Monstaville Book III. Chapter 1

1

“Shrimp may attack dragons in shallow water.”

- Chinese proverb.

Various notes regarding my battles with the next-door neighbours collected since terminating my journals.

I haven’t written much about this problem because most of the time I’ve been working on my books and only kept a journal for a few years when I was not engaged in those projects.

They have tried everything they can think of to oppress or persuade me to move - a campaign that would have driven an English family away and appears to have been successful in many cases in this town (yes, I have heard stories of people selling up and moving out of the area claiming that their Pakistani neighbours had become too ‘militant’).

I have had banging with hammers each morning for weeks on end, just for 5 or 10 minutes around 9.30 a.m.

I’ve used ear plugs during tai chi on several occasions to blot out loud music from over the back but also when the neighbours made a point of disturbing me every day. I also changed the time that I would tend to go out and do tai chi to throw them off the track!

My intention all along has been to try and deter the neighbours from disturbing my sleep and attacking my space. It’s a practical issue from my point of view. Some might say that it is an issue of law but it has always felt like this is just beyond the reach of the law and I am sure many people can relate to this. Even people close to me have suggested that I’m paranoid! The abuse is subtle, like a slow poison that causes damage over time. It is a method that deceitful people use to avoid harmful comeback, particularly from the law. Besides, there came a point where I was hooked into standing up for myself and that always felt like an ideal opportunity for twisted, criminally-minded liars to exploit by accusing me of being the perpetrator, especially when a whole family is conspiring together. I admit that, without actually investigating the matter, the harassment felt like something the law would not take seriously, especially after the police told me to contact the council that night I phoned and I was then told there was a three-month waiting list for sound equipment. I doubt the legitimacy of truth, namely that I have never initiated any attack on anyone (not even in my entire life), in this situation. Times are changing, and perhaps the law is catching up now that our society has changed so dramatically. The danger, however, is that this could lead to excessive state control which is something that must be avoided at all costs. Who wants to live in an oppressive totalitarian state except sneaky people...er...like my neighbours?

I recently mentioned collating notes from my journals to someone and they asked me why the people next door would harass me. I realised that the answer, which I kept to myself, was that they are from Pakistan. They are selfish and aggressive, impossible to reason with and proud (although I am not, of course, implying that everyone from Pakistan displays these tendencies). Their behaviour is militant and it is a problem! They have a self-righteous attitude and superiority complex, all of them. Aside from a business relationship, they are closed from the world; but, then, I tend to shut myself off from the world as well and have become more isolated than ever since living here. Consequently, there is a distinct lack of support and no longer do I entertain guests who bring their own positive vibes into my home which does have some impact as I’ve always known. They rely on their family to share everything with. I just have me. I feel that they don’t like creative people who are very individual and who cannot, therefore, be controlled and manipulated. Me, I hold emotions in. I don’t let them out enough and music, which was always my principal outlet, has been taken from me although, as an emotional prop and source of creative inspiration, one could say that this was bound to fall away eventually. With my neighbours pushing all the time I have basically been forced to let my emotions out more and express my anger.

Dick Solomon (John Lithgow): I think I’m dying…I don’t know how much time I have left so listen closely. If you wake up in the morning and find a quivering purple mass wearing my watch – don’t touch it!

-          Third Rock from the Sun (Series 1, Episode 2, Created by Bonnie and Terry Turner, 1996).

Some friends have advised me to play down the fact that my next-door neighbours are from Pakistan, even to the point of not mentioning it. Discussing racial issues, however, is not racism. Fearing dialogue and truth is the path back to the Dark Ages. The consequence is ignorance. It’s backwards. Increased awareness is progress. We must be individuals and think for ourselves. Otherwise, we are mere puppets or zombies: that is, unconscious.

