Seeking and Finding Wholeness

I would like to present these notions to you, do you agree with me?

Any injustice, anywhere, in the world is too much to tolerate.

Any sick person is one too many. Any hungry person is one too many.

Any hateful crime anywhere in the world is as bad as a hateful crime against me.

Any poor and helpless person on the planet, is just one minute away from being me.

Anything that I would hate on myself I hate on anyone else, if not for moral reasons then at the least because this person could have been me.

What if it was Me?

My opinion on the use of drugs to treat mood-related issues has always been less than favorable. I have seen no reasons to alter the state of my mind with any drugs, ever.

I say, if you have anxiety or depression, this means there is a culprit behind it. You need to deal with the cause, and the emotion will become well balanced again. If you cannot deal with your emotions or thoughts alone seek a friend or a counselor.

You should not want to treat (and i use the word treat very loosely here because you are not treating anything with mood drugs) stress or depression and anxiety with mood altering drugs that rob you from your true self and usually get you hooked for life.

If you are experiencing unbalanced emotions or moods, I guarantee you there is a reason for it, whether it is a spiritual, a subconscious, a cognitive or even a physical reason; there is a reason. The reason may be an imbalance in any/or all of the eight dimensions of wellness (read about the eight dimensions of wellness here) All of these dimensions are interconnected so the cause of your lack of balance probably spans over many of these dimensions.

Do you really want to mask the problem, only to re-experience these emotions once the drugs wore off?  If you take mood drugs you are only dealing with a symptom, not the underlying causes. If you go on mood drugs you are likely placing yourself in an endless loop of drug dependency, stuck, dependent on an outside, manufactured, and expensive medications to keep you well. While, what you need is already available for free, inside of you. You need nothing to be well, all you need is yourself (or a person to talk to), certainly not drugs.

Identify the cause, the imbalances and deal with them, if you do this you’ll see your anxiety evaporate into thin air. Further, you will be empowered by your experience, you will gain experience and you will take control of your life. On the other hand, you could seek refuge in drugs and hide from the real problems.

I find meditation to be a great tool to combat emotional and mood issues. I often tell people: “Say no medication and yes to mediation”. Meditation is one weapon you got, for free, that is inside of you. All you have to do is use it.

Make the move now,

“From Medication to Meditation”

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Does Evil exist? This article has an excerpt from an interview with Carl Jung and he is seen clearly saying that man is the origin of evil. That is, humans are the origin of all evil.

Some very interesting questions to ask yourself after you watch this interview:

• What makes a person Evil, their thoughts or their actions?
• We can all agree that the only evil species on this planet is Humans, correct?
• Why are we evil?
• Not to diminish the badness of ‘evil’, but can we break evilness down to attributes such as selfishness and stupidity as the prime causes for evil thoughts and actions?

Many people, including Carl Jung, say that “we are the evil” on this planet..

The conclusion here is, if you fear evil then fear people.

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I listened to a radio interview recently and found some of the aspects that the guest speaker discussed agreeable. I noted quotes below from the interview that I liked and wanted to share with you:

On Remote Viewing, in a radio interview with Coast to Coast with Art Bell, Stephan A. Schwartz said:

[Remote viewing is a] learnable skill, like a kind of modern mental martial art or mental yoga; its an ancient one [found] in the shamanic traditions all over the world.

All over the world, there are traditions of training people to be able to use this use this aspect of consciousness to open themselves to it, its like learning to play tennis basically, there is nothing supernatural or weird about it, it its not anomalous.

All these words [that] people use, anomalous, wired, I don’t even like the word psychic, its just non local consciousness its something we all have by reason of being living organisms.

It’s your birth right as a human being

This ability is always present because it a function of being a living organism

In Stephan’s opinion, phenomena like remote viewing, intuition, telepathy ad others are all basically non local consciousness or non local awareness.

Listen to the whole interview here

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(note: scroll down for an new screen shot, it’s below -40 now)

Back on September 23, 2008, in an article entitled “Glorious Clouds at Your Door” I wrote the following

Now in mid January, it is -30F outside (windchill) I still believe the above statement holds true. Yes, it is a little more challenging, and also life-threatening to cope with this temperature, but once you accept nature’s winter you can cope with the cold a little better and you will notice beauty, even in the winter season even when it is crazy cold!

