IF YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS TO BE HERE IN THE USA, PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THIS MOST VIOLENT AND MOST DIVIDED DEVELOPED COUNTRY ON EARTH

 I, like millions of people, including those fighting Russians at war in Ukraine, am heartbroken at the wonton carnage that took place at the town of Uvalde, a short distance from the Mexican Border with USA in the State of Texas.

What does the gun dealer think who sold the two assault rifles to an 18 year old who had celebrated his birthday just three days earlier?

How do the extremely right wing politicians who support such an act of terrorism support the act saying: It is the person who killed and not the Gun..

Many civilized countries (by acts like this every week, the week before it was another 18 year old who walked into a supermarket with black shoppers and gunned down 10) have gun ownership but also strict laws and also a culture of respect for the society and others and lives. Switzerland, for example. Texas just banned abortion, saying it is murder of a foetus. But it repeatedly has seen gun violence..Here are some statistics:

Texas Firearm Deaths

• There were more than 4,000 gun-related deaths in Texas in 2020.
• In 2019, 61% of all Texas suicides were by firearm. 
• In 2019, nearly 73% of veteran suicides in Texas were by firearm according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• In 2020, 183 women in Texas were killed by a male intimate partner—67% of those murders were by firearm.
• Women in Texas are 24% more likely to be murdered with a gun than women in other states.
• In 2019, at least 32 Texan children ages 0-17 died in unintentional shootings.

America is a violent country and then you ask why are so many people trying to immigrate here?

Honduras?

Salvador?

Guatemala?

Mexico?

account for the majority of the illegal migration to the USA. I do not have to tell you about the violence in those countries. 

If you have no business here, whether personal or professional, I beg you, do not come here. 

Give it a miss ..

IT IS WITH THE HEART THAT ONE SEES : TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT NURSES THAT I HAVE WORKED WITH AMONG INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

The Elderly Indian Nurse shuffled her small frame into the consulting room of a health clinic of a traditional group of Indians in the middle of nowhere (as the europeans would say)

My name is ....Brown, but you can call me, Dr Brown as I would be the one who will be teaching you.

Thus began my education with the Indigenous people of this continent which they call the turtle Island. Before a patient came into the room, she would give a genealogical and historical account of the person, to place him in my world and give me an entry to the worldview of the patient. 

From there I went on to be educated by the HoCank, UmonHon, Lakota, Kickapoo people and never lost my connection with the Indigenous peoples of this world..I visited the Orang Asli in Malaysian rain forest, Ticuna in the Amazon, Rapa Nui, Tuvalu, Tokelau  people of the Pacific and on and on and on . They all taught me something.

Two american nurses that I worked with for years come to my mind. Colleen P who worked with the Dakota people of South Dakota and the incomparable Michele S who worked with HoCank and Umonhon among many others. Their imprint on my continuing work with the indigenous people is indelible and permanent 

At one of our many meetings Michele S said 

when a patient goes to see a doctor in the western system of curing (whether they were educated in Puerto Rico, Peru or Pennsylvania), they think with the mind and , and come to terms with numbers and medications, forgetting the person who lives in that body 

With the Indigenous people, you take care of them, thinking from the heart and not from the mind 

Lovers of the Little Prince would recognize something similar what St Exupery said  

In English, we say Follow Your Heart 

Heart of the Matter 

But in this money crazed world where people have forgotten human values, they follow the mind and tell each other the price of goods in the supermarket rather than look at the sunsets.

or get up early enough to watch the sunrise .. (photo sent to me by a friend in Brasil).

A close friend of mine who is a devout Buddhist sent me an article this morning she thought I might like.

https://humansandnature.org/out-of-the-head-into-the-heart-the-way-of-the-human-being/

It was by Ilarion Merculieff, an Unangan (aleut) who grew up in Pribilof, Aleutian Islands.

AWARENESS WITHOUT THINKING , he says:

I understood how Unangan people received their spiritual instructions for living, principles that had helped them sustain their communities for thousands of years: reciprocity with all living things, humility, respect for all life, honoring Elder wisdom, giving without expectation of a return to self, thinking of others first, and many more.

