An oldie but goodie pops into my head. A few thoughts on the word "normal". Imagine for a moment that you are the ONLY person on this planet. The word "normal" flies out the window. It refers to a population and the characteristics which are most common. Although in most people's minds, it comes to take on the added implication of the most acceptable charactersistics. So, if you're not "normal" then there is something wrong with you and you need to be assisted back into the fold. Closely parallel to that line of argument, it also comes to be taken to be synonymous with the word "natural". This is really quite funny because there is very little about life in a modern, technological society that is remotely natural.
Interesting thought about reforming and improving the Mental health System - One could argue to retain the lousy system becuase having ZERO confidence in it at all forced me to go inside and find my own cure. I truly believe everyone has the capacity and inner resources to cure themselves but our current world-view does not encourage us to think this way. Healing is always seen as originating from some expert, professional, external source.
I thought I had recorded some stuff for 18th. Maybe I forgot to click on "Save". Oh well, can't have been anything overly important. Yes, you did. You simply have repeated "January 17" - a bit like "Groundghog Day"
I'm racing again - these have been the danger times in the past. I fly along for a few days burning a million calories a second then I crash. Hard to "pace myself" when this is going, so i generally go with the flow. In fact, one could argue if you truly trust the flow you won't crash. Like walking a tight rope ... don't look down.
Anyways, huge new output - 3 poems yoday and one aint half bad - wrote it waiting for the bus.
Structural integrity of the universe
Yes, this is well not exactly frustrating but a curious situation ... if yoy walk around telling people the truth you get locked up. Once you've seen beyond the "veil of tears" it really is an awesome sight but to try and describe it to one who is still living the illusion, you appear insane. So be it. If you go around telling people that there are NO accidents and that absolutely every event or circumstance in their entire life has been created by them (and the souls around them) either consciously or sub-consciously you'll get some odd looks. I never used to believe it myself. What!? I created my own schizophrenia? What sort of masochist am I? That's ridiculous. I would have felt like ripping your head off at many points along the way. Or I would simply have laughed and enquired as to what drugs you are taking.
Maybe there IS nothing more irritating than an ex-atheist! Yet I try to speak and act from compassion becuase I know what it is like so well - it really is living in constant fear. Because the universe is just a random, chaotic place and the world is a place where lots of bad "stuff" happens and you just better hope the WORST of it never comes your way and you ultimately have no real protection against it. Pain is just pain and has no deper significance or meaning. It is just something to minimise or avoid. It is the ultimate in living with permanent stress. I know - I lived in that place a VERY long time. It literally can drive you nuts even if I did at one stage even claim and convince myself that all this talk of "meaning" and "purpose" was nonsense and one could be happy and content in a godless world.
This thought came to me after overhearing a conversation with some rather judgemental, dogmatic points of view flying around (Everyone should study Quantum Mechanics - The Uncertainty Principle is a very useful concept in the larger world of people and opinions) ... I seem to recall reading or hearing somewhere that ONE good reason to practise non-judgement is that with reincarnation, that which you judge harshest in THIS life is what you become in the next. Interesting idea!
Of course, taken a step further, non-judgement also refers to situations, not just people. Anytime the word "should" pops into your head, THAT is a judgement. "Things should be this way or that way" or "Things should be different" (usually means better, because different could be worse) ... Now at first glance, that would seem an impossibility - to never think "This should not be happening. Something is wrong with this picture".
To suggest such an attitude of non-judgement would appear to be the product of an unhinged mind. This may not be a bad turn-of-phrase to use.
Oh yes, there was more to that thought about what you judge harshest - the idea is that the soul creates experiences and circumstances to learn. To learn non-judgement which is the first step towards TRUE compassion, tolerance and all the other good stuff we have a shortage of in this world at this point in human evolution. Without the first step, the others are practically impossible.
Had a bit of time, so I decided to compile just a few selections from the
Deepak Chopra Forum.
May do more if I remember and also feel inclined to do so. Or just visit the link - but I'll admit it can be a slog ploughing through ... what is it ... 49,000 messages!
Had a dream about a politician volunteering to take "anti-psychotic" medication to check out the side-effects. I went up to whisper in his ear that "these drugs can really f**k with your mind if you're not already crazy"
Then I proceeded to point out the enormous gaps in psychiatrists picture of the universe and our human nature and what Reality really is all about. Seemed so real it was a pity to wake from the dream. Or is THIS the dream and I have to go back to "sleep" to return to reality?
Rarely watch "Oprah" - but it has certainly changed in direction from those sensationalist/confrontationalist shows they tend to be. Caroline Myss was on the show. She's a medical intuitive and boy! She reads energy fields around a person and can pinpoint the onset of their illness to a specific trauma or life-situation. Very impressive. I think she has a website somewhere. Brilliant observations about people defining themselves by their wounds and finding "soul-mates" who are in fact "wound-mates". Her book sounds fascinating - I think it was called Why people don't heal and how they can Eerily similar to something I just wrote a few days ago but with more practical ideas in it. Not that I'm knocking what I wrote. All anyone can do is describe their own unique point of view and level pf understanding of our complex and intricate beings.
With legendary accuracy, the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts 32 Celsius. It reaches 21. Not bad. Not that I'm complaining. My brain had rather gone to sleep during the week or more of heat. Even wrote a poem while mowing the (wet) lawn. See this link:
Poem
Watched "Oh God II" with George Burns - interesting premise. If God were to take human form, what would he look like? Who would he talk to? Would people think that anyone claiming to hear god talking directlt to them personally be regarded as crazy? Even if it were a child. Where does all that leave the question of belief and free-will? It would be a fraction easier to believe in God after he talks to you! Unless you allow other people convince you to doubt your own sanity. I suppose it all depends on how you conceptualise "God". One good point was exactly the one I would have made - why do people feel it is "okay" to believe that God spoke to the prophets and saints 2000 years ago but then he stopped and hasn't talked to anyone since?
Also looked up the lyrics of
Affirmation by Savage Garden after someone asked me if I had heard it and what did I make of the line "I believe trust is more important than monogamy". Well, I can't speak for the writer but I often make seemingly-contradictory statements in poems to get the mind out of its habiual way of seeing/interpreting things. See if you can spot the two extra lines I added. I was in a funny mood.
