malachifragments

The Modern World: godsmasqueradingasfools

2008-09-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

This modern world is a ride I climb aboard each morning

out of habit and necessity;

a dilapidated contraption in some tacky amusement park

which, despite the fresh coat of paint, has seen better days.

I pity the poor fool who's trapped high at the top

when the whole damn thing finally breaks down for good.

* * *

World leaders are essentially "dressed-up puppets;"

the part that snaps at the end of a long whip

most of us never get to see.

~they are, for the most part, fools and criminals,

and we are even bigger fools for believing them~

* * *

~when the truth becomes too fantastic to believe,

we choose instead to believe the lies~

~what a peculiar set of instructions we've all been handed;

the majority of which are lies

believed by the "majority" to be the truth~

I wonder how you will react when you finally discover

the extent to which you have been deceived.

* * *

~I believe we are all basically on the same page,

the problem is, several of us have their pages turned

"upside down"~

Found scribbled on the wall above a urinal:

"If all this is really nothing but a dream . . .

I think I just peed my bed!"

* * *

"Hope"

As I understand it,

Hope is no longer just for people with gambling addictions.

Hope is for everybody!

hmmmmmm . . . . .

Hope is america's newest "designer drug".

Hope is just another form of craving.

And like craving, it too must eventually be given up.

~ nothing disappoints like Hope ~

~Hope is an inflatable love-doll . . . with a slow leak~

People are desperate for "Change"--

providing it allows them to continue living

the way they always have.

* * *

There are moments when Life reminds me of

two amorous dogs who have gotten themselves "stuck together",

. . . sad . . . . . funny . . . . . and somehow strangely elegant

all at the same time-

~it's raining

and Tom is mowing his lawn

because it's Wednesday~

~there are few things in this world more obnoxious

than a retired postal worker

armed with a lawnmower and a leaf blower-

* * *

~and then there is "Facebook" . . .

whose insipid postings are the very "monkey chatter"

many of us spend hours in meditation

trying to rid our minds of~

* * *

The secret to surviving the "american suburban experience"

lies in owning an appliance that is capable of producing more noise

than your nearest neighbor's noisiest appliance.

and while we're on the subject . . .

don't you just love the neighbor's dog?

~let's all Rejoice! . . . America is now "shovel~ready"~

In the future,

nearly everyone will be called a "Hero"

for at least fifteen minutes-

* * *

Solar Celebration

We live in a "sun-crazed" society of

lawn-mowers, leaf-blowers, frisbee-throwers

and golfers in funny looking shoes.

I personally, am a big fan of the sun

and of the healing moisture it bestows each day

upon our drought stricken planet.

WARNING:

"remaining time has elapsed-

insert correct change for additional minutes"

* * *

We are a nation of "gasoholics" -- of sheep;

a living tribute to the petroleum industry!

flying their little airplanes around in circles

until they use up all their gasoline . . .

pushing their little lawnmowers around in circles

until they use up all their gasoline . . .

riding their little motorcycles around in circles

until they use up all their gasoline . . .

until they've used up all the gasoline . . .

all the gasoline . . .

how will you survive without all your pretty toys;

with only the night sky to entertain you

and the wind and rain to keep you company?

When the last machine falls silent,

how will you keep from going crazy?

"Modern Humans" are a disgrace to the natural world.

One day we will be remembered as the "rock and roll band"

that spent the night in a hotel room called Earth.

~people are the land.

destroy the land,

destroy the people~

Distorted Sense of Entitlement:

"But I am an American!" . . . you insist-

"I have a god-given right to: . . . (fill in the blank) . . .

. . . smoke whenever and wherever I please,

brandish as many firearms as I damn well please,

perceive the natural world as "a commodity"

to which I can assign any value I please!" . . .

~You realize of course,

that all of this foolishness cannot continue indefinitely~

~ ~

~The human world is filled with half-truths and lies,

but there is no deceit here beneath these branches.

If "full disclosure" is what you seek,

spend time with Trees;

for they are the true mystics of the modern world~

* * *

Opportunities to surrender oneself to Stillness

are becoming increasingly rare,

as our once quiet world becomes increasingly "humanoized".

Our world has become an over-burdened system;

one in which none of us is getting what we really need or deserve.

