The way that can be spoken of
Is not the constant way;
The name that can be named
Is not the constant name
The nameless was at the beginning of heaven and earth;
The named was the mother of myriad creatures.
Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its secrets;
But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations.
These two are the same
But diverge in the name as they issue forth.
Being the same they are called mysteries,
Mystery upon mystery -
The gateway of the manifold secrets. – Tao-Te Ching
Greetings to you all, January all but over, some of us who are in a place where they would rather not be but sort of have to are in a rush to see this year end so they can ‘carry on with the rest of their lives’ I know exactly how that feels cos I couldn’t wait to get out of articles. In my humble words of advice to u guys would be, this year will pass, like the last and the next, the key though would be to live it, and learn as much as you can from it. And there is so much you can learn in 365 days! Put a positive spin on it. What can I experience, whose life can I affect positively, what can I do this day that I have been given to make a positive change the lives of those around me or to my own…
Anyway sermon over, another couple of additions, Munier and Nyameko, guys welcome, should there be any comments or suggestions please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or alternatively u could email me directly. If at any stage u wish to be removed kindly drop me a line and ur wish shall be my command.
I think at the end of last year sometime I mentioned that I have been kinda fascinated with the whole teaching of Buddha etc. and was reading a book by the Dalai Lama. Another religion/belief or spiritual teaching that I found pretty fascinating was Taoism, I was thinking about it the other day, then what happened was I was chatting with my brother Nana and he mentioned if I had heard about it, I said, yip, was thinking about it the other day, but wasn’t too sure what it was about…enter this weeks email. Why is there so much conflict in the world today, well mainly cos we don’t understand each other, or don’t want to step beyond or comfort zones called me and my little world. Step out, get to know what makes people tick, accept and understand their differences as they should yours and what a wonderful world this would be. Hey I am Pisces apparently I am a dreamer so indulge me. I know I cant change the world, but I can change my world!
So Taoism, sheesh there is so much on it on the net. Apparently it’s practiced by 20 million people, mostly in Taiwan/China. ‘It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no dark without light, no love without hate, no male without female, no me without u (ok I added that)’ [internet website]
Taoism was started by Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE) who lived around the same time as Confucius who said…He was pretty tired of all the conflict and wars in the world that he wrote a book called Tao-te-Ching. His teachings are a combination of psychology and philosophy but in 440 CE it along with Buddhism and Confucianism became the state religions of China. For many years post 1911 when the Ch’ing dynasty ended the warlords and the prevailing government set about destroying what had taken many years to develop. Many monks were reduced to slave laborers, many of the temples were destroyed, artifacts destroyed…but that’s the history, now onto some of the beliefs, concepts and practices…as I interpreted them in some instances ;-). Taoism is the foundation of many practices enjoyed by many of us such as acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts
Tao, what some of consider God, is believed to be the alpha and the omega of the universe, it is what came first…it’s a force that flows through all life. I guess my comparison with God may be somewhat incorrect as Taoists don’t believe that Tao can be personified either as an image or a particular thing. Tao is broadly defined as the “mysterious natural order of the universe”. Tao is symbolized by the Yin and yang (yin-yang) symbol. Which looks like the picture below:
I found the definition of yin-yang very deep. Yin is associated with darkness, femininity, passivity, water, being (life)…and Yang is associated with light, masculinity, activity, air and non-being (death). Basically what it states is that all elements like or opposites do not exist without each other. But even opposites aren’t always absolute opposites, they are relative, for example there is no love with out hate etc. Yin and Yang cannot exist without the other, once again no darkness without light, death without life.
Each Yin and Yang can be further divided into a Yin and Yang, basically there are degrees within the degrees, an example they use is temperature being hot or cold, but then the hot being warm or burning and the cold being cool or icy. Yin and Yang are generally in balance but when an imbalance occurs, there is either an excess of either or a deficiency of either. Yin can turn into Yang, which makes sense, night…day, warm…cold, a further ripper is that Yin and Yang can coexist, cos just like its warm here in SA its freezing up North. What the dots in the Yin and Yang symbolize is the fact that there is always one in the other, a Yin is not always a Yin and vice versa.
In the opening paragraph I mentioned a couple of practices, acupuncture, meditation etc. Taoists believe in Chi. Chi translated to mean air or breath. It refers to the energy flow or life force. Taoists believe that all of life’s balance is determined or controlled by the quality, quantity and balance of Chi. Chi is the giver of life, its quality and movement determines the quality of your life and health. Its all about regulating the flow of Chi, this is done by regulating your breathing, hence the practices such as Yoga, Tai Chi, acupuncture, meditation…Breathing allows chi to flow through out the body, giving life and encouraging good health, energy etc. Chi even manifests itself in placement and arrangement of space, something that has become commercially known. The concept of Feng Shui, I think I wrote about it a few weeks/months ago. Chi along with Yin and Yang as well as the 5 elements (water, fire, wood, metal and earth)
Something that I found interesting to read was Taoists view about death and the afterlife. Their take is so simple. Life and death are a reality, death is a transposition from a state of being to non-being. All we can do is accept life and death as complimentary aspects of Tao. Don’t fear nor desire death. And that’s it!
Taoism is all about compassion, moderation and humility. They believe time is cyclical not linear (hence belief in the afterlife). It teaches us to plan in advance and consider things carefully before acting. It teaches us to be kind to others because it more than likely will be reciprocated, when a higher level of Taoism is reached, we tend to act without accepting reciprocation. It teaches all living things not to strive, struggle or oppose. It teaches the practice of ‘wu-wei’ (non-action) which implies doing things in such a way that it goes unnoticed. “perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark”
I could write forever but I am tired and hopefully u r not yet bored, this is interesting stuff I think. It makes sense in my mind.
