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| Mercifully brief. Admirably useful. | Jan. 6, 1999Issue Number 12 |
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- William Blake, from "The Marriage of Heaven & Hell."
IN THIS ISSUE
BARK! Welcome, new WisePups. If you are not receiving this e-pistle, you probably entered your email address incorrectly.
Vintage pups, if you think you have missed a few along the trail, note that
sometimes your email is bouncing.
WISE ENTERPRISE:
Get on Your LifeCycle and Ride
We all get about 7 days after January 1 to offer sage advice for living the good life in the coming year. Then, you're outta the game. Here's our pitch.
THE PITCH: So, if you're down, don't give up; when you're flying high, remember to look below. Everything changes, sooner or later. Just get on your lifecycle and ride, like there is no tomorrow. You'll meet your destiny along the way. THE WINDUP BEFORE THE PITCH (if you've got the time) All the above has been offered to you, courtesy ol' time religion - (Ecclesiastics, I Ching, Vedic lore, etc.) and new physics. John Travolta's comeback clinches the argument. Just follow the twitching temporal fates of pint-size phenomena like: AOL, IBM, the stock market, and world leaders. Rises, falls, erections, dejections, demises, resurrections everywhere you look. Watch, with curiosity, the play of Bill Gates during the coming years. Don't forget the warming restoration of Nelson Mandela to a rightful place. Or think big...Bigger than 70-year economic cycles, even. Has there ever been a civilization that didn't come and then go? A continent? Solar systems, galaxies we're told, too. Creation gets bored with the status quo, but it moves with its own lawful, screwbally sense of timing. Itadvances, then kicks back without consulting us first. Imagine that. Seems our job is to persist in our follies until we become wise, and let creation lead the dance.
Lest I wind up like Shakespeare's not-so-wise fool, Polonius, who was
skewered by Hamlet upon his own sagacity, we cease our New Year's
counsel here.
FOOD:
So, You Think You Know Rice
Otherwise fetches are often versatile edibles that work for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks or dessert. They are simple, yet not unimaginative and are easy to prepare. They do not require rare seeds from the steppes of Central Asia. They bring you a good reputation at potluck dinners. Here's an example: OTHERWISE GOLD MEDAL SAFFRON RICE for all occasions.
1-1/2 cups basmati rice DIRECTIONS: Go to the kitchen and then...
1.Soak washed rice in bowl with 2 1/2 cups water - 30 minutes. Get it, - the spices cook first and mingle with the frying/soaked rice. This is the Indian/Ayurvedic way.
6.Stir in reserved water, soaking saffron, raisins, sweetener and salt. Makes 1 serving for a DERANGED GLUTTON or 4 servings for people with some self-control.
The above recipe was taken from "The Book of Curries & Indian Foods",
by Linda Fraser, 1989, which leads us to a fetch :
http://www.wisefools.com/grlinks/grfetches.html
You get simple directions, excellent photos of what you're making, and how
it looks as you're making it. Not too many recipes, not too few, - all
excellent without being laboriously exotic .Good feel and handling to the
books. Makes you want to cook, give as presents, be fed.
CULTURE:
Hildegard: Our Enduring Take
The 11th, 12th, 13th Centuries are finally in...It took awhile. Rumi and Hildegard are literally topping the charts. Who can complain? We've come some distance since "Louie, Louie". But will mass media proliferation dilute the poetic and musical soulpower of these wise elders? Perhaps, but it's in all in how we take them... If you've not been exposed to the work of Hildegard, the remarkable 12th Century mystic, visionary abbess,healer, and composer of ethereal chants,do so...If you are well acquainted, our favored pick, among the many fine musical offerings, remains:
" A Feather on the Breath of God" From the gourmet Hyperion label (you can trust almost any classical or period music from this company). Get it at: http://www.wisefools.com/grlinks/grfetches.html
This recording was released in 1982, and is one of the earliest to
establish the current notoriety of this remarkably influential, yet
relatively under-recognized wise-beyond-measure woman.
TRAVEL
Stay home, make rice. Next time, a fetch.
WISDOM: CRAZY OR OTHERWISE
The End of Argument
Once, long ago...two people who kept arguing finally agreed to stop. They had come to notice that their diverted attention was costing them too many straying camels. But how to stop??? After much quibbling, they came to the realization that all arguing was rooted in desire, so they pledged to be above desire, and that was that... Until one of them mentioned in passing that to desire desirouslessness was a desire, too. This was, indeed, a touchy point. It sparked a debate that re-instated and infused their old habit with new life. And camels began to disappear again. So began the long tradition of philosophy and we've been fiddling about, since.
Moral: One real camel may be worth more than two opinions.
OTHERWISE BRIEFS: Shorts-shorts very short this time.
Keep visiting the OtherWise site, your MarketPlace and your sanctuary for Vital Business, Artful Living & Other NobleStuff.
We are constantly developing resources for you and having fun
roaming and rambling through the bushes in search of good berries.
Inspired to comment or suggest? Please place your genius here (remember, mercifully brief, - we need our nap time too): By the way, don't take it too personally if we don't respond to you personally...
We ARE interested, and you may find your comments and
recommendations immortalized in future issues, or even at the
OtherWise web site.
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