Morocco and Poetry

The story takes place in the bright Morrocan sun. One see’s, beautiful brightly colored houses of stone or white washed cement. These crude structures often painted yellow, light blue, or pink, embellished with simple hand painted designs & surrounded by scrubby dwarf fig trees, are sure signs that one has entered the Western Desert.

The land is dry their. The flora & wild flowers disappear during the hot summer months. The soil is hot and arid. An occasional camel might come

strolling by. Camels are one of Earth’s most amazing creatures when they are seen in there original habitat. Down further a bit, one might see a small herd of

sheep or goats as they nibble on clumps of grass along the side of the dirt road. Along side the road herding the animals you might see an old man wearing a white turban & gondorra crouching along side the road waiting patiently for his animal friends. An old woman might bounce along on her donkey, with a large hand woven basket resting on the animals back end. Occasionally, a women walks by with her face covered in a black head cloth that doubles as a veil. She might walk by with a large bundle on her head, an infant on her back sitting quietly, & a couple of children running along her side. The Arabic language fits the situation perfectly: This is the environment of the Bedouin people.

The Bedouin use poetry to express their secret thoughts. "Poetry is the

discourse of intimacy. Sharing poems, like exposing ones' natural weaknesses, marks the absence of hashan between individuals". The expression of sentiments in their poetry gives meaning to their everyday lives. This is a very romantic kind of courtship.

Poetry between men & women is a cultural practice. It is a very thin line

when dealing with romance, courting & true intimacy. The Bedouin cultures' romance lies in the sharing of poetry. Poetry is a

fragile area that is associated with weakness, vulnerability & intimacy. It seems to me a very romantic way of courting. I find this romance to be very exotic. I mean, we all dream of romantic, old ways of courtship. This is it!

I come from a Lebanese family whom I love & respect very much. We have

much honor in our blood lines & this stems from our Middle Eastern heritage. There are so many similarities between my culture & the Bedouin. For example, we watch out for who we let into the family. If someone in my family wants to get married they better make sure that the rest of the family likes the partner. If not, it will bring troubles. It is a respect thing! Every one in my family cares about what their relatives think: Everyone's opinion is valued. If it is part of the traditional ways of living: i.e., money, a good spouse, & family – then watch out! "One Bedouin man told me there were three common causes of insanity all having to do with loss; when someone dear dies, when you are rich & suddenly lose everything, when you cannot have the one you love. These are the very things people sing about, which suggest that poetry..." is to be taken very seriously.

"The Bedouins describe households by the phrase "We eat from one bowl."

Personally, I know very well what they mean; on my travels in Northern Africa I

experienced this kind of bonding. I was in the middle of Morocco with a group of Arabic men dining one evening. It was late & I was in the middle of the Western Sahara Desert in a small place in the middle of nowhere & we ate from one bowl. It was a memorable experience. There I was sitting cross legged along a small table. With a communal pot in front of us all. We all ate together. This is something at that time I had never done before. At the time I was worried about germs and was raised differently about eating from another’s plate. However, their I went with the flow and ate communally for the first time. The experience will be everlasting.

I think the Middle East is a place of high family codes of honor etc.,

"Bedouins still cling to both the ideology of honor & poetry as symbols of their noble past. It remains to be seen for how long." Although, there has been plenty of

change. The traditional ways are kept somewhat: For example, the nomadic lifestyle had to change, when modernization happened. In the past a mans' tent would not include women. The women would have their own tent. It was the way things have always been (traditionally) in their male dominated society. However, now women are just in another room in the house. In conclusion, there has been many changes in Bedouin society from the days of old. However, even with the changes of modernity, there are still many parts where things have not changed for several thousand years. You can pretend you are in the days of Christ. In most of North Africa still, today, there is no such thing as toilet paper. It is hard to imaging. But it is true. I was shocked to look at the hole in the ground and the bowel of water next to it to clean my self. This is the desert. This is the way it was for millenia. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see where these Arabic societies are heading in the future.

-Joshua Finley

Quotes from "Vieled Sentiments" by Abu - Lughod

Aurora Borealis

The story really starts with the sun. The Sun boils off a stream of electric particles into space. Some of these particles are trapped by the Earth's magnetic field, and then guided to the polar regions, where they collide with the atmosphere, and thats what generates the aurora.

The Earths magnetic field stores magnetic particles for hours, or even days, and suddenly, and we don't yet know what triggers it: these particles explode into the atmosphere. Which produces the brillant "Northern Lights".

