Amma on Science vs Religion...

Amma stated recently: "The main reason for some of the conflicts in today's world is the separation between science and religion. In reality, religion and science should go hand in hand. Both science without religion and religion without science are incomplete."

"But unfortunately, society is trying to segregate mankind into religious people and scientific people. Scientists say religion and spirituality are based on blind faith. Conversely, they argue that science is fact and has been proved through experimentation. The question is: Which side are you on: faith or proven fact?

"In reality, the foundation of true religion is not blind faith; it is 'sraddha'. Sraddha is enquiry; it is an intense exploration within one's own self."

"What is the nature of the experienced world? How does it function in perfect harmony? From where did it come? Where is it going? Where will it lead? Who am I? Such was their enquiry. Who asks these kinds of questions - people of faith or people of science? Both do."


She's really on to something - duh - it's AMMA after all!

Anyway the work of Nassim Harimein at the Resonance Project demonstrates the absolute connection with spiritual principles, sacred geometry and physics.

Here's how they describe themselves:

"Vision

A unification of all sciences and philosophies emerging from a complete and applied view of the fundamental wheel-works of nature, its ensuing forces, and consciousness.

The Mission (the actualization of the Vision)

* To share the knowledge and implications of The Unification Theory through publication of scientific papers and layman articles including books, videos and DVDs.
* To create a headquarters center where the foundation principles of The Unification Theory are explored for the advancement of humankind.
* To further explore - by means of archaeological and anthropological studies - the history of ancient civilizations, their philosophies, and their understanding of Unification.

Guiding Principles

We are guided by our sense of the interconnectivity of all things and of the spirit of Unification leading us through our individual endeavors to reach our ultimate potential, benefiting both self and humanity as a whole. We are driven by our appreciation, respect and affirmation for all life."

Sri Yantra - another way of saying "It's all Math????"

Discussion of the Sriyantra from surfing the web: http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~mikel/sriyantra/

Sri Yantra is a name for the geometric pattern representing the universal Goddess. The "divine feminine," the Great Mother Archetype, "the beauty of the three worlds - waking, dreaming and deep sleep...", and many other ways of describing the great mystery of the field of beingness that we flow in....

Here's what they're discussing - the implications of the mathematics of the Sri Yantra is that it appears to tie into the Fibonnacci Sequence - the number from the Divinci Code, right? Sacred geometry, the number found all over nature, etc....

Furthermore contemporary Physicist Nassim Harimein refers to this very same number - the Fibonacci sequence, "phi" - as a key mathematical way to understanding the structure of our universe....

Here's what the website said:

"A hymn from Atharavaveda is dedicated to an object that closely resembles this. The sriyantra ('great object') belongs to a class of devices used in meditation, mainly by those belonging to the Hindu tantric tradition. The diagram consists of nine interwoven isosceles triangles four point upwards, representing Sakti, the primordial female essence of dynamic energy, and five point downwards, representing Siva, the primordial male essence of static wisdom The triangles are ananged in such a way that they produce 43 subsidiary triangles, at the centre of the smallest of which there is a big dot (known as the bindu). These smaller triangles are supposed to form the abodes of different gods, whose names are sometimes entered in their respective places. In common with many depictions of the sriyantra, the one shown here has outer rings consisting of an eight-petalled lotus, enclosed by a sixteen petalled lotus, girdled in turn by three circles, all enclosed in a square with four doors, one on each side. The square represents the boundaries within which the deities reside, protected from the chaos and disorder of the outside world."

"Tantric tradition suggests that there are two ways of using the sriyantra for meditation. In the 'outward approach', one begins by contemplating the bindu and proceeds outwards by stages to take in the smallest triangle in which it is enclosed, then the next two triangles, and so on, slowly expanding outwards through a sequence of shapes to the outer shapes in which the whole object is contained. This outward contemplation is associated with an evolutionary view of the development of the universe where, starting with primordial matter represented by the dot, the meditator concentrates on increasingly complex organisms, as indicated by increasingly complex shapes, until reaching the very boundaries of the universe from where escape is possible only through one of the four doors into chaos. The 'inward' approach to meditation, which starts from a circle and then moves inwards, is known in tantric literature as the process of destruction."

"The mathematical interest in the sriyantra lies in the construction of the central nine triangles, which is a more difficult problem than might first appear. A line here may have three, four, five or six intersections with other lines. The problem is to construct a sriyantra in which all the intersections are correct and the vertices of the largest triangles fall on the circumference of the enclosing circle. We shall not go into the details of how the Indians may have achieved accurate constructions of increasingly complex versions of the sriyantra, including spherical ones with spherical triangles. Bolton and Macleod (1977) offer a simple overview of the subject; Kulaichev (1984) goes into the 'higher' mathematics implicit in constructing different types of sriyantra."

There is, however, a curious fact about all the conectly constructed sriyantras, whether enclosed in circles or in squares. In all such cases the base angle of the largest triangles is about 51°. The monument that comes to mind when this angle is mentioned is the Great Pyramid at Gizeh in Egypt, built around 2600 bc. It is without doubt the most massive building ever to have been erected, having at least twice the volume and thirty times the mass of the Empire State Building in New York, and built from individual stones weighing up to 70 tonnes each. The slope of the face to the base (or the angle of inclination) of the Great Pyramid is 51°50'35.

It is possible from the dimensions of the Great Pyramid to derive probably the two most famous inational numbers in mathematics. One is pi, and the other is phi the 'golden ratio' or 'divine proportion', given by (1 + sqr-rt 5)/2 (its value to five decimal places is 1.61803). The golden ratio has figured prominently in the history of mathematics, both as a semi-mystical quantity (Kepler suggested that it should be named the 'divine proportion') and for its practical applications in art and arAhitecture, including the Parthenon at Athens and a number of other buildings of Classical Greece. In the Great Pyramid, the golden ratio is represented by the ratio of the length of the face (the slope height), inclined at an angle theta to the ground, to half the length of the side of the square base, equivalent to the secant of the angle theta. The original dimensions of the Great Pyramid are not known exactly, because later generations removed the outer limestone casing for building material, but as far as we can tell the above two lengths were about 186.4 and 115.2 metres respectively. The ratio of these lengths is, to five decimal places, l.618 06, in very close agreement with phi. The number phi has some remarkable mathematical properties. Its square is equal to itself plus one, while its reciprocal is itself minus one. But the most intriguing feature is its link with what are called the Fibonacci numbers.

The Fibonacci numbers are the sequence

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, ...

where each number equals the sum of its two predecessors. This sequence aops up in a variety of natural phenomena - in pattems of plant growth and in the laws of Mendelian heredity, for example. It is easily shown that the ratio between successive Fibonacci numbers gets closer to phi the hurther up the sequence one goes. In the Fibonacci sequence given above, the ratio of 233 to 144 gives the value of phi calculated from the dimensions of the Great Pyramid.

The quantity pi can also be found in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid. If its height (1466 metres) is taken to be the radius of a circle, the perimeter of its base (4 x 230.4 = 921.6 metres) is almost equal to the circumference of that circle (2pir = 921.6 metres). The product of pi and the square root of phi is close to 4.

The largest isosceles triangle of the sriyantra design is one of the face triangles of the Great Pyramid in miniature, showing almost exactly the same relationship between pi and phi as in its larger counterpart. It would be idle to indulge in any further speculation.

