šŸŽµ Music That Moves You

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@NightHawk999
Here is Thich Nhat Hahnā€™s take on the self-immolation by the Buddhist monks during the Vietnam War. This is a letter that he wrote to Martin Luther King. He sees it as a powerful spiritual act more than as an act of protest.

I donā€™t know if these recent self-immolators have the same level of spiritual intent or if it was more just a desperate act of protest. But itā€™s not for me to judge.
But your point is well taken that there is a lot of good one can do with oneā€™s life to make the world better rather than sending it up in a passing flame of protest.

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@fenwizard Great read, not sure I agree with all of what he says, but much of it I do, this parts was very good:

" In the Buddhist belief, life is not confined to a period of 60 or 80 or 100 years: life is eternal. Life is not confined to this body: life is universal. To express will by burning oneself, therefore, is not to commit an act of destruction but to perform an act of construction, i.e., to suffer and to die for the sake of oneā€™s people. This is not suicide. Suicide is an act of self-destruction, having as causes the following:

  • lack of courage to live and to cope with difficulties
  • defeat by life and loss of all hope
  • desire for non-existence (abhava)

This self-destruction is considered by Buddhism as one of the most serious crimes. The monk who burns himself has lost neither courage nor hope; nor does he desire non-existence. On the contrary, he is very courageous and hopeful and aspires for something good in the future. He does not think that he is destroying himself; he believes in the good fruition of his act of self-sacrifice for the sake of others. Like the Buddha in one of his former lives ā€” as told in a story of Jataka ā€” who gave himself to a hungry lion which was about to devour her own cubs, the monk believes he is practicing the doctrine of highest compassion by sacrificing himself in order to call the attention of, and to seek help from, the people of the world.

I am sure that since you have been engaged in one of the hardest struggles for equality and human rights, you are among those who understand fully, and who share with all their hearts, the indescribable suffering of the Vietnamese people. The worldā€™s greatest humanists would not remain silent. You yourself can not remain silent.

I believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of the oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred and discrimination which lie within the heart of man. I also believe with all my being that the struggle for equality and freedom you lead in Birmingham, Alabamaā€¦ is not aimed at the whites but only at intolerance, hatred and discrimination. These are real enemies of man ā€” not man himself. In our unfortunate father land we are trying to yield desperately: do not kill man, even in manā€™s name. Please kill the real enemies of man which are present everywhere, in our very hearts and minds.

Now in the confrontation of the big powers occurring in our country, hundreds and perhaps thousands of Vietnamese peasants and children lose their lives every day, and our land is unmercifully and tragically torn by a war which is already twenty years old. I am sure that since you have been engaged in one of the hardest struggles for equality and human rights, you are among those who understand fully, and who share with all their hearts, the indescribable suffering of the Vietnamese people. The worldā€™s greatest humanists would not remain silent. You yourself can not remain silent."

Have you read the book The 5 People You Meet In Heaven? Short read, highly reccommend it! Parallels what Thich is saying here

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Another event to add to the series related to fire.

3% contained at the moment.

I had a private synchronicity with this, my favorite song recently was by a new band I discovered:

Iā€™ve been listening to this on and off with a lot of mantras lately. I think Iā€™m in harmony with what is currently happening. It is crazy how just following instinct can result in a deep seated feeling of harmony with the universe.

The reason I like this song mostly is the following lyrics, it allows release from a deep seated resentment for the system that was and is in place to try to handle cases like mine. The kicker to being held was just one of the 3 visits was close to $6,000 out of pocket. Itā€™s good I donā€™t have an attachment to money.

The lyrics:

You used to control me
Held onto every word, I let you own me
Too long I let you live inside my head rent-free
Opened up the asylum, now itā€™s gonna get ugly

Iā€™m gonna sink in my teeth 'til you see what I mean

Made a decision that I will not forget

Then you told me I was crazy like it wasnā€™t real

Now Iā€™m ready to fight the trauma and grieve

I like those lyrics and the energy from the song allows me to tap into and work through the deep seated trauma from the experiences I had.

The synchronicity from the song is at the end of the song, it says ā€˜watch your whole world burnā€™

Sick of your fiction, so Iā€™ma call you out, itā€™s my prescription
No more sympathy, Iā€™ve played the victim
Now Iā€™ve learned, I would rather be the villain
Watch your whole world burn

Another interesting synchronicity that just happen. I wanted to define the butterly effect to add to the post. When I looked it up, it uses texas as the end point of the butterfly effect.

The butterfly effect is a concept from chaos theory that suggests small changes in the initial conditions of a system can lead to large-scale and unpredictable variation in future states of the system. The name of the effect comes from the metaphorical example that the flapping of a butterflyā€™s wings in Brazil could potentially set off a tornado in Texas. This concept is often used to illustrate the complexity and interconnectivity of systems where predicting the future becomes extremely difficult due to the sensitivity to initial conditions. It underscores the idea that seemingly insignificant actions or events can have significant, far-reaching consequences.

The reason I thought of the butterfly effect with this given situation was the guy died of self immolation on Sunday and on Monday the fires began.

The pain he felt from the fire being extinguished must have been excrutiating and I am a believer if his intentions were truly eminating from a place of love, compassion and grief, his actions could change the world, it just may not be in a way most people think.

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@mbready, @NightHawk999
The undisputed #1 group . . . . .

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Wanted to share this but blur the video because it could be considered disturbing to some people, it involves the rumors about John Lennonā€™s experience with the devil.

I came across it after asking my mom to find the scariest videos she could for me to watch while Iā€™ve been trying to work with fear in my dreams. This was one of her picks and what I heard in it was very suprising.

The video explains rumors that state John Lennon sold his soul. There is a lot of depth to the rumor.

Were there any rumors while he was alive and while the band was big releasing music and touring?

There is an interesting bit that is factual attached to this rumor. A couple hours before he got shot, in his last interview he can be heard in a weird, almost chaotic mood where he said his music came from being ā€˜possessed by this rock and roll devilā€™.

Click the blur to watch the video right where it starts to talk about Lennon.

https://youtu.be/wb0djS7abKM?si=o4jS5oGhR_AxbcLC&t=316

That being said, he did produce this magical piece.

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I think Iā€™ll pass on this one, though the storyline is strong in our culture, my favorite being Damn Yankees with the Devil singing . . . .

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Reminds me of a musical. Yes I agree they were a fantastic band!

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