Inspiration Peak - need to send email as no longer have cookies and thus ... no access ...
"Amazing Facts about the human body" -
here
or
here
or
here
or
here
Busy time of day - could not connect to this site? -
http://apng.edu.tw/information/ThinkQuest.html
Added a few more links to 14thlama.htm - including The Good Heart - a couple of excellent summaries ... if Dave ever wants his book back ...
www.hereontheweb.com - found from www.audionet.com ... it links to "300 Incredible Things to do on th Interent" ... plus a guide to "FreeISP" ...
There is one available in Oz? -
www.freenet.com.au - pity we've become so cynical and suspicious that the first reaction is "That can't be right! Something for free? How can that be?" ...
Audiocast by Deepak Chopra - "Health as Higher Consciousness" -
click hear
Webcast - "Favorite Dreams for the New Millennium" -
here
Fabulous messages at Chopra Forum around # 52,380 to 52,409 - surrounding a "death" and spirit and purpose etc ...
"As a human being, in your everyday state of consciousness, you are aware of the surface level of reality. It's a lot like scanning the surface of a vast ocean and concluding there is no life beneath that surface. That's quite a leap of faith."
"Yet, I can't blame any of you ... I was the ultimate atheist myself for a long time and nothing anybody ever said to me about God ever made the slightest impression (apart from a negative one) until I experienced it directly myself. Naturally, it is quite possible I have simply lost my mind but then you have to ask yourself what madness is ..."
"Don't worry ... all of this will make perfect sense one day ... of course, that day may not come in this particular lifetime ..."
"I don't suppose anything I can say will really convince you to alter your point-of-view. If you don't see God in the beauty of a sunset ... or in the exquisite design of every aspect of the known universe ... or in the eyes of a child ... "
I Can't Believe It's Not Buddha
http://www.ctw.org/ - add to kids.htm or saz2.htm ...
Along similar lines ... "Any society or system which attempts to treat mental illness by virtually ignoring the spiritual dimension of human existence will have a success rate somewhere between zero and negligible. Anyone who does recover will do so in spite of the system not because of it. (Could replace the words "mental illness" with any problem humanity currently wrestles with - suicide, drugs, violence, wars, anger, disease - yes, literally means "dis-ease" ...
There were a few more notes in my diary ... remind me to transcribe them ... I think something about mis-directed focus both on a personal and a global scale ... something profound anyway ... :)
From Oprah & Mary Tyler Moore -
http://www.zarcrom.com/users/fidonyc/home.htm for homeless pets
Also shopping on the net - check www.oprah.com - what date? originally??
The New Physics - What's God got to do with it?
Links to some independent comic strips
Flu - if indeed it was - has vanished like a mist. Actually feel fabulous this morning. And the sun is shining. What more could you ask for? :)
Which book to take to a deserted island? - Conversations With God Book III - Awakening the Buddha within - Monty Python - Lewis Carroll - Shakespeare - oetry - Tao of Pooh - Way of the Wizard ... would tend to set the tone for the whole experience ... and would be a tough choice and like so many choices would also depend on what mood you were in when the choice had to be made ...
Someone asked me what my idea of "perfect enlightenment" was ... got me thinking ... found a webpage which states "Every Ordinary Being Is Mentally Ill" - not unlike Lama Yeshe ... interesting ...
Continuing the musings of the past couple of days ... further dialogue for a book - "It may not seem that way but the motive is in fact love. I have no wish to see anyone living a shadowy existence which can never hope to truly satisfy them."
A few more thoughts on what a totally different spin reincarnation puts on everything. I've been reading a fair bit about education and "raising kids". Then it dawns on me! If indeed EACH of us has lived hundreds of lives, then the way a child "turns out" may have VERY little to do with the events of THIS particular lifetime or anything their parents did or did not do! This of course may be some comfort to those who have "troubled" offspring but those whose kids are "well adjusted" may think otherwise. :)
Could be a good search topic - "reincarnation & parenting" - cos you just DO NOT see it mentioned in most parenting discussion. Then again, you generally don't even see it seriously considered in this culture at all.
Yes, once you open your mind up to the possibility of reincarnation ... it is highly possible your children have in fact MORE experience at this level of reality than you do (I'm reminded of Kahlil Gibran's thoughts
on children) and may be FAR wiser and enlightened as a result of what they have experienced in their past lives ...
Title - may have been more apt before that transcendent experience in Acacia Ward? - "An Exploration of Madness"
Also on the subject of the way people "turn out" (which in ITSELF represents a mis-conception since it implies some END point has been reached - especially if some lives are seen as "ruined") ... if indeed we are all conditioned into living a very UN-natural way, is it really possible to undo that conditioning? If so, which is the best way and how do we make it accessible and transformative enough for the MAXIMUM number of people?
"When I grow up"
I found myself singing "The Galaxy Song" a fair bit after watching "The Meaning of Life" on a video I hadn't dug out in ages. Must send link to Chopra Forum if I can find one ... "And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this AMAZING and expanding universe" ...
here or
here
Heard just a part of an interview (I think it was with Karl Kruzelniski or however you spell it - link to ABC site - CLICK HERE - about scientists creating plasma bursts and the possibility of making something that would seem like "the voice of God" ... interesting weapon to have ...
Even found time to do some shopping and just happened to pop into a bookstore and open up Conversations With God Book III. Interestingly it was about education - and what happens in highly evolved societies with highly evolved beings (HEB). Simply, a HEB would never think of placing their children for hours in front of a device which displays images of behaviours they would like their children to avoid. Hmmm ... yes, we have come a LONG way in terms of technology but highly evolved we aint.
Continuing yesterday's musings on the bus ...
Why do we have wars? Do we look upon "strangers" with genuine affection. The two questions may seem to have little to do with each other ...
People are always complaining about the prevailing atmosphere of mistrust, fear, unfriendliness etc etc but WHO creates the atmosphere? We the living. Each and every moment. We have the choice ... collective choice ...