Nice seeing you guys in Cape Town last weekend. FTV was a ripper, so too was going to the office on Friday.
Birthdays
28th Gareth and Belinda
29th Lyndal
31st Refiloe R
My quote for the year thus far is:
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell
That’s me for this week. Maximum respect!
Y
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
The way that can be spoken of
Is not the constant way;
The name that can be named
Is not the constant name
The nameless was at the beginning of heaven and earth;
The named was the mother of myriad creatures.
Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its secrets;
But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations.
These two are the same
But diverge in the name as they issue forth.
Being the same they are called mysteries,
Mystery upon mystery -
The gateway of the manifold secrets. – Tao-Te Ching
Greetings to you all, January all but over, some of us who are in a place where they would rather not be but sort of have to are in a rush to see this year end so they can ‘carry on with the rest of their lives’ I know exactly how that feels cos I couldn’t wait to get out of articles. In my humble words of advice to u guys would be, this year will pass, like the last and the next, the key though would be to live it, and learn as much as you can from it. And there is so much you can learn in 365 days! Put a positive spin on it. What can I experience, whose life can I affect positively, what can I do this day that I have been given to make a positive change the lives of those around me or to my own…
Anyway sermon over, another couple of additions, Munier and Nyameko, guys welcome, should there be any comments or suggestions please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or alternatively u could email me directly. If at any stage u wish to be removed kindly drop me a line and ur wish shall be my command.
I think at the end of last year sometime I mentioned that I have been kinda fascinated with the whole teaching of Buddha etc. and was reading a book by the Dalai Lama. Another religion/belief or spiritual teaching that I found pretty fascinating was Taoism, I was thinking about it the other day, then what happened was I was chatting with my brother Nana and he mentioned if I had heard about it, I said, yip, was thinking about it the other day, but wasn’t too sure what it was about…enter this weeks email. Why is there so much conflict in the world today, well mainly cos we don’t understand each other, or don’t want to step beyond or comfort zones called me and my little world. Step out, get to know what makes people tick, accept and understand their differences as they should yours and what a wonderful world this would be. Hey I am Pisces apparently I am a dreamer so indulge me. I know I cant change the world, but I can change my world!
So Taoism, sheesh there is so much on it on the net. Apparently it’s practiced by 20 million people, mostly in Taiwan/China. ‘It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no dark without light, no love without hate, no male without female, no me without u (ok I added that)’ [internet website]
Taoism was started by Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE) who lived around the same time as Confucius who said…He was pretty tired of all the conflict and wars in the world that he wrote a book called Tao-te-Ching. His teachings are a combination of psychology and philosophy but in 440 CE it along with Buddhism and Confucianism became the state religions of China. For many years post 1911 when the Ch’ing dynasty ended the warlords and the prevailing government set about destroying what had taken many years to develop. Many monks were reduced to slave laborers, many of the temples were destroyed, artifacts destroyed…but that’s the history, now onto some of the beliefs, concepts and practices…as I interpreted them in some instances ;-). Taoism is the foundation of many practices enjoyed by many of us such as acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts
Tao, what some of consider God, is believed to be the alpha and the omega of the universe, it is what came first…it’s a force that flows through all life. I guess my comparison with God may be somewhat incorrect as Taoists don’t believe that Tao can be personified either as an image or a particular thing. Tao is broadly defined as the “mysterious natural order of the universe”. Tao is symbolized by the Yin and yang (yin-yang) symbol. Which looks like the picture below:
I found the definition of yin-yang very deep. Yin is associated with darkness, femininity, passivity, water, being (life)…and Yang is associated with light, masculinity, activity, air and non-being (death). Basically what it states is that all elements like or opposites do not exist without each other. But even opposites aren’t always absolute opposites, they are relative, for example there is no love with out hate etc. Yin and Yang cannot exist without the other, once again no darkness without light, death without life.
Each Yin and Yang can be further divided into a Yin and Yang, basically there are degrees within the degrees, an example they use is temperature being hot or cold, but then the hot being warm or burning and the cold being cool or icy. Yin and Yang are generally in balance but when an imbalance occurs, there is either an excess of either or a deficiency of either. Yin can turn into Yang, which makes sense, night…day, warm…cold, a further ripper is that Yin and Yang can coexist, cos just like its warm here in SA its freezing up North. What the dots in the Yin and Yang symbolize is the fact that there is always one in the other, a Yin is not always a Yin and vice versa.
In the opening paragraph I mentioned a couple of practices, acupuncture, meditation etc. Taoists believe in Chi. Chi translated to mean air or breath. It refers to the energy flow or life force. Taoists believe that all of life’s balance is determined or controlled by the quality, quantity and balance of Chi. Chi is the giver of life, its quality and movement determines the quality of your life and health. Its all about regulating the flow of Chi, this is done by regulating your breathing, hence the practices such as Yoga, Tai Chi, acupuncture, meditation…Breathing allows chi to flow through out the body, giving life and encouraging good health, energy etc. Chi even manifests itself in placement and arrangement of space, something that has become commercially known. The concept of Feng Shui, I think I wrote about it a few weeks/months ago. Chi along with Yin and Yang as well as the 5 elements (water, fire, wood, metal and earth)
Something that I found interesting to read was Taoists view about death and the afterlife. Their take is so simple. Life and death are a reality, death is a transposition from a state of being to non-being. All we can do is accept life and death as complimentary aspects of Tao. Don’t fear nor desire death. And that’s it!
Taoism is all about compassion, moderation and humility. They believe time is cyclical not linear (hence belief in the afterlife). It teaches us to plan in advance and consider things carefully before acting. It teaches us to be kind to others because it more than likely will be reciprocated, when a higher level of Taoism is reached, we tend to act without accepting reciprocation. It teaches all living things not to strive, struggle or oppose. It teaches the practice of ‘wu-wei’ (non-action) which implies doing things in such a way that it goes unnoticed. “perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark”
I could write forever but I am tired and hopefully u r not yet bored, this is interesting stuff I think. It makes sense in my mind.