Such spiritual principles for living did not come from logic or thought but from a much deeper source of wisdom, which our Unangan culture referred to as the “heart.” When Unangan Elders speak of the “heart,” they do not mean mere feelings, even positive and compassionate ones. “Heart” refers to a deeper portal of profound interconnectedness and awareness that exists between humans and all living things. Centering oneself there results in humble, wise, connected ways of being and acting in the world. Indigenous peoples have cultivated access to this source as part of a deep experience and awareness of the profound interdependency between the natural and human worlds. To access it, you must drop out of the relentless thinking that typically occupies the Western mind.

Our good friend, the philosopher, Renee Descartes, kick started the dormant mind of the westerner at Renaissance with 

I think, therefore I am !

Thinking and not Feeling became prominent. Religion was allotted to the Priests, soul was assigned to the Pineal gland and the MIND was given free reign as the Supreme.

We suffer to this day .. merci Descartes.. and sorry for the millions of Indians and South East Asians and North Asians so eager to copy this shallowness, so so eagerly

It reminded of the Haiku of the American beat poet, Richard Brautigan

Xerox Candy Bar

Ah,
you're just a copy
of all the candy bars
I've ever eaten.

So I pay this homage to Coleen P and Michele S of the windswept Plains. I am glad our paths crossed and I am richer for the contact. Luck continues with my colleagues at the Indigenous Corner of Florida, AO as well as DrS... may they continue to see with the heart..

A new friend entered my life today, welcome Nahid..

and a Nurse of the Yakama tribe, now living in the wild coast of Washington State.

JE VOUDRAIS BIEN. WHERE WILL I BE NEXT WEEK ? WHAT IS THAT ABOUT UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE ? JE VOUDRAIS BIEN

 

IT IS THAT LOVELY TIME OF THE DAY .. SUNSET. PÔR DE SOL PUESTA DE SOL LE COUCHER DE SOLEIL LOVE TO MY FRIENDS ALL OVER THE WORLD

 

In the last one month, I have been in France (Nantes, Quiberon) and in Madrid and then in Cochin and took the longest flight, Singapore to New York (18 hours and 20 minutes). Then I spent a few delightful days in Havana Cuba and now sitting here, very calm and quiet and without any noise except those of the birds, my mind tenderly wanders to all the lovers around the world..

We have to think of LOVE not just in terms of ROMANTIC love but most of the LOVE one has is not romantic and they are strong and helpful and comforting 

All my friends and lovers live far away, in various countries and I have also fallen in love with COUNTRIES   Iran Myanmar Cuba and now in the process of falling in love with France..

So thank you my dear friends ..

le petit poète de la côte sauvage, stole my heart many many yeas ago.. 

those who took my caresses into the oblivion of their veils

thank you for memories 

My closest friend in KL for the thousands of hours spent ...not to forget the good food ..

My closest friends in MIami MGW

All those who wrap me in their love in Cochin India 

My family in Israel and Portland Oregon 

All of you are in my mind as the sun is setting in Miami 

It is not occasionally that you come into my heart. Like the little poet said to me 9 years ago, it is always there .

My numerous indigenous friends 

lucky to be friends with such great people 

Not to mention Cuba and its great people many of whom are very very close to my heart..

and I thought of Paris and its many bridges across the Seine .. Pont Neuf of course .. but there have been many love songs over other bridges .. by great poets..

Elle was the name of the resto in Toorak Road in Melbourne 

For you, the curry house at Reading 

For you, a Vietnamese cafe in Montreal 

Pra vôce

It may sound strange, but I have already the love song for the person I am yet to fall in love with 

Mirabeau bridge

Under the Mirabeau bridge flows the Seine

and our love.

Shall I remember

how joy always followed grief?

 

Come the night, toll the hour,

days go by, still I remain.

 

Holding hands, let's stay face to face

as under the bridge

of our arms flows

the exhausted stream of everlasting stares.

 

Come the night, toll the hour,

days go by, still I remain.

 

Love goes away like this flowing water

Loves goes away

Life is so slow,

and hope so fierce!

 

Come the night, toll the hour,

days go by, still I remain.

 

No matter how many days and weeks go by,

neither does past

nor love come back.

Under the Mirabeau bridge flows the Seine.

 

Come the night, toll the hour,

days go by, still I remain.

https://lyricstranslate.com

IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FACE OF THE NEW AMERICA, GO TO ANY SHOPPING MALL IN AMERICA

I very seldom visit a Shopping Mall, unless I have something specific to buy there. Shopping Mall life has become part of the modern "village" offering a space for people to be themselves and express themselves.

