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I have been paying little attention to the news, or the journalists underline the bad in the world and forget about all the good, but the impression I have nowadays is that our world is full of violence, and we have no more place to repress it. (more…)
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently commented that the status of Israel as a democracy is in danger, due mostly to its increasingly worrisome treatment of women. (more…)
When I was a child, December was my favourite time of the year. It didn’t only mean the Advent Calendar (more…)
What it Means to Have a Majority White America Elect a Black President
Can you choose your color today, or must others still do that for you? Can anyone of us with mixed heritage be predominantly called by just one name? More importantly, what does that say about the heritage you choose (or is chosen for you), and the heritage not chosen? It appears to me that regardless of your standing in society, regardless of your accomplishments or natural talents, you still must choose a color – or one will be chosen for you. (more…)
[Photo credit: Ahmad Masood/Reuters]
Without much of a fuss made by the media, if even reported at all, last month Afghanistan’s new Shiite Personal Status Law was put into effect. The law grants Shiite men the legal right to starve their wives if their sexual demands are not met. These sexual demands are not defined or limited by the law. The law also requires Shiite women to obtain permission from their husbands to even leave their home. Parental custody is solely the father’s or, in his absence, the paternal grandfather. Incredibly, the law also allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying “blood money” to a girl who was injured when he raped her. That payment, of course, is offered to the father, paternal grandfather or the brothers of the raped girl. (more…)
The Creative Steps Day Care, a Philadelphia-area day care center, said Thursday, that members of a private swim club the organization had paid to attend, made racist comments about the center’s children to the point of bringing some of the young children to tears. Not to be outdone by its racist members, the swim club then quickly canceled the swimming privileges of all the children – from the day care center! (more…)
Many of you may have read Shelley Seale’s article, posted a few days ago here, The Weight of Silence….
Now maybe you may take a moment and watch her video on these utterly beautiful innocent souls, and if you do, maybe you will pass it on and on, and stop at her site and buy her book.
It starts now.
I have been giving this question some thought ever since my daughter shared with me an article describing the work of researchers at the Scripps Research Institute who created molecules that self-replicate, evolve and compete to win or loose.” (more…)
I’m trying to understand the hot news today, both involving three kids, 12, 11 and 10.
The first is two young girls who allegedly decided to kidnap their neighbor’s child. This time CNN is apparently looking inward to America and our depraved society. (This remark stems from a comment on my post: We Do This To Ourselves: India: Mistreating the Elderly and the Young in the name of custom. The comment did get me thinking more about media coverage, but like I said in my reply comment, that would require a host of other posts and I will leave that to other capable bloggers out in virtual earth).
I have to admit, when I saw a flash of this on the television this morning, I assumed it was a boy. As I read the article, I kick myself for making any gender assumption. Part of the article reads:
ORANGE BEACH, Alabama (AP) — Police who chased a car for miles along a highway at speeds up to 100 mph said the driver was drunk, hardly a rarity in this resort town. But there was more: When they looked inside the flipped vehicle with guns drawn, they found an 11-year-old girl at the wheel.
“You go up there thinking it’s a felon you’re dealing with,” assistant police Chief Greg Duck said.
The girl, who was slightly injured in the crash, is now charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident. Duck said she sideswiped another vehicle during the roughly 8-mile chase.
I just don’t get it. I’m not sitting here ready to blame the parents or anyone else. How do I know if the parents or guardian went to sleep at a normal hour and the kid pretended to be asleep, etc.? I just don’t know. I know we don’t hide the keys to the car in our house. The point is, what makes a child get behind the wheel of a car and proceed to incite an 8 mile chase?
As if that didn’t stump me enough, I had to see two other children, a girl aged 12 and one aged 10, who allegedly kidnapped their next door neighbor, a toddler boy. Again, the news came compliments of CNN.
I on some level have a need to understand how two kids came up with the idea and carried through on the idea to kidnap the little boy. On the other hand, I am just so grateful to see no one was hurt.
What’s going on? Sometime ago, we posted about the crowd that beat up the passenger in Texas, even though the driver who accidentally hit a young girl, stopped his vehicle to get out and check. The crowd beat up the passenger?
Maybe I don’t need to look any further than what happens with the adults in our country to understand why the kids’ seemingly outlandish behavior barely causes anyone to gasp any longer.
There are a lot of theories out there, calls to prayer, calls to enlightenment, I have got to be frank with you, I wish to heck one of these New Age techniques could work on this world instantaneously.
I am a proponent of collective consciousness thinking. I believe that we are all webbed together and our blinders prevent us from seeing or knowing this on a day to day basis.
I can rarely find an instant, where one action has not somehow affected another. There are simple examples:
I leave work in a rush, angry over some detail. I am striving to get errands done and arrive home timely. I am in traffic and become angry watching cars ahead of me race through the yield sign and shove their way into the traffic, further delaying my journey because of a lack of courtesy. Miles down the road, I sense a car patiently waiting could use a break, needs some considerate motorist to let them into the traffic so they don’t remain in place for the next hour. Do I notice, do I see, do I allow this person in or do I carry over my anger from my earlier frustrations? Do I in turn now punish this motorist for the ones earlier who almost ran people off the road without care? Do I stop and realize, at times, I may have inadvertantly been the one not slowing at the yield sign, perhaps not out of a lack of deliberate inconsideration, but because I was so in my own world, my own perspective, I simply thought it was “my turn”?
Now, this is just a loose description, the point being is that when you become aware, it is hard to divorce any moment, any action, any word from another.
Today, there are two striking news articles that made me again think: We do this to ourselves. The first is the treatment of “elderly” Hindu woman, the second the treatment of female brides and the price of dowrys.
I saw a picture of a young woman standing in traffic. BBC news entitled its piece: Indian Woman Strips in Dowry Row
This young woman, standing with just underclothes on in traffic and what appears to be a baseball bat in her hand. The picture sounds like a scream to me, I feel that I can hear her soul screaming.
The second article that I keep thinking of was posted on CNN, entitled: Shunned from society, widows flock to city to die:
“VRINDAVAN, India (CNN) — Ostracized by society, India’s widows flock to the holy city of Vrindavan waiting to die. They are found on side streets, hunched over with walking canes, their heads shaved and their pain etched by hundreds of deep wrinkles in their faces.
A widow makes her way in Vrindavan, India, where an estimated 15,000 widows live on the streets.
1 of 3
These Hindu widows, the poorest of the poor, are shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition — and because they’re seen as a financial drain on their families.
They cannot remarry. They must not wear jewelry. They are forced to shave their heads and typically wear white. Even their shadows are considered bad luck.
Hindus have long believed that death in Vrindavan will free them from the cycle of life and death. For widows, they hope death will save them from being condemned to such a life again. 
Watch how some widows are rebelling »
“Does it feel good?” says 70-year-old Rada Rani Biswas. “Now I have to loiter just for a bite to eat.”
Biswas speaks with a strong voice, but her spirit is broken. When her husband of 50 years died, she was instantly ostracized by all those she thought loved her, including her son.
“My son tells me: ‘You have grown old. Now who is going to feed you? Go away,’ ” she says, her eyes filling with tears. “What do I do? My pain had no limit.”
As she speaks, she squats in front of one of Vrindavan’s temples, her life reduced to begging for scraps of food.
There are an estimated 40 million widows in India, the least fortunate of them shunned and stripped of the life they lived when they were married.
It’s believed that 15,000 widows live on the streets of Vrindavan, a city of about 55,000 in northern India.
“Widows don’t have many social rights within the family,” says Ranjana Kumari with the Center for Social Research, a group that works to empower women.
The situation is much more extreme within India’s rural community. “There, it is much more tradition-bound; in urban areas, there are more chances and possibilities to live a normal life.”
But the majority of India’s 1.1 billion population is rural. “The government recognizes the problem,” Kumari says. “It can do a lot, but it’s not doing enough.”
One woman, a widow herself, is working for change. Dr. Mohini Giri has formed an organization called the Guild of Service, which helps destitute women and children.
Giri’s mother was widowed when Giri was 9 years old, and she saw what a struggle it was. Then, Giri lost her husband when she was 50, enduring the social humiliation that comes with being a widow. At times, she was asked not to attend weddings because her presence was considered bad luck.
“Generally all widows are ostracized,” she says. “An educated woman may have money and independence, but even that is snatched away when she becomes a widow. We live in a patriarchal society. Men say that culturally as a widow you cannot do anything: You cannot grow your hair, you should not look beautiful.”
She adds, “It’s the mind-set of society we need to change — not the women.”
Seven years ago, Giri’s organization set up a refuge called Amar Bari, or “My Home,” in Vrindavan. It has become a refuge for about 120 of India’s widows. Giri’s organization is set to open a second home, one that will house another 500 widows.
But as she says, “Mine is but a drop in the bucket.”
At Amar Bari, most widows reject traditional white outfits and grow out their hair. Along the open air corridors that link the house’s courtyard are green wooden doors, leading to dark tiny rooms, home for each widow. 
See the widows of Vrindavan »
Bent over by osteoporosis, 85-year-old Promita Das meticulously and slowly sweeps the floor just outside her door and then carefully cleans her dishes.
“I came here when I couldn’t work anymore. I used to clean houses,” she says. “Nobody looked after me, nobody loved me. I survived on my own.”
She married at 12 and was widowed at 15. Seventy years later, she finds herself at Amar Bari. “I used to live in front of a temple, but then I came here,” she says….”.
On one end of the spectrum of life, there is mistreatment for not bringing enough into the marriage and the family. On the other end, there is banishment for not having enough left to give after already have given it to everyone else.
I have posted before about the eternal question: why? And yes, as I read these and other stories, my first impulse is to still ask why, but I no longer am convinced that figuring out the “why” will fix these problems. Whose “why” would I begin with? Through whose eyes would I look through first and with whose eyes would I end in trying to figure out the origin?
Other Sources/Viewpoints:
Shubho introduces another view & different statistics: Atmaav Blogspot
Uprising Radio: Review of Deepa Mehta’s film: Water
India Together: Land Titles & Widows
America: Debate on caring for elderly patients: family or professionals?