Layer upon layer of

"Artificially Animated Junk"

~even if given several thousand more years of

"evolutionary opportunity",

it would still never occur to any indigenous people to invent the

"internal combustion engine"~

And don't you just love it when truck drivers

insist on leaving their engines idling during that late night delivery;

as if gasoline had recently been declared "Free Energy"?

Not only does the incessant noise rouse you from a deep sleep,

but truckers are the always the first to complain about

rising costs at the pumps!

Say What? . . .

~we are continually subjected to toxic levels of noise pollution

which, ironically, few of us ever seem to even notice~

* * *

Of the trees and stars I never tire,

after ten minutes with the herd

I'm ready to expire.

I wish you all could see yourselves from my perspective;

a human blur perpetually spinning at breakneck speed,

hell-bent on accomplishing . . . what exactly?

you dream you are awake while you walk in your sleep,

controlled by a "chosen few" who lead you 'round like sheep

~Fear, Greed and Stupidity continue to fuel the engines of Cluelessness

that are driving us to extinction

while humanity's only real crime is that of sleepwalking~

If the military isn't "running the show"

why are billions being poured into senseless wars

in Iraq and Afghanistan,

while California comes apart at the seams?

The military is running the show alright,

and you're a fool to believe otherwise.

I suspect the real question is: "who's running the military"?

We have been successfully programed to believe

the conspiracy theorists are the ones who are crazy.

america is a "free country"

provided you don't get caught

* * *

"white man's magic"

Why waste perfectly good lead on a bunch of savages,

when they can be eliminated just as effectively

with a few "magic" blankets?

* * *

clockwise thinking is perceiving the world with outlines.

counter-clockwise thinking is perceiving the world without lines-

Requiring validation, much like sexual addiction, is:

"needing other people for all the wrong reasons."

* * *

Beneath the maple, I stood still as stone.

And in the drone of honey bees its tiny flowers

fell in showers of "lime-green snowflakes".

They spoke to me in one Voice

from where they had fallen:

"Time to stop;

time to take a long hard look at what you are doing,

to decide who and what

is really important."

~ why can't our lives be about mining

the infinite potential of Stillness? ~

a multitude of faces spin crazily around me;

beckoning me to join them on their "Wheel of Achievement".

Perhaps what I do best is nothing at all . . .

and so it is that I remain

still as stone in the howling wind

with only the birds, the dancing shadows

and the "lime-green snowflakes" to keep me company-

* * *

~our consensual reality is a kind of congealed madness;

and being a successful functionary of it

is not necessarily proof of one's sanity~

* * *

What good is a belief system

that provides an excuse to condemn someone?

~ perpetuating a lie

is always easier than questioning it ~

* * *

If males were taught to respect

all the aspects of their feminine nature,

there would be fewer crimes against women.

In fact, there would be fewer crimes PERIOD!

* * *

~meanness is really just "me-ness"~

* * *

Organized religion

is the way we keep ourselves from knowing

anything important about our gods.

* * *

Q: "What do you get when you combine equal parts

of ol' time religion with the internal combustion engine?"

A: "Just look around" . . .

* * *

The purpose of your life's journey

is to learn how to die consciously;

to awaken to the dream,

to learn to let go.

And all of the losses along the way

are merely rehearsals for that event.

-Time is a Magic Carpet that is being pulled out from under us-

* * *

We all have images of ourselves that we identify with;

the masks we wear out in the world

by which others identify us.

Wouldn't it be nice if we got to know ourselves and one another

as we really are?

Unfortunately, discarding one's self-image

is about as easy as discarding one's belief system.

This is because they are two sides of the same worthless coin.

Look into the eyes of any child

and imagine how different this world would be

were we to see one another as children

instead of "grown-ups".

~Lost innocence is nearly impossible to restore~

* * *

~The modern world is beginning to effect me in much the same way

as would a poorly written high-school play;

one that reads like a "handbook of deceptions and misconceptions".~

* * *

~humanity is undergoing a "crisis of Spirit";

and what you read in the headlines are merely the symptoms.

We need to realize that we are much more

than appearances would lead us to believe.

We must begin to experience ourselves as

unique multi-dimensional expressions

of one shared Consciousness~

~ we are all buddhas

there is no such thing as "becoming"

we are gods masquerading as fools ~

I have given up trying to "change the world"

or the opinions of the people in it.

