Quand un homme en sait plus long que les autres, il devient solitaire. Mais la solitude n’est pas nécessairement en opposition à la communauté, car nul ne ressent plus profondément la communauté que le solitaire ; et la communauté ne fleurit que là où chacun se rappelle sa nature et ne s’identifie pas aux autres. Il est important que nous ayons un secret, et l’intuition de quelque chose d’inconnaissable. Ce mystère emplit la vie d’une nuance d’impersonnel, d’un "numinosum". Qui n’a pas fait l’expérience de cela a manqué quelque chose d’important. L’homme doit sentir qu’il vit dans un monde qui, à un certain point de vue, est mystérieux, qu’il s’y passe des choses, dont on peut faire l’expérience – bien qu’elles demeurent inexplicables, et non seulement des choses qui se déroulent dans les limites de l’attendu. L’inattendu et l’inhabituel font partie de ce monde. Ce n’est qu’alors que la vie est entière. Pour moi, le monde, dès le début, était infiniment grand et insaisissable."
Carl Gustav Jung ( Ma vie ) Souvenirs, rêves et pensées

I or We

Pur Connemara vu par Cath'Erin

Photos de Catherine P. Janvier 2015

Espoir

  

 "The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists

who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood"

L'espoir d'un monde vivable et sécure repose sur  les non conformistes disciplinés qui dédient leur vie à faire régner justice,  paix et fraternité .

   

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(1929 - 1968)

Marine : Ma rime , mon rythme

 http://youtu.be/pUQQwxsm8J8

La fin et les moyens

  

"The means by which we live have outdistanced

the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.

We have guided missiles and misguided men."

Les moyens par lesquels nous vivons ont dépassé les finalités  pour lesquelles nous vivons

Notre puissance scientifique a pris le pas sur notre puissance spirituelle 

Nous avons guidé des missiles et mal guidé les hommes  

   

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 (1929 - 1968)

Le corps qui danse, les mains qui savent

 vidéo YouTube Bahamas Beach {Music Video} By. Loïs Mercier


  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLvlbZNvpwA


 Un aperçu de 2 minutes 30 du travail de Loïs ..

Les pauvres

There was a boy whose family was very wealthy. One day his father took him on a trip to the country, where he aimed to show his son how poor people live. They arrived at the farm of a very poor family, and spent several days there. On their return, the father asked his son if he liked the trip.

Il y avait une fois un enfant dont la famille était très riche . Un jour son père l'emmena en voyage à la campagne pour lui montrer comment vivent les pauvres . Ils arrivèrent dans la ferme d'une famille très démunie et passèrent là plusieurs jours . Au retour le père demanda à son fils comment il avait apprécié le voyage.

"Oh, it was great, Dad!" the boy replied. "Did you notice how poor people live?" "Yeah, I did", said the boy. The father asked his son to share more details about his impressions from their trip.

"Oh  Papa, c'était super dit l'enfant "

- As tu remarqué comment vivent les pauvres? 

- Bien sûr, dit l'enfant 

Le père lui demande de lui en dire plus au sujet de ses impressions du voyage

"Well, we have only one dog, and they have four of them. In our garden there is a pool, while they have a river that has no end. We've got expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have the patio, and they have the whole horizon. We have only a small piece of land, while they have the endless fields. We buy food, but they grow it. We have high fence for protection of our property, and they don't need it, as their friends protect them."

Eh bien nous n'avons qu'un chien alors qu'ils en ont 4 . Dans notre jardin il y a une piscine alors qu'eux ils ont une rivière qui ne finit pas. Nous avons des lanternes qui nous coûtent cher  et ils ont la nuit au-dessus de leur têtes , les étoiles. Nous avons une terrasse : ils ont tout l'horizon . Nous n'avons qu'un petit terrain et ils ont des champs qui n'en finissent pas . Nous achetons notre nourriture: ils font pousser la leur . Nous avons des hauts murs qui nous protègent et eux n'en ont pas besoin puisque ce sont leurs amis  qui les protègent 

The father was stunned, and he could not say a word. 

Le père était si  étonné  qu'il ne put proférer un mot .

Then the boy added: "Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are."

Alors le garçon ajouta : Merci papa pour m'avoir montré à quel point nous sommes pauvres 

Unknown author
Auteur inconnu 

Faith

  

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."

La foi c'est grimper sur la première marche même si on ne voit pas l'escalier 

   

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(1929 - 1968)

At home : A bog road - Connemara

Lettre d'un prêtre

13.I.2015 - Boulevard Voltaire 

Cher Jean, cher Georges, cher Stéphane, cher Bernard,

Bien que je sois prêtre et que cet état par le passé vous débectait, permettez-moi de vous appeler par vos prénoms et non par vos noms de guerre. Une façon comme une autre de me sentir votre frère. Certes, vous demeurez Cabu, Wolinski, Charb et Tignous, dessinateurs de

profession, crayonneurs d’idées, trublions de vie politique, insulteurs de justes et de coupables, souvent drôles et méchants sous le crayon vulgaire et obsessionnellement

blasphémateur du sacré, mais à mon esprit éduqué par le Christ à dépasser les apparences, vous apparaissez plus grands que votre oeuvre, plus grands que vos dessins offerts aux combats rétrécis de la terre. Seule la bonté personnelle qualifie un être et l’ennoblit jusqu’à la moelle, je le crois, et pour cela, je mourrais. Tout le reste n’appartient qu’à la petite histoire qui finit sous le dégueuloir conventionnel des hommages et des récompenses accordés entre hommes, au gré des intérêts particuliers et des partis. Bah ! que tout cela est bas !

