tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:40:24 +0000Return to the beginning. Enter the form. Clean your dojo. As you have every day, tie on the white-belt and empty your cup. Start all over again...http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)Blogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-2657849807690696004Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:10:00 +00002008-06-15T10:30:37.430-04:00On this Sunday, father's day, I'm writing my last blog post. The sudden death of Tim Russert makes me realize how much I'm missing by not being out there. We may vanished from this Earth plane from one second to another and there is still so much I would like to do, so many mountains I would like to climb, so many oceans I would like to dive, so much music i would like to create and last but not http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/06/adeus-and-so-long.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-195856551850436744Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:01:00 +00002008-04-26T08:38:40.103-04:00The Carnation Revolution happened on April 25, 1974 in Lisbon, Portugal and although government officials killed four people before surrendering, the revolutionaries did not use direct violence to achieve their goals. The population holding red carnations convinced the regime soldiers not to resist and the authoritarian dictatorship gave place to a democracy after a two year transitional period http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/04/carnation-revolution_25.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-8768078972051425289Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:23:00 +00002008-04-26T08:42:00.169-04:00africarainlifeMissing someone or missing something can be a real painful event!Like this morning when I woke up with this void inside me, refusing to open my eyes as I searched for the sound and feeling of rain drops in Africa. It is unexplainable the sense of being in the midst of jungle and rain, interrupted often by heavy thunder then silence - total silence! Then quickly come the flying ants and a http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/04/rain-in-africa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-4210536391154394284Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:41:00 +00002008-04-20T11:42:30.408-04:00africalifereligionWatching the Pope's visit to the US on CNN (hard to miss such event) made me think of my days as an altar boy in a little town buried in coffee plantations and green mountains with lots of caves to explore (before they splashed them with war mines in the early eighties).I was born catholic as most Portuguese families before the end of Salazar's dictatorship. There was no exception for the http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/04/my-catholic-youth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-8468640753228253135Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:48:00 +00002008-04-13T08:53:46.040-04:00Well, if the geneticists were in charge of immigration control, it would be an open-door policy."Every one of us has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. The number of ancestors doubles with each generation. So what does this mean? Going back 30 generations (approx. 750 years ago), every person alive today will have over a billion possible ancestors. However, the http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/04/we-are-all-related-thank-god.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-6361829457491807631Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:38:00 +00002008-04-07T21:51:25.558-04:00She arrived suddenlycatching me off guard...and then she vanishedleaving an empty awarenessin my heart!And now I ask, was it worth it?or would I rather not possess the feeling of her being?tony araujo4/2008http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/04/empty-heart.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-2054764371948098837Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:09:00 +00002008-04-06T19:53:04.319-04:00My first impression with Obama was a powerful one! He had just visited Kenya as a U.S. Senator where he was treated like royalty not just by the people of Kenya but by the Government itself. One would say that Barack Obama would play "politics as usual", have a great time and come back home feeling like he had just gone on vacation, but that's not what happened in Kenya.During his speech on the http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2008/02/why-barack-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-7988297193690853285Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:41:00 +00002007-12-27T17:48:50.565-05:00peopleportugal"What actually happened was, in a very short period of time, the early 16th century, the Portuguese landed in Brazil and established a network of trading posts around the Indian Ocean, all the way to Macao. Beyond Macao, they got to Japan by the 1540s. They put together this phenomenal network that was less territorial and more commercial—the only sizable land settlements they had were in Brazil.http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2007/12/portuguese-global-empire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-1064640968039671256Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:23:00 +00002007-12-24T07:29:51.628-05:00Recent fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has led to a surge in child abductions by armed groups, the charity Save the Children says. more...All sides in the conflict use children, Save the Children says!!!! > Ler em Portugêshttp://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2007/12/child-kidnap-surge-in-dr-congo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-1873104026148209068Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:13:00 +00002007-12-22T07:33:36.831-05:00human natureculturebrotherhoodlifepoetryHere is a poem from the Luthern Pastor, Martin Niemöller, who broke with the Nazis in 1933 and became a symbol of the German resistance. He wrote the following at war’s end in 1945:First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2007/12/brotherhood.