change = remove the tire and replace it with another one
transformation = caterpillar becoming a butterfly
manifestation = converting a drop of golden liquid from the centre of the sun's core into the very thing you desire here on earth.
change is good; transformation is great; manifestation is our power to create the world we want to live in. Some of us give away that power to liars who say that the world is coming to an end. And they say it in large numbers and in large groups so we tend to believe so many people can't be wrong? Right?
And they say it with conviction and we see the sincerity in their eyes and think, they must know what they are talking about cause they are willing to die for this death talk. And they convince us to so fear the coming end of the world with them, that we join in the game of fear and forget the life of love. And they win.
Here's how WE win for life and for love and for beauty, prosperity and health. Make your next thought (no matter what your circumstances) a thought of love and harmony. Then follow it up with another similar thought. Do this for five consecutive thoughts, then for five consecutive years. Make that five consecutive decades and let's see if ONE person thinking love and harmony for one billion people can make a difference. So if there are only two of us doing it (cause I will be one) - we're close to covering the whole world.
Michael Holgate
Monday, January 28, 2008
To Endorse Barak Obama for President
Kennedy, Kerry, Oprah and so many others have done it. Do I join in?
Yes I do. Why not? Perhaps the more important question is who cares? Who cares about my endorsement? I am not a citizen of the United States of America. I am a Jamaican citizen. I have nothing riding on this endorsement. I get nothing out of it. And maybe, neither does Obama. Some might argue that it's out of a desire to see a Black Man in the White house. (I wonder how I haven't seen anyone put it just that way so far A BLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE- perhaps others are more tactful than I claim to be.) - But truthfully, before Barak was in the race, I supported Hillary Clinton. I thought it a forgone conclusion. And then I met Barak (albeit on my TV screen with CNN).
There is nothing and no one who could have swayed me from Bill and Hillary Clinton, whether black, blue, green or purple - unless some great and powerful someone has come along. And he has. So, people are more impressed with Oprah's endorsement and the Kennedy endorsements. I'm most impressed with mine. It comes from a deep sense of conviction in the spirit of transformation and hope embodied by this man. So I say, Barak Obama for President.
Interestingly, I am now about five minutes walk away from that elementary school in Menteng, Indonesia where he went as a boy. I know there has been some controversy about this. I don't know why. people are not exclusively defined by where they went to school. With that said, I wonder where President Bush went to school. Anyway, I am pleased to know that the Presidency of Barak Obama will be one of multicultural awareness; faith; hope and change.
Michael Holgate
Yes I do. Why not? Perhaps the more important question is who cares? Who cares about my endorsement? I am not a citizen of the United States of America. I am a Jamaican citizen. I have nothing riding on this endorsement. I get nothing out of it. And maybe, neither does Obama. Some might argue that it's out of a desire to see a Black Man in the White house. (I wonder how I haven't seen anyone put it just that way so far A BLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE- perhaps others are more tactful than I claim to be.) - But truthfully, before Barak was in the race, I supported Hillary Clinton. I thought it a forgone conclusion. And then I met Barak (albeit on my TV screen with CNN).
There is nothing and no one who could have swayed me from Bill and Hillary Clinton, whether black, blue, green or purple - unless some great and powerful someone has come along. And he has. So, people are more impressed with Oprah's endorsement and the Kennedy endorsements. I'm most impressed with mine. It comes from a deep sense of conviction in the spirit of transformation and hope embodied by this man. So I say, Barak Obama for President.
Interestingly, I am now about five minutes walk away from that elementary school in Menteng, Indonesia where he went as a boy. I know there has been some controversy about this. I don't know why. people are not exclusively defined by where they went to school. With that said, I wonder where President Bush went to school. Anyway, I am pleased to know that the Presidency of Barak Obama will be one of multicultural awareness; faith; hope and change.
Michael Holgate
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Grow your Mind - Grow your brain
Yes, there are many ways to grow your mind and your brain.
Infinite ways in fact. As infinite as the mind itself.
Simple things...
- Learn a new language (just start. Let's face it, I'm sure you have fifteen minutes a day to spare on learning ten words. Do you know what ten new words in a foreign language adds up to in a year? Do you know what it means to your brain?
- Keep learning new languages
- learn a new skill (Play an instrument- even just go to work from a different route)
- Eat well. Yeah, real food. Your brain deserves it. If it's starved, you can't think well. A lot of us eat rubbish all day, then make up our faces at street people eating from garbage bins. At least they are honest.