Aujourd’hui, préoccupé par plus haut, maintenant que la vie n’est plus un mystère pour vous puisque vous connaissez la vérité tout entière (et Dieu sait si cette connaissance doit désormais susciter en vous non plus votre humour mais votre joie), je viens vous demander un

petit coup de main pour la France. Ne me le refusez pas.

Amis, auriez-vous la gentillesse de dire un mot au créateur du monde afin qu’il continue de juger avec indulgence ses enfants d’en bas qui le rejettent ou qui prétendent le défendre en tuant leurs semblables ? Faites cela pour nous, je vous en supplie ! Que le Ciel n’abandonne pas la terre, et que les hommes comprennent enfin que travailler à la mort de Dieu dans les consciences ou tuer au nom de Dieu revient à massacrer l’homme lui-même ! Pourriez-vous

aussi de vos lumières actuelles éclairer nos intelligences de manière à ce que nous empruntions les chemins par lesquels on peut enrayer les fusils les plus huilés ?

Je vous avoue qu’une chose me surprend depuis votre entrée dans la vie éternelle : c’est la glorification unanime de la liberté d’expression que vous auriez honorée magnifiquement jusqu’à mourir pour elle ! Je dirais plus sobrement que vous avez exprimé librement ce que

vous pensiez sans jamais vous préoccuper des effets collatéraux que l’expression de VOTRE vérité pouvait créer dans les esprits. C’est ainsi. Pourtant, dans les relations humaines, et en particulier dans la vie conjugale, familiale, et même amicale, nous ne lâchons pas ce que nous pensons sans exercer un certain discernement à la seule fin de ne pas blesser inutilement nos proches. Et cela devrait valoir aussi pour les lointains.

La raison de cette retenue n’est pas à chercher bien loin, elle appartient à l’univers de l’amour qui tout simplement ne désire pas blesser. Cette retenue dans le langage, cette réserve bienveillante n’est pas une faiblesse, elle est une intelligence qui protège les liens et qui, en évitant de faire monter le sang à la tête de l’adversaire potentiel, empêche par rebond de le faire jaillir de la tête d’un autre. Cette réserve, tout homme peut la vivre, elle est vraiment à la

portée de tous, sauf de l’extrémiste qui donne aux idées plein pouvoir y compris à l’irrespect qui, paraît-il, gagne la partie.

CHERS JEAN, GEORGES, STÉPHANE ET BERNARD…

Le président de la République n’a pas cessé ces derniers jours d’appeler le peuple français à la vigilance. Encore une idée bien abstraite !

Que faut-il donc faire ? Rester chez soi ? Faire des provisions ? Lire le Coran ? Souscrire à un abonnement à Charlie Hebdo ? J’aurais préféré qu’il demandât humblement à tous les Français de calmer le jeu de la haine en les suppliant de ne plus blesser la conscience

d’autrui au nom d’une liberté d’expression pas assez réfléchie, autrement dit, en nous invitant tous à prendre la résolution de respecter profondément les croyances qui sont chères à des millions de personnes. C’est à ce prix que la paix fera son lit.

Chers Jean, Georges, Stéphane et Bernard, votre mort ignominieuse me fait une peine

immense et je voudrais qu’elle ne soit pas inutile. Vos caricatures ne méritaient pas de vous tuer, mais elles l’ont fait. D’une certaine façon, vous avez touché de votre humour grinçant les régions les plus viscéralement haineuses de la nature humaine assoiffée de justice et de

vengeance, et par là, vous avez provoqué l’avènement de la barbarie. Parce que votre nature était saine, je veux le croire, parce que vous cherchiez sans doute à votre manière le bien commun, parce que vous considériez la liberté d’expression comme un droit devant s’exprimer sans état d’âme, parce que vous étiez au fond restés des enfants qui dessinaient comme tous les enfants tout en jouant à mettre le feu, vous avez oublié la permanence de la cruauté humaine quand elle se met au service d’une cause jugée absolue. Vous avez touché à de l’intouchable, et en réponse, vous qui étiez intouchables de par votre dignité d’homme, vous avez été plus que touchés, abattus en plein coeur.

Au-delà de toutes les décisions politiques qui seront prises, je l’espère, pour contrecarrer les actes terroristes, intercédez pour nous, chers Cabu, Wolinski, Charb et Tignous, rendez-nous intelligents et respectueux des croyances d’autrui pour que la France se distingue encore par sa hauteur civilisatrice.

Un dernier point qui me tient à coeur : si vous croisiez au Ciel les trois petits enfants qui, lors de l’affaire Merah, ont été assassinés sauvagement, embrassez-les pour moi, et partagez avec eux la gloire qui est la vôtre aujourd’hui. Eux n’ont pas eu droit à une journée de deuil national ni à une manifestation d’envergure. Mais que pouvons-nous y faire ? Ces enfants ne disposaient que de leurs prénoms, ils n’avaient pas de noms de guerre, et ils ne défendaient pas la liberté d’expression ni la cause de certains politiques ! Qu’importe ! Seule la bonté personnelle qualifie un être et l’ennoblit jusqu’à la moelle, je le crois. Pour cela, je mourrais.

