Crescent

Away we go, my boat and I
Whether among the winds we strive,
Or deep into the jungle we dive,
Each is contented with the another.

Away we go - and what care we
For treasons, tumults, and for wars?
We are as calm in our delight
As the crescent-moon so bright
Among the scattered stars.

Up she'll rise, among the stars,
Through many a breathless field of light.
The Crab, the Scorpion, the spatula,
Leaving ten thousand stars beneath her.

The Pleiads, that appear to kiss
Each other in the vast abyss,
Like waters in commotion,
Resound as the earths soft murmuring.

These nether precincts do not lack
Charms of their own; then come with me
I want a comrade, and for you
Theres nothing I would not do;
Nought is there that you shall not see.

Haste! Above shifting snowdrift,
We'll sport amid the boreal morning;
We'll mingle with her lustres gliding
Among the stars, the stars now hiding,
And now the stars adorning.

I know the secrets of a land
Where human foot did never stray;
Fair is that land of evening skies,
And cool, though in the depth it lies
In burning sun and frequent suprise.

Or, if you thirst with hardy zeal
Less quiet regions to explore,
Prompt voyage shall to you reveal
How earth and heaven are taught to feel.

Temptation lurks among your words;
But, while these pleasures you're pursuing
Without impediment or let,
No wonder if you quite forget
What on the earth is doing.


R.Melrose, after William Wordsworth, "Prologue".

William Wordsworth "Exposition and Reply"

'The eye - it cannot choose but see;
We cannot bid the ear be still,
Our bodies feel, wher'er they be,
Against or with our will.'

Assertiveness

I can be ruthless and cold and calculating - but not manipulative in a bad sense. Most people accurately descirbe me as a really kind, honest and loving person (which I am). I am by no means a sociopath (far from it).
However, my sister acknowledges that at the same time as being a highly emotionally intellligent being, I am able to logically identify when things are not sutiable and make decisions and take methodical steps to rectify the situation onto a path that is more suitable. This can sometimes seem cold or ruthless but really it is assertive behviour that comes from respecting myself deeply. I don't think long vague explanations are that useful without examples. Examples of the above are when I have been controlled by a partner and have had to remove myself from that situation despite their threatening behaviour, or when i have a friend who holds me back or actually hampers my progress in life or simply my freedown to be who I need to be at any one time; so I extricate myself from that friendship (usually by reducing contact slowly). For relationships its much easier to extricate oneself than with friendships; as friendships demand much less compatibility.

Friedrich Nietzsche

"And then it also happened! (Zarathustra's) teaching glorified selfishness - the sound healthy selfishness that issues from a mighty soul - from a mighty soul, to which pertains the exalted body, the beautiful, victorious, refreshing body, around which everything becomes a mirror.

The supple persuasive body, the dancer whose image and epitome is the self rejoicing soul. The self rejoicing of such bodies and souls calls itself 'Virtue'.

Such self rejoicing protects itself with its doctrines of good and bad as with sacred groves; with the names it gives its happiness it banishes from itself all that is contemptible.
It banishes from itself all that is cowardly; it says: Bad - that is to say, cowardly! He who is always worrying, sighing, complaining, and who gleans even the smallest advantage, seems contemptible to it.
It also despises all woeful wisdom: for truly, there is also a wisdom that blossoms in darkness, a night-shade wisdom, which is always sighing: 'All is vain!'
Timid mistrustfulness seems base to it, as do all who desire oaths instead of looks and hands; and all-too-mistrustful wisdom, for such is the nature of cowardly souls.

It regards as baser yet, him who is quick to please, who, doglike, lies upon his back, the humble man; and there is also a wisdom that is humble and dog-like and pious and quick to please.
Entirely hateful and loathsome to it is he who will never defend himself, who swallows down poisonous spittle and evil looks, the too patient man who puts up with everything, is content with everything: for that is the nature of slaves.
Whether one be servile before gods and divine kicks, or before men and the silly opinions of men: it spits at slaves of all kinds, this glorious selfishness!

Bad: that is what it calls all that is broken down and night-gardly-servile, unclear, blinking eyes, oppressed hearts, and that false, yielding type of man who kisses with broad, cowardly lips.
And sham wisdom: that is what it calls all wit that slaves and old men and weary men affect; and especially the whole bad, raving, over-clever priest-foolishness!
And to ill-use selfishness – precisely that has been virtue and called virtue. And ‘selfless’ – that is what, with good reason, all these world-weary cowards and cross-spiders wished to be!
But now the day, the transformation, the sword of judge-ment, the great noontide comes to them all: then many things shall be revealed!
And he who declares the Ego healthy and holy and selfishness glorious – truly, he, a prophet, declares too what he knows: ‘Behold, it comes, it is near, the great noontide!’

Thus spoke Zarathustra.

"

Friedrich Nietzsche "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" p208-9.

Selfishness confers upon the individual a survival advantage.

I believe "selfishness" is a misused word. To clarify, selfishness in my view is a virtue and is the natural unrestrained state of mind of homo sapiens.

Atlas Shrugged quote

I see the ideal man as strong, proud, clean, wise, fearless and guiltless. I see man as a heroic being. I think that self-exaltation comes from the consciousness of being guiltless, of seeking the truth and achieving it, of living up to one's highest possibility, of knowing no shame and having no cause for shame. I respect every person who had ever dared to stand alone, proud and independent.

I don’t believe in religion. I think that a place built as a setting for people is a sacred place. Throughout time, 'worship' has meant the emotional experience of loyalty and dedication to something higher than man – such as various figures of “God”. But I have always thought otherwise. I believe that people should strive to achieve and worship our own perfection, not kneel and pray to a perfection that we cannot touch or see. Why not worship that ideal man instead of God?

I can accept anything, except what seems to be the easiest for most people: the half way, the almost, the just about, the in between.

Ayn Rand, 'Atlas Shrugged.'

Myall Lakes

Along the shore of a button grass fringed Lagoon, two black swans moved slowly, and from their curving breasts spread a double ripple that died with a whisper against the land. Above them a clouded sun shed a pale glory in which they seemed like slender ships floating through a dream. Presently the stroke of the wide, webbed feet quickened as, from far ahead, came a cluster of four quick moving vessels carving through the chop, their paddles welding the water for their propulsion.

The swans whipping wings were only just clearing the black surface of the water, till, with a sudden splashing and flapping of the hitherto unbroken expanse, they came to rest a safe distance away.Hours before, the boats arrived from the South and the adventurers embarked with the image of a glistening white sandy beach in their sights. Weary with buffeting the winds, their faces salt streaked, th eir clothes sprayed and sopping, their muscles lean and stiff, the explorers found rest, food, wine and content on the shore of the Lake. They even asked each other "How’s the serenity?"

In pairs they had spent the last two days, but now congregated, there was a sense of warmth, safety, and fire encircling them. Everyone felt especially safe, due to the precautionary measures of the heroic leader Megan.

Back onto the cradling expanse of water, the boats and their paddlers were in their element.For a time they paddled strong, for a time they floated, listening to the sounds of birds and winds in the 300yr old melaleucas. The air was full of nameless murmurs that breathed delicately from swamp and forest.

Then the wind came, unrelenting and opressive, forcing the vessels and their occupants to shoot their sleek bodies head on, testing its force and receiving in their tingling ears whispers of the boat ramp round each bend. There, in the little bay near Violet Hill, the travellers stood on two feet again.

R.T.Melrose, Sucanoe Myall Lakes Trip, Feb 2006