I had to pick up a pair of shoes and I went to Dolphin Mall in Miami, my first ever visit there, despite my long association with Miami.

My anthropological observations:

The energy of the atmosphere was electric . One is confronted with an array of eateries, most of whom are responsible for the Obesity prevalence which has not yet hit the Generation Z immigrants from places as far as Lebanon and as close as Venezuela. 

What sets this mall apart is that it might have been built for the wealthy of the south American continent, as there is a large Money Exchange counter, something you normally do not see in an USA mall ? 

Most of the shoppers were very nattily dressed young women, from the south with various accents to their Spanish, usually being chaperoned or chaperoning an elderly relative, a mother or aunt.  To look at this wave of shoppers who would be seated in their business class seats on Avianca or Latam in a few days time was the highlight of my visit 

In Morocco or in Buenos Aires, when you enter a cafe, you might be greeted by a venerated veteran of the trade. Servicing the table does not rank high in social status in the USA and it is almost always done by transient young people on their way to somewhere else, like a Law School?  

This is a temple to the God of Consumerism (you tend to believe in things you do not know) and the entire world is serving each other, young Colombian women serving well off compatriots who have not migrated but flourishing in the country. 

I reached the shoe store where I had to pick up a package and on entering, a Chinese man, neither warm nor cold, when told I was there to pick a package, went straight to the back and brought my package, I had not told him my name .. here is the racial profiling a sign of intelligence? I have a distinct asian name and the intelligent chinese migrant put two and two together and got the package, in miami, the most common surnames are Gonzalez, Fernandez, Izquierdo etc..

The food court where did they imagine such a name, it was a hungry court in that what was offered as food did not blend well with the well dressed ladies from the austral parts of this continent, who were lining up to the greasy "chinese" restaurant..Everything was generic, basically tasteless food, and with a flavour added .. Japanese Chinese New Orleans and the ever present Cuban outlet which did not look appetizing at all. The place was busy and I am glad that the well coiffed ladies would soon go home escaping this ill effect of capitalism.

I chatted with the people who were manning booths in the walkways inside the mall: selling tchotchkes, like we say or trying to force upon you, the dead sea salt remedies or the electrical massage. The salesmen were all migrants, none of them touching 30 years of age and from the Levant to the Andean altiplanos. I enjoyed looking at them.

The rain clouds were gathering outside. It is interesting that there was not much of a presence of Africa in this mall. Latins are not known for their love of Africa or Africans..

This is Miami 2022, so different I am told from the village of Miami that existed here in the 1960s when migration from Cuba changed the face of this tropical laid back town.

Now it is an energetic, latin influenced (social, fraternal and corrupt among others) town where you are never too far away from the sea ...

Miami does have beautiful blue skies and wonderful clouds ..

INFINITE LOVE FOR CUBA, SENSATION OF GRATITUDE AND AS ALWAYS NOSTALGIA .. IN MIAMI A SENSE OF BEING PART OF MY DESIRES FOR CUBA

vouloir Au sein du coeur Sans honte, sans raison Avec le feu de la passion vouloir Sans regarder en arrière A travers les yeux Toujours et encore plus amour pour lutter contre Contre le vent et la mouche Découvrez la beauté de la mer vouloir Et pour partager Notre soif de vie Le don qui nous donne l'amour C'est la vie vouloir Entre ciel et mer sans gravité Sentiment de liberté vouloir Sans jamais espérer Donnez seulement donner Toujours et encore plus amour pour lutter contre Contre le vent et la mouche Descubir la beauté de la mer vouloir Et pour partager Notre soif de vie Le don qui nous donne l'amour C'est la vie Interlude musical vouloir Entre ciel et mer sans gravité Sentiment de liberté vouloir Sans jamais espérer Donnez seulement donner Toujours et encore plus amour pour lutter contre vent Contr et mouche Descubir la beauté de la mer vouloir Et pour partager Notre soif de vie Le don qui nous donne l'amour C'est la vie vouloir Au sein du coeur Sans honte, sans raison Avec le feu de la passion Et voler ...

To those fans of Cirque du Soleil, this voice would be familiar . Francesca Gagnon..

Powerful voice and the video is an eternal dance of love, the Tango..

I too pretended to do a Tango in the wide streets of Buenos Aires built by Italian who thought they were French and behaved like the British .. it is nice to walk along the streets of Palermo at 3 am ..

Tango is such an elegant dance ..

