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The Book of Genesis -- Cosmology Matters

Space Cowboy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:34:16 +0000

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

–Genesis 1:2

The creation of any world implicitly begins from the top down. No matter the specific cosmology of your world, whether it’s a Creator bespaking the world into existence on a whim or a ginormous explosion like the big bang, you’ve got to begin at some sort of beginning.

You don’t have to go into specifics but in the context of a D&D game, especially any which rely on Divine plots or extensively magical plots, the cosmology of your world is something you ignore at your peril. If your campaign never plans to reach epic levels or get extensively metaphysical/detailed, such things are fine. However there is a rule I’d like to follow in any campaign settings I create for D20.

Rule 1: All fantastic, otherworldly settings must be as internally coherent as possible. Essentially this rule states that if you are in a world of magic, sword, and sorcery, the world must behave as one. If you have the chutzpah to scrawl something like “here be dragonnes” on your world map, there ought to be dragons. It’s no good if Smaug acts lizard-ish and not Dragon-ish. In the same manner, Dwarves ought to act like Dwarves, Trolls should act like Trolls, Goblins ought to be Goblins, and insane dark gods hellbent on the annihilation of all existence ought to be insane dark gods hellbent on the annihilation of all existence.

Okay then. So how does this play into Cosmology?

Implicit in much existing source material are creatures like Demons, Devils, Angels, and Archons. There are also class options, adventures, races, and prestige classes that presume a particular deity. Unless you want to run a completely home-brew game universe, you’re going to have to find some way to integrate the existing material into your game. Your cosmology, however you define it, is going to have to -fit- into existing source material somewhere. Or how do you explain the presence of classic baddies like Asmodeus, or stand-by deities like Pelor?

Without suitable cosmology, angels & demons, good and evil, quickly become pastiche–a bit like warring factions of aliens with humans caught in the middle. This is a very post-modern way to look at the topic, and works such as Hellblazer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Preacher have thoroughly explored it. It’s tired, boring, and almost a cliche.

Furthermore, I think this post-moderning strips away a lot of the real emotion impact of various mythological and fantastic creatures. If vampires and werewolves are really just the equivalent of genetically altered super-humans who sparkle, it just becomes a wish-fulfillment fantasy a la Twilight or Underworld. Despite my love for Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight clothing, the Underworld franchise is far less compelling & engaging than Wall-E. It’s a weak explanation for the supernatural that fails to grab the imagination.

Furthermore it is far less engaging and compelling than its opposite. What if the supernatural is real, palpable, and absolutely terrifying, and the party (Big Damn Heroes) are the only thing in the world able to stand against the armies of Hell for one reason or another? Suddenly the stakes got a lot higher. Your world should be set up in this manner–the party, at sufficiently high levels, should be able to engage in a climatic battle for the fate of the world.

So plan to build all of this into the cosmology of your world at one point

Five short statements

Mark Penrith — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:31:34 +0000

Creation, corruption, condemnation, catastrophe and Christ. Click any image to enlarge.

My blogging friend Jenny Hillebrand of Carpenter’s Shoes tagged me. The task: Summarize the Bible in five statements, the first one word long, second two, third three, fourth four and the last five words long. Post, then tag five more people.

Here’s my Bible summary:

Creation

Corruption: Total

Condemnation: God’s justice

Catastrophe: Sin’s slavish spiral

Christ: God’s perfect purposeful plan

I’m a Bible kinda guy. My favorite verses supporting the statements above are, starting with creation, Colossians 1:15 – 17,

¹⁵ He [editor: Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, {both} in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Want to hear the verse in context? Colossians 1
What is this about?

Corruption, Ephesians 2:1-7,

¹ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ² in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. ³ Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly {places} in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Want to hear the verse in context? Ephesians 2
What is this about?

Condemnation, 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 10,

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor {the} covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Want to hear the verse in context? 1 Corinthians 6
What is this about?

