Our Friends Don’t Have To Look Like Us
Creatures of the natural world know the times–they are a changin’. It’s time to come together.
Photos received in an email:
How you been?
You look familiar. Have we met before?
Don't worry; I've got ya!
Mom said you HAVE to share!
Share a nuzzle?
My little buddy
To Make the Transformation Our Greatest Desire
Last night I was thinking of all the non-profit organizations that serve the underserved, those that work to change the quality of life for people who live in poverty or disease or terror. No matter how we may judge others—the homeless, the addicted, the violent, the starving, those dying en masse—deep down, we know that we would likely do no better if we lived in their circumstances.
I am amazed by people who care so much that they establish and work in non-profit organizations to make a difference, to do something that matters, something beyond themselves. Their trials and fears and even hopelessness might at times overtake them, but they do what they can, one day, one person, one family, one village at a time. The Generation We’s, born 1978-2000—they are the ones who are left mopping up the horrors created by my generation, the Me-My-Mine-Boomers. We thought we were so cool—too cool—and now we’ve nearly destroyed our planet and our country, the once-United States.
I hope the Gen We’s are strong of heart and that they will really listen to each other so that all the world’s children may someday live in stable, happy communities on a healthy planet. For this to happen, it’s become obvious that a general shift in consciousness is necessary. It’s not enough for small groups of people to dedicate themselves to doing good while the tidal wave of corruption crashes over the world, destroying everyone and all that is beautiful in its path. For this shift to happen, some percentage of us must make the transformation our greatest desire—above all else in our lives. In this way, we become portals and help to stabilize the Love, the healing ‘Force,’ amongst our populations, wherever we are. May I choose to do so, may you choose to do so, for never has the need been so great.
The Urge to Merge
Before we embark on a spiritual journey, it’s very easy to feel like we’re stuck, spinning out of control. There is a veil between us and the Light and if we never get to the point where we need answers, we’re distraught and feel abandoned. Why the veil? Good question; I think it has something to do with our free-will status. We choose to live in the separate state of being until we decide we want—we need—to merge. But, merge with what or whom?
I think of each of us as two beings, one personality-based, a Little Self; and one our Divine spark, a Higher Self. Our Little Selves desire, demand and spend their energy figuring out how to get what they want. Our Higher Selves see far beyond me-me-me and seek the embrace of the Divine, however we are nudged. We each have a pathway to the Light, specifically designed for us. That’s why non-acceptance of another’s life or spiritual path is Little Self behavior—how we return to the Light is between each of us and God (Love/Universe/Great Spirit/Goddess/ Allah.)
I suppose that Light-seeking doesn’t have to be a long, winding, difficult road, but it is for most of us. The more we quiet ourselves and the more we become our Higher Selves, the more our Little Selves are exposed. We then peel away yet another layer of the ‘onion,’ letting go as we can of whatever false desire we’ve uncovered. (I call them false because they lead us toward more gains, more acclaim—but also more pain and disappointment.)
And, as agonizing as spiritual seeking can be at times, if we don’t begin, we’ll never find our way Home. (No one can force us into the Light.) Sometimes the ‘cool’ factor gets to us and we spend a period of our life being ‘in’ and it’s fun for a while. At some point, though, this simply isn’t enough and we continue our diving expedition.
The most important life lesson I’ve learned along the way is about guilt and shame. I spent years with my head hung low and became ill with a chronic illness, holding myself away from the Source of Love because I was so bad, I didn’t deserve to be Loved. This was the greatest trick of all that I played on myself. My Little Self was ‘large and in charge’ of this ploy and wow, was I determined to be unlovable. My illness eventually became a blessing as it forced me to slow down and face the truth: I am a child of the Creator of the Universe and I am LOVED. So are you. So are we all.
Which Side Are You On?
From Mike Hopkins of the blog Stranger in a Strange Land:
Inspiring music from Jackson Browne and Dawes: Will YOU Occupy?
Stone People: Aiding My Relationship with Animal Friends
Help with animals from the stone people
I used the Kiva Spread from the Sacred Path Cards and Book set, by Jamie Sams, back in November. It’s a ten-card spread designed to give the user insight into the framework of her life. The ten areas are: 1) Presentation to the world, 2) Being at one with the Sacred, 3) Growing the inner life, 4) Relationship with the Stone People, 5) Relationship with the Standing People, 6) Relationship with Creature Beings, 7) Relationship with the Sky Nation, 8) Relationship with the Subterrainiums, 9) How our Ancestors aid us, and last, 10) Relationship with the Kachinas.
Today I write about the sixth card I chose, for relating with the Creature Beings (the four-leggeds, the winged ones, the finned ones and the creepy crawlers). Jamie Sams says creatures are our teachers and wish to aid us as we journey through life. (I’ll probably never forget my experiences with the coyotes, the red-tailed hawks and the crows.) I asked to make my connection to creatures stronger, then chose the card, Stone People. I felt uncertain about this choice—stones to help me become closer to living creatures?—but Sams says stones are filled with the electromagnetic energy of the earth and the world’s history is stored within them. We can access our own past-lives by using meditation (or prayer, singing, or drumming, etc.) when holding stones that have drawn our attention. This is their service to us. (If anything comes to my wise friends about stones aiding my connection to creatures, I would sincerely appreciate your insights. Perhaps it is finding memories of relationships?)
Markings on rocks reflect their stored memories. A stone with a natural hole through it, is a protective stone—we definitely should give thanks and keep it. (Sams asks us to remember to leave something, a gift (she uses tobacco), wherever we take something from the earth. I’m always picking up little things on my walks, but haven’t left anything besides my heartfelt thanks because I don’t have any tobacco plants. I recently realized I could use some beads I have made from natural materials, but my heart doesn’t feel the same expansion when I leave them, which is also a mystery to me.)
Stone People can be used to find balance. Sams says, ‘Overeating or talking too much? Dealing with addictions, compulsions or erratic behaviors? To calm the mind, body or spirit, hold a Stone Person and breathe until the nervousness passes. This anchors us to our Earth Mother and is the mission of the Stone People.’
Stones have long been used for divination, forecasting and to find lost things, as pendulums, I’m thinking. They can help us know where we came from originally and where we go after our bodies die. Sams says to open our minds and hearts, for Stone People can introduce us to a whole new world that could change the way we view life.
But, I’m Only Human!
Have you ever wondered what the Garden of Eden was like—what Paradise is for humans? It must’ve been breathtaking in its beauty. Were trees and plants heavy laden with food that was always ripe? The water had to be running clear and strong and probably had healing properties. Did scorpions and mosquitoes and rats live there? Did God’s children live for hundreds of years in this place where there was no fear or danger? Can you imagine the sky—the sunrises and sunsets? We descendants may have polluted our atmosphere beyond recognition compared to the original, yet our sky still looks like a master painted it every day.
I believe there is something in the Edgar Cayce readings about ‘the fall,’ the temptation being to mate physically like animals for the purposes of pleasure. (There may also be readings about humans actually mating with animals, thus the mythological centaurs and the like. Cayce says our Creator reconfigured our DNA so that we couldn’t do that anymore. Can’t you just hear certain angels saying to God on the subject of free will, “We told you so!”) And isn’t there something in the Bible about woman’s punishment being the pain of physical childbirth? Physical pleasure equals physical pain as in, we can’t have one without the other. I’ve seen movies depicting two people coming together in Light and being filled with joy. Were we intended to create our children in this way of the Light?
Did the dark aspects of human nature spring from a desire for pleasure as in, once the door was opened all this other stuff shot through? Jealousy: “He’s mine!” and then, with chest pounding and a Tarzan call, “I mated with her. She’s my woman!” Could this be why Cain killed Abel? Jealousy grew to envying others’ status, abilities and possessions, while the owner of the excess was filled with pride as in, “Damn, I’m good!” Almost all of us forget that our talents and abilities are Creator-given. Have you ever thought, “My beauty, my high I.Q., my musical or artistic gifts are due to my breeding and they’re mine to use as I choose!” I know a woman, hard-working, creative and talented, who simply remembers to say, “Thanks, Lord,” at every accomplishment.