Nice seeing you guys in Cape Town last weekend. FTV was a ripper, so too was going to the office on Friday.
Birthdays
28th Gareth and Belinda
29th Lyndal
31st Refiloe R
My quote for the year thus far is:
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell
That’s me for this week. Maximum respect!
Y
Is not the constant way;
The name that can be named
Is not the constant name
The nameless was at the beginning of heaven and earth;
The named was the mother of myriad creatures.
Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its secrets;
But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations.
These two are the same
But diverge in the name as they issue forth.
Being the same they are called mysteries,
Mystery upon mystery -
The gateway of the manifold secrets. – Tao-Te Ching
Greetings to you all, January all but over, some of us who are in a place where they would rather not be but sort of have to are in a rush to see this year end so they can ‘carry on with the rest of their lives’ I know exactly how that feels cos I couldn’t wait to get out of articles. In my humble words of advice to u guys would be, this year will pass, like the last and the next, the key though would be to live it, and learn as much as you can from it. And there is so much you can learn in 365 days! Put a positive spin on it. What can I experience, whose life can I affect positively, what can I do this day that I have been given to make a positive change the lives of those around me or to my own…
Anyway sermon over, another couple of additions, Munier and Nyameko, guys welcome, should there be any comments or suggestions please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or alternatively u could email me directly. If at any stage u wish to be removed kindly drop me a line and ur wish shall be my command.
I think at the end of last year sometime I mentioned that I have been kinda fascinated with the whole teaching of Buddha etc. and was reading a book by the Dalai Lama. Another religion/belief or spiritual teaching that I found pretty fascinating was Taoism, I was thinking about it the other day, then what happened was I was chatting with my brother Nana and he mentioned if I had heard about it, I said, yip, was thinking about it the other day, but wasn’t too sure what it was about…enter this weeks email. Why is there so much conflict in the world today, well mainly cos we don’t understand each other, or don’t want to step beyond or comfort zones called me and my little world. Step out, get to know what makes people tick, accept and understand their differences as they should yours and what a wonderful world this would be. Hey I am Pisces apparently I am a dreamer so indulge me. I know I cant change the world, but I can change my world!
So Taoism, sheesh there is so much on it on the net. Apparently it’s practiced by 20 million people, mostly in Taiwan/China. ‘It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no dark without light, no love without hate, no male without female, no me without u (ok I added that)’ [internet website]
Taoism was started by Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE) who lived around the same time as Confucius who said…He was pretty tired of all the conflict and wars in the world that he wrote a book called Tao-te-Ching. His teachings are a combination of psychology and philosophy but in 440 CE it along with Buddhism and Confucianism became the state religions of China. For many years post 1911 when the Ch’ing dynasty ended the warlords and the prevailing government set about destroying what had taken many years to develop. Many monks were reduced to slave laborers, many of the temples were destroyed, artifacts destroyed…but that’s the history, now onto some of the beliefs, concepts and practices…as I interpreted them in some instances ;-). Taoism is the foundation of many practices enjoyed by many of us such as acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts
Tao, what some of consider God, is believed to be the alpha and the omega of the universe, it is what came first…it’s a force that flows through all life. I guess my comparison with God may be somewhat incorrect as Taoists don’t believe that Tao can be personified either as an image or a particular thing. Tao is broadly defined as the “mysterious natural order of the universe”. Tao is symbolized by the Yin and yang (yin-yang) symbol. Which looks like the picture below:
I found the definition of yin-yang very deep. Yin is associated with darkness, femininity, passivity, water, being (life)…and Yang is associated with light, masculinity, activity, air and non-being (death). Basically what it states is that all elements like or opposites do not exist without each other. But even opposites aren’t always absolute opposites, they are relative, for example there is no love with out hate etc. Yin and Yang cannot exist without the other, once again no darkness without light, death without life.
Each Yin and Yang can be further divided into a Yin and Yang, basically there are degrees within the degrees, an example they use is temperature being hot or cold, but then the hot being warm or burning and the cold being cool or icy. Yin and Yang are generally in balance but when an imbalance occurs, there is either an excess of either or a deficiency of either. Yin can turn into Yang, which makes sense, night…day, warm…cold, a further ripper is that Yin and Yang can coexist, cos just like its warm here in SA its freezing up North. What the dots in the Yin and Yang symbolize is the fact that there is always one in the other, a Yin is not always a Yin and vice versa.
In the opening paragraph I mentioned a couple of practices, acupuncture, meditation etc. Taoists believe in Chi. Chi translated to mean air or breath. It refers to the energy flow or life force. Taoists believe that all of life’s balance is determined or controlled by the quality, quantity and balance of Chi. Chi is the giver of life, its quality and movement determines the quality of your life and health. Its all about regulating the flow of Chi, this is done by regulating your breathing, hence the practices such as Yoga, Tai Chi, acupuncture, meditation…Breathing allows chi to flow through out the body, giving life and encouraging good health, energy etc. Chi even manifests itself in placement and arrangement of space, something that has become commercially known. The concept of Feng Shui, I think I wrote about it a few weeks/months ago. Chi along with Yin and Yang as well as the 5 elements (water, fire, wood, metal and earth)
Something that I found interesting to read was Taoists view about death and the afterlife. Their take is so simple. Life and death are a reality, death is a transposition from a state of being to non-being. All we can do is accept life and death as complimentary aspects of Tao. Don’t fear nor desire death. And that’s it!