Catastrophe, that things will continue to get worse and worse, 2 Timothy 3:1 – 5,

¹ But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Want to hear the verse in context? 2 Timothy 3
What is this about?

And finally, the solution to man’s disconnect with the creator, Jesus Christ, Romans 5:8 – 11,

⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath {of God} through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Want to hear the verse in context? Romans 5
What is this about?

This took a lot longer than anticipated. Anyhow I’m done. I’d love to hear your 5 statements. Tag this page so I know you read this.

Musings in Genesis Part 4- Laying a Foundation

Jono Adams — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:16:49 +0000

There has been much debate over the opening chapters of Genesis in regards to how they fit together and how best to reconcile them with the modern science in general and Darwinian evolution in particular (if indeed they can be reconciled). Before discuss this however, I would like to share my own perspective on how Genesis 1 and 2 fit together and provide a foundation from which to approach this debate.

Chapter 1 vs Chapter 2- Two “Contradictory” Accounts

There are significant differences between the account of creation given in chapter 1 compared with chapters 2 and 3. Two in particular stand out:

In chapter 1, God creates the world in 7 “days”, while chapter 2 takes place “in the day (singular) that the LORD God made the heavens and the earth”.
The order of the creating differs in that God creates Adam first, then plants, then animals then Eve.

These differences have caused many to argue that these two chapters are contradictory and so cannot be taken seriously. As Christians who believe that all scripture is God-breathed, we cannot simply pick and choose what we will or will not accept in the bible. We must address these issues and attempt to reconcile them with our understanding of the rest of the bible. In my opinion, the best way to approach the relationship between these two accounts is to think of them as two different genres of writing, each with its own particular style and purpose. Chapter 1 seems to be poetic, with constant repetition and a very rigid structure. It is the “wide-angled” shot of the whole of creation as God creates everything in an orderly and purposeful way to bring glory to himself. We see the power of his word as he speaks and things come into existence.

When we get to chapters 2 we are are given a “close-up” of a particular part of creation- the garden. It is here that we see the climax of God’s creation in humanity. They are given a special role as God’s image bearers to tend to the creation and rule over it under Him. In these chapters we also see God’s ideal for the covenantal relationship of marriage between one man and one woman.

There are many differing perspectives on how these two chapters fit together. My own view would be that chapter 1 is a poetic account of God’s creation of the world and not to be taken as a step-by-step account (in much the same way that Exodus 15 is a song celebrating the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt), while chapters 2 and 3 are a historical narrative describing the role of humanity (God’s people) within Eden (God’s place) under His authority (God’s rule). Both chapters are vital to our understanding of scripture and provide the foundation for understanding many other important passages and doctrines.

The Garden vs Creation- A crucial distinction

While chapter 2 provides a vital perspective of God’s ideal for creation we need to remember that it does not tell us what is normative for the whole creation. I believe this to be the case for a number of reasons:

Adam is created *outside* the garden. This is implicit in chapter 2 verse 3 where we read that “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it”. If the man had to be placed into the garden he clearly had to be somewhere that wasn’t the garden first!
The language of verses 8-14 describe the garden as being in a particular geographic location on the earth.
The curse in chapter 3 involves the man and the woman being physically expelled from the garden. It is more than just the decay and curse of the created order (although this is certainly included).

In other words, the account of Genesis chapter 2 is concerned with a subset of the rest of creation. While I believe it is a historical narrative of huge theological significance and is crucial to a proper understanding of many doctrines, we cannot (necessarily) assume that something is true for the whole of creation just because we see it within the garden. There is clear distinction between the garden and the rest of the world- while there is certainly a curse placed upon all of creation after the fall, it always had to be in some respects “inferior” to Eden. If this were not the case, Eden would not be a paradise that was any different to the rest of creation.