Did we only need a few grapes to live in Paradise? I have a ‘sweet tooth,’ which is a polite way of referring to gluttony. (Why is it so hard to stop at just one donut?) Greed is desire for material wealth–stuff. (It is, however, apparently all right for women to own as many pairs of shoes as we want.:) ) Sloth is extreme laziness; we don’t see that one much. It seems like we desire doing way more than not-doing. Lust is defined as craving sex, power and money. Our temptations all loop together on a great big wheel, don’t they? Partaking causes us to act selfishly and in this way we separate ourselves from the Love that created the universe.
Some say it was our desire for knowledge that caused us to sink below the Creator’s level of vibration. Maybe we wanted to experience everything, even to make new stuff up, but on our own, our everything isn’t so beautiful. I believe we are co-creators and, wow, what a gift! We just have to climb the ladder so we can see up there what the real hook-up is.
Love and the End of Domination, A Guest Post by Michael Brine
A Guest Post from Michael Brine:
“Only when you drink from the river of
Silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the
Mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.”
~Kahlil Gibran
What is “God?”
What God is can best be described as the collectiveness of mankind, whether seen or unseen, and in the virtue of mankind’s existence, God, through that description, is unconditional and open-ended Love – because in the realisation of what God is is the realisation of what we are – that we are God and we always have been. That we are not evil or corrupt in our souls, as we have been taught. That we are really divine in our souls and with that learning – that profoundness of learning – it allows us the vision, the hope, the desire to become all that we can be, which is unlimited probability. That gets us out of the harshness of our own creations and gives us hope.
It teaches us how to love!
~Author unknown
Quoted from Servers of the Divine Plan:
Male/Female Imbalance:
“It is evident that there has been an extreme patriarchal imbalance upon Earth for a very long time. The innate creative and intuitive qualities of the feminine spirit have been long-feared by distorted male perception, and as a result women have been repressed, dominated and persecuted throughout history. In order to bring equilibrium in a world that has known so much control by the male force, the majority of Server-souls upon Earth at this time have chosen to incarnate in female bodies. As agents of change, these valiant envoys of the New Spirit bring to the planet a very high concentration of feminine power that will presently resolve the patriarchal problem upon Earth once and for all, restoring much needed balance and harmony that will benefit everyone in the New World, both women AND men. During the time leading up to the Great Transition, however, and since male authority is still presently the controlling power, female Servers will continue to experience something of the anguish of the collective persecution endured by so many women over the ages. Nonetheless, they are assured that their long awaited time of liberation and victory is today at hand.”
From Michael Brine:
I fully realise that some of the material I present in my columns may cause some readers to feel uncomfortable – even annoyed. It is not done to annoy but to suggest that perhaps there are other ways to view life. The world is passing through very disturbing times and much of this disturbance is being caused by severe religious differences. These differences are mostly caused by some of the more extreme followers of the three Abraham based religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity. I imagine that the persons who originally gave of their wisdom those many years ago must be shaking their collective heads in great sadness when they witness how men have so corrupted their simple teachings such as, “Love ye one and other,” and “Judge not.” Sadly, judgment would seem to have become a constant in all three.
Let me leave it at that – but I ask you to think about it.
Be well,
Michael Brine
If you wish to comment my e-mail address is: wild.brine621@gmail com. Other writings of mine may be accessed at: www.missionignition.net/btb.
When Goodness Overtakes the Darkness
I was flipping TV channels earlier and stopped for a period at one of the Alien movies. Finally, the creatures were so truly hideous, I had to put on a music channel. And their unfettered focus on power, control and destruction was frightening— but the movie did get me thinking. Are we humans so different from those horrible monsters?
We truly are mixed bags of thoughts, emotions, judgments and beliefs. We spend our lives searching for others most like us and deciding what we will and will not tolerate. For many of us, what we won’t tolerate defines us. We make a stance behind our lines in the soil–and life teaches us, all of us. This is simply how we are.
We are surrounded by human ‘walls’ at home, work, in our synagogues/mosques/churches, cities and states, our country and in the world. Claiming territory and ‘father knows best’ has always caused us to go to war—WAR: annihilation of enough of the living that the point is made: I’m the king/prince/ president/pope/senator/dictator; I say what goes. Until the next king/dictator can kill enough of the living to make his point. Back and forth, forth and back.
And what about evil? Should we stand by when men who controlled by their dark-selves try to take over a neighborhood, a city, a country, the world? I believe the Catholic Church calls wars to stop evil ‘just’ or moral wars as in, ‘Evil takes over when good people do nothing.’ So, sometimes we have to go to war. Sometimes ‘war’ is a whole bunch of us practicing civil disobedience because changing banks or ‘not spending’ isn’t enough. Why? Because anywhere men grow their power until its hurts everyone else, they won’t just step down. They step it UP.
The election process in America is flawed, because our laws allow corruption to flourish; thus the ‘Occupy’ movement was born. Who are the Occupiers? People who want to take down the fences, open the windows and let in some fresh air and light. People who want goodness for every child in the world and the world, too. People of new beginnings, fresh perspectives, and healing.
We Americans won’t elect People of the Light in November, because there are no People of the Light running for office. They’re in the streets. Maybe we can open up and join them, meet together and start something—changing laws for the good—at the local level. Let’s make Talking Sticks and pass them around our circles and only the holder of the Stick talks–one at a time, no shouting. The rest of us listen. From these kinds of circles, Spirit moves and heals and lights the way.
The Kiva Spread, Finding My Power Place: The Standing People
The maple trees have lost most of their bark here
The fifth card I chose using the Kiva Spread from The Sacred Path Cards and Book set by Jamie Sams, wwas to find my Power Places on Mother Earth. I chose the Standing People—trees—which made me smile. I love trees so much! The Standing People card says I have a relationship with trees; that they aid me in finding my roots, or the root of a problem. They show me how to stay well planted, to bend and to love, to give and to receive. Their branches represent creativity and their fruits are the truths of the sincere seeker. Lifting my own branches high and deepening my roots, I become a bridge to the Sky World, same as the trees. The trees ask me to find blockages and to go deeper to ensure future growth and stand proud among my Tree Relations. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by the large, strong and old trees in my new setting. I’ve inserted some pictures of them.
Regarding Power Places, Jamie Sams says energy flows from Mother Earth’s electromagnetic body to our electromagnetic bodies when we find our quiet places and ask to be energized through singing, drumming, dancing or ritual energy-gathering. Through joy and prayer we connect to our power places—this is literal empowerment. Sams says every inch of Earth is sacred and is a connecting place for someone. She explains that stones are Mother Earth’s bones, her soil is like our flesh and the waters are her blood. (I got a chill when I read this and thought: ‘What have we done!’) We walk to find our place and sit quietly to reconnect. If the place is right and our connection strong, energy builds and we become one with the clan chiefs of Air, Earth, Water and Fire. We can heal and be healed in this way, and use stones from this location to access the records of our lives.
Pines Watching Over Me
Our Mother has energy lines that are akin to the energy meridians of our bodies and she uses them to send us energy. Can a mother possibly give more than this? (I once read about a man who used divining rods to dowse for water; eventually he could see the energy lines in the soil and no longer used the rods.) The Great Mystery has given us the legacy of using our gifts to redirect the forces of nature to make better planetary conditions. We can call for rain, a vision, fertility and healing by expressing gratitude for the Earth’s gifts and for our own. Our energy and power will increase as long as we don’t try to control or misuse the power or our connection to our gifts. Our fears of failure and misuse are banished and our Mother shares her joy, love, healing, compassion and unity with us so that we become a catalyzer, a person who effects change for the better. Finally, Sams says we are each responsible for our personal healing and empowerment. As much as I have wished for someone with a magic wand, what other way could it be?
Re: the photos of trees, it’s hot and dry in Arizona and the trees are very different from those in Northern Nevada, where I recently moved from. The branches and even some tree trunks twist and turn and form into odd shapes. They seem more individual here to me. Some of these pictures are of the pines outside my living room window and others are simply interesting. I believe this area was once a fig grove, because there are so many on the property, but there are lots of maples, too, and they have always been my favorite tree.