Interesting article about teachers and how poorly they are paid & what pressures they are under. Who wants LEGAL responsibility for 30 youngsters at a time? Thus the brightest candidates tend toward medicine & law etc. But really which job is most crucial? Here we go again ... next I'll be saying how absurd the money/attention/adulation/focus received by those who can hit a ball harder than others ... So much energy & focus is currently on pursuits which have precious little to do with making better people. I mean technologocially we are "advanced" but if we can't live in harmony with nature & each other we are still as primitive as the cave-dwellers ...
Yes, interesting that i should open it up to Lama Yeshe - having now found his site & views on "Mental Illness"
... Should transcribe sections into a file
surya.htm
Being on a two-and-a-half hour bus trip sure gives me time to write ... more possible dialogue for a book -
"Well, you DO have a choice, actually. People are very fond of believing that they have no real choice in some things. You can choose to simply react to what goes on around you. Reacting pretty much like everyone else. Going along with the crowd. Or ... you can choose a fundamentally different reaction. (Oh, this sounded a LOT better before I wrote it down - I mean reacting with anger to "provocation" etc etc )
Paulo Coehlo "Veronika decides to die" - looks interesting.
Add seinfeld to humour list ...
More Sites to check -
here
More searches - "just palin weird" - "global village" - snow cave - funny typos - funny things kids (people) say -
"The number of TRULY open-minded people I have met in my entire life ... well, outside of a psychiatric institution - NONE. Oh, sure, people like to THINK of themselves as being open-minded but they are kidding themselves. Some are more closed-minded than others but to be TRULY open to every imaginable possibility and not CLING to any particular ONE of those possibilities is extremely rare. So rare, in fact, that it is generally perceived as madness when it does manifest in certain individuals."
So MANY humour links lately, i may have to make a separate file for them -
here
a few bits more in may12.htm - i was at the library for a while - cut & paste takes on a whole new meaning when not allowed access to the hard drive. And they call ME paranoid. :)
Yes, "Letters from Summer Camp" - also for inclusion in the compile ...
Kids humour much appreciated at wow chat - added a few more to
kids.htm
Cute clipart off that CD - may need to convert from WMF to GIF to use at website ...
www.photolibrary.com - a local paper had some wonderful wildlife photos ...
Searches - "wisdom of simpsons" - "Happy Valley Monty Python" - "wildlife photography" - "ladybird" - HEB ("highly evolved being") - "laughter best medicine" - "Funny answers on exams" - "Kids singing" - "(hears a) different drummer" - "life of milarepa" - incredibly the Buddhist quote of the moment is from a book by THAT exact name! ... will wonders never cease ... search ...
Plus MSN.COM & "Build a better Dad" ...
A couple of those sparked by re-reding the kid's Internet Guide again -
Hubble Space Telescope & fun activities
Funny answers kids have given on science tests.
Berit's best sites for children
PC World mag - has an article on search engine secrets - and how to get them to "pick up" your website ...
Excellent transcript - I heard this live on Radio National - about James Joyce - wish they had the audio of it -
click here
Starting to realise my site needs a massive re-vamp:
* Book Reviews
* MANY sites and pages are linked only from this journal - well people ought to read my journal :)
* Forum quotes & Buddhist quote of the moment ... the list is growing ...
Which led me to a humour site with a section called
"Out of the mouths of babes" ... which in turn I plug into a search engin ...
1
2
3
4
5
6
... plus some cute graphix ... should add those links to the "kid's talk review at my site -
kids.htm
Plus a few others in my bookmarks - almost need to reinstall Netscape as Opera browser doesn't CRASH in the same way at the same places ... esp hotmail ...
started a compile of "buddhist quote of the moment" - see buddha.htm - IF I upload it ...
Search topics - Vision Quest - The West - {yes, I have it on video} - euler - imaginary numbers - primitive cube roots -
Yes, from that epic series "The West" - the way-of-life of the American Indians - one tribe had no words for "me" or "mine" just "we" & "ours" - sounds a LOT like somethin Deepak said in intro to Dalai Millennial speech. Also one spoke of a vision quest where a person would go off for a week then return to the tribe and tell the others who he was and nobody could question it ... boy ... reminds me a lot of New Paradigm article ... I shouldn't be so surprised ...
Then watching a bit more of The West - yes, their naming process is a little more involved than ours! I loved some of the names - Man On A Cloud! & Thunder Rolling Down From The Mountains ... I wonder if "Dances With Wolves" is based on fact or fiction? ...
One quote - "The West is an interrupted dream" - when you look at its history with Columbus & the Spaniards & all the various Indian tribes ... I hadn't realised there were SO many - Lakota - Chetennne - Apache - Navajo - Pueblo just to name a few ...
A few more thoughts from recent discussions - I do tend to think that very FEW people ever shift their opinions of views simply as a result of what someone else says. If it happens at all, it is generally from a direct experience. I know what it is like to think you have ALL the answers. It would not matter what anyone said to me. All I'd be thinking is "Why am I surrounded by so many idiots."
Further on that general theme, yes to think that as a three-dimensional being in your evryday levels of consciousness that you have anything more than a tiny speck of the "big picture" is really silly ... The BIG picture means all levels of reality and the realms of the souls. If you had such knowledge & awareness you'd be regarded as a "mystic" (or "crazy") ... I would compare this with living in the basement of a huge skyscraper and looking out the window. Unless or until you take the elevator and checkout the view from the roof, you may come to regard what you can see is ALL THERE IS. Moreover, you'd react with incredulity to anyone who claims to have had such a view ...
On the subject of "exchange of views" - which VERY few debates ever turn out to be! - they generally turn adversarial as each party tends to defend their point-of-view and use any means they can think of to convince the other party of WHY they are WRONG. Especially if each side adopts the stance of "I'm right. You're wrong" - if I am right you MUST be wrong ...
A couple of other analogies - learning a topspin backhand - you can read all the theory but if you don't get out there & practice it ... even John McEnroe ... also sitting in your backyard looking through an average telescope to look at a couple of stars & trying to extrapolate to the entire cosmos. You'd need to be awfully good at GUESSING ...