Allez, chers Cabu, Wolinski, Charb et Tignous, soyez dans la joie de Dieu, continuez votre vie, et éclairez-nous maintenant de vos clartés

Une photo d'Hannah O'Sullivan

Sunrise en route to work this morning ‪#‎ardbia‬ ‪#‎nimmos‬

Loïs Beatmaker

http://youtu.be/2V3tsORqev4
Chacun ayant ses fantasmes, je vois une femme qui cherche dans Paris l'Homme qui vient de partir sans rien dire
son cœur cogne au rythme de la ville et toutefois,
cette fois,
l'espoir l'emportera !

Essaie d'être heureux

Va paisiblement ton chemin à travers le bruit et la hâte et souviens-toi que le silence est paix. Autant que faire se peut et sans courber la tête, sois ami avec tes semblables ; exprime ta vérité calmement et clairement ; écoute les autres même les plus ennuyeux ou les plus ignorants. Eux aussi ont quelque chose à dire. Fuis l'homme à la voix haute et autoritaire ; il pèche contre l'esprit. Ne te compare pas aux autres par crainte de devenir vain ou amer car toujours tu trouveras meilleur ou pire que toi. Jouis de tes succès mais aussi de tes plans. Aime ton travail aussi humble soit-il car c'est un bien réel dans un monde incertain. Sois sage en affaires car le monde est trompeur. Mais n'ignore pas non plus que vertu il y a, que beaucoup d'hommes poursuivent un idéal et que l'héroïsme n'est pas chose si rare. Sois toi-même et surtout ne feins pas l'amitié ; n'aborde pas non plus l'amour avec cynisme car malgré les vicissitudes et les désenchantements il est aussi vivace que l'herbe que tu foules. Incline-toi devant l'inévitable passage des ans laissant sans regret la jeunesse et ses plaisirs. Sache que pour être fort tu dois te préparer mais ne succombe pas aux craintes chimériques qu'engendrent souvent fatigue et solitude. En deçà d'une sage discipline, sois bon avec toi-même. Tu es bien fils de l'univers, comme les arbres et les étoiles. Tu y as ta place. Quoique tu en penses, il est clair que l'univers continue sa marche comme il se doit. Sois donc en paix avec Dieu, quel qu'il puisse être pour toi ; et quelle que soit ta tâche et tes aspirations dans le bruit et la confusion, garde ton âme en paix. Malgré les vilenies, les labeurs, les rêves déçus, la vie a encore sa beauté. Sois prudent. Essaie d'être heureux.

( Trouvé dans une église de Baltimore il y a quelques siècles ) 

Question de politesse

Ô Toi l' Âme

" Ô toi, l'âme qui soutient dans l'être toutes les âmes,
Donne-leur des ailes et fais que les âmes s'envolent !

En ta compagnie, quelle crainte aurions-nous de la perte ?
Ô toi, convertis en gain toutes les pertes !
Secours contre les flèches, les clins d’œil amoureux,
Contre les sourcils en forme d'arcs.
Les idoles ont lèvres de rubis, tu y a déposé du sucre
Pour que les bouches s'entrouvrent à son empreinte.
Ô toi qui remis les clés entre nos mains
Pour que s'ouvre par elles la porte des mondes
S'il se trouve que tu ne sois point parmi nous
Pourquoi boucler nos ceintures à nos tailles ?
Si ton vin n'est pas, qu'aucun signe n'avère,
Quels sont alors les signes que voici, les signes du vin joyeux ?
Si tu es hors de nos pensées,
Par qui ces pensées alors prennent-elles vie ?
Si tu es caché à notre monde,
Par qui les choses cachées se révèlent-elles ?
Abandonne les fables de ce bas monde
Nous les avons prises en dégoût.
Celui qui succomba à la douceur fluide du sucre
Serait-il à serrer en son coeur de tels contes ?
Celui qui s'est fait sol où se posent tes pas
Se souviendrait-il encore des cieux ?
Lie notre langue de pudeur,
Ne nous jette pas dans ces vaines agitations des langues. "
(Djalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî (mystique persan du XIIIe siècle), Soleil

