Welcome to Pizzaonia! Reflections from a different perspective --- Diverti Mento, John Frank Giovanni, Frank John Franco, Vera V. Veronica and all of the Pizza digogo DiVinci family invite you to join us - We discuss and share ideas that are relevant to our new emerging world. http://giovanniandfranco.com A division of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network
It seems the meditative life is necessary if we are to discover our authentic selves. Sooner or later we must confront the reality of the life we are leading and how it measures up to what we need to be.
Busyness is the antithesis of self discovery. We live each day in frantic activity satisfying our false egos while our real self remains hidden in the shadows, crying out for discovery.
Let’s hope each of us heeds that voice while we still can.
(C)copyright* - Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator - Pizzaonian Space and Aeronautical Administration PSAA
IMAGE: THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS BELIEVED TO BE THE SECOND IMAGE OF A BLACK HOLE EVER RECORDED - from the Mozzarella space probe, Pizzaonian Space and Aeronautical Administration
Today the Pizzaonian Seminar for the Advancement of Real Science published what is believed to be the second image of a black hole ever recorded from space.
Professor Gogi Forbrokei released the second photo today with the statement that the outstanding detail and resolution of the image erases all doubt that this is black hole. Professor Forbrokei is expected to release more information about the continued, amazing success of the Mozzarella space probe later this week
Reported by Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, director
opd 412
THE FIRST PIZZAONIAN SPACE PROBE PHOTOGRAPH OF A BLACK HOLE WAS RECORDED APRIL 2012 - from the Mozzarella space probe, Pizzaonian Space and Aeronautical Administration. The two photographs, then and now, are virtually identical
(C) copyright IMAGE: Pizzaonius addressing novitate monks on the need for small acts of kindness. All images from the Pizzaonian Art Institute collection, Abe Staction,curator
The most difficult part of the era we live in is to accept the fact that events have a life of their own and will play themselves out with little help from us. This may sound pessimistic to most, but this has been the way of events since we began our human journey on this mortal coil.
Human frailty and egos being what they are, we have a need to believe we can make a difference. If this makes life easier for you - continue to believe it, but always be aware this may well be an illusion.
If we have no effect on the big issues, what do we affect? For one, we can make positive changes to ourselves. Working on ourselves and changing for the better is something most of us take for granted. We usually presume in our insulated ego existences that someone else causes our problems. This is our folly when we do so.
The big issues play themselves out. Even the players in the big arena have little effect on outcomes. The redeeming feature in our American system is the system itself. It survives by allowing the powers to be to continue to exist, regardless of their own folly. Eventually, even if by default, this means creating an economy that allows all to live well.
This is not altruistic. Spreading the wealth allows the top to survive. When economic and political events become bad enough the process of renewal begins. It is the cycle of our economic, political and spiritual existence. It works repeatedly and has from the beginning.
What then can you do? For one, weed your own garden. Most of the good in this world is the combined small acts of good that create their own karma. This may not sound like much, but it is all you have.
So when you despair of the larger events of this world, do some small good around you. It does not have to be a big deal. Any small act of kindness will do. Then let go and enjoy the moment. You might be surprised at the result.
With age comes some sentimentality – kept in control - this can be good. Remembering the past and holding it dear can help define the future. The trick is to steer in the direction of the future while still enjoying the present.
You read so much about the importance of “now.” This sounds good, but to not understand the “now” has its grounding in the past and the hope of a future, is to fail to grasp the emotional and philosophical base that each of us uses to live in the "now.”
The past has molded us and defines how we view our lives. For the person born to introspection, the past can be a great comfort. It helps us to understand and relate to our experience. This helps shape how we react in the present. Understanding this is good and offers us some reassurance.
What about our bad experiences of the past? We have all had some, others more than their share. Nonetheless, if we have managed to view our lives as meaningful, these bad experiences helped to make us who we are. It is the grain of sand in the oyster that makes the pearl.
By all means, live in the present. However, never forget how important our awareness of the past and future are in defining how we view the present.
