Went to a full-day seminar by visiting US neuropsychologist Rick Hanson re: the meeting of neuroscience and the contemplative traditions and Taking In the Good. His book: Buddha’s Brain.
It was about neuroplasticity. A friend had recommended it, and it was great.
To “reset the brain” or “rewire” it, Hanson said you have to exaggerate/hype up positive thinking. “When it [the brain] fires, it rewires.”
So, while Buddhists practise moderation in their daily activities, for rewiring the brain, they should intensify the desired thoughts as strongly as possible.
Went to an inner-west party recently where late-night discussion turned to Thoreau and Emerson, rebellious utopian 19th-century communes, and Amish transcendentalism.
J wearing an authentic bonnet made by an Amish lady.
I browsed the Yabun Festival stalls and found a fantastic book for $10, The Grand Experiment by Anouk Ride. It’s a true story of an Aussie journalist who saw an etching of two Aboriginal boys in monk outfits years ago in the New Norcia monastery, Western Australia. So she digs into the history and wrote this book.
The Aboriginal monks. Engraving: Pablo Alaborn, circa 1851, Benedictine Community of New Norcia Archive.
They were sent to Europe (by sailing ship) to learn Latin and Italian and English in Italian monasteries, and met the Pope. They travelled to England and France and South Africa.
One of them was very bright and learnt quickly but the other was homesick and hated it. The boys used to call letters “talking papers”, boats were “moving houses” and at first they thought boats were large animals.
Went to the Yabun Festival in Victoria Park to hear Tom Calma, give a speech on his past five years as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
Tom Calma. Pic: from HREOC website
He retires from that position at the end of January (this week), so he did a summary of his achievements.
But question time was particularly spiky, with a couple of blokes saying exactly what they thought about Calma’s “shortcomings”. In a verbal sense, it was on for young and old.
I wouldn’t have expected that for a person’s “farewell to the job” speech. I felt the criticisms were a bit unfair, as they were saying they’d wanted more progress, and Calma had already outlined what was achieved and that was the best that he could do. No point banging someone over the head for that.
Went to a talk about the GFC, what caused it and what’s the outlook. It was given by a Socialist Alliance member, K, and there were other contributors. I’ve amalgamated all the info.
Basically, the GFC – which will probably get worse for the next decade at least, started in the 1980s – an era when the mantras were “Greed is good”. Words and phrases such as “impossible” or “can’t be done” were for losers.
Taking notes.
In the US, giant companies such as General Electric (GE) made mechanical goods — washing machines and missiles. But the end of the 1980s, it discovered it could make bigger profits by investing in the financial industry. By the 1990s, GE’s financial arm was making 10 times more than its industrial goods section. GE went into debt because there was a lot of cheap money around to borrow, thanks to developing economies (eg workers in China – paid a pittance – but still able to save.) GE then used these loans to invest in financial “bubbles”, such as the internet “Tech wreck” bubble of 2001 and the recent Home Loans bubble and initially got large returns.
The Spanish killed the indigenous population, the Arawaks, in 1492. Most of the current Haitians are descended from African slaves who were forced to work for the French.
From Christopher Columbus’s log about Arawaks he encountered: “They would make fine servants. .. With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
Went to a workshop by Richard Downs, one of about 30-40 Aboriginal Elders who took part in the Ampilatwatja walk-off in June last year – they walked away from their community in the NT to set up camp in the bush. He’s the spokesman for the Alyawarra people living at the township of Ampilatwatcha, 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.
They’re planning to install a bore and make the camp entirely self-sufficient with solar energy and permaculture.
Richard Downs. Photo: The Juice Media
Everyone wants to go and visit the camp, but he said they can’t have visitors until they’ve got water. Now they’re carting water from the nearby township. They’re looking for donations and are getting some union funding.
Went to the four-day Socialist Alliance conference held at the University of Sydney. I hadn’t been to an SA event before. Quote: “One day everyone will embrace socialism. Solidarity comrades!”
The book stall.
My impressions:
* They view themselves as a “say what we really think” group. “We get to say what we like.” Members of Parliament often say to them: “You say all the things I want to say but can’t.” They strive for influence, rather than political seats. But they stand candidates for elections because it gets the public talking and thinking about them. Keep reading →
NT Aboriginal Leaders condemn Intervention, housing program failure
Alyawarr spokesperson and leader Richard Downs, from Ampilatwatja community in the Northern Territory, condemns the ongoing rollout of the NT Emergency Response Measures. He and other elders walked off their settlement in June last year and started a community protest camp on his traditional country. They’re going to try and use solar power and perma culture etc to build a self-sufficient community, without any government support.
An Aussie who loves Sydney. I like going to quirky events. Am interested in politics and people's stories -- if you have a good story or interesting event, contact me!