All I can say is that one day, many of them are in for a shock.

Now whether this happens before or after they die I cannot say;

but they will be completely shocked by the truth of their existence.

This is because they have not taken the time to step back

and look at the madness that they are perpetuating.

They have not taken the time to "find their Center"

or to connect in some way with "Eternity".

As a result of this failure, we all suffer.

* * *

Take heart-

Despite the ripples that appear on the water . . .

ALL THINGS RETURN TO STILLNESS

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do." These, we are told, were the final words spoken by Jesus as he hung upon the cross. Had he been crucified today, I suspect his closing remarks might have carried with them a somewhat harsher tone:
"Humans are a disgrace! I have run out of compassion for these 'lab rats'. They will NEVER learn, for they are every bit as ignorant as were the gods who spawned them. They continue to blindly worship these gods, and in doing so destroy not only themselves but the world around them."

Consciousness

2008-09-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Exactly how is my consciousness creating this moment?

What is the precise nature of this relationship?

If I could experience beyond a shadow of a doubt

how my sleeping consciousness creates my nightly dreams

then I could dream any dream I desired.

If I could experience beyond a shadow of a doubt

how it is that my waking consciousness creates this dream I am living,

I would then have the ability to live any dream I desired.

So how exactly is my consciousness creating this moment?

Perhaps the way to the answer lies in simply asking the question.

* * *

We have the choice to either perceive the Earth

as a planet inhabited by people who are sleepwalking,

or as a planet which is fast approaching a critical mass of individuals

who are waking up.

Therein lies all the difference.

While some experts suggest that the crop-circle formations

are a form of inter-dimensional communication

intended to aid humanity in its Awakening,

I interpret the pictographs

as an expression or manifestation in the fields

of an evolutionary process already taking place in our collective psyche.

* * *

Do not look for your mind inside of your brain

or anywhere else in your body for that matter.

Your consciousness creates a non-local home for itself to reside in,

and this home is called the physical world.

The world you inhabit is not just

a reflection of what is going on in your mind,

it is an expression of your consciousness; the form that it assumes.

Your external world is your mind.

It is the Dream that you are dreaming.

* * *

A "good story" is the offspring of a union

between consciousness and a fertile imagination.

Physicists often refer to this very union

as "The Big Bang"-

* * *

When you are having a dream, it all feels so REAL.

You believe it is really happening.

And then you wake up and say to yourself,

"That was some dream, it felt so REAL."

It is the same with this Dream we are all having together,

it feels so real . . .

until we wake up!

2008-09-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

~how She shines,

look how She shines

keeping the deep blue from going black~

Entwined on that night,

we locked and rocked in brittle leaves and pine needles.

We formed a knot, You and I,

with our bodies, our minds and our hearts.

Visceral Spirits writhing in molten embrace

in the cool crystalline light beneath the Beltain Moon.

* * *

~bring Me white roses, only white roses

white roses that grow like moonlight

in the gardens of your heart~

bring Me your heart

bring Me your Heart

* * *

On this night the snow

like frozen moonlight

makes ghosts of the trees

and a bridal veil

of a burial shroud.

* * *

~in the stars we witness Eternity's radiance

shining through the eyelets of the masks of Time~

~as I gaze up at the stars and stare into forever

I can think of no finer way to go,

than to be struck in the heart by a meteorite

upon whose fiery path my name is written~

* * *

~when the night wind descends like a cellist

and draws its frightful bow across howling limbs,

those with shallow roots are the first to fall,

first to fall

when the night winds wail ~

* * *

~some look upon Death and see only death

some look beyond Death and see only stars~

* * *

For Arianrhod

I long to feel You shudder from my worship,

to be deafened by Your cries

as You drench my face in Your pleasure;

to penetrate with my consciousness Your Sacred Womb

in order to be reborn in Your Light-

. . . just beneath the flesh we are male and female

. . . just beneath the flesh we are Light

. . . just beneath the flesh we are spirit and nature

. . . just beneath the flesh we are One-

* * *

Eye to eye we stood

in the bright sunlight and splashing sea.

Have You now somehow forgotten

those ancient words You spoke to me?

"You and I are One.

You and I are Eternal.

