.
.......When I despair,
I remember that all through history the way of truth has always won.
There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they seem invincible.
But in the end, they always fall.
Think on this always.

-- Mahatma Gandhi


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....... Brant Christopher I met at Greenbelt ...... a singer and a beautiful human ...... not fair to just call him a singer ..... more than that.

We talked in the GB aftershow and other great times ...... and he has created a song ...... the lyrics here and the mp3 to come .....




Beautiful Imperfection
======================

by Brant Christopher and Gary LeMaster



An old oil canvas hangs crooked on the wall

Blindingly obvious from where I stand

Temptation to straighten the view from the hall

Missing the beauty of the artist's hand



You can pick it apart and look for correction

Try to find a better reflection

Maybe you should question your obsession

What you missed was beautiful imperfection



Two lovers walking, playing tag with “I Love You’s”

Shouldn’t be so hard to understand

Instead we judge them for the partners that they choose

Missing the beauty of the artist’s hand



You can pick it apart and look for correction

Try to find a better reflection

Maybe you should question your obsession
What you missed was beautiful imperfection

also see the link on my website to an article titles 'Beautiful Imperfection"

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... I am asked what I do ....

spill
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

..... here is something I do .... a recent reflection ...



A group gathered around a pile of sandwiches at lunchtime-ish.
After the consumption washed down with mugs of tea - always quick when breakfast has been missed - I kicked the group off from the informal chat into a leader led process which they are used to.

I handed out a paper which said that a child from birth to age five gets 478 negative messages a day.
"Don't."
"Stop that."
"You little ..........!"
The paper had a list.
I spent very little time with that but moved on quickly to -
I asked everyone if they saw a glass half empty or half full. I went around the group and everyone commented. All gave sincere reflection to the question and a large percentage of the eleven present spoke in the negative.

Introducing the session very informally - I suggested we look at the issue of 'positives and negatives'.
The next step was a try with something never attempted with this community before.
Everyone was given a slip and asked to write their own name on it and into the hat it went. Mine too.
The draw resulted in all having a name which was not their own. My plea then was for each to say something positive about that person. Even if they had never met before - a reality.
It was fantastic. Everyone did it even if some struggled and had to be helped/encouraged by the group members. The brother to his sister was the slowest response. A real struggle.
Also a 'first time' member of the group with a total strangers name in his hand. He did it. It was an affirmation communicated well about her clothing.
He did it.
I felt good to see and hear the words stumble out.
Real.

Then I moved in with some other questions;
1 Do you remember positives or negatives mostly from you life experiences?
2 Do you normally speak mostly positive or negative?
3 Do you think positive or negative?
4 What are the feelings when you get a positive or negative?
They did it.
We did it!

Now we are talking about humans in the group who have met some pretty harsh experiences of;
- being rejected as a child
- seeing a friend stabbed to death
- abuse
- mental health issues
- alcoholism
- drug misuse
- and multiple issues for some.

Not only did they say that the negatives in their lives have an impact now, they said what they were - owned them and not pretending and hiding behind a mask.
Faces stilled.
You know how sometimes the skin becomes drawn and passive - it is because the interior human is being disturbed and comforted at the same time.
Disturbed through the recall of life experiences.
Comforted by the support of the group - the realisation that they are not alone - and the first time facing of reality as it was..... and maybe is.
It was fantastic and powerful.

The session moved to close with a reaffirming of the objective which had been floated at the start.
1 Thinking and practising being positive.
2 Considering our reality in our daily lives. What do we do by habit?
3 Choosing to go down the positive route - a strategy for a new life.

I floated, lastly - these four life positions - soul positions - psychological positions;

1 I am not ok ................ you are not ok
2 I am not ok ................ you are ok
3 I am ok ...................... you are not ok
4 I'm ok ........................ you're ok

..... and they said which they were ..... because they had become aware of themselves ................ and to tell it ..... 'how they were' was important .

........ I hope you can position yourself 1 2 3 or 4 ............. ?

The other groups I lead are very different - and never the same people.
Also;
Different objectives, styles, tools.
......... and a stumbling to get close
and be
and become



bhp

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Jude on the left & Martin .......

matinjude
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

........ we were led into a fantasy journey at the week-end ....... we were in a Art Gallery and we were asked to see a work of art on the wall ............... and this was to become Greenbelt .......