More excellent posts at Chopra forum - around # 52330 to 42 ... which reminds me of a message about soul-mates - message # 52,223 - Link to XOOM copy ?? -
here {unless I alter the file names but cutting & pasting} - quick way to find it is to search for "Kozol" in the page ...
DOS web browsers -
Arachne - Aussie?
"The crazier a (spiritual) statement seems, the closer it is to the ultimate truth" ...
Ah, yes that excerpt from Cave In The Snow - was it from Milarepa?
Here's a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subject of consistency -
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul simply has nothing to do."
Yes, I can see why writers write fiction - it allows you to express a wide spectrum of points-of-view which would appear wildly inconsistent if it were a "monologue" ...
Here's another of his quotes on being "misunderstood" -
Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every wise and pure soul that ever took flesh.
Speaking of different point-of-view, here's an idea for some dialogue either for a book or a story around the whole question of normality-psychiatry-conformity ... it needs polishing but there's the germ of an idea in there ...
"The number of normal people I have ever met who are ACTUALLY satisfied ... ummm ... none. Oh, I know a lot who would say they are satisfied or who try real hard to pretend they are satisfied but I don't find any of them convincing. They have yet to convince themselves let alone anyone else. This may sound harsh but if humanity is to evolve to the next level, the very FIRST thing people have to do is to be honest. In this world, the only honest souls I have ever encountered have been in psychiatric hospitals. What is that telling you."
Further?? ... My definition of a "normal person" is anyone who would DESCRIBE themselves as "normal". They have attached the label "normal" to themselves and they identify with it. Moreover, they regard anything which does not closely resemble that label as "weird" or "crazy" or any of the million adjectives human beings have used over the centuries. They also tend to see "normal" as being equivalent to "correct" or "valid" thus everything else becomes invalid. This perpetuates the thought patterns that have been passed down for centuries and which keep us in the dark ages. Anyone who does not consider this a dark age ought to ask themselves what other adjective describes an age where there is suicide, war, rape, violence, depression and a pervasive joylessness. If this is NOT a dark age, I would hate to see one ...
A little more - I could ask if my motive is to wake people up? is it? ... anyway - Yes, another feature of seeing yourself and the world in terms of "normal" & "weird" is that you assume & expect your offspring to conform to this picture-of-reality as well. Surprise, surprise that they often do not and indeed frequently come to a very different conclusion about things ... this was headed somewhere ...
Also - "You are supposed to be bored and restless with noraml states of awareness. That is the catalyst to explore ... this was also headed somewhere ...
Found an excellent website devoted to the works of Emerson -
click here
From an email - Buddha's Village Forum -
about.com
- chat schedule about bi-polar ... and links ...
www.biologicalunhappiness.com - interesting site ... also
here ... you do start to wonder if/when we can ever come to agreement or even reduce the spectrum of views to minimise the confusion ... or maybe I'm just having one-of-those-days ... CAN it really be just some chemicals going "haywire"? I've always found that impossible to swallow ... but then you look at the behaviour-altering effects of alcohol, LSD, etc ... hmmm ...
Interesting search results for "Serenity Now" - sparked by a Seinfeld episode which is a classic - especially Jerry "discovering" his emotions ... one site had some interesting quotes from Raph Waldo Emerson ...
see if I can relocate them as I was disconnected ... try here
Stick insects ...
Home Page of Dr. Thomas Szasz
Should compile best of Buddhist quote of the moment -
"Shantideva...mentions specific instances when it is advisable to remain like a mindless piece of
wood. We can do this when our mind is very distracted or when the thought arises to belittle,
slander, or abuse others. If pride, haughtiness or the intention to find fault with others arises,
we can also remain impassive until our deluded motivation fades. Feeling pretentious, thinking
to deceive others and wishing to praise our own qualities, wealth, or possessions are all
occasions when it is wise to pretend that we are made out of wood. Whenever we have the
desire to blame others, speak harshly or cause disruption we should practice this technique of
non-reaction. "
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Meaningful to Behold
People keep saying "it's a shame" I haven't written a book ... then I have days like today where I KNOW why I haven't - because this still feels VERY incomplete as a "recovery" ... then again I have YET to meet ONE human being who is actualising the sort of life I can IMAGINE us all living. Maybe I am just crazy after all ...
Yes, I can still slide a long way in a short time. Then again, I have always held that consistency is extremely over-rated. In fact it is the web of expectations of all the assembled humanity - particularly these insane expectations of consistency that cripple many a soul ... the expectation of consistency is virtually embedded into the current paradigms of the world. How you go about initiating a "paradigm shift" of sufficient magnitude to get us anywhere ... but I'm rambling again ... I should go to bed and resolve NOT to get out of it until I have achieve a complete implosion of the ...
yep, CWG said it all "Expectations ruin relationships" - for BOTH parties ... some interesting further replies at Chopra Forum abt seclusion and motives & fact that Jesus, Buddha etc did not have a "special someone" because they did NOT conceptualise anyone as any more special than any others ... UNTIL we see that polarising things into approve/disapprove or like/dislike or hate/love ... we simply won't get anywhere ... You only need to look at small children - until they are taught to conditional-ise their affections ... oh, I really do need a rest ...