You see the world through My eyes and I through yours.

We are Spirit and Nature living together."

Celestial Lullaby

I looked on, as Venus disappeared

into the southwest abyss.

Like a child drifting off to sleep,

She bid the world goodnight.

* * *

A choir of naked moss-mottled giants

swollen with ancient secrets,

chants in the luminous mist of a moonlit grove.

While dappled shadow-beings

tumble from their glistening lichen cradles;

spider-drop eerily to the decaying carpet

and spin like dreidels

in the translucent alchemy of a mid-night mass.

* * *

Prima Materia

It's all Alchemy, though the notion of a sacred Oedipal union or reunion between mother and child in a ritual of Purification and rebirth into Luminosity is to some, reprehensible. And yet, it is the hinge-pin of mayan cosmology, and the primary significance of the galactic alignment of December 21st. 2012.

"Oh the Mother and Child reunion is only a "notion" away-

2008-09-26T01:49:00.000-07:00

Look around you,

it's all the same consciousness.

We borrow from it

the way the moon borrows her light from the sun.

We are the Self looking back at Itself

from behind someone else's eyes.

* * *

~ Compassion is another way of saying:

"I recognize that you are me" ~

* * *

You are the Dreamer not the dreamed;

the Center of all circles.

You are

things as they are.

You are

everyone in your life.

~the illusion of separateness is an elaborate hoax

perpetrated by a SELF

pretending to be "all-of-us"~

if you sincerely wish to "disappear",

begin by identifying with the world around you

rather than putting yourself at odds with it.

And then let go of that . . .

* * *

~All living things exist as expressions

of the curiosity that Consciousness has about Itself.

And Its continued curiosity and experimentation

is what we call Life.

When Consciousness is no longer curious,

we cease to exist~

* * *

We have the Vatican to thank

for sowing the seeds of "Original Sin" in our collective psyche;

that bondage of inherited unworthiness

out of which we create lives of self-imposed drudgery.

We create, after all, what we believe we deserve-

~If more people were to follow their bliss,

we would be living in a blissful world.

Unfortunately, far too many of us are following our misery-

* * *

The "2012 Meltdown Scenario"

is the ultimate "Fear-based Belief System".

We do not exist!

There is only this moment happening.

It is out of our confusion that we create

elaborate mythologies about our-selves and the world around us.

~Like the shadows of falling leaves

we dream we exist,

the result of this lie

is we sleep through our lives

and wake-up when we die~

* * *

~in order to exist fully,

you must first realize you do not actually exist at all~

* * *

~Alchemically speaking, there are those of us

who are content with being Lead~

* * *

~Synchronicity is a "not so subtle reminder"

that your Life is "doing you"

and not the other way around~

Shuffled

2008-09-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

I am no one

I am no where

every truth I have ever known

has shredded me in the learning of it-

* * *

we all surrender

sooner or later

* * *

Wasteland

What is this really all about?

Is it about anything at all?

What I feel now is mostly sorrow;

sorrow for an inauthentic world that has lost its Center

and is spinning completely out of control.

~how am I to function in a world that makes so little sense to me~

Overcome by loneliness and a sense of disconnection,

I took a walk in the woods.

I stopped. I listened. I felt.

I came to realize that this is my body.

The earth beneath me, the trees beside me

the distant hills and sky above me;

MY REAL BODY!

I am the eyes and ears and voice of this body,

and the wind that sings in the trees is my breath.

I also came to realize the only thing I feel disconnected from

is this "Stupid-Human-Trick" we call the Modern World-

~this natural world-

this I'll own, this I'll embrace,

this is my body;

embracing the "other" is like wearing a sickness~

~looking back, I suddenly realize

I am the missing piece I have spent my life in search of~

~each of us is the world's "best kept secret"~

never stop asking yourself

"WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT"

* * *

"Progress"

The world is becoming progressively artificial

as its Soul is systematically squeezed from it.

I have always felt like somewhat of a misfit,

but never more so than I do now.

all around me reality

skips like a worn record

* * *

~How many of you still believe this "play" is really happening?~

~As humans, we are ill-equipped to experience Enlightenment.