I will talk you through mine, what happened in my imagination,..... I will say what happened, - remember we were asked to do the steps but it was our imagination - mine in this case!

The art gallery was big and bold. Windows and gaps between rooms were from floor to ceiling and there were the usual silent guards standing in the doorways but these were humans with faces made of wax ...... unreal, motionless, faceless.

The picture on the wall became greenbelt and I could see a party going on - a real groove with everyone dancing and in a groove - a pleasure .......... I joined the picture, as asked, and there I was dancing too ...... loving it ......... and then Jesus was there too ...... and he was dancing as one of us - dressed similar to us - not a 'stand out' human .......... then he spoke to me and then me to him ........ he said to me;
"I read your blog...." ...... and I smiled, we smiled, and I said to him ......
" I read yours too and would love an update" .........
"I want to know more ...... I love it"
........... and we smiled with lots of eye contact ... and we danced together in a real good groove ....

Leaving the work of art which was on the wall, as asked, I found myself still dancing on the floor of the art gallery and around me, these wax faced guards, were now real and the wax faces had gone ..... they were dancing too .....

It ended ......

I was sat next to Jude, 'the velocity girl' - as John Peel called her, and we shared ours together and loved the experience of hearing and telling ...... would love to read yours Jude?

It was an experience.
I loved it.
It was real and loved Jesus being part of the groove.
It was intimate and full of powerful images.

Thanx for listening to this ...... it may sound weird to you - but fantastic for me!

www.pipwilson.com

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Fav Club Fav DJ=

gilles
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

.... forgive the jumble of words below but this could be the best evening in your life ..... at My fav London Club called Cargo ..... and Gilles hmmm ....

GILLES PETERSON WORLDWIDE AWARDS
Those tuned into Radio 1 this week (and still on 'listen again' via the BBC website) ..... would have heard the announcement of the Worldwide Awards to happen at Cargo on Wednesday 15 December.
With overwhelming response from voters Â? there will be a live show / ceremony featuring live performances from
Sa-Ra (first & exclusive UK show),
The Brownswood Ensemble: Feat,
Ty,
Eska,
Jade Fox
& special guests.
DJ sets come from Bugz In The Attic
and
Gilles Peterson.
Categories for the awards include WW Album Of The Year, WW Track Of The Year, Club Night, Label, WW Session, Compilation, The John Peel \'Play More Jazz\' Award, plus a couple of surprises.

Check:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/urban/peterson.
A limited 200 tickets will be available to the public @ http://www.ticketweb.co.uk

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- A further Greenbelt pic from the week-end hmmmm

biggroup
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

...... but ..... ......... after a week-end away ..... and a good one, I dove into the Joan-Taped Rugby League game ....... what a game and we won - even.
Watch the Ozzie game this coming Saturday to see how GB faces up to the big boys. I will miss it because I have another week-end away.
And pleased about it..... the week-end that is.

Today was an unusual visit to a vibrant capital city ......... unusual because I met both daughters Joy and Ann ........ what a treat as we sat and had a light lunch in a French style cafe in Covent Garden - London Town.
Ann slipped out of her office in Covent Garden having filmed to her best level last week ..... directing humans to stick cameras and sound recorders up peoples noses in the cause of a programme called ...... (and this is to confuse google)
....you are what you stinking eeaatt!
Joy was not only seeing her dad but seeing the country!

Then I hired a personal shopper to take me around doing some shopping.
Yes it was Joy who makes her living styling models vip's and her dad!
I was after some footwear for the winter commuting through an urban landscape ....... wet/snow/ice and brrr. So I was thinking of an all leather trainer type - ideally a boot with some tread so I will not slip under a train from a wet platform........ 20 shops later ..... ducking and diving down all the side streets - as you do in her biz .... I found three pair in the last stop. Two, nice and comfortable - with no tread stink, and then one pair which I now have. Prada by name ....... they will be on show over the next three winters - at least.
Also bought with an old HMV voucher;
1 U2 Vetigo single ...... for the b side
2 Tiesto (3 years on the trot voted the best DJ in the world) doing his Olympic mix ........ yes the one he did as the athletes paraded this year.
3 The Return of Jack Splash by Plant Life.