I have known and worked with Pakistanis, and I have friends from Pakistan. I have hung out with black and Pakistani friends over the past decade. There is clearly a potential for balance between sensitivity and individuality, power and wisdom (or depth) there with which I have an affinity; that and being on the edge of the System and not fitting in anywhere culturally. I have worked with black people a lot as well and never experienced any problems. Good-hearted people are beautiful because love is beautiful. It’s what makes us all gay! Haha. I’m only pulling your leg. I mean beautifully One, expressions of the Divine Source. Identification with power alone is ugly because it is destructive. People who restrict themselves to the physical personality and the lower chakras are in conflict and the result is an ugly mess. There are so many unconscious conflicts around seeking release which is usually found in projections onto others.

So, I am not painting everyone from Pakistan or anywhere else with the same brush. It should be noted, however, that those cultures that still apply pressure through religion to fuse people into one identity tend to represent the same type. This, I believe, has its origins in conditioning them to willingly and passionately fighting in wars under one central will: patriarchal power. I do, however, feel, from experience, that certain countries breed more trouble makers than others. I might, incidentally, include Britain on that list. I wouldn’t like to be an Asian living in this country, but then those who emigrate to a nation whose culture is radically different, not to mention those who have no intention of integrating socially, perhaps need to be tough, or hard.

I knew an Indian guy (who was also a Muslim and whom, before knowing this, I assumed to be from Pakistan) who had a lot of anger in him and who was a bit ‘unhinged,’ shall we say. I took over his job, in fact, after he had left to establish his own cab firm. Later, while I was working for a different office, I had an interview with him and his partner (who was from Pakistan) and the other guy’s pride and arrogance clashed with me so badly from the outset that we could barely communicate thereafter. Two or three months after this humorous event, he called me on my mobile to accuse me of covering one of his minicab labels with one from the company for which I was working. It was a blatant lie and I tried to reason with him but he refused to listen and persisted in being aggressive so, in the end, I gave up and ended the call. He phoned back again a minute later threatening to break my legs the next time he saw me! Nasty man. I laughed it off, not believing he was bent on actual physical violence. Well, our paths did cross occasionally on our ‘rounds’ in town. At some point, as luck would have it, we bumped into each other in Lime Street where there was no street lighting. I’d forgotten the episode and greeted him in my usual friendly way. He was seething and told me to get away from him but then came up to me.

I really can’t remember what he said but he was huffing and puffing and formed a fist with his right hand. I could see that he was trying to find a way to punch me, or build up sufficient anger or courage to launch his fist. Now, the odd thing about all this is that I was actually in incredible pain after receiving a bruised rib from my martial arts class the evening before. In fact, I could hardly move my body for a couple of weeks and the pain lasted for several weeks. So, I was standing there wearing a suit and tie, holding a case in my right hand and shivering from the cold. I knew there was no way I was going to win a fight. Not only was I not interested, the odds were stacked against me. As soon as I noticed his fist, however, I held my left hand out to form ‘San ti’ (the basic xingyi stance which feels powerful and certainly did at that moment – and I guess it may well have given the impression) and shouted ‘Don’t you dare!’ I had the intention of standing my ground and projecting confidence. I was also prepared to fight if necessary even though the prospect was daunting since my position seemed completely hopeless and ludicrous.

In response, he withdrew and walked off, muttering to himself. I watched as he walked down the street and called out and told him to stay away from me. I could hear him talking to himself as he reached the end and took a left turn out of sight. The customary xingyi response would have been a pre-emptive strike! One is not supposed to mess about in this martial art! I probably would have done the same thing even if I wasn’t in such a vulnerable position however. I was, essentially, acting as though I was not handicapped by anything, pretending even to myself that I was in a strong position. It seemed like the only alternative. Showing any sign of weakness would have been to invite more trouble. It was a critical moment for me because it showed that I was capable of conveying power in relation to someone whose intent was that of causing physical harm just by using a martial pose combined with positive, focussed intent and the sound of my voice. The latter was the most effective ingredient in this recipe and is highly recommended by many martial artists, including my own teacher, who would explain that expressing one’s righteousness in this way is the most powerful response there is since it comes from one’s spirit.