New Year, New Energies
A couple of days ago when I was walking my dog, I was suddenly overcome with the sense that I WAS a character in a movie—the plot being the battle between a cabal of mad men who have hidden the real world and people who were beginning to wake up and smell the coffee, so to speak. I felt like I was stuck under a tightly woven, thick, sticky web, but I was desperately stretching my arm toward a couple of specks of light I could see. I had to punch through!
All the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, the beloved guru who established the Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920 in L.A., are about how to make the journey from the dark world of the little-self to the real world of light and Love. Each time I’ve read his famous book, Autobiography of a Yogi, I’m struck again by his devotion to the Divine, to Love, and to showing others the path Home. His tremendous Love washes over the reader and for a while we’re left with the sense, “Ohhh! So this ISN’T the real world? I see! I see!” Then, of course, comes the most difficult of journeys–the journey of lifetimes–the learning to let go of what we hold most dear to ourselves, to trust in our Higher Selves and in the Higher Plan. Which brings me back to punching through that sticky web!
It’s a new year tomorrow, 2012, the beginning of a new cycle in time. And, as Paul Walsh reports at his blog, http://imagineight.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/long-year-coming/, February 3rd marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the year of the dragon. Unlike the evil, destructive European dragons, the mythic dragons of China represent good luck, wealth, potent power, strength, ambition, passion, self-assurance, and fearlessness—a tendency to act without thinking of, or even caring about, the consequences.
It will likely be an intense year for most of us in one way or another. We’ll need to consciously keep our balance and remind ourselves that this world of drama, money, politics, disasters and superficiality is not the real world. Beyond that awful sticky web is the world of Light and Love, a beautiful place where our souls are right at home. I believe that when we die, after a period of transition and help, we go to one of the levels of ‘heaven’ and that ultimately we will become fully aware of our oneness with God/Love/Universe. I hear we can achieve that state while we are alive, also, through meditation.
Whatever Father Time brings us in 2012, we can be fully confident that we are far more than the animals we have often been throughout our remembered history—we are the sons and daughters of God/Goddess/Great Mystery and knowing God is our birthright. May you be blessed with insight and Love in 2012. Thank you for reading here.
Enter the Portals of the New Year with New Hope, A Guest Post by Paramahansa Yogananda
By Paramahansa Yogananda
This is my message to you for the New Year:
Your cup of life within and without is filled with the Divine Presence, but because of the lack of attention you do not perceive God’s immanence. When you are in tune, as one tunes in a radio, then you receive Spirit. It is as if you take a bottle of sea water, cork it, and put it in the ocean; although the bottle floats in the waters, its contents do not mix with its oceanic surroundings. But open the bottle, and the water inside merges with the sea. We must remove the cork of ignorance before we can come in contact with Spirit.
* * *
Infinity is our Home. We are just sojourning awhile in the caravanserai of the body. Those who are drunk with delusion have forgotten how to follow the trail that leads to God. But when in meditation the Divine gets hold of the prodigal child, there is no dallying anymore.
Enter the portals of the New Year with new hope. Remember you are a child of God. It lies with you as to what you are going to be. Be proud that you are a child of God. What have you to fear? No matter what comes, believe it is the Lord who is sending that to you; and you must succeed in conquering those daily challenges. Therein lies your victory. Do His will; nothing can hurt you then. He loves you everlastingly. Think that. Believe that. Know that. And suddenly one day you will find you are immortally alive in God.
Meditate more and believe in that strong consciousness that God is always with you regardless of what happens. Then you will see that the veil of delusion will be taken away and you will be one with That which is God. That is how I found my greatest happiness in life. I am not looking for anything now because I have everything in Him. Never would I part with That which is the richest of all possessions.
The excerpts above are from a talk given by Paramahansa Yogananda at the International Headquarters of the society he founded, Self-Realization Fellowship, on New Year’s Eve, 1934. The entire talk is published in Journey to Self-realization, Volume III of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Collected Talks and Essays. (Self-Realization Fellowship, copyright©1997, Los Angeles; reprinted with permission.) For more information about the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, visit www.yogananda-srf.org.
Change Bad Habits with Determination, A Guest Post By Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansa Yogananda; Photo courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, Ca
By Paramahansa Yogananda
The following excerpts are from a talk given by Paramahansa Yogananda at the International Headquarters of the society he founded, Self-Realization Fellowship, on New Year’s Eve, 1934. The entire talk is published in Journey to Self-realization, Volume III of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Collected Talks and Essays. (Self-Realization Fellowship, copyright©1997, Los Angeles; reprinted with permission.) For more information about the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, visit www.yogananda-srf.org.
Bad habits are the worst enemies you can have. You are punished by those habits. They make you do things you do not want to do, and leave you to suffer the consequences. You must drop bad habits and leave them behind you as you move forward. Every day should be a transition from old habits to better habits. In this coming year make a solemn resolution to keep only those habits that are for your highest good.
The best way to get rid of your undesirable tendencies is not to think about them; do not acknowledge them. Never concede that a habit has a hold on you….You must develop “won’t” habits. And stay away from those things that stimulate bad habits.
* * *
Do not limit yourself with the narrowness of selfishness. Include others in your achievements and happiness, then you are doing the will of God. Whenever you think of yourself, think also of others. When you think of seeking peace, think of others who are in need of peace. If you do your utmost to make others happy, you will find that you are pleasing the Father.
To live in harmony, to live with strong will power to do the will of Him who sent you, is all you should be interested in. Never lose courage, and always be smiling. Have the smile of the heart and the smile of the face completely in harmony. If your body, mind, and soul register the smile of the inner consciousness of God, you can scatter smiles about you wherever you go.
* * *
Be always with people who inspire you; surround yourself with people who lift you up. Do not let your resolutions and positive thinking be poisoned by bad company. Even if you cannot find good company to inspire you, you can find it in meditation. The best company you can have is the joy of meditation.
Make New Determinations: Be What You Want to Be! A Guest Post By Paramahansa Yogananda
Note: The inspiring guru from India, Paramahansa Yogananda, who lived from 1893 to 1952, and who established the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles in 1920, lived to share the ancient teachings of yoga with Westerners and promote understanding between people of differing religions. (An image of Jesus Christ appears with P.Y.’s line of gurus at all SRF centers.)
by Paramahansa Yogananda
The following excerpts are from a talk given by Paramahansa Yogananda at the International Headquarters of the society he founded, Self-Realization Fellowship, on New Year’s Eve, 1934. The entire talk is published in Journey to Self- realization, Volume III of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Collected Talks and Essays. (Self-Realization Fellowship, copyright©1997, Los Angeles; reprinted with permission.)
Make new determinations as to what you are going to do and what you are going to be in this next year. Set a program for yourself; carry it through, and you will find how much happier you will be. Failure to keep to your schedule of improvement means you have paralyzed your will. You have no greater friend and no greater enemy than yourself. If you befriend yourself, you will find accomplishment. There is no law of God preventing you from being what you want to be and accomplishing what you want to accomplish. Nothing detrimental that happens can affect you unless you sanction it.
* * *
Let nothing weaken your conviction that you can be whatever you want to be. There is no one obstructing you unless it be yourself. Though my master Swami Sri Yukteswarji again and again told me that, it was hard to believe it at first. But as I used the God-given gift of will power in my life, I found it to be my savior. Not to use the will is to be inert like a stone, an inanimate object—an ineffectual human being.
* * *
Constructive thought will absolutely, like a great hidden searchlight, show you the pathway to success. There is always a way to be found if you think hard enough. People who give up after a little while bedim their power of thought. In order to gain your end, you must do your utmost to use thought until it is luminous enough to reveal to you the way to your goal.
Cast away all negative thoughts and fears. Remember that as a child of God you are endowed with the same potentialities as the most excellent among men. As souls, none is greater than another. Attune your will to be guided by the wisdom of God as expressed in the wisdom of the sages. If your will is yoked to wisdom, you can achieve anything.
The Beautiful Glowing Man
Cosmic Christ
Dear Readers,
I send you blessings for a Merry Christmas (or the holiday you are celebrating) and pray that God/Love/Great Mystery will bless you in the brand new year.