Someone also posted some Ashleigh Brilliant who I aint read in ages ... is he on the web?? ... well, yes in fact he has a home page
Dymocks: "Cave in the Snow" by Vicki MacKenzie - ISBN: 0747543895
Interesting replies to my message about that "Faithworks" article on solitude I posted at Chopra Forum. Here's a little segment that caught my eye -
"The trouble with that article is that it seems to imply some kind of conscious volition or conscious 'choice' in the matter of the way we 'deny' our Self. The Mystics, on the other hand, tend to think of humanity as 'asleep'. Therefore what they are doing is unconscious and mechanical. From the point of view of the Mystic this is a sensible interpretation because he sees humanity as if it is in a trance. Sleepwalking in an environment where the 'pattern' is created by the designs of society and culture, while the 'behaviour' and activity within those patterns is motivated by the simple mechanisms of 'action & reaction'. The principle mechanism of the human machine, the 'driver' appears to be the Ego. The Ego keeps going on and on, chattering to itself, distracting its many fragmented personalities (the Ivans and Nicholas's of the mystic Gurdjieff) one minute thinking about sex, the next about cars, the next money, back to sex again, then work, onto food, then fantasy and finally chocolate. ; ) A chain of thought that continually entertains the Ego-Mind and supplies a regimen of 'pleasures'. There are plenty of recluses and hermits in the world, but most of these are neither 'happier' or more Spiritually fulfilled. If you take all the noise and distractions away from people they will often find baser ways to fill it. Their Egos will create greater separation and they will become anti-social, or bomb makers, join other similar people forming new groups or turn to savage lower chakra instincts. " - about message # 52,297 ... post to my "archives" ... then again ...
... then again ... look at Ram Dass board - their entire message archive was "deleted" - a pwoerful lesson in not clinging in attachment. At some stage you have to let go of the teachings/concepts themselves - that is like something I read in Cave in the Snow excerpt ...
yes, talk of solitude-hermits-recluses brings up a couple of thoughts (a) Ricketts (b) Cave in Snow (c) the whole experience of schizophrenia COULD be compared to being in a cave effectively ...
Then ... From "Buddhist quote of the moment" -
"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all
generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in
your body. You are the continuation of each of these people. To be born means that
something which did not exist comes into existence. But the day we are "born" is not our
beginning. It is a day of continuation. But that hould not make us less happy when we
celebrate our "Happy Continuation Day."
Since we are never born, how can we cease to be? This is what the Heart Sutra reveals to
us. When we have a tangible experience of non-birth and non-death, we know ourselves
beyond duality. The meditation on "no separate self" is one way to pass through the gate
of birth and death.
Your hand proves that you have never been born and you will never die. The thread of life
has never been interrupted from time without beginning until now. Previous generations,
all the way back to single-celled beings, are present in your hand at this moment. You can
observe and experience this. Your hand is always available as a subject for meditation. "
Present Moment, Wonderful Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh
Plus opened it "at random" - a section mentions HEB and I wondered what that could stand for ... could it mean "Highly Evolved Being" - seems so. It spoke of anger, hatred, rage etc as prodicing biochemical reactions which eat away at the health of the corporeal body. So, a HEB would never think of doing such things as that would essentially mean eating yourself, just as they would never dream of eating another cororeal body ... If we get enough HEB we may have a HES ...
Yes, my own personal transformation has already been phenomenal yet I'm starting to see it as just the first tiny step of a journey with unlimited possibilities ... and that that SAME potential exists inside each & every soul around me - that has been the HUGE revelation of the past year or so ... how to UNLOCK and TAP into that potential in EVERYONE is the ONLY question worth focusing on ...
Yet, I continue to write ... for-it's-own-sake and to maybe HELP point the way ....
Heard a great busker in the shopping centre, singing "Imagine" & "Sister Golden Hair". Fabulous voice and probably better than many who are irch & famous ... such is life ...
From one email - I wonder what idea/poem/story of mine they wish to publish ... as
Starbuilders says "The truth is a living entity. You mind cannot grasp it" - I often write something which is "my truth" at the moment it was written ... reminds me of my poem about truth and evolving in non-linear fashion ... and wornder ...
Heard a wonderful quote on a radio national broadcast about books. If a person gets out a book on a train, they are in effect holding up a huge sign saying, "Don't bother me. I'm reading. What I am reading is FAR more interesting than YOU could ever hope to be." Actually it was a quote or opinion from an interesting writer from Africa - must see if transcript is available - broadcast Monday June 12 at 10 AM ... I'd say it was Arts Today
Interesting that I should post that Faithworks article at Chopra Forum - Hadi & Richard now discussing the need/value of solitude versus reclusivity/hermitage - then I found a summary of that radio nat program with the Tibetan Nun Tenzin Palmo - and search for "Cave In The Snow" yielded a few results ... obviously we can't all just "stop" and go off and meditate in caves ... hmmm ... critical mass of enlightenment & I could compare My own experience of schizophrenia for over a decade as effectivel like being in a cave and the being that emerged from the cave bears only a surface similarity to the one who entered ... many ways to wake up and on my more awake days I could be alone or with anyone at all ... Yet, Acacia remains the LONGEST and most intense feeling of wakefullness ... and to think they asked me, "Do you want us to discharge you before you start enjoying this TOO much" ...
Click here - here - for an excerpt from Cave in the Snow.
Pulkids - a school in Sth Australia which I found from link at WOW Zone - well worth a visit!
Unexpectedly spent the day at home. Gave me a chance to do some more writing and email composing. Yes, trying to convey "all this" to those who have yet to awaken is proving a wonderful challenge. Benefits me as well. Here are a few brief outlines - more to follow ...
* We've barely scratched the surface in how to unlock human potential (it is UNlimited in everyone) esp the capacity for unconditional love
* I see all religs as threads in a giant tapestry being weaved by an unseen weaver? To see any one thread as more important or beautiful is to not see the forest for the trees.
Someone mentioned networking - as in establishing contacts with like-minded individuals who in turn have their contacts etc. Reminds me very much of a lecture on radio national on June 10 about the brain and its cells and the connections between neurons which create a highly individual brain based on the input and experiences ... though one point did amuse me - "We're still puzzled by how the brain generates consciousness" - yeah, you'll be puzzled a while longer if you conceptualise it that way, I would say! Consciousness creates the body not the other way round - The Ghost In The Machine - as with psychiatry believing that a "chemical imbalance" in the brain causes schizophrenia ... honestly, we WILL look back on this period in history and ask "Did they REALLLY think that way??" Just as we now look back on those who burnt witches or believed the earth was flat or that the atom was indivisible ...