Taoism is all about compassion, moderation and humility. They believe time is cyclical not linear (hence belief in the afterlife). It teaches us to plan in advance and consider things carefully before acting. It teaches us to be kind to others because it more than likely will be reciprocated, when a higher level of Taoism is reached, we tend to act without accepting reciprocation. It teaches all living things not to strive, struggle or oppose. It teaches the practice of ‘wu-wei’ (non-action) which implies doing things in such a way that it goes unnoticed. “perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark”
I could write forever but I am tired and hopefully u r not yet bored, this is interesting stuff I think. It makes sense in my mind.
Nice seeing you guys in Cape Town last weekend. FTV was a ripper, so too was going to the office on Friday.
Birthdays
28th Gareth and Belinda
29th Lyndal
31st Refiloe R
My quote for the year thus far is:
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell
That’s me for this week. Maximum respect!
Y
Monday, January 22, 2007
Top of the morning to you all…
Mailing is growing, before you know it, Google will be paying me millions for my list, new addition to the list Miss Teri, welcome to our world. For any comments or suggestions please visit www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. Alternatively if this bores you please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and I will oblige.
How apt, as I was typing this weeks email the song playing in the background was “Whats Beef” by Notorious BIG, and all I can say is how apt!! Because I had plenty of beef this weekend!! Definitely got my welcome back to Jozi party this weekend! So its Friday nite, I have time to kill before I head off to make 2 trips to the airport (luckily it ended up being just one, could well have been none to be honest). So I am killing time in Sandton, I was with some mates in News Café in Fredman Drive. But my stomach wasn’t agreeing with me, so decided to call it a nite and head off home. Hobbling off home (hobbling cos I have finally accepted the fact that I am not as young as I once was and have decided to call it a life when it comes to touch rugby, this last injury I guess is the straw that broke the camels back). So hobbling off to my car, I saw a mate of mine, Mandeya, parked on the side of the road. So I hop towards him to say whatsup. On my way to him I see cops hovering, because there are no real criminals left in Joburg. In my head I thought to myself these a ss holes are going to give me k a k, but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I call out to my bra, he acknowledges, these cops pull up behind him and this f rig in halfwit motherf*** po*s… shouts at me “HEY” now I haven’t done anything wrong, and my name is not HEY so I pay him no attention, walking in itself is a mission now I must stop and entertain stupidity, so I hobble a few metres. Then he shouts again “HEY cant u hear us, stop we want to search you” then I blow my fuse, I don’t recall using any swear words, likely but I doubt I did, “I retorted, boss what have I done, search me for what? Do u have a warrant to search me” oh Lord, then this idiot went off, I am swearing at an officer, resisting arrest, no where in this process had that fool even asked me for my id, which I had in my hand waiting for him. U know these cops always roll in 2’s there is a sane one and a forkin nincompoop! So anyway they search me and find nothing. At this point my tummy is not feeling too hot on the one hand then have a fool to deal with. Anyway somewhere in between the commotion, another mate Thabo Hermanus pitched up.
The guy was such a fool that he was rambling on about illiteracy, using it all out of context, it was pretty funny cos at one stage he and his small self was trying to manhandle me gave him a look and he stepped back and grabbed his gun and started rambling on about in this country he is the law and this is not my country where the people are lawless and I must have respect for the police. I tried to ask the fool what I was being arrested for and he says he is going to take me to the station to teach me a lesson blah blah.
Anyway they put me in the back of the van, so not a pleasant place to be. No windows, no ventilation, a man was hyperventilating, I tried to knock on the van for them to open no such luck, tried calling Mandeya and Thabo, neither were answering their fones. Problem…Stomach poked, knee poked, cant breathe, maybe spending the weekend in jail cos I am a foreign black in SA, its tight G! Anyway I still had my fone, who to call?? Aha, Isabel Goodman, an Advocate who was in the area. Called her, as luck would have it and ofcourse how the creator would like it, she was literally 10m away. I said to her like a girl, “Help please, I cant breathe, please ask them to just open the door while they are talking”. Anyway Mandeya and Thabo asked her to step aside whilst they tried to rationalize with this f u cking co ck sucker! Anyway to cut a long story short, after a few minutes they let me out the back. I had to appologise what for still beats me, but hey it was either that or spend the weekend in jail and miss out on what ended up being a pretty ripper weekend.
3 things came out of this weekend, thank goodness I know so many good people, Thabo, Mandeya and Isabel (who even had Imodium for me) if you guys weren’t there I would have been someones bia tch for the weekend, we cant have that.
Second thing Xenophobia is still so friggin rife in this place its insane. Not once was I stopped in Cape Town, not once! But alas…Anyway I built a bridge and got over it (the experience that is) but what I cant understand is why such idiots are allowed to live for one and secondly someone has thought it wise to give this man a gun??!!
Third thing, cops can do anything and get away with it. What can one do, afterall the chief of police has a dark cloud hanging over his head?
It aint easy!!
More pleasant things. Off to Cape Town from Wednesday till Friday then out of town for Saturday and back to Jozi on Sunday. Would be very cool to catch up with if not all most of you that can make the time.
Other than that all is peachy. This weeks birthdays.
21st Chris ‘De Coning’ and Roy
24th Karabo K
25th Anna
27th Ingo
Maximum respect to the masses. Aluta Continua
Y
Mailing is growing, before you know it, Google will be paying me millions for my list, new addition to the list Miss Teri, welcome to our world. For any comments or suggestions please visit www.mondaymail.blogspot.com. Alternatively if this bores you please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and I will oblige.