P.S. — However these memories happen, this is how I think of Jesus, the Christ:
God, he was beautiful. His skin almost glowed; his features were perfectly symmetrical. It was impossible to look into his eyes without your heart skipping a beat. Was he a magician? Some thought so, because he looked into their souls and they felt it, a measuring of sorts. “Who are you?” his eyes asked. “What is important to you? How have you lived?”
He was a teacher of Life, with a capital L–the things of permanence. Oh, he loved his family, even had a profession and friends, but only a few wanted to be with him. He was from another world and sometimes things got spooky, like when he read their minds. It took courage to stay with him, and a desire to see beyond what we humans can see with our physical eyes.
Life was hard, but he didn’t seem to care. He wouldn’t listen to rants; he talked only about love and forgiveness, beauty and joy. “Let me show you,” he’d say, and they’d sit together around a fire and listen to his stories. He seemed to be asking them to ignore their problems, to live and think in a whole new way, to express thanks to God for everything, even their suffering. Someone always stomped off then. “I will not!” they’d shout. “If God loved us, these things wouldn’t happen!”
“This world,” he would say with a sweep of his arm, “is not the real world. This is only a play, created by all of your thoughts. Only those who believe in this world are born here, for we are what we think, what we believe. How could you be born elsewhere when this is what you believe?”
“Close your eyes for a moment,” he’d say. He spoke and stories unfolded in their minds’ eyes. “Love and peace are gifts of your Father. Once you open your minds and hearts to what I am showing you, you will go and show others and they will show still more. My Love is your love. My work is your work. In this way, the world will be healed of warring.”
“The world will be healed of war?” a man said, astonished. “That’s impossible!”
“Love is irresistible, as is compassion. They spread in waves and when the waves hit, hearts and minds are made anew. Does this answer your question?” he asked.
“It is an answer, but I’m not sure I believe it.”
“Stay with me,” the beautiful, glowing man said, smiling, “and you will see it.”
An Inspiring Thank You From Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall St Photo Courtesy of Minnesota Post
Oh, young people–go forth and succeed! Make our country one of economic and social equality–and spread your message around the world:
My Christmas-Spirit Gift
Max came to my rescue
I dropped my daughter at the mall yesterday and had a hard time getting out of the parking lot. I didn’t handle it ‘in the Spirit of Christmas.’ I went grocery shopping at Walmart and my Christmas spirit shrank. (It didn’t seem like that many people could fit in the store at one time!) I was struggling with my Grinch-like, small, hard heart waiting in a record-setting long line when the cart behind me hit me.
I turned around and saw fear, fear, on the woman’s face. Compassion kicked in; I smiled and said, “No problem. It’s really crowded in here.” She was only slightly relieved (maybe she thought I had a weapon in my purse?) and we began to talk. She mentioned that her kids had wanted to stop and she was angry because she had let them talk her into it. (Boy, do I remember that feeling.) A few minutes later it dawned on me to let her check out before me—she had a few items and I had a cart full. Just as she thanked me and moved in front of me, two running little girls joined her, then two boys. Four kids. I smiled to myself; she did have her hands full and I was glad I managed an act of kindness in the mood I was in.
The truth is, I’m far away from home, with both sons now living in other cities and my daughter is leaving for a thousand-mile+ road trip all by herself on the 29th. It’s a nightmare to me, but I can remember thinking, “What is wrong with my mother? I’m an adult!” when I did the very same types of things. Yes–what goes around, comes around.
Being out yesterday, I went back to bed this morning after taking my new little buddy, Roxie, for her first walk. She is the sweetest dog and always snuggles as close as she can when I fall asleep, but I haven’t felt as affectionate as I normally do with her, either. She’s wondering what’s wrong and I don’t fully understand it myself.
I was dreaming when my 13-year-old old Akita-mix, Max, who crossed over in May, suddenly came through a wall, looking like he did at four and five: confident, healthy, strong and happy. He jumped on me and knocked me into a chair and wiggled and wagged and hugged and loved me. I was so happy! I put my arms around him and didn’t want to let go but I woke up then. He’s not here anymore.
My visit from Max was my Christmas-Spirit gift this year. “I know your every hurt and every joy and I am always with you. It’s Me in that little bird who calls to you every day, the maple leaves you pick up and marvel at, the pine trees outside the window who watch over you. And it is Me who brings Love to you in your dreams. You are Loved. Be at peace.”
“Okay, Lord, if you say so. Thank you. I love you, too.” Merry Christmas, fellow family of wo/men, Happy All Holidays, and may God/Goddess/Universe/Great Mystery bless you in the coming New Year.
We’re All In This Together
I complain about the traffic where I live. I feel lost in the mad rush, incapable of the maneuvers necessary to go at that pace. I wish the neighbors with whom I share an apartment wall were quieter. But this morning, while walking my terrier mix, Roxie, I thought how sad it would be if there was only me. I might break under the longing for my children and family but the truth is, I’d also miss the companionship of other humans and the sense that we’re all in this together.
Imagine climbing aboard a subway train that didn’t go anywhere. Fun vacations by yourself? Attending classes without instructors or fellow students? Going to work to do what? Why? What would I do, or you, if we woke up tomorrow literally alone in the world?
Hundreds of years ago, we humans were ‘in this together’ in smaller communities. We really did need the talents and participation of every person to survive, even if one or two were terrible gossips or mean-spirited. We traded and all pitched in. We believe things aren’t the same today, but if the 18-wheelers stopped hauling food from one area to another, we’d soon realize the importance of agriculture and transportation. If there were no doctors and hospitals, disease and accidents would simply take us when they happened. We complain the loudest when we lose electricity and heating/air-conditioning. It does make me stop and wonder about us piping in water from hundreds of miles away and building homes where the temperature drops below zero or stays above 100 degrees for months at a time. We like to brag we’ve got Mother Nature beat—all I can say is, ‘It’s a good thing she loves us.’
We truly are all in this life together. What a wonderful mix of people and cultures we are, each of us a Child of God/Love/Great Mystery. I sense a rising of love and respect for each other, as though our eyes are collectively opening. Caring is contagious; kindness is spreading. Remember, all that we have, however little or large our piles, comes first from our Creator and second from our planet. We own nothing; we take nothing with us when we cross over. Share your love and assets and be reminded of how great life is, how wonderful our chance to be here, living in a time of real change for our planet and for us.
I don’t know if we were once more enlightened people and lost our way, or if something new and true is upon us, but let us be caught in the wave that washes away the blood, the cruelty and the greed of the last five thousand-plus years. Let’s join arms and care for each other. We are all linked by Love—it’s time to wake up and make peace. Peace be with you, brother. Peace be with you, sister.
Commerce That’s Good for the Earth, People and Business
Note: Something is in the air! Things are changing! Ever wonder what it would be like if corporations did business in ways that were better for the earth, people and for profits? Here is exciting, must-read news from Sven Eberlein at World of Words:
Toward Single-Payer Health Care, a Guest URL from Forbes Magazine, by Rick Ungar
Note: Thanks to Sven Eberlein of World of Words for directing me to this article (link below) published by Forbes Magazine.
It is very difficult, isn’t it, to find right-action among those who wield the power of big bucks? Perhaps we should be applauding the Affordable Care Act. Or, do you believe what we have is working for the American people? Do you have any better ideas that can function without abusing the American people ?
Non-Profit Health Care and Education Systems Are Not Working in Sweden, a Guest Post by Mike Hopkins
Note: Yesterday I wrote about non-profit based health care and education systems as being an answer to our country’s current problems. If I had thought it through, I’d have realized unless people with values, people who care about other people are running the organizations, we’d end up in exactly the same place, if not worse, than now. From Mike Hopkins, who lives in Sweden:
“Pam, you live in a land that has been largely privatized and mention the effects it has had on the population and I am now living in a land that has had what you are proposing, but has chosen to privatize and move into a capitalistic model, with disastrous results for the society. Risk Capital Companies are now buying schools and taking over part of the health care and elder care systems. They operate under what I call the Wal-Mart or Target system and for those who know of the Wal-Mart or Target model, you will know exactly what I am talking about.