Many of the accurate constructions of sriyantras in India are very old. Some are even more complicated than the one shown. There are those that consist of spherical triangles for which the constructor, to adlieve perfect intersections and vertices falling on the circumference of the circle enclosing the triangles, would require knowledge of 'higher mathematics whidh the medieval and ancient Indian mathematicians did not possess' (Kulaichev, 1984, p. 292). Kulaidhev goes on to suggest that the achievement of such geometrical constructs in Indian mathematics may indicate'the existence of unknown cultural and historical altematives to mathematical knowledge, e.g. the highly developed tradition of special imagination'.

Continuous Creation - Imagine the big bang happening everywhere all the time

Click on the image on the right to see the details.

Got your attention? More on www.meru.org

Blackberry Mystic - Luminoius Omnipresent Radiant Deity

My friend Bengt just sent me an amusing bit of prose written on blackberry while he was on the bus travelling to the city Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

Enjoy!

"What "LORD" Means"

LORD: Luminous Omnipresent Radiant Deity

An identity of supremacy over creation

Deities are theanthropic: both human and divine

In this case radiant light filled bodies

"God" is an identity. It is the attribute of the undefinable unbounded awareness called consciousness or self awareness. It is the particle of the dual wave/particle paradox.

Within us all are both qualities or somethingnesses. We both worship the light within as christ and are that light when we surrender the bonds of selfingness or identification with being a someone or something. Behind all That is the ground of being, where all wave forms, particles, selves, identities have their common essence. Calling it god is to reduce it to a noun when in actuality it is a glorious verb of eternal aliveness. It is the Spirit of that Aliveness that is the Spark of the Divine within us all.

Those that proclaim loudly their faith without the ability to consciously dissolve into the All Silent Radiance and Not Radiance (non-dual awareness) are false prophets. Their energetic fields enslave others to gain power and authority.

The healing of civilization is accomplished by actions big and small performed by persons acting in alignment and empowerment with that which cannot be named. They are the behaviors of the sage, the saint, the mystic, the wizard, the master, the Avatar, the illumed disciple and the Lover of Life and All Beings.

- Bengt

Painting "Sophia: the Thirteenth Aeon" by Vibrata Chromodoris

Okay people, it's NOT about the money!

It's about LIVING wealth, rather than HAVING wealth.

David Korten's Article in Yes Magine goes into all of it...

"Living Wealth: Better Than Money"

"If we are to slow and ultimately reverse the social and environmental disintegration we see around us, we must change the rules to curb the pervasive abuse of corporate power that contributes so much to those harms.

Taming corporate power will slow the damage. It will not be sufficient, however, to heal our relationships with one another and the Earth and bring our troubled world into social and environmental balance. Corporations are but instruments of a deeper social pathology revealed in a familiar story our society tells about the nature of prosperity."

roerich madonna oriflamma - heart opener?

Nicholas Roerich was a superlative mystic -- it appears based on the large body of work he did in tantric subject matter

I love this one!

New world understanding?

What do Bucky Fuller, crop circles, new physics, Albert Einstein, Unified Field Theory, new mathematics, ufos, alternative views of ancient cultures, astronomy, all have in common?

I don't really know, except that Physicist Nassim Harimein talks about all these topics...

See more about his ideas at his website on The Resonance Project.

Fear - "what isn't fear?" - rethinking planet's consciousness

These words speak volumes - from Hamilton Souther, a Shaman from Blue Morpho Lodge in Peru.

"First of all we need to address what is the planet's consciousness? The consciousness of the planet is our consciousness. There is no separation or difference. We make up the consciousness of the planet. What you know of Human Consciousness is your own consciousness. We need to address that reality and begin to explore and question our lives from that place. Most people are not ready for that kind of responsibility. It scares them to think that they are part and parcel of everything they don't like, blame and judge. We can then stop worrying about the planet and start looking at the problems in our relationship to each other. When we do that we will start to change the world. The planet is doing just fine. When we push it too far, it will push back and rebalance. That could look like a loss of a major part of the human population. That is what we do not want to see and what we fear. We fear being part of the restructuring and dying in it. We fear being meaningless, so we create concepts like the evolution of the plant's consciousness.

Let's get real and look at ourselves. Let's look at how we are the planet's consciousness and it is our darkness that permeates our thoughts. Let's transcend that darkness and see how the planet and others respond. We need to start loving, start thinking positively, start treating others with respect and start holding compassion for others. Traditional shamanism teaches those things....

...Fear, what isn't fear? Look around you, everything you see is a reaction to fear. Dividing the world into what you like and what you don't is a reaction to fear. Your job, all your feelings are a reaction to fear. Every thought you have ever had is a reaction to fear. It is all fear. The world is fear; society is fear; community is fear; family is fear; and all organization is fear. Who are you? Investigate it totally and take a walk of fear.

Try something new like a heart that feels from a stream-- instead of a memory. Forget fear by doing something new like loving. That sickly sweet thing is not love. That clingy thing is not love. That need is not love. That is all fear. Open your heart. Face the fear of opening your heart just once because you can do it. You can do it.

Just once and you will see that there is something more than the fear and when the world melts away there is only one thing left. You will still be there but you will experience yourself for the first time."

Painting by Paul Hussenstaum

Desire - A Mystical Perspective from Mark Griffin

“The instantaneous product of desire manifests within the psyche in what we in the West call behavioral drives. Desire is invisible, endless, and universal, but it is within the behavioral drives that desire makes itself apparent. We define who we are based on these drives and their outcomes.

The dynamic of behavioral drives is not one of fulfillment. Be it sex or food or money, it's not as if at any point in time these drives can be fulfilled and you can put an end to them and move on. After a very short period of satisfaction, you want to repeat them. Drives are of the nature of repetition; they are not meant to be fulfilled, they are meant to be repeated. We derive pleasure not from the fulfillment of the desire itself, but the from the ability to repeat the drive again and again.” -- Mark Griffin

Photo credit - Liz Kimmerly

Liz wrote on her blog a discussion of the matter of Dharma - which somehow seems intricately related....

"Official Definition of Dharma
a. The principle or law that orders the universe.
b. Individual conduct in conformity with this principle.
c. The essential function or nature of a thing.

My Definition-
The unexplainable force that pulls me to this moment and beyond, teasing, loving, playing, protecting, teaching, and guiding me through this crazy thing called life while creating the most heavenly design. To ignore its magnetism is to ignore my only truth."

Standing Bear Speaks - Rainbow Warriors

STANDING BEAR SPEAKS

We are Standing Bear and who will speak to you
about things important to our people.
American Native culture of today
are not the people they were one hundred or more years ago.
We have changed.
Why we changed is history.
What we are becoming is far more important.

The Past is Past
Once, we were a proud,
fiercely independent and deeply spiritual people.
We still maintain those noble traits,
but the largest number of our kind
have blended with the masses
to become a part of modern American culture
which is neither Indian, white, black or Asian,
but uniquely American.

Five hundred years ago the first European invaders
began attempts to exterminate our people.
They brought disease, famine, slavery and euthanasia.
They systematically plundered Turtle Island's resources
and drove our people to the edge of the prairie,
deep into the deserts and dumped our remnants
in ghettos across the country.

They said our ancestors were ignorant,
yet they failed to hear our wise men.
They said we were savages and pagans,
yet they did not know we worshiped the same God.
They took what was good from us
and left the rest to rot in the hot sun of greed and disrespect.
They told us were sub-human and took away our dances,
our religion, our language and our ways of life.
They killed us with slavery,
they killed us with forced famine.
Finally, they killed us with bullets and cannonball.
Yes, all these terrible things and more
were committed against our ancestors
by a greedy government of the people and by the people.
All this is history.
Today
The American Indian is still subject to persecution
and discrimination by the United States federal government,
state governments and major institutions.
We live in chaos, often fighting among ourselves
in a desperate struggle to survive
amid the cold realities of modern American society.

Some say we live in the age of the hard,
cold winter as our culture dies of old age.
Our great ancestors lived in youthful innocence
of springtime when the land was fresh.

Their children grew in number and strength
during the age of the warm summer sun.
The fall harvest was stolen by invaders.
Our people stumbled and fell like leaves to the ground.
Are we dying?
What can we do about the future of our people?

Many of our progressive, modern American Indian thinkers
believe the answers to these questions
is a complex series of social engineering programs,
laws, politics and money.
They think like those who subjugate us.

There is one answer that cuts to the heart of all these issues
and restores our inheritance,
our independence and our pride~
It is found in the rainbow - explained later.

We are not the Indians of yesterday. We have changed.
We cannot go back and duplicate the past.
The old days of the Indian are in another dimension,
another plane.
Our heads can not be turned backwards
when we walk into the future least we fall over
what is in front of us.
At best, we stand still and become relics ourselves.

Keeping the ceremonies, stories, dances and songs of past alive
through continual practice is vital to our survival.
But what are we doing to create our own ceremonies and stories
to be added to this rich heritage?
Do we jeopardize our children's legacy
and our own identity by concentrating on the ways
our ancestors lived and how they thought?
How we think and live today is important to our children's survival.

Why Do They Come?

Earth People have come into fashion.
Today, thousands worldwide are drawn to our ways.
It is somehow chic to dress Indian and know a shaman or two.
People of all walks of life are seeking the Indian way,
to walk the Good Red Path. Why?

We believe modern culture does not fulfill the deep emptiness inside
and people are desperately seeking spiritual answers.
They believe the Original People found the answers
an eon before invaders came to our Eden of the Turtle.

They are drawn to our ways partly ~
because modern organized religions fail to give answers.
They dominate humanity
with layers and layers of dogma and ideological mazes.

In the words of Edmond Bordeaux Szekely,
"Unfortunately, the magnificent original intuitions
of the great masters often lose their vitality
as they pass down the generations.
They are very often modified, distorted and turned into dogmas,
and all too frequently their values become petrified
in institutions and organized hierarchies.
The pure intuitions are choked by the sands of time,
and eventually have to be dug out by seekers of Truth
able to penetrate into their essence."

They place the human mind and spirit in a box.
"Believe as we do or you are damned" they say.
Organized religions extend a hand holding love and peace
while the other is hid in a cloak of world domination, power and money.
The great fortress of organized religions
have sent armadas against tribal peoples of the earth
to proselytize the ignorant masses ~
while they robbed, pillaged and raped our societies~
to feed themselves~
Most of the major atrocities and wars of this earth
were done in the name of organized religions~
And, they still call us pagan savages.

Organized religions will end soon.
Man is striving for higher consciousness, a higher truth ~
outside the box of dogma and controlled thinking.

Many who come to walk the Good Red Path
seek salvation from the hard realities of today's hectic,
unforgiving world gone mad.
They want out of the cage of their own illusions.
They battle with themselves inside,
trying desperately to break away
from religions that preach fear of the Creator, original sin,
'dominion' over the animals and the earth, hell and damnation~
because they realize fear is a tool of powerful institutions
to control the individual. Enough of holy tyrants!!

Some who consciously seek to understand and follow the Red Path
are attempting to break away from organized religion
and are sincere in their quest to find spirituality.
Others are unconsciously answering an inner call
to find the way back from whence their ancestors once came.
Another transient and fashionable group of seekers
associate themselves with Indian ways for the sake of appearance,
or government benefits, or money.

There is a forth group among us.
They are Indians who purify themselves by smudging,
or feel the power of the Sweat Lodge,
or seek the blessings of the Creator through visions.
Yet, they are quick to express fear and distrust of those who do not.
They draw lines to separate themselves from others.
My side, their side, white, black, Jew, Christian, Moslem,
Wannabe Indians. Small minds trapped in dogmatic
or so-called 'traditional' boxes.

Who is an American Indian?
"Blood passed from generation to generation
makes one an American Indian," is the response of many.
Nasgi (Not) we say.
An American Indian is much more!
An Indian is a way of thinking, a way of belief and living.

An American Indian realizes
the inner self and the interrelationship between oneself and creation~
- the Great Spirit - Creator,
Mother Earth and all forms and elements
that are a part of her magnificent dream.
It is about balance within oneself and balance within the circle of life.
An Indian feels great kinship and deep respect
for all things of creation.
We see ourselves as one with all matter,
including animals, birds, fish, plants, stones,
the elements of wind, fire, water and even the stars ~
one no better than the other,
but all necessary parts of the circle.

Mans dominion over other parts of creation
extends only so far as the Creator originally designed.
Today, man thinks his dominion is all powerful
with complete ownership in his greedy grasp -
thus there is much disrespect and pollution of Creation.
How can man be better than animals, plants, water
and other matter of things?
Unlike man, they are pure and without sin.
What can be closer to the Creator than one without sin?
The salutation "Mitakuye Oyasin" (for all our relations)
is what we know in our hearts to be true -
Ka ki ke mina ka ki ke (forever an ever).

An American Indian dreams.
We dream of being one.
One with Mother Earth,
One with Grandmother Moon,
One with Grandfather Sun,
One with all the star people and people of Turtle Island,
but especially one with the Great Spirit - Creator.
As dreamers, we know the gifts we have
can only be shared, they cannot be taken.
There is light and color in our dreams
that guide us through the misty darkness of man's reality.
In our dreams we search for a higher plane of spirituality.
We delve into the darkness, without fear, without doubt,
knowing the Light will show us truth.

An American Indian is not harsh with words
and is gentle with children and those less fortunate.
We show respect for our elders and ancestors.
As we honor our ancestors, they honor our children's children.
An Indian lives by a code of conduct.
The commandments given to the Indian by the Creator
transcend organized religious beliefs in depth and breadth.

A common trait among good Indians is a giving spirit.
One who travels the Good Red Path
knows nothing in this world truly belongs to him or her.
We only possess things temporarily~
Possessions are on loan from the Creator
and a product of our labors.
This knowledge of giving and sharing
extends even to the land we lived on.
We know a person is not really wealthy
until his/her most prized possessions are 'gifted' to another.

An Indian speaks to the animals~
An Indian speaks and hears the water sing~
An Indian hears the trees whisper.
He is in touch with creation to the depths of his spiritual self.
The Native American Indian is a powerful being!

Is an American Indian only one who can point directly
to full blood ancestry?
Is a mixed blood who wears Indian regalia Native American?
Or, can anyone be Indian?
All or none, it makes no difference.
We are human.
As my brother Lakota Woableza teaches, we are the "five fingered race."
Second Message of Manataka
What is it that can be said that you have not been told already?

Have you not been told to love one another?
Were you told to have no other gods
except the Creator and honor your father and mother?
Were you told to keep Mother Earth and all things on her sacred?

Our ancient prophesies say a time will come
when the blue sky and waters turn black
and green things turn brown and die.
Animals and fish will disappear and birds will drop from the sky.
This devastation will come as a result
of man's greed and disrespect for Mother Earth.

A new universe is now flying through the cosmos
about to enter the earth's heavens.
We can barely see its enormous beak of the Aquarian bird
as the stars and planets move to align themselves to the Awakening.
The time is not far off (2007 - 2013)
when great cataclysmic changes will begin to occur on Earth.
Only a few will withstand these extreme alterations
and there will be mass unconsciousness.
The polarity of man's universe will change.
Great institutions, political divisions and economic systems
will crumble, chaos will reign for a time.

Among the few who possess inner strength
to resist the mass unconsciousness will rise a new neo-indigenous people.
Prophesies foretell of a people
who will rise from earth's ashes like the thunderbird symbolizing rebirth~
They will bring balance and harmony back to Mother Earth.
The first of these beings will come as teachers and storytellers
to remind us of ancient truths of the star people and beyond.
They will be pathfinders leading the way to a new universe,
a new reality.

Great leaders, Warriors and Shamans of many nations
will be born and they will cleanse the earth for rebirth.
Next will come the Planters sowing seeds of truth, justice and freedom.
The Storytellers, Warriors and Planters
will live in the way of the Great Spirit
and teach ways to keep Mother of the Ground sacred forevermore.

They will be called Rainbow Warriors
(Prophesies of the Rainbow)
for they will gather the four sacred directions,
all distinctly separate but forever connected
in the Circle of Life.
They will bring together the four races of man to live in peace.
The four sacred directions and the four races of man
are symbolized by the magnificence and glory of the rainbow.
The neo-indigenous people of the Rainbow
will give praise for the blessings of the Creator's loving grace.

Manataka is home of the Rainbow Woman
who sleeps deep within the sacred mountain in the Place of Peace.
During the Awakening, she will emerge once more
to give rebirth to this new tribe of people
who will sing and dance praises to the Great Spirit -
Creator under the rainbow.
Warriors of the Rainbow will be pathfinders of the principals of life~
And they will teach the people
how to achieve unity, understanding and love.

The Awakening will bring forth the Rainbow Woman
who will show the Warriors the path to the Crystal Cave.
The messages of the ancients
will be decoded using the seven keys
and revealed to the Warriors by the Creator
and each one will be gifted with powers
to commune on many planes of existence.

The sacred Circle of Life
turns slowly but inevitably back to the place where it began.
Thus, we say 'all things that were, will be again.'

As each age passes, it cannot be reclaimed.
We cannot go back in time.
If we were to look from above at the Circle of Life
it would appear as a gigantic spiral.
Each age, or revolution of the Circle moves the next Circle
to a plane in perfect concentric alignment with the last,
but on higher level in the spiral.
Those souls who walk the path
to higher awareness, consciousness and spirituality
move with the spiral to the next plane.
Those who do not, do not.

Now is the time we begin to prepare ourselves
to become inheritors of Mother Earth,
to become Warriors of the Rainbow -
for the sake of our children's children and all humanity.
The road of the future is not red.
It is a rainbow leading to the Creators grace
by way of prayer, good works, faith and keeping the ancient traditions.

We must first unshackle ourselves from materialism
and organized religious dogma and personal prejudice.
There is nothing more important
than becoming free in mind, body and soul
from modern confusion in order to reach a higher plane of spirituality.
Our very survival depends on it.
To see the Light of the Rainbow we must quite our minds
and feel inner peace and strength that flows as a river,
one with nature and all creation.

To be chosen to walk the path to Light
is not a decision made by some religious leader,
a government agency or politician.
It is a personal choice made by a mind and heart
made free of religious guilt and idols of modern materialism.
It is a decision made between you and the Creator.

Now is the Time

Go to a quite place on the mountain, river, or in the forest
- The church of the Great Spirit.
Spend three days fasting and praying.
Strip your mind and body of all worldly things.
Listen to nature, listen to your inner self.
Purify yourself and talk to the Creator.
Give thanks for all the blessing of life and all creation.
Give yourself completely to this pilgrimage.
Maybe, just maybe the Creator will speak to you,
show you a vision, and lead you closer to the Light.

The time will come soon when you will be needed.
Manataka, the Place of Peace
will be one of the Great Gathering places
of those who seek the Light of the Rainbow.
There, we will learn to walk the path
and receive joyful the blessings of the Great Spirits and Creator.
We will feel joy and peace of a world without rancor and division.
One with each other, one with creation and one with the Creator.

©"Standing Bear Speaks", 2006.
Story of Manataka by Lee Standing Bear Moore
Spoken at manataka American Indian Council

Master to Disciple for Eons - Enter the flow of Self Transformation

My first spiritual teacher, Swami Muktananda described an authentic Guru in reference to the philosopher's stone which "turns lead into gold."

He said an authentic teacher not only turns his or her students into gold, but turns them into philosopher's stones themselves.

This is the basis for what is called "the lineage."

Many esoteric traditions are based on the concept of a long line of spiritual masters.

Mark Griffin, also a student of Swami Muktananda, is a local meditation master who conducts programs regularly in Los Angeles, and beyond.

He said on the matter of the lineage:

“The lineage is an endless, glittering, radiant chain of beings. Each in their own moment looked within themselves and found the ocean of consciousness; this happened because they were touched by a person that had looked within themselves and found the ocean. And when they look within themselves, they will touch others and cause them to look within themselves and discover the ocean.

This is the engineering of the lineage and it is very simple. It moves on the principle of touch, of contact. It is irresistible and cannot fail. In this way, the dream of awakening lives within the dream of
the creation.” -- Mark Griffin

Where does one find such a teacher?

A mysterious process... part synchronicity, part karma, part grace, part desire of us as seekers... all in the Magickal mix of inner transformation and ascension.

We are blessed to be in this time with so many great Gurus coming available in large cities on a regular basis offering blessings, etc...

The great Chinese master Lao Tzu is said to have written a text called "Hua Hu Ching"

I'll leave you with his words:

"Would you like to liberate yourself from the lower realms of life?
Would you like to save the world from degration and destruction it seems destined for?
Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self awareness.

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself.
If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.
Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.

So find a Teacher who is an integral being, a beacon who extends his light and virtue with ease to those appreciate him and those who don't.
Shape yourself in his mold, bathe in his nourishing radiance, and reflect it out to the rest of the world.
You will come to understand an eternal truth: there is always a peaceful home for a virtuous being."

New movie "Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within"

Reality Sandwich just covered what appears to be a cool a new movie.

Watch the trailer - it speaks for itself.

Foto from the Hubble Space Telescope

3rd Dimensional Relationships to 4th Dimensional Relationships

Found this website with the perspective of higher dimension of relationship.

Mandrake in the Mall - "witch"craft 2.0???

This was originally written on Worldchanging.com. The entry was called "Mandrake in the Mall" inspired by the really amazing Spanish Film released earlier this year called "Pan's Labyrinth." The film won 3 Acadamy Awards. I'd say it is a must see....

I found on a message board on the website of the film an "analysis" of the plot.

One very interesting point in the analysis is "The log line of the movie is, 'Innocence has a power evil cannot imagine.' The message here seems to be that in order to remain innocent within a world [which appears] sometimes full of evil, one must avoid the mistake of being cut off from the feminine, creative side of their brain which is the part of us capable of great imagination and compassion."

I very much agree.

I wrote in my original blog: "Last week on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, I saw the wonderful movie Pan's Labrynth, whose protagonist is a young girl rediscovering her power through visionary encounters with a Pan. Pan is a creature associated with ancient lore and mystery. I won't give it away, but one of the central characters in the movie is a mandrake root -- used in old world medicine and 'witches oyntments.' This mandrake has also appeared in Harry Potter movie and books.

Mandrake is part of the "deadly nightshade" family of plants, highly toxic, but even so they were used by indigenous cultures for their spiritual and medicinal properties. Research shows that the mandrake (known as “duda”yim in Hebrew) is mentioned in the "midrash" as part of a treatment or increasing fertility. Modern uses of Mandrake derivatives are as an antispasmodic and as a treatment for Parkinsons.

A very close relative of mandrake, Datura, is equally mysterious, and dangerously toxic; it was prescribed in European "witchcraft" to treat asthma. Similarly, its chemical derivatives are used in modern medicine treatments as well.

Here in the Los Angeles region, highly skilled Chumash healers used Datura as an anesthetic for setting bones, to treat bad bruises and wounds, to "freshen the blood" and to treat hemorrhoids. The Chumash also used it for their shamanic ceremonies. Datura also known as "jimson weed" from Jamestown - in 1700 the British at Jamestown colony in Virginia ate datura, and many of them went blind or crazy as a result.

The wisdom of plants has been used all over the world for centuries to improve physical health and psychological well-being. Plants that have demonstrated beneficial effects include herbs, roots, cacti, mushrooms, trees, succulents, seeds, flowers and mosses.

At the same time, as noted by some of the examples above, not all herbal remedies from plants are for common use, as some (especially plants like mandrake and datura) are highly toxic and dangerous if misused or misunderstood.

However, many cautions surrounding herbal medicine, both now and in ancient times, have often been misguided or used as a tool for oppression. For example, during the Inquisition by the Medieval Catholic Church, the definition of "witchcraft" included knowledge of herbs, as "those who used herbs for cures did so only through a pact with the Devil, either explicit or implicit." "Witches" could be executed by burning. The violent suppression of anything resembling "nature-connected medicine" has left a residual scar on our collective psyche, which has only started to heal in the last few decades.

An even more controversial trend today is the large number of medical marijuana clinics popping up all over Los Angeles. A friend of a friend of mine is a real "Lance Armstrong" case. He's in his middle thirties with an advanced form of rare cancer, undergoing chemotherapy treatment. He's strong, radiant and positive as he has ever been. He says he's never been happier in his entire life, really! He's a real hero. He is currently using medical marijuana to treat the debilitating, and very unpleasant, side effects of chemotherapy; he has said that the ONLY thing that helps him are his medical marijuana treatments -- far more effective, he says, than the very expensive and toxic pharmaceuticals.

Herbal remedies may have been persecuted in another age, or even questioned by the "traditional" medical establishment today. However, now nature-based medicine is being brought back into our consciousness everywhere we turn, through children's books and movies in the mall, herbal counters at Whole Foods and our local acupuncturist.

This resurgence of old "mysterious" herbs in our modern media only points to the often misunderstood, and historically persecuted value in earth-based wisdom.

Parallel to the resurgence of nature based medicine in our modern society is an equally challenging trend; with the advent of chemical pharmaceutical drugs, we've seen a steady decline of traditional medical systems and cultures all over the world during the last few decades.

The wonderful recent post "Why Craft is Worldchanging" by the WorldChanging team discusses the importance of all forms of "craft" to bring about a more sustainable society. Still, I believe in this post, one of the more misunderstood "crafts" of nature based medicine was overlooked.

To bring Nature into our medicine cabinet is to connect us deeper to the very Nature based intelligence and cultural heritage we aim to protect and restore."

Burning Man: Synchronicitipaloozathon...

Burning Man - wow... how to describe? I wrote in an email to friends where I described BM as "An endless Interdimensional Mardi Gras and Carnaval for Mystics and Wizards inside a very large Salvador Dali Painting."

A continuous flow of Synchronicity.... that was the core of my experience and the experience of friends at Burning Man this year.

My friend Jason Keehn, AKA Cinnamon Twist, a veteran Burner, and I were talking yesterday and he noted that many people were discussing a heightened sense of Synchronicity, or was it that it was just another synchronicity....

Before I ventured to the desert, I wrote my latest entry as an offering to others who would join me.

Another friend of mine and I were talking about synchronicity yesterday and he summed it up for me ni an email. Here is my poem and his response:

"'synchro-photosythetic-meta-collective-mycelial-mind-megavolutionary-
metapoetic-magnametamorphosic-emergent-effervescent-love-pulsation!'
Your poem makes my mind tingle with inquisitive excitement.
Reflecting on our conversation about synchronicity and not becoming
overwhelmed by the perfection of the moment and timing has been something
that's been floating around in my mind lately. By accepting the truth of our
power and perfection and not let emotions overwhelm and make us question
the divine purpose, presence and placement that we surround and embody ourselves with and everything around us, helps us evolve towards a higher consciousness that allows the space to bask and grow."

Yes, follow the story not the events!

As I arrived home, I walked in my front door and noticed the amazing oracle deck made by my friend Delvin Solkinson created.

The card "Clear Spirit" was on top with Robert Venosa's painting "Shroom Glow" as the artwork...hmmm.

I picked it up and read the words that Delvin wrote:

"open ceremony
medicine channel
life net
[getting dipped in the magic]

appearing through the veil
embracing the embrace
and working with the web
[planetary spiritual outreach]

healing textures
translating atmospheres into energy,
souls mingling
with the threads of return
[source magic]

solkin"

Delvin's words describe my experience of Burning Man precisely.

Synchronicity?

For me it was the continuation of the synchronicitypaloozathon...delivering us to source.

Meta-mythopoetic thoughts for a new future!

Well every once-in-a-while a writer is compelled to take some poetic license - or is it mythopoetick license?

Hmmm...poetry for a new story of humanity's future?

How about "forget your old future" as I wrote in a previous blog inspired by my friend Michael Gaio?

Below, I have written a piece of "mythopoetic prose."

I am particularly inspired to try out new word and idea forms with poetry from the writings of my "Elfish" friend named Delvin. I blogged about Delvin a while back.

During a conference presentation I found myself observing to be what I would describe as a new way of thought for our species.

As I listened to the presentation, I found the phrase best described as a 'contemplative permaculture' very interesting which is to take the discipline of permaculture and apply it in the realm of thought..

I was inspired a group of geniuses who spoke at the conference who are building an amazing developments in the suburban areas of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Their evolutionary company is called Aperion.

What I found particularly delightful is that these home builders showed in their presentation that they are inspired by quantum physics and a discipline called "complexity theory."

Reflecting on the days experiences all delivered me to a realm of pure deep thought.

In the evening after the conference, I wrote an email to a friend with whom I like to explore different word formations.


In that email I wrote this word combination as the "poem."

"synchro-photosythetic-meta-collective-mycelial-mind-megavolutionary-
metapoetic-magnametamorphosic-emergent-effervescent-love-pulsation!"

The Guru

“You arise, are born, and manifest as an expression of identity, unaware of that which lies within you. As a single perceiver, you lose contact with the ocean of consciousness that floods your entire existence. Your only contact with the creation is through the limited fields of perception of the senses, and the sensations they generate only serve to produce an attachment that binds you to the very idea of perception itself.

Enormous spiritual resources of consciousness, energy, and life force are expended in the process of creating this envelope of experience. This dynamic produces an energy that we would commonly call desire, which gives rise to the endless wheel of birth, life, decay, and death.

The guru is an integral part of the ocean of consciousness that is the origin and cause of all things, an eternal spirit that arises at the inception of the creation. It is the guru that liberates you from the thrall of the senses, redirecting your attention to the ocean of consciousness which is your very nature. The guru is the grace-bestowing power of God, the incarnation of mercy, the essence of awakening.
” -- Mark Griffin

What is time?

FROM http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/in-no-time

"The possibility that time may not exist is known among physicists as the “problem of time.” It may be the biggest, but it is far from the only temporal conundrum. Vying for second place is this strange fact: The laws of physics don’t explain why time always points to the future. All the laws—whether Newton’s, Einstein’s, or the quirky quantum rules—would work equally well if time ran backward. As far as we can tell, though, time is a one-way process; it never reverses, even though no laws restrict it.

“It’s quite mysterious why we have such an obvious arrow of time,” says Seth Lloyd, a quantum mechanical engineer at MIT. (When I ask him what time it is, he answers, “Beats me. Are we done?”) “The usual explanation of this is that in order to specify what happens to a system, you not only have to specify the physical laws, but you have to specify some initial or final condition.” "

The article continues.....

"Einstein, for one, found solace in his revolutionary sense of time. In March 1955, when his lifelong friend Michele Besso died, he wrote a letter consoling Besso’s family: “Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

Rovelli senses another temporal breakthrough just around the corner. “Einstein’s 1905 paper came out and suddenly changed people’s thinking about space-time. We’re again in the middle of something like that,” he says. When the dust settles, time—whatever it may be—could turn out to be even stranger and more illusory than even Einstein could imagine. "

I frequently think about the nature of time, and the relationship between our consciousness and time/space.

Is our consciousness within time space, or is time/space within our consciousness?

I have concluded that time and space is within our consciousness.

When we embrace the reality that time and space are within our consciousness then the nature of the questions that we ask, and the answers we find are different.

Does time flow forward or backward? If the realm of time is within you, then what is forward and backward?

How does time relate to now? In now, does time exist?

Is time more than a mere thought form in the consciousness of now?

Do we need to determine the reality of time if we realize that in one reality it exists, on another it does not? Can't we just work with time where it appears real, and release the thought of time where time does not exist?

In the same way that light is neither a particle or a wave, time both exists and does not exist.

Time is the ever present now, in many forms.

Anyone talking about 2013?

I just read a string of comments from Erik Davis' piece about 2012 on http://www.realitysandwich.com. The comments are from some of the contributors and very well-informed people on the subject of 2012, and all of the lore, theories, misunderstandings, etc. surrounding the new age version of "the rapture."

Regardless of my view that much of the interest in 2012 is an attempt for our current sub-culture to find meaning and direction in this apocalyptic time, my intuition tells me that the Maya were really on to something. The research and study of people like John Major Jenkins and others appear to be grounded in clear minded study of the work, philosophy and practices of the Maya both ancient and modern-day in Guatamala.

Furthermore, he mentions an ancient Mayan site called Izapa which he calls "Stonehenge on steroids" in reference to its extremely sophisticated astronomical and mathematical attributes.

He states:

"My own focus is on reconstructing the original 2012 cosmology, utilizing data from the site that invented the 2012 calendar. That seems self-evidently worthwhile and reasonable enough, right? But how often do you hear Izapa mentioned in the same breath as 2012? Can the galactic alignment, which empirically occurs in the alignment zone 1980 to 2016 AD, trigger change and shifts in consciousness? I don't know, maybe. Why don't scientists take a look? Because they are so turned off by how the 2012 topic is constantly framed through distorted filters - scientists can't even get a handle on what the galactic alignment is. Kudos to Ben Anastas at the New York Times for framing the topic in, finally, a more or less accurate way, and giving some acknowledgment to the pioneering work I've done. Now, having said all that, in regard to the changes happening on the planet, isn't it interesting that the galactic alignment - a once in a 26,000-year alignment - happens during an exceedingly bizarre period of human history (1980 - 2016 AD)?"

I am heartened by his comments and his attempts to sift through all the noise and get to a clearer sense of what the Maya saw, and what it means - if anything for us today.

Naturally, it appears that humans are undergoing some form of evolutionary and transformative journey during this period of history. Mainly because we are becoming more and more aware of the negative impact we have on the life support system on the planet, and that in order to stop the damage we need to collectively shift into an entirely different mode of being. Doesn't it appear that we are in some form of "evolve or die" scenario?

What does this evolutionary shift consist of?

Almost every spiritual teacher who I have met has said some form of "The problems in our world are a projection of the problems inside our hearts and minds. If we deal with the inner world, the reality of the outer world will shift."

I have had a number of conversations with people who's wisdom I respect who have said more-or less the same that the hallmark of this time is that we are individually and collectively to do our "shadow work" to serve, and co-create this evolutionary experiment on our Mother Earth.

One of the conclusions that John Major Jenkins made is consistent with this - I'll let his words speak for themselves:

"The ancient Maya encoded into their traditions a belief that such a time would be attended by transformation and renewal, but, following the teaching in their creation myth, the outcome is ultimately a function of to what degree we, and all beings suffering from ego limitation, can sacrifice our illusions - the illusions that keep consciousness fixated to states of self delusion. That topic is best reserved for another day."

Well, today I would say that the work has always been here, 2012 or not. For most humans, regardless of where we have lived in this space/time map called Earth, the experience we create for ourselves is determined by the degree to which we can transcend our limitations and live in a more integrated/holistic/spiritual/evolved state of being.

Conversations and concerns about 2012, the Maya, prophecy, etc which do not include the basics of inner work are simply skipping across the surface.

John Major Jenkins subsequently wrote another article this week on 2012 and the role that Izapa played in forming the Mayan thought of 2012. He postulates that psychedelics played a significant role in shaping the cosmology of the Mayan, which interestingly echoes view similar to those of modern theoretical physics.

He writes "This philosophical model developed by Mesoamericans thinkers is actually extremely progressive, for modern physicists also describe a network of threadlike links between distant places, quantum “wormholes” in spacetime that tunnel through a higher dimension. Physicists even joke about making faster-than-lightspeed journeys to distant stars by accessing these holes in space."

"....What I’ve termed a “galactic cosmology” is named so not simply because it utilizes the galaxy as an armature of the sky’s shifting, but because it perceives human evolution from a heightened, enlarged, galactic level. After being lost for centuries, this galactic cosmovision is now reemerging. With its attendant spiritual teachings, it promises to help us restore our deep connection to nature, the universe, and our true selves."

Back to here/now - anyone talking about what we need to do today for 2013 and beyond? A question comes to mind - if the mayans were on to something, how are we to align with this phenomenon in ourselves and our world?

Or as Tyler Durden of Fight Club said "Evolve and let the chips fall where they may."

wisdom of crowds - Biomimicry of group behavior

A recent article in National Geographic by Peter Miller discusses something particularly important for this time - the power of community, crowds...

What is known as Swarm Theory recognizes that a large group of individual elements is far more intelligent than the individual components. "wisdom of crowds" as described in the 2004 book of the same title...

This is the power of organizing, of democracy, of the web, wikipedia, etc. Naturally there are many different faces of group behavior and the world is full of examples of group behavior which is less than positive.

Miller writes - "...an important truth about collective intelligence: Crowds tend to be wise only if individual members act responsibly and make their own decisions. A group won't be smart if its members imitate one another, slavishly follow fads, or wait for someone to tell them what to do. When a group is being intelligent, whether it's made up of ants or attorneys, it relies on its members to do their own part. For those of us who sometimes wonder if it's really worth recycling that extra bottle to lighten our impact on the planet, the bottom line is that our actions matter, even if we don't see how.

Think about a honeybee as she walks around inside the hive. If a cold wind hits the hive, she'll shiver to generate heat and, in the process, help to warm the nearby brood. She has no idea that hundreds of workers in other parts of the hive are doing the same thing at the same time to the benefit of the next generation.

'A honeybee never sees the big picture any more than you or I do,' says Thomas Seeley, the bee expert. 'None of us knows what society as a whole needs, but we look around and say, oh, they need someone to volunteer at school, or mow the church lawn, or help in a political campaign.'

If you're looking for a role model in a world of complexity, you could do worse than to imitate a bee."

Learning from an example of bees, is clear - the intelligence of the group can be far more than that of the individual. If the individuals comprising the group are all collectively in an "evolved state of mind" then the promise is that the group can change the larger system around it.

This premise, understanding is the positive side of the equation.

I recall hearing of TM meditators gathering in hotels in downtown Washington DC to meditate for days in order to shift the consciousness of the government. Many new-age and spiritual groups work with similar principals and ideas.

Consider the latest "Fire the Grid" as the latest incarnation of this thought....

Well, what does this all point to?

Hmmmm... only questions come to mind.

Is it possible that enough of us on a positive wavelength resonating together can shift the equation?

Yes. Of course.

The Sword of Discrimination - cutting through the mist and shed light on the shadow!

“When you find states of mind, feelings, and thoughts that bother you coming up again and again, these become the perfect target for you to address and remove from the fabric of your mind. This is a project you'll undertake when you finally come to a point where something has been bothering you for so long that you decide you're going to get to the bottom of it no matter what.

The sword of discrimination is the best way to remove these poisons from your system and extinguish them; take a ray of the light of the Bodhicitta, form it into a sword, and strike precisely at the poison's heart as if you were using a laser. Dealing with these very subtle poisons at the level of the mind when they first take form as a vibration is a skill you will develop. They'll have a form and feeling; emotional content and memory is attached to them.

This is something you should do a little bit every day. Make it a part of your meditation to deal with this kind of problem solving; you'll have phases where this will be all you'll do for an hour a day for an entire week. This is something you will have to do regularly; it's not like you'll ever come to the end of it.” -- Mark Griffin

Our bodies, our emotions, our world, all one.

I just wrote an email to an intimate friend and thought I'd share the same on my blog:

"I was reading on the group blog to which I contribute 'www.realitysandwich.com' and found the following article.

Although the author's writing doesn't describe my feelings, it speaks to a lot of the issues that I am aware of in myself, and our society. And she shares many feelings and insights which are very interesting to me, and relevant to our conversations about sexuality, feelings, body, awareness, etc.

I often feel that the deep emotions I feel in myself are often overlooked in my busy life. I am feeling a vast world of emotion, pain, love and grief that is an expression of my own story, and not for my own story alone. The more I feel connected to reality as it is, I feel a flood of emotions for the story of humanity, and the animals and plants. And the feelings of deep grieving that we have lost the innate sense of connectedness to our true nature that has been lost in our current collective situation."

Here's the link to the story - the story is long, yet it is worth reading all the way through to the end, even if you skim it.RealitySandwich.com "Transforming the Repression of the Divine Feminine."

Artwork by St. Even :: http://www.divinereflections.ca/

Khalil Gibran on Love

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

The importance of daily practice

Whatever it is for you, me, we are all best served by 'grounding' ourselves in the awakening process. I have found that a daily spiritual practice is fundamental in 'bringing in' the light and spirit which I experience.

My practice supports the 'integration' of all the levels of ideas, thoughts, communities, activities into a coherent whole-story of my life on this earth.

I recommend all who are interested in "being the change we want to see" to explore more deeply a daily, regular spiritual practice.

Some websites and people to explore:
Amma

Andrew Cohen

Mark Griffin


Q&A on Meditation with Mark Griffin

Ken Wilbur

Painting Robert Venosa - Astral Circus

News I'd Like to F#%k - the face of our shallow media

Watch this video from the Daily Show. It is a riff on how it appears that news anchors are selected according to how beautiful they are.

Although it is funny, it reveals the expression of media that is vapid and highly hypnotic...

The media as an information delivery mechanism is neither good nor bad, it is simply a tool used by it's operators to spread upliftment or the alternative. A majority of the corporate media players of our time who dominate the airwaves are using the media primarily in service to generating dollars. Having more dollars, or that which more dollars can buy - more stuff, does not necessarily mean more happiness.

Yet the corporate media, and it's primary funders - the advertisers, continues to state "more stuff means more happiness" - and other hollow promises.

A recent article in LA City Beat "Tuning Out The Left" addresses the issue "Your TV might have 500 channels, but media consolidation has all but guaranteed that progressive, alternative channels like Free Speech TV are not among them".

I am a full supporter of independent media, and a responsible corporate media who recognizes that the public airwaves are a commmons to which they are granted the right to use.

Thankfully, the internet is providing a counterbalance to the overcentralized garbage which dominates...

The underrecognized holocaust of our family - a page from codebook of a hug activist

As I sit here on a Sunday afternoon in the woods, I recognize that there is a holocaust happening on the planet of our family members.

Didn't Chief Seattle say something like this a generation ago?

Who are you?

Who are you who can watch sitting idle as your family members burn in rapacious conflagrations, strip mined from their homeland and offered on the alter of consumer culture!

I rant, yet I rant about thee, and me!

My dear, You are the one you have been waiting for, really.

Don't look anywhere else for satisfaction, the juice you seek is inside.

Having more won't make you happy.

Allowing your self to be more intimate with yourself will discover happiness-ness, I trust. Care for a taste of the happy juiciness that comes relaxing into the love that you have always been?

Hug anyone?

Hug a tree, we're all family.

Cooperation is better than conflict. Duh!

This video is an excerpt from the TED (technology, environment and design) conference is very interesting on the topic of "non-zero sumness" essentially the truth that cooperation is better than conflict. I found his "optimistic cynicism" delightful!

Here's the description from TED - "Author Robert Wright explains “non-zero-sumness,” a game-theory term describing how players with linked fortunes tend to cooperate for mutual benefit. This dynamic has guided our biological and cultural evolution, he says -- but our unwillingness to understand one another, as in the clash between the Muslim world and the West, will lead to all of us losing the “game.” Once we recognize that life is a non-zero-sum game, in which we all must cooperate to succeed, it will force us to see that moral progress — a move toward empathy — is our only hope."

Essentially, he points to the importance of a global cooperative culture. To sum it up he said "We have come too far to screw it up!"

It is clear that collaboration for positive outcome is essential for the well being of our species, and it feels good too!

Here is one of my earlier entries on the topic:

What makes you feel as good as sex or chocolate?

Collective Bodhisattva Metamorphosis?

Here on a magnificent spring Saturday in Santa Monica I find myself once again pondering over the mystery of “why did we create this for ourselves?” And I can only agree with the assertion “homo sapiens sapiens is at present - undergoing a metamorphosis.