In order to wake up

we essentially need to "break all our toys"~

~~~

The Dream is unravelling . . .

Time now to turn inward,

toward the one thing

that isn't coming apart all around you.

Energy and Intention,

that's all there is-

~learn to balance on nothing,

to be quiet,

to remain in the Center

where nothing spins

to be still as stone in the howling winds ~

~shadowsandlightinmotion~

Our cat looked on indifferently as I respectfully buried the dead bird.

Sometimes the "perfection" of the natural world

really pisses me off!

None of this really matters;

the right and the wrong of it doesn't matter.

I know this to be true from

EXPERIENCE!

No one ever said the acquisition of such knowledge would be easy-

~shadowsandlightinmotion~

~It's not in your mind,

do not look for the truth in your mind.

It is somewhere else,

it is all around~

* * *

Art is a verb;

a releasing of the impulse that inspired its creation.

Art is NOT a commodity.

Like death, its purpose is to remind us of what is important.

* * *

"Machine Parts"

When making art becomes more important

than making war or making money,

I'll know the world has finally returned to its senses.

We are surrounded by machines

because, in many ways, we have become machines ourselves.

If we were the natural beings we presume ourselves to be,

we would be living in a garden world.

* * *

There is no down from here.

We are all bottom-feeders in an ocean of what is;

and there's nowhere to go but up-

~ one could even go so far as to say

we are little more than "dreaming mulch" ~

* * *

Who among you is not embedded in a belief system?

In times of crisis, your belief system will be unavailable to you.

All you will have to see you through is what is in your heart.

* * *

If you sincerely wish to change your world,

begin by saying "YES" to EVERYTHING in it-

For it is by saying "NO" that we gradually shut ourselves off,

and eventually have no effect upon it!

* * *

~When your mind sees only futility and impending doom,

ask your heart what it sees.

Your mind cannot be trusted,

only your heart knows the way home~

Listen:

2008-09-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

to the space between the raindrops,

everything you need to know is hidden there~

~ listen to the music of the natural world,

so many notes, so many chords, so many rhythms ~

~the wind is a river flowing

through all the trees in your neighborhood~

~so few of us ever fully appreciate

what an extraordinary Gift it is just to be here~

~take time out each day,

and try to imagine living in a world

without the ones you love the most;

then let them know each day how you REALLY feel about them~

* * *

give a crow a stiff, cold, wet headwind . . .

and he will play with it-

* * *

that sound . . .

is it something the wind is doing to the trees?

Or are the trees doing it to the wind?

. . . or is it something else

* * *

~the drone of machines

suddenly stops and there is a breath . . .

a held breath

and in that moment I realize who I really am,

and that the rest is madness~

* * *

~stand alone among the trees beneath a light rain

and allow your surroundings to gently dismantle you~

All separation is an illusion.

Nothing exists independently of anything else.

Observer, observed and the "act of observing"-

a seamless and undifferentiated coexistence

whose spell is broken

the moment we impose our judgement upon it.

~I feel the HeartWave from the center of the galaxy coursing

through the tangled fragility of your limbs and into me.

As it spills out into the innocence

of my lime-green surroundings,

I realize that there isn't anything that isn't me~

* * *

~stillness is the bridge between worlds~

and like a thief I steal

moments of stillness

when no one is looking

~ Standing beside the apple tree,

I heard Her speak to me in a loving voice.

"You are Me", She said, "and you are THIS!"

This is your true identity as well as the source of all your power."

I feel Your form and Your spirit coexisting in this moment.

And I realize the Spirit Realm is accessed

through the natural world, and not in avoidance of it ~

* * *

build yourself a fire

and then just sit with it . . .

. . . perhaps in time it will speak to you-

* * *

~stillness overcomes you when you least expect it~

~the essence of Stillness is anything but still.

Far from its apparent tranquility,

it is a lushly animated field

of subtle waves and vibrations.

Stillness is a Feast

at whose table we choose to starve~

* * *

in each swollen drop of moisture an entire universe

can be seen clinging

to the underside of every rain-laden stem-

and as each lets go,

an entire world goes along with it . . .

* * *

trees don't lie-

there is no Time in this moment.

The trees are alive with birds

and that is enough-

~trees are my connection with the earth

the stars

the center of the galaxy

the Mother

the One~

* * *

Sit quietly and let go of all the rules.

Are your fingers aware of the space between them,

or is it the space that is aware of your fingers?

* * *