All I will say is that the private model is no better than the social model. Neither function very well, but this is mainly due to State, County and Townships maintaining their nonprofit status while at the same time demanding greater profits. A few at the top get high salaries and very generous pension benifits while cutting workers salaries, laying off people, and even using free labour funded by the state through their various flim flam social and work programs, not only supplying free labour, but giving private companies and non-profit organizations a bonus of 5,000 swedish crowns per month to take in the unemployed and handicapped in the guise of helping them. From my experience, Socialism is every bit as corrupt as a Capitalist system. Having lived in both worlds, I see little difference.
There have been a number of scandals in the schools and in the health care systems of late. Both are systems imploding upon themselves and nobody seems to know what to do or will take responsibility for the imposed destruction of an entire culture. There is now a show on Swedish TV called, The World’s Best Shit Schools looking at the Swedish Schools. When Swedish school children were asked what 800 divided by 100 equals, only a small per cent gave the correct answer. When the Program Leader asked the same question in a Chinese school, 100 % knew the correct answer.
When Swedes discuss these hot topics with me, I calmly say, “What do you expect? When the private companies come into the Swedish marketplace , they hire the same people as before from a public system that no longer functions–so what do you expect? There is much talk about the need for good teachers and health care workers, but where will you find enough people with a good education, good skills or a good work ethic that have gone through the world’s best shit schools? They have never been properly trained to handle stress, take responsibility, or deal with the consequences for their actions.
So, in conclusion, the quality of any system depends on the quality of the people. Unfortunately, we live in profit driven societies in which money and image are more important than the quality or the reality of our everyday lives. This creates conflicts and a multitude of mental, emotional and physical problems with a majority of the population lacking the knowledge or the skills needed to reverse the decline and what some believe to be a total collapse of our capitalistic model. I understand your American perspective, Pam, after living in it for the greatest part of my lifetime.”
Non-Profit Based Health Care and Education Systems
I was walking through the grocery store this morning and soon found myself humming along with the Christmas music. Sometimes I look at other people’s faces, wondering how we humans are generally doing. Sometimes people smile and just like me, sometimes they don’t notice anyone else.
It is almost Christmas and though it doesn’t necessarily make sense, when the stores play Christmas music—not just the religious ones, either—hearing the music cheers us up. I think it’s because it ties us to childhood memories and even if they were mostly unpleasant, at Christmas most people try harder. Though advertising is relentless, there is some special ‘magic’ in the air, signaling a time for Love, connection, and blessings.
From Thanksgiving until the New Year, we allow ourselves to be reminded of the Goodness that lives within all of us. For a while we don’t think negative thoughts about homeless people we see on the streets; we donate to a giving-tree or the local food bank. Kids are easy to give to and I’m sure they love the stuffed animals or toys the local police or fire stations deliver to them—and thank God they do—but who will truly Love these children whose parents never grew up? Why do people who never grow up become parents? There are causes, right? Who loves these unprepared parents? Anyone? Should we care about them only between Thanksgiving and Christmas or can we do better?
Our social order, egocentric capitalism, leaves out a whole bunch of people. Did you know the minimum wage, $8.00 per hour, is $320/week, or $1400 per month, or $1120 per month after 20% taxes? People making $10.00 per hour earn $400/week, about $1700 per month, or $1360 per month after 20% taxes. Employers say providing health insurance has too large an effect on profits. That may be true, but it’s impossible for employees making $7, $10 or even $15 per hour to buy it. Is this the fault of the employees? No, it’s not, for many of them can’t afford to buy higher education, either, and are literally stuck where they are, dependent upon the largesse of their wealthier employers.
I believe one answer is to force—yes, by law, because nothing less will change the minds of those consumed by greed—everything having to do with health care (medical suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, preventative health care, health education and maintenance, treating disease, doctors, medical groups, hospitals, laboratories, all of it) to operate as non-profit organizations. This means no Boards of Directors calling the ‘me-me-me’ shots and avoids government-provided health care. Doctors and managers, all employees, could still make great salaries, but profits of well-run organizations would be put back into the association, allowing the docs and other providers to charge fees on an income-based sliding scale. In this way, health care would be available to anyone who wanted it.
This same type of system should be put into place in the entire arena of education. Everyone deserves an education; everyone desires a chance to shine, for themselves, their families and their communities. Can you imagine what our country would look like if everyone had good wages, great health care and educational opportunities? That’s the real American dream.
Oops, I seem to have digressed from humming along with Christmas carols. What kind of a holiday are you having? Look up; how about that person over there, or there? Life is not about money or owning the most, or separation. It’s about being together, caring, making a positive difference in each others’ lives. It’s about community and Love. What do you think about basing some parts of our social, economic and governmental systems on equality and compassion?
Here are some notes from people who know way more than me about economies:
Destructive Capitalism
Courtesy of http://www.thedailystar.net
By Abdus Subhan, Lalpur, Natore
“The Wall Street agitation that ignited similar movements across Europe vindicated my conviction that the destructive machine of capitalism is sure to be burned down by the fire that was so far burning in the hearts of 99% people of the world who were exploited by the 1% corporate giants. Writers like Rabinadranath Tagore, Thomas Hardy and T.S. Elliot much earlier pointed at the destructive consequences of the materialistic industrial revolution, but the general people were hypnotised by the glamour and glitzy lifestyle that the new civilisation brought. Once again it is proved that when the powerful are not knowledgeable, they always impose a system of greed and exploitation. So, the new trend is to establish a society marked with justice and faith. People have started to pour into the streets asserting themselves so valiantly that it seems it is only a matter of time before the juggernauts of capitalism are completely washed away by the waves of change for the better.”
A Catastrophic Collapse of Self-Destructive Capitalism
Courtesy of: http://ed-strong.com/a-catastrophic-collapse-of-self-destructive-capitalism
By Ed Strong
“The U.S. economy appears to be coming apart at the seams,” Columbia Professor Robert Lieberman warns us in the Foreign Affairs Journal.
“Unemployment remains at nearly 10%, the highest level in almost 30 years. A long trend of “ballooning incomes at the very top and stagnant incomes in the middle and at the bottom.
“The share of total income going to the top 1% has increased from roughly 8% in the 1960s to more than 20% today. … a level of economic inequality not seen in the United States since the eve of the Great Depression.”
In 2011 we’re being conned again, just as we were before the 2008 meltdown. It’s being done by the same crooks we bailed out.
We should forget all Wall Street’s hoopla about a 2011 bull market with the Dow rocketing to 15,000. We should think long-term. We know Wall Street lost an inflation-adjusted 20% of our money in the last decade. They’ll lose another 20% by 2020.
The “Gilded Age” bubble from a decade ago ended in a crash worse than 1929, and left us on the brink of a Great Depression 2. We can predict the next decade will be one of increasing battles between the haves and have-nots, where there is no longer room for “compromise” between the two ideologies destroying America from within.
Lieberman has warned of class warfare: “Income inequality in the United States is higher than in any other advanced industrial democracy. It breeds political polarization, mistrust, and resentment between the haves and the have-nots and tends to distort the workings of a democratic political system in which money increasingly confers political voice and power.”
“The Gap,” the divide, the greed, the entitlements, the hostilities are now so entrenched that “negotiations” are impossible and only a catastrophic 1929-style collapse of our self-destructive capitalism and a descent into economic hell will force America to restructure.”
Awaken to the Truth of Man: You are Good, A Guest Post by Mike Hopkins
Message from December 11, 2011
By Mike Hopkins
BLOG: Stranger in a Strange Land
This is a time of a great awakening to the truth of Man.
No longer will a few hide easily in the dark shadows and direct the affairs of Man.
For many have heard and answered the call to service and will not accept the slavery offered by the few, but will seek the fruits of their own labours upon this Earth.
A great collapse is in order and will pave the way for a new way of living within human community. A sharing of food and resources and more than this, an opening of heart to heart which will further facilitate an opening in the communal heart of Man.
It has been centuries since Mankind has been connected one to the other. This is the ache that has persisted due to not only the arrogance of Man, but to the acceptance of false values imposed upon the natural order.
The illusion was created long ago and has been maintained by a few of dark determination. Soon, their reign ends and begins the reign again of Man upon the Earth.