How apt, as I was typing this weeks email the song playing in the background was “Whats Beef” by Notorious BIG, and all I can say is how apt!! Because I had plenty of beef this weekend!! Definitely got my welcome back to Jozi party this weekend! So its Friday nite, I have time to kill before I head off to make 2 trips to the airport (luckily it ended up being just one, could well have been none to be honest). So I am killing time in Sandton, I was with some mates in News Café in Fredman Drive. But my stomach wasn’t agreeing with me, so decided to call it a nite and head off home. Hobbling off home (hobbling cos I have finally accepted the fact that I am not as young as I once was and have decided to call it a life when it comes to touch rugby, this last injury I guess is the straw that broke the camels back). So hobbling off to my car, I saw a mate of mine, Mandeya, parked on the side of the road. So I hop towards him to say whatsup. On my way to him I see cops hovering, because there are no real criminals left in Joburg. In my head I thought to myself these a ss holes are going to give me k a k, but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I call out to my bra, he acknowledges, these cops pull up behind him and this f rig in halfwit motherf*** po*s… shouts at me “HEY” now I haven’t done anything wrong, and my name is not HEY so I pay him no attention, walking in itself is a mission now I must stop and entertain stupidity, so I hobble a few metres. Then he shouts again “HEY cant u hear us, stop we want to search you” then I blow my fuse, I don’t recall using any swear words, likely but I doubt I did, “I retorted, boss what have I done, search me for what? Do u have a warrant to search me” oh Lord, then this idiot went off, I am swearing at an officer, resisting arrest, no where in this process had that fool even asked me for my id, which I had in my hand waiting for him. U know these cops always roll in 2’s there is a sane one and a forkin nincompoop! So anyway they search me and find nothing. At this point my tummy is not feeling too hot on the one hand then have a fool to deal with. Anyway somewhere in between the commotion, another mate Thabo Hermanus pitched up.
The guy was such a fool that he was rambling on about illiteracy, using it all out of context, it was pretty funny cos at one stage he and his small self was trying to manhandle me gave him a look and he stepped back and grabbed his gun and started rambling on about in this country he is the law and this is not my country where the people are lawless and I must have respect for the police. I tried to ask the fool what I was being arrested for and he says he is going to take me to the station to teach me a lesson blah blah.
Anyway they put me in the back of the van, so not a pleasant place to be. No windows, no ventilation, a man was hyperventilating, I tried to knock on the van for them to open no such luck, tried calling Mandeya and Thabo, neither were answering their fones. Problem…Stomach poked, knee poked, cant breathe, maybe spending the weekend in jail cos I am a foreign black in SA, its tight G! Anyway I still had my fone, who to call?? Aha, Isabel Goodman, an Advocate who was in the area. Called her, as luck would have it and ofcourse how the creator would like it, she was literally 10m away. I said to her like a girl, “Help please, I cant breathe, please ask them to just open the door while they are talking”. Anyway Mandeya and Thabo asked her to step aside whilst they tried to rationalize with this f u cking co ck sucker! Anyway to cut a long story short, after a few minutes they let me out the back. I had to appologise what for still beats me, but hey it was either that or spend the weekend in jail and miss out on what ended up being a pretty ripper weekend.
3 things came out of this weekend, thank goodness I know so many good people, Thabo, Mandeya and Isabel (who even had Imodium for me) if you guys weren’t there I would have been someones bia tch for the weekend, we cant have that.
Second thing Xenophobia is still so friggin rife in this place its insane. Not once was I stopped in Cape Town, not once! But alas…Anyway I built a bridge and got over it (the experience that is) but what I cant understand is why such idiots are allowed to live for one and secondly someone has thought it wise to give this man a gun??!!
Third thing, cops can do anything and get away with it. What can one do, afterall the chief of police has a dark cloud hanging over his head?
It aint easy!!
More pleasant things. Off to Cape Town from Wednesday till Friday then out of town for Saturday and back to Jozi on Sunday. Would be very cool to catch up with if not all most of you that can make the time.
Other than that all is peachy. This weeks birthdays.
21st Chris ‘De Coning’ and Roy
24th Karabo K
25th Anna
27th Ingo
Maximum respect to the masses. Aluta Continua
Y
Thursday, January 18, 2007
So much for Monday, but I guess u guys are getting used to it. Loving the feedback I am getting from you guys, its nice to know that some people do read this and it gives them a tickle from time to time. Got a great response to last weeks email, but it was in relation to the email I sent about freemasonary, but in a South African context. It really sparked curiosity in me. Before I carry on a couple of additions Loretta and Lynn, welcome to our world for some of the older ones or any comments please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com should you also have any suggestions on what to write about or how to make this a better place ;-) please do holler.
Here is the comment that was left on the website…
A couple of months back you had something on Freemasonry and it not being an exclusively Caucasian thing. I was having a discussion with some peeps a while back which led me to formulate some of my own conspiracy theories on this organisation and the illuminate in S.A. Is there some kind of Freemasonry organization or order that exists within/amongst South African Black politics and/or business leaders? If so, how far back does the lineage go and is it a family lineage or a lineage based on political association. It might even be based on ethnic lineages. I mean how often has one heard people pass comments like; "Forget political prominence if you're not Xhosa", or "If you want to stand a chance in big business make sure you have a Shangaan partner in the mix."As much as these could just be construed as passing derogatory statements, I still believe in the age old saying that 'Where there's smoke there's fire'. This could all come from somewhere, or nowhere.A political lineage of this kind would have to go as far back as 1912 and the formation of the African National Congress or even further to the birth of colonisation on these shores. I would even dare to say that if it does exist there might have been/or still be some kind of arrangement or agreement between the Black structures at the top of the food chain and the then oppressive white structures. I strongly believe that 'Two devils in one space can never survive, which is why Good will always be in cohoots with at least one Bad to advance what it believes to be the greater Good.' The Yin and Yang. Eg. The Democrats and Bush; Bush and Osama; T-boz (Thabo Mbeki) and JZ (Whether you on the left or the right). One can not lead the masses to do 'good' if they can't use the 'evil' as a yard-stick form which to measure it and illustrate and re-affirm it point.Symbiosis!!!If you or anyone could enlighten me with some knowledge on this matter it would be highly appreciated and I'm sure not just by me, but all the readers of the Monday column. [Funny how it no longer seems come out on Mondays, but it's all good] – Dini
Very interesting, here is my take on this. In terms of the politics side, the ANC was set up mainly by Xhosas (even though a lot of the activism took place in the Vaal area) if I am not mistaken and in the age of tribalism and community etc. its more than likely that the powers that be would prefer to keep it in the family. Kinda like how Jewish people and Muslims do it. Even in some of our large corporates, if you went to Michaelhouse, Hilton, St Andrews, Bishops etc. you have a sure foot in the door (or if you went to Umtata High) it is what it is, and guys/gals please correct me if I am wrong.
