Ross and His Vision of Things... and Other Things to Come...

Ross gets infatuated with simple things... 
He quite often fell in love with his dreams... and as an impeccant child got carried away with extremes... sometimes...
His immaculate vision was at times taken as naivete... and selfish people, unscrupulous individuals exploited him as gullible... abused his embrace and his friendship... because they could and Ross was not judgmental... He respected Archbishop Romero... He loved the Bishop from the Les Miserable...
Actually he was the Bishop... in his modest chapel...
A year before his retirement he got infatuated with Shiatsu... He said, "So far I used my head to teach and do the math... Once I retire I want to use my hands to cure and make people happy...
I did not object... I had understood long before that once he had decided on a course of action... It was absolutely pointless to object... 
So I kept my thoughts to myself and Ross studied biology and physiology and the rest... preparing his hands to do the magic... 
But the hands never replaced his mouth... He still laughed aloud and talked to strangers on the street... 
But once he retired Shiatsu possessed him... 

***

  

Some liken Shiatsu to acupressure massage. It originated in feudal Japan and is a blend of anma (massage) and traditional Chinese medicine.

Anma – anma was a type of massage practised by the blind in feudal Japan. Because of their heightened sense of touch it made them particularly intuitive with their hands and subsequently good at healing physical ailments.

The only difference between shiatsu and acupuncture is that an acupuncturist uses needles and we use our hands.

To balance and to restore with Zen Shiatsu

Eastern philosophy is based on the premise that all life occurs within the circle of nature – a single unified system with polar and complementary aspects known as Yin and Yang. These energetic elements reside in the “nature” of the human body, as well, and when they are in balance, life is harmonious and flourishes. When their balance is upset by “blockages”, disharmony occurs in the form of various discomforts like muscular pain, digestive upsets, poor sleep, emotional upheaval, stress and so on. These life-giving energetic elements in the body are known as Qi, and the concept of Qi is absolutely at the heart of Oriental medicine. Qi maintains and nourishes our physical bodies as well as our minds. When our bodies are healthy, we say our Qi is balanced and flowing freely. In Shiatsu, therapists are trained to feel the Qi with their hands, to find imbalanced areas in the body, appropriately stimulate the imbalanced Qi meridians, and bring the flow of Qi back into balance.

***

And...also, 

Diogenes Moments... and Beyond

 In 1972...and she had guts...                                                         

 "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."  

Shirley Chisolm said;                                "I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black," after all, "Men are men."

So said Shirley Chisolm, who is by no          means is a household name in the US.          A desire to break boundaries was what        drove this pioneer for her generation to        make a run for the presidency in 1972,          seeking the Democratic nomination a            mere three years    after she became a          congresswoman.  "Men are men," she          said while running for the President of          the U.S. of A.... She definitely had guts to    stand up against "double Jeopardy"...          She was both black and woman and in          the U.S.

...And still "Men are men..."

In 2013,  Sanjida left home to study, and she fell in love. But her partner was another woman, and same-sex marriage is not accepted in Bangladesh.                           The couple ran away from their conservative provincial town, the father of Sanjida's partner went to the police and asked them to bring his daughter home. Now Sanjida is accused of abduction. "If my country ever legalises same-sex marriage, I'll be the first one to come forward," she says.

Ross was not judgmental... They are allowed he would have insisted... Jesus was not interested in fault finding... 
 "Judge not, that ye be not judged...," He insisted... 

  

And on another occasion He admonished; 
" So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her..."


Note:

Both quotations are from the King James version of the Bible... that Ross gifted to me one morning out of the blue... There was no occasion and he said; "I could not wait for Christmas... I know you studied literature and math without numbers... So here is the King James version..." Ross knew that it was a required reading for literature... He knew that I had a copy of it... He wanted me to have this one too... 
I have that, The Rossian King on my desk... and I read whenever I am bored of "alone-ness"... It reminds me of good things and Ross too...
***
One day Ross came to my classroom and had an icon in his hand... It was his... He had taken it down from the wall of his office in the chapel... He presented it to me... 
He wanted us to attend a play on Friday... and he was attempting to cajole me... into it... and also invited me to lunch at the caretakers... as he knew I will love to... If students and teachers and time allowed...
I have the Bible on my desk... I have the icon on my wall besides my desk... 
Both encourage me to write and do the math without numbers... and hence exists... 

Ross and I attended the Les Miserables... It was expensive... This days all beautiful things are expensive... They say Wall Street jumps after everything and anything that can be bought and sold for a profit... The musical brought memories back from so many years before... when I read the book ... The Bishop reminded me of Ross...

The door opened. A singular and violent group made its appearance on the threshold. Three men were holding a fourth man by the collar. The three men were gendarmes; the other was Jean Valjean. A brigadier of gendarmes, who seemed to be in command of the group, was standing near the door. He entered and advanced to the Bishop, making a military salute. "Monseigneur--" said he. At this word, Jean Valjean, who was dejected and seemed overwhelmed, raised his head with an air of stupefaction. "Monseigneur!" he murmured. "So he is not the cure?" "Silence!" said the gendarme. "He is Monseigneur the Bishop." In the meantime, Monseigneur Bienvenu had advanced as quickly as his great age permitted. "Ah! here you are!" he exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean. "I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?" Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide, and stared at the venerable Bishop with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of. "Monseigneur," said the brigadier of gendarmes, "so what this man said is true, then? We came across him. He was walking like a man who is running away. We stopped him to look into the matter. He had this silver--" "And he told you," interposed the Bishop with a smile, "that it had been given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had passed the night? I see how the matter stands. And you have brought him back here? It is a mistake."

...And to say goodbye for the day... Enjoy the beauty... and the colour and delve into the imagination of the artist... 
It the weekend, after all...

 

This is actually a cloud that was captured earlier this week by photographer and weather blogger Rogerio Pacheco on the Portuguese island of Madeira. He dubbed the cloud as "the hand of God".