A Mediapart letter

On Charlie Hebdo: A letter to my British friends

11 janvier 2015 |  Par Olivier Tonneau

Dear friends, a horrid assault was perpetrated against the French weekly Charlie Hebdo, who had published caricatures of Mohamed, by men who screamed that they had “avenged the prophet”. A wave of compassion followed but apparently died shortly afterward and all sorts of criticism started pouring down the web against Charlie Hebdo, who was described as islamophobic, racist and even sexist. Countless other comments stated that Muslims were being ostracized and finger-pointed.
In the background lurked a view of France founded upon the “myth” of laïcité, defined as the strict restriction of religion to the private sphere, but rampantly islamophobic - with passing reference to the law banning the integral veil. One friend even mentioned a division of the French left on a presumed “Muslim question”.
            As a Frenchman and a radical left militant at home and here in UK, I was puzzled and even shocked by these comments and would like, therefore, to give you a clear exposition of what my left-wing French position is on these matters.
            Firstly, a few words on Charlie Hebdo, which was often “analyzed” in the British press on the sole basis, apparently, of a few selected cartoons. It might be worth knowing that the main target of Charlie Hebdo was the Front National and the Le Pen family. Next came crooks of all sorts, including bosses and politicians (incidentally, one of the victims of the shooting was an economist who ran a weekly column on the disasters caused by austerity policies in Greece).  Finally, Charlie Hebdo was an opponent of all forms of organized religions, in the old-school anarchist sense: Ni Dieu, ni maître! They ridiculed the pope, orthodox Jews and Muslims in equal measure and with the same biting tone. They took ferocious stances against the bombings of Gaza.
Even if their sense of humour was apparently inacceptable to English minds, please take my word for it: it fell well within the French tradition of satire – and after all was only intended for a French audience. It is only by reading or seeing it out of context that some cartoons appear as racist or islamophobic. Charlie Hebdo also continuously denounced the pledge of minorities and campaigned relentlessly for all illegal immigrants to be given permanent right of stay. I hope this helps you understand that if you belong to the radical left, you have lost precious friends and allies.
            This being clear, the attack becomes all the more tragic and absurd: two young French Muslims of Arab descent have not assaulted the numerous extreme-right wing newspapers that exist in France (Minute, Valeurs Actuelles) who ceaselessly amalgamate Arabs, Muslims and fundamentalists, but the very newspaper that did the most to fight racism. And to me, the one question that this specific event raises is: how could these youth ever come to this level of confusion and madness? What feeds into fundamentalist fury? How can we fight it?
            I think it would be scandalous to answer that Charlie Hebdo was in any way the cause of its own demise. It is true that some Muslims took offence at some of Charlie’s cartoons. Imams wrote in criticism of them. But the same Imams were on TV after the tragedy, expressing their horror and reminding everyone that words should be fought with words, and urging Muslims to attend Sunday’s rally in homage to Charlie Hebdo. As a militant in a party that is routinely vilified in the press, I don’t go shoot down the journalists whose words or pictures trigger my anger. It is a necessary consequence of freedom of expression that people might be offended by what you express: so what? Nobody dies of an offence.
            Of course, freedom of speech has its limits. I was astonished to read from one of you that UK, as opposed to France, had laws forbidding incitement to racial hatred. Was it Charlie’s cartoons that convinced him that France had no such laws? Be reassured: it does. Only we do not conflate religion and race. We are the country of Voltaire and Diderot: religion is fair game. Atheists can point out its ridicules, and believers have to learn to take a joke and a pun. They are welcome to drown us in return with sermons about the superficiality of our materialistic, hedonistic lifestyles. I like it that way. Of course, the day when everybody confuses “Arab” with “Muslim” and “Muslim” with “fundamentalist”, then any criticism of the latter will backfire on the former. That is why we must keep the distinctions clear.
            And to keep these distinctions clear, we must begin by facing the fact that fundamentalism is growing dangerously and killing viciously. Among its victims, the large majority are Muslims who would surely not want to be confused with their killers. So I return now to the question: what is the cause of the rise of fundamentalism?
            A friend told me that it was “the West bombing Muslim countries”. I am deeply suspicious of a statement that includes two sweeping generalizations and is reminiscent of Samuel Huntington’s theory of the “clash of civilizations”: the western world vs. the Muslim world. The only difference between George W. Bush and a leftwing stance would be that whilst Bush sided with the western world, the leftwing activist sides with the Muslim world. But to reverse Huntington’s view is a perverse way of confirming it. So let us try to address the issue otherwise.
            It is obvious that the rise of fundamentalism is intertwined with the complex series of tragedies that unfolded from colonialism to the present times, including the Israel/Palestine conflict. Yet I think we should recognize one thing. Just as the Christian religion caused an enormous lot of problems in the West for centuries, problems which were not always peacefully resolved, Islam has caused enormous problems in the Muslim world to a lot of people, too. Anywhere in the world, the space for individual rights has always had to be opened by rolling back religion a few miles. And this is something that the Muslim world has begun doing as early as the nineteenth-century, with difficulties not dissimilar to those experienced in the Christian world – for those who would like to explore the parallel, I recommend reading Sami Zubaida’s excellent book Beyond Islam.
            Few people even know today that there was a period, beginning in the mid-ninetieth century to the mid-twentieth century, called the Nadha (Rebirth, or Renaissance), which saw a wide-ranging process of secularisation from Morocco to Turkey. Few people care to remember that, in the 1950s and 60s, women wearing the veil were a small minority in Tunis, Algiers and even Cairo. This does not mean that they were not Muslims, mind you. Just as in the West, where a lot of Christian girls started having sex before marriage or taking the pill, principles were evolving, with some inevitable tensions.