I would definitely enjoy to hear what your take on this is, because it is an interesting conspiracy theory (and I will try and find out more myself)!!
So will he wont he… is he isn’t he??? All these questions? What does this all matter when the time is right we will know, whats the fuss? People have far too much time on their hands at the moment, case in point the big who ha about the comments made against that lovely Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, fools make comments, but we give those words power by reacting and repeating and making it headline news.
Anyway, so this man Mosima Gabriel Sexwale, aka Tokyo, a nickname he gained from his karate exploits. He was born in Orlando West on the 5th March 1953. In 1960, Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement became his family. In 1970 he upgraded his family to become an MK (Umkhonto Wesizwe) cadre. In 1975 he went into exile. He lived in Swaziland for a wee while where he received his certificate in Business Administration from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (how this worked I know not, the article I read was not clear on it)
Early in 1976 he along with some others were captured and charged with terrorism and conspiracy to overthrow the government (he had received military training in the USSR, so these claims were not entirely unfounded). Near the end of 1977 after nearly 2 years of their court trial, they were sentenced to 18 years in Robben Island. Whilst in Robben Island, he studied a BComm (commerce degree) at UNISA (Uni of South Africa) no mention was made of whether it was completed, but I assume it was, cos I am an optimist like that! ;-). In 1990 after serving 13 years of his sentence he and many other political prisoners were released from Robben Island in accordance to Groote Schuur Agreement between the ANC and the NP (National Party).
He became a member of the executive committee of the ANC in the Pretori Witwatersrand Vereeniging (PWV) region. In 1991 he became chair of the ANC PWV and in 1994 became the first premier of the PWV following the first democratic elections of South Africa. He was credited with sorting out a lot of the violence and instability in many of the townships in the region, and there were plenty! In 1998 after it became clear that Thabo was to be the successor to Madiba, both he and Cyril Ramaphosa, stepped out of politics and entered the private domain to make some loot.
The company he formed was called Mvelaphanda, a Venda word for Progress, and progress he did! His main focus was oil and diamonds and was granted mining rights in Africa and Russia. Other than his business exploits, which includes directorships on the boards of ABSA, Altech and Goldfields as well as Chairmanship of Trans Hex and Northam Platinum, he is a bit of a Philanthropolist too.. Organisations he is involved with are far ranging and very impressive. They include trusteeship on the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Global Philanthropolist Circle, Business trust, Robben Island ex Prisoners Trust, a patron of Johannesburg Child and family Welfare, Streetwise SA (street kids organization), Save the family fund, Sky is no limit.
There has been some drama in his life and I don’t mean that pretty average showing on the Apprentice SA, uh huh, in 2001, he together with Cyril R and Mathews Phosa were accused of plotting to depose President Mbeki. Allegations were thrown out. In 2002 he was not allowed access into the USA because his name and that of Sydney Mfumadi were on Americas list of terrorists
Should he run shouldn’t he run. My take is simple, JZ or anyone else…anyone else wins flawless victory. On a serious note, I think he is a smart man in that he surrounds himself with people that know and that’s a mark of a good leader. Will he, well time will tell.
That’s me hope u r slightly wiser now!
Birthdays this week
15th Dr Clarke
16th Miss Ann-Louise
19th Miss Priya
Hope it was all that and then some!
That’s me for another week, maximum respect as always!
Here is the comment that was left on the website…
A couple of months back you had something on Freemasonry and it not being an exclusively Caucasian thing. I was having a discussion with some peeps a while back which led me to formulate some of my own conspiracy theories on this organisation and the illuminate in S.A. Is there some kind of Freemasonry organization or order that exists within/amongst South African Black politics and/or business leaders? If so, how far back does the lineage go and is it a family lineage or a lineage based on political association. It might even be based on ethnic lineages. I mean how often has one heard people pass comments like; "Forget political prominence if you're not Xhosa", or "If you want to stand a chance in big business make sure you have a Shangaan partner in the mix."As much as these could just be construed as passing derogatory statements, I still believe in the age old saying that 'Where there's smoke there's fire'. This could all come from somewhere, or nowhere.A political lineage of this kind would have to go as far back as 1912 and the formation of the African National Congress or even further to the birth of colonisation on these shores. I would even dare to say that if it does exist there might have been/or still be some kind of arrangement or agreement between the Black structures at the top of the food chain and the then oppressive white structures. I strongly believe that 'Two devils in one space can never survive, which is why Good will always be in cohoots with at least one Bad to advance what it believes to be the greater Good.' The Yin and Yang. Eg. The Democrats and Bush; Bush and Osama; T-boz (Thabo Mbeki) and JZ (Whether you on the left or the right). One can not lead the masses to do 'good' if they can't use the 'evil' as a yard-stick form which to measure it and illustrate and re-affirm it point.Symbiosis!!!If you or anyone could enlighten me with some knowledge on this matter it would be highly appreciated and I'm sure not just by me, but all the readers of the Monday column. [Funny how it no longer seems come out on Mondays, but it's all good] – Dini
Very interesting, here is my take on this. In terms of the politics side, the ANC was set up mainly by Xhosas (even though a lot of the activism took place in the Vaal area) if I am not mistaken and in the age of tribalism and community etc. its more than likely that the powers that be would prefer to keep it in the family. Kinda like how Jewish people and Muslims do it. Even in some of our large corporates, if you went to Michaelhouse, Hilton, St Andrews, Bishops etc. you have a sure foot in the door (or if you went to Umtata High) it is what it is, and guys/gals please correct me if I am wrong.