Suppose, you recognized that in the moments when you first awake from sleep, you have no name?
Suppose you recognized that in those few spare moments in the day there was no list, no bills, no anger, no complaints, no one outside of the limitless mind that you awoke to?
Limitless of course implying that you woke to some collective whole. As if whole could be separated from collective.
Switch………….
I recently read something…what a laugh as I am always reading…but I read something, I believe it was on The Spiritual Oracle…and I was questioning something, suprise, repeating number sightings I think, and someone replied that they had learned to accept what is and was…hmmm.
I think I get it now.
I have this odd occurrence daily, birds sweep and hover in front of my car, my windshield, it used to freak me out and I would duck…recently I shrug it off, knowing it means something, but also knowing I do not know the language of birds and I just better let it go. Now I am talking as if I have really mastered sitting back and nothing could be further from the truth, but I swear, I haven’t ducked so much in the last few days.
What helped me was thinking of children. Children don’t to our knowledge recognize the written language and it takes most years of integration to get them to conform and see it “our” way. Yet, a part of them recognizes the power of the written word, the mystical aspect, the magic, and will hold a book, a piece of paper, a dollar bill…and “pretend” to read. I recently saw this and thought: that is me on a spiritual search, I pretend to know the language.
Monteray, Chapter One has been moved to a new page, entitled: Monteray, The Book.
Ok.
I pretend for a moment that religion in its genesis had a sense of humor…I may be horribly wrong.
I don’t seek to offend those that have severe religious affiliations, but I have to say, what is the cost of religion in a world where we count how many die of poverty moment by moment?
Can religion possibly be of much greater import than death and hunger?
Mind you, at essence, I do believe we are spiritual beings here for an earthly experience, but while here for our “earthly experience”, I also believe our sight is so limited that we can only, most of the time, see ourselves as earthlings. Consequently, I find we must turn our sight inward, within the dimensions of Earth, and see what it is we allow, day after day.
The most simple example is hunger. We allow, yes, I do use the word allow, allow, children to die of hunger around the world, day after day.
We allow religion to condemn rather than raise up humanity.
We allow, we allow, we allow, myself included………….
I wonder, if religion had not lost its sense of humor, pretending for a moment that religion and its disciples ever had a sense of humor to begin with….where would we be today?
We know at least as of this moment, there is a basic way in and out of this world, yet, we forget it with every breath we draw…..
There is a Creation Museum, which we touched upon, every so briefly, in our piece: Bible, the Museum and the Shark.
To be frank, we may have poked fun at it, simply because we have not and cannot ever understand an all powerful God that can believe a woman is inferior only because she is female. We cited to female sharks that evidently (testing still to be performed) that can bring new sharks into the world without the necessity of male sharks. Our dimwitted conclusion was if God intended to make women a lesser human, why would sharks be able to procreate without the assistance of males?
Anyway, we notice today a New York Times headline: Cool Reception for Bible Park in Bible Belt and I wasn’t sure what to think. Ok, if people want to spend their time in a fake recreation of what might be the truth, so what? Don’t push it on me. That’s my only rule. Next Saturday I will attend a party where a pig, a whole pig, will be roasted. Now, family has tried to convince me as to why that is ok, I don’t need to be convinced, it is simply not true for me. I was raised on Charlotte’s Web and happen to believe pigs are intrinsically intelligent and I prefer not to see evolved humans sitting around with flags surrounding the entire body, including the head/brain of a pig. Ok, so I won’t boycott the party, but to be sure, I’m not eating it, I’m not going near it and if I see it, I will throw up without apology.
So, I ask, what do I care if people want to recreate what they believe to be the story of the world, of humans, evolution? I don’t.
I just don’t want them forcing their beliefs on me.
Adam and Eve? Maybe they existed, maybe they didn’t. I really don’t care. I find the view of them too very limited to give it serious thought.
See, I don’t believe in a God that would sacrifice its children so readily because I am a parent and it would take….it would take….it would take….well….something I can’t even comprehend to make me sacrifice and damn my children the way some religions say God has damned us.
I simply can’t sign up. I can’t believe.
I continued reading the New York Times, A week in review, “The Guidebook for Taking a Life“.
Whose God I ask you?
Groucho Marx: “I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.”
Enough said?
Maybe not:
As Groucho Marx reportedly stated: “Outside of a dog, a man’s best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
Well, that sums up religion to me.
I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
Truly.
I believe there may be very real enlightened persons, mystics, etc. that may have a clue about tomorrow, but I don’t.
I am like an ant, burrowing, carrying, following, content in my habitat, believing it will happen again and again.
But really, I have no clue if I will even be on Earth tomorrow.
Because of that I wonder, should I take more risks or less?
If I believe in Heaven, and a very mean, ogre or troll like God under the bridge, will it keep me on the straight and narrow?
Or is it enough for me to know who I want to be and who I don’t? Without the fear of an all powerful, vengeful God?
I have to admit, I have always thought God is all good, and in being all good, he could not be vengeful or judgmental. He could not issue empty threats. Only man does that for his own means. No gender discrimination intended, I am of a certain age and background where I learned God is “he”; consequently, my language patterns naturally fall back on this preconceived notion. I now believe God can be anything.
So, where am I going? What stones do I intend to step on in this meandering path of life with few markers or sign posts?
I talk about not knowing if I will be here tomorrow. When does tomorrow begin? Is it after midnight? Is it the next moment which transcends the moment of this thought?
I heard today of two children, thirteen year olds, fit, athletic kids, loving families, diagnosed with leukemia. It broke my heart.
I thought again, hours later, of how I believe negative energy and a lack of cleansing creates physical disintegration and I realized, I cannot believe that is true for our children.
To believe that negative energy leads to sickness connotes that there is a responsibility to think positively, to clear out and unburden the negative….how does this apply to the young?
Are there theories of Soul DNA or Soul Karma, something carried over? If so, why should it be that the young of this Earth should be so burdened to undo what many of us adults cannot?
I struggle looking for the book of Truth. The one book. I amass uncontroverted facts, ones tested and true, time and again, which remain true despite the tests, to compile what someday may be my personal book of Universal Truth. The pages are more empty than full.
Is that because I am pessimistic? Maybe. It is also though because I have not been able to amass enough signposts on this road of life and continue to wonder, after so many centuries, why have we not handed down to each other the true “Bible”, the Bible of Humanity, well being, love and life?
Hi. I’m just one voice like yours.
Slightly different with similarities.
I’m wondering something very basic.
Why do we all stand still and allow the world to be what it is?
I don’t do anything, mind you, I don’t picket, send letters to Congress, yell at the Pope.
I sit and think.
How about you?
What do you do?
Anything the rest of us might join in on?
Having spent some recent time on the New Jersey Turnpike and Parkway….I pause…and wonder if there is something we can do for each other.
No, this is not a joke on Corzine apologizing for not wearing a seat belt, but….maybe not apologizing for the excessive speed.
Rather, it is a reflection on everyday human norms.
Why, if I am driving slow in the rain because I have a fussy toddler in the backseat on my way to work do you feel the need to tag my tail end rather than waiting for the appropriate time to go around?
I do my best to keep up the “minimum” speed, which in N.J., is the maximum speed.
As I drive…and I watch you come around my tail end and then back to almost clip the front…is it because you are one of the few that have fell outside of the parameters of Six Degrees of Separation?
Suppose, I drove, yes, and gave up driving with my knees to type a blackberry message, and realized that you, like I, could be my mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, son, daughter………..what then?
Would I be more aware?
Would I realize that everytime I paid attention to the elecontronic device rather than you, I was taking a chance on your life, and thereby, on the ones that depended on you to exist to help them through this earthly experience?
If I did that, would you stop driving at 80 mph, wanting me to exit to the nearest back road and park my car and fall to my knees in search of any God that would listen?
Our Get out of the Box page, as well as Humanitarian Efforts and poetry and writing page are periodically updated. The Open Letter to God page, is a static page, remaining that way to allow for and welcome new comments. It is anticipated that we will update as time goes on to provide more letters to God.
Last night, we received a comment on our most recent post on Get Out of the Box, which we wanted to highlight and share with you today.
We look forward to more comments!
“In the book `Conversations with God’ the author asks why God allows such things as these to occur. God replies by saying, `Why don’t you?’ ( A collective ‘you’ as well as individual). In the course of reading from Mr. Walsch’s and God’s Conversations I begin to see that, while God could do anything, what ‘She’ will do is another thing. We can’t condition The Unconditioned by saying ‘It’ will or won’t do such and such, but it is clear enough, that while we are here, God would like to see US, WE, proceed to do the kinds of things you are aspiring to. WE, with God, can do anything, but it’s like we are be asked to make up our minds about what is important to us, and to behave accordingly. Our eternal lives do not begin at death. If they did, they would not have been Eternal! We are now, even with bodies, amidst our eternal lives- all
of us!
A program called Humanities Team is very much involved in helping the planet awaken. It declares `We are One’. You + I + God = ONE. It also declares” Ours is not a better way. Ours it but another way.”
( This name and address ‘cell’ is getting in the way of writing!)
Best to you, me,
Dave”
Most people have probably heard the news, the words that Alec Baldwin allegedly left on the answering tape which was leaked from confidential documents and evidence in the custody, presumably, of the Court.
Yes, one of the first questions is why should this even be our business? Because stars put themselve out there, wanting us to pay attention to increase their movie returns? Yes, no, I don’t know.
The issue though again, is the weight of words and who we are in any given moment.
At what points should we be judged and frozen in time, never to have a chance to live differently?
I see those words and understand the damage. Not sure what causes a parent to stop acting as the parent and to verbally abuse their child in such a way.
Is the media now telling that child she is damaged? Her parents, or at least one of them, are psychotic?
I know nothing of this child. I don’t know if she is old beyond her years and has realized the deficiencies of ill timed and inappropriate and abusive anger.
I simply don’t know.
What I do know is that recording and the family’s grief wasn’t meant for us, but know it is ours.
What will we do about it? Do we take the log from our eye?
See: CNN Updates
Thought for the day:
Some artists leave us no room to create in between their spaces, the spaces between the notes are so full.