This is a crucial observation that must be taken into account when engaging in any discussion of the relationship between science and the bible. For example, one of the major issues that many Christians have with evolutionary theory (and was a struggle for me over many years) was the presence of (animal) death prior to the fall- prerequisite for evolution. If we realise, however, that the presence of the tree of life (i.e. immortality) within Eden is a special thing for the garden, and not normative for the whole of creation then we can see that these the accounts of creation and evolutionary theory are in fact describing two different things. Genesis 2 teaches that there was no death within the garden prior to the fall. I always assumed that this extended to the rest of creation and meant that there was no death at all prior to Genesis chapter 4. I would now contend however, that this is not apparent from a plain reading of the opening chapters of Genesis. Genesis 2 is primarily concerned with what it looks like for humanity to live as stewards of creation under God’s rule within the garden, while evolution is a theory which attempts to describe what is happening in creation as a whole outside of the paradise of Eden. We should not be surprised then, when we see that creation in its natural state is subject to decay and death. Rather than expanding the garden, filling the earth and subduing it under God’s rule- putting an end to decay and death (and the evolutionary process), humanity rejects God and as a result is thrown out of the garden; subject to the futility and struggle that we see in the rest of creation.

I hope that this perspective provides a reasonably sound theological framework from which to approach the current debate between evolution and creationism. In my next post I aim to provide discussion of the world-views of both Christianity and science and the implications of each. As always I welcome any comments, questions or feedback.

A Distinct Bugle Sound

nwcc — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:20:10 +0000

As a kid, I used to really enjoy the cowboy movies, we were shown on TV; especially the ones where t

Deep calls to Deep

gloriadelia — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:27:26 +0000

“ Strange Beings found in the Deep”

That was a recent headline I read. The article in the paper told about the ”Census of Marine Life.” It’s a group of scientists and marine biologists from around the world who get together, with expensive equipment, and explore the depths of the deep blue sea.

They’ve been discovering thousands of amazing creatures for the first time.

Here’s a .SLIDE SHOW of their discoveries. Most of the creatures have flashing lights or glow. Very cool. When you get back from the show, click on the video to listen to Stuart Townsend sing about how deep God’s love is for us.

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Psalm 42:7

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air,

AND THE FISH OF THE SEA, ALL THAT SWIM THE PATHS OF THE SEAS.” Psalm 8:3-9

To read more about the “Census of Marine Life” and what they’ve found, read: The Deep is Full of Mysteries.

Pretty Pink

mayablogs — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:30:30 +0000

Guy Time at the River

Mark Myles — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:18:29 +0000

When the John Hart Dam is open, that means the Campbell River is in flood.

It was a beautiful Friday morning, so I decided to take my two boys Levi (8) and Dexter (5) up to the Campbell River, and then the John Hart dam to have a look. They don’t always have the dam open, so it was quite a sight.

My son Levi is very inquisitive about natural facts and the creation that God has made. My son Dexter is very inquisitive about how manufactured things work. It was the perfect mix for “guy time” this morning.

“Guy Time” is when I take the boys and we go hang-out or do something, just the three of us. Its loads of fun.

From Guy Time @ the River

Today we started went to the Campbell River because the dam was open and I love seeing a river in flood. Me and the boys got kinda dizzy looking down at the water when we were standing in the middle of the bridge. I am amazed at the power a lot of water can do. We stood still and could feel the bridge shaking a little. Dexter said, “Yikes!”

He also stopped dead in his tracks when we started up the trail and saw these signs: “Uhh…what does that sign say?” He was pointing at the little one on the bottom left.

From Guy Time @ the River

We then drove up to the top through Elk Falls Park to see and stand on top of John Hart Dam.

From Guy Time @ the River

It was loud, and cold, but sunny and bright. And all we could say was things like, “Thats a lot of water.” and “Wow!”

From Guy Time @ the River

We then walked back to the van and saw a Bald Eagle bathing in the lake, but before I could get a good shot of it, he got up out the water. I don’t think eagles like to be seen bathing.