Watched Gulliver's Travels which had some interesting parallels to the journey undertaken (poor choice of words?) by people with schizophrenia. We visit places most "normal" folk cannot even begin to imagine and when we "come back" and try to describe what we have seen and experienced, we generally find nodbody believes or comprehends what we are saying. yet, like Gulliver, our travels can bring insights not accessible any other way. Interesting.
At the end, he says "I have been lost at sea for a long time ... but I have seen the things that you can only dream about". brings up the whole question of what is a "delusion" and what is reality. I do remember writing a few years back that normality was the delusion and psychosis is the cure. Still a valid statement to make - even if it just makes some people re-assess their view of the world.
A few more ideas continue to flow through my mind - see what I wrote on the subject of
True Healing. You would think after all the books I have read recently and all the "stuff" I've written over the past 16 years chronicling this journey that there wouldn't be anything "new" to write. Well, in a sense, there isn't but given the way our minds work and the curious effect language can have on our thoughts and our emotions, some ways of putting an idea across are better than others. And it's an individual thing. I mean we could burn all the books in the world except the Bible and even then just carry around a couple of mottos like "Do unto others" & "Love thy neighbour as thyself" & if we reallllly thought about what those 2 statements mean and lived every moment with them in mind ... we'd just about have the world we dream of. Here's to living the dream.
And yet, less than a year ago i woulda said you are on drugs if you'd made such statements - "Get Real! LOOOOK at the world! You really think you're going to get from THIS to what you describe! You need help!" And i am sure many people will react that same way now. But not everyone. It's a matter of reaching a critical mass. Like a nuclear explosion - how was it that James Twyman described it in "Emissary of Light" - ... couldn't find the actual quote but he said once the critical mass is reached, the effect will be irresistible and everyone will be transformed ... and hatred will vanish ...
Yet, with our ordinary, logical, rational, analytical states of consciousness we see that as an impossibility or just wishful thinking by a bunch of dreamers. So much for logic.
Heat wave continues - not scorching heat but relentless and no end in sight for several days. Does rather put the brain to sleep. In fact, I felt more "zonked" than I have in ages after spending several hours in a stuffy environment. Much food-for-thought and when my brain wakes up again, I may record some of the menu.
One interesting observation from my mischievious mind - the words "love" and "God" were never mentioned once in 6 hours when speaking of visions for the future. It is almost as if we are scared to use these words or have forgotten what they mean. And by "we" I have to include myself. I am relearning & rediscovering what they mean but I have much more to learn to make them an ongoing Reality. As we all do. Gotta start somehwere. The imagination races way ahead of the pace reality can match. It takes a constant effort NOT to be frustrated at this "lag".
In the library - to photocopy something ... what's on the shelf? Conversations with God Book II. So, I open it at random and ... see excerpts in:
Conversations with God I
Conversations with God II
Also from yesterday - not as if I need "validation" or confirmation but it is good to hear that others get that same feeling from reading the book. That it is God talking - directly to them as an individual. Of course, it is still possible that we've all just lost our marbles. If so, I don't want them back!
Interesting article at a site I did not note down - basically said that someone you perceive as an "enemy" or "adversary" down here on Earth may in FACT be a close ally in another realm but you both agreed to play these roles down here to learn or awaken ... hmmm ... That would apply to the "atheists" who would ridicule CWG and similar works as fantasy or fairytales ... interesting ...
Also found Ian gawler site -
Ian Gawler Foundation. Very interesting - conquering cancer & all that. Ties in nicely with an article I read yesterday which in turn mentioned Chopra's book Quantum Healing. I always felt there was a HUGE sub-conscious component in disease. In fact during one of my blacker periods I said that disease and aging and death were ALL really sub-conscious forms of suicide. I amy have been closer to the mark than I realised.
Interesting discussions about Conversations with God (CWG) - the website and seminars are in U.S. -
More details when I have time - covered concept of prayer, Hell, choice, extra-terrestrials, soul,
Interesting site - Magnetic Poetry Board!
where you have a Java window and words "stuck" on it like fridge magnets and can compose "poetry". I found it a trifle tough without verbs but then I may just be fussier than most :)
Plus "What is Schizophrenia?" - depends who you ask. The person who's doing the diagnosis or the person who is experienceing it. Ties in with Nexus article on psychiatry. How scientific can it be if 5 different psychiatrists can give 5 different diagnoses! Yet on their "authority" a person's liberty can be temporarily forfeited. It's a tiny bit better than the old days but we will still look back in the future on what we do now and ask How did anyone think that was okay? That question will appply to many areas other than psychiatry.
I
Apparently Volumes II & III go into more detail - the nature of God, aliens, the cosmos, future of humanity. Book I alone will take a while to fully absorb and integrate ... oh well, we've got eternity ... yet still I know MANY people who if they even bothered to pick the book up would LAUGH in your face - and a year ago i'd have been one of them. "Oh you have to be kidding! this is a fairytale! You people are off-with-the-fairies!" Yet behind that was a sneaking jealousy because I relised IF they truly believed (and I did NOT see how anyone could) ... I just knew they were infinitely better off thn any theist could ever hope to be ...
Fascinating the sequence of events that led to me even purchasing the book - Word 97 course & Library Card gave me my 1st look at Internet which I hadn't been overly interested in. Acacia experience led me to Twyman book and that led to website (and Chopra site) and here & there I pick up recommendations for CWG but never really considered purchasing it ... then I ahve a voucher and intend to buy a specific book (what was it?) and it was not there but CWG was and I decide to flick it open and hmmm ... I think I'll get this instead ...
(The Twyman book was $5 and looked like a work of science fiction - "Emissary of Light")
What MUST it have been like - to write a series of TOUGH questions for God and get "answers" ... then wonder if you are losing your marbles. A lot like James Twyman's story. "Nobody will believe me! They will think i have flipped!" - Been There!
Plus details of the teachers/guides that are already here - once you're ready for them I never thought I would be at all!
Deepak Chopra site also calling for submissions - 750 words or less. That is like trying to cram all the matter in the universe into a space smaller ... oh, that's already been done. Quite a challenge though - the background to "what schizophrenia is like" would occupy way more than 750 words, let alone the events that took place in the psych ward in feb 1999. I still pinch myself to make sure I didn't dream the whole thing.Myabe I did! See the section on memory and personal experience and how do you absolutely know for sure that your memeories were indeed personal experiences of your self. That opens a can of worms anyway - defining the "self" ...