I would definitely enjoy to hear what your take on this is, because it is an interesting conspiracy theory (and I will try and find out more myself)!!
So will he wont he… is he isn’t he??? All these questions? What does this all matter when the time is right we will know, whats the fuss? People have far too much time on their hands at the moment, case in point the big who ha about the comments made against that lovely Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, fools make comments, but we give those words power by reacting and repeating and making it headline news.
Anyway, so this man Mosima Gabriel Sexwale, aka Tokyo, a nickname he gained from his karate exploits. He was born in Orlando West on the 5th March 1953. In 1960, Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement became his family. In 1970 he upgraded his family to become an MK (Umkhonto Wesizwe) cadre. In 1975 he went into exile. He lived in Swaziland for a wee while where he received his certificate in Business Administration from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (how this worked I know not, the article I read was not clear on it)
Early in 1976 he along with some others were captured and charged with terrorism and conspiracy to overthrow the government (he had received military training in the USSR, so these claims were not entirely unfounded). Near the end of 1977 after nearly 2 years of their court trial, they were sentenced to 18 years in Robben Island. Whilst in Robben Island, he studied a BComm (commerce degree) at UNISA (Uni of South Africa) no mention was made of whether it was completed, but I assume it was, cos I am an optimist like that! ;-). In 1990 after serving 13 years of his sentence he and many other political prisoners were released from Robben Island in accordance to Groote Schuur Agreement between the ANC and the NP (National Party).
He became a member of the executive committee of the ANC in the Pretori Witwatersrand Vereeniging (PWV) region. In 1991 he became chair of the ANC PWV and in 1994 became the first premier of the PWV following the first democratic elections of South Africa. He was credited with sorting out a lot of the violence and instability in many of the townships in the region, and there were plenty! In 1998 after it became clear that Thabo was to be the successor to Madiba, both he and Cyril Ramaphosa, stepped out of politics and entered the private domain to make some loot.
The company he formed was called Mvelaphanda, a Venda word for Progress, and progress he did! His main focus was oil and diamonds and was granted mining rights in Africa and Russia. Other than his business exploits, which includes directorships on the boards of ABSA, Altech and Goldfields as well as Chairmanship of Trans Hex and Northam Platinum, he is a bit of a Philanthropolist too.. Organisations he is involved with are far ranging and very impressive. They include trusteeship on the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Global Philanthropolist Circle, Business trust, Robben Island ex Prisoners Trust, a patron of Johannesburg Child and family Welfare, Streetwise SA (street kids organization), Save the family fund, Sky is no limit.
There has been some drama in his life and I don’t mean that pretty average showing on the Apprentice SA, uh huh, in 2001, he together with Cyril R and Mathews Phosa were accused of plotting to depose President Mbeki. Allegations were thrown out. In 2002 he was not allowed access into the USA because his name and that of Sydney Mfumadi were on Americas list of terrorists
Should he run shouldn’t he run. My take is simple, JZ or anyone else…anyone else wins flawless victory. On a serious note, I think he is a smart man in that he surrounds himself with people that know and that’s a mark of a good leader. Will he, well time will tell.
That’s me hope u r slightly wiser now!
Birthdays this week
15th Dr Clarke
16th Miss Ann-Louise
19th Miss Priya
Hope it was all that and then some!
That’s me for another week, maximum respect as always!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Once again greetings to the masses. I am very pleased that my ‘drama’was of much amusement to many of you and secondly thanks to those that responded at least I know the emails get read by some and to those who called even from as far as London, England (not East London, SA) maximum respect! Trust all is well. If this is your first week back,
I must say I am pretty chuffed with the way my year has started. Got to work on Tuesday and on Wednesday I had my first deal sorted, long may it continue!
A lot of the responses I received to last weeks email was from people wanting to know what I actually do now, so I will take this opportunity to brief you on my new employer as it offers me an opportunity to get the word out there and to help me with my presentation. Budget this year is heavy, but ey if I can write +/- R230mil business (albeit off the back of a well known brand, namely Standard Bank), in the words of Happy Gilmore…”You can do it!”
So who are we?
Habari Media (www.habarimedia.co.za) was started 3 years ago by a gentleman called Adrian Hewlett. It has its head office in Cape Town, but has a Johannesburg presence too. The business is split into 2 ‘divisions’ namely Habari Media and Habari Direct.
The media side is an advertising media sales business. What that means is it manages the media space for websites, so if you want to place an advert on say MSN’s website you have to go through us. Up until a year ago MSN was the only client because it in itself was a task and a half, we now have SABC, SA Rugby and Career Junction as well.
The direct side, which is the side which I work in/for focuses on what advertisers call “Below the Line” which in lay mans terms means a direct means of communication commonly direct mail and email. But wait there’s more. We don’t just do random mail shots uh huh!
Today’s consumer is very lifestyle driven; I know this because that’s why I work. I work because I want to be able to afford the finer things in life, just like you do. I work so I can take my car to the carwash, when it gets out of the panel beaters, I work so I can catch a flight to Cape Town for the weekend, I work so I can go for lunch/dinner with a significant other, I work so I can go for a facial…k maybe not, but u get my drift. Now that’s today’s consumer.