We must just sit and listen and if God or the Universe graces us, we must put up our feet and listen, yes, listen and hear.
There are other artists that leave us room to fill in the spaces, words are never divorced. Do you know what that is, to tilt your head to hear the music of words before they hit the page, a waterfall flowing? How can words ever be separated?
To edit or not to edit?
Stream of consciousness writing is an integation of emotion and energy without ego……
Here we go.
Here we go.
Here we go again.
Trolling Virtual Earth.
This time, we have to admit, we had to depart the Matrix and enter the physical world. Actually had to park a car, walk, heavy footed on concrete ground and enter—-gasp—an independent bookstore. Yes that’s right. An independent beautiful world affirming bookstore. Shucks, to think we aren’t even gonna tell you where this gem is….ok….we might…but not today.
“Confessions of a Rogue Novelist“….
back cover sent to you via virtual earth compliments of surface earth, the liason of virtuality meeting physicality……..
“A Word
Confessions of a Rogue Novelist takes a hard look at the world of Commercial Book Publishing-a world of shock, shlock, and celebrity.
The catchword of this depraved New World is: ‘quality is taboo’. Claiming that good books don’t sell, [let's not forget, Harry Potter's unfortunate trips through slush piles], too many agents, editors, and publishers have driven quality away from the marketplace.
Dedicated to the Unpublished Novelist and The Unhappily Published Writer, Confessions of a Rogue Novelist suggest an alterantive route to breaking into print. This route is not without peril and is definitely not for the timid. But if the ourtcast is to win his own world–if quality is to find its long-deprived audience–it is a path worth taking.
A.J. Liebling once remarked, “There is Freedom of the Press if you’re rich enough to own one.” And so you won’t find anything like Confessions of a Rogue Novelist in what passes for New Grub Street today.
But Confessions, having been published away from the marketplace,away form the rubbish heap of the big commercial houses, raises some disturbing, even revolutionary questuions about the current book scene. And it does this with style and penetrating insight.”
The author of “Confessions of a Rogue Novelist” is identified as I. Yevish.
Once upon a time
A long, long time ago
(I think)
there was a peach tree
and a village
which grew
around it.
Many
Many
Many Grandmothers
and
Grandfathers
grew up around the peach tree.
The peach tree watched
the children’s birthdays.
Watched them grow.
Marry.
Have babies.
Who
would
have
babies.
Birthdays
around
the peach tree.
The peach tree
watched
friends grow
who did not know they
were friends.
The candles lit
in the homes.
It sighed.
The candles flickered
through the night.
One night,
a cold wind blew.
And blew,
and blew.
The peach tree
shook
in its roots.
It shivered.
He remembered,
seeding.
Little seed.
Placed in the ground.
Furrow.
drawn into
and apart
from
the earth.
dry
arid
dirt.
red
against the sky.
brown limbed fingers
dropping
uprepared
alone
yet
joined
fingers
dropping
me
into the ground.
The darkness
sitting
time
lost
no meaning
finding how to breath
within the dirt,
time passed.
I would call out,
a voice,
remembering,
my mother.
growing inside of her.
celebration.
of.
light.
the Sun.
Worship.
harshness,
the hands,
plucking to be fed,
the teeth.
Searing into
my skin.
“Momma?”
“Momma?”
not even the gift of silence.
pure.
remorseless.
drenched into me,
not yet born.
greed.
Yachts,
slapping at me.
I must stop this now.
this torture.
I was taught,
to reach,
toward light.
I call out.
Again.
Cry.
Sing.
Murmer,
last breath,
against,
the red sky.
I grew,
without breath,
taller.
I hold on,
for Mother.
I stood beneath
the ground
waiting.
I can see.
Light.
Mother?
I look around
trees
cut upon
thatched
adorning “homes”.
flattened
against the sky.
Mother?
Anyone who has stopped by our site more than once knows we like to read and explore different ways of thinking.
I often do random searches on a word or phrase or event to see how many different interpretations exist and what the point of commality is among those thoughts. Today, we wanted to share some of our favorite sites and resources as to the power of Water.
Recently, we narrowed it down to a few thoughts to consider involving expansive thinking a/k/a collective consciousness evolution and matters of health.
Now, I know there are pros and cons to most things, supporters and critics, but should that stop us from exploring theories that apparently would not cost us anything? Below is an excerpt from the The Water Cure.
“F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.
Dear Friend:
At Last: We Can Now Cure Pain and Prevent Disease — Naturally — At No Cost:
My ground-breaking medical discovery reveals the missing natural element that prevents — even cures — the body’s painful degenerative diseases — naturally and at no cost!
I am honored and proud to inform you that my research over 18 years — in addition to my medical training and subsequent 33 years as a doctor — has exposed the simplest natural cure to a vast number of health problems.
I invite you to read this report in its entirety. Read about my discovery, and in the light of the new information, learn how to become your own healer and cure your own health problems naturally — I repeat, at no cost! Become your own diagnostician and doctor during these health care crisis times — when you need to take charge of your own health and well-being. Also, you will discover:
What you are going to find out may at first sound too good to be true! This newly uncovered “ultimate cure” is so simple you will wonder why it has not been discovered until now! But I will prove every word you are about to read. I will also tell you why I think the drug industry has concealed this information when asking trusting physicians to prescribe its medications.
What you will discover in this letter is that we in medicine are trained to use chemicals to treat pain and disease when all the body needs is water — a simple and abundantly available natural element.
Yes! Only water!
This is the reason why we in medicine have made so many deadly mistakes! We are routinely treating symptoms, signs and complications of drought in the body with toxic chemicals that kill more rapidly than the dehydration itself!
Who in his/her right mind would want to take toxic chemicals when all that their body needs is water — free water — natural water, the ultimate medication of choice to cure pain and prevent disease?”
The “water cure” is not something I know a lot about and something which I have just recently found, but it has intrigued me to delve further into thought and to read more on the water cure and share it here with you.
It’s not the first time I wondered about the power of water. A few years or so ago, I learned of Whatthebleep.
In the process of watching the movie I came across different theories and resources which I then started to read up on. One of which involved studies done as to the powers of thought and emotion on the properties of water which I found to be incredible.
“Dr. Emoto
Masaru Emoto was born in Yokohama in July 1943. He is a graduate of the Yokohama Municipal University’s department of humanities and sciences with a focus on International Relations. In 1986 he established the IHM Corporation in Tokyo. In October of 1992 he received certification from the Open International University as a Doctor of Alternative Medicine. Subsequently he was introduced to the concept of micro cluster water in the US and Magnetic Resonance Analysis technology. The quest thus began to discover the mystery of water.
He undertook extensive research of water around the planet not so much as a scientific researcher but more from the perspective of an original thinker. At length he realized that it was in the frozen crystal form that water showed us its true nature through. He has gained worldwide acclaim through his groundbreaking research and discovery that water is deeply connected to our individual and collective consciousness
He is the author of the best-selling books Messages from Water, The Hidden Messages in Water, and The True Power of Water. He is a long-time advocate for peace in relation to water. He is currently the head of the I.H.M.General Research Institute and President Emeritus of the International Water for Life Foundation, a Not for Profit Organization.”
Dr. Emoto’s site is replete with photographs and documentation showing the power of thought and prayers on water molecules and consequently on the state of ourselves.
Other Sources:
Criticism:
Hi. I’m just one voice like yours.
Slightly different with similarities.
I’m wondering something very basic.
Why do we all stand still and allow the world to be what it is?
I don’t do anything, mind you, I don’t picket, send letters to Congress, yell at the Pope.
I sit and think.
How about you?
What do you do?
Anything the rest of us might join in on?
Within the last day or so, I came across a blog about Kiva.org…click to direct link…and I have been thinking about the concept of Kiva.org off and on since I have seen this post. This is not the first time I have heard of this concept, but this time, after reading the blog posting, it stayed in my head.
Posted by James under Charity , Websites
A friend of mine just turned me onto this organization that does some pretty amazing things so I wanted to share it with you all. The basic premise of it is that they create a system where people can lend money to entrepreneurs in third world countries so they can get a business off the ground. Then, once they do, the donors are repaid. We’re not talking about starting corporations or anything here, either.
For example, I was told of one story where a a woman had a peanut butter business in which she was pressing the peanuts by hand. Someone loaned her $50 with which she was able to buy a machine to press the peanuts. She tripled her production and was able to repay her donor almost immediately. Pretty awesome that the type of money that we piss away in a bar in one night can be used to make such a significant, direct, impact in someone’s life.
If you would like to get involved, please click here and do so.”
This morning on NPR.org I listened to a program about children working 12 hours a day without the hope of ever paying off the debt their family incurred, creating their indentured servitude.
BBC News: Bonded to the loom: March 29, 2007
NPR: International Slavery: 2001
Kiva.org makes me wonder, is there a way to reach out and begin the end to this daily inhumanity?
By chance…(is there chance?)…I clicked upon a blog that spoke of Cosmic Ordering. The author translates “Cosmic Ordering” into a phrase fairly well known today, The Law of Manifestation.
The author, Kathryn Cassidy, has a series of articles within her blogspot talking about the Law of Attraction/Cosmic Ordering/Universal Laws. She higlights a new film being released on May 10, 2007, called “Pass it On”. For anyone who has seen The Secret, this sounds like the next movie must-see………..
If you have seen the film about the Law of Attraction called The Secret, you will definitely not want to miss Pass It On. It is an interactive motion picture that delves into the questions everyone has been asking for centuries; How do I become Wealthy? What do I do with my ideas? How can someone find their passion? What does it take to truly be Happy?
The film premieres on May 10th 2007. The idea is that if each person ‘passes it on’ we can make a worldwide, positive change to the perception of how we create our own opportunities and happiness – and ultimately our entire reality.
If you are visiting this blog for the first time, it contains information (that I know works) about manifesting. You’ll probably need to read from the bottom upwards, as some posts link into the next and they post on top of the older one.”
Wikepedia provides a comprehensive overview on the law of attraction, the pros and cons, the claims by skeptics of pseudoscience.