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-3090777376737151926Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:48:00 +00002007-12-19T07:02:57.400-05:00traditioncultureafricaamericaOn New Year's Eve, many African American religious groups hold prayer and worship services from the late evening until midnight when they worship the new year with praise, thanksgiving, prayer, and confession. These services are called watch night meetings. December 31, 1862, was a very special evening for the African American community, because it was the night before the Emancipation http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2007/12/watch-night.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-1659496965248508696Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:40:00 +00002008-05-01T06:39:33.984-04:00trendamericaThe National Center for Education Statistics reports that two thirds of undergraduate students are carrying loan debt with them upon graduation, on average $19,237. The median debt load is $17,120; a quarter of undergrads borrow more than $25,000, and a tenth borrow more than $35,000. Loans from the for-profit private loan industry have especially increased as share of the total student loan http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2007/12/student-loan-debt-bearing-down-on-us.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-4964544721952121459Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:08:00 +00002007-12-16T11:17:15.418-05:00So it has been a year since my last post! (laughing) I had lost the password and other affairs had pushed me away from here. Today I was able to recoup my password and, what a surprise... it is exactly 1 year since my last post! What a coincidence, I am shocked!! (laughing)http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2007/12/december-16th-2007.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-116631941862848610Sun, 17 Dec 2006 01:29:00 +00002008-04-22T06:11:57.744-04:00motherFor twenty years she was a shepherd in Gerês Mountains, North of Portugal.Being the youngest sister of eleven siblings, it was her task to tend to all the sheep and goats by herself in the mountains, while her brothers and sisters were going to school.The need to read the Bible made her learn how to read and write on her own.Her only set of clothes were worn in reverse during the week so she http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2006/12/20-years-meditating-at-gers-mountains.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-116597890905286724Wed, 13 Dec 2006 03:00:00 +00002006-12-12T22:45:18.833-05:00I don’t know if it happens to you or not, when I ‘m in contemplation, I do so with my eyes open. Somehow closing my eyes does not allow me to be aware of it all and I may fall asleep. Music also leads me into dream patterns and that’s not what I’m looking for when meditating. Actually I am looking for nothing, just pure awareness. The metronome is great if you lock it at 60 cycles per second. In http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2006/12/when-meditating-do-you-keep-your-eyes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-116589046511444151Tue, 12 Dec 2006 02:12:00 +00002006-12-11T21:36:14.596-05:00Through history, there has been women and men who, in the face of great loss, illness, imprisonment, or impending death, accepted the seemingly unacceptable and thus found 'the peace that passeth all understanding."Acceptance of the unacceptable is the greatest source of grace in this world.Ref.:The Flowering of Human Consciousnesshttp://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2006/12/peace-that-passeth-all-understanding.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-116563896510912691Sat, 09 Dec 2006 04:29:00 +00002007-12-16T13:23:16.669-05:00lifein the nowWhen we treat this moment as if it is an obstacle to be overcome, (like when we feel we have a future to get to that is more important than our present moment), we are short-changing our existence. Like Eckhart Tolle says, "a simple but radical spiritual practice is to accept whatever arises in the now - within or without"When we say yes to what it is we become aligned with the power and http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2006/12/this-moment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11957937.post-116563003460709052Sat, 09 Dec 2006 02:06:00 +00002006-12-09T21:26:01.146-05:00You Are the Only Student You HaveYou are the only faithful student you have.All the others leave eventually.Have you been making yourself shallowwith making other eminent?Just remember, when you're in union,you don't have to fearthat you'll be drained.The command comes to speak,and you feel the oceanmoving through you.Then comes, Be silent,as when the rain stops,and the trees in the orchardbegin http://www.mazungue.co.uk/blog/2006/12/student.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wanishi)0