So what do we do? We together with the marketing departments of our customers that are consumer driven come up with a concept that will help them achieve their objectives in terms of acquisition, loyalty and retention of their customers/employees. Once this concept has been devised (sometimes by us in isolation or working together with the client), we set about implementing and managing what we would term the consumer experiential marketing. Its something we call e2…experience and emotional ties…you do this and you get this reward i.e. sign up for a 2 yr contract and you get a free flight anywhere in the country. Our focus is on rewarding the masses, so rather than rewarding 5 people we try get to 5000 people, in that instance more people feel satisfied and content with their ‘service provider’ and spreading the word about the ‘service provider’ has a wider reach. The end result, consumer is happy because they got more bang for the buck, the service provider is happy because they have a happy customer who singing their praises and we are happy because we helped the customer achieve their objectives and hopefully they will sing our praises too and hopefully give us some repeat business/referals.
We have come up with many creative things in the past and have a gang of satisfied customers. Some of our clients include: FNB, Standard Bank, Diners Club, Appletiser, Vodacom, Coca Cola, Nederburg, American Swiss, The AA, DSTV, MWEB, Glenfidich….to name a few.
So what do I, as an Accountant/finance person know about being creative and marketing and advertising etc. The way I see it most of the jobs I have done have been on the marketing front be it selling debt or private equity, working at virgin active, for Camel, waiting on tables, bar tending…finance and accounting are things that I have studied and can definitely do…dealing with and understanding people and speaking k aak is as natural to me as waking up in the morning ;-). So why not try something new, set up a business of sorts (fortunately for me with a lot of support)…happy times…I like! (yes I have seen Borat J)
If you guys know of any people that would like to hear more about what it is that we do, please do send them my details.
There are definitely birthdays this week that I am forgetting. I have misplaced my birthday database, please do drop me an email with your birthdays, its not for you its for me so do it damnit!
11th Jan – my dear pops
If it is your birthday please do have a ripper day and a pearler of a year.
On that note back to work I go. Maximum respect as always.
Y
I must say I am pretty chuffed with the way my year has started. Got to work on Tuesday and on Wednesday I had my first deal sorted, long may it continue!
A lot of the responses I received to last weeks email was from people wanting to know what I actually do now, so I will take this opportunity to brief you on my new employer as it offers me an opportunity to get the word out there and to help me with my presentation. Budget this year is heavy, but ey if I can write +/- R230mil business (albeit off the back of a well known brand, namely Standard Bank), in the words of Happy Gilmore…”You can do it!”
So who are we?
Habari Media (www.habarimedia.co.za) was started 3 years ago by a gentleman called Adrian Hewlett. It has its head office in Cape Town, but has a Johannesburg presence too. The business is split into 2 ‘divisions’ namely Habari Media and Habari Direct.
The media side is an advertising media sales business. What that means is it manages the media space for websites, so if you want to place an advert on say MSN’s website you have to go through us. Up until a year ago MSN was the only client because it in itself was a task and a half, we now have SABC, SA Rugby and Career Junction as well.
The direct side, which is the side which I work in/for focuses on what advertisers call “Below the Line” which in lay mans terms means a direct means of communication commonly direct mail and email. But wait there’s more. We don’t just do random mail shots uh huh!
Today’s consumer is very lifestyle driven; I know this because that’s why I work. I work because I want to be able to afford the finer things in life, just like you do. I work so I can take my car to the carwash, when it gets out of the panel beaters, I work so I can catch a flight to Cape Town for the weekend, I work so I can go for lunch/dinner with a significant other, I work so I can go for a facial…k maybe not, but u get my drift. Now that’s today’s consumer.
So what do we do? We together with the marketing departments of our customers that are consumer driven come up with a concept that will help them achieve their objectives in terms of acquisition, loyalty and retention of their customers/employees. Once this concept has been devised (sometimes by us in isolation or working together with the client), we set about implementing and managing what we would term the consumer experiential marketing. Its something we call e2…experience and emotional ties…you do this and you get this reward i.e. sign up for a 2 yr contract and you get a free flight anywhere in the country. Our focus is on rewarding the masses, so rather than rewarding 5 people we try get to 5000 people, in that instance more people feel satisfied and content with their ‘service provider’ and spreading the word about the ‘service provider’ has a wider reach. The end result, consumer is happy because they got more bang for the buck, the service provider is happy because they have a happy customer who singing their praises and we are happy because we helped the customer achieve their objectives and hopefully they will sing our praises too and hopefully give us some repeat business/referals.
We have come up with many creative things in the past and have a gang of satisfied customers. Some of our clients include: FNB, Standard Bank, Diners Club, Appletiser, Vodacom, Coca Cola, Nederburg, American Swiss, The AA, DSTV, MWEB, Glenfidich….to name a few.
So what do I, as an Accountant/finance person know about being creative and marketing and advertising etc. The way I see it most of the jobs I have done have been on the marketing front be it selling debt or private equity, working at virgin active, for Camel, waiting on tables, bar tending…finance and accounting are things that I have studied and can definitely do…dealing with and understanding people and speaking k aak is as natural to me as waking up in the morning ;-). So why not try something new, set up a business of sorts (fortunately for me with a lot of support)…happy times…I like! (yes I have seen Borat J)
If you guys know of any people that would like to hear more about what it is that we do, please do send them my details.
There are definitely birthdays this week that I am forgetting. I have misplaced my birthday database, please do drop me an email with your birthdays, its not for you its for me so do it damnit!
11th Jan – my dear pops
If it is your birthday please do have a ripper day and a pearler of a year.
On that note back to work I go. Maximum respect as always.
Y
Friday, January 05, 2007
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Whose morality is it anyway?
The world and people have become even more fascinating for an inquisitive soul like mine. Let's start with a simple question that most...
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The world and people have become even more fascinating for an inquisitive soul like mine. Let's start with a simple question that most... -
So he is a little story to tell. But to begin I need to provide a little context. First off, I am a man of faith, I am either physically a...