In essence the introdutory definition is: “you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny.”[1]
(References and footnotes: Redden, Guy, Magic Happens: A New Age Metaphysical Mystery Tour, Journal of Australian Studies: 101: Louise Hay, “the Queen of Affirmations”,(9) believes that “our thinking creates our reality”. In short, if one’s consciousness is in tune with the “whole”, creation becomes a resource from which we can manifestsynchronicity. According to Hay’s bestseller, “You Can Heal Your Life”(10), your life can be transformed by never dwelling on the negative, as the “metaphysical principle of life” is the “law of attraction”: you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny.)”
Perhaps we sometimes approach topics too simply here at SurfaceEarth, regardless, it appears that the Law of Attraction requires action and positive thought.
Um, what’s so wrong with that?
Again, Wikepedia concisely states the criticism of the Laws of Attraction:
Some critics say that the claims made about the scientific justification of the Law of Attraction are not supported by any mainstream scientific research, and there have been no widely recognized studies demonstrating that the principle actually works (there are a number of recognized studies in which positive thinking has not had a measurable effect on objective conditions, while conversely scientific studies involving the use of placebos support the principle of positive thinking). Skeptics have claimed that the explanations of the claimed law (and even the use of the term “Law” itself) misuse and misrepresent mainstream understandings of electromagnetism and quantum mechanics in a way often characteristic of pseudoscience. In dismissing the claimed effectiveness and anecdotal testimony about the success of the Law of Attraction, skeptics argue that it is nothing more than a round-about means of self-motivation and a confirmation bias applied to acts of increased risk-taking, and has no further metaphysical effects.[1]“
See Footnote 1 reference above.
The harm in following the Law of Attraction is what exactly?
You become more positive?
You increase your energy?
You lessen the burden on others who no longer have to bear your angst?
The most recent articles on Saturn further convince me why it is so difficult to believe you and you alone have the best and only position, perception, religion, culture, etc.
Look how little we know…………..Astronomy.com provides a great overview…………..
“Saturn’s polar hexagon
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March 29, 200[7] NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged the feature over two decades ago. The fact that it has appeared in Cassini images indicates that it is a long-lived feature. A second hexagon, significantly darker than the brighter historical feature, is also visible in the Cassini pictures. The spacecraft’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is the first instrument to capture the entire hexagon feature in one image. “This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides,” said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “We’ve never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn’s thick atmosphere where circular waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you’d expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is.” The hexagon is similar to Earth’s polar vortex, which has winds blowing in a circular pattern around the polar region. On Saturn, the vortex has a hexagonal rather than circular shape. The hexagon is nearly 15,000 miles (25,000 kilometers) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it.” |
Which movie do I need to cite?
Which news article?
How many crying children does it take?
There are more of us than “them”.
There are multitudes of us that would not harm another like the harm we see on television, in the newspaper, on the internet, in the blogs—-there are more of us………..how can we figure it out?
POST, COMMENT, DO WHAT YOU WILL, BUT SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS….one of you might yet make the difference.
Your children are his expression
I can’t even speak about this
go to cnn.com
that’s all you have to do
what’s the difference in what little ms. sunshine taught us?
I’m tempted to leave it at that.
When all else fails, simply state: “baloney & cheese”.
When someone’s words don’t fit the facial expressions or energy coming out of them, simply state: “you lie like a rug”.
That’s it, you are done.
You are not compelled to convert them.
Say your peace and go bask in the glory of the day, even if you have to shut them in a closet. (Kidding, kidding!)
And yes, these are my personal expressions, consider them copywritten, t-shirts to follow….happy Saturday.
Jump on board. LookSeeSaw.wordpress.com has posted a piece, a humbling reminder of the magnificent hearts of children:
Showcasing the best the web can offer in a wide range of creative mediums, including art, crafts, handmade products, music, writing, dance, and more.
“Seven year old Shane Bernier is a brave cancer patient at CHEO and he is asking people to send him a card for his birthday on May 30th. Shane wants to set a world record for the most number of cards received!”
This text was taken from the website, http://shanebernier.ca/
The address is:
Shane Bernier
Box 484
Lancaster Ontario
CANADA
K0C 1N0
I’ve made two so far and I thought artists might enjoy sending along their own one of a kind cards for this special little boy!
The last few days I have been preoccupied with another CNN headline, reporting the number of women abused/domestic violence victims in Mexico.
I wanted to do more research to cross-reference the media headline numbers, but knew it didn’t matter for two primary reasons:
1. Even one domestic violence victim is one too many; and
2. There is no way to account for the real number.
When did domestic violence begin?
Was it present from the union of man and woman or woman and woman or man and man?
Is it no more than yet another reflection in the inherent violent world we humans have adopted?
Is it necessary to get to the origin to eradicate the potential for its occurrence?
Is there anyway to start when humans are no more than a thought and change the consciousness so abuse or harm to others could never become either an abstract or concrete imagining?
Being aware, donating to groups with their primary aim to help domestic violence victims, whether they are men, women or children, is paramount. I still wonder though if there is a way to get to the root and rip it out so it can never grow.
I was planning to put up “real” statistics when I realized I can’t possibly find the “real” numbers as victims of domestic violence suffer in silence.
Yesterday, I had a comic relief day.
Many of you may not have wanted to click on the links I provided yesterday, as to be frank, many could consider much of the language or messages objectionable; yet, there is a madness to some of the messages conveyed, we reap what we sow.
So, what is marriage?
Do people today marry for love?
Is it real?
Do people marry for love today?
TODAY IS COMIC RELIEF DAY
AGAIN, TO ANYONE WHO MAY BE OFFENDED BY PROFANITY
DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
TO ANYONE THAT CAN’T LAUGH AT THEMSELVES, THE WORLD AND YOUR OWN EGO
DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW
ANYONE READY FOR A MOMENT OF LAUGHTER CLICK—I WILL SAY, THERE ARE MOMENTS IN THE SPIEL THAT MAKE ME NOT WANT TO POST THE LINK…….BUT HERE’S TO A FREE FORUM………………
CLICK BELOW
THIS IS NOT FOR THE LIGHT HEARTED.
IF YOU OBJECT TO PROFANITY OR LAUGHING AT YOURSELF
DO NOT
DO NOT
CLICK THE LINK BELOW WHICH LEADS YOU TO GEORGE CARLIN AND HIS THEORY ON WHY WE ARE HERE
ok, America didn’t vote for him: wait, that’s not quite right, is it? He must have gotten some votes.
var clickExpire = “04/28/2007″;
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s over for Chris Sligh.
Sligh, the curly-haired jokester who once claimed he was “bringing chubby back,” said goodbye to “American Idol” on Wednesday, becoming the latest singer bounced in viewer voting.
The sacking of Sligh, 28, who hails from Greenville, South Carolina, winnowed the number of “Idol” wannabes to nine. The winner will be chosen in May.
“I think it’s bye-bye, curly,” predicted Simon Cowell, before the results were announced.
Cowell said on Tuesday’s program that Sligh’s rendition of the Police classic “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” was a “mess.”
Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey had the next-lowest vote tallies in the phone balloting, which drew more than 30 million calls and text messages.
Stacey, 29, of Jacksonville, Florida, managed to get on Cowell’s good side after his solid cover of “Every Breath You Take.”
“This may surprise you, Phil, but I actually thought that was very good,” Cowell said Tuesday.
The acerbic judge was not as nice to Scarnato, deriding the 24-year-old Texas girl’s take on “True Colors” as safe and forgettable.
(Question: Will Sanjaya Malakar, who is undoubtedly a national sensation, stick around until the finale? Could happen, as long as the “Idol” oddball keeps stoking watercooler discussion.)
Wednesday’s elimination show also featured a get-up-and-dance performance by Gwen Stefani and rapper Akon, who performed Stefani’s hit single “The Sweet Escape.”
Update: someone posted below, Chris, who? And I took it seriously and then realized it was witty………
Anyway, without further ado,
“American Idol: uticaod.com readers agree with America – goodbye Chris Sligh
March 29, 2007
“American Idol” hopeful Chris Slight was at the bottom of America’s list Wednesday night — and at the bottom of uticaOD.com’s poll.
Sligh, the curly-haired jokester who once claimed he was “bringing chubby back,” said goodbye to “American Idol” Wednesday, becoming the latest singer bounced in viewer voting.
In the uticaOD.com poll, Sligh tied for last with Gina Glocksen, Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey with 1.8 percent of the votes; 167 were cast.
The favorite “Idol” singer this week is Melinda Doolittle with 28.7 percent of the vote followed by Jordin Sparks with 22.8 percent.
Here’s how this week’s uticaOD.com poll turned out:
1. Melinda Doolittle: 28.7 percent.
2. Jordin Sparks: 22.8 percent.
3. Blake Lewis: 21 percent.
4. Sanjaya Malakar: 12.6 percent.
5. Lakisha Jones: 5.4 percent
6. Haley Scarnato: 2. 4 percent.
7. Gina Glocksen: 1.8 percent.
8. Chris Richardson: 1.8 percent.
9. Phi Stacey: 1.8 percent.
10. Chris Sligh; 1.8 percent.”
How many of you out there would easily take in babies while their biological moms worked out or sought help with what they need?
What is the answer?
Where can these aggrieved moms go to now, it’s ok, we’ll watch the babies, remember when a village was considered the parents?
See: CNN: Who Dumped Three Newborns Eleven Months Apart?
Coffeegrounds.wordpress.com has had many posts dealing with the state of war and our reaction as to the troops of the war.
NPR had a linguist on board yesterday describing that the word troops is dehumanizing and one of his least favorites.
CNN shows us today a wife and a mother wearing a headscarf.
I am a mother, I am a wife, I am a litigation attorney, I am not a captured woman, wife, mother in Iran.
CNN presents:
“– Expressionless, smoking a cigarette and wearing a black head scarf that masks her blond hair, video of captured British sailor Faye Turney shows a soft-spoken mother — one of only 12 women in the British navy trained to drive inflatable patrol boats.
The 26-year-old mother was driving the Royal Navy’s boat Friday when armed Iranian troops seized her and 14 others, accusing them of crossing into their territorial waters and unleashing a diplomatic crisis. (Full story)
A week before her capture, she told the British Broadcasting Corp. she understood the risks of her work.