-Eat well. Yeah, this time it's about what you put in your brain from books and conversations. Don't spend your time talking with negative people. It drags you down. And I'm sure you've heard the phrase narrow-minded - well, that comes from constantly narrowing your view of the world to fit into your limited concept of yourself. So, by all means expand your acceptance and awareness of yourself and the world will look so much more like a bright and beautiful place.
Michael Holgate
enuff for today... oops, I almost forgot the quote for the moment.
Infinite ways in fact. As infinite as the mind itself.
Simple things...
- Learn a new language (just start. Let's face it, I'm sure you have fifteen minutes a day to spare on learning ten words. Do you know what ten new words in a foreign language adds up to in a year? Do you know what it means to your brain?
- Keep learning new languages
- learn a new skill (Play an instrument- even just go to work from a different route)
- Eat well. Yeah, real food. Your brain deserves it. If it's starved, you can't think well. A lot of us eat rubbish all day, then make up our faces at street people eating from garbage bins. At least they are honest.
-Eat well. Yeah, this time it's about what you put in your brain from books and conversations. Don't spend your time talking with negative people. It drags you down. And I'm sure you've heard the phrase narrow-minded - well, that comes from constantly narrowing your view of the world to fit into your limited concept of yourself. So, by all means expand your acceptance and awareness of yourself and the world will look so much more like a bright and beautiful place.
Michael Holgate
enuff for today... oops, I almost forgot the quote for the moment.
When I want to read a novel,
I write one.
Benjamin Disreali
in W. Monnypenny and G Buckle
Life of Benjamin Disreali (vol. 6)
What words do
Tell someone to read today.
Denying yourself the experience of reading is like denying yourself the possibility of a truly joyous and powerful life. Maybe there ARE indeed leaders who have not been readers... but I don't know of any such who have greatly inspired me. Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Marcus Garvey, - these are leaders who set the world on fire through the power of their words.
They never pretended that their words were created somewhere inside their bodies and pushed out into the world on demand. No - they were readers. They allowed themselves to be receptacles for ideas in the form of many books.
They allowed those ideas to so move and change and empower and embolden them that their 'receptacles' overflowed. The combination of ideas of so many brilliant men and women who have gone before them, with their own deep introspection, caused a chemical reaction that transformed them into living embodiments of 'the word' and they became 'lights' unto the world.
I believe in our own way, we are all lights unto the world. We all just need to plug in now. I believe that some ways to do this are: prayer, meditation and of course reading.
Michael Holgate
Today's quote:
Denying yourself the experience of reading is like denying yourself the possibility of a truly joyous and powerful life. Maybe there ARE indeed leaders who have not been readers... but I don't know of any such who have greatly inspired me. Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Marcus Garvey, - these are leaders who set the world on fire through the power of their words.
They never pretended that their words were created somewhere inside their bodies and pushed out into the world on demand. No - they were readers. They allowed themselves to be receptacles for ideas in the form of many books.
They allowed those ideas to so move and change and empower and embolden them that their 'receptacles' overflowed. The combination of ideas of so many brilliant men and women who have gone before them, with their own deep introspection, caused a chemical reaction that transformed them into living embodiments of 'the word' and they became 'lights' unto the world.
I believe in our own way, we are all lights unto the world. We all just need to plug in now. I believe that some ways to do this are: prayer, meditation and of course reading.
Michael Holgate
Today's quote:
"We were not created to be eaten by anxiety,
but to walk erect, free,
unafraid in a world where there is work to do,
truth to seek, love to give and win."
Joseph Ford NewtonAuthor
Joseph Ford NewtonAuthor
Monday, January 21, 2008
favourite books
A friend of mine (harry surya minata) just asked me "What's the best book you ever read in your life?" - and I think that's the first time anyone has ever asked me that question. A very interesting question. And one that excited me. Why? cause it forced me to go over all those wonderful books that have so beautifully transported me somewhere else. I couldn't find one that was the best- well not yet-, but I decided to look at a few. If you haven't read them, you should...
- Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind.
I first got introduced to this book by my brother Kirk. I would normally not read any book with a sword wielding man on a dragon on the cover. I thought it would be trashy - boy was I wrong. I have hungrily searched down every other book in the (sword of truth series) because of how good this book was. I'm now going to buy the last one - number 13. I'm not obsessed, not really... not quite... ok dammit, leave me alone - a brilliant writer is this Terry Goodkind who can weave a tale that permeates your mind and just sits there like a mist at the top of a cold mountain - I could go on, but there are other books...
