The Mysterious Self ~ Steve Tanham

One of the most wonderful elements of being Human is the sense of self; yet there is great confusion as to what the ‘self’ really is… even whether it exists at all.

Something harvests the experiences of each day yet declares itself separate from them. This accumulation is deemed to be a living entity – the ‘me’ – resplendent with a memory of having lived it, rather than the actuality of what was lived, and containing a trace of the story of that day, which, over time, is consolidated into ‘like’ experiences.

Language cements this relationship with experience. In western languages, we have the basic construct of ‘I do this’: subject, verb and object. Some older languages – often associated with highly spiritual societies – do not have this structure. Sanskrit, for example, the ancient language of India, would say “This is being done”.

Continue reading at The Silent Eye

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THE SECRET

First in this week…

Iain Kelly's avatarIain Kelly

Father ranted on, waving the newspaper around in disbelief. ‘More rights?! Why should they get more rights? Who says they deserve ’em? I tell you, this country will fall to pieces soon enough if this happens.’

His violent bluster afforded me the opportunity to swiftly and discreetly scoop a lamb chop off my plate and into the napkin on my lap. I folded it up and placed it in the pocket of my dress, praying that no juice from the meat would seep through.

Mother let father continue until all the steam had evaporated. I finished my plate and asked to be excused. There would be calm until the evening news came on the radio in half an hour and his temper would fray once more.

I went outside and ran through the garden to the small hut at the end of the lane, surrounded by overgrown grass and wild…

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The Giant’s Song

“…Will you forge the straight track for us, old friend?” Merlin asked the giant. Ogmios’ eyes gleamed in the starlight.

“Come, it is long since we walked such a path together. Stay close and have your children gather their courage.” The giant walked to the centre of the plateau, caressing the earth and chanting softly. Merlin gathered the Champions and himself took up the rear, rekindling the golden orb which danced above his head. Slowly the ground melted away beneath the giant’s hands, leaving a depression in the ground. Ogmios smiled at the company, and never breaking his chant, stepped into the hole, sinking into the rock as if it was quicksand.

“Follow the song, don’t be afraid to breathe. I am behind you and you are perfectly safe.” Hand in hand Alec and Rhea stepped into the ground. Reality had been redefined so often over the past few days that they did not question Merlin’s instructions. Jamie would have followed, but Anna hung back, horrified. The young man caught her hand and led her forward.

“Come on, I know this seems hard, but trust Merlin.” Anna closed her eyes and stepped into the hollow. She felt herself sinking, down and down into some amorphous substance that was not the earth she knew. Terror welled inside. There was no solidity beneath her feet, no air, nothing but the weight of earth closing above her and the pressure of Jamie’s hand. She dare not breathe. Seconds passed like hours as she fought back the screams. Her chest felt that it would explode. She had been buried alive.

“Breathe, Anna, you’ll be okay. I don’t know why or how, but it’s okay.” Jamie’s voice brought her back and she instinctively gulped in a lungful of sweet air. “Now, open your eyes and look. It’s amazing!”

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Thursday photo prompt: Secret #writephoto

Welcome to this week’s #writephoto prompt!

You can find all last week’s entries in the weekly round-up, which was published earlier today.

Throughout the week, I will feature as many of the responses here on the Daily Echo as time and space allows, usually in the order in which they are submitted.

All posts will be featured in the weekly round-up on Thursday 18th June, linking back to the original posts of contributors.

Use the image below as inspiration to create a post on your own blog… poetry, prose, humour… light or dark, whatever you choose, as long as it is fairly family-friendly.

Submit your link by noon (GMT) Wednesday 17th June.

Link back to this post with a pingback (Hugh has an excellent tutorial here) and/or leave a link in the comments below, to be included in the round-up.

Use the #writephoto hashtag in your title so your posts can be found.

There is no word limit and no style requirements, except that your post must take inspiration from the image and/or the prompt word given in the title of this post.

Feel free to use #writephoto logo or include the prompt photo in your post if you wish, or you may replace it with one of your own to illustrate your work.

By participating in the #writephoto challenge, please be aware that your post may be featured as a reblog on this blog and I will link to your post for the round-up each week.

Regular contributors are also welcome to come over as my guest and introduce themselves (click here for details).

Please note: As I do not share my political opinions on this blog, please do not use the challenge as a platform from which to share yours. Party political or racially offensive posts will not be reblogged.

This week’s prompt ~ Secret

For visually challenged writers, the image shows an old wooden door framed by ancient stone, with an ornate key inserted in a rusted, heart-shaped lock.