For the early Europeans this strange luminance, fortold wars or the death of kings. Really it is a picture of the Earth's magnetic field. A hundred miles high, and a thousand miles wide. That is the science of it!

Just think of being in Norway and sitting under the stars, with the tree line all the way in every direction, but up in the nights sky, millions of stars that make the night completly black, and all of the sudden, out of no where, you look up! Boom! The Earth's magnetic field. The beautiful flow of the "Northern lights" One would be in awe. To witness our mother protecting herself, living, to see her fragility, her mercy, too feel her strength and divine power, this is something to be grateful for all ones life.

The Origin of the Black Hole

Science, psychedelics & time/space combined is the topic of my thoughts this evening. I can not sleep until I write my ideas down on paper and get them out of my head. I am trying to wrap my head around the concept of a black hole which I think might be correct. My hypothesis of the above consists of the biosphere in orbit around the sun at 18.5 miles a second. The galactic center is filled with Mass. Everything rotates around this center. Gravity collects a galactic spiral of matter. This is our solar system. There are millions of others out their in the Cosmos.

Our Sun is a small star. Each star we see in the sky is a sun which attracts - creates a gravitational pull around itself to create a galactic spiral of matter. Pretend the Sun was still & sitting on a rubber sheet of thin paper of time/space. As the Heavy Sun rested on the sheet it would sink in the rubber. The planets that rotated around the star would also sink following the heavy Sun; however they would not be as heavy; which means they would not sink in as much. They would all still rotate. Creating a curve in space/time. Each planet & its moons which are carried along by the gravitational pull will sink into the pretend rubber time/space (I hope you have a vivid image in your heads.

The heavier the star the more it sinks into time/space; In turn bending time/space. This is the start of the black hole. As it sinks into the time/space it combusts upon itself creating an infinite nothingness. This is where science stops & the questions remain. This is the infinite. The keys are in the black hole. Consciousness remains here & its origins are here. Energy so intense that as you enter into the Hole you would turn into a long narrow spaghetti like form of bent/ curving light that is combusted so tightly that this is how we travel through space: A black hole is a port hole into other dimensions of space that would normally take millions of light years to travel. This may last millions of years and allows cosmic energy loop holes in travelling distance. However, eventually the hole becomes too narrow and too dense and finally the hole would become so dense and so heavy it would disintegrate matter it self - creating a galactic implosion. This is a big bang!

THE BIRTH of the EARTH

4.6 billion years ago, the Earth was formed. Volcanoes' made rain: The ocean began. The Earth was like a giant steam bath. Over 300*. Meteorites showered the Earth, bringing essential minerals to Earth. Then one day a giant meteor hit the Earth making debris; the debris got caught in our galactic swirl and could not leave: This was the birth of the moon!

It shook the Earth to the core. The moon stood closer to the Earth allowing huge waves to go crazy. Everything was so turbulent that molecules began: Thus the double helix began. Land came out of the sea from plate tectonics. Baron landscapes that were full of sulfur. A toxic soup that would destroy animals & plants today.

The human DNA carries all the genetic chains to make life. The orgin of life had to begin with basic molecules. As they floated on the ocean they made their way to the beaches. Like tide pools. The light, shallow pools allowed heat. Chemicals began to form. The most impressive of all: DNA. The oceans have amino acids and the DNA replicated themselves. What these were still remains a mystery!

Hydrogen sulfite from the Earths core. Bacteria that feed on it was the first complex lifeforms. These were from the oceans deep.

Oxygen was a poisonous gas.

A half a billion years ago began to collide making huge towering peaks. Making the Himalayas. This produced wind, rain that make oxygen. However 2 billion years later the atmosphere began to cool. These environmental changes stimulated life.

There are siano bacteria (blue green algae). This can reproduce without sex cells, allowing it to reproduce. Allowing them to absorb photosynthesis. This was the beginning.

Oxygen produce waste. The cell nucleus was born! All animals including humans share the same cell structure. The mitochondria help the cell breathe. live bacteria live inside amoebas. The cell is the foundation of all life; our life depends on it. The mitochondria produces energy.

It took 21/2 million years for something to go beyond basic life. Life in the seas was very diverse. Creatures very strange looking. Now millions of animals live; because of the single cell. This is life; it happens regardless: We do not control it: it is us; we are it! This is the Earth! The complexity of it all is just mind boggling. I tried to make it short and sweet and simple too! Then their is our human bodies. Their are more cells in one human body that their are galaxies in the Milky Way! We are such complex animals which we think that we are simple but we are not. Our own bodies are as complex to understand as the Earth we come from. We are mini Universes!