I love writing! (I have sacrificed a LOT for my writing at times!) Language is truly a miracle we take for granted (like my poem) - for instance, a Japanese person could read this page and get absolutely nothing out of it. Writing, especially inspired writing, can sing to the soul. Can give you an insight into another person's thoughts-experience-feelings. Can give you a glimpse of the absolute and th divine ...
* I am back! flying! As I wrote a while back - you could dip some ants in ink and let them wander across the page and I'd find inspiration in what they produce ...
Oh yes, the idea of ants crawling across a page reminds me of a doco on the Dead Sea Scrolls I saw the other day ... which in turn reminds me that SO long as you see the "answers" or the wisdom you need as EXTERNAL to yourself you'll never seek it within ... okay, books & spiritual practises can HELP you unlock your own inner wisdom ...
Yes, as i wrote in a recent email, there is an entire spectrum of techniques - it continually AMAZES me how many ways you can say the same thing - God is Love - because we are all individual in our personalities & some will resonate more deeply with one individual than with another ... I have found Conversations With God to be extraordinary and so have many of the others who have come across it. (Site & Interviews & webcasts)
Sent an electronic birthday card ... from Blue Mountain
plus more notes into cure.htm ...
ah yes - from chopra forum - that girl is you with a different face on - to see others as different versions of youself...
Interesting day at the Festival of Mind-Body-Spirit. Will take me a while to read through all the literature and the possibilities. Interestingly on the way there in the train, I re-read The Madman which starts off with - The Madman said to the wind: "They are confused, for they have divided it into body, mind and soul." ...
Here's a few of the sites -
Eckankar - free booklet and courses?
Victorian Spiritualist Union - free Healings & groups?
Bookmarks & art
Magic Castle - New Age Music
Vegetarian Network
The Planet
Hi-Form Products
Also many notes to type up from the day and impressions I gained ... candles - CD's - massages - Herbal Highs - Food & vegetarianism tips - Fund raising for non-profit orgs -
Found out Mike Oldfield has been busy - I hadn't heard of Tubular Bells III or Voyager or Songs of Distant Earth ... I wonder if there ar samples around the web ...
Could try these places - here & here
A ton of notes for cure.htm! Soemhow the arguments FOR a god are more inspired than those against! Funny that!
... yes, such a mound of notes I may be typing them up for a week. Along with William Ricketts - links to that poem - Our Little Trip - also to wow chat if I remember ...
Well, most of those notes will end up in cure.htm ...
One quote from a recent TSP catalog is extraordinary synchronicity -
Yes, if all you are interested in is a debate which starts & ends with settling the issue of the existence or non-existence of God then most people who are on a spiriual path won't be bothered because that's a waste of time. Unless ... you establish God does exist in which case a myriad of questions arise about the nature of existence & consciousness & love etc etc ... not to mention what-on-earth we are DOING here ...
While looking for presents - "
101 Ways to save the planet" on CD-ROM & www.mystworlds.com
* Has anyone heard of a quote that goes something along the lines of "In any given moment, you can only hold one thought in your mind. So make it a good one" ?
On Radio National (I'm so GLAD Dave told me about it!) - heard a poem "The Faces On The Street" which was quite powerful.
Any philosopher's argument which does not therapeutically treat human suffering is worthless. For just as there is no profit in medicine when it doesn't expel the diseases of the body, so there is profit in philosophy when it doesn't expel the diseases of the mind.
- Epicurus
Here's the news report & the actual address
Sent Gibran quote to Richard ... at The
Chopra Forum ... about
The Prophet
Plus a reply to someone at Delphi
about Namaste & Chopra Forum & Awakened Eyes ...
And there ARE a few forums at delphi where
niceness resides rather than animosity between rigid opposing views ...
Not to mention some cute graphics. What a sad commentary on the world that "nice" & "cute" have become "unfashionable" and "not cool". Oh well ...
Turns into an inteseting day. I receive notification that my poem "Mania" has been included in an electronic "book" - funny thing is, it isn't really one of my best poems but it was my truth at the moment it was written - click here for book? - www.poetry.com & search for "Geoff Allen" ??
Guide dogs have a website too - www.guidedogs.asn.au
Ah yes, went fro a walk to do some shopping and I thought of a different approach for the Delphi Forums. Start up my own TOPIC entitled "The Cure For Atheism". Firstly, because the one I currently am in is "God Hates You" and that may NOT draw too many warm-hearted open-minded beings into it. :)
Secondly, I have previously been writing from the point-of-view of a recovered atheist. Trying still to be loving whilst emphasising what a barren existence it is. It is literally the darkness. And there is not a lot of fun to be had in that darkness apart from the obvious. A new thread would allow me scope to write for those whose hearts & minds may be more open. Though it is a fascinating conjecture as to what my reaction WOULD have been if someone had said those thing to me while I was a bitter & twisted atheist. Impossible to determine but interesting to speculate.
Dave rings and tells me about radio national program on Tibetan religion & the NUNS which is amazing synchronicity as Mum (who shares the same birthday as Dave!) was just asking me to find out more about the nuns as we hear a LOT about the Monks but little about the nuns ... amazing ... website address of Radio National ??? click here - if I remember to look it up - it should be one part of the
ABC website
Also a nice, measured, civil reply to a passing visitor? at Chopra Forum who wrote a derogatory comment about him - the only REAL test (as Mafu said) is to READ the wisdom, APPLY it in your daily life and SEE if it does in fact ENHANCE the quality of your experiences. Only then can you really call anyone/anything a "fraud" ... and even then it may be that you were not quite ready for the wisdom. I mean one can give a perfectly lucid explanation of Relativity to a dog (or a 3Y0) but you wouldn't expect them to fully absorb it in a meaninful way ...
"Totally Wild" - do they have a website - animals & kids & nature is not a bad basis for a TV show ... try here - http://www.eps.vic.edu.au/total.htm & here -
http://www.ten.com.au/webCh10/admin/tvhead/microsite/showpage.asp?CategoryID=112
I should send a few more of my better poems to www.poetry.com ...