Things did happen today - just aint got around to recording them ...
Firstly, the sub-atomic aliens inside my brain started tunneling into my thoughts. This is to be expected . Nothing terribly unusual there. Secondly, my body vanished for half an hour while I was walking down the street. Agaian, nothing that hasn't happened before. Thirdly, I heard seven angels calling me. Calling me down from the river. Down into the river they fly. While the man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still.
My pet fleas all went missing. I had to search the entire third dimension to find them. Without success.
Click here for
January 20 onwards
Or buy the book. After all it's only $20 and if it's "total fantasy" (in your eyes/mind) ... what have you lost?
Walking with Dinosaurs - for kids
Found lyrics of
Pray
A few more websites:
webopedia.com
Send people "virtual" flowers
www.clevermedia.com
www.rankin.com.au
Also:
inkgroup.com
Grummen's site?
Idea for a book title - Accidental Journey -
Based on what i can imagine a character saying to people (at this point in human evolution) and how they may suddenly see the light (or not - that's part of their journey to have someone like THAT who can say things like THAT because of where he has been which is a place few souls currently on the planet have visited) For example:
"Well, there is simply a huge gulf between the way you view the world and how I see it. I see a boundless ocean of infinite possibilities, none of which is superior or more preferable to any of the others. They are all just journies. You see a tiny little box which you have chosen to label as "normality" and you require everyone to fit inside that box [A particularly relevant issue is parenting and expectations but that is a HUGE topic on its own - could be incorporated] ... {Requiring people - esp offspring - to "fit the mould" has done untold damage through human history}
"Your way of seeing the world will dissolve and fade into a remote and distant memeory. There really is literally no need to worry at all. Everything is as it should be. The things and events we label as tragedies and accidents ... we only do this because of our current lack of understanding of Who We Are and what the universe really is." [There were a few more as I walked along which did not get recorded on paper]
Yes, it is a tantalising idea - the prospect that one day everyon will LET GO of all their expectations. People don't realise how many artificially imposed expectations they have accumulated - expectations on other's behaviours, of reality, of the way things "should be" - the list is enormous. The simple defusing mechanism is one question - "Why?" ... namely, "Why should things be the way you think they should rather than this way. What makes you so sure?"
"One day you'll see that what i say is true. Of course, THAT day may not come in this particular lifetime but that's okay."
Add to that list of expectations - how could I forget (well, the "old me" would wish for the day when we can all safely forget and in a sense that can/will happen) -
That others (esp those "closest" to them) will have very similar:
* reactions - esp to "tragedies" etc (the full implication of this is enormous - it restricts people's emotional reactions and experiences to a little box they label as "normal". Think small thoughts and you'll have small experiences)
* views (on "what it all means")
* values
* PRIORITIES
I must be one of the few people (so far) who would describe schizophrenia as a Magical Mystery Tour
IMO, this is THE fundamental question all religions and all belief-systems must wrestle with. How do you reconcile the idea of a Loving Creator with all the suffering, injustice, violence and bloodshed of mankind's history. At first glance it seems utterly irreconcilable. I was raised on the classic argument that "God works in a mysterious way" and that we can never hope to fully understand things at this level of existence, so we must have faith that there is a Divine Plan and it wil all work out fine in the end. I found this hard, if not impossible to swallow and so, for a long time, I regarded religions as fairytales for the desperate and the gullible. I thought I was the VERY LAST PERSON ON THIS PLANET who would ever be meditating or reading the sort of books I have read in the past 10 months or seeing things the way I currently do.
Nobody is more amazed than me that my views have flipped 180 degrees in a relatively short span of time. I now regard my former perspective as one of arrogance. I thought "Well, it makes absolutely NO sense to me THEREFORE there are no explanantions I will ever accept and the idea of a loving God is preposterous"
Yet, if pressed, I cannot even begin to explain how I got from "there" to "here". I have travelled from one extreme end of the belief spectrum to the other without passsing through the middle. I can't explain it but I'm very grateful it happened. I don't even really try to explain it and I don't try to "persuade" anyone because NOTHING would have persuaded me to alter my views during the entire time I spent in the "dark side". Yet I know many people - some in my own family - who would read the statements in this Forum and conclude we are all just deluding ourselves and our way of seeing the world is a complete and utter fantasy. They would recommend therapy to bring us back in touch with the REAL world and to accept that "This is the way things are. Just get used to it. Human beings will never change. Your optimism is totally unrealistic."
They do have a good point in a sense. It would be a whole LOT easier to believe in a Divine Plan in a world which didn't have wars, poverty, injustice, murder, suicide, rape, etc etc ...
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For the moment.
Today's link is ... Views from the Tower at the Monroe Institute
You don't realise how much knowledge you have slowly accumulated until you try to convey some of it step-by-step to a novice. No, nothing philosophical - the Internet & email:
* Emails - how to save an address and how to compose a new email rather than just relpy
* How to attach files - and Hotmail's policy of under 1 meg
* What can be attached - business data, pics of kids, sounds, animations, any file at all
* I prefer Win 95 to Win 98 but I suppose that's just a matter of familiarity - remember right click!
* Also prefer Netscape to IE5 for similar reason.
* How to organise favourites
* Apollo 13 story and you would never dare MAKE UP such a scenario. Plus nice filmclips & animation because there wasn't a cameramna out in space to film the explosion. How amazing would that be - to stand on the moon and look at the sun and the earth from a perspective few human have ever had.
* How to create new folders and move files around and locate them
* Pity about all the dodgy stuff on web because as a resource for students it is awesome. Plus connecting with people al over the globe who share your interests/outlook.
* How much freeee stuff there is on the web - email, home pages, services.
* How to make a home page and add formatting & graphics etc. and LINKS
* Newsgroups and what they are.
* Various file types and what they are - ZIP, MPG, AVI, WAV, HTM, DOC, JPG, etc etc
* With file types - can have more than one application - click right button e.g. WAV files open quicker in SNDREC program
"People know that their names have been changed by the rules of the universe."