Man again free from the yokes of tyranny imposed in an unnatural manner. Now, the images of old will be shattered and men and women will come back to their own good senses and live again in shared community.
Heart links to heart and flows begin with small groups as well as large groups. Love and kindness again reign upon the Lands and the Lands will be free to co-operate one with the other just as the individual will co-operate one with the other.
This is a dream no longer, but a budding reality. A great renewal occurs and not just of a few, but of the many. No longer deceived and lead astray. Now lead by the heart’s intentions as well as the heart’s delight.
Now, a call has been answered and many can now hear the truth as it shows it’s glowing smile. A truth that says, “Mankind is glorious beyond words and a creator of such things of beauty.”
Now, accept your goodness and let that goodness join with that of others and as more connect to their inherent goodness, more will be connected to the Goodness from which all on your Earth vibrates with.
This Goodness will free you and help you to enter into new forms of human community in which all have worth and all are allowed to express their own inherent talents, abilities, and gifts to be shared.
It is in the sharing that Mankind will be healed and awakened from the illusions of today.
Share your voices, share your hands, share your hearts delight and reason and love will again flourish upon the Lands.
Listen to the sounds of silence and be healed. Open a gateway to your hearts dreams and be free of this artificial reality created by the few, but allowed by the many.
Feel love and feel loved again.
Be at peace and thrive upon your planet.
It’s Not About the Money, a Guest Post from Michael Brine, by Linda Schurman
From Michael Brine, Valued Contributor at NAtP
wild.brine621@gmail.com
“Someday after we have mastered
The winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity,
We shall harness the energies of Love.
Then, for the second time in the
History of the world, humankind
Will have discovered fire.”
~Teilhard de Chardin [1881-1955]
A dear astrologer friend of mine, who lives in a rural community in Upper New York State with her husband, recently wrote to me. Thank you Linda for these words that come from the heart and carry so much wisdom.
“The real issue, as I see it, is not about money. It is about the direction humanity needs to take so that we can operate sustainably on planet earth, in harmony with nature and co-operatively with each other. In order to do this, we must give up the notion of “endless” expansion and consumption and instead manage ourselves like adults who have the capacity to live responsibly, voluntarily limiting our populations, raising our food with care, and sharing prosperity in a more egalitarian way. All people are simply not equal in their abilities and talents, but must be honoured with a life of dignity and given a place in the scheme of things. The gigantic disparity between rich and poor in the world only leads to genocides, wars, plagues and eventually, the failure of civilization itself.
Let us all work together with whatever talents we have to co-create something much greater than anything dreamed of before. This is my hope and inspiration.”
Linda Schurman
soothesayer@usa.net
Michael Brine’s writings and bio, if interested, can be accessed at: www.missionignition.net/btb.
New Insight, a Guest Post by Pamela Cytrynbaumon, from Teaching Tolerance
COURTESY OF: ~Teaching Tolerance: A place to find thought-provoking news, conversation and support for those who care about diversity, equal opportunity and respect for differences in schools ~
A Project of The Southern Poverty Law Center: Fighting Hate, Teaching Tolerance, Seeking Justice
Article By Pamela Cytrynbaumon
“Have you ever been the only (fill in category) person in the room? Race, class, gender, age, body type, marital status—any number of identifiers can place us outside the norm, depending on the room. Otherness is a specific experience, especially for those who don’t live it every day.
A couple of my students unwittingly placed themselves squarely into the role of “other” in an assignment outside our classroom, and I suspect learned a more powerful lesson than I ever could have taught them in class.
The assignment was to find, attend and write an article covering an event. When two students proposed attending a senior citizen fundraising fashion show on the other side of town, I immediately approved the idea.
The day they turned in their assignments, the students went around the room describing their experiences. The two who attended the fashion show could not contain themselves.
“Did you know?” they asked me.
“Did I know what?”
“Did you know it would be…”
And then I said it. Right out loud. “Did I know you two would probably be the only white people in a room of hundreds of African-American community members? And that this would be your first time having that experience? Yes, I knew.”
And I also knew they’d have a fabulous time, which they did.
These are two smart, insightful, kind college students whose life experiences and histories thus far did not include being identifiably different from everyone else in a roomful of people.
They quickly got over the shock of being so obviously other and learned the extraordinary power of journalism, of living in a larger world and of having an open mind and open heart. They described how they introduced themselves around, and they got the greatest quotes. They were welcomed warmly and quickly found themselves in the most interesting conversations with a marvelously complex, diverse group of individuals within a large group that, at first glance, looked simply “not like us” to the students.
They interviewed elder statesmen of the community; the 90-something matriarchs; established city officials and rising political stars; the parents, children and grandchildren of our city—people these students do not normally run into on their/our majority-white university campus, just one mile away.
The students were particularly excited by the comments from one middle-aged man who brought his own children to the event as a way to honor the legacy of his late father, a famed city religious leader. The students understood the newsworthiness of finding a source like that to feature in their articles.
As their journalism teacher, I valued their news judgment. As a teacher interested in larger lessons, I was excited for my students. As a member of this community, I was reminded pointedly why we must work—every day—to find each other. The middle-aged, African-American father who gave my students such great quotes? An old friend of mine from junior high and high school.
His life and mine intersected three decades ago because our hometown made history by voluntarily integrating our schools, giving us all the chance to mindfully experience, value and get beyond our “otherness.”
Cytrynbaum is a journalist and instructor at Northwestern University.
Generation-We (Warning: This Video May Give You Hope)
WHO IS GENERATION WE?
Millennials are the largest generation in American history. Born between 1978 and 2000, they are 95 million strong, compared to 78 million Baby Boomers. They are independent—politically, socially, and philosophically—and they are spearheading a period of sweeping change in America and around the world. No one knows the Millennials like Eric Greenberg. In Generation We, Greenberg explains the emerging power of the Millennial Generation, shows how they (and their supporters from other generations) are poised to change our nation and our world for the better, and lays out a powerful plan for progressive change that today’s youth is ready to implement.
How Millennial Youth Are Taking Over America and Changing Our World Forever:
Read about them here: http://gen-we.com/sites/default/files/GenWe_EntireBook3.pdf
Coping, or Not?
If my children looked to me for advice on coping with the tension ‘in the air’, even though we can’t see its source, the first thing I would say is: Recognize that tension is an artificial environment for us, like a fish caught and thrown into a boat where it can’t breath. We are meant to grow and love and shine in the Light, and that’s why tension feels so uncomfortable to us.
It may seem nearly impossible not to buy into it, but, if we choose to, we can slow down, breathe deeply and ask ourselves, “Am I okay right now?” Tension isn’t the real world; it’s a projected, unnatural state of being designed to keep us off balance, fearful and worried. To me, it feels like we’re in one of those epic stories where both light and dark energies are gathering, and that some kind of a collision or transformation is about to take place. What we each think and do does matter because we’re adding our energy to one or the other. We can be the heroic peacemakers of our own stories, and maybe even pull down a yucky old curtain blocking the truth from others.
Then, I’d add: We are sons and daughters of God. We have the power within us to change our consciousness—to change how we think, how we perceive the world, and how we act, or react to what is going on around us. Just as we can make a decision to turn right or left when driving, we can use our free will to create or destroy. It’s not easy to choose the high road when under pressure; it’s much easier to let things build up, to want to vent and get into a scuffle, thinking, “Let’s go, asswipe.” But we can choose peace, if not for ourselves, let us choose it for our children and their children, for the potential of a whole new way of being on this beautiful planet.
These are desperate times, aren’t they? What I’ve begun doing is envisioning that all I see every day is a movie (although I do get my own starring role every so often when I slip up). Watching the news, in traffic, shopping, dealing with others, I’m practicing standing back and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s right. This is a movie. This isn’t the real world. Love reigns in the real world and it is peaceful there.’ It’s amazing how empowered I feel by thinking this way. I just need to REMEMBER. 