Almost forgot ... also sent site address of ricketts sanctuary to wow chat - should transcribe from the book of ricketts thoughts and LINK it to my poem ... and send that link ...
email to radio national - I thought I had taped 7 PM wed june 7 - but pause button on ! oooh! don't you hate that! info@rn.abc.net.au - Found main radio national page at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ - one feature is the "Thousand years in a day" they did recently. I kEeP forgetting what an EXCELlent site the ABC is ...
yet, as i also told someone, "Yes, I generally try to avoid the temptation to be evangelical for many reasons. Primarily
because I know that no amount of sheer words would ever have coaxed me away from being an atheist. :)
However, having been there for such a substantial chunk of my adult existence (this time around) I have
enormous compassion for those still anchored to that mentality. I now realise that thoughts play a HUGE
part in creating a person's (& a planet's) experiences and that quite simply there are joys which remain
inaccessible whilst thinking like a rationalist/atheist. I'm reminded of something I read at the Poetry Shack
website (another fabulous site which I found out about due to the Chopra Forum) It's called "The Awakened
Eye". I shall see if I can dig up a link to it. " ...
Click here
{Even sent an invite for the folks at WOW chat to maybe join in}
http://www.yowiepower.com/ - new series of prehistoric creatures ...
Tips for Birthday surprise game ...
Humongous Entertainment
- Home of Fatty bear, Putt Putt etc
- Again on self-esteem, if you try to establish it on purely wordly terms, especially in the prevailing competitive & comparative mentality, it can become a kind of contest. Comparison & competition by thier very natures do not lend themselves to a lasting peace-of-mind. (Believe me, that sounded a LOT better when it was in my head)
- Along similar lines, people often talk about quality of life. This usually refers to financial security, posessions and personal comfort. Again, can't recall where this thought was headed ... true quality of life involves much more than those things ... nourishment for the soul ... and when the whole culture has malnourishment of the soul then NO amount of economic or personal comfort can hope to compensate ...
- Yes, it suddenly struck me that a nice, safe comfortable existence may actually be extremely detrimental to your "quality of life" as your soul is unlikely to discover itself under these cnditions ...
Fabulous scenery on "Songs of Praise" - the Cotswold area in England.
Can't find the quote from Gibran on my hard drive ... here is a link that might be it ... {as I type, I am off-line so it's a little hard to ckeckout} -
Kahlil Gibran on children
Pray don't find fault with the man who limps
or stumbles along the road,
unless you have worn the shoes he wears
or struggled beneath his load.
There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,
though hidden away from view,
or the burden he bears, placed on your back
might cause you to stumble too.
Don't sneer at the man who's down today
unless you have felt the blow
that caused his fall or felt the shame
that only the fallen know.
You may be strong, but still the blows
that were his if dealt to you,
in the selfsame way, at the selfsame time,
might cause you to stagger too.
Don't be too harsh with the man who sins
or pelt him with word or stone,
unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure,
that you have no sins of your own-
for you know perhaps if the tempter's voice
should whisper as softly to you
as it did to him when he went astray,
it might cause you to stumble too.
http://www.spacemusic.com/philos.htm - check to see if can connect ...
Steve Parish Photography
Posted a link to WOW chat about Tales of Wonder {include} ... then I notice no Aboriginal stories - try here - Dream Time Stories ...
Cell Basics - too much for 10yo?
Anatomy Online - ditto - but there's plenty of sites already in that file ...
From that Kids & Families Internet Guide Book -
Plus plenty added to saz2.htm ... it is a great book ...
A few more thoughts added to atheist.htm - I really do have to remind myself of the only valid question "What would love do?" - It's no easy question to answer. On the one hand, love does not mean allowing someone to do as they please. Yet, on the other hand, exercising free-will may mean self-destructive activities ...
There's some interesting poetry links at the Poetry Shack site
Some interesting search results from "Monsters in the dark" - checking out a broken link from the Internet kids Guide - some of the "hits" were vaguely religious and worth a look ...
Getting back to that atheist thing ... yes, am I just mimicking the age-old human tradition of when provoked reacting with either hostility or sarcasm rather than love. That IS the big test. Anyone can love those who are nice to them and pleasant, appealing natures ... Yet, that is what i continue to wrestle with to some extent. The POLARITY in the world at the moment between those living in the LIGHT & those still living in the darkness. Having experienced BOTH extremes during this lifetime, I KNOW that you simply don't realise how wonderful the light is until you have direct, personal experience of it. The question remains of how to bring more people TO that experience ...
{The mischievious part of me then asks ... if we are all evolving towards a time when the world will indeed be permeated everywhere by unconditional love ... why should we practice being nice to those who are being horrible ... because eventually everyone will grow out of any need to be horrible}
Also sent interesting message off-the-top-of-my-head to Chopra Forum as the activity which led to its recent closure may be re-appearing ... all about that little word "should" ... here it is -
My prayers go out to you. You seem to be (temporarily) trapped in the labyrinthine recesses of the "should" mentality. I know how awful that can be! I used to be there myself not so long ago. Then one day, several months ago, I was in the middle of an animated conversation, when someone posed a question containing the word "should". As if by divine revelation, the thought simply popped into my head and I said "That is a word I've decided to eliminate from my vocabulary". We then had quite an amusing time as everyone found themselves pausing whenever that little word was about to come out of their mouths. It was a sublimely enjoyable and liberating realisation.
When you look at it, that one word largely forms the basis of mankind's long & not so proud history of judgement & expectation. Just for a laugh, why not spend a day or two closely monitoring every thought you have and every conversation you hear and just observe how often that little word pops up. Then try to imagine how life could be if we all let go of that word from our collective vocabulary. This is something I think you should definitely consider.
There's a few other words I'd like to see us let go (such as normal, fear, hatred, blame etc) but at this moment I'd place "should" at the top of the list. What do others think?
Again, the very SAME questions can be asked. (Almost said "should" be asked!)
