Wednesday, March 31, 2010

SHAMANIC TRANSFERENCE

by Paul Levy

What we don’t remember and make conscious, we act out, even evoking and dreaming up the seemingly external field around us to collude with us so as to give living shape and form to our inner process. Whatever we repress, deny, or split-off from, we will unconsciously, and compulsively re-enact in the present, as if we are unknowingly trying to complete an incomplete process. We will project outside of ourselves and “transfer” onto others unconscious parts of ourselves, dreaming them up to play certain roles, so as to help us to actually recreate and act out our inner, unconscious process in full-bodied form as an unconscious way of seeking resolution. Paradoxically, these enactments are simultaneously the “problem” as well as our attempt to solve it. Speaking about what happens in the analytic vessel of psychotherapy, Freud writes, “The decisive part of the work is achieved by creating in the patient’s relation to the doctor – in the ‘transference’ – new editions of the old conflicts.” In the transference, the patient is given the opportunity to work through these “new editions of the old conflicts” with the doctor, both parties participating in potentially creating a container to house a corrective emotional experience such that the unresolved psychological energy that was bound up in the compulsion to endlessly re-create the patient’s psychic dis-ease is liberated in the service of creativity and healing. The transference is a channel for the repetition compulsion of the traumatized soul to unwind itself through the vehicle of relationship.

A pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence, Paul Levy is a healer in private practice, assisting others who are also awakening to the dreamlike nature of reality. Paul is also a visionary artist and a spiritually-informed political activist. He is the author of The Madness of George Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective Psychosis, which is available on his website www.awakeninthedream.com. (See the first chapter, The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of our Collective Psychosis). Please feel free to pass this article along to a friend if you feel so inspired. You can contact Paul at paul@awakeninthedream.com; he looks forward to your reflections.

'At War' US Justifies Drone Attacks in Pak as Act of 'Self-Defence'

'Amid growing discontent in Pakistan over the continuous drone attacks in the ungoverned tribal regions near the Afghan-Pak border, the United States has justified the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) operated missile hits against Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists citing the right to "self-defence" under international law.
The drone attacks in Pakistan as well in Somalia have increased considerably under the Obama Administration, which have been severely criticised by human rights groups across the world. Speaking during a conference of the American Society of International Law, State Department's legal advisor Harold Koh argued that the missile hits were justified.
"The United States is in "an armed conflict" with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and its affiliates as a result of the September 11 attacks, and may use force consistent with its inherent right to self-defence under the international law," Koh said without mentioning Pakistan or other countries where the unmanned Predators have struck.'

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Tribes dig in to fight uranium

Subir Bhaumik
BBC correspondent in Meghalaya
For more than a decade, India has been unable to mine high-quality uranium deposits in the north-eastern state of Meghalaya.
Fierce resistance by Khasi tribes people has all but scuttled a $100m project drawn up by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL).
The tribes people fear radiation could damage their health.
One senior UCIL official said: "Every time we turn up at the uranium mines, the tribes people chase us with bows and arrows and swords.
"They call us the agents of death and threaten to kill us if we try to mine uranium."
Our people cannot suffer because India wants our uranium... It is our people first and India comes after that
Paul Lyngdoh, former Khasi student leader
UCIL, the only state-owned company authorised to mine uranium in India, believes that once mining starts in the West Khasi Hills region, there will be huge development, particularly in infrastructure.
"But the local tribes people are adamant and determined to stop us," the official said.
Reserves
In 1984, India's Atomic Minerals Division found huge uranium oxide deposits at Domiosiat and then at Wakhyn, both in the West Khasi Hills, not far from the state's border with Bangladesh.
In 1992, the division completed its investigation and presented a final assessment of the deposit.
That was when the mining operations were supposed to commence - but never quite did.
The division's regional director in Meghalaya, B Huda, told the BBC the Domiosiat deposit was around 9,500 tonnes while that at Wakhyn was about 4,000 tonnes.
"At present levels, Meghalaya accounts for 16% of India's uranium reserves," Mr Huda said.
He says the quality of the uranium ore at Domiosiat and Wakhyn is much better than at India's other uranium mining area - in Jadugoda in the northern state of Jharkhand.
He says the recovery percentage at Jadugoda is 0.02 to 0.06, while the percentage is as high as 0.1 in Domiosiat.
There could even be more uranium in Meghalaya but the Atomic Minerals Division is no longer digging.
"If we cannot mine what we have found, which is a lot of uranium, why should we sink more money to explore?" Mr Huda asked.
Land battles
In Meghalaya, like in many other tribal societies of north-east India, land ownership is communal, not individual, and no villager enjoys property rights on land.
Moreover, the state government does not have the power to acquire land.
That is vested in the autonomous district councils that Delhi has created for the tribes people to protect their land rights, customs and way of life.
UCIL officials say they have been "running from pillar to post" between the Khasi district council and the Meghalaya state government.
Three years ago, the state government said it had in principle given the green light to uranium mining in the Domiosiat-Wakhyn area.
But when UCIL started moving earth-cutting equipment into the area, Khasi district council officials rushed in to protest.
The council says it owns the land and the state government - or the federal authorities - cannot acquire it.
Now the district council has granted permission for UCIL to "conduct exploratory surveys" but not to undertake commercial mining.
"That does not help us. We are where we were," says the UCIL official.
Priorities
Khasi politicians and students who oppose uranium mining have raised environmental concerns not easy to brush away.
Student leader Sounder Cajees says: "Look at Jadugoda. It has been in the press about how the tribes people there have suffered from radiation hazards, how callous UCIL has been in disposing of uranium waste and how it has seeped into the local groundwater system and the crop chain."
The former president of the Khasi Students Union, Paul Lyngdoh, says: "Our people cannot suffer because India wants our uranium for making nuclear bombs and missiles. For us, it is our people first and India comes after that."
However, Khasi nuclear physicist, Mary Jwyra, says the tribal leaders are overreacting.
"If done scientifically, and if all care is taken for proper waste disposal, there will be no threat to the environment or the local people," she says.
At the moment, no politician in Meghalaya is prepared to back a commencement of mining, although some admit that allowing it would be good for the economy.
"Our royalty would be substantial and the growth of infrastructure in the West Khasi Hills would be a boon," said BB Dutta, a former economist turned politician.
But the fear of radiation, and of falling prey to diseases caused by it, still haunts the Khasis.
Until that is taken care of, mining uranium in their hills will not be easy.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Working Class Hero



As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and class less and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

(John Lennon)

Dead Poets Society

Part-3


The End

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall

We are not alone

Do You Hear The People Sing