Travels with my Mind - part 1

Travels with my Mind (or 'Please, show a little kindness') - February 2020.

I have already, many years ago, started to write about the travels of my body, mind and soul, each travelling to different domains and to different destinations at the same time and mostly all three unconnected in space and time, but each leading or lagging the other in meaning, insight and substance. Although it was not out of body experiences, they might as well have been, being so unconnected in subject and context.
The first one being 'Rome is burning' when I visited Italy in 2012 and found it in modern day ashes and organized chaos, so to speak, after the world economic crises of 2008. It was a parody on the history of Nero who is said to have played a fiddle whilst Rome was burning during his persecution of the Christians in 69 AD. In fact, this impression and extraction is so powerful in our lives even today as we use Nero software to burn CD's.

Democracy will always fail

Democracy will always fail - and so will dictatorships and socialism.
February 2020.

 

To set the stage, I first need to quote a few men of note:

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. Johan Adams (1814).

Democracy stands between two tyrannies: the one which it has overthrown and the one into which it will develop. Paul Eldridge (1965).

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. H.L.Mencken (1949).

To Virashni - a birthday poem

To Virashni - by P.K. Odendaal - January 2020

 

There was a lady fair and kind

Who found it easy to make up her mind

Knowing who and what she wanted to be

In this dark world where she's unfettered and free

The Cause of Chaos

The Cause of Chaos

by P.K. Odendaal
January 2020.

It is all about boundaries, values and direction. Where are we going and do we know what is the space we are operating in?

This is the basics of life - and yet, so few people know these basics or stick to it and oh, how unimportant and inconsequential do we treat or regard these.

The examined life

The examined life – by P.K. Odendaal – December 2019

Oh, please, I wrote my matric exams many years ago and I still shudder when I think of how difficult it was and how I stressed. Fortunately I passed it and its past. More exams for me ever …  no thank you. I have had enough; what with all those sleepless nights.

I understand that fully ... but

What we say defines who and what we are.

What we say defines who and what we are - by P.K. Odendaal - November 2019.

We are the most conceited species still alive, although, considering our desire for self and mutual destruction, we should have been extinct long ago ... but the time is not ripe yet.

If I only had time - a poem

If I only had time - a poem by P.K. Odendaal - Nov 2019.

You may see me now as I rush and row 
which doesn't have much of a final touch
As I arrive too late at some entrance gate
For something quite vague like escaping the plague

An Ode to God - no. 2

An Ode to God – No. 2 – by P.K. Odendaal – October 2019

I stand in awe when endued and by God imbued

Who is so tall and care of things so small
and not as you and I who sometimes lie
and shield our shame while pursuing fame

What a joy - a poem

What a joy - by P.K. Odendaal - September 2019

It is with joy that I jump like a boy

having dodged that bullet before she could pull it

Please do not abuse me when the muse wants to use me
As I yearn to be free while you're gunning for me

The notion of emotion – a poem

The notion of emotion – a poem – by P.K. Odendaal- September 2019

It is well known that philosophers have shown

That we are what we think although there's a kink
Because we think what we are before we are what we think
And care not what we feel until we feel that we care
And none of the above is neither here nor there
And until we find what we do is all that's true
Our hearts do not care a hoot of what our minds can moot