            Much as it offends the Edward Saïd vision of cultures as bound to devour or be devoured, the Nadha was fuelled by ideas developed by European thinkers and enthusiastically endorsed by local students and intelligentsia – and before you accuse me of Western paternalism, let me stress two things. First, “ideas developed by European thinkers” are not “western ideas”. The anti-colonial movement referred to Marx, Freud and Robespierre, who had – and still have – fierce critics in the West. Second, at the very same time as the anti-colonial movement was drawing inspiration from the history of struggles in Europe, Claude Levy-Strauss was transforming the Western understanding of civilization by studying other cultures, just as Leibniz had extensively studied Chinese language, law and politics in his quest for Enlightenment. Peoples are neither homogeneous nor self-enclosed units: within peoples, people organize themselves and oppose themselves around principles and ideas.
            It is on the ashes of the Nadha that fundamentalism as we know it emerged. I say “emerged”, because we should not be fooled by the fundamentalists who claim to restore Islam in its original purity. The ideology they promote – literal, violent, legalistic, narrow-minded, other-worldly – is a radical novelty in the history of Islam. It is the dramatic perversion of a culture. So how did such a perversion take place? This is where the story gets complex – more complex than that of the West vs. the Muslim world.
            Anti-colonial movements in France’s former colonial empire (in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco but also in Egypt) were secular (which of course does not mean that their members were atheists): they intended to create modern nation-states independent from the tutelage of Western exploiters. Thus in Algeria, the Front de Libération Nationale was fighting for the creation of a Democratic And Popular State of Algeria (note the distinctly communist touch). Yet the chaos that emerged during and after independence wars (for which the West clearly has a serious responsibility) provided an excellent opportunity for fanatics of all sorts, who had deeply resented the evolution of their countries, to return to prominence with a vengeance. Thus in Algeria, an extremist wing that had already subverted the FLN during the war eventually came into power after decades of political and economic instability, only to unleash atrocious violence. I have friends of Algerian origins who deeply resent to this day the fundamentalists who robbed them of their secular state and persecuted them to the point that they eventually migrated to France. I am not an expert on “the Muslim world” – if such generalization even makes sense – but I think a similar sort of process took place in many other countries.
            So France is home today to many Arabs, some of them Muslims, who were chased away from their home country by fundamentalists as early as the 1960s. They were exposed to racism of course, especially in the workplace – it’s the story that goes back to the Middle Ages of workers who fear the threat of outsiders – and also bullied by the police and treated like second-class citizens. They fought for equality and justice, with the support of many on the left of the political spectrum, for instance during the 1983 Marche des beurs. Believe it or not, none of the protagonists of the march were making religious claims; they were not walking as Muslims but as French citizens who demanded that France truly provides them with Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité.
            The spirit of the Marche des beurs is that of Charlie Hebdo: justice for all citizens, including migrants and minorities. Now let me fast forward. Last year, a film was produced, commemorating La Marche des beurs. The producers asked famous rappers to collectively record a promotional number. One of the rappers threw in the verse: “I demand a Fatwa on the dogs at Charlie Hebdo”. He also contrasted “our virtuous veiled girls” with “the make-up wearing sluts”. Yet there were many women in the Marche; none of them were taking a religious stance and few of them were wearing the veil. How could a secular movement for equality be rewritten in religious terms? This raises the question of the rise of fundamentalism in France.
            Let us be clear: fundamentalism is not caused by immigration from Muslim countries. It is very easy to demonstrate this: Muslims migrated in France as early as the 1950s and the issue of fundamentalism only arose in the last fifteen years. Moreover, among the young men who enlist to fight for Daesh, many are actually disenfranchised white youth with no familial links to Islam. Fundamentalism is something new, that exercises a fascination on disenfranchised French youth in general – not on Muslims in general. In fact, the older generation of French Muslims is terrified by the phenomenon. After the killing of Charlie Hebdo, Imams demanded that the government take action against websites and networks propagating fanaticism.
            That the emergence of fundamentalism is posing serious problems to Arabs also sheds an interesting light on the law banning the hijab – a law that is routinely mentioned as a proof of France’s anti-Muslim bias. I do not have a definite opinion on this law. I was, however, stunned when I read a very angry article by a writer I admire, Mohamed Kacimi. The son of an Algerian Imam, deeply attached to his Muslim culture yet also fiercely attached to secularism, Mohamed Kacimi lashed out angrily at white, middle-class opponents of the law, who focused on the freedom of Muslim women to dress as they please. They were not the ones, he said, who had their daughters in the suburbs called prostitutes, bullied and sometimes raped for the sole reason that they chose not to wear the veil – let us remember that many Muslim women do not consider wearing the veil as compulsory: again, we have here Muslims being persecuted by fundamentalists.
            France has a long tradition of secular Islam, fully compatible with the laws of the Republic, but at war with fundamentalists. In the nineties, the Paris Imam was shot by fanatics whose violence he denounced; more recently, the Imam of Drancy, who expressed displeasure with Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons but firmly denounced the fatwa issued against them by Al Qaida, was himself condemned to death by the terrorist organization and is living under the protection of the police.