From 9/09
Short and right to the point:How the Mineral Kingdom Aids My Journey: The War Bonnet
The fourth card (of ten) in the Kiva Spread from Jamie Sams’ card and book set, SACRED PATH CARDS, is drawn for the Stone Persons. It tells us how the mineral kingdom aids our spiritual journeys. Old trees are often used to learn weather conditions over hundreds of years, but Jamie Sams says the entire history of the world is kept in the stones of the earth. That makes sense, doesn’t it? What was here before us? The planet, our dear Mother Earth. She is beauty and goodness and has absorbed all the human bloodshed, cruelty, pain and loss we have experienced. She is pedaling like crazy to cleanse herself of what we have done to ourselves and to her. Every fire, wind, water and quaking event is her washing herself. But, I digress.
We each have a birthstone; mine is emerald and I do love their deep green, healing color. Polished and cut stones are worn to show status, but are also used to ward off evil, aid mystical experiences, to heal ourselves and others, to focus our intentions and ground ourselves. Sams says we can use stones that attract our attention from the ground around us to search childhood memories or even see into past lives. We can use them to dispel confusion or change habits. We can use Stone Persons to help us build a future based on prayer and praise. I’ve always loved trees so much, but in these last years, I’ve noticed stones more and keep some with me.
Sams explains that Stone Persons can also help us to find courage and build leadership skills, which seems to be the message of the fourth card I chose: the War Bonnet, indicating ADVANCE. Native chiefs build their bonnets from the feathers of eagles who appear to them in dreams just before they die to show the chief where the eagle’s body is. The wearer of the war bonnet has come to terms with his own personal medicine (the war between the higher and lower selves?) and is the Father-Protector. He does not speak in anger, has patience and courage, counts coup (achievements of others and the tribe), teaches tribal etiquette, hunting, medicine, leadership and ceremony. He holds powerful gifts and abilities.
Drawing the War Bonnet card means it is time to advance. No more doldrums. (Interesting that the Kiva Spread is used only once in a lifetime and it has taken me ‘til now to use it. I’ve had the doldrums all my life. Time for change.) The card says I have earned the right to learn the next step of life’s mysteries, to take my Medicine Bundle and charge forward because I can see my destiny before me. Over these next days, I’m going to focus on finding those special stones for my Medicine Bundle. How fun!
Beyond Our Thoughts: Love
I remember being at a motivational meeting in my mid-20s and the speaker asked anyone who could get through a locked door without the key to raise his hand. Only a couple of hands went up. Then he asked the same question but added that our child was on the other side of the door and the room was on fire. “How many of you could get into the room now?” he asked. Nearly every hand went up, including mine.
His point was about motivation and I’ve thought about his questions many times over the years. What makes a person or an activity valuable in our lives? Who would we risk our lives for? How do we find those important things, the ones that make getting out of bed every day exciting and fulfilling? This knowledge lies within us, beyond the noise and clutter of thought-production.
Aren’t thoughts funny things? One after another after another after another, never stopping—unless we decide we are the bosses, not them. After all, these bodies are soul-carriers with specific purposes, the most important being contact between the two. Our minds can be receivers, (for me it’s often when I’m writing), but whatever it is inside us that produces thoughts doesn’t like being turned off or even turned down. Thinking can drive us crazy with confusion, opinions, fears and judgments. Isn’t the inner critic amazing? It is never at a loss for words, especially those designed to keep us stuck in the same worried/frantic place.
The thing is, it’s all a lie. We’re not meant to live in fear and confusion, separate from others. We’re made for service and community, for sharing our lives, for love of a personal kind and the kind that includes us but is more than us. Love is the answer to every question. Every question. It is the source of life, the purpose of life, and the invitation to inspiration and meaning. It can be tapped by setting aside quiet time every day, sitting with our eyes closed and a willingness to let our thoughts come and go without judgment. When our thoughts no longer get a rise out of us, it’s not as much fun for them, and the space for peace is healing for us. Where could quiet time take you?
Stripping Away Bogus Labels of Mental Disorders
We’re meant to FLY!
Courtesy of: CCHRINT.org
To Increase Intuition and Understand Life’s Messages: The Medicine Wheel
- The Four Directions
On November 1st, I took Jamie Sams’ Sacred Path Cards from their box and chose the Kiva Spread, which is ten cards in all, from the corresponding book. This spread is used to see the structure of one’s spiritual journey. The cards chosen are for the lifetime and are only chosen once. Incorporating the wisdom of the cards is taking me some time—they are deep messages. For card one, how I stand in my own truth, I chose Storyteller. For card two, how to remain at-one with the sacred, I chose the East Shield.
The third card I pulled reflects the tools I need to hone my intuition and understand the messages life presents during the Earth Walk. It shows how to seek answers with a humble heart and open mind, and how to achieve altered states of consciousness. For card three, I chose the Medicine Wheel, “the circle of lessons each person must pass through to complete the journey on the Good Red Road of physical life.”
The Medicine Wheel ceremonial space is honored by Native Indians as a place to come and experience the beauty of the cycles of life: planting, gestation, birth, growth, change, death, and rebirth. It reflects cycles and movement. Its significance is that it is time to sense the adventure of life offered in the constant messages of the Four Winds of Change. Immediate counsel sent by the Wind Spirits comes from the Four Directions. On a personal note, I have always been energized by cool, blustery days. I love the wind.
If the wind is blowing from the West, it is time to sit and look inside the heart for courage, or an answer. If coming from the South, stop pretending to know all the answers and find humility, perhaps listening to another who knows the way home. If the wind blows from the North, the wisdom of the Elders tells us where to look for answers. Winds from the East say to use good sense and logic to find answers to a predicament.
With the Medicine Wheel card, I am on notice that stagnation is over: it is a time of new beginnings. Life is calling, each moment packed with the gifts of Nature that seek to align with us. With the sacred hoop, we touch life in a deeper and gentler way. When we lose our way, we have lost sight of the unified circle and how to live in a sacred manner. Life moves forward; its quality is up to me.
Which wind comes to my aid now? The East Wind represents illumination and clarity; West, introspection and goals; South, faithfulness and humility; North, wisdom and gratitude. Understanding life and its messages through the Medicine Wheel? I love this structure!
Accepting “The Law of Acceptance”
A longing for spiritual growth, for connection with something deeper, begins with our acknowledgment that while we live in a physical world, there is another world we can’t see with our physical eyes. There are manmade laws to keep order, but there are also universal laws that apply to every human being because we are souls of the invisible world, who take on bodies in a material world. The universal laws are the laws of our Creator, designed to guide us back Home. Michael Brine has written here about the universal law of, “As we sow, so shall we reap,” explaining that if too much negativity is put out, by a person or a country, the scales tip and even innocent children are caught up in the ‘reaping.’ I believe he’s right—it’s a good explanation that has helped me to understand more about tragedies.
There are other universal laws, such as one that is related to sowing and reaping. The only way we can change what happens to us is to change what we’re thinking and doing. That’s the law of spiritual growth, or evolution. I’ve seen several stories about men who were deeply involved in street-gangs, violence, drug abuse and sales, keeping girls as prostitutes, and on and on, but who had an inner conversion and when they got out of prison, they began to work on behalf of young people in gangs. “Hear my story,” they say. “Let’s change your story before you become me.” My story, or yours, may not be as dramatic, but the law still applies. In order to change our lives, we must change what we think and do. Blaming others, feeling self-pity, desiring revenge—all of this has to go for us to be born anew into lives befitting our nature as souls.
One universal law that has been a tough one for me is the law of acceptance. We can’t control everything that happens to us—we can only control how we react to those things. Years ago I was a partner at a small newspaper where we published an annual issue on people we called the ‘able-disabled.’ Many had been in crippling accidents and had lost the use of their arms or legs or both. One young woman lost all four limbs to disease—gangrene, I think. She got around in a wheelchair and had been fitted with artificial arms and hooks for hands that allowed her to work as a switchboard operator. She was filled with grace—and acceptance and trust in God. I’ve made great progress in accepting the disabling fatigue related to my illness and my life lived mostly in my pajamas—but I’m still nowhere close to where this beautiful young woman was.
We can fight what has happened to us for as long as we like, or we can accept, forgive and move on with what we do have, with what we can do. We can be whiners, or heroic. I’m working on moving from one to the other, but that’s probably because I’m embarrassed to still be whining at age 59. I mean, geez—you know? Crones aren’t supposed to whine!