Thinking about the Forum and it's past history - I suppose if we all followed Deepak's adage that A quiet mind is all you need ... then that would spell the end of the Forum. One could argue that all one needs do is absorb the wisdom and put-it-into-practice on a daily basis ... but we all seem to need to fill our heads with something, so it may as well be something positive ...
http://www.itsyourturn.com/
- Online Othello, chess etc ...
Poet's Corner - the classics ...
Another broken link - "Fairy Castle" - one is cute - like Alice, you click on a piece of cake to be miniaturised before entering ... Click Here
Part 2 of X Files episode "closure" - I liked Mulder's voice-over Intro -
"They said the birds refused to sing and the thermometer fell suddenly as if God Himself had
His breath stolen away. No one there dared speak aloud, as much in shame as in sorrow. They uncovered the
bodies one by one. The eyes of the dead were closed as if waiting for permission to open them. Were they still
dreaming of ice cream and monkey bars? Of birthday cake and no future but the afternoon? Or had their
innocence been taken along with their lives buried in the cold earth so long ago? These fates seemed too cruel,
even for God to allow. Or are the tragic young born again when the world's not looking? I want to believe so
badly; in a truth beyond our own hidden and obscured from all but the most sensitive eyes... In the endless
procession of souls... in what cannot and will not be destroyed. I want to believe we are unaware of God's eternal
recompense and sadness. That we cannot see His truth. That that which is born still lives and cannot be buried in
the cold earth. But only waits to be born again at God's behest... where in ancient starlight we lay in repose."
Then Bush Tucker Man - find link for WOW chat place. Then found this (still in library) - at Buddhist quote of the moment ... chopra forum?? {Still not a HEAP of activity} Then, as I said,
Deepak himself advises aplenty of quiet ...
The near enemies are qualities that arise in the mind and masquerade as genuine
spiritual realization, when in fact they are only an imitation, servin to separate us from
true feeling rather than connecting us to it...
The near enemy of lovingkindness is attachment...At first, attachment may feel like love,
but as it grows it becomes more clearly the opposite, characterized by clinging,
controlling, and fear.
The near enemy of compassion is pity, and this also separates us. Pity feels sorry for "that
poor person over there," as if he were somehow different from us...
The near enemy of sympathetic joy (the joy in the happiness of others) is comparison,
which looks to see if we have more of, the same as, or less than another...
The near enemy of equanimity is indifference. True equanimity is balance in the midst of
experience, whereas indifference is a withdrawal and not caring, based on fear...
If we do not recognize and understand the near enemies, they will deaden our spiritual
practice. The compartments they make cannot shield us for long from the pain and
unpredictability of life, but they will surely stifle the joy and open connectedness of true
relationships.
Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart
Websearch? - "The Internet Kids & Family Golden Directory" by Jean Armour Polly - yes,
See the book at THIS site. Plus saz2.htm with sites taken from the book ...
Forums seem expanded & updated.
Speaking of the Bush Tucker Man - his home page reminds me of the series he did on the early Aussie explorers. Those folks in other parts of the world probly know very little of Burke & Wills {DO A SEACRH} - yes, one of my faviourite books was Cooper's Creek. A story you would never dare make up. Arriving back at base camp after 3 or 4 months to find you have missed your support crew by a matterr of hours ...
Read a few messages at a supposedly CWG Forum at Delphi. Not overflowing with unconditional love just at the moment ... sparks me into writing atheist.htm.
{Click here}
Hopefully as inspiration or at least food-for-thought but I need to remind myself that nothing ANYONE said would have convinced me until I had the direct experience myself. But I think I've done justice to what I wanted to convey even if you cannot begin to imagine what-it-is-like until you experience it. Yet, honestly, you do not realise how you are slumbering until you experience your own awakening.
For some reason, as I type up these notes, I'm reminded of that brilliant piece at Poetry Shack called
The Madman
Tons of notes to transcribe - enough for a separate file -
normal.htm. Closely related to that list of
sites against psychiatry.
Continuing yesterday's themes ... Yes, once you atart to appreciate how multi-faceted & multi-dimensional reality and our lives are then holding onto one fixed point-of-view becomes literally impossible. Unconditional Love - unconditional means that you don't attach any conditions or restrictions on whom it is given to or shared with. So, we're a little way from creating a world permeated by unconditional love just at the moment.
Then found "Kids say the darndest things" here
- needed to download qucktime from apple.com ... need to install it now ...
Also - here
& Cute WAV sounds
& Web site reviews for kids
Then ... www.imaginationsunlimited.com
& Interesting search - for WAV files
Panoramic views of Melbourne - should have captured images from past few days of dark, cold, wet atmosphere - something we haven't had for a while ... here's one image - melb1.jpg at xoom ... fill in the address for a link - click here.
Also melb.htm at my fortune city site as XOOM seems to be acting up a bit - FTP taking a log time for even small files ??
Quite a few interesting discussions over the weekend about various subjects. A lot of them centred on the issue of fairness. The universe is actually 100% fair, we just don't fully understand how it operates with our everyday states of consciousness. But obviously if these states are ALL you've ever experienced (apart from the dream state) then naturally you would tend to regard such statements as bizarre or even delusional.
Interesting that The Chopra Forum has returned yet very little activity so far apart from various Thank-You's to Random House ... hmmm ...
Watched The Miracle of Love at the end of a long day. It blew me away! Yes, as they said, it is STILL a mystery how a single fertilised cell grows and changes into all the myriad of different cells that make up the human body. Brain Blood Muscle Tissue Bones Hair Skin Not to mention all the body's intricate and complex systems.