            So the question is: how has a fraction of the French youth (of either white, black or Arabic origin) become so responsive to fundamentalism? The answer to this question cannot be directly traced back to “the West bombing Muslim countries”. I think it has primarily to do with the complete failure of the Republic to deliver on its promises of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Here, there is an important point to make.
            I often read in the English press, or hear from British friends, that French laïcité is a “foundational myth” – as if France lived under the illusion that religion could be eradicated once and for all. This has nothing to do with laïcité properly defined. Laïcité does not deny anybody the right to express their religious beliefs, but it aims to found society on a political contract that transcends religious beliefs which, as a result, become mere private affairs. The beurs who marched on Paris in 1983 were performing a laïc demonstration. They were not the only ones to demand that the Republic be true to its own principles. In a beautiful book titled La Démocratie de l’Abstention, two sociologists trace the heartbreaking story (at least it breaks my republican heart^*) of how the French citizens who arrived from the former colonies vote massively: they are proud of their right to participate in democracy. They try to convince their children to do the same; but the latter are not interested. Decades of social segregation and economic discrimination has made it clear to them that the word ‘French’ on their passport is meaningless – there is no equality, no freedom and clearly no fraternity.
            The process of disenfranchisement was gradual. Riots in the banlieues started erupting at the turn of the eighties, and gathered pace in the nineties. They had no religious subtext: they were expressions of anger at discrimination and police harassment. Yet the need to belong is a fundamental human need: if French youth of Arab descent could not feel that they belonged to France, what would they belong to? La Démocratie de l’abstention describes how the conflict between Israel and Palestine – which had been going on for decades already - suddenly caught the imagination of the youth: it was their Vietnam, their cause. They had found their brothers overseas. When, in the 2009 European elections, a bunch of crazed conspiracy theorists launched an anti-Semitic party which had strictly nothing to do with Europe or with the issues that these youth faced, they registered high votes in many suburbs. And as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself degenerated from a political conflict into a religious conflict, so did the French youth begin to read the world in religious terms.
            Youth is the age of self-sacrifice and revolutionary dreams. In the sixties, young middle class Frenchmen who felt alienated from their conservative milieu idolized Mao’s cultural revolution – no less nihilist than Islamic fundamentalism –, dreamed of throwing bombs and sometimes did so. But this case is different. The middle-class Maoists belonged to a privileged class. They were highly educated. They had the intellectual, economic and social means to move out of their nihilist craze and back into the world. The disenfranchised, ostracized youth are an easy target for indoctrinators of all sorts. Their world-view becoming ever more schematic, they endorsed a West Vs Muslim grid that apparently made some of them incapable of recognizing that a newspaper such as Charlie Hebdo, who was standing with Palestine, for ethnic minorities, for equal rights and justice, was on their side – a precious ally: the sole fact that Charlie Hebdo had poked fun at their faith was enough to make them worthy of death.
            And yet perhaps this narrative (which, be reassured, is nearing its end) helps you understand what Charlie Hebdo was trying to do. It was precisely trying to defend the republican ideals whereby it is not religion that determines your commitments but justice. It mocked not the religion that Muslims have quietly inherited from their fathers and forefathers, but the aggressive fundamentalism that demands that everybody defines themselves – ethically, politically, geographically – in religious terms. It stressed that a religion that lays a claim to ruling a society is dangerous and, yes, ridiculous, whichever religion it may be – Islam is no sacred cow.
            To conclude. I firmly condemn the bombing of Middle-Eastern countries (or any country for that matter) by Western governments. I vote for political parties that condemn it, and I demonstrate against it. I was shocked when such demonstrations were outlawed by the French government – but happy when the same government recognized the Palestinian state. In these demonstrations, I walk with people of all colours, origins and religious creed – we take a political, not a religious stand. And I despair to think that a fraction of the population of my country refuses to regard me as their ally because I am no friend of religions. Being aware of the root causes of the madness that took hold of these young people, I detest politicians who have done nothing to resolve the deliquescence of the banlieues, to fight routine discrimination and control police persecutions. These issues play as big a part in my view in the rise of fundamentalism in the French youth as do events in the Middle East; that is why, had I been in France today, I do not know if I would have wanted to march together with Angela Merkel and David Cameron – much less with Netanyahu and outright Nazis such as Viktor Orban.
            This is the difficult argument I am having with my French friends: we are all aware of the fact that the attack on Charlie Hebdo will be exploited by the Far right, and that our government will use it as an opportunity to create a false unanimity within a deeply divided society. We have already heard the prime minister Manuel Valls announce that France was “at war with Terror” – and it horrifies me to recognize the words used by George W. Bush. We are all trying to find the narrow path – defending the Republic against the twin threats of fundamentalism and fascism (and fundamentalism is a form of fascism). But I still believe that the best way to do this is to fight for our Republican ideals. Equality is meaningless in times of austerity. Liberty is but hypocrisy when elements of the French population are being routinely discriminated. But fraternity is lost when religion trumps politics as the structuring principle of a society. Charlie Hebdo promoted equality, liberty and fraternity – they were part of the solution, not the problem.