My favourite music - as you may know, is a fuze of different kinds - usually with a dance influence - but fused with either Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop or more .......... we in the UK seem to be at the forefront in the creation of such art. Loveitloveitloveit.

I have so much to click but the brain and the slow fingers will not work too well.

But ...... how about this
The two Chinese characters;
1 One which spells 'danger'
2 Another spells 'opportunity'

TOGETHER ..... in Chinese .... they spell...........

......... 'crisis'

Sometimes the most dangerous times bring out the greatest opportunities.
I don't say we seek the danger but when we go through such time ......... for me - they were, at the end, some of the most wonder-FULL.

www.pipwilson.com

.. Fair to say that ....

fireplace
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

.... this week end was special and I am left buzzing ....... the main impact was being with these great humans and becoming with these humans ......

We did the biz of course and the days were long with debate and sharing our understanding of the Greenbelt Mission and how to deliver a BETTER FESTIVAL from that.

The pic here is a selection of humans ..... 30 of us were there ...... on the Greenbelt week-end ....

I hope to place some more pix of the gathering in my photo section on my web-site ..... keep your eye there ..... hey hey

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Cotswold ........

cotswold ........
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

..... been away all week-end in a beautiful place in the Cotswolds ..... hmmm

It is Greenbelt country and it was a week end of key humans - Staff and Trustees/Management Group.
We were all bunked up in this fab farm which could have emerged from an old English novel.

More to come ..... and pix ......... just giving you a good reason for being missing from pip do com

you are beautiful ......

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...East London sign ...

scan_448114551_1
Originally uploaded by Pip Wilson.

... this was me leaving the scene with the sign - not nicked but taken when the building was demolished ........ not the white trainer/boots ..... all the rage they were .......


Asbo for youth who threatened television crew

Laura Barton
Thursday November 4, 2004
The Guardian
" In West Gorton, Manchester, it seemed the perfect location for Shameless, Channel 4's successful drama series about the dysfunctional Gallagher family. In the end, however, it allowed for an uncomfortable example of life imitating art.
Yesterday, Manchester City magistrates served 17-year-old Steven Birchall with a wide-ranging antisocial behaviour order for the "climate of fear" he brought to the Gorton estate.
The court heard how Birchall and his cohorts ran amok through the estate, drove a tractor on nearby open land and told a local Asian shopkeeper, "We'll beat you, smash your car and your windows".
The intimidation escalated to such a degree that the television crew were forced to call the police, who were told "the youths had persistently disrupted filming and had acted in an intimidating fashion," community beat officer PC Tracey Burns told the court."

This reminded me of ....... when I worked in East London with da boys who loved the activity, the recreation of what we may call 'criminal activity' - a TV Crew came to film me and the work we were doing. Hmmm
Their car got robbed and at the same time someone got stabbed ......... they met a place that they only read about in the papers - or saw on TV!

I remember once ...... I was walking through he club which I run and I passed a corridor and two teenagers were fighting with knives ...... I just walked on by.

The strange thing is ....... I could tell without a second glance that they were 'play fighting' and I had more serious things to deal with. It was about priorities and you may think that is weird.

When it is tough there are always things that, in an ideal world, we would not consider.
It is good to get closer to the subject before doing a a big judgement. I often felt misunderstood - not the least by some Christians who felt that if I prayed harder and read the bible more - I would be blessed - God would bless me by making all these east End kids into nice middle class church goers and we all live happily ever after amen.

When God did it- he sent Jesus.
When Jesus did it - he walked the incarnational way - feet dirty - upsetting people - dirty people - sick people - violent people - ....... and he learned ........ the 'God made flesh' came and learned first hand that he needs to get close to love... to show it

........ to be God with skin on ...

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.............. there is a man who I see regularly who;
==============================
never looks my way
never speaks until I say hello
then doen't
never uses my name
more often a grunt
never eye contact
always the head dropped

this human person
and
yes
I WILL say
a beautiful human person
- will not change my way of
saying hello to everyone
using a name whenever I can recall it
looking at ..... the person
whilst communicating
*

I have decided to behave in a certain way
and another human
will not control my proactive communication
by their own behaviour.

I will not be a reactor
*

I know a woman who is
nasty to me
all the time
every interaction

I will be
I will not be
a reactor
*

There is some deep sense of faith and theology behind this
- I must try to understand it sometime........

bhp

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