Update: It is dipping below -40 now  Thursday 9AM in the Twin Cities MN. Take a look

The Road To Success

Every person experiences failure, it’s a common occurrence. From toddlers learning how to walk to seasoned business owners, we all fail, many times. Would you rather face your fear of failure, fail and then succeed. Or would you rather not face your fear, not fail, and eliminate all your chances for success? Failure is unavoidable, it’s part of life!

Read this collection of quotes on failure, then an inspirational conclusion followed by an invitation for discussion.

Failure? I never encountered it.. All I ever met were temporary setbacks.”

- Dottie Walters

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
- Robert F. Kennedy

The road to success is paved with failures.
- Unknown

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By Gabriel 1999 ~  Thank you for allowing me to post this here.

Chains by Ethan

What’s Life All About?

A simple question that is possibly the only question worth asking! Yet many of us avoid an answer. For those of you who have thought about this question, here’s a chance to share your answer with the world.

I just want to know your opinion. If someone asked you “What’s life all about?” what would you say?

I’m trying to define what ‘wholeness’ means.

I think that seeking wholeness should be the holy grail for every intelligent human being, on this journey one will grow and experience their full potential.

No person is whole, I doubt that any person can be whole; however seeking to be whole is seeking to improve one’s abilities, and requires one to live up to one’s highest potential in all aspects of one’s being.

Dictionaries define wholeness as:

* The state of being entirely whole
* The condition of being free from defects or flaws
* The condition of being physically and mentally sound
* The quality or state of being whole, entire, or sound
* A state of robust good health
* Psychic stage in which the union of the unconscious with the conscious has been achieved.

Sources: http://www.answers.com/topic/wholeness | http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn | http://www.carl-jung.net/glossary.html

Did you notice that wholeness in itself spans over your mind, body and spirit? In the above definitions we see that wholeness means ‘robust good health’, it also means ‘physically sound’, ‘mentally sound’, ‘free from defects’, and finally it is known as a ‘psychic stage’ where your unconscious self is aware and in harmony with your conscious self.

By looking at synonyms of ‘wholeness’ we can further understand what wholeness is:

Wholeness is all encompassing; it spans the entire human experience and existence, from human spirituality, reasoning, morals, practices, to the body and physical health. It spans conventional science, traditional medicine, and includes paranormal science and alternative healing teachings and practices.

To talk about wholeness we have to talk about spirituality, health, science, logic, cultural norms, modern life, meditation, medical research, mind-body, and more.. At minimum, to seek wholeness we have to seek all the dimensions of wellness.

It’s tempting to think of wholeness (or the seeking of wholeness) as an entirely spiritual or mental process. The last definition listed above refers to wholeness as a “Psychic stage in which the union of the unconscious with the conscious has been achieved.” Words such as holy and oneness also refer to transcending the physical and the social norms.

Other spiritual definitions of wholeness refer to it as one’s union with the creation (or any higher power). Perhaps wholeness can be reached when one’s consciousness or soul rejoins the source of all consciousness or life?

Questions,

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I am in favor of the idea of having an Ethical Code of Practice for scientists, similar to the Hippocratic Oath used in the medical profession.

No one can make anyone be an ‘ethical’ person, however having an oath brings the topic up and forces scientists to think it through, it also shows that ethics are worthy enough in the eyes of the scientific community to be considered and respected via an oath.

The idea was first suggested by Sir Joseph Rotblat, a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, during his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995.

Following that, in 2001, in the scientific journal The Biochemical Journal, Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston proposed an oath so that scientists could declare their intention “to cause no harm and to be wholly truthful in their public pronouncements, and also to protect them from discrimination by employers who might prefer them to be economical with the truth.”

Many disagree and believe that oaths do not promote advancement.

Existing Oaths:

Sir David King

The UK government has adopted a ‘universal code of ethics’ that was proposed by Sir David King in 2007. This code included seven (7) principles. These principles are guiding principles to scientists. Here they are:

* Act with skill and care in all scientific work. Maintain up to date skills and assist their development in others.

* Take steps to prevent corrupt practices and professional misconduct. Declare conflicts of interest.

* Be alert to the ways in which research derives from and affects the work of other people, and respect the rights and reputations of others.

* Ensure that your work is lawful and justified.

* Minimise and justify any adverse effect your work may have on people, animals and the natural environment.

* Seek to discuss the issues that science raises for society. Listen to the aspirations and concerns of others.