Nat Geographic mag for Jan 2000 looks superb - photo essay on Celebrations of Earth
The softback Preview - new title called Just Six Numbers by cosmologist Martin Rees - How is it that a single event, the 'big bang', could create billions of black holes, stars & planets?. Rees discusses how just six numbers, imprinted in the big bang determine the essential features of the physical cosmos.
Plus One Renegade Cell, Monty Python Speaks & a few others.
I suppose we're all experts ... on different subjects. To make an apple-pie from scratch ... you must first create the universe.
"I don't see what everyone is so worried about anyway. (literally) Some people just take a different journey. Normailty is not the be all and end all. In fact far from it - normality is a tiny speck out of a sea of infinite possibilities. People cling to it and try to make everyone fit the mould out of fear. this will soon be a thing of the past."
"As soon as you let go of this crazy notion that anyone needs to modify their behaviour to fit in with your idea of what they should be doing, you'll be fine." - could rephrase that - there is a GOOD idea in there somewhere.
After a weeek in idle, I am right back to FULL speed, with my mind jumping everywhere and yet nowhere. Finding amazement and inspiration in things most people walk past without even noticing. Maybe it's a huge advantage to be crazy.
I'm reminded of that quote on the back of Meditations by Thomas Moore - about Melisma. I'll dig it up if I remember.
Went to the Springvale library and (it's probably just the mood I'm in - but that's when I start to notice all the things I wouldn't notice in an ordinary state of consciousness?) ... Anyways, I could have taken out a dozen books. The titles that grabbed my attention were:
The Quantum Self
Message from Forever - looks a bit like Twyman & Hermit. Don't know why I didn't actually borrow it.
Several books on travel, countries, the wonders of the world, science ... books by Gribbin, Davies, Gary Zukav, yet didn't find the one book I originally went in for. Hmmm ....
In the end, borrowed just 2, namely a book of Feng Shui & The Guinness Book of Why. Like why is the sky blue? Why do some people irritate the Hell out of you? & Why does my life seem like a frozen turnip? Why are there so many voices in my head?
A few million thoughts randomly popping into my mind. Here are a few:
Well, if THAT really is our true nature, one could argue that there's absolutely NO need to worry at all about anything ever. Because "sooner or later" we'll ALL start to manifest that nature. That reminds me of one of my more obnoxious phases when I would end arguments or discussions by saying Just Wait long enough and then you'll see that I'm right ... of course, long enough may be several billion years."
(What people call "crazy" may be a LOT closer to true reality than their so-called "normality". Because they hold onto the concept of their individual identity having individual experiences and thoughts.)
When you hold the concept of "eternity" in your head, the duration of a human lifetime seems infinitesimal. In fact the entire epic saga of human civilisation on this planet ... in fact the entire history of this universe is like the blink of an eye when seen from the viewpoint of eternity. Yet, 70 years can seem an incredibly LONG time while you're actually living it. This is the paradox of our existence. It is a bottomless mystery. I love it. (I wrote that while I was really flying Q
I'm also reminded of that definition of eternity with the fly landing on the metal ball.
Someoen asked about the attraction of meditation. Well, people have been doing it since before Buddha which is 2500 years ago (but who's counting - no pun intended). Now, people aren't completely stupid - they generally will not continue doing something (voluntary) unless they are getting something out of it. I myself used to have the impression that it is sitting down and "making your mind go blank" & I used to wonder WHY anyone would do it. Like anything, until you experience it, it is hard to describe. It is like filling your mind with silence and when you do it right, it is awesome. But, like flying a plane, you can't expect to jump into the pilot's seat first time and do it perfectly. (There is a good idea in there somewhere)
I have found there is a thin line between a great meditation and being catatonic. The trick is to walk along that thin line. I saw someone on the web the other day described it as being like a tight-rope walker in terms of the concentration and balance. Not a bad description, given the limitations of human language and concepts to describe the indescribable.
In fact, when i do a really good meditation, I often get the GIGGLES. It is as if some mischievous SPIRIT is bubbling to the surface from deep within.
Human memory - tink about it - without it, you couldn't function in the real world ... but what exactly is it? Where is it? How reliable (or real) is it? How can you be absolutely sure that the things you remeber actually happened. TO you ....
If necessity is the mother of invention ... who's the father?
Some people seem to have no need for meditation. I reckon they must have been Tibetan monks in a previous life. They are the calmest people you'd ever know.
That quote from CWG - about the universe and its billion year history being a single instant. Depends where you're looking form. I should dig that up too.
Chip on my shoulder - i used to have an entire forest! These days, it's down to a few specks of sawdust. A bit like the Amazon. I mean the rainforest, not the internet bookstore.
Should transcribe (had a bit of practice lately with the dalai/deepak webcast) that Ricketts piece on disarmament. Interesting co-incidence. Plus that 20-verse poem I received in mail.
What is schizophrenia? Good question. Ask ten psychiatrists and you'l get eleven different opinions.
Those Arthur Stace links -
I was reminded of Arthur while watching the Sydney New Year's fireworks. At the end, the Harbour Bridge was lit up with that single word
"Eternity"
The amazing part of his story is that Arthur was completely illiterate and had to painstakingly practice how to write the word in the style he did.
THE STORY OF ARTHUR STACE Alex Long's short stories - the Arthur Stace story is about half way down this page.
State Library of Victoria brochure - www.slv.vic.gov.au/slv/news & www.experimedia.vic.gov.au - has Cyberpoet??
Received an email about a new site (like I need more sites to visit. That wasn't intended to be a pun.)
http://www.ClearMindsOpenHearts.com/cmoh/
Yeah, all this talk about various spiritual ideas and luminaries ... there is still a bit of the old me who's saying Yeah, Right! How could you look at the current state of humanity and think there's real reaason for optimism ... that voice has become a lot fainter but it is still there. It used to be a screaming, angry voice ... shouting down every other voice or idea.
Channeled music at Starbuilders site - also has links and that PDF file? with "Eternity in an instant"? ...
All this talk of "eternity" - how did i forget Twyman's book and the Doorway to Eternity? Plus William Blake.
Watched "Crazy People" last night - you become accustomed to all the prevailing social conventions and all the barriers we put up between ourselves and then you realise that's all artificial. It's all learned behaviour. What you DO about it is the BIG question ...