By contrast, there is a beautiful Indian man who works on the checkout in my local supermarket. I say ‘beautiful’ because there is something spiritually beautiful about him, something one might only ever find in a certain kind of Indian man. He is gentle. Too gentle and quiet perhaps but it is clear that he is animated by love and compassion. To me, personally, men are the ugliest critters going! And I don’t just mean on the outside. I mean there is rarely any beautiful energy because that requires feeling, consciousness, sensitivity. This guy on the checkout is ALWAYS smiling and he seems to have such patience and humility that is, quite honestly, most inspirational. I’d like to know his secret. What is the source of such apparent peace and happiness? It is not native to this country, I know that. As someone has pointed out, however, such gentleness could also be the result of an oppressive upbringing in an abusive (and perhaps large) family. Nevertheless, this is a quality that we could all do with developing if we are ever to find inner peace. It requires a degree of discipline, naturally, something that appears to have been slipping through our fingers here in England over the past couple of decades. We appear to have swung from one extreme to the another in our socio-politico-economic homage to corporate culture and its global hegemony. Even before the brakes were dismantled, Sathya Sai Baba would never venture to visit the West, echoing Gandhi’s statement that Western civilisation would be a good idea!

Asian Hindu and Sikh mothers are usually delighted to talk to me. It is as though we share the same culture. There is a soul affinity. They are coming from the heart, in other words. In some cases, however, they believe mistakenly that just because I am dignified and English I must be the epitome of ‘success’ in British society. My fears and struggles may be the product of the Capitalist System but everything else is my own and, therefore, independent of external conditions! If I happen to mention something like the fact that I wash my clothes in the bathtub or enjoy cooking outside in the garden their hearts shrink and their smiles wither from a sudden lack of sunshine because they were looking to me for hope regarding their socio-economic aspirations (for their own offspring more than anything I expect). Perhaps they entertain themselves and try to boost their morale by attempting to justify making this country their home.

The question was asked by a young person who had lived a sheltered life in ‘Middle England’ and who had probably never heard of such a prolonged campaign of harassment. Troublemakers from Britain tend to be physically violent and, consequently, get into trouble with the law. It has occurred to me that my neighbours might have hoped to push me to launch a violent attack so they could then approach the police and make me out to be the troublemaker or have sufficient reason to involve other, menacing types in the situation. I don’t believe there can be many British people who would have the scheming determination and nasty vindictiveness of my neighbours. One of the problems we have in Britain, of course, is that we choose suppression over expression. This self-defeating habit is derived, I’m certain, from the feudal system from which we have yet to really break free completely. We, the people, have simply been shuffled around from one dictatorial oppressor to another. Hence, it was so easy for big, bullying corporations to claim the throne.

Otto Schultz (Howard Da Silva): I will not resist.

Caine (David Carradine): If your sheep are no danger, will you not defend yourselves?

Otto Schultz: If a man strikes me with a stick, I have three choices: I can strike him back, I can stand still and be injured or killed or I can walk away...

Caine: There is another choice.

Otto Schultz: What other choice?

Caine: You can take the stick away from him.

Otto Schultz: I will not raise my hand against any man for any reason. That is my faith, my life.

                - Kung Fu (Season 2, Episode 10, ‘The Hoots,’ 1973).

You seem to think it’s funny keeping someone awake at night but that’s just because you’re I-G-N-O-R-A-N-T!!

I can’t comprehend their gall. While I am in a vulnerable position, they’re the weak-minded ones and there are more of them. But, they can’t see beyond themselves enough to realise this.

"We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation." - Francois De La Rochefoucauld.

“The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body.” - Publilius Syrus (Roman author, 1^st Century BC).