* Do not knowingly mislead, or allow others to be misled, about scientific matters. Present and review scientific evidence, theory or interpretation honestly and accurately.

University of Toronto, Canada
In June 2008, Biomedical Scientists graduating at the University of Toronto, Canada, pledged to honor a scientific oath

This was their oath:

“I have entered the serious pursuit of new knowledge as a member of the community of graduate students at the University of Toronto. I declare the following:

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I am proposing renaming Christmas and calling it Shopathon because that is all what people do in preparation for xmas, they shop. Everybody agrees that Christmas has been highly commercialized in the U.S. Many say that it has lost its true meaning of celebrating Jesus’ birthday. I agree than Christmas has lost its meaning, the lost meaning is what I will debate here.

Christmas in the US and most the western Christian tradition does not fall on the correct date of Jesus’ birthday, so what are WE really celebrating? Are we celebrating a lie?

The fact is, no one knows for sure when Jesus was born. So where did Christmas come from? It is believed Jesus was born in the Spring, then why is Christmas in the Winter season?

Winter Celebrations

Why then does Christmas fall on Dec 25? Well, when Christianity spread in lands that practiced paganism, naturally pagan practices and traditions were not appreciated by christian leaders. Winter celebrations were major traditions that pagans would not abandon. They had to be re-named and adopted by the, then new religion, Christianity.

Winter Solstice falls on Dec 25th and was one major pagan holiday celebration.

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means “the birthday of the unconquered Sun.” The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers’ god of Persian origin. Emperor Elagabalus introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday. This day had held no significance in the Roman festive calendar until it was introduced in the third century.

The festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be “unconquered.” Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus. “O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born

From Wikipedia

You are probably seeing where this is going now. Rather than abolish these traditions they were allowed to remain only after re-purposing and re-branding them into a Christian tradition.

Winter festivals were common in ancient times due to less agricultural work, expectations of better weather in the summer and the celebration of the rebirth of the sun as the sun lasted longer in the sky (a countdown to summer).

The Roman Pagans

Roman pagans celebrated the holiday of Saturnalia. This was a week-long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the week-long celebration. This holiday featured some ‘bad’ behavior to say the least like drinking to get drunk, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (later morphing into the modern caroling).

In what seems to be even more horrible, each Roman community selected a victim. This person was forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. On December 25th (the festival’s last day), this person was brutally murdered. Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by doing so.

Saturnalia festival was a major festival that pagans would not abandon. In order to convert pagans to Christianity it was decided to adopt the Sturnalia festival. As a result a large numbers of pagans became Christian after being promised to be allowed to continue celebrating the Saturnalia festival.

Since there was no significance to that date of the year, Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday replacing the original festival’s concluding day

The Scandinavian Pagans

Pagan Scandinavians celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas.

You see? We are not celebrating the real Christmas (Jesus’ b’day) on Dec 25.

Winter Festivals were very common! Here are but a few examples:

Brazilians

Brazilian archeologists have found an assembly of 127 granite blocks arranged equidistant from each other. They apparently form an ancient astronomical observatory. One of the stones marked the position of the sun at the time of the winter solstice and were probably used in religious rituals.

Egyptians

The god-man/savior Osiris died and was entombed on DEC-21. “At midnight, the priests emerged from an inner shrine crying ‘The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing” and showing the image of a baby to the worshipers.”

Greek

The winter solstice ritual was called Lenaea, the Festival of the Wild Women. In very ancient times, a man representing the harvest god Dionysos was torn to pieces and eaten by a gang of women on this day. Later in the ritual, Dionysos would be reborn as a baby. By classical times, the human sacrifice had been replaced by the killing of a goat. The women’s role had changed to that of funeral mourners and observers of the birth.

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Have you ever realized that every person is annoying to someone? You may have many people that love the dirt that you walk on and hold you in high regard, but it also follows that there are people out there that find you annoying, and thus dislike you.

To all of you who loose sleep over being popular or being liked by others, I say Quit It!  Just be who you are because there is no point in trying to be liked by everyone, it is simply impossible.

Rather than living your life trying to be liked by others how about stopping for a sec to ask yourself if YOU like yourself? Are you annoyed by who you are, who you’ve become, who others want you to be?