~ EVERYTHING IS DIVINE

(reptilian-alien hybrids notwithstanding)

EVERYTHING

is the "finger pointing the Way" ~

* * *

like siddhartha's river the wind

rushes through rippling leaves on its way

to and from nowhere and everywhere

* * *

Listen

until you are able to hear the sound of moonlight

pouring onto the earth.

At this point you will know

you have become a good listener.

* * *

the fog reminds us that the space between things

is not really empty-

~the wind in the trees sounds like prayers,

and the rain descends upon the leaves

like a spell cast by a faery princess~

* * *

Strive therefore to connect with the Plant Kingdom

NOW, while you are still alive!

Do not postpone it until the day arrives

when your precious body liquifies

and becomes a "smoothie" for a thirsty cottonwood.

* * *

~beyond all notions of gods and goddesses,

there is a Voice that speaks lovingly to me

in the wind and the rain~

* * *

~red tailed hawks, mates no doubt

spiral 'round a crescent moon

against a bright blue sunlit sky~

* * *

Heaven is:

standing in a faery-ring

making wishes on the lightening strikes

amid the squawking of crows

and pattering of rain upon my umbrella . . .

~practice joyful participation in the Mystery~

2008-09-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

True wealth cannot be found

in your accomplishments or your possessions,

for it lies in the quality of the relationships

you have engendered with other living things.

* * *

You share this dream you are having

with a multitude of gods and goddesses

whose only concern is that of helping you to wake up.

Many of these divine beings are often referred to as "other people".

* * *

If you can think of just one thing in your world

that you would consider to be miraculous,

then rest assured that by its very existence,

everything else in your world is equally miraculous!

Because the Truth is, there is no such thing as Things.

There is no such thing as Separation.

It's all one continuous miraculous event-

* * *

All Reality is Imaginary.

In order to create the kind of world you wish to live in,

you must first surrender to your life just as it is.

Then imagine whatever you desire without attachment or expectation.

Believe in your heart that you deserve it,

and feel as if it has already happened-

* * *

The world of form, though illusory,

can be seen as a kind of Stairway to Heaven.

For it is the means by which we are able to have

a direct experience with the Transcendent.

The events of your daily life are relatively unimportant.

What is important is whether or not you use them

to experience your own divinity and the divinity of those around you.

Einstein considered the physical world

to be merely the tail of an invisible Lion.

Get to know that Lion.

* * *

God must be a Verb

for whenever I look inward for signs of God

all I ever find is emptiness.

I believe this is because the One for whom I am looking is

the Looking~

* * *

there is no where,

there is no here or there-

All exists as One

in different vibrations-

in order to change your location,

simply change your vibration!

She spoke to me

2008-09-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

She spoke to me, this unmarked stranger,

from somewhere beneath the vase of

freshly cut flowers.

I stood there listening in the fading light,

sinking into her newly laid sod

with the burden I carried with me.

“If council from the dead is what you seek,

all I can tell you is this:

You must love your life.

You must do everything you want to do in it.

For once you are gone,

You Will Miss It!

You will wish you had just one more day

to do all of the things you spent your entire life

saying NO to.”

* * *

Why are we so obsessed with the pursuit of pleasure

when it is our pain that draws us closest to our Truth;

closest to our fragility and our mortality.

Can it be that our deepest reality

is the very last thing we wish to know about ourselves?

Some things we can do

2008-09-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

Our toxic way of life is finally dying,

and I suspect a few of us will be given the opportunity to begin again.

What do you say we do it right this time!

* * *

We need to stop what we are doing.
We need to learn to get by with a lot less.
We need to reacquaint ourselves
with the rhythms and cycles of the natural world.
We need to begin to experience one another
and the world around us as manifestations of Spirit.
If we do not learn to do this,
and if we do not teach our children to do this,
we will be turned under in the mulching.
It’s really that simple

* * *

Question EVERYTHING!

Most of what you have been led to believe is the TRUTH,

is in all likelihood, a LIE -

your Government can't save you,

your Religion can't save you,

your Money can't save you,

only You can save you,

only you can wake up!

What are you waiting for?

* * *

~The easiest thing you will ever do

is become the person you were "brought up" to be.

The most difficult thing you will ever do

is become the person you really are~