Saturday, May 9, 2009

Cease Fire


This is the closing poem of one of my novels.
Two people who found themselves in an impossible situation were full of hatred for oneanother but ended up becomming friends once again - in spite of everything!

Cease Fire

When all the fighting is done,
And cease fire remains the everlasting reality,
It will only have happened because
One has moved on.
-On past the barriers of the material world,
Into new and almost Holy Realms.

The cognition seems to come as a surprise,
That in this almost forgotten Kingdom of the self
It is I who governs all,
Has the power to decide over good or bad,
And will be the only one commanding voice
To be heard across the plains of this vast deserted land.

Life shall return that one day
And so will the many that wish to live in the peace
That the love for their fellow man is guiding them towards.
But before that fine day, it is I alone, who holds the key,
Who makes the choice of listening to the right voice inside of me.
-A light-hearted decision of only living in the image of God from now on!

No matter what seas we have been sailing, we will always roll back home.
Yet, shipwrecked on ice-strewn waters, I can only pray to find the port.
With thick fog reducing vision to blindness,
Awareness has dropped below feeling completely numb.
Still I hold out, in spite of running low on hope, which, in fact,
Remains the only fuel that still can see us through - at this stage!

Finding my spirits being gently lifted high above the cloud cover,
I wonder what did it,
What made all the difference in the world!
Was it fait?
A Higher Power?
Or just a simple decision of the self?

Now, that I can almost touch the gracious garments of God,
I feel such love and compassion surrounding me.
Suddenly understanding is the key and reaching out the only cure.
Having eventually experienced it myself,
I finally feel free to pass it on
And have it flourish for all eternity!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Tales of the Midnight Sun



An old man,
His grandcild on his lap,
Tells a tale
That the little one will never forget

Of wild reindeer,
Northern Lights
And a native way of life.

The years went by.
The granfather has long passed on.
Yet the vision is still alive
Of a long kept desire.

Up, up north
Where my heart longs to be.
To eternal darkness
And the midnight sun.

Up to where all my dreams
Are leading me
And the wild country
Calls.

The wild rivers
Will wash away all my troubles of the past
While I taste my first breath
Of crystal fresh air.

Eventually I will be one
With the infinity of the tundra,
With each feathered cloud in the amazingly blue sky
And the heartbeat of the wilderness will be my own!

Then I soar to the Heavens
As I feel the pulsing of therunning wild life.
Serenity is the state of mind
In which I realize, I have finally come home.


The poem is from the book "Solkrogen" which I wrote several years ago. The story of the poem (not the one of the book!) is my own. During WWII my grandfather was in Spitzbergen (Svalbard!) and I of course had to ask him all about his deployments. Well, as most veterans, he also was quite traumatized and wasn't much for talking, neither about life in the trenches (many of his generation were this "lucky" that they had to fight in both wars...), nor the conditions in the POW-camp up north (WWII)... but little by little I did get some things out of him and the thing he really loved to talk about, was the aurora borealis! He said, everybody should make sure to see the northern lights at least once before he died!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

INDEPENDENT LEARNING IN PRACTICE



HOMESCHOOLING IS FUN! 

Here is a small preview. 
But you can also get a larger one on Amazon:


Preface
I recently read in a book about advertising, that PR strategies have a lot in common with military planning and advance: It’s usually about overwhelming, reinforcing and maintaining a position on the conquered territory.

It may not seem very civilized, but that’s how things often work in our world. - It’s a very basic and primitive way of existing!

One should think, that in institutions devoted to education, such as schools and universities, more enlightened measures were used.
Sadly this is not the case. Far too often education is based on the same barbaric principal of overwhelm, threat and fear.
Although these days physical punishment may no longer be used, you have to look for a long, long time before finding a teacher who practices a free and non-suppressive style of teaching and who will allow the pupils to gain knowledge by investigating and experimenting!

Education is almost always funded by somebody or something in power, which demands that it is in line with the beliefs (and interests!) of that financial source.

That’s why we have chosen independent learning.
- So that our children can have a taste of freedom right from the beginning!




What is Independent Learning?

Independent Learning covers four different types of studying for students in the basic school years:

- Home-schooling


- Un-schooling


- Private tutoring


- Attending a private school, which is not sponsored and which allows its pupils to use independent, un-manipulated teaching materials


In this book we will take a look at all possibilities, but mainly focus on home-schooling and un-schooling, since this is what you as a parent will need most help with, if you should decide to put it into practice.Should you choose private tutoring or sending your child to a private school, the thing you are most in need of will perhaps be other parents that can recommend you a suitable school or a tutor (with a good reputation), that you can trust to treat your child well.





The difference between
home-schooling and un-schooling



It is called home-schooling, when you teach your child at home, using the books and materials that follow a particular curriculum.



As for un-schooling, I have to admit, I myself have only just found out the meaning of the term, even though I have been doing it for years.

Imagine that!

I simply didn’t know, that what we had been doing was considered a method and had earned its own name.

Un-schooling is when you allow your child to teach him-/herself.
He/she would typically be given inspiration and impulses, even goals and targets, but it’s all based on a very free type of tutoring, that is not intended to talk down to the pupil or sees knowledge as something that needs to be enforced upon a person.

All one does, is inspire the pupil, have him choose what he/she wants to do, agree upon targets and check the progress, help and explain, until he/she reaches his/her goal.
__________________________




But can anyone just go ahead and do it?




Don’t you need an education and approval by the authorities?
What about marks and exams?


Children need to be with other children, need to learn to fight their way through… a couple of bruises form their character, don’t they?
And surely one can’t expect to get a job or make a decent living in our modern world, without having been to university or a college?
No company would ever hire such a person!


Really?
Well, just read on and you will find the answers to these and many other questions and worries that caring parents like you are bound to have!

The book is now available here: