Follow your intuition - and use tools, wisely!

Many people use the tarot, astrology, pendulums, etc. to get guidance on which direction to take in their lives.

Divination has been a core part of humanity for many generations.

Yet I have often felt a little hesitation to embrace fully any system, or outer authority, or message from cards as "absolute."

These tools are simply that, tools. Guideposts.

I am at a friends home and reading a book on his shelf "The Book of Shadows" and the author, Phyllis Currot speaks to this directly:

She speaks of her own experience with these tools:

"... as I became more proficient in their use, I began to see that the idea that life was predetermined, or already lived, is simply untrue. These oracles, these divining tools, are like a lighthouse to a ship at sea. They tell you where the shore is, where the rocks lie, offering guidance in a storm or on a dark and starless night. But ultimately, the decision as to how to chart your course is your own. Do you sail or motor, tack or run for a long haul? Do you head for port or push on? Your choices, your free will, your expectations, fears longings, beliefs all affect the outcome of events. A divinatory tool provides you information regarding forces, possibilities, and probabilities so you can make wise decisions. Most important, awareness, courage, compassion, and growth come from making your own choices and learning from them, not abandoning your responsibility to some mechanistic prediction. This was [is] the reals magical journey to maturity and to the divine."

I couldn't agree more.

In market economics during the current financial crisis, and the rewriting the sourcecode to civilization, these principals apply!

We are all leaders! It is definitely up to each one of us.

Seth Godin's recent book "Tribes - We Need You to Lead Us!" is a testament to this truth.

Take the torch and lead yourself and your tribe toward maturity, and to making love with the divine in every detail of your reality!

40th Anniversary of Earthrise....

BBC Just wrote...

"Forty years ago, the biggest TV audience in history tuned in to watch humankind's first close encounter with another world, as the crew of Apollo 8 reached lunar orbit. Here, the Apollo historian and film-maker Dr Christopher Riley gives his perspective on the mission and how that Christmas Eve of 1968 changed the world."

Picture from NASA - the first image of earthrise ever taken from the moon. Cool.

"The Supreme State"

This is a paper I wrote for a class in High School.

The Supreme State

Nietzsche mentions states of mind which transcend our day to day experiences in his essay. [1] He mentions the feeling of "complete oneness with the essence of the universe" [2] but he doesn't describe the nature of that experience. This "vision of mystical oneness" [3] is an awareness of the unity of all objects in the universe. [4] It is an experience and not an idea; it is a deeply felt and complex understanding. Discussing this complex experience in words is a formidable task because this experience is beyond words. The experience of oneness with the universe is known as "the mystical experience of the collective" [5]and the one who experiences it constantly is is called is a mystic. Thus the mystical experience which Nietzsche mentioned is an awareness or an understanding that everything in the universe is one substance.

Nietzsche mentions mystical experience throughout his writing on the polarities of personality in Greek art. He relates mystical experiences to art and its creation. He gives examples of situations where a person may occasionally experience "complete oneness with the essence of the universe." [6]Nietzsche talks about the intellectual and the ecstatic aspects of man's personality. He says that a person while in the ecstatic mood will experience oneness with the universal power. Nietzsche says:

"Each of his gestures betokens enchantment; through him sounds a supernatural power, the same power which makes the animals speak and the earth render up milk and honey." [7]

Nietsche is writing metaphorically here. He is saying a man in this state of oneness is filled with delight and enchantment. While in this state he feels the power of the universe within himselfe and therefore it works through him. He is saying this power is "supernatural" because it is beyond the normal every day experience of most people. This power is the power which dwells in all creatures and objects.

One may wonder "what is the universe according to the mystical viewpoint?" From a mystical viewpoint all sentient and insentient objects, all people, and all the experiences are pervaded by universal power. This universal power is the life force of everything that exists. An analogy is used to describe this. Imagine a row of light bulbs are powered by the same electricity. Similarly every object and creature derives its existence and has its root in one source.

Einstein used the ideas of unity when he made his unified field theory. [8] His theory states that the forces that work in the atom and the forces which work on the cosmic, galactic scale are part of a "deeper reality which under girds both." [9] This "deeper reality" is believed to be an underlying energy which encompasses all forces of nature. Einstein's theory leads to a far reaching viewpoint where "the entire universe appears as one elemental field." [10] When Einstein says that the universe is "one elemental field" he implies that everything is connected by an underlying power. This underlying power has name in most cultures and religions the Chinese call it Chi, the East Indians call it Shakti or Brahman, the Christians call it God, and others call it universal consciousness. In this discussion we will use the terms universal power or God.

Mystics experience this universal power as a living conscious force. One may ask "What is a mystic and what is his state of mind?" A mystic is one who always experiences the living power of the entire universe within himself as well as within every sentient and insentient object. He has acquired a constant awareness of equality or as Lincoln Barnett says; "A knowledge of the ultimate immutable essence that undergirds the mutable illusory world." [11] He is saying that this knowledge is an awareness of the universal principle which is the substratum of all activity in the universe. This awareness is a connection to the conscious universal power which is within us and the universe.

This "mystical experience" is not just a dry understanding or awareness. It is accompanied by a sense of delight, joy and peace. "Utter peace and wild delight, every pleasure state known to man's normal consciousness are inadequate to this description of this joy." [12]

The mystic revels in his awareness of unity. He sees that creatures, people, and objects are pervaded by his own soul. As a result of this feeling he experiences a deep sense of peace, clarity and joy.

Here is a poem by Christian writer and theologian George Macdonald "All about us, in earth and air, wherever eye or ear can reach, there is a power ever breathing itself forth in signs, now in a daisy, now in a wind-waft, a cloud, a sunset; a power that holds constant and sweetest relation with the dark and silent world within us. The same God who is in us, and upon whose tree we are the buds, if the yet the flowers, also is all about us-- inside the spirit; outside, the world. And the two are ever trying to meet in us; and when they meet, then the sign without and the longing within, become one in light; and the man can no more walketh in darkness, but knoweth whither he goeth." [13]

Macdonald is describing the mystical experience. He says that everything is pervaded by God or the universal power. God exists outside all about us as the universe and God exists inside us as spirit. When one experiences that God is within him as well as outside he knows who he is. He knows that his souls is one with that power, that God who is within every human being. The mystic feels, "I am one with the universe and the universe is in me."

There are countless people who have acquired the "vision of mystical oneness." [14] In all traditions, cultures, and times there have been mystics. Buddha, Swami Muktananda, Jesus, St.John of the Cross, Lao-Tzu, St. Theresa of Avila, Plato, Aristotle, Gandhi, Alfred Einstein, William Blake, are just a few of the mystics of the past.

The feeling of "complete oneness with the essence of the universe" is not limited to mystics alone. It can be experienced by anyone. Anyone can experience it because "In each human being dwells an infinite power, the root of the universe." [16]

Since that universal power is within everything in the universe it is also within every human being as well. An eastern mystic speaks to that conscious power in a poem:

"Although You are everywhere, You dwell most specifically in the heart of a human being. I have come to know that You alone exist in conscious beings as well as inert matter." [16]

He is saying that the universal power is in the entire universe and it exists also within every single human being.

One may ask "If God is in everything and God is in my own heart why don't I experience him?" Eastern mystics say that we are "caught by the veil of Maya" which is the "illusion hiding the reality (universal power) that lies beneath material surfaces." [17] Instead of perceiving unity and equality in the universe we perceive everything as separate from ourselves and others. We don't recognize the universal principle which is within us and everything else as a result of this "illusion."

One may wonder "Do mystics just sit around and 'experience' this state or do they bring it into their daily lives?" If we look into the lives of mystics of the past such as Jesus, Buddha, St. Theresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, Gandhi and many others, we will see that they lived lives of spreading this state to others. They related their experience of universal oneness and brotherhood to others. They taught that man should live life while respecting others as his own self. The mystics were living examples of the potential that man can achieve by understanding that his own self and the world are the same.

This mystical state is the source of great inspiration in all activities of life. Evelyn Underhill said that artists, scientists and musicians use various ways to transcend their minds to bring new inspiration to their art. She says that "the mystic experience is the key to them all." [18] This is so because the mystical experience is a connection to the universal "creative power." Einstein said that "The cosmic religious experience is the strongest and the noblest and mainspring of scientific research."[19] He is saying that the mystical experience gives some scientists great inspiration and insight into the source of the universe. Thus the experience of unity with the universe is an awareness which is useful and dynamic in worldly life.

In looking at my own experience I can see that I have experienced glimpses of the mystical state. It happened once when I was backpacking. When I was walking I felt a sense of being connected to the world around me. It wasn't like a dream or a hallucination; it was a vivid clear and conscious experience. I felt that the trees, the rocks, the ground, and the sky were all part of me.

The experience was natural, simple, and clear. I felt a deep sense of stillness of mind; it was a clarity of mind which I had never experienced before. I felt that the soul within me was also the "soul" within the objects around me.

The experience lasted for a few moments and then I felt normal again. This "glimpse" of the mystical state was the most simple and clear understanding I have had of myself and the world. Out of this experience and a few others like it, has grown an interest in mysticism and God. I briefly experienced a state of unity which mystics experience all the time.

The subject of mystical experience is a complicated one. It involves using a wide range of terminology and ideas to describe the experience. Perhaps the discussion of the mystical experience is so complicated because it is so "simple" that it can't be put into words. It is an awareness, and understanding, of the universe as one divine principle, nothing more.

1. Friedrich Nietzsche, "Appolonianism and Dionysianism" in "A world of Ideas", p. 216, ed. Lee A. Jacobus (New York St. Martin's press 1983)
2. Nietzsche, P. 216
3. Nietzsche, P. 216.
4. Aldous Huxley, "The Perennial Philosophy." P. 3 (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1970)
5. Nietzsche, P. 216.
6. Nietzsche, P. 216.
7. Nietzsche, P. 216.
8. Lincoln Barnett, "The Universe and Dr. Einstein" (New York: Bantam Books, 1978)
9. Barnett, P.111-112.
10. Barnett, P.111-112.
11. Barnett, P.111-112.
12. Evelyn Underhill, "Mysticism", P. 342 (New York, Meridian Books, 1957)
13. George MacDonald, "Untitled" in "Collected Works" ed. Rolland Hein (Washington DC; Christian University Press, 1982)
14. Nietzsche, P. 216.
15. Nietzsche, P. 216.
16. Swami Muktananda, "Kundalini: The Secret of Life" P.1 (New York, SYDA Foundation, 1979)
17. Swami Muktananda, "Secret of the Siddhas" P.9 (New York, SYDA Foundation, 1980)
18. Underhill, P. 446
19. Barnett, P. 112

Imaginal Hygiene

"Imaginal hygiene is the inner art of self-managing the imagination, to defend it from forces that compromise, pollute, colonize, shrink, and sterilize it, and to cultivate those that illuminate, expand, and nourish it. I feel knowledge of this and its application is essential to the story of human survival into the 21st century. Its practice is necessary for us to cultivate the visionary clarity and strength needed to achieve the great personal and planetary transformations that increasing numbers of us are being called to perform, for the capacity to transform is in direct proportion to the capacity to imagine."

Excellent Article - http://www.realitysandwich.com/imaginal_hygiene

Must read book Not In His Image

This is a must read book:

The comments are directly from Chelsea Green who published the book.

"Basing much of Not in His Image on the Nag Hammadi and other Gnostic writings, John Lamb Lash explains how a little-known messianic sect propelled itself into a dominant world power, systematically wiping out the great Gnostic spiritual teachers, the Druid priests, and the shamanistic healers of Europe and North Africa. They burned libraries and destroyed temples in an attempt to silence the ancient truth-tellers and keep their own secrets. But as Lash reveals, when the truth is the planet Earth it cannot be hidden or destroyed."

"Not in His Image delves deeply into the shadows of ancient Gnostic writings to reconstruct the story early Christians tried to scrub from the pages of history, exploring the richness of the ancient European Pagan spirituality—the Pagan Mysteries, the Great Goddess, Gnosis, the myths of Sophia and Gaia—and chronicles the annihilation of this Pagan European culture at the hands of Christianity.

"Long before the birth of Christianity, monotheism was an anomaly; Europe and the Near East flourished under the divine guidance of Sophia, the ancient goddess of wisdom. The Earth was the embodiment of Sophia and thus sacred to the people who sought fulfillment in her presence. This ancient philosophy was threatening to the emerging salvation-based creed of Christianity that was based on patriarchal dominion over the Earth and lauded personal suffering as a path to the afterlife. As Derrick Jensen points out in the afterword, in Lash's hands Jesus Christ emerges as the agent provocateur of the ruling classes."

Photo drawn from the Chelsea Green Website.

Collective Bodhisattva Metamorphosis 2.0

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."

Practices of Bodhisattvas.

This is directly from Robert Lorenz' "The Collapsing Tower Newsletter" I recommend it highly -

"In The Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattvas, Gyalsay Togme Sangpo (1295-1369) advises:

'All suffering comes from the wish of your own happiness.
Perfect Buddhas are born from the thought to help others.
Therefore exchange your own happiness
For the suffering of others—
This is the practice of the bodhisattvas.'

"In the practice of tonglin we breathe all of the suffering of others into ourselves. This includes their pain, affliction, misery, distress, illness and so forth. 'We then think of ourselves purely in terms of our own happiness, imagining everything we hold dear, the special moments we cherish when we experienced love and intimacy or moments when we were at ease with ourselves, and breathe that out to others.' In essence, we breathe in everything that is debilitating for others and breathe out everything that causes joy for us."

"Rinpoche cautions us that:

'The more we fear discomfort and sickness, the greater that discomfort becomes and the more extreme the effects of our ill health will seem. For example, if we get the flu and our mental conditioning is weak, it can be very draining and painful, and we may even pick up more life-threatening forms of illness. In the same way, if our mind is not trained, it becomes lethargic and lazy, and any little unpleasantness is perceived as a dangerous affront.'"

"And most importantly:

"It is impossible to invite misfortune and disruption into our lives through tonglen. We have to remind ourselves that we do not engage in the practice of sending and taking in order to share the suffering of others. For example, if someone is suffering from cancer and we take on his or her suffering in tonglen practice, we should not think, 'Now I will get cancer.' Once we have visualized taking on others’ suffering, it immediately dissipates within us…."

My thoughts exactly - collective bodhisattva metamorphosis.

Image by wonderlane

Myco-mimicry -Mushrooms/We can save the world.

I recently spent some time speaking with the world's leading mycologist (mushroom expert), Paul Stamets, at the Green Festival in San Francisco. We had a wonderful conversation about mushrooms and bioremediation, biomimicry and mushrooms used for healing various medical conditions. He was kind enough to give me a gourmet Shitake mushroom mycelium kit which was part of his booth just like the one in the picture on this blog.

In a recent magazine article on Paul's work, he was quoted on the intelligence of the mushroom mycelium (the net of cells which is the "root" of mushroom of which the fruit is mushrooms as we know them.)

He states "I believe that the mycelium operates at a level of complexity that exceeds the computational power of our most advanced supercomputers, because these externalized neurological nets sense any impression on them, from footsteps to falling tree branches, they could relay enormous amounts of data regarding the movements of all organisms through the landscape."

In our conversation I shared with him my views on the necessity that we humans learn from the blueprint of how organisms organize and communicate.
Specifically I stated we are to restore the telepathic pathways of our group mind to organize ourselves similar to that of the mycelium of mushroom to reestablish a more effective way to communicate and share evolutionary consciousness coursing through the human mind.

Joanna Macy has also thought along similar lines with respect to the potential for global telepathy to heal our relationship with Nature. She discussed these ideas in an article that she wrote in conjunction with Andrew Beath's book "Consciousness In Action"

I'll quote her at length to allow her to speak in her own words

"The Birth of a New Planetary Consciousness”

“It could well be that our work now is to grow a new planetary consciousness. Carl Jung said there’s no birth of consciousness without pain. We are discovering that we are the sensory organs of our living planet, and that discovery involves pain. All of a sudden we realize that we care, that our hearts are breaking over people who aren’t even born yet. This is truly a noble thing. Over twenty years of doing this work I have found that people would rather hurt and feel connected than be anesthetized and feel isolated. “

“In terms of living systems theory, at every level of life’s self-organizing there is subjectivity. The brains of higher mammals – at our own level of subjectivity and consciousness – are the most complex objects in the known universe: one hundred billion neurons, all highly differentiated, with trillions of synaptic connections. This internal complexity evolved thanks to choice-making. This is still where we make conscious choices – right here between our ears – separately. But given our current global crisis, individual decision-making may be too isolated and too slow to stop the destruction. What could save us is if we start thinking and intending together – as interconnected whole. And fortunately, this is beginning to happen.”

“It’s as if we’re neurons in a big brain, which is itself starting to think. It’s like we’re being ‘thought through.’ I think that people are having that experience where they finish each other’s sentences or come up with the same ideas. We tend to refer to clairvoyant experiences in terms of the occult, like channeling, as if it’s somebody “out there” who’s channeling through me. But from the systems perspective we don’t need that kind of explanation. It's all emerging synergistically from our interactions.”

“This ‘mind sharing’ is, I believe, a natural function of our experiencing a common danger to our survival. The danger is not simply to Joanna or to Andrew or to John but to the whole Earth community. We are capable now of identifying with the planet as a whole. We start by identifying with families and countries, and then with humans as a species, then we move right out and identify with other species. I see this happening with people from all walks of life, regardless of location and background."

There are parallels I have also been enjoying in the online book by Robert Lorenz, PhD called "The Collapsing Tower - The Birth Pangs of Post-Ego Civilization" On the topic of restoring our connectedness with ourselves, eachother and all species on Mother Earth Lorenz speaks about the importance of intentional work of connecting our consciousness together telepathically and also "revisioning" the dream of life on this planet and thus restoring the morphogenetic field of consciousness on the planet.

"Research from Ramana Maharishi’s[*] Transcendental Meditation organization has calculated that it takes the square root of one-tenth of one percent of a population to change that population. That’s 8,000 people based on our current world population. This is a workable number. They don’t even have to be assembled at the same place at the same time. But they must have the same intention. Thus, we may be able to effect planetary healing with a two-step process: 1) the healing of disconnectedness and 2) revisioning."
[*Actually I am almost certain that the work researched was done by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's organization and not Ramana Maharshi's, it is called the Maharishi effect]

If we simply recognize that we that through harnessing an intentional telepathic connection we can to restore our connection with eachother and with Nature.

I invite us to ask help from higher beings, and model our behavior by learning from "lower" beings and restore our awareness of the telepathic connections between us.
In the conversation at the Green Festival I continued to suggest to Paul that we humans can pattern our thought process of doing this work based on the way that the mycelium of mushrooms operates.

Paul's response to such thinking was one word - "myco-mimicry."
Naturally...he had thought of the same thing.

The Secret - is about revisioning...

In a regular newsletter based on the book "The Collapsing Tower - The Birth Pangs of Post Ego Civilization" , Robert Lorenz, Phd writes about the importance of each of us to take responsibility for managing our own internal states as a way of managing the way the world process unfolds before us.

He writes:

"Neville’s concept of “states” reflects this same idea. A state can be thought of as a kind of “mood” that controls how a person thinks, perceives, imagines and, ultimately, experiences life. In Immortal Man Neville says that these states exist as “fixtures”, and can be also thought of as different realities for the individuals locked into them. They comprise the multiplicity of psychic conditions of human existence. We can go from one state to another, but the state remains unchanged. Whether a person is good, bad, rich, poor, healthy or unhealthy, for example, is not an inherent characteristic of that person, but rather the state in which he (usually accidentally) finds himself. To paraphrase Neville, we are all God experiencing different human states. Thus, the criminal, victim, judge, and jury are all God carrying out the dictates of the state in which he finds himself. This, obviously, is a very liberating concept—and the ultimate liberation is the transcendence of all states."

"A significant step toward such liberation is learning how to navigate states—learning how to go from one to another. And this is one of the basic purposes of revisioning. A good way to practice this method involves revising events that occur during the course of the day. This is an effective method for preventing unwanted recurrences. For example, if you have a minor accident such as cutting your finger while washing a knife and you mentally revise the occurrence so that you almost cut your finger, what you’ve done is neutralized the morphogenetic field of the original experience. By doing this you invoke a reality in which the cut never happened. As I discussed in The Collapsing Tower, the morphogenetic field generated by an event increases the probability of a similar event occurring. Also, by revising the original event, you significantly accelerate the healing process. Thus, you don’t get locked into a state of accident-proneness."

"Practice with minor revisions gives you the confidence to take on greater ones. For example, you can eventually revise the experience of childhood abuse and move into a state based on the revised experience. In order to do this, however, you must firmly understand the veracity of multiple possible realities. We’re not stuck with whatever one we’re in—but in order to know this, you have to prove the validity of the idea for yourself."

"In the next Newsletter we’ll deal with the revisioning of the planetary eco-system. This will entail a large group effort involving a precise visualization of a healed planet."

The deep wisdom of the Doula

My dear friend Laurel Kitten is wisdom keeper doula.

Her words inspire:
Super Hero¹s Birth Oct.25, 2008

I have noticed that when I ask couple¹s in a neutral way how the birth of
their baby was, I commonly get answers that often will first start off with
a long pause that has their eyes turn inward and start looking around the
walls of their inner mind and body complexes. It is as if they are reading
their biological information hologram and taking different pieces of
information and inserting it into an order that allows them to feel ok about
what happened. They then speak skimming the surface, as if not to expose the
deep underbelly of what happened to them. Most often their children will not
know of their own birth stories as young adults.

When the same question is asked to couples who have birthed themselves and
their baby through the passage of Nature¹s blue print uninterrupted, they
seem to consistently respond in a different way. For these couple¹s they
seem to become more alive. Their stories are filled with passion and beauty,
strength and power, awe and humbleness. The children of these kinds of
births seem to usually know of their birth stories as young adults. These
stories are not seen or felt as much these days.

May we FREE our natural birthing and initiation Blue Print from the
endangered Species List. Reclaim it from the archives of Time. And may we be
inspired by those who have held the passage open for us in it¹s purest form
waiting for our return. Now that the Heaven¹s have aligned and the circle is
complete by the Serpent eating it¹s tail and sprouting wings, we can now
hear if we listen closely to the Lion Heart¹s Roar ~ speaking to His Kingdom
that now is the Time for All to Come Home. For those who did not know that
the serpent ate it¹s tail or that there ever was a serpent ~ listen more
closely within your own Lion¹s Heart to Eve¹s Dream and in time you will
know.

As more of us return, more women¹s minds will unlock and they will free
themselves from the old program of the MATRIX. An outdated program no longer
needed. For Life has gathered enough information from that experiment. A new
program has been installed that returns us back to the Mother Land's
Greatest Dream of the Beauty Way.

In our Home Coming, we become Exalted for having left the Garden to then
return again by our own will. We choose to walk in the glory of Great
Spirit¹s Illumination by our reunion. For those in this Shine have reclaimed
their Maker's face within themselves and All of their Relations, a delicate
dance indeed.

We are the Flowering Humans of the Rainbow Nation. We know the Tree of Life
as ourselves. Our Nations symbol is the Tree of Life encircled by a Rainbow
Hoop with eagle feathers wrapped in red fabric hanging from it¹s branches.
We see with the vision and listening of the eagle. We the Bird Tribe ~ tied
together by the fabric of life through our Sacred Bloods.

AHO
Laurel Kitten

Aligning our Energy Doctrine with the New Paradigm of a New Time

Aligning our Energy Doctrine with the New Paradigm of a New Time

Mark Comings spoke at the New Energy Conference in Portland, Sept. 26, 2004,

He's a theorist, Mark Comings, spoke to the truth that "we don't have an energy shortage, we have an integrity shortage."

What we need is the will to embrace and adopt these plentiful energy sources that are available.

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

Where are we going?

"Responsible freedom of self determination becoming truly self confident and free to
unconditionally to be responsible for yourself without being coerced by some other authority." - Alex Collier

We are already who we need to be, it's just a matter of remembering.

Collective Shadow work necessary!

"The gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of a physical or biological order, but psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of human beings may be smitten with a new madness, and then we shall have another world war or devastating revolution. Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes, landslides, and inundations, modern man is battered by the elemental forces of his own psyche."
Carl Gustav Jung

hadron video -just watch scientific rap accuracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

Universcale - something wonderful from Nikon.

A very cool corporate promo....

Check it out - Universcale shows the universe from a grand scale down to the nano scale from the standpoint of the observer.

My friend Nassim Harimein came up with findings that mathematically showed that principals driving forces on the grand scale of the cosmos are identical with principals driving the quantum level of infinitesimally small.

I mentioned his findings and a link to his white paper in a blog recently "Unified Field Paper-groundbreaking work."

Really - Simple Health Practices

Air - Get fresh air,
Water - drink lots of water
Sunshine - get outdoors
Whole Foods - organic, non processed foods - whole grains, greens
Walking - Walk as often as possible
Non-Toxic Relationships - If you're in a toxic relationship change it or get out
Passion - focus on that which you have passion for in your life

If you look at your life, you might think that you already know about these things, yet how infrequently you practice them.

Really do it.

Sacred Geometry - in us, can redefine our human experience

The recent piece on Reality Sandwich by author and researcher Richard Merrick called "Building a Religion" speaks to the promise that simple geometry has to provide a new view for reality.

The geometry he speaks to is known as "sacred geometry" by many, Richard refers to it as "harmonic science" with references to Newton, Da Vinci, Pythagoras.

The article is a must read - as he speaks of the history of harmonic science in science and religion over the centuries and to the potential that it holds to transform our relationship with our Cosmos.

He writes:

"But if the study of harmonic science ever were allowed back into the educational system, we might expect a cultural Renaissance that would make even Leonardo’s naked Vitruvian Man blush. T-shirts would implore us to “Bring back the aether” while religious bumper stickers proclaim, “Get in touch with your inner archetype!” The full intersecting circles of the Vescia Piscis would suddenly appear in place of just the fish part on all those Suburbans. Even Einstein’s “everything is relative” would sound tired, replaced instead by Pythagoras’ “everything is proportional.” Fashion would explode with “sacred geometry” and Egyptian styles could make a comeback. The idea that an archetypal structure in space actually shapes flowers, insects, fish, birds, pets and people would be irresistible and, I think, difficult to suppress once the meme was released."

Dancing Flowers

When the grace of the Master shines we recognize

How God's light shines bright like the sun,

Kundalini stretches high dancing to meet her Lord.

Singing golden orbs a body of light pulsing,

like a flower reaching to the sky!

World Shift - cliff notes of Erwin Laszlo's new book

Erwin Laslo has written a new book called "Quantum Shift in the Global Brain" which was summarized in a recent article on Reality Sandwich

Here's the entire text - I agree!

"The production of essential biological and physical resources has already peaked. Forests, species of fish, and coral reefs are damaged and disappearing, soils are impoverished by overcropping and by chemicals; diversity is reduced by genetic manipulation. More than half the world’s population faces water shortages whilst climate change threatens to make much of the planet unsuited for food production and habitation.

With this comes growing insecurity within and between countries, and greater propensity to resort to terrorism and war. Fundamentalism and fanaticism are spreading and the gap is widening between rich and poor. Eighty percent of the world’s wealth belongs to one billion people while the rest is shared by five-and-a-half billion. One in three urban dwellers live in slums, shantytowns and urban ghettoes.

We have consumed more of the planet’s resources in the six decades since World War II than in all of history before. We produce more waste than the environment can absorb, and extract more resources than the biosphere can regenerate. This is not sustainable. In regard to food, for example, we know how much is sustainable: it is the produce of 4.2 acres of land for each person. But the average today is seven acres (and would be far more if the poorest countries would not have an untenably small footprint).

If we continue in this way famine and frustration will fuel terrorism and trigger wars. The delicate balance of our global interdependence will be torn apart. In the ensuing global collapse no country, no population will be spared. Hamlet’s famous question, to be or not to be, has become extremely timely. The question is not whether we need to change in order to be. To survive on this planet we need to change. Sooner or later we will want to change. But when we do, will there still be time to change?

Gandhi said: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. How can you do that? First of all, get rid of old thinking and the values and beliefs that support it. As Einstein said, you can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that produced the problem. When we shed obsolete beliefs and adopt new thinking, we change our values and our thinking and change ourselves. In these critical times that change can be the “butterfly” that triggers a storm. It could spread far and wide, and in the end it could change the world.

New thinking is not utopian or unprecedented; it is already emerging at the creative edge of society. In a number of “alternative cultures” people think and act in a more positive way. They share two fundamental beliefs. One is that the ancient saying “we are all one” is not just fiction but has roots in reality. This is borne out in the latest developments in the sciences: subtle but real signals and energies connect all particles in the cosmos and all living things in the biosphere. The second belief regards the sphere of human responsibility. If we are truly connected with each other and with nature, our responsibilities do not end with ourselves, our family, our country and our company; they encompass the entire human community and the whole of the biosphere. Living up to these wider responsibilities is not charity; it is solid common sense. If we are part of humanity, and humanity is part of life on the planet, what we do to others and to nature we do also to ourselves.

A living species can cope with changes in its environment—up to a point. When those changes accumulate, the stress reaches a critical point and the species dies out unless, of course, it mutates. In relatively simple systems critical points lead to breakdown. In more complex systems these critical points are tipping points: they can go one way or another. They do not lead inevitably to breakdown, they can also lead to breakthrough.

In 1989 a group of East German refugees crossed the iron curtain to Austria. For the communist world of Eastern Europe that was the tipping point. In a matter of weeks the Communist-bloc countries seceded from the Soviet Union, and less than a year later the Soviet Union and its Republics had ceased to exist, transforming—not without crisis and turbulence—into more open societies.

Modern civilization itself arose out of the cultural mutations of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The new culture was shaped by the belief in the power of reason and the development of a materialistic and mechanistic view of the world. Today, however, in our age of global information, communication, interdependence and social and environmental stress, the mechanistic-materialistic worldview has become obsolete and counterproductive. Its view of the world has been transcended in the sciences, but the technologies it generates and the behaviours it inspires are with us still.

The civilization that dominates the contemporary world is no longer sustainable: if it is not to breakdown, it must transform. We must create a civilization that enables six-and-a-half billion people to live with dignity, in harmony with each other and with nature. The Worldshift from a civilization based on materialistical and mechanistic short-term thinking to one based on integral thinking and longer and wider horizons is possible. We have the knowledge, the technologies, and the necessary human and financial resources. The presently marginal global-thinking alternative cultures could become the mainstream. When a critical mass of people changes its values and priorities, the leadership catches on, and the world itself will change.

It may well be that the global tipping point will come as soon as the end of 2012, the much prophesied watershed in humanity’s tenure on the planet. It will certainly come within the lifetime of most of us. Whenever it comes, we must begin to change now, to ensure that it is not a prelude to breakdown, but a breakthrough to a truly peaceful and sustainable world."

Surya Namaskar - Sun Salutation Yoga poses...

Many friends have asked basics of Sun Saluation - Surya Namaskar set of postures.

It's quite simple - click on picture from my friend Nandhi at Nandhi.com

Global telepathy training wheels - the internet? McLuhan's Inspiration from 39 years ago.

This quote is from an interview of Marshall McLuhan published in Playboy March of 1969.

In it McLuhan points to the promise that the a global technology driven consciousness shift.

I believe he was understanding the noospheric potential of the internet. I think it is a collective consciousness training wheels.

MCLUHAN: Let me help you. Tribal man is tightly sealed in an integral collective awareness that transcends conventional boundaries of time and space. As such, the new society will be one mythic integration, a resonating world akin to the old tribal echo chamber where magic will live again: a world of ESP. The current interest of youth in astrology, clairvoyance and the occult is no coincidence. Electric technology, you see, does not require words any more than a digital computer requires numbers. Electricity makes possible--and not in the distant future, either--an amplification of human consciousness on a world scale, without any verbalization at all.

Q: Are you talking about global telepathy?

MCLUHAN: Precisely. Already, computers offer the potential of instantaneous translation of any code or language into any other code or language. If a data feedback is possible through the computer, why not a feed-forward of thought whereby a world consciousness links into a world computer? Via the computer, we could logically proceed from translating languages to bypassing them entirely in favor of an integral cosmic unconsciousness somewhat similar to the collective unconscious envisioned by Bergson. The computer thus holds out the promise of a technologically engendered state of universal understanding and unity, a state of absorption in the logos that could knit mankind into one family and create a perpetuity of collective harmony and peace. This is the real use of the computer, not to expedite marketing or solve technical problems but to speed the process of discovery and orchestrate terrestrial--and eventually galactic--environments and energies. Psychic communal integration, made possible at last by the electronic media, could create the universality of consciousness foreseen by Dante when he predicted that men would continue as no more than broken fragments until they were unified into an inclusive consciousness. In a Christian sense, this is merely a new interpretation of the mystical body of Christ; and Christ, after all, is the ultimate extension of man.

Q: Isn't this projection of an electronically induced world consciousness more mystical than technological?

MCLUHAN: Yes--as mystical as the most advanced theories of modern nuclear physics. Mysticism is just tomorrow's science dreamed today.

Global Coherence Project

The Global Coherence Project is a science-based initiative uniting millions of people in heart-focused care and intention, to shift global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation and enduring peace.

This project has been launched by the Institute of HeartMath®, a nonprofit 501(c)(3), a recognized global leader in researching emotional physiology, heart-brain interactions and the physiology of optimal health and performance.

The Global Coherence Project is designed to help individuals and groups work together, synchronistically and strategically to increase the impact of their efforts to create positive global change.

Together we will:

* Increase personal coherence for the benefit of ourselves and the planet
* Help shift the planetary consciousness baseline from self-centeredness to wholeness care
* Increase connection and social harmony
* Empower our ability to navigate through global changes with less stress and more ease
* Empower environmental responsibility and stewardship of the planet


This project has been initiated because millions of people sense that this is an extraordinary time; that a paradigm shift of human consciousness is now under way; that we are at the crossroads of change and must move toward the healing of ourselves and our planet. Many people are feeling a strong desire to help change our present and future conditions and are looking for ways to use their heart, spirit-aligned wisdom and care to make a meaningful difference.

The Global Coherence Project is one of many care and compassion initiatives taking place on the planet. Each year, an increasing number of groups and online communities are radiating compassion and care to the planet in these times of need. We and others feel that these collective heart-based initiatives, rather than being a trend, represent the proactive consciousness platform of the future, in which individuals and communities take responsibility for shaping a new world by increasing love, care and compassion for the global whole.

Heart Coherence

Many people recognize that their meditations, prayers, affirmations and intentions can and do affect the world. Researchers suggest that these activities can have even more transformative and lasting impact by adding heart coherence to the process. Heart coherence is a distinct mode of synchronized psycho-physical functioning associated with sustained positive emotion. It is a state of energetic alignment and cooperation between heart, mind, body and spirit. In coherence, energy is accumulated, not wasted, leaving you more energy to manifest intention and harmonious outcomes.

Adding heart coherence to meditation, prayer and intention practices is an important aspect of the Global Coherence Project. It adds order and increased effectiveness to whatever form of practice you are doing.

The Global Coherence Project offers education and technology on how to increase individual heart coherence. As groups of people in the Global Coherence community intentionally send coherent love and care to the world, a more powerful heart-filled environment is created. This helps to build a reservoir of positive energy that benefits the planet. This reservoir can then be utilized to help bring balance and stabilization to people, thereby making it easier to find solutions to problems like climate change, the destruction of the rain forests, poverty, war, hunger and other global issues. In addition, by sending coherent heart energy to the planet, you benefit personally. Practicing coherence has a carryover effect that helps to cushion you through stressors and challenges that occur day to day."

MetaNature - Evolutionary Imperative for Human Survival!

My friend Jim Fournier has an extraordinary mind, and a very diverse view.

I appreciate the broad base of knowledge from which he draws, and a truly multi-disciplinary approach to contemplating, and addressing the worlds challenges.

He recently posted a piece on the online magazine Reality Sandwich entitled "Shift Scenario: Averting Extinction" which I found to be a brilliant assessment of the current situation on the planet and a cogent pathway for the human race to maintain a degree of grace and poise through what could be one of the more challenging periods of our civilization!"

"Just as early organisms virtually exhausted available resources before discovering how to establish and maintain cyclic closed loops of material flows, humans have done the same with our industrial technology. We will either figure out how to make this transition like those successful organisms that survived, or go extinct like those that did not."

The heart of his article is in agreement with Einstein's statement "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." for the human race. What is refreshing - is that Jim lays out a pathway and a model to see this unfold.

Simply he states: "It may be possible for the global system to undergo a change in state, a fundamental shift from one of increasingly intractable interrelated crises to one characterized by mutually reinforcing synergetic solutions."

There are several very challenging trends unfolding on our planet: peak oil, climate change, biodiversity loss, overconsumption of resources and the globalization of the economic juggernaut. And Jim also points out some very promising trends which are evidence of the promise of a global mind-shift: internet commuication, growing democracy, advance of cross cultural diversity and most of all an increasing awareness of the interconnectedness of all life. These are all necessary ingredients for the type of shift in global awareness which can put us in line with the planet's life support systems.

"In some ways the perspective outlined above [in his article] is reassuring, as it suggests that even human technological activity can be seen as a natural and indeed inevitable process wherein everything that everyone has done up to this point was perhaps necessary. Evolutionary systems seem to naturally move toward higher states of coherence. Nature does this by itself, and thus what we're doing can be seen as part of a natural process. Once seen in this manner, that very understanding also compels us to act differently in the light of this new vantage point; we, as humans, have both a unique opportunity and responsibility to do so."

Jasmuheen - she doesn't eat. Watch this video.

Jasmuheen, an Australian woman who lives in America, is a friend of a friend of mine.

She states that she has not eaten food for a very long time.

Watch here and learn more!

Unified Field Theory paper - groundbreaking work!

My friend Nassim Harimein will be releasing his new groundbreaking paper on "universal scaling laws" in NYC later on Tuesday April 22. His work shows that all organized matter is patterned around similar principles from the atom to large scale structures in astrophysics.

This is very important, as it points to the conclusion of Einsteins Unified Field Theory.

Simply put, in their own words, the Resonance Project Foundation website states:

"The paper reveals that a scaling law can be written to demonstrate that scales ranging from the universal structure we live in, to the atom and subatomic particles that make up our world, are able to be described under the conditions of a black hole. Some of the most important calculations are found between equations 4 and 18 which are simple equations describing the nuclei of the atom (the proton) interacting with the vacuum structure and obeying the conditions necessary to be described as a black hole.[click here for a great flash website on the basics of how black holes work]"

"Remarkably, the resulting circular velocity of such a system in Hertz yields the gamma ray emissions typically associated with atomic decay. This is a very exciting result, as in this case the atom is described in a completely classical way (or semi-classical) with very little quantum physics involved."

"This new description of our world marks a deeper understanding of our relationship to the scaling of event horizons from infinitely large to infinitely small, and although the data point for the biological resolution is not apparent on the graph, it is mentioned in the caption of Figure 2a. Here we show that the microtubules structure of the cellular level bisects the graph almost at its exact middle, placing biological systems, including us, as one of the event horizons connecting worlds."

"Later in the paper we demonstrate that a “spin horizon” can be described to both accommodate the galactic center black holes and the scale to the dynamics of the core of our Sun and its plasma structure. This implies that the central black holes of galaxies are the driving force producing the galactic disc and its halo, and that that very same force most likely produces the high energy physics we observe in our own Sun. This “spin horizon” now describes our world as being white hole / black hole structures at all scales, or what Haramein has coined the “white / black whole.” "

For you very technical - here is the detailed abstract from the paper.

"Abstract. From observational data and our theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that a scaling law can be written for all organized matter utilizing the Schwarzschild condition, describing cosmological to sub-atomic structures. Of interest are solutions involving torque and Coriolis effects in the field equations. Significant observations have led to theoretical and experimental advancement describing systems undergoing gravitational collapse, including vacuum interactions. The universality of this scaling law suggests an underlying polarizable structured vacuum of mini white holes/black holes. We briefly discuss the manner in which this structured vacuum can be described in terms of resolution of scale analogous to a fractal-like scaling as a means of renormalization at the Planck distance. Finally, we describe a new horizon we term the “spin horizon” which is defined as a result of a spacetime torque producing boundary conditions in a magnetohydrodynamic structure."

Wondering what will happen in 2012? It's all about now...

A friend of mine sent me this video on myspace which feels very much like what I feel the whole experience of 2012 is all about. The collective experience of consciousness evolution and planetary transition has already begun.

If you're really wanting to know my thoughts on 2012, this video describes what 2012 is all about.

Listen carefully!

Image by artist Luke Brown.

Great Transition Initiative

Great Transition Initiative: http://www.gtinitiative.org/

A long view...
history has entered the planetary phase of civilization
A global community...
humanity and Earth are bound in a common destiny
A fear...
looming crises portend a time of troubles
A choice...
we can shape the future by imagining what it could be
A vision...
a transition to a sustainable and just society is possible
A conviction...
a new global consciousness is ready to crystalize

Loss of Ethnic Diversity "Ethnosphere" as tragic as multispecies extinction...

People being driven out of existence by forces beyond their own power, living lives of servitude and prostitution... all while their pristine habitats and peaceful ways of their lives systematically destroyed is the topic of a brilliant video talk by Anthropologist Wade Davis at a recent TED conference.

To truly discover the dimension and possibility of human potential we must embrace the cultural and ethnic diversity of indigenous experiences and languages.

We have deep roots going back to the dawn of the human mind in our multicultural diversity. These roots hold the keys to collective human survival, as we must embrace new ways of being and understanding our world which are long forgotten by our monochromatic perception in a multicolored reality.

Sacred Mushroom Video from the '50s

This video is an old television program from the 50's discusses the sacramental use of mushrooms in Mexico and how they have "powers beyond belief" which have an "incredible effect on the powers of extrasensory perception."

Four Agreements

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Be impeccable with your word.
Don't take anything personally.
Don't make assumptions.
Always do your best.

Science evolving to art?

Great advances in science come from creative thinking, a creative spirit.

Science aims to help us gain a logical understanding of reality, yet isn't reality non-logical?

Art may be proven to be a better expression of reality, or a greater sum of human experience.

A recent article in SEED Magazine called "The Future of Science....Art?" opens the question.

"This world of human experience is the world of the arts. The novelist and the painter and the poet embrace those ephemeral aspects of the mind that cannot be reduced, or dissected, or translated into the activity of an acronym. They strive to capture life as it's lived. As Virginia Woolf put it, the task of the novelist is to "examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day...[tracing] the pattern, however disconnected and incoherent in appearance, which each sight or incident scores upon the consciousness." She tried to describe the mind from the inside."

Just by observing our experience of reality, with the many states that we experience daily one can see that looking at the world through "empirical" and "logical" lens into "objective" realm of what is "provable" captures only part of the picture.

Reality encompases that which is beyond science as we know it, or at least beyond what the current scientific mindset can currently explain.

Lehrer touches on the realm of physics, which is a realm which is definitely beyond the logical.

"But the surreal nature of physics is precisely why it needs the help of artists. The science has progressed beyond our ability to understand it, at least in any literal sense. As Richard Feynman put it, "Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there." It's a brute fact of psychology that the human mind cannot comprehend the double-digit dimensions of string theory, or the possibility of parallel universes. Our mind evolved in a simplified world, where matter is certain, time flows forward and there are only three dimensions. When we venture beyond these innate intuitions, we are forced to resort to metaphor. This is the irony of modern physics: It seeks reality in its most fundamental form, and yet we are utterly incapable of comprehending these fundaments beyond the math we use to represent them. The only way to know the universe is through analogy."

Yes, metaphor, art and the non-logical expressions are perhaps the best way to convey the subtleties of reality which cannot be understood "literally."

Carey Thompson is a very talented visionary artist who attempts to express realms that science touches with some of his pieces.
He writes about his piece "Omnicentricity" - shown above.

Carey's comments and artwork point to an understanding of reality that comes through non-logical modes of perception.

"Recent discoveries in quantum and astrophysics have completely destroyed the Newtonian/Cartesian notion of ourselves floating around in a fixed three-dimensional space. Astronomers had even thought they had pinpointed the exact center where the infamous Big Bang supposedly occurred. Our universe is multidimensional, its center being everywhere, with all of its manifestations containing within them everything else just as every pixel of a hologram contains within it the image of the completed whole. Thus, modern science is a approaching the conclusion, which ancient peoples had intuitively understood, that all is one in this vast unfolding singularity. The image before you attempts to convey this idea."

Leher continues in his article "The fundamental point is that modern science has made little progress toward any unified understanding of everything. Our unknowns have not dramatically receded. In many instances, the opposite has happened, so that our most fundamental sciences are bracketed by utter mystery. It's not that we don't have all the answers. It's that we don't even know the question."

"This is particularly true for our most fundamental sciences, like physics and neuroscience. Physicists study the fabric of reality, the invisible laws and particles that define the material world. Neuroscientists study our perceptions of this world; they dissect the brain in order to understand the human animal. Together, these two sciences seek to solve the most ancient and epic of unknowns: What is everything? And who are we?"

"Abstract art lets us comprehend, at least a little bit, the incomprehensible."

In his new book, "The Science of Leonardo" , Fritjof Capra writes "Leonardo's [da Vinci] approach to scientific knowledge was visual. It was the approach of a painter. 'Painting,' he declared, "embraces within itself all the formes of nature.' This statement is the key to understanding Leonardo's science."

If science expresses its discoveries with non-logical aspects of consciousness and may be able to evolve to a more artistic form, to convey a more comprehensive view of the reality it aims to grasp.

Leher implies that the scientific mind are unable to completely grasp understand the realms of where science goes. True. We're not. Modern science is born out of the fact that our current thinking process cannot fully understand reality.

Yet it is not only the expression of scientific understanding which needs to evolve, but the perception of the scientific mind itself. It is the "literal" subject, the very scientific mind itself which needs to be questioned, and expanded, or more specifically the consciousness of the scientist.

Naturally, this is the fabric of many contemplative spiritual traditions - to expand the practioner's experience of oneself from limited to universal.

It's not the method of scientific expression, or thinking which holds the greatest limitation, it is the mind of science which needs to be questioned.

Deepak Chopra recently stated "All suffering that we have caused on this planet has been caused because we don't understand who we are...."

It is the very nature of who we perceive ourselves to be, and the corresponding capacities for perception, or lack thereof, which are the very realms to be expanded.

How would we do this?

Perhaps we should fill scientific laboratories with consciousness expanding facilities like meditation rooms, art studios, yoga, floatation tanks? Or rather include disciplines of meditation, cognitive science, parapsychology, healing arts and spirituality in every scientific curriculum. Schools can encourage non-logical days, art expressions, meditation courses.

Then we'd have culture of psycho-spiritual-art-scientists.

Sounds like burning man... didn't someone say that Burning Man is the incubator of the new planetary civilization?

Radical Art - 207 people freeze in Grand Central Station

Check it out, the group Improv Everywhere performed a cool expression video speaks for itself!

Amma's message for the new year.

This just makes sense:

We are all very happy that another New Year is upon us,” Amma said. “Happiness is good for the health of the body and the mind. Our goal is to always be happy. Everyone should always be happy and rejoicing—just like a small child. That is Amma’s desire.

Human beings are most happy in childhood. But the time considered as “childhood” is ever decreasing. Previously, one was considered a child until he was eight or nine. But today the innocence and pleasantness associated with childhood is fading faster and faster. Childhood these days is filled with seriousness and tension. When our desires are fulfilled, when things go according to our plans, we experience happiness—but it is only temporary.

Many people celebrate the New Year by setting off fireworks or celebrating in the ballroom of a beautifully decorated five-star hotel, exchanging New Year greetings and dancing and singing fully intoxicated. A large percentage of people then return to their home or tension-filled office without retaining even the tiniest amount of happiness or peace. What then is the point of the happiness experienced while drinking or sitting at the bar of a five-star hotel? Real happiness is something that can be experienced at any time and in any place—in family life, social life, at work and in the mind. That should be our goal. To attain this, our mind should be full of love.

May this New Year fill our hearts with love and gratitude. When we express a desire and it does not get fulfilled, we start questioning life and why it has not met our expectations. We become depressed. But there is no law that all of our desires should be fulfilled.

We should understand that life gives us what we need and not necessarily what we want. It follows its own wisdom, which is often incomprehensible to our gross minds. We should learn to accept situations in life. This attitude of acceptance is the secret to happiness.

As we enter 2008, let us pray together, “O Paramatman, let there be no wars, violence or natural disasters this year. Let there be no death due to starvation or lack of medical care. Let there be no children who are unable to continue their studies due to poverty. Let the music of peace and harmony be heard everywhere. Just as we decorate our houses and surroundings with lights, let our heart remain effulgent throughout the year with love and compassion."