From Guy Time @ the River

I love hanging out with my boys for “guy time”. I pray that I will have many more days like this.

See the whole picture album here.

Do Chinese Characters prove a Worldwide Flood?

Jedi — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:24:59 +0000

A former Atheist, whom I was chatting over coffee with recently told me he found it quite compelling when studying world religions before realizing the Truth behind Christianity that so many secluded regions of the world have a World-wide flood story among their heritage.

I have been compelled to a literal interpretation of Genesis given it being Historical Narrative in nature, and rejected more liberal Theologians that claim a regional flood would have been interpreted as “worldwide” by observers.

Here is some very strong evidence that the Chinese as a people are in fact descendants of Noah:

Thanks to Kang and Nelson in their book, “The Discovery of Genesis” for this info:

Creation Cryptids: Why Bigfoot isn't the Missing Link

Sirius — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:27:25 +0000

There’s no such thing as a missing link, unless we’re talking about synapses that ought

God’s creation is worth to photograph

Viktor — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:53:36 +0000

Two weeks and it’s over. The end of this fall semester is coming to the end. During this part of the season we all feel tired and demotivated. The rainy weather adds to that. Why do we feel that way? I guess in our country and culture, where we stand on a real hard soil without seeing much result in our efforts it is hard to run for our vision to win students for Christ as Paul was challenging his buddies. Every year and semester when we start enthusiastically and finish faithfully we learn about the nature of our ministry. It is not easy to see other countries like Moldova where every other student who hears the Gospel gives his life to Christ. I guess it is just easier to compare to a higher effectiveness. We are reminded not to do that. God called us here in our country to fight our battle even when we face bigger challenges. I understand that non-believers don’t have a desire to help, to be active, to be involved somewhere, they just want to live for themselves, but why Christians aren’t different. I mean they say things, but rarely actually do them. Sometimes I ask myself, am I an UFO? I feel so alone in fighting and trying to give and serve right now. I do mistakes and fail, because I am not perfect, but at least I am trying. I am trying to live by Jesus’ example even it is hard, but wouldn’t it be an empty life otherwise?

Finally I get to the title. This week I had a privilege to share my little experience from the photography world. We did it as a practical seminar to help people take better photographs. A couple new students showed up, and I think they enjoyed our time together. Some people told me that how in the world could you include God in that topic. It was easy for me, because that’s how my love for photographs started. God opened me a door of His creation. I loved to look at just a small rock of random shape on the road and I was joyful. So, I started to thinking why not to show other people how God amazingly created the world. I hope those guys and girls will come back next week when one of our students is going to talk about How to renew our faith in God. Please pray with us so we can be victorious in that fight.

Video Copilot, des effets spéciaux dignes des studios d'Hollywood

bobylt66 — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Si parmi vous il y a des gens qui ont un bon niveau d’anglais et assez d’argent (ou une combine !) pour avoir la suite CS4, alors ce site est fait pour vous. En effet, vous y trouverez un certains nombre de tutoriaux gratuits ainsi que des payants (DVD très complets d’images, tutos, vidéos…) qui vous permettront de réaliser des effets spéciaux assez bluffants.

Une des dernières vidéos du site :

Vous pouvez aller jeter un coup d’oeil sur le site à l’adresse suivante :

http://www.videocopilot.net/

Wicked Energy Drink

Emmanuel Quéré — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:22:16 +0000

Parce que c’est enfin vendredi, que j’aime vous faire plaisir et pour me faire pardonner du peu de contenu de la semaine, je vous offre ce petit moment de détente visuel.

Magnifique travail graphique pour la marque de boisson énergisante Australienne Wicked Energy Drink.

Enjoy it

Créatifs : Sharon Little et Mel Coenen-Eyre

Réalisation : Julia Jackson de l’agence P&N Beverages.