            With all best wishes,

            Olivier

* It was pointed out to me that, should this article be read by American friends, my use of "republican" might be misleading. By "republican", I do not mean anything to do with the North American party; I use the term in its French sense - the "république" referring to a secular and democratic Res Publica.

Nos deux manteaux!

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. 

We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."  

  

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Le mental intuitif est un cadeau sacré et le mental rationnel est un serviteur fidèle .

Nous avons créé une société qui honore le serviteur et a oublié le cadeau. 

60 Quotes on Friendship

60 Most Beautiful Friendship Quotes

Thank to my beautiful friends

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“There are still some wonderful people left in this world! They are diamonds in the rough, but they’re around! You’ll find them when you fall down– they’re the ones who pick you up, who don’t judge, and you had to fall down to see them! When you get up again, remember who your true friends are!” ~ C. JoyBell C.

What is life without honest, real and meaningful friendships? What is life without the love and companion of those who see the beauty, the greatness and the perfection that lies within you?

Here are 60 most beautiful Friendship Quotes, quotes that will most probably cause you to call your friends and tell them how much you love and adoooore them

Enjoy!

Real friends make TIME for you.

1. “I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.” ~ Robert Brault

2. “If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love.” ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh

True friendship requires time and sincere effort. 

3. “Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm & constant.” ~ Socrates

4. “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

5. “Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. It is not enough to just say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless… Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is “T-I-M-E.” ~ Rick Warren

6. “Every friendship travels at sometime through the black valley of despair. This tests every aspect of your affection. You lose the attraction and the magic. Your sense of each other darkens and your presence is sore. If you can come through this time, it can purify with your love, and falsity and need will fall away. It will bring you onto new ground where affection can grow again.” ~ John O’Donohue

True friendship reveals itself through adversity. 

7. “In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.” ~ John Churton Collins

8. “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

9. “The only good thing about times of adversity is that you realize who your real friends and fans are – and the rest go away – which in my mind is an OK thing.” ~ Pete Wentz

10. “You find out who your real friends are when you’re involved in a scandal.” ~ Elizabeth Taylor

Real friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together.

11. “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” ~ Woodrow T. Wilson

12. “I think if I’ve learned anything about friendship, it’s to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don’t walk away, don’t be distracted, don’t be too busy or tired, don’t take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.” ~ Jon Katz

13. “Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next.” ~ Dean Koontz

There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship.

14. “Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” ~ Muhammad Ali

15. “True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island… to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.” ~ Baltasar Gracian

16. “A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.” ~Douglas Pagels

17. “Things are never quite as scary when you have a best friend.” ~ Bill Watterson

A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

18. “The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention… A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.” ~ Rachel Naomi Remen

19. “True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable.” ~ Dave Tyson Gentry

20. “The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you’ve had.” ~ Author Unknown

21. “One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words, they lie concealed in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable between two people.” ~ John O’Donohue

Friends make life a lot more fun.

22. “You can always tell when two people are best friends because they’re always having way more fun than it makes sense for them to be having.” ~ Unknown

23. “I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let’s face it, friends make life a lot more fun.” ~ Charles R. Swindoll

24. “In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” ~ Khalil Gibran

Real friends know how to play the role of a beautiful “enemy”.

25. “Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.” ~ Sicilian Proverb

26. “A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute. He may not seem such a good friend after telling.” ~ Arthur Brisbane

27. “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” ~ Plutarch

28. “Cherish the friend who tells you a harsh truth, wanting ten times more to tell you a loving lie.” ~Robert Brault

Friendship is cheaper than therapy.

29. “A good friend is cheaper than therapy.” ~ Author Unknown

True friends are can lift you up when your heart’s wings forgot how to fly.

30. “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

31. “I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment, and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” ~ Dr. Brené Brown

32. “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” ~ Henri Nouwen

33. “A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” ~ Donna Roberts

To have a friend, is to be a friend.

34. “There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.” ~  Paramahansa Yogananda

35. “There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.”~ Edith Wharton

36. “The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Real friends can grow separately without growing apart.

37. “The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” ~ Elisabeth Foley

38. “Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” ~Ally Condie

39. “Best friends don’t necessarily have to talk every day. They don’t even need to talk for weeks. But when they do, it’s like they never stopped talking.” ~ Author Unknown

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.

40. “The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares. A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.” ~ Arnold H. Glasow

True friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences.

41. “Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don’t say.” ~ Author Unknown

42. “One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words, they lie concealed in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable between two people.” ~ John O’Donohue

43. “Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over.” ~ Gloria Naylor

Friendship in general.

44. “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

45. “The real test of friendship is can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?” ~ Eugene Kennedy

46. “Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

47. “You can make more friends in two months by being interested in other people than in two years of trying to get people interested in you.” ~ Dale Carnegie

48. “The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.” ~ Aristotle

49. “A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they’re not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they’re not so bad.” ~ Arnold H. Glasgow

50. “Do not save your loving speeches For your friends till they are dead; Do not write them on their tombstones, Speak them rather now instead.” ~ Anna Cummins

51. “You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.” ~ Laurence J. Peter

52. “No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” ~ Alice Walker

53. “Friends are the family you choose.” ~ Jess C. Scott

54. “I like friends who, when you tell them you need a moment alone, know enough not to stray too far.” ~ Robert Brault

55. “Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.” ~ Unknown

56. “It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.” ~ Marlene Dietrich

57. “The friend within the man is that part of him which belongs to you and opens to you a door which never, perhaps, is opened to another. Such a friend is true, and all he says is true; and he loves you even if he hates you in other mansions of his heart.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

58. “Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.” ~American Proverb

59. “A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart.” ~ Attributed to Heather Pryor

60. “A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.” ~ Lois Wyse

And these are 60 of the many precious quotes on friendships that I love so much. Do you have a favorite friendship quote that you would like to share with us? If you do, I would surely love to know which one it is. You can share it in the comment section below 

With all my love,

Songeons-y

Le radicalisme de l'Amour

' the problem today is not radicalism but a lack of radicalism. We lack the radicalism of love. By this I mean the deliberate, intentional, spiritual, transcendent, devoted, courageous, committed, proactive love of people who have awakened to the absolute necessity - if we are to survive as a species -- of seeing every hungry child in the world as a child we must feed; each transgression against the earth as a limiting of our grandchildren's chances to survive on the planet; every uneducated child as a security risk; and every thought or action of love as a contribution to the field of energy that alone has the power to drive the monstrous scourge of terrorism back to the nothingness from whence it came.'
Marianne Williamson

Notre problème, aujourd'hui, n'est pas le radicalisme mais un manque de radicalisme. Il nous manque le radicalisme de l'Amour. Par cela j'entends un amour délibéré,intentionnel, transcendant, dévoué, courageux, proactif, l'amour des gens qui s'éveillent à cette absolue nécessité -si nous voulons survivre en tant qu'espèce- de voir en chaque enfant qui a faim sur cette planète un enfant que nous devons nourrir, en chaque transgression vis à vis de la planète une limitation que nous imposons aux chances de survie de nos petits enfants, en chaque enfant non éduqué un risque d'insécurité, et en chaque pensée ou action d'amour une contribution au seul champ énergétique capable de renvoyer ce monstrueux terrorisme au néant duquel il est issu. 