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Photo prompt round-up: Veiled #writephoto

Nature draws the veil

Defining realities

Limiting vision

Only when the time is right

Will illumination come

*

The photo for this week’s prompt was taken at the Hurlers Stone Circle, looking up towards the Cheesewring. On this particular visit, the mist was so thick…more so than it appears from the photo…  that we felt it was not the time to visit the stones on Bodmin Moor. Later, we would be luckier and welcomed by sunshine. While the stacked stone smay be a natural formation, they stand within a prehistoric enclosure, giving credence to our theory that our ancestors saw the life in the land, adopting natural features as part of their reverence for its spirit.

*

Thank you to everyone who took part, visited or reblogged the posts or left comments for their authors.

A new prompt will be published later today. As always, I will reblog as many contributions as space and time allows as they come in… and all of them will be featured in the round-up next Thursday.

All the posts are listed below, so please click on the links below to read them and leave a comment for the author!

Pingbacks do not always come through… if you have written a post for this challenge and it does not appear in the round-up, please leave a link to your post in the comments and I will add it to the list.

An invitation to writephoto writers…

As there are usually too many contributions to reblog all of them every week, and so that we can get to know their writers, I would like to invite all writephoto writers to come and introduce themselves on the blog as my guest! Click here for details.

Come and join in!

Thank you to all Contributors!

Nima Mohan at The Tenth Zodiac

The Indishe

Shweta Suresh at My Random Ramblings

Khwabo ka Sapna ~ and a second poem here

Janette Bendle at What She Wrote Next

Christine Bolton at Poetry for Healing

Kerfe Roig at K- Lines that Aim to Be

Lady Lee Manila

Teresa Smeigh at Tessa can do it

Geoff Le Pard at TanGental

Neel Anil Panicker

Radhika’s Reflections

Annette Kalandros at Hearing The Mermaids Sing

michnavs

S. S. at Getting Lost

Tina Stewart Brakebill

earth sky air

Honoré Dupuis at Of Glass and Paper

Anita from Anita Dawes and Jaye Marie

Carol Anne at Therapy Bits

Na’ama Yehuda

Jules at Jules Pens Some Gems

Dave Madden at MMA Storytime

Cheryl at The Bag Lady

Joe M at Does Writing Excuse Watching?

Aseem Rastogi at Transition of Thoughts

Balroop Singh at Emotional Shadows

Willow Willers at willowdot21

Reena Saxena

Dr. Crystal Grimes at Mystical Strings

Kim Blades

Brian F. Kirkham at The Inkwell

and a second, light-hearted take from Brian

Ritu Bhathal at But I Smile Anyway

Keith Hillman at Keith’s Ramblings

Iain Kelly

Alethea Kehas at The Light Behind the Story

A.A. Azariah at Wallie’s Wentletrap

Deepa at Sync with Deep

Goff James at Art, Photography and Poetry

Di at pensitivity101

Kitty’s Verses

Sadje at Keep it Alive

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Breathe

I dream

Wild things playing

Fleet clouds chasing heat haze

Wildflower meadows clothed in light

Wonder

 

At peace

Unconcerned by life’s mysteries

Free as a butterfly

Soul feather-light

Just breathe

Mirror Cinquain for Colleen’s poetry challenge

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Secrets revealed ~ Tina Stewart Brakebill #writephoto

revealing secrets

etched by times past and present

the veil has fallen

Reblogged from Tina Stewart Brakebill

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Aglow #midnighthaiku

Spirit of beauty

Natural perfection glows

Gift of inner light

*

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A Teacher’s Story – #1 ~ Jennie Fitzkee

Reblogged from A Teacher’s Reflections:

When I was a new teacher I stumbled across this wonderful story.  I still have my well-worn hard copy, which I read from time to time.  It never gets old, it fills me up. I’ve read that it may not be completely true, but that doesn’t matter.  The point is, you never know when you may touch the life of someone else.  If you don’t know this story, you are in for a treat.  Stay till the end.  We all need a positive, feel-good story.

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth.  Like most teachers, she looked at her students said that she loved them all the same.  However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath.  In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.  It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big fat “F” at the top of his papers.

Continue reading at A Teacher’s Reflections

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Thru Hike ~ earth sky air #writephoto

I open my eyes. Still tired. Notice the dew on the tent, the sun just beginning to work. Muscles aching, I wriggle out of my sleeping bag.

I rub my sore feet before lacing up my dirty Altras. What, after all, am I wearing that isn’t dirty? I laugh to myself.

Down some chow, a protein bar will suffice for now. A swig of water. Break camp. Get everything in the pack, hoist it on my tired back.

Time to hit the trail. I grab my poles.

Continue reading at earth sky air

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