Historia de un amor

My long love story with the island of Cuba

This time around, I dont miss Cuba that I left just yesterday

like the Little poet of Côte Sauvage said to me

How Can I miss you, when you are in my heart all the time ..

Tu ahora estas hablando Espanol, mi amor..

Mexico

It is the best reason to be in the USA .. so close to USA lamented Porfirio Diaz .. Pobre Mexico

with all its suffering it has given us such great songs and great singers ..

just listen to this song

Nostalgia

Cuba in my heart, Nostalgia for Mexico, especially the city of Merida where I used to stay at the Grand Hotel in the centre of town, not far from the zocalo..

I am so content with La Habana, my friends and my colleagues there ..

But I have saudade por many other cities

so I dedicate this song to Hanoi the best preserved French Colonial architecture and a little coffee shop which has been there for 80 years..

LOVELY TIME OF THE EVENING IN MIAMI BUT MIND IS LIMINAL

 How quickly memories of a recent trip fades into the banality of everyday life even if you are surrounded by beauty. Travel is movement, every day life is stationary.

My mind is not here, it is always planning new trips 

Hanoi

Japan Airlines from New York to Tokyo and then on to Hanoi

I look forward to travelling to the border with China to meet some Indigenous people. 

Perhaps this trip will come true ?

Bangalore 

Air France Miami Paris Bangalore ? how nice if I could stop over in Paris ? Paris is always a welcome change ..

I need to be back in La Habana. It is not that difficult . Even-though it is closer , psychologically it is another world .

But right now, the sun is setting, tropics is like a hammock for lovers said Anais Nin..

It is just so lovely here.

Why dont you come ?

THE TIME FOR MAGIC MUSHROOMS 2000 year old knowledge being scientifically validated

 

It was astonishing for me to learn that in recent years 17.5 million americans were being diagnosed with DEPRESSION each year. and the figures are not that far behind in other industrialized nations as well as in societies struggling to develop themselves along the Western Economic Model.

More and more articles are being published to say that the traditional psychiatric medications for depression do not improve the Quality of Life of patients even though there are definitely some benefits. 

May be it has something to do with their temporal nature of effectiveness ? 

• Article
• Published: 11 April 2022

Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression

• Richard E. Daws, 
• Christopher Timmermann, 
• Bruna Giribaldi, 
• James D. Sexton, 
• Matthew B. Wall, 
• David Erritzoe, 
• Leor Roseman, 
• David Nutt & 
• Robin Carhart-Harris 

Nature Medicine volume 28, pages844–851 (2022)Cite this article

• 72k Accesses

• 1773 Altmetric

• Metricsdetails

Abstract

Psilocybin therapy shows antidepressant potential, but its therapeutic actions are not well understood. We assessed the subacute impact of psilocybin on brain function in two clinical trials of depression. The first was an open-label trial of orally administered psilocybin (10 mg and 25 mg, 7 d apart) in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was recorded at baseline and 1 d after the 25-mg dose. Beck’s depression inventory was the primary outcome measure (MR/J00460X/1). The second trial was a double-blind phase II randomized controlled trial comparing psilocybin therapy with escitalopram. Patients with major depressive disorder received either 2 × 25 mg oral psilocybin, 3 weeks apart, plus 6 weeks of daily placebo (‘psilocybin arm’) or 2 × 1 mg oral psilocybin, 3 weeks apart, plus 6 weeks of daily escitalopram (10–20 mg) (‘escitalopram arm’). fMRI was recorded at baseline and 3 weeks after the second psilocybin dose (NCT03429075). In both trials, the antidepressant response to psilocybin was rapid, sustained and correlated with decreases in fMRI brain network modularity, implying that psilocybin’s antidepressant action may depend on a global increase in brain network integration. Network cartography analyses indicated that 5-HT2A receptor-rich higher-order functional networks became more functionally interconnected and flexible after psilocybin treatment. The antidepressant response to escitalopram was milder and no changes in brain network organization were observed. Consistent efficacy-related brain changes, correlating with robust antidepressant effects across two studies, suggest an antidepressant mechanism for psilocybin therapy: global increases in brain network integration.

Pre Colombian artifacts reveal that Native Americans may have known about this long before this geographic entity became America. 

Certainly the trend is towards prescribing Magic Mushrooms or their ingredients in a tablet form for depression..

Didnt the Hippies demonstrate it in the USA in the 1960s?