The essence of what I’m feeling is related to the concept that many of the ideas, thoughts, and practices which emphasize the “Anima” side of our collective, is to be reintegrated into the human zeitgeist, social experience, and the economy.

The core of our malaise at this moment is briefly summed up in the truth that we have built our civilization with a business relationship with nature, and with each other, rather than a REVERENCE relationship with nature, and each other.

The way Women in matriarchal and matrilineal groups interacted, and ordered society – among women first, and then in the broader collective – has been metaphorically part of the “baby” thrown out with the societal bathwater as our civilization abandoned old ways of being. And relational influences guided by the feminine mindset which I feel are particularly needed in our current cultural context, and the feminine mind can be inspired in both men and women.

In particular this line of reasoning intersects where the typical discussion of "enlightenment" falls short. I find that it is still focused on the concept of enlightenment of the "individual" as a subjective separate identity, where our experience in reality is that the expression is found, and expressed by "enlightened beings" in a more "collective" fashion. Is there really a "you" or "me" or "we?"

Paradoxically, the three coexist as a triad, and mysteriously it appears that for us as "individuals", in order to "ascend" we must blend our "individual" mind with the Shamanic "collective dream mind" as a natural part of the "process of enlightenment."

This is something akin to the Bodhisattva awareness. This is the hallmark of this time, "group consciousness" "group think" "intersubjective field" ( see past blog entries cited below.) Naturally, my concept of group think is far different than the historical attempts of societies to apply "groupthink" as a tool of oppressive archetypal thought forms - typically found with the suffix "ism" at the end of it.

I'll leave you with a quote from Leonard Shlain's new book - "Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution"


"In Buddhist tradition, many enlightened souls elect to return to this world and serve as bodhisattvas. They teach and give aid to alleviate the suffering of the unawakened. The Buddhists frequently use the metaphor of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly to describe poetically this transformation of the individual. Could it be that the entire human species began its existence as a collective caterpillar? As we enter our most environmentally rapacious stage, are we on the verge of transforming into the metaphorical equivalent of a butterfly? Perhaps, as a result of our transformation, individuals within our species will increasingly behave like bodhisattva and act to heal our relationship with nature and with each other."

I agree!

“The Evolution of The Intersubjective Field”

“What makes you feel good as sex or chocolate?”

“New Book: The Great Turning From Empire to Earth Community”

“Evolve? Or learn to Be Evolution?”

"From Pro-Creation to Co-Creation”

Black Hole Cluster Emits Gas Cloud 6 Million Light Years Wide

Just think about what they are talking about....
Space.com just reported that scientists have identified a black hole emitting a gargantuan cloud.

To begin with, light travelling 186,000 miles per second takes 6 million years to span from one end to another of this cosmic blob.

Space.com writes:

"The plasma cloud is located about 300 million light years away near the Coma Cluster and is spread across a vast region of space thought to contain several galaxies with supermassive black holes, or active galactic nuclei (AGN), embedded at their centers."

Alexandro Jodorowsky, La Danse de la réalité

I recently saw the 1973 consciousness-shifting cult film "The Holy Mountain" of the amazing filmmaker Alexandro Jodorowsky. The film was entirely financed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono and produced by Beatles manager Allen Klein and the film was not widely released until THIS YEAR.

Bottom line - go get it, and watch it!

He was recently interviewed and had some cool things to say.

BTW - we'll see about how long the humans will last. I think what we do in the next few years may be a determinant!

"How do you see the future of humanity ?

Human kind will live as many years as the universe. It will live until the end of the universe. It is its goal. It will then be acknowledged by the whole universe and will become its consciousness. Then it will create another universe.

You are one of the few artists that have a large audience who dares to illuminate people with fulguration.

Why should I try to touch people through politics ? I am not interested in political revolution, I am only interested in poetic revolution. Why shouldn’t I try to touch people by spiritual means ? I have a spirit. I can feel it. Why should I limit myself to being a rational being when I feel my unconscious is as big as an ocean ? And why should I see myself as limited when I feel that my thoughts are unlimited ? Why should I consider myself as having been defined when I feel indefinable ?

and at the end of the interview he finishes with this:

How can we end this interview ?
The best way to finish something is finishing it... But I would say that nothing ever ends. Everything carries on. Our paths have met. You’re going to follow your own path and I’m going to follow mine. We are not born, we don’t die. Everything is continuation. Since you alluded to the world’s future, have a look at this laid-back cat. If anybody were happy as this cat, then everything would be fine. There are moments of peace in this world, like this cat. If there is a moment of peace, it means that it exists.

Peace can be true, we have evidence of it...
The evidence - here it is - you see here we have a miracle. Look at the pleasure that this cat has in communicating with a human being. I’m not his master, I’m only a human being. It could take exactly the same pleasure with you. Do you want to see ? Take the cat...You see... Stroke it... Here it is, it’s yours. Peace is yours."

more here:
Alexandro Jodorowsky, La Danse de la réalité, Albin Michel

The Power, and Joy of Salons -- "to please and to educate"

http://www.worldchanging.com/local/losangeles/archives/006414.html

The Power and Joy of Salons -- "to please and to educate"

Greg Wendt on WorldChanging.com
April 11, 2007 12:17 PM

SALON? Here's a definition from Wikipedia -- "A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, 'to please and educate (aut delectare aut prodesse est)' "

Imagine -- you are surrounded by very cool, very intelligent people, all of whom you would love to just sit down and talk with, and you do! Yes, I know it's not that novel an idea -- just a party with a focus -- but I found having a "conversation starter" quite a wonderful addition.

It all started when my close friend Professor Sthaneshwar Timalsina with San Diego State University called me to let me know that he is planning to attend the CA-Boom show this past weekend because he is casting about for ideas to build his new home. (BTW -- the CA Boom show was beautiful. A lot of the show exemplified fine examples of beauty and ecology intersecting with good design.)

I suggested to Dr. Timalsina that we hold a salon at my home on "Religion, the Body and the World," because he recently taught a class called "Religion and Ecology," which was very popular and recognized as exemplary by the Dean of the School. Dr. Timalsina is from Nepal and has spent many years both practicing and studying Tantric Philosophy and Sanskrit and currently teaches a broad range of classes in the Religious Studies department.

The evening was very stimulating, to say the least. Sthaneshwar was certainly a hit, as he spoke to the largely "eco-minded" crowd about the connection between how we perceive our body in a religious context and how that perception affects, or enhances our relationship with Nature. Very timely topics -- considering many of the ideas floating in the public discourse on the subject...

He writes: "This can be summarized as a way 'Eco-vision' where embodiment is the core of spiritual awakening. The main theme is 'Religion and the Body.' The body and emotions are often repressed and they are considered irrational. The institutionalized religions have a fallocentric vision of rationality and it tends to avoid the humane aspect. By bringing embodiment in the discourse, the objective of this discussion is to connect modern mankind and modern spirituality to Nature. The rejection of the body in religious discourse has often paralleled with the subordination of Nature and a subordination of the Maternal aspect of God. Therefore, this discussion we will explore the interaction between humanity, spirituality and Nature - evaluated through the non-dual, or Oneness point of view."

This is the first "salon" experience I have had in some time, and to say the least, I think it something I intend to do more, and to inspire my friends to do as well!

In order to feed the mind, body and soul, I suggest that whenever possible, get together, eat, be merry, discuss, think and partake in the joy of salons -- "to please and to educate" for a better world!