Yes you are annoying to others, and there is nothing you can do to change that. As long as you are not annoying to people that you deeply care for / live with you and as long as you are not harming others, you should be just fine

Ultimately, as long as you are happy with who you are, that is all that matters. You get closer to being whole when you are well and when you are aware of and understand who you are. With this awareness you also see how seeking others’ approval and admiration is absolutely a waste of energy and time and is not the way to live your life.

not in wf

I was listening to an interview with Eckhard Tolle a few days ago. He mentioned something very simple that, while I knew, I did not practice. He talked about living in the moment, appreciating the present and recognizing that when we seek goals we may be missing on the more satisfying journeys.

Many of us, including myself, are goal oriented individuals. We hop from goal to another and operate our daily lives driven by goals or destinations. When you are like me, it is not unusual to never appreciate where you’ve been or enjoy what you’ve done. When you reach your goal you feel satisfaction and pride, but this doesn’t last long because all you want now is to move on to the next goal.

Seeking goals may get you far in life, but at the same time you risk not being aware of the majority of your life since most of youe life is actually comprised of journeys that you decided to take. Eckhard’s view is that the journey is important, perhaps more important than the destination. My personal view is that both are important, because the journey is part of the quest, part of the destination; they are the “one experience”.

Your life is full of journeys, and destinations. There are some destinations one may never reach, take ‘wholeness’ for example, optimum intelligence, perfection, or even enlightenment. This does not mean that we cannot pursue these goals and partake these journeys; in reality we do seek these unattainable goals. Even if all your goals in life are achievable, most of your life will be journeying. Thus we should use our journeys to enrich and add value to our lives.

I leave you with this question to ponder: Is life all about the journeys, not the goals?

Think about this:

“Enlightened humans will recognize the truth when it is presented to them, fully indoctrinated humans will first deny, then look for reasons to doubt.”

Something I read somewhere on March 2008.

I add: “Humans seeking enlightenment seek the truth with an open mind.”

It is worth it being OPEN MINDED !

Something I wrote back in 2007:

Intelligent life exists in the universe, as well on Earth; sometimes I’m not so sure about the latter.

A guy I met once said

“When you get a BS you think you know everything.  When you get your MS you realize you know nothing.  When you get your PhD you still realize you know nothing but it is ok because now you know no one else does either”

Do you remember how as a child you thought your parents knew everything?

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Think about this:

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, his eyes are closed.

Albert Einstein

Think about this:

Satisfaction and happiness come from the inside, not the outside; cannot be acquired, rather are found.

Something I wrote back in 2002

I find this quote loaded with potential for thought. Please take some time and enjoy thinking about this quote:

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
J. Krishnamurti

Disaster and Disease are similar. There are only a few places on Earth that are not prone to natural disasters, this will get worse as global warming intensifies. People face disaster and disease on regular basis. When disaster or disease hits and a person becomes weakened and vulnerable, shouldn’t this person be helped by the government (i.e. others who are healthy)?

I beleive that we need to design our social and economical systems, our infrastructure, and our lives to coexist with Earth. We should build buildings that can withstand all extremes of Earth based on the region, as well as homes that enhance nature (blend in, add aesthetic value, be green, energy efficient, etc..) that ultimately do no harm to Earth.

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What does being healthy mean? What do you mean when you refer to yourself or someone else using the term “healthy”? Have you paused to consider the ways in which we use the word “healthy” and what “healthy” ultimately refers to?

Here, together, we will look at this word and at the idea of being healthy. We will find what being healthy really means. We will also see how the eight dimensions of wellness and the seeking of wholeness relate to health and being healthy.

Defining being healthy (having health) may be easiest when defining the lack of health. It’s simple really; when something hurts or feels abnormal in your body, you know right away that you are (or that a part of your body is) now unhealthy. So, does being healthy mean the lack of pain? Is this a good enough definition of health?

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Free from the physical

Have you ever found yourself wishing you could dematerialize and turn into an aware free-moving energy?

You may think of it as freeing your soul or spirit to travel outside your body, like a permanent state of astral projection, as in being free of your earthly physical body. This phenomena may also be known as ascension, or perhaps this is what dying is? I am not asking if you ever wished you were dead here, no.

My question is, have you ever found yourself wishing you could be free of your body, of gravity, hunger and thirst, physical pain, national borders, and to be a mobile, space traveler?

Leave a comment to share answer and share your opinion anonymously. Thanks

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The Art of Happiness

I like this quote “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” Because it is so true.