“You’ve got to have it in the back of your head that sometimes you may be called upon and, when you are, you have got to get on with it,” she said aboard the Navy Frigate HMS Cornwall in the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway between Iran and Iraq.”
I hate war.
I have no desire for conflict.
Sitting at a deposition the other day, legal fees mounting into the hundreds of thousands, a party said something about the state of war.
I said, “This, here, is where war begins.”
Conflict begins in the smallest moments, the ones we feel are vindicated, “I believe you hurt me; therefore, ….”
Therefore, what?
I now hurt you?
I spoke to a dear friend the other day, upset with events in her life, seeking legal advice and retribution…I wanted to say, I needed to say……..stop……….meditate……..breath……..because negative energy and retribution leads to things beyond our control. And she is the dearest and best of ladies, believe me you. But sometimes when people are hurt and attacked, they have only one habit, retribution.
I’m not suggesting you all sit still and shut up, matter of fact, there is only one thing I am suggesting, take a look at this CNN article, take a look at this one person, divorced and shut off from the world she knows, beyond ability to help herself, at least as far as we know.
Ask yourself, how did we contribute to her getting there?
Yes, yes, I know, most of us are not the politicians or the moneymakers, the freemason power wheelers of the world, but to sit back and let them take all the blame, is for us to admit we have no voice, no say, in how this world evolves.
Namaste.
May God bless you all.
Or, if you are of the Einstein version of God, may you find your answer in the yet unknown expansion of the universe.
I applaud and welcome the many spiritual teachers, motivators that walk around us. What happens though when theory is simply not enough?
Many of us understand the power of language, that if we say “I can”, rather, than “I might”, we carry greater power into the universe, we ask for positive strength to be returned.
Suppose, though, that there are moments or days when changing our language does not change our lives?
When despite what we might say, there are still people starving, there are people abused and attacked, there is such a well of despair, that merely changing language will not change lives?
Is it reasonable that in moments like that, lives like that, people clammor and demand a formula? A tried and true, no returns necessary formula, a simple number: 1-800-fix-us-now………….a solution that works immediately?
We’ve been surfing the net for updates on the state of the people in Gambia who have decided to proceed with the “dream cure”.
Funny enough, the news has dropped off since March 17 and 18 of this year.
We will keep looking, but if anyone has some updates, please feel free to post in response.
We are a non-judgmental site, but beware, by that, we don’t mean we welcome posts of those out to be in a bad mood, or those who haven’t walked an inch in another’s shoes.
Diamonds Move From Blood to Sweat and Tears
Candace Feit for The New York Times
“Long after the civil war, Sierra Leone diamond miners remain impoverished.”
Today’s New York Times shows us a picture of Diamond Miners. The photograph above gives a good enough depiction at what is presumed to be backbreaking work.
The irony is what does that backbreaking work cost those fellow human beings, and what profit does it give to others of us?
Where is the scale of morality?
Is it completely divorced from the realm of economics?
Within the article written by Lydia Polgreen is a photograph of two hands, a small piece of paper between the hands, and a dot within the hands upon the paper. The sheer smallness of the gem within the hardworking hands, made us stop and wonder how something so small could gain more on the market, than the larger hands portraying its alleged worth.
“An industrial grade gem, above, can bring $1 or so for days of work.”
“I don’t have choice,” Mr. Kamanda said, standing calf-deep in brown muddy water here at the Bondobush mine, where he works every day. “This is my only hope, really.”
How many of you earn more than a dollar a day?
The riddle of arrival.
Who are we now, at anytime, and why?
There are those that would argue the why is unnecessary. We are here and from here we go on to the next moment, the next “here”.
Where did I read recently that it is acceptable to use the term “woman” in the news, in scholarly articles, in politics, but often, it is not accepatable to use “female”? Now I have no statistics to know the average of occurrence, haven’t thought about that a lot in detail, but found the observation thought provoking.
Who are today’s “girls”? Who were yesterday’s girls?
There is no division, today’s girls will become yesterday’s girls and tomorrow’s women. We can talk of being in the moment, but moments shift, and our role in those moments shifts also. It can be seismic movement, but happens to the unattendant observer, including the observer of self, in such a seemingly slow manner, that it is suprising to find yourself or a loved one or a neighbor as this different “person”.
There is much discussion on what girls must deal with and learn, the vulnerability to “strangers”. Yet, we place them approvingly in environments day after day that don’t always teach them to be strong, but teaches them to adapt, to deal, to quiet their passions. I’m not saying this doesn’t happen with boys, but for a variety of reasons, that would be a separate topic. (And for a variety of reasons, it can be easily argued that it should be within the same topic).
I posted earlier that I recently picked up a book, Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolsecent Girls, by Mary Pipher, Ph. D.
Earlier this evening I wrote:
I am on page 28, and the book has resonated at this point.
In reading this book, I hope to understand the next generations of decision-makers. The book suprises me though, it may yet teach me how I got to where I am, in the exploration of adolescence.
There is no them and us, parents v. children, save v. the unsaved, Christian v. Muslim, Israeli v. Pakistinian…….there are “us”, the collective of human beings, the “earthlings”, whatever divisions we have made from there, we have made, the tribulations it has led us through are of our own making.
With life and committments intervening, there has now been a few quiet moments and I am at page 49. How much I have learned and thought of in that space of 21 pages. I am a fast reader, there is nothing I love more than ripping through books. I must read this book slowly as it not only highlights what is going on with the girls of the 1990s, the girls of today, but the woman of today who were girls yesterday.
I want to write a disclaimer, hey wait, I’m only on page 49! I can’t guarantee this book is worth the read. But you know what? That’s ludicrous. The book was worth the read at the word go.
I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this subject as the pages go on; however, for the moment, there is one singular thought:
What are we doing?
Go to, run to, race to, click to:
What is God?
Who is God?
Is there God?
I grew up in the dogma of religion: yes, a Roman Catholic.
So what that I was the child of divorce?
Oh, my parents could no longer indulge in Communion? But they could put money in the basket?
Ok, I get it (not).
It doesn’t matter.
The evolution of the search for the meaning of God, sprituality, the Light, reminds me of again, yes, thank you NPR, of brain plasiticity.
Many of us come across the stories of the monks that have achieved a different level of brain mechanism than us mere humans, they elevate, in my mind, (my mind only), on a stratosphere that transcends even what I can digest in the written word.
I watched the sky as I drove from work this evening, and I’ll be darned if the sky and his (her) angels were not laughing at or with me, as they read my mind contemplating the levels of meditation and spirtual ascension.
They seemed to laugh at me.
What, you thought we would give you a ladder to climb?
Perhaps a trampoline?
Go back inside of yourself, they seemed to say, you must have a better idea of how to reach us.
So there I am reflecting on neurology and science and God, not understanding half of what I hear, but understanding that there is a commonality, an overlapping, there is a connection, think and it will be done, believe and it is yours.
Good night folks.
What does it mean to say: “I matter?”
Does it convey ego?
Selfishness?
Misconception?
Saying “I matter” can be ever so simple. It can convey only this:
I matter.
If I matter to me
There is a chance
That when you matter to me
We can do great things together.
Conversely, saying: “I don’t matter”
means
i don’t matter to me
and if
i don’t matter to me
then nothing can matter to me
and if i give you anything
it is less
than me
less than you
so
what is it
exactly
you would ask
of me
when
even
i
don’t
matter to me?
On the flip side, I think the answer at this stage of life is quite easy:
I matter. And in so recognizing that, there is more I can do for you.
Yesterday, we found a blog here on our beloved wordpress.com.
It was an appeal from a parent trying to raise funds for a walk she is participating in for the The Autism Society of Delaware.
The mother’s blog is called Bryelee’s Garden
I have pasted and copied in her post regarding the walk she will be participating in. Apparently, she is striving to raise $500 for the Autism Society of Delaware.
We don’t have any personal knowledge as to the family or as to the Autism Society of Delaware. A dear fellow blogger provided another resource for those needing resources on Autism or those looking to somehow contribute: Cure Autism Now
Cure Autism Now (CAN) is an organization of parents, clinicians and leading scientists committed to accelerating the pace of biomedical research in autism through raising money for research projects, education and outreach. Founded by parents of children with autism in 1995, the organization has grown from a kitchen-table effort to the largest provider of support for autism research and resources in the country. The organization’s primary focus is to fund essential research through a variety of programs designed to encourage innovative approaches toward identifying the causes, prevention, treatment and a cure for autism and related disorders.
Since its founding, Cure Autism Now has committed nearly $39 million in research, the establishment and ongoing support of the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), and numerous outreach and awareness activities aimed at families, physicians, governmental officials and the general public.
Mission and Goals
Cure Autism Now believes that, with enough determination, money and manpower, science can be hurried so that answers are found sooner rather than later.
Cure Autism Now Accomplishments
CAN has helped triple the number of scientists working in the field of autism, established the world’s first collaborative gene bank for autism, motivated passage of the Children’s Health Act of 2000, … [more]
Bryelee’s Garden
The walk is scheduled for April 28th and so far I am no where near my goal. If you would like to help to support me you can donate right through the site. The money goes directly to the Autism Society of Delaware. Did you know in 1995 the prevalence of autism was was 1 in every 2,500 births? Today it is 1 in 150. I got that info from the autism society of Delawares website. Every time I hear that I find it shocking. Chances are you know someone who is in the autism spectrum. You may not realize it but you do. Its that quirky guy from school. That weird little girl who keeps flapping her hands.
I never thought I would have a child with a disability, who does? But shortly after child # 2 birth we knew something was wrong. I think every family with an autistic child has a need, wither it be financially from paying for school, therapies, or it may be like me needing a stroller for a special needs child. But we all have our specific needs for our loved one.
The thing I want for people who know nothing to very little about autism is autism is not retardation. Many people are very surprised to hear autistic people are VERY intelligent. Autism is a neurological disorder that messes with ones social and communication skills.
Please consider sponsoring me at the Walk the High Road for Autism. I will be walking for Cate.
Cate’s Mom will be supplying a bit more information on her blog later today. Who knows, if enough people are steered to her blog, perhaps she can even surpass her goal.