The Chrysallids by John Wyndham
Beautiful science fiction literature - about a young boy who discovers how different he is because of psychic abilities. The book is a great commentary on intolerance and bigotry --- a rose by any other name is still a rose... Even when the bigotry is about special abilities in a distant future land somewhere else, intolerance is still intolerance. (for those of you who got it - sorry for spelling it out like this)
Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
A vampire tells his story to a young reporter about how he became a vampire. I first saw this book when I was a student at Wolmer's Boys School. I went into the library and was just browsing around (now what kind of young man goes browsing around in a library - ok, kinda nerdy, I know). So anyways, I open this book and was captivated, but then the bell rang. I kept the book in my mind and bought it years later.
First Man in Rome - Colleen McCullough
Brilliant historical novel about the Roman empire
By the way, Read anything she writes...
I love another of her books, a moving, sentimental story of a yound mentally challenged man --- the book is called Tim.- Again I say: Read anything she writes.
Will just do a general listing of other favourites now:
Harry potter series - JK Rowling... (good reading fun)
It - Stephen King (this man Stephen King knows how to get into your mind and pull out your own demons to haunt you- He is the grand master of horror. How horrible that must feel for him. All those millions of dollars from telling horrible tales. May my stories be as horrible LOL)
The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone
Fictionalized story of the life of Michelangelo (Un-put-down-able)
Black Sun Rising - CS Freidman
Time has caught up with me. I just noticed how many of those books are sci-fi, fantasy or horror.
- Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind.
I first got introduced to this book by my brother Kirk. I would normally not read any book with a sword wielding man on a dragon on the cover. I thought it would be trashy - boy was I wrong. I have hungrily searched down every other book in the (sword of truth series) because of how good this book was. I'm now going to buy the last one - number 13. I'm not obsessed, not really... not quite... ok dammit, leave me alone - a brilliant writer is this Terry Goodkind who can weave a tale that permeates your mind and just sits there like a mist at the top of a cold mountain - I could go on, but there are other books...
The Chrysallids by John Wyndham
Beautiful science fiction literature - about a young boy who discovers how different he is because of psychic abilities. The book is a great commentary on intolerance and bigotry --- a rose by any other name is still a rose... Even when the bigotry is about special abilities in a distant future land somewhere else, intolerance is still intolerance. (for those of you who got it - sorry for spelling it out like this)
Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
A vampire tells his story to a young reporter about how he became a vampire. I first saw this book when I was a student at Wolmer's Boys School. I went into the library and was just browsing around (now what kind of young man goes browsing around in a library - ok, kinda nerdy, I know). So anyways, I open this book and was captivated, but then the bell rang. I kept the book in my mind and bought it years later.
First Man in Rome - Colleen McCullough
Brilliant historical novel about the Roman empire
By the way, Read anything she writes...
I love another of her books, a moving, sentimental story of a yound mentally challenged man --- the book is called Tim.- Again I say: Read anything she writes.
Will just do a general listing of other favourites now:
Harry potter series - JK Rowling... (good reading fun)
It - Stephen King (this man Stephen King knows how to get into your mind and pull out your own demons to haunt you- He is the grand master of horror. How horrible that must feel for him. All those millions of dollars from telling horrible tales. May my stories be as horrible LOL)
The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone
Fictionalized story of the life of Michelangelo (Un-put-down-able)
Black Sun Rising - CS Freidman
Time has caught up with me. I just noticed how many of those books are sci-fi, fantasy or horror.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Writers Welcome
So you wanna be a writer huh?
welcome to the club.
I mean the club of writers not wanna be writers.
James Allen said:
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
so if you think you are then keep chugging along like that train 'I think I can' and that's exactly what you will be - a writer... but hey, don't just think it. Put pen to paper or finger to typewriter/keyboard nuh! - Write something, no matter what. I tell my writer friends all the time... write a little each day if you have to, it adds up. But thers' no kind of writer who doesn't write. There's a cure for that kind of thinking... called a straight jacket. If you are a writer WRITE. Have I said that enough?
Well, with that said, let me add a few words from a great writer Mark Twain:
welcome to the club.
I mean the club of writers not wanna be writers.
James Allen said:
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
so if you think you are then keep chugging along like that train 'I think I can' and that's exactly what you will be - a writer... but hey, don't just think it. Put pen to paper or finger to typewriter/keyboard nuh! - Write something, no matter what. I tell my writer friends all the time... write a little each day if you have to, it adds up. But thers' no kind of writer who doesn't write. There's a cure for that kind of thinking... called a straight jacket. If you are a writer WRITE. Have I said that enough?
Well, with that said, let me add a few words from a great writer Mark Twain:
"Write without pay until
somebody offers you pay.
If nobody offers within three
years the candidate may look
upon the circumstance with
the most implicit confidence
as the sign that sawing wood is
what he was intended for.
Mark Twain.
Ok, maybe I don't really believe that, but is a sweet quote no? Well-written.
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