Finding Meaning and Happiness, A Guest Post by Emily Matthews
By Emily Matthews
The author Tom Robbins wrote this about happiness in his novel Another Roadside Attraction: “The point is this, happiness is a learned condition. And since it is learned and self generating it does not depend upon external circumstances for its perpetuation.” This is one of my favorite quotes about happiness because it puts the onus on the individual.
According to a 2006 article in LiveScience, researchers at the University of Minnesota report that happiness is 50% genetic. That being said, there is a trait of happy people that unhappy folks lack, and that is determination. Happy people are determined to be that way.
Those who seem to be happy no matter what their circumstances have made a conscious decision to look at the glass as half full instead of half empty. They could be living, as Chris Farley so aptly put it on “Saturday Night Live,” “in a van down by the river,” under dire conditions, and yet they seem at peace and genuinely satisfied with their lives. No matter the circumstances, one always has a choice how to react. Choosing happiness means you choose not to be defeated.
So, let’s say you have chosen to be happy but still have trouble finding that spark to maintain a smile? Don’t look for it from anti-depressants or money. Though roughly ten percent of women take anti-depressants, they don’t help unless you have a mental illness. Money can alleviate poverty and increase a person’s happiness quotient, but research indicates that after the initial high there is no guarantee happy feelings will remain. What does work is to find a sense of well being from the world around you while striving to be the kind of person you desire.
Counting one’s blessings isn’t a pop-psychology cure for unhappiness, but a helpful tool to reflect on what you have worked hard for in your life. Acknowledging the good things in your life is a good way to start or end your day, concentrating on those things that are meaningful and important. It also helps to focus on what it is you truly want from life. Maybe it means going back to school for a master’s degree or volunteering as a literacy counselor; maybe you want to learn to play the piano or get back in shape after a new baby. Knowing what exactly you want to achieve is key to discovering a path to happiness.
Looking back at the dreams we once had when we were children is a good way to re-discover a feeling of happiness. For many adults those childhood dreams, the desire to be a famous dancer on Broadway or a basketball player in the NBA, fell to the wayside as we grew up and began paying bills. The fact is only a small percentage of us could ever achieve those sorts of goals, but that doesn’t mean we can’t participate in the activities that brought us so much happiness as children. Attending a dance class for adults or playing basketball in a pick-up league at the Y is still attainable. Research shows that adults who are creative and playful are happiest. Finding a creative flow in whatever activity, be it gaming, swimming, dancing, art, basketball, is energizing. It isn’t what you are doing as much as it is how you are doing the activity. Even housecleaning can be a game!
Happiness is shared. A study reported published in the December 4, 2008, issue of the Journal of British Medicine reported that by examining social network researchers discovered that happiness is connected within three degrees of separation, and that happiness has a ripple effect, spreading to others related within a social network. In more simplistic terms, happy people tend to share happiness with other happy people.
Random acts of kindness and compassion are another a way to connect with the world and increase wellbeing. Kindness and compassion can be as simple as offering an understanding smile to the woman in the grocery store line whose children are acting up, or volunteering once a week at the animal shelter. Reaching out to those in need and sharing what you have is deeply satisfying and reinforces the good things you have in your life.
It is easy to find something to be unhappy about, walk out the door, turn on the news, go the store; you can find any number of negative experiences to bring down your mood. Achieving happiness takes a little more work, but researchers say it can boost your immune system, make you more fun to around, increase your wealth, improve your marriage and help you cope better with life’s difficulties. In the end, aren’t you worth the effort?
Emily Matthews is currently applying to masters degree programs across the U.S., and loves to read about new research into health care, gender issues, and literature. She lives and writes in Seattle, Washington and blogs at: http://www.mastersdegree.net/blog/
Journey to the Heart: Secrets of Aboriginal Healing, A Guest Post by Seri-Worldwide
Courtesy of: http://www.seri-worldwide.org/
INTO THE UNKNOWN
In a desperate attempt to save his life, a quadriplegic physicist journeys into the Australian Outback and enters the untouched world of a remote aboriginal tribe. The Aborigines heal the scientist and help him discover his own gift for healing others. Now, in this posthumous memoir and guide, author Dr. Gary Holz narrates his extraordinary true story.
TRIBE’S REQUEST
Diagnosed with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis, Holz was confined to a wheelchair and took a leap of faith traveling into Australia’s far reaches to be treated with powerful, 40,000-year-old healing techniques. In Journey to the Heart, at the tribe’s request, Holz brings this knowledge to the Western world and reveals their secret medicine for the first time.
HEALING WISDOM
Journey to the Heart provides a rare glimpse into the mystic life and philosophies of Outback Aborigines — one of the oldest cultures on the planet — and offers insights into an ancient system of healing that touches on physical, spiritual and emotional wellness. This guide provides step-by-step techniques for healing the body, mind and spirit.
AVAILABLE NOW
This book is available at amazon.com as a softcover book for $13.95 and an eBook for $9.99. A portion of the book’s profits donated to non-profit organizations benefiting Aborigines.
For our Aussie friends, we have an Australian distributor for our book through Southern Cross Academy of Light. Contact them at info@aol.org.au or phone at 612 8005 0562.
Recycling with the Great Being of Light
From 8/2010
My inner-prompting to recycle again, spurred on by a magazine article, even though the apartments I live in don’t offer the service, has led me on a mind-trip, one I have not enjoyed. Yes, I have switched from using plastic grocery bags to newspaper pooper-scoopers for my dog, but the thought of the countless number of plastic bags I’ve thrown away in my lifetime was haunting me. (I’m checking on prices for large paper bags in quantities I can afford to use for our non-recyclable garbage. Update: Paper is too expensive. Biodegradable plastic bags, in a variety of sizes, are now available at reuseit.com.)
After I reported here turning off the water as I brush my teeth, I noticed that I do turn it off in the beginning, but by the serious brushing and rinsing from the middle to the end, I leave it on. And the bottles of products I use, like the Clorox kitchen cleaner or the bathroom air freshener, and other things, like drain cleaners and furniture polish and many more (think of all the products you use) have paraded through my mind like a line of wild party-goers, some even sticking their tongues out at me. (Yes, I do know I have ‘quite an imagination.’)
I thought of the Earth and all the garbage we humans create–especially us Americans because we mostly don’t think about the Earth—and was overwhelmed. I remembered a news report about the State of California trucking massive amounts of garbage to our state and paying us to dump it here. “It’s impossible,” I thought. “It’s too late. Plastic is God to manufacturers and retailers and it never breaks down. What can we, or Mother Earth, do?”
Then, when I was meditating this morning, I saw a picture in my mind. It was an immense Being of Light and we humans were on its skin and wherever a whole bunch of us gathered it was as though a disease was spreading, making dark holes in the skin. Then I heard a great belly laugh and everywhere we and the disease had spread was absorbed by waves of Light from the Being’s body. I heard in my mind, “When the shift in consciousness happens, your Mother will be healed by the Light she holds within herself.” Ever-ready with questions, I asked, “So it doesn’t matter what we do? I don’t need to care about the Earth?”
“Inaccurate assumption,” I heard in my mind. “The actions of those who care about the Earth and each other are helping to bring about the shift in consciousness. Do what you can, each of you, and you will share, and share in, the gifts of Love. It is never too late to care.”
That makes sense, doesn’t it, that it’s never too late to care? Here at Liberated Spaces is a list of learning resources to help the earth. Please check them out. There is something—more than one something—from this list we each can do; and though we may think they’re either too much trouble or too insignificant to make a difference, according to the Great Being of Light, what we do, matters. We need not feel overwhelmed. Instead, let us share our gratitude with all of life, secure in the knowledge that the effect of our caring actions is Love.
Treason from Within: The Road to a Police State in America By Dr. Andrew Bosworth, A Guest Post
The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on a defense bill that would allow for the indefinite, and without charge, military detention of Americans. Please read.
The Perfect Green Christmas Gift
The Ultimate Guide to GREENING YOUR HOME.
Digital and Print Versions Only $9.95.