More on the Autism Society of Delaware’s fundraising efforts for April
Namaste.
We wrote a small piece within the last week regarding the fate of women in Pakistan with links to various articles. The piece has since been moved to our page: Humanitarian News.
Today, while reading other blogs, we came across this one: Cheeky Max – the tagline on the blog post is the Word from Inside Iraq, posted March 3, 2007, which speaks of the woman’s blog: Baghdad Burning.
For anyone looking for another perspective on what is happening to females in Iraq, I would suggest reading the post on the blog above and following her links to further sources.
“Eat, Pray, Love”……………………a lovely let it all hang out spiritual journey of one woman.
Within 2.5 pages, I was hooked. Ironic that I found the book while food shopping after working, more ironic that on my way to the store, I heard on NPR that Anne Lamott has a new book out and I almost made myself purposely take the wrong turn straight to Barnes & Noble to buy the book right away.
Alas, I knew something that good was worth waiting for and my family would probably prefer food over a book. (Hard to believe isn’t it? I try to tell them again and again, words are food, you must only just imagine…….by that point, they have walked out of the room and I’m not even left with a goldfish listening as alas, our last goldfish also grew tired of my soapbox and left for better waters………….).
So I did the right thing, the expected thing and headed to the foodstore…………of course I went to the foodstore that has quite a good book section, and there I found, high up on a shelf, almost daring me to see it, the book: “Eat, Pray. Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert……………….and an endorsement on the front by “Anne Lamott”. See, the Universe was working with me, it too knows that words are food.
This book is not for the faint of heart…
It is not for those that have their feet dug in to a particular religious stomping ground.
It’s a search for only one person’s truth, but I dare you to not find a bit of your own along the way.
Three Cheers for this find! Look below, I’ve pasted in some of the highlights…..
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Do you remember the story of the doctor prohibited from practicing medicine because he dared to suggest doctors should “scrub” up prior to surgery?
Well, I’m not sure how all of this comes around.
Surely, I don’t want an individual man in Gambia telling HIV patients they must stop proven medicines that prolong life, to take a herbal/spice concontion his ancestors gave him in a dream……but suppose……….he was right?
We already know what would happen if he is wrong, our media and society specialize in the bad news, I wonder though, what would happen if he were right?
Are you willing to say no? It doesn’t work?
BY NO MEANS DO WE ADVOCATE ABANDONING TRADITIONAL MEDICINE, WE SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE, ANY ONE PERSON YET HAS THE ONLY ANSWER.
Surface Earth, copyright 2007
It is a time before now
A time well past
in this half-finished life
purgatory these last few decades
holding me silently raging
against what could have been
standing the measure of time
against the choices not made
cast as decision
Putting on the familar face
losing my breath to fit the mask
at which point am I more real?
Am I too old now
to even ask?
or too young
so long as there is even one breath
left
to ignore the pain
of pasting upon my face
knowingly curving without thought
the contours of my cheeks
to admit the smile
against the cast of my eyes
The Park Bench
Copyright 2007
Surface Earth, all rights reserved
They are cluttered on the benches beneath the trees. Again, they have left open the benches in the sun. I wonder, who gave them this right? I asked my brother the other day, “is it legal?”
He sighed, a great stirring as he lifted the air from his chest and back inward again. “Is t legal?” He closed his eyes, ruefully shaking his head. His little sister, always the same.
“Gwen, does it matter whether it is legal? Have you not heard of Darwin’s Law?”
Darwin? I have heard that word. I can’t remember. My mother, perhaps? My father? Before they were taken? My brother knew I could not recall.
“In the time before, before the laws were made, there was a test.” He stretched himself, “the birds of flight sailed above and through the skies where no one else could touch. Upon reaching ground, the birds of flight were honored for their extraordinary power, revered.” He scratched at his back, looking toward the sky.
I know this story, I can remember from the time I was young, my mother sang me a song of times before. I knew my brother would take his time, in speaking, and now as I waited he gathered his thoughts. I glanced to the benches below, all the ones beneath the trees still full. The sun was at high noon, the wood would bake beneath one’s feet.
I watched three women, in black, hobble past the sun covered benches. One craned her head, lifting her eyes from beneath her brow bone. I am sure that once she had eyebrows. I could see slight tufts where perhaps something else used to grow. The other linked her arm, “never mind,” I heard carried into the wind. I watched their backs, stooped under the weight of black, worn almost shiny by age.
“Oh no!” I cried. My bother startled.
“What is it Gwen?” His eyes opened, and he stopped mid-flight on the verge of continuing his lesson.
“Nothing brother. I saw a young boy, on a skateboard. I feared he would overtake and knock down the women.”
My brother peered closer at me. “Gwen, but that is what I am telling you. If that young boy had not chosen to steer around, he would have overtaken the women, ran them down and perhaps continued. His bones are strong, not tried by age, not worn.”
I sat mystified. Is that all? All he would say? I asked whether there was a law regarding the benches. I looked at them again but it was the same. People atop the benches in the shade, birds on the ground, hopping from the burning asphalt, playing tricks for crumbs. I shook my head, taking in the park.
On CNN today, a story features that the President of Gambia had a dream in which his ancestors gave him the cure for Aids.
This is not funny business, it appears real that people are believing that the herbal conconction works.
Apparently at this stage, there is not any medical documentation to confirm whether this dream induced “cure” may work, just imagine for a moment if it did………
Faith has many faces, I prefer not to discount the yet unproven. With that said, there is a fear that belief in this new “cure” may cause people to have false hope.
What would occur if faith alone, and not just the concoction worked to help cure all of the people inflicted with this dreadful disease? I can understand that there will be much in the media with a negative view, and quite frankly, it is understandable, because if the “cure” doesn’t work, people will become more and more ill.
The CNN article of March 17, 2007 is posted below. Following the article are several different resources, with Technorati Search listing the most returns on blogs currently discussing this subject from a variety of viewpoints.
CNN presents the following:
By Jeff Koinange
CNN
BANJUL, Gambia (CNN) — At the only hospital in the capital of this tiny West African nation, a 3-year-old AIDS patient named Suleiman receives his daily dose of medication — a murky brown concoction of seven herbs and spices served out of a bottle that once contained pancake syrup.
The boy is told a spoonful a day will make him better. His mother, Fatuma, takes the same concoction, as do several dozen other AIDS and HIV patients here. Adults take two spoonfuls.
“It’s amazing,” Fatuma says. “Two weeks ago, I was very ill, weak and couldn’t eat without vomiting.”
This has become the treatment for HIV/AIDS patients here since early January, when Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced he had discovered a cure for the disease that has wreaked havoc across Africa. He made that announcement in front of a group of foreign diplomats, telling them the treatment was revealed to him by his ancestors in a dream.
His concoction has stirred controversy and anger among health officials who say the president’s claims will bring false hope to the nation’s more than 20,000 HIV/AIDS patients. They are also afraid that it could cause patients to stop taking the anti-retroviral drugs that have been proven to prolong life and improve quality of living.
One critic was Fadzai Gwaradzimba, the U.N. envoy to Gambia. She was abruptly kicked out of the country after saying on February 9 that patients should continue their normal treatment and that Jammeh’s concoction be “assessed by an international team of experts.”
“The U.N. system encourages all patients currently receiving anti-retroviral treatment to continue to comply with their recommended treatment regimens while the efficacy of the new treatment is being assessed,” she said. (Read full statement)
The U.N. Development Program stands by the envoy’s remarks. The World Health Organization has also been critical of Jammeh’s treatment.
Jammeh, 41, is a former army colonel who has no formal medical training. He wears white robes and carries a copy of the Quran with him in this mostly Muslim nation.
His degree is a high school diploma. But he claims his family has a history of healing people through traditional African medicine.
At the hospital in the capital, patients claim the president’s concoction is making a difference to them.
Ousman Sow, 54, said he’s been HIV-positive since 1996 and had been taking anti-retrovirals for the past fours years until he volunteered for this program.
Four weeks later, he said he’s gained 30 pounds and feels like a new person.
“I am cured at this moment,” he said.
Asked if he had any HIV symptoms, he responded, “No, I don’t. As I stand before you I can honestly tell you I have ceased to have any HIV symptoms.”
Patient after patient gave similar statements to CNN. But it was difficult to verify the authenticity of their testimony. The government claims to have scientific evidence, but it did not provide any to CNN.
Jammeh refused to speak to CNN for this report.
CNN also sought medical reports of the HIV/AIDS patients to see whether they are indeed on the mend. The material was not provided. The government would also not release the concoction to CNN for testing.
Gambian Health Minister Tamsim Mbowe, a trained physician with multiple medical degrees, defended the so-called herbal cure.
“I can swear, 100 percent, that this herbal medication His Excellency is using is working. It has the potency to treat and cure patients infected with the HIV-virus,” he told CNN.
What does he have to say to skeptics?
“I will tell them, as a Western medical trained doctor with 13 years experience meeting different professors, meeting different colleagues of mine, I’ve seen His Excellency, my leader, coming up with herbal medications that are able to treat and cure patients with HIV-virus, which have been proven within all medical and laboratory parameters.”
Health officials worldwide remain doubtful of these claims. Experts also say it’s in places like Gambia that the poor and desperate will latch onto anything resembling hope.
“For a country’s leader to come up with such an outlandish conclusion is not only irresponsible, but also very dangerous, and he should be reprimanded and stopped from proclaiming such nonsense,” said Professor Jerry Coovadia of the University of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa.
UNAIDS, WHO on Gambia’s “cure”: demanding “evidence-based” proof
Technorati Search: Gambia & the alleged cure for Aids: listing of blogs with differing viewpoints
Do you know what truth is?
Sure, it is a compilation of facts.
Do you know what facts are?
Sure it’s what’s black and white.
What’s black?
Um, that which is darkest.
What’s white?
That which is most white, without being translucent.
So,
facts are that which are darkest and not most translucent, right?
At which point do we divorce perception and its effects from what we regard as facts?
Let me give you a very basic, perhaps insulting example:
How do we live in a world, where anyone, government included, has an excuse to kill others, and we argue over whether it is defined as genocide or a humantiarian crisis?