Chopra Forum. Mainly about time and calendars and eternity and Arthur Stace and meditation.
And Monty Python - funny the way my mind works sometimes. J
People are also posting some interesting links - almost as if we were on the same ^
Transcribed some of Dalai Lama
Millennial message. Not easy due to chepie cassette recorder and audio quality from the
live broadcast. Oh well, gives people a challenge to "fill in the blanks" anyways.
Also found list of webrings related to writing: Carla's Home Page
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I thought I wouldn't ... but I did find myself watching a big chunk of the "2000 Today" broadcast on TV. I had some mixed feelings. I always find the unusual way of looking at things - these thoughts popped into my mind:
(a) Having read the history of the calendar and the changes that have been mad to it over the centuries and we haven't alwyas been so precise (or needed to be) ... it is more like the year 2006 anywaY!
(b) If December 25 is Jesus birthday (and that is a huge "if"!) ... wellll then shouldn't THAT date be the start of the Millennium? After all, A.D means since the birth of Christ.
(c) It was interesting to see images from all around the world, but hang on ... a LOT of those countries follow Buddhism or some other religion (esp Thailand, China, Egypt, India etc) so in fact, for THEM it is NOT the year 2000 anyway ... Buddha for instance was 2543 years ago ...
(d) For non-believers it is the year X, where X is the start of the big-bang, since they don't believe Christ or Buddha or any other human is a prophet or significant enough to base the calendar on.
But it didn't seem to worry most people. I couldn't help wondering how many millions were spent on "spectacular" (and yet transient and ephemeral) events. Then again, if we took all the money spent on weapons and the military we could feed every soul on earth.
Yet, despite all those thoughts, there was a vague sense of unity. The whole world pausing to reflect or celebrate.
Much more of a sense of connectedness when I fire up the PC and tune into the Dalai Lama's Millennial message.
May pay to submit "Dalai Lama Millennial Message" to a few search engins...
Dalai Lama Millennial Message live
A few more millennium sites:
And that was just a quick lookie round before the Webcast ... any decent search engine will toss up many more ... May also pay to check out the
ABC Online website
for more info on "2000 Today" - no doubt there will be videos, books in the future ...
(I check a couple of days later and there is a lot of info and
Webcams for 2000 etc) -
Guess what ... found some more links ...
70 mins audio of Dalai Lama
Dug up those "old" CD's I had - one is "Windows 95 secrets" - I had almost forgotten what is on them. Interesting Bible search software - yes, as they say, opening it at "random" is one way but the humble PC opens up an entire new dimension. You can search the entire text for a word or phrase or combinations of words. I tried - death, Lazarus, Lets us (make), Amen, "and", Ruth, Enoch, begat, knowledge, love, do unto, beast, Daniel, Lion, Jesus, Ezekiel, number AND beast, Noah AND ark, loaves AND fishes, etc etc ... Strangely, there's no mention of the word "normal" or "schizophrenia" in there.
Also found that "eye for an eye" is quoted out of context! I have often heard people say "an eye for an eye" is in the Bible. Well, yes it is BUT the entire passage is as follows:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
Matthew 5:38 - So it is actually the origin of the expression "turn the other cheek".
Final sleep of the "Millennium" - very vivid dreams. Lately they are like movies that are being sent to me - and who's to say that is NOT the case. In this one, I am on a bus, comforting a lot of people, asking them "Do you feel better now?" then I look out the window and it is night and there are brilliant "holographic" images in the sky. The images are of angels and butterflies and this seems to cheer everyone up. Just imagine what my dreams would be like if I actually did drugs!
Found a few sites with Y2K fixes
Amateur chaologist
hall of fame - moved.
Interesting Statement about "New Age" & Religion - also good links page.
January 2, 2000
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January 1, 2000
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See World Puja - for those who didn't catch the event "live", it will be available soon. More events are planned throughout the year. I captured it on cassette but I doubt the quality will be superb as it was being broadcast via streaming audio from a TV monitor into my computer then out through my speakers and I only had a cheapie microphone. Amazing though, I could never have contemplated (a) Being "into" such an event anyway & (b) That technology would give us such a means for millions to be connected in this way. Makes you wonder what the future holds ...
www.2000-first-to-the-sun.com
www.2000ad.co.nz
www.countdown2000.com
www.peak2000.co.nz
December 30 & 31, 1999
Free online education courses!
lightshift.com
Some travel photos - some in Austalia
December 29, 1999
Fancied up one of articles off Return to God site - added some bullets etc -
What does the universe tell us about God?
Then I find they have another website with pics and graphics... www.returntogod.com
Along those lines - found the Hugh Ross page - should add it to the article...
http://www.origins.org/menus/hross.html
http://www.reasons.org/
Didn't take me long to find that Hugh Ross has managed to get attacked by both the atheists and the Christians - that's some neat trick! Personally, I don't see why the fuss - but then I am a bit weird. You could see it as everyone defending their own point-of-view and using dubious means to do so. As I wrote in the review of "Conversations With God", that is a huge philosophical question. Namely, what is your criterion of "truth"? What is truth? Which is a very different question from "What is the truth?" If you cann't trust your own intuition or "inner voice", where does that leave you? Because every religion, cult, even science itself has elaborate explanations for why their explanations are correct and why everyone else is wrong.
Oh well, it gets the old brain cells active anyway ... Personally, I find the whole question of the age and creation and nature of the universe we live in to be a profound, endless mystery. I don't want anyone to kill that mystery with certainty. But, as I said before, I'm a bit odd. The transcript of the radio debate was interesting - between Hugh Ross, Duane Gish, & Jim Dobson. I like the way the neutral person kept it from getting out of hand and expressed his reluctance to get too deep into the details as the average listener would be finding it hard to keep up.
Radio Debate - that site has more along similar lines ... see also doesgodexist.org
Rain continues but could still be a result in The Test. Gilchrist & Ponting again to the rescue - see www.baggygreen.com
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race - record absolutely smashed! see Official website which has webcams etc.
A few more sites:
World Puja - Global Interactive Village.
Home Page of Drunvalo Melchizedek
How stuff works website - has info on web pages and all sorts of "stuff", as the name implies ...