Well, if you’re going to make my life here unpleasant, I shall return the favour. Once every few weeks, fine. Every day or every week, not fine. Basically, it’s aggressive people looking for a fight because they hate their neighbour who doesn’t take too kindly to being kept awake on a regular basis. But, it’s a noise war they keep kicking off because we are neighbours sharing thin walls.

With persistent bullies and defiant tyrants who do not respond to love, understanding, communication and reason, you just have to make sure they know you mean business and that they’re not the only ones who can do some damage. If you allow evil to go on and on and on unhindered, there will be no stopping it. Savage, meat-eating sadists love non-resistance. It encourages them to go further and really push the limits of destructive behaviour. The evil, greedy spirits behind them revel in such weakness. They depend on it - just as they have found a host whose weaknesses they can really exploit.

“Good fences make good neighbours.” - Robert Frost.

You MUST continue fighting. When they make noises during tai chi, let them. Think, ‘I am powerful and in control’ for a little while. Their ‘Oh my God, Oh my God’ (a little English for my benefit from their big-mouth friend or relative whom I dislike intensely!) is highly amusing. The little boy next door is very undisciplined and loud in the extreme. Yet, it bothers me not because it is innocent. There are no dark, poisoned arrows of thought being hurled at me.

The African woman upstairs started doing that: talking loudly on her phone with the window open watching me practice tai chi. If only I was thick-skinned and didn’t feel the vibes of hatred!

You must adjust your attitude.

“Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” - William James.

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” - Scott Hamilton.

None of this and nothing any of you can do will disturb me. It is foolish to try. I’m winning this game, believe me.

The only thing to do when their music is loud is to wear headphones and then ear plugs to sleep. In war, you just minimise your own stress and then increase the enemy’s later when you can...if you wish to choose that option or feel it might be most effective.

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it." – Voltaire.

A colleague’s advice: if there’s noise around when you go to bed, you can put some music on quietly either in soft foam headphones or through external speakers. It focuses your mind so that you aren’t affected by sudden noises. There is less contrast, in other words. The noise doesn’t bother you as much. Try classical and relaxation music. It might possibly inspire your imagination/soul and bring peace. It’s not just the noise, however, but the knowledge that it is deliberately provocative rather than innocent, with the intention of pissing me off. It’s the seething anger ignited by the psychological disturbance that has to be quelled before it creates tension which then acts like wood that can catch light. It’s the negative vibrations that are being directed towards me as well. The external relief is one thing but one still has to deal with the effect of such nastiness on one’s mind and emotions. What if I don’t want to listen to music all evening just to block out a salvo or two of violent coughs that could be launched at any time? Which is the lesser of the two evils? Not much of a choice is it? I have to take my chances and deal with them as they come.

“The best way to save face is to keep the lower end of it shut.” (Honourable Insults, compiled by Greg Knight MP, Robson Books Ltd, London, U.K., 1990, p.175).

Perhaps my neighbours feel under attack from my very presence as a reminder of truth and individuality? And, of the need to be considerate, open-minded and responsible...unselfish and civilised basically. They are too easy on themselves and their own and then too defensive and hard towards those beyond their insular lives. People grow up to be selfish if the principles and understanding by which they live are severely restricted; that is, by ignorance. People join forces if they share the same external (religious, cultural, etc) identity.

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognise, accept, and celebrate those differences.” - Audre Lorde.

If you sent love and healing wishes to the neighbours, would that return? Wishing the best for them, might they wish the best for you? No, that’s a crazy notion! They only care about themselves. I’m wary that, being selfish and ignorant, they would take the energy and abuse me as freely as they want, and as they did before. Even on a psychic level they would look at you as the fool or the wimp for doing so because that’s what their subconscious tells them. It might only be effective if it gradually reaches them spiritually through the solid walls of stubborn ignorance.

“When the tiger comes down from the mountain to the plains, it is bullied by the dogs.” - Chinese proverb.