Imagine for a moment, that you live in a world governed by different standards. Come on, it will only take a few seconds….
You are working, scattering through emails shooting at you, lines holding, documents piled for review, diary dates passing by your eyes.
Phone rings. It is someone near and dear who is meant to be within the safe harbor of your existence.
You answer, “hello?”.
“Oh, hi, who’s this?”
Who’s this? What? Did I not just pick up the phone when the other person dialed?
“It’s me.”
“Where are you?”
“Where am I? You called me. At the office.”
Now, might sound like someone, me, is without patience, a bit curt, less than the oh wise breathing one. And that would be correct. But everything in context.
The conversation ensues and after ten minutes without a pause, I hear a pause, “what’s wrong with you?”.
Wrong?
Wrong?
Well nothing truly, it’s just that you have been speaking to me for ten minutes straight without even asking if it’s a good time and the thrust of the conversation is to share your pain.
Suppose I was in a painful moment? Suppose I simply had not shared? Do I need to air my woes, pains, hurts and trials to be afforded the courtesy of not filling my basket with yours?
Now this is stream of consciousness and “pretend”; yet, we all have moments like this. When our plate is so full, there is no space to absorb another’s worries and pains, especially if it is about the weather, a sneeze or a bad meal at a restaurant.
What do you do? Preach to them, tell them, you think you got it bad?
Chances are they aren’t going to hear you and maybe they do have it bad or worse, after all, who would want to spend their time complaining most of the day?
The creator of this new blog has generously posted two of our pieces….
we like her photo of the potted plant and decided to give you a brief glimpse of her site….to learn more, you will have to go to the source…
March 12th, 2007 by 100 Blogging Babes From SurfaceEarth:
“I’m not a potted plant.”
I can absorb, listen, do my “charitable” deed and remain impassive during the onslaught. But whoever said, I had to be a potted plant?
To find out more about blogging babes and if you too are a blogging babe, check out Ronnie’s newest blog!
There is much that has been written about the Law of Attraction. I don’t consider myself to be a scholarly authority on this matter, but I do hold certain truths to be self evident.
The Law of Attraction counsels that if you use your emotional guidance system, you will bring yourself to positive forces and thoughts. Whether it be the attraction of perfect health, financial prosperity and joy, the choice is ultimately yours.
For many years I became bogged down in the notion of judgment. What right do we have to judge? What would occur, moral anarchy, if we did not judge? I could not see beyond this dilemma.
Having spent time reading various sources on the Law of Attraction, and yes, that includes The Secret, Conversations with God, A Course in Miracles, The Law of Attraction, The Basic Teachings of Abraham, The Way of the Warrior, The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage, Toltec Traditions, various writings of the Dalai Lama, The Celestine Prophecy, The Teachings of Don Juan, A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, to most of the books from the Kabbalah Centre to The Interior Castle of St. Teresa of Avila, and on and on….I have come to a tentative conclusion…
The open question as to the place of judgment can and should be removed from the realm of moral analysis and moved into the the thought of the Law of Attraction.
The Law of Attraction teaches us, from a simple level, that what we think pulls energy from the Universe and comes back to us. The question becomes, do we then have to monitor our thoughts?
Not really. The basic idea is that we pay attention to an “emotional guidance system”, a gut instinct, a physical feeling that tells us, hey this feels good or this doesn’t feel good. If we can learn to recognize and not supress these physical manifestations, we can learn to manipulate our thoughts to what is positive.
Taking a basic example, I am watching CNN, health news comes up, there are new findings on what back pain may be caused by. As I watch it, I begin to tighten my body, feeling the ache and wondering, is it a heart problem? Could it be something worse than a heart problem? In that moment, I am forgetting, I raked the leaves, carried a toddler for hours, scrubbed the floors, carried an oversized briefcase up and down stairs, all I am thinking of is – gasp – I have back pain!
My mind begins to wonder, could it be something horrible? I flip stations and my brain picks up on each station that has more dismal news. I talk to friends, go to work, go to the store and I hear more and more similar stories. It must be true, I must have something to be very, very afraid of.
Now, here’s my favorite: “Rewind”.
None of the above with slight exceptions happens. I stand in my kitchen, I flick on CNN, see the talking head begin and change the channel.
The Law of Attraction tells us this simply, although I haven’t read it quite that way yet, but it tells us to: “Change the Channel”.
So where does judgment fit into this?
If you are like me and are striving not to judge others you are pushing against a natural tendency and focus to do precisely that: to judge.
Judge the ones who judge, judge not judging, in other words, you are swimming in a great morass of judgment.
Now suppose you took yourself out of that quandary.
Suppose, you sit down at a birthday party, a lurking adult on the fringe of childhood play, serving as a waiting ride home and a woman sits down next to you. You already had your moment planned, the moment in which you were waiting to escort your charges back home and not get in the way or embarrass them as you wait. You have a bag with a water bottle, gum and at least three different books. You sit down quietly and savor the moment you are about to call yours and crack open to page 209 of your 263 page book, knowing you are nearing the end and wishing there wasn’t one. You look up at a sound and find another mother nearby. You smile. Too late you realize that she has no intention of reading the book in her hand. You should have seen it by the way she sat next to you and placed her bag on top of the book, not out of the way of the book, but on top of the book.
You suck it up but your gut is rolling, you really just want to read.
The woman begins to talk, she is lovely, a nice soul, but the conversation never ends despite numerous attempts to casually open your book and hold it in front of your face.
She begins to speak about non-smokers, parents who don’t agree with her reward system for good grades, and it goes on and on.
You smile. A lightbulb goes off, huh, I don’t have to agree with everything she says just to make her feel better. I don’t have to offer up my own tales of woe just to be a good comrade. I can simply smile and redirect her to the children climbing rock walls.
In the past, I would have fluctuated, ah, what a nice lady, I should agree with her or at least murmer and nod my head. What a bad, bad person I would be to do otherwise. Then I think, but I have no interest in this type of conversation, I don’t want to bash the rest of the community, I don’t necessarily agree with them, but I simply have no interest in such topics.
I have no interest in such topics.
Simple.
I don’t need to go through the scales of morality but can fixate instead on what is feeling right inside of me and move away from what feels wrong. And in the process, I don’t have to sit in the seat of judgment and don’t have to go through a dissertation as to whether I am being charitable or uncharitable, I can just move toward what feels good or away from what feels wrong.
And that is how easy it can be at times to move toward what feels right and attract an abundance of what feels right all of the time. What feels right to me is not to judge. I don’t need to know why, I just know it is true. In judging, I bring negative energy to myself and the recipient of my judgment and it becomes a never ending relentless cycle.
I would rather simply enjoy breathing.
Curious and more curious.
Gingrich was not a hypocrite. Yes, he now states he had an extramarital affair but really, he drew the line when pursuing Clinton…he went after him due to an alleged felony, perjury and obstruction of justice, not because of the sensationalist news regarding Ms. Lewinsky.
Check out some interesting articles on this fascinating non-hypocritical line drawing:
Really?
Are we here again?
First scrotum, and now vagina?
Ok, let me go check on-line, popular, dictionary or encyclopedias, to see if they are horrible, or in fact, medical, scientific words….because I am pretty angry that an author and now three young teens pay the price for the rest of us exercising civil liberties….
“I’m not a potted plant.”
I can absorb, listen, do my “charitable” deed and remain impassive during the onslaught. But whoever said, I had to be a potted plant?
I raise questions, queries, perhaps bordering onto commentary at times, as to spiritual or save me, religious beliefs. The idea is to provoke discussion, to get thinking about the big picture that is so far beyond us most times that we can only see our feet. And yes, yes, life deals us blows that knock us over and we then become grateful for being able to see our feet, let alone the big picture.
Forgive me, I digress.
Why must certain religious persuasions be forced upon others?
Truly, I could care less what you believe, although I do draw the line at using your beliefs to manipulate or harm in any way others.
So why should anyone care if beliefs are in conflict as long as that very basic humanitarian goal is met?
I AM NOT A POTTED PLANT.
I will not just sit and take garbage that you have to believe only one way or the other. If I wake up tomorrow and decide I am one of the starpeople, so be it.
____
Editor’s Note: These links from the author will take you to some other people who have made it clear that they too are not potted plants:
Reference to Brendan Sullivan Iran-Contra trial comment
Let’s suppose, the tears are real. What time period must pass, before the rest of the world accepts it, whether they believe in the Virgin Mary or not? Let me be frank, disclaimer, (do you hear the exclamation points?), we believe in the Virgin Mary, I’m not sure what her name is or if she was/is a Virgin, but I believe it does not matter, I believe, that her messages of kindness and humanity matter.
So, what now, if fast forward, months later, it cannot be disproved that there were actual tears, there in the store in Texas? The owners were not frauds, had no interst in being shot at or sued or disenfranchised, but simply stated what they saw to be their truth?
What then?
Does it matter?
Does it effect us?
Does “science” have a different explanation? Is science divorced from divinity?
Is there anything to believe? Does it matter if you do? I truly don’t care what you believe, I applaud simply your right to believe. But take a look, take a look at what I think are probably very good people believing in the goodness of humanity.
See below, not my article, resources are as credited below the title.
Last Update: Mar 2, 2007 9:48 AM
Posted By: Walker Robinson
Some were calling it a miracle, a statue of the Virgin Mary here in San Antonio appeared to be crying Wednesday, and dozens of believers were stopping by to see it.The statue is at the store A&J Toys and Novelties on Colorado St. on the west side. People were crowding the store Wednesday night to get a peek.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that,” one man said.
Water was seen coming from the statue’s eyes.
“I pass by here every day, and it’s just a miracle that it’s happening so close to where we live,” neighbor Delia Ramirez said.
Believers were emotional calling the statue a true blessing from above.
The store’s owner, Amelia Gutierrez, got the statue from Mexico on Sunday, and planned to put it in a raffle. But Wednesday morning, she said tears started pouring out.
“I don’t know if she’s trying to tell us something,” Gutierrez said. “We just have to pray, I guess.”
News 4 WOAI’s Aubrey Mika has been following this story. Click here to watch her report.