Return to God site
Adam tromby's links page
Some dazzling Java grafix
View from Tower at Monroe Institute
Dean Morrisey artwork - illustrator for some of James Redfield's books.
Mail Bits - Trivia, Jokes, Quotes etc. Has email subscription service
Sent poems & short story to Tasha Mansfield. It will be a tough task to summarise the events of Acacia Ward in February into 4 or 5 pages (I wrote 22,000 words in those 7 days) ... oh well ...
Played some Mahjong and watched the Boxing Day Test live for once - country TV stations cover it. But a late start due to the other Melbourne tradition - unreliable weather! ...
Got an electronic Christmas card - with a snowman, for those countries where snow is a bit hard to find in December! ... Found John Gribbin Home Page - interesting stories - he has written a lotta books.The website has: Introduction to Cosmology, Quantum mysteries, Time travel, Environment & Book reviews.
Blue Mountain - email greeting cards.
"That's what the conventional wisdom would have you believe. And in a sense, it is corrrect. If you walk around thinking that way, then that is what your reality will be."
World Puja website is having a special event on New year's Day with Dalai Lama & deepak Chopra - see
worldpuja.org
Also they say to watch for our Year 2000 Schedule on WorldPuja.org, featuring Jimmy
Twyman, Gregg Braden, Deepak Chopra, Drunvalo Melchizedek, Doreen Virtue,
Marianne Williamson and many more. Sounds like fun. I will.
I suppose it is my very first Christmas as a "believer" (although if pressed, I'd be hard pushed to say specifically what it is that I believe. Actually, I used to say belief is something I cannot comprehend and in a sense I was right - I have gone from complete skepticism & cynicism to just KNOWING. Of course, the possibility remains that I and all others who have had such experiences are simply mentally unhinged :)
Some interesting discussions/observations - Husbands never need buy a present - Crowds and last minute shopping can make one feel like a sheep - TRUE spirit of Christmas would be to pool all the money on unnecessary gifts and give it to those much less well off - Furbys are this years craze - I re-read some of "Native Wisdom for White Minds" - it is bitter-sweet to read the way other cultures live. Inspiring on the one hand, depressing on the other as it crystallises what's wrong with the West and how disconnected our way of life is. ...
Fragments - "I am the chosen. My life will be born again and again"
Plus proving the quadratic solution - ax^2 + bx + c = 0 becomes x = (-b +/- sqr[b^2 - 4ac])/2a
The usual Christmas fun - playing with the kid's new toys, frisbees, puzzles, CD-ROMS, Game Boys (and naturally wondering if people are really any better off with so much "entertainment", especially of the electronic variety. Then again, some of the Cd-Rom programs do target creativeity/imagination, in theory anyway ...
Plus telling the kids that Furbys love to swim and they can find their way home if you take them to the supermarket and leave them there. I am finding these days I have an aversion to noise - even if it is "fun" noise. Maybe I have become so attuned to the beauty of silence and a still mind that I will find such hectic days a bit disturbing (in the literal sense of the word). Or maybe this is a vital transition period until I can carry the stillness into any situation (as the "Madman" piece speaks about) ... who can say ...
Interesting description - "He's an emotional rubik's cube"
Caught a bit of Stephen Hawking's universe again - on Channel 2 - The more science uncovers, the tougher it is to hold the atheists view that this is just "random chance" - it seems the expansion after the big banc had to be precisely what it was - to 15 decimal places in accuracy. Any slower and it would never have expanded, any faster and it would have exploded so fast there would be no stars or galaxies or ... people ...
Then at he end, Steve says, even if we come up with the so called "Theory of Everything" there remains the question of why the universe exists at all. Sounds like a question I would ask. Then again if you plug God into the equation, you can still ask Who made God? or Why does God exist. Maybe God himself is bewitched by such qusetions about his own existence.
Like I need more books to read - i go to the library to photocopy two pages and leave with 2 books and almost 2 or 3 more - I selected "Ultimate Journey" by Bob Monroe - had heard about him via the afterlifeknowledge website - first glance looks an eye-opener and might do a Book review for the Newsletter. Also Ian Gawler "Peace of Mind" has good advice on meditation etc. Nearly Borrowed "Saved by the light" - blurb on the back speaks about "Like wingless birds, we swept into a city of cathedrals. These cathedrals were made entirely from a crystal substance that glowed witha light that shone powerfully from within. ... Clearly this was built by angels to show the grandeur of God, I thought ... The walls were made of large glass bricks that glowed with a life inside them" Sounds interesting enough!
Did new links from recent visits to sites -
A few more websites I have stumbled across
Gave a few people copies of Vision of Awakening Seemed to strike a rsponsive chord. That site has an amazing amount of "stuff" and links!
Then discovered Tasha Mansfield site (Through James Redfield's site) - "When God talks back" - the parallels are amazing - like me she thought she was THE VERY LAST person on this planet who'd experience a mystical transformation. Then felt disoriented by it and wondered if it was a "psychotic episode" - she's working on a book to differentiate between a spiritual awakening & psychopathology. I know a few who would like to read such a book - sent her an email. When God Talks Back - Madness or Mysticism?
I love her statement that she never tries to "convince" anyone because NOTHING would have convinced her 15 years ago! You had to be there.
One question for atheists - and I was one for 15 years so I know what it's like! - What if we were created in such a way that by ignoring God we can never be truly happy. A question to drive you nuts.
Then I start to read the Ian Gawler book - should not be surprised - they all speak of the need to STILL the mind and the most vital thing is commitment to regular practice - that is something i have to work on! :)
... in a sense it is ALL THE SAME MESSAGE - to awaken to our true nature! And a year ago, I woulda said "These guys are off-with-the-fairies ...
Interesting description - "He's an emotional rubik's cube"
What a dream! I'm not sure if it means I'm crazy or what! We're having a family meal and I accidentally hit someone (name witheld to protect the innocent) on the finger with my knife. i apologise but I also hold out my hand and say "If you must ... but remember what a destructive concept revenge is." They take up my offer and dig the knife-point into the knuckle of my index finger. I close my eyes as they dig deeper and deeper. At first it is painful. Yet, as the pain increases, it transforms into pure ecstasy. I open my eyes and gaze at the gaping hole in my finger and I say to eveyone around me, "We have only scratched the surface of our minds and how to re-program them" ... Intresting! I think it may be time for my annual holiday in Acacia ward!