When people attack you, it is an opportunity to send love and positive energy to them. It’s a kind of reminder that should occur each time you react or think of enjoying yourself at their expense and abusing their space likewise.

Regular phone calls with no talking until I started playing them music on my laptop. Kept the ringer switched off for certain periods.

Do not allow childish people to steal your focus. Do not give them your attention in your own dialogue so they can get to you or disturb your feelings. Concentrate on your own life and interests. Rise above their shallow interference by centring yourself and expressing your own potential. Let it make you stronger. See the humour in their silly behaviour. They are weak-minded; otherwise, they would not engage in such foolery. They believe it will affect you negatively because they know it would trouble them. Or, knowing this, you may choose to remain unaffected yourself and turn the tables by tormenting them instead. It depends what you need to happen. It is unlikely to silence them indefinitely. Proud, selfish, aggressive people are hydra-headed. You lop off one head and they come back at you with something else, turning on the negative energy in which they have made their home and wasting their lives and potential for growth. Better leave them to it! If it occurs day after day and affects your quality of life, however, you may not be able to resist at least trying to civilise your tormentors! Then you must go about it intelligently, minimising disturbance to yourself, whilst acting with clear intention on the strategy you have decided to try.

I will endure the suffering patiently and, by not accepting your aggression or nastiness by reacting, I receive only a fraction of the negative energy you are creating in - and for - yourself!

“Firmness of character means having felt and withstood the effects of other people on oneself, and for that other people are necessary.” – Stendhal.

“As you might already have surmised,” writes Susan Jeffers, “I feel very strongly about the concept of taking responsibility for our lives! I am concerned that the victim mentality seems to be spreading like an epidemic. We seem to be competing to see who can be the most pathetic! My suggestion to combat this problem is that we constantly remember what Victor Frankl so movingly taught us in his incredible book, Man’s Search for Meaning.” (Feel the Fear...and Beyond, Rider Books, London, U.K., 1998, p.99). She goes on to quote Victor E. Frankl. He says: "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. The way in which a man can accept his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity - even in the most difficult circumstances - to add a deeper meaning to his life.” Jeffers adds: “Yes, we have a choice! We can choose how we want to react to any situation. The victim attitude has no place in a healthy life because it is a diseased and powerless one. Therefore, let’s get to work on choosing our attitude, thereby taking responsibility for our experiences of life...You are responsible for your reaction, despite what is happening around you. All the exercises in this book are about you taking responsibility for your experience of life and creating something meaningful out of whatever life has handed you in the past or will hand you in the future. That’s what Higher Self thinking allows us to do.” (ibid. p.99-100).

“Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.” - Jean-Paul Sartre.

These weak-minded people imitate you because they think you’ll be affected - because they know they would be. Since three of them, including the father, are doing it, they must have plotted the campaign together. I expect they were taking tips from other people they knew who had succeeded in driving unwanted English families away.

Tit-for-tat is such childish behaviour. If you are stronger and more responsible and aware, you don’t play power games. Or react in anger. You rise above it and choose how to act or not to rather than react without self-control. In order to achieve a desired goal. It is practical, strategic behaviour - winning through intelligence.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” - Mahatma Gandhi.

We all know that politicians are fools (the acceptable generalisation of all patriarchal ages), but anyone who does not accept that there are genuine clashes between certain cultures is either blind and ignorant, weak and fearful or lying and manipulative. The politicians in our country have been in service to corporations for three decades and the people are left to pick up the pieces. The Government believes that we needed mass immigration for cheap labour but I would argue that we did not need all these greedy business interests who exploit such people in the first place. The well-being of Western cultures is being sacrificed for their benefit. They demand more slave labour at the expense of higher crime and a certain level of terrorism (which, for the Elite, serves to keep the masses in fear and survival mode so they remain helpless and enslaved). How many immigrants have no intention of being used in this way by the educated Elite? Furthermore, how many bring hidden criminal agendas with them? In the end, it is innocent people who pay, sometimes with their lives.