Sometimes we stray to far from the obvious.For decades the average American has had deeply rooted in their psyche that we are a nation of law.Laws, created by our fairly elected officials, and carried out and executed with fairness and justice.
Though it is not discussed with any regularity, we also believe the basis of the law is the Constitution of the United States.A document held abstractly in high esteem for its wisdom and flexibility.But more important, and as fundamental as anything else, is that as a people we have come to believe what it stands for – the foundation of our stability and of our freedom.A belief sustained without explanation or the need for one.
When the Supreme Court makes a decision we accept it.No matter that we might vehemently disagree with the decision, we accept is as law.Armies don’t march; people don’t take to the streets demanding the overthrow of the government.Disagree as we might, the decision is the law and will remain so until we can bring about its peaceful change.
If as a people we lose respect for the law, and we no longer see it as the arbiter of fairness and justice, but come to see it as arbitrary and unfair, the basis of the life’s blood of this Republic is gone.Not to be naïve, we all appreciate that there has always been discrepancies in the law, and yes there also have been injustices in the law.However, as long as there was the underlying belief that the law provided the means to right itself, no matter how long or how difficult that might be, our fundamental belief remained steadfast.
It seems to me the very foundation of this belief is now shaken and as a result the peril to this great nation has never been greater.In the last several years we have seen in this country the basis of the stability of the law ripped asunder by the very elected officials who are sworn to uphold the very law they now shamelessly disregard.Laws are ignored for political purposes and then attempted to make right by making legal what illegally was allowed happen.
It now happens at all levels – from immigration to traffic laws.We constantly read about or witness the law being ignored at every level, with little or no consequences.
Occasionally, we will see someone selected to be an example that no one is above the law.We all know that it is token and meaningless to the very problem it is superficially addressing.Is it too late?Only we the people will decide when we have had enough and rise up and demand allegiance to the principles that shape this emerging and evolving Republic.Only we will decide if it is too late.
Brother Giovanni
Brother Giovanni has portalized to Worldonia and is currently in the United States commenting on the American scene for PNS. July 7, 2010
Defining your reality - For those still seeking their path
As the years go by you realize so much of your life is shaped by accidental events that require you to react to them, the notion of planning and shaping your life into something meaningful can become a non sequitur.
Cynical, pehaps, but if this is true, then what is left? The answer to the question is for a lifetime to reveal.
We hear so much of goals and how important they are to finding success.
Secretly, I sometimes think that much of our stress is grounded in chasing goals for which we have neither the inclination nor the aptitude. Many of us reject our natural aptitudes and the talents we have. We insist on becoming something else. Why? The question has perplexed me for years.
I suspect it starts with the early impressions we are all left with from our childhood. The desire for acceptance teaches most of us early on that the affirmation we need comes from fulfilling the wishes and needs of the prominent adults in our lives.
How your changing needs for affirmation affects who and what you are.
As we grow older the need for affirmation transfers to the adult institutions in our lives: our cultural values, our workplace, our church, our select group of friends - all influenced by the imprint within us that was shaped by the environment of our early years. By this time, the need for survival takes hold and our mental imprints are too grounded to change into what should have been.
Of course, all of this creates the filter by which we judge and view all the feelings and activities we experience in our journey to the end. This filter shapes our particular prejudices and perspectives, both individually and collectively. Primarily, because it is the subtle, but always present static that plays in the background of our thinking process.
Our need for affirmation numbs us into submission and deludes us with its virtuous resignation.
We grow so use to its presence, we ignore its power over us. However, we do so at our own peril.
There is a noted exception to this model. There are a few among us who see correctly and know what they do to survive is essentially meaningless to them other than providing a means to an end. They do not embellish, or try to justify their activities in “service for society” or other grandiose terms. They do what is necessary because it is necessary.
Simply meeting their responsibilities is a worthy goal unto itself.
A means to an end becomes their justification, and stoic acceptance of this fact creates its own type of begrudging affirmation - though not completely free, they may be the freest among us. And that is worth a great deal.