In another dream, that same night, I was with other family members exploring deep caves and climbing mountains - symbolic of venturing into the unknown. Fools rush in?
More ideas for "Fragments of a Conversation" -
"Eternity. But this is Eternity. Right here. Right now. This very moment is Eternity."
"Yes. I see it now. Eternity is IN the moment. Eternity is in EVERY moment. It's all so clear to me."
"What is the limitation of your life?"
"The limitation of my life is the limitation of my own blood."
(That was sparked by a radio report about Arthur Stace who wandered Sydney for 40 years writing the word, "Eternity" in chalk wherever he went.)
Discussion on leadership - Well, I don't see people as needing to be "led". I see them as needing to be woken up. Once that happens, all else will flow effortlessly. Of course, the question as to how BEST to wake up all the sleeping souls provides much food for thought. Maybe it will "just happen" like mine did. Although not many would have it occur in a psych ward! then again, why not - it's as good a place as any. Maybe better than most!
And I'd have to admit there are many days I feel only half awake myself ...
The other "spark" for the Eternity conversation was from yesterday when I wa reminded of something I told someone recently - If we ask the question "Why is it taking SO long to unfold?" - from God's perspective it is not a question of length of time since his existence is not bound by time. A billion years of "earth time" may be like a fraction of a second to a being who exists above and beyond time. But that doesn't exactly help us impatient creatures in our time-bound experiences ...
"I always TRY to ee the GOOD side of people and situations - but I will admit I WASN'T ALWAYS AN OPTIMIST!" (Far from it in fact!)
Showed this poem - The booklet is called "Roverdance" and the author is Les Barker
Made a few Christmas cards on Publisher 98 - not as good as the Hallmark cards but not bad - esp if print onto glossy paper. Gotta remember to put glossy side face down! as the printer flips it over to print! Some nice fonts - Flying Penguin, plus furbys and photos from Ricketts sanctuary ...
Someone asked us a question without notice - What do you want out of life? Some answered contentment or love - you know the usual. I had a bit of a think and said "To be able to see god in myself and in everyone else" - If/when you can do that as a permanet experience all else should just flow. I aint there yet.
"Well, we are all different aren't we." (Actually, it depends on what you focus on. If you focus on the differences then we do apear very different. Yet the things we have in common are far more significant. It's just that we have developed a way of thinking about ourselves and each other that overlooks these things.
I tossed in an idea some people hadn't encountered before - The universe was created five minutes ago. With the proviso that all the memories and "evidence" of its age were created that way as well. Raises some interesting questions - if something is NOT part of your direct (and present) experience, you have to ask yourself how "real" is it! That gets us onto defining the word "real", which is rather a dicey question when talking about the field of psychiatry and people who have "psychotic" experiences and visions and hallucinations.
"Everyone has their problems. Some just hide them a little better." (Again one could argue whether this is a good or a bad thing. To trudge along reluctantly without much joy is a method of surviving but hardly one I would recommend. It may be far better to have a complete "breakdown" then re-assemble the pieces into a more coherent, harmonious whole. Then again, i might just be losing my mind. It has been known to happen from time to time.
Plus we discussed quantum theory and the nature of light. I said "Light has a split-personality. Sometimes it behaves like a particle, Sometimes it behaves like a wave."
I should grab Chris Rea Lyrics off the web - probably a website or two devoted to his many songs.
I do cruise the internet & find Chris Rea lyrics - 170 songs!!! - Plus a Review of Paul Davies & The 5th Miracle Plus more of people's experiences off Emissary of Light Mesage Board!
Trip to the city, December 22 - The Tenth Insight looks ineresting - I open it "at random" at a section describing "self-imposed" Hells & spiritual intervention & waking people up to their true nature & the real origin of extremely "evil" behaviour. My mischievious mind can't help asking, "If this is all just a dream, what is the HUGE urgency of waking people up?" It's a damn good question. I mean on one level, while you are experiencing it, suffering seems very real indeed. Then, whenit is over, it is really as if it never happened, even if the memory is vivid. Of course the same argument applies to enjoyment as well.
The Australian Geographic had some interesting stuff - crystal-growing kits, calendars, books, CD's, kaleidoscopes, Glow-in-the-dark insects (No home should be without them)
Saw a couple of books in a second-hand book shop - Paul Davies The Last Three Minutes & John Gribbin Schrodinger's Kittens. Both look interesting if and when I ever have time to check them out ... plus a book called "Together Forever" - yes, as a child I used to bend my mind trying to "get a handle" on a concept like eternity!!
The Dalai Lama on China, hatred, and optimism - A conversation with Robert Thurman
Museum of Tolerance: Dalai Lama
An interview with His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, by Robert Thurman - The Shambhala Sun is a
Buddhist-inspired magazine, applying the wisdom of the world's great contemplative traditions to the arts, social issues, politics and health.
When the Ironbird Flies - An Interview with His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Happiness, Karma and Mind - by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Amazing! I print the article "Happiness, Karma & the Mind" and it has the passage someone was telling about yesterday! Higher Conduct, Higher Meditation, Higher Wisdom ... and disciplining the mind! Maybe someone is trying to tell me something - or reinforce something? I did have a couple of DARK days where I slipped back into my old habits. But nobody's perfect :)
Also found a few sites for Furby fans - interesting concept for a toy - it "appears" to learn English but I prefer the Furbish language it starts off with ...
Lots of fun up on the tin roof again - scraping away rust with a wire brush then repainting it. Glad I don't have to do that every week!
Hard to believe the new millennium (and Y2K?) is less than 2 weeks away.
Plus kindness meditation practice - like Inner smile - should stick a link to that too ...
Therapy poem - edit some of the words - to BEHAVIOUR - THINKING - WORLD - IDEAS ...
"That is what faith is. The trust that there is some deeper reality behind what we see. Because if there isn't, then the world is just a cruel, unfair place where bad things happen and there aint no point in complaining about ANYTHING."
Reading and thinking more about CWG (Conversations with God) - especially my "ideal self" I still have a way to go - to be so FULL of pure, unconditional love that I radiate palpable energy into the world. And yes, a year ago I would have called for the men in the white coats for anyone who dared express such a vision.