I urge you to spend some time thinking about this, I’ll give you some pointers to get you started meditating on this powerful thought.

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One of my readers left a few comments on 10/28/2008 and reported to me his experiences.. I pasted the main points below in order to respond to them.

I have nobody else in the world that understands that sensation. It is like what you described, except mine is rather different than yours.

The sensation would be felt from the head till foot, sometimes foot to head going up, sometimes from shoulder down. Sometimes when i’m reading something, i could feel it on my right wrist. The materials read, only you would know from my earlier contact message.
This electrical sensation differs from another form of energy i feel – heat that seeps in slowly into the body.

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Happy Halloween to all!

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday. On a day like this it is worth appreciating what you have, the life you live now, and the people you know. At the same time it is worth remembering those who’ve passed away.

Honor them now by remembering them and send them good wishes. On a day like this it is worth remembering that you will also die some day, embrace this fact and do not fear. If you don’t know what death is then embrace not knowing and accept it as it is, it is a natural part of living. If you beleive in the after life or reincarnation then you know that death is just a part of a much larger journey.

Happy Halloween!

Here’s a little history on Halloween courtesy to Wikipedia:

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Humanity is Devolving! … Not something you’re used to hearing friends talk about? A controversial issue? You bet.

I’ve been saying that humanity has been devolving, for a few years now.. It is my opinion that the human race has been experiencing reverse evolution.

Many experience devolution as they move from childhood into manhood or womanhood and into the world that we live in (and get blinded and dumbed-down by).

In this article I show you how to protect yourself from devolving.

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What is your definition of spirituality? — What a tough question.

Perhaps spirituality is so elemental that it’s hard to define. Most of the time it is hard to use words to explain things that are so innate within us.

This post aims at collecting your definitions of spirituality, I will not close the comments on this post for a very long time in order to allow as many people as possible to tell me and the world what “Spirituality” means.

So what is spirituality and what does it mean to be spiritual?

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A definition of spirituality used commonly to guide medical school teaching was provided in a report to the Association of American Medical Colleges in 1999. This is how spirituality was defined:

“Spirituality is recognized as a factor that contributes to health in many persons. The concept of spirituality is found in all cultures and societies. It is expressed in an individual’s search for ultimate meaning through participation in religion and/or belief in God, family, naturalism, rationalism, humanism and the arts. All these factors can influence how patients and health care professionals perceive health and illness and how they interact with one another.”

Another definition that is often cited was first used by Roger Walsh in his book Essential Spirituality, is that spirituality is “…a constellation of practices that awaken the heart and mind.”

Organized religion is not necessary for a person to be spiritual, organized religion however can certainly play a role in influencing a person’s spirituality if desired, yet it is but one of many influences.

Stress is very common these days, this article has very simple tricks to help you let go of that stress before it turns into chronic stress. Enjoy!

1. Be present with whatever you are doing and whoever you are with.
2. Notice something beautiful on a daily basis (e.g., trees, clouds, flowers).
3. Walk, work, and eat at a relaxed pace.
4. Take a short break after meals to relax.
5. Go outside at least once per day and notice nature even if simple, such as the weather, scenery, etc. Allow yourself to enjoy and appreciate nature.
6. During the day, as often as possible, notice and tension in your body (jaw, neck, diaphragm, shoulders, etc.). Breathe deeply and gently stretch and relax any tense areas.
7. If you notice your mind racing or worrying about the past or future, take a minute to breathe deeply and gently focus on something in the moment such as your breath, scenery, birds. Try an emotional shift.
8. Wear comfortable and loose clothing when possible. Take off your shoes when you can.
9. Leave work worries at work.
10. Avoid holding in feelings day after day, avoid holding negativity, release and let go off those feelings before you go to bed.

More to come in future articles

I just landed myself in a comfortable chair at a local coffee shop…

Just before I start sipping my hot dark roast black coffee I’d like to share a reflection with you.

On my way to the coffee shop I stopped by a coop and filled my 1gallon jug with water for 45 cents only.

At the coffee shop where I’m sitting now, they charge $1.45 for a 20 oz bottle of (tap) water. 20 oz is 1/6 a gallon. Six bottles of water would make a gallon, would cost me $8.70; this is 19 times the price of the coop water.

Buying this bottle of water is bad for four reasons:

• It is tap water
• It is in a plastic bottle
• It’s expensive
• It will lead to 1 plastic bottle in trash / or recycled

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