I should see if there's anything on the web about the program -
I continue to be bemused at people's reactions to various "difficult" people in their lives - the "difficulty" exists at this PERSONALITY level. It may be a vastly different situation at the level of the soul ... I am reminded of that brilliant quote from Daphne Rose Kingma which was once posted to the Chopra Forum. Thanks Carol. :) In fact, didn't I upload that piec to my home page? Yes - Click here
Those discussions reinforced how ATTACHED people become to their opinions and are rather surprised when someone is realtively free of them. I wrote the following only half tongue-in-cheek ... Opinions by their very nature are divisive. Holding an opinion (and the operative word here is indeed "holding") is the act of viewing reality steadfastly from one fixed point-of-view. I try to look at reality from every conceivable point-of-view and when you do this for long enough you start to realise that they are all indistinguishable. To hold that any one of these fixed points is more "correct" or "valid" than the others is a very arbitrary decision which is heavily coloured by personal circumstances & past experiences. When you no longer strongly identify with circumstances and experiences, you may find that you have no fixed opinions whatsoever. Mind you, this is only my opinion.
All of which reminds me of a piece of writing I did a while back where I asked myself what would two perfectly enlightened beings talk about.
Click here to read it.
No, come to think of it, it was called "Just another conversation" ... my mind is playing tricks on me again - you can find it on my main page somewhere or tother ...
Let me see ... what else did we discuss ... ah yes, the basic differences between the Catholic view that you live once and that decides your fate for eternity versus reincarnation where you can be a real pain-in-the-neck for a hundred lives ... until the penny drops ... plus how you are female one life then male the next so to say "I am a woman" could be seen as an unenlightened VIEW. As indeed any statement that begins with "I am" or "It is" ... ah yes, plus the possibility that patients in a nursing home may indeed be astral travelling (provided they developed this capability during their youth) ... plus The Metta prayer & the idea behind grace. Gratitude is a very powerful force as James twyman wrote in Emissary of Light -
Yes, I can be mischievious. Often I feel like saying, "Well, that's the beauty of reincarnation. You can stuff up a hundred lives in a row and eventually you'll get it right. What's getting it right? Simple, unconditional love for every living creature regardless of their behaviour or circumstances or appearance. It's one thing to know it. It's quite another to manifest it."
Lemme see what else ... ah yes, the perennial questions people have about those whose lives seem disadvantaged or handicapped or just plain miserable and what does this say about souls and reincarnation. CWG puts it well - do not pity "failure" because you do not KNOW why that soul chose to incarnate into those experiences ... and yet as I said earlier, in our everyday awareness it does seem unfair and terribly chaotic & random ...
Interesting site called Children's Past Lives - found it after someone asked me about "proof" of reincarnation (esp with respect to the Lamas & how they are "selected" or identified as the reincarnated version of the previous Lama ...
See also:
"Gratitude is to your awakening what plutonium is to a nuclear missile. It is the spark that ignites hidden sources of energy and Light, lifting you to a whole new level of joy and peace. You have so much to be grateful for. You have surrendered to a deeper knowing and way, you have put your trust in this new vision of life, and you are grateful for the incredible new perspectives they have shown you. Your gratitude will fill your heart like a balloon, lifting you above the old thought patterns that kept you bound to the earth. It is a natural experience that marks your entry into whole new dimensions of Light."
Also from a few days ago - the word "musterbation" - referring to always thinking "I must do this" or I must do that. Well click here for an interesting article on "disordered thinking"
Tough diplomatic task? - how do you lovingly tell someone about the glaring inconsistencey of saying "May all beings be happy" ... then turn around and eat them ...
Continuing a few reflections from yesterday ... "Seek and ye shall find"
... most people interpret it as meaning those who genuinely seek a WAY to God will find one. You could hwever broaden the implications of that statement. If you seek reasons to be pessimistic, you'll surely find them. Could replace the word "pessimistic" with any of the following -
optimistic, sad, cynical, joyful,
wondrous, amazed, jaded,
cheerful, kind, etc etc ...
Some excellent new additions to the
Poetry Forum at Rebecca's Ghost
Watching The Planets reminds one of how remarkable those Voyager space missions were. They were only made possible by a alignment of the outer planets which occurs once every 170 years or so. And to have a spacecraft that could operate continuously and "flawlessly" for over 12 years was a real stretch of the technology available in 1976. Many thought it was a crazy dream. (A bit like world peace?)
Well ... the
Chopra Forum is back in action. It remains to be seen who returns to it and what unfolds ... resumes around # 52,150
Article about Bruce Moen & Afterlife Knowledge.
Following on from yesterday's themes ... yes, if you want to SEE what our true nature is, look at young children. Open. Enthusiastic. Unconditional. wide-eyed. Adulthood is a gross distortion of our true nature. Or at least a massive suppression of it. Oh! I left of the biggest adjective ... JOYFUL ...
Yes, I am reminded of the lyrics of The Logical Song -
Following on from yesterday's theme of self-esteem, I found an interesting site with this
page of one person's view. I love his quote on the opening page -
"Do not respond to a person according to what they have been;
respond to that person according to the person they are becoming."
- Lawton R. Smith
Lady Bear - from Ram Dasss Board
Bio of Robin Williams {from Jumanji}
Ram Dass Interview from "way back" ...
Guide to HTML commands
Colour chart for font colours - saved the chart onto my hard drive so as I can look at it off-line.
also see may25.htm at xoom - as angelfire was inaccessible for a while ...
A few more sites - it HAS been a busy day. Busy and WET! ...
www.time-travelers.org - Site which claims to be "THE MOST AMAZING SITE ON THE NET!"
Also perused some gorgeous books while I was in the library - "Kingdom of the Russian Bear" - "The Miracle Planet" - "Ten minute guid to Word 97" - "Q is for Quantum" - "Schrodinger's Kittens" - "The World's Great Minds" - yet finally only borrowed one "Shakespeare for Dummies" which is actually quite excellent. They have a site at www.dummies.com I think ... and there is an email service that will send you a tip-a-day ...
A bit more poetry dictated to me by the voices-in-my-head:
My doctor likes to believe in all the twelve little numbers
To be continued ...
Click here for A Nice Little Poem - unless it moves ...
I liked some of the images at a few of the sites listed above, esp LadyBear ...
As he walks towards a lifetime free from tiny blunders
Click here for main Journal list