Heaps more articles at SPIRITWEB catch my eye - Caroline Fitzgerald, Mahatma walk-ins, 4th Dimension, Elohim Reincarnation. It is as they all say. When you are ready, somehow these writings trigger some deep "memory" inside you. If you'd ever said THIS would happen to me I'd have said "Give me a break! Only if they give me some PRETTY amazing drugs!"
Some BIG questions remain - such as If our nature is TRULY divine and loving then WHY are so many of us manifestinf thinking & behaviour which is downright negative & destructive!
VIVID, VIVID, VIVID dream about my Grandfather (who died 29 years ago) - he was a "ghost" at a party and nobody could see him. They walked right through him. Until ... I went up to him and shook his hand and asked how he was going. He smiled a radiant smile and a transcendent peace came over everyone. Interesting! It felt like MUCH. MUCH more than "just a dream".
(Ironic as I type that up here is an email i received recently about "Illusion & Reality" -
Forgive me for taking so long to respond to the new question you posed several days ago on the message board. I was unsure what to do about it. Begin a philosophical discussion on the nature of reality and illusion in a setting that was created for music and books, send a personnal E-mail or just plain ignore the whole thing and allow you to find your own answers. In the end, since the question was asked of me, some king of response was appropriate, and I am glad you left your personnal E-mail so we can do it here.
Let me say at the ouset that the third option was very appealing for life has a way of teaching us exactly what we need to know at exactly the right timing. And let me caution you NOT to accept at face value my opinions on the matter if they do not have the "ring of truth" for you in your heart of hearts. Always check with your inner wisdom what anybody says on anything for all true knowledge comes from within.
You say this body seems real enough to you and the world appears not only real but also flawed and imperfect. This seems to contradict my statement that all forms are illusory. Let me ask you, have you ever recalled a powerful dream after which, upon awakening, you said: "Wow, what a dream!" It may have taken you several minutes for you to get out of it and re-enter reality as we know it. But while you were dreaming, that WAS reality for you! Events unfolded following all the "laws" that dreams are made of, and for the dreamer, these "laws" are real indeed. They even have effects on the physical body of the dreamer, as medical science has shown. However, when you awoke, it was to a whole new set of laws and a different reality applied, and you understood that the previous reality "was but a dream".
Is it not possible that you awoke to a far greater dream, one of global, even cosmic proportions, shared by billions of other entities, all agreeing that this is "reality"? In both instances, no one questions the validity and the reality of what they experience. The reason I believe that both are illusory is because, as I said in my first posting, reality in the ultimate sense is what God created, and He/She can only create according to His/Her nature. Another of God's attributes is LOVE and, as you have correctly pointed out, the world is anything but loving, being rather "flawed and imperfect". What comes from Perfection must be perfect. Therefore the world was not created by God so it MUST be unreal.
One important note of caution: there IS love here. And peace, joy, compassion, understanding, all of these can be found and experienced here. But they are not part of the world because they are not part of form. Can you picture love? Does compassion have form? No they do not but they use form because this is a world of form. There are a million ways one can express love and we recognize it is love by the spirit within the form.
So why are we here if its all illusion? And if God did not create the world, who did? We are its author and we did so because we like a little drama. Don't we all like a good movie, especially one that end well? The whole world is a movie and our little corner of it is the stage of our own melodrama. We have written the script, produced and directed the movie, and starred in the lead role. And in the end we try to find the love that gives it a happy ending. Not the love of power or fame or success or romance, although all of these can be experienced when appropriate. Rather, it is when we remove all conditions and all limitations that our love mirrors God's and guarantees a happy ending. In fact, the whole play is permeated with happiness, joy and laughter, for we have found our purpose. This is when we wake up and go Home to the loving embrace of our Creator.
There, you have survived my little computer-side philosophy! As I said earlier, please look within to see if the flavor of my writing has the ring of truth for you. Take only what feels right and please check it out in real life to see if it can stand the test of truth: does it bring you peace?
Listened to Desmond Tutu on the radio - a real spirit lifter - about the end of apartheid in South Africa & God & how he can't disown us & his deep love for those who have gone astray & how the victims of injustice are generally forgiving. He said, "Noe os us can say under what kind or amount of pressure we would buckle" As well as reminding us there is "more rejoicing for the one lost sheep who was found than for the 99 other sheep who never got lost and never needed to be found" ...
All true healing comes from within - even if it appears to result from an external source - it is the BELIEF that the external souce has the healing power ...
"I am an optimist. I feel (not believe) there is a deeper reality behind everything we see. So, even though the world appears to be in a real mess, there is some deeper meaning to it all even if we haven't collectively clued into what that meaning is yet."
"If we try to see each person as a SOUL on a VOYAGE of DISCOVERY, it puts an entirely different SPIN on how we perceive people and situations"
Re-reading some articles off internet - "The Madman" form Poetry Shack website & "The Ascension of The Planetary Consciousness" from Starbuilders site- it may just be my current mood but they do seem to trigger some deep response or memory in me. I am in one of those periods where just about everything inspies me. Which is nice as I have endured many LONG periods where absolutely nothing was capable of inspiring me remotely.
Yes - the "Ascension" article - interesting concepts and ideas. Especially the one about dangers of being "attached" to any specific goal, even the goal of the ascension of planetary consciousness.
Shopping trip - dragon & turtle figure, the turtel is a symbol of long life and health, the dragon is considered lucky. Plus "Far Side" diary and calendars! Still as brilliant as ever. Especially on cartoon showing God mixing up the ingredients to go into life on earth - Trees, clous, birds, reptiles, .... and "jerks". God is seen to comment "That should make things interesting"!
The ABC shop as usual had many items which made me half wish I had a larger budget - Videos & books of "Red Dwarf", CD of "Third eye meditation", books and tapes galore, "The Planets" etc etc Plus a cassette from Tony Buzan, author of "radiant Thinking" ...
"I think those qualities (compassion, kindness, understanding, forgiveness etc) are in everybody. They're just laying dormant in some individuals, waiting to be awoken."
"That's where I AIM to be (seeing God in everyone, even if he is sleeping in some) - I don't always get there but the aim remains the same."