This is what the Elite wants, enough discord in society to prevent people from being united. They do everything they possibly can to keep people distracted, particularly through negativity because chaos gives them power. It lowers our vibration and keeps us down, dependent on them and whatever ‘order’ they determine. Once an individual becomes focussed, love and creativity follow naturally because Reality starts to shine through into our experience, our world. The last thing the Elite wants is a community in which everyone relates to each other as their brother or sister and behaves respectfully and considerately towards each other. That would mean that we care about society, that we have faith in it as a source of love and healing, not fear and separation. We would begin to recognise God in each other and never be the same again! We would see all the foolish projections and petty mind games for what they are: illusions. As long as society is in a state of manufactured chaos we are dependent on the Elite and their puppets’ promises to maintain law and order, to educate and inform, to heal and entertain, and even decide our fate on the basis of scientific thought and religious authority (although, since there is a route left open to love God in the latter they may well have been trying to replace it with the former until the advent of quantum physics which leads us back to the Source again!).

“Life is a mirror and reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” - Ernest Holmes.

Will truth exacerbate tensions or set us free? It is only when awareness is increased in society that people are motivated to change and make progress. Scorpions hide secretly under rocks in the dark, out of sight. Today, political correctness is a welcome hiding place for those immigrants who look down on British culture and which, it can be argued, are potentially destroying Western societies. Neither are in favour of individuality. It is lack of acknowledgement and dialogue in society (and the media) that allows malevolent people to continue stinging those around them whom they know to have a more sensitive, open and thoughtful outlook on life. They simply do not want to be reminded of this fact because they fear change and have no intention of becoming more civilised. Somehow, we need to build a bridge to encourage Asian people generally - but particularly Asian Muslims - to share our values, or at least the cool ones. And, no, I would not ask politicians to define what those values are because, for now at least, they clearly value taxation or economic inequality higher than the general population’s quality of life.

The lack of consideration when it comes to others' space in Asian cultures is because:

-       Where they come from, there is NO privacy.

-       They are used to annoying each other and accept that as part of life.

-       They do everything together as a group, not as individuals...sort of like the Borg Collective from Star Trek! ‘You will be assimilated’ (so no one has an individual thought and they are clueless too!).

Pushing in front of people in queues is the most public example of this lack of consideration. “They feel that others should not be bothered by such intrusions,” observes a Canadian friend who, like me, has worked with Asians for several years. “It's perfectly natural. So why, then, should they think that some silly lil ole music bother the neighbour? It's disrespectful in their eyes to complain. Just suck it up, they think...And of course, this belief system is passed on from one generation to the next. If the roles were reversed, they would not say anything to the culprit who plays their music loudly...from my experience and accidental research, this is what I feel they feel.”

Retrospective insert.

“The existing fear-based paradigm has been deactivated. All who continue to play out soul plans of greed and destruction will be brought to light. The new earth frequency will ensure that those with ill intent choose a better way and all will rise collectively under the new sun. Old systems that lack integrity will dismantle and new systems will be instated to replace the outworn. These new systems will serve the All. To flourish in the new earth paradigm, love is the only requirement.” - Andromedans (channelled through Lauren C. Gorgo, ‘The Emergence of New Cycles of Time,’ 11 March 2008, www.manifestwiththemasters.blogspot.com/2008/03/emergence-of-new-cycles-of-time.html).

“Fear will stop you loving. Love will stop your fear.” - Morcheeba.

“You create your own reality, sometimes by causing and most often by allowing.” - Lazaris (channelled through Jach Pursel, The Sirius Connection. A Workbook, NPN Publishing, Inc., Florida, U.S., 1987, 1996, p.24, www.lazaris.com).

“If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humour.” – Jennifer Jones. (www.saidwhat.co.uk/topicquote/humour).

Rabari shepherd, Rajasthan by Steve McCurry