If you have questions or comments about this story, or you want to send us a story tip, please email News 4 WOAI’s Aubrey Mika at AubreyMika@woai.com.
Related Story:
Statue Stops Weeping; Faithful Keep Coming
See also:
Come on.
Let’s get real.
We don’t get it.
Is there really a monopoly on one man’s thoughts so long ago?
What’s so wrong with the rest of us that we need to live, beholden, to others’ thoughts, of one person’s life?
I am sure at this point you have all seen the news, and at this point, we are all home comfortably, far from the scene of the latest natural disaster.
Yet, look around you, search your heart, even one loss of those close to you, is a universal loss to you.
See this thoughtful blog:
so? what should we do? judge not judge?
I mean, seriously, if the proponent does not embrace the system advocated, does it make the system worthless?
Or do we need a sliding scale?
Reports tell us following the Oscars – ?tell us? – or suggest, that perhaps Mr. Gore does not practice what he preaches. The difference between Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk.
So, let’s suppose, he doesn’t practice what he preaches, but the net effect is that, as a result of what he preaches, the planet has become 30% more green..now what?
See Points of Thought for Fun & Reflection
It doesn’t matter who is right.
What matters is what we can live with, what we believe, what we can do to lessen the burden on ourselves and others.
The fear of the unknown is vast, which is why we remained married to the past, no matter how scary, and why we skip over today to tomorrow in hopes of what might be.
What truly happens when we stand where we are? When we breath and do not venture anywhere but where we are? How difficult is it to quiet the active mind and in quieting the active mind, is there a mind left at all? What is there then?
I always wondered at this statement. Some people don’t, to them it is simple and bravo for that ability, because they operate on a more clear level.
I have only now found what makes sense:
“Well, I’m no scientist, and certainly I don’t have Carl Sagan’s techinical understanding of the universe and our position within it. I simply believe that there’s a very organic, imeasurable consciousness of which we’re a part. I believe that this consciousness is a force so powerful that I’m incapable of comprehending its power through the puny instrument of my human mind. And yet I believe that this consciousness is so unimaginably calibrated in its sensitivity that not one leaf falls in the deepest of forests on the darkest of nights unnoticed.”
The Measure of a Man, by Sidney Poitier
Why would it matter if it were true?
Why would it be any less of a miracle and reason for faith?
Well: we’ve been told our reading of a blog is wrong and that no one claimed that Jesus wasn’t resurrected………if we misread, so be it, we’re looking for other opinions, to be “right” is to sometimes be blind anyway.
Here’s the original post. We’ll go approve the comment pointing out alleged errors. Anyone else with viewpoints?
Trolling through the tag surfers, we found an interesting article that somehow or other we might have missed if not for this blog…
http://thepulp.wordpress.com
A story tag reading: “James Cameron Takes on Jesus”.
The story goes, or might go, well, it does go, that Jesus was not resurrected and for over two decades, there has been knowledge that his tomb was elsewhere…we’re going to keep our eye on this blog and see what the press conference reveals today.
Perhaps we could have worded it better, when we said the story goes, we meant the recent news versions……….so apologies for any miscommunication born of poor word choice, ah, yet another argument for having a “word basket”.
See:
For other views:
Who can shed more light on this?
Can someone?
I clicked on this post, do not know the full details or veracity, but after seeing a picture of a cell where a 9 yr old boy is allegedly held, I’m asking anyone out there, do you know what this is about?
http://www.latimes.com/search/la-na-immig10feb10_jd7pwonc,0,996949.photo
How do we know who we would be if we weren’t who we are?
I have sat here thinking, on and off, about the realm of possibility.
Reading the Way of the Peaceful Warrior
and
* *
I wondered as to whether a limit exists as to human expansion.
One book, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, heralded as part fiction/part truth; still sets forth the inherent possibilities in not just a life, but in a day and in the moments of each day and each breath.
The Pilgrimage, at least to this reader, is also a story of the warrior, but resonates with more God-like spiritual possibilities.
Is there an end to possibility?
Check out the following article and photos as to the “rare heavenly arc”
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/23/MNGD7O9UNL1.DTL
Silence is space.
It is a respite from acting who you are.
When first practicing silence, it can be awkward. People expect more chatter, more noise, more feedback. Your internal monitors may churn expecting the expectation of noise.
When practiced in small quantities, it clears the brain. There are so many different ways to achieve this. Swallow a comment that’s not necessary or provoked to fly out of your mouth before your heart has caught up. Breath before speaking. Not shallow breaths, but a pure intake and exhale, a clearing. Smile first and as your smile slowly unwinds, allow yourself to form the words.
You may not just be benefitting yourself, but countless others too.
Outside the borders of America, it is not expression and penalty ensues.
Inside the borders, we fight valiantly as to what means expression and whose right of expression is most prevalent.
Is it really just anyone’s guess?
http://www.indonesiamatters.com/260/lia-eden-trial/
Shocked.
CNN headlines proclaim: Pastor says he is “God”.
Do the numbers, 666, and God, belong in the same sentence? Empircally, yes, both are 3(s), so is the Holy Trinity. Huh, maybe that’s why it’s reported he has three Rolex watches?
The Church of the non-judgmental. Catchy, no?
Yes, until the stories/rumors of suppression of other faiths.
What is true and what isn’t?
Does the Pastor claim to have the same spark of Divine Light arguably within all of us, the essence of God? Is that what he means?
Does anyone know what he truly means vs. what the media is telling us what he means?
Read it, read it, read it, and tell us your thoughts:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/16/miami.preacher/index.html
Veggie Tales teaches us that God would give us the power to love our enemies, love, all encompassing light, yes or no? Are there fine lines? Is there room for judgment? You be the judge.
copyright 2007, surface earth
I was asked to explain the meaning of love and found myself stalled.
If one needed to ask that question, was it even then possible to explain love in words?
There must be a place where things begin, beyond the surface of the earth, the pure origin. Unfiltered. Uninhibited. Filters affect the purity. To go back to the beginning and see yourself true. Untarnished.
Sitting in Court, waiting to be called, watching a little boy in a long hallway, his Grandma keeping an eye on him and two others. He’s fidgety having no place in his mind for a Court of law, rather than one of reason.
Grandma reaches in her bag, searching, I know that reach, she’s looking for distraction.
I hold out a few pens, his Grandma nods yes, he comes over, takes one and is back again to the paper in his Grandma’s lap.
He returns. “Do you have another? This one doesn’t write sideways.”
What is the measure and effect of thought?
Listen, we are old enough to not suscribe judgment.
We ask you a simple thing, you have orchestrated the formula of addiction, can you now provide us with the tool to non-addiction?
Those commercials you have been forced to make are no more than inducement for those of us inclined to go out and smoke more, because now we feel worse than ever.
But you know this right? You knew the points of our brain to addict us? Is it too much to hope you know how to truly un-addict us also?
We don’t care how much money you make, if you own a private jet or not, you can’t take it with you anyway, we just ask you to truly help us, stop making us feel bad for what you fed us to begin with- “share the secret”-you must know how to undo us, don’t you? We weren’t born wanting to be outcasts and prematurely dead.
What do we do? As we wait? We start up blogs, we look for people of similar interests to join together and get ideas going, get momentum tha will have any chance of actually accelerating into anything close to a change.
The format isn’t perfect, we would need money to do that, but it’s a start, why not help each other within zipcodes? Why not strengthen from within and move out?
I rode down the road the other day, 35 miles from home. It was a route that took me through many different faces.
I watched, toward the end of my drive, a police officer, stop all traffic heading toward primarily government and university work, to allow the children to cross for school. A neighborhood where the “crossing guard” needed a certified gun. I watched him stop traffic to give this one family at least the chance to cross the road. A car, impatient, insisted on taking a left turn before it was clear. The police officer’s face turned red with disgust and frustration…….I watched, almost late to Court……….why did this young man have to take his time to explain to someone why it was important to lead tomorrow’s adults safely across the street? Were there words to explain the shame of us all that it was even necessary to have to accompany young children across the street, that we, as collective parents of today’s children, could not do better?
Is there a line that should not be crossed in giving?
When you give of yourself, is there a point when you give too much, leaving yourself depleted and with less to give in the end?
Is there a point when it is not selfishness to preserve yourself, because in the preservation, you maintain a more solid foundation from which to give?
By accruing wealth, and then determining how to expend it, do you in essence give more?
Or is it in working in a non-profit sector, where perhaps you give more each moment, that there is more to give?
Does it matter, as long as you are truly giving?
no, not my words. just a shared feeling. wanted to put up the YouTube link to the video, just not sure it’s not copyright infringement.
Watch it, however you can, whatever is legal: John Mayer: Waiting on the World to Change
Then tell me, why is it that we are waiting?
It’s two days later. The holiday for children is now passed.
What hasn’t passed is an image we saw, a moment in time………
Gangs of kids were running together up and down the street, groups together, laughing, talking…………..
Up the road come a girl, the same age as the groups of other children, but she held the hand of a younger child, a boy, maybe her brother, and a grandmother marched slightly ahead of them with a flashlight…..
In that moment, maybe we added more to the story than truly existed, but watching the young girl’s straight back, her sure steps, her firm hold on her brother’s hand…we wondered how she felt surrounded by all of the other kids.
Did they know her? Ignore her? Did no one else invite her to trick or treat with them?
It reminded us that even today, there are children for no set reasons, who do not have friends and go through their days watching others enjoy natural friendships and wonder what is wrong with them. Yet, as adults we know there is nothing wrong with them, somehow they fell outside of the social track, and in many case, it will be a long and hard road.
What do you think of this? Parents and/or children can give money to a school fund held for those that may need it, the sixteen dollars for the music book that’s just not in the budget, the overnight school trip that costs almost two hundred dollars without supplies………suppose people in the community could give into the fund? anonymous donations? it’s not about recognition, suppose you skip taking the family to the movies? don’t buy filet mignon? skip the extra pair of shoes? or maybe scrape together five bucks to contribute just because it feels good?
then, suppose, parents could access or apply for those funds, a hardship wish, and no one but the administrator has to know who is receiving the funds?
Thoughts anyone?
Gilbert (