Enough is enough and " what do YOU do ? "

Moyennement médiatisée, cette image passée inaperçue dans la presse marocaine ne quitte plus jamais l’esprit une fois regardée. Avec sa tignasse blonde et ses yeux bleus pénétrants, le regard de cette jeune fille yézidie de 6 ans en dit long sur l’exode de ce peuple las, victime d’un affreux génocide. La photographie publiée en novembre 2014 par le photojournaliste marocain de l’agence Reuters Youssef Boudlal fait partie d’une série de clichés pris en août dans le village de Fishkabur à la frontière irako-syrienne alors que la minorité irakienne fuit l’Etat Islamique. Attendant l’aide des kurdes peshmargas, la fillette assise auprès de sa mère sous le soleil brûlant.....

La lettre de Luc Besson

La lettre émouvante de Luc Besson à ses frères musulmans #CharlieHebdo

Publié le 13 janvier 2015 par werdna01

Du site Artisthick, la Culture au quotidien -

Le réalisateur du Grand Bleu, Leon, et Lucy s’exprime pour la première fois sur les événements tragiques qui ont touché la France ces derniers jours. Dans une lettre émouvante, Luc Besson s’adresse à « ses frères » musulmans. Découvrez la lettre dans son intégralité.

     Mon Frère,

Mon frère, si tu savais combien j’ai mal pour toi aujourd’hui, toi et ta belle religion ainsi souillée, humiliée, montrée du doigt. Oubliés ta force, ton énergie, ton humour, ton cœur, ta fraternité. C’est injuste et l’on va ensemble réparer cette injustice. On est des millions à t’aimer et on va tous t’aider. Commençons par le commencement. Quelle est la société que l’on te propose ?

Basée sur l’argent, le profit, la ségrégation, le racisme. Dans certaines banlieues, le chômage des moins de 25 ans atteint 50%. On t’écarte pour ta couleur ou ton prénom. On te contrôle dix fois par jour, on t’entasse dans des barres d’immeubles et personne ne te représente. Qui peut vivre et s’épanouir dans de telles conditions ? Attachez un enfant ou un animal, sans nourriture et sans affection pendant des mois, il finira par tuer n’importe qui.

On fait passer le profit avant toute chose. On coupe et vend le bois du pommier et après on s’étonne de ne plus avoir de fruit. Le vrai problème est là, et c’est à nous tous de le résoudre.

J’en appelle aux puissants, aux grands patrons, à tous les dirigeants. Aidez cette jeunesse, humiliée, atrophiée qui ne demande qu’à faire partie de la société. L’économie est au service de l’homme et non pas l’inverse. Faire du bien est le plus beau des profits. Chers puissants, vous avez des enfants ? Vous les aimez ? Que voulez-vous leur laisser ? Du pognon ? Pourquoi pas un monde plus juste ? C’est ce qui rendrait vos enfants les plus fiers de vous.

On ne peut pas construire son bonheur sur le malheur des autres. Ce n’est ni chrétien, ni juif, ni musulman. C’est juste égoïste, et ça entraîne notre société et notre planète droit dans le mur. Voilà le travail que nous avons à faire dès aujourd’hui pour honorer nos morts.

Et toi mon frère, tu as aussi du boulot. Comment changer cette société qu’on te propose ? En bossant, en étudiant, en prenant un crayon plutôt qu’une kalach’. La démocratie a ça de bien qu’elle t’offre des outils nobles pour te défendre. Prends ton destin en main, prends le pouvoir.

Ça coûte 250 euros pour t’acheter une kalachnikov mais c’est à peine 3 euros pour t’acheter un stylo, et ta réponse peut avoir mille fois plus d’impact.

Prends le pouvoir et joue avec les règles. Prends le pouvoir démocratiquement, aide tous tes frères. Le terrorisme ne gagnera jamais. L’histoire est là pour le prouver. Et la belle image du martyr marche dans les deux sens. Aujourd’hui il y a mille Cabu et mille Wolinski qui viennent de naître. Prends le pouvoir, et ne laisse personne prendre le pouvoir sur toi. Sache que ces deux frères sanglants d’aujourd’hui ne sont pas les tiens, et nous le savons tous.

Ce n’étaient tout au plus que deux faibles d’esprit, abandonnés par la société puis abusés par un prédicateur qui leur a vendu l’éternité… Les prédicateurs radicaux qui font leur business et jouent de ton malheur n’ont aucune bonne intention. Ils se servent de ta religion à leur seul avantage. C’est leur business, leur petite entreprise. Demain, mon frère, nous serons plus forts, plus liés, plus solidaires. Je te le promets.

Mais aujourd’hui, mon frère, je pleure avec toi.

Luc Besson