Musique : Supersonic

Darwin and the Future of Evolution; Theological impacts and implications

Sant, Ave Ignis — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:30:09 +0000

November 24 was the 150th anniversary of the publishing of the book On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Certainly the book keeps on causing controversy in certain circles and back then it challenged many established ideas. The book serves as the springboard for a new understanding on life’s direction. An important figure in that process that often goes unmentioned, is Alfred Russel Wallace. He arrived to the same conclusions as Darwin on that same year. This instance is a living proof that even ideas evolve, and they seem to evolve towards what best fit the evidence–towards truth.

Wallace and Darwin arrived to similar theories experiencing different things. It seems that it is one spirit that guides them all–the spirit of truth. They wanted to let the world know one same essence of an idea that was within their minds. The same urge affected Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. A scientist and theologian that lived in the next generation of Darwin and Wallace. He writes in one of his letters: “It’s not nearly so much ideas that I want to propagate as a spirit: and a spirit can animate all external presentations” (The Making of a Mind, p. 281). The spirit that Teilhard wanted to express was the evolution of Creation towards the Omega Point. He saw the direction of all created beings into a more complex form of existence, from God to energy, to matter, to life, to conciousness in communion with God–and the circle where we return to God is completed (only through the Son can we attain this return). He exposes this in a work he wrote exactly six decades ago.

Sixty years ago (November 15 1942), Teilhard wrote Man’s place in the Universe (The vision of the Past). Here, he enunciates the Law of Complexity-Consciousness. This Law describes life’s direction towards more complex forms of existence. The point where we are at right now is a point of consciousness that will culminate in a pure communion of self-awareness. This, he believes is Man’s (human beings) place in the Universe. Thomas Berry, a geologian of a generation after Teilhard, phrases it as us humans being(s) where the Universe becomes conscious of itself. For Berry, our way into the future relies on being able to understand this reality of communion. He outlines this plan into the time to come in his book The Great Work also published in November, but of 2000. Nine years ago, Berry described what for him is the ultimate task of humans, which is, the communion not only with conscious beings, but with all of Creation. For this to happen, he says, we need to gear all the efforts of the main institutions (The government, business and education) towards it.

The preface to this story of evolution is a complex history enlightened by scientific discoveries and spiritual narratives. Darwin’s, Wallace, Watson and Crick, Teilhard, Einstein, Fr. Lamaitre, among others, they all contributed to what we know now of the Universe and its history. This scientific discoveries and spiritual narratives constitute a New Story. Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry saw the need to understand evolution beyond organic species but rather an evolution of the entire Cosmos into the apex of Creation. Hence, they co-wrote The Universe Story. This rises very interesting points for Christian Theology that are worth exploring. In a series of articles to come we will explore some of the implications to Original Sin, Grace, the theological issue of the spiritual dimension of humans, the role of the Holy Spirit in Evolution, the role of Christ.

[This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the productive Novembers that brought light to the Story of the Universe, the story of evolution of Species and Ideas-- a story of self-realisation of who we are and what we ought to do/become. Tonight, I am thankful for my mind's evolution into this awareness.]

Happiness is never constant (4 of 11)

dhirendra08 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:59:58 +0000

And sleeping on a hard bed, in a very bare room, surrounded by all kinds of strange people with shaven heads. You could be in an alien landscape.

So anyway, Buddhism was a very important influence in my life and for a long time I did consider myself as such.

But over the years, my larger mindset of not accepting things just because my mother handed them to me took over. And I began a philosophical quest that continues to this day.

It began consciously after graduation with Krishnamurti’s talks. I call him the greatest “deconditioner”. Nobody is better when it comes to forcing you to clear the cobwebs of our minds and question many assumptions we have made, believing what others say, or taking accepted wisdom for granted. He really started my journey of true spiritual introspection.

Eventually I moved beyond Krishnamurti because I felt he is a great mental purgative, he clears our minds of a lot of rubbish. But he won’t give us the answers and we have to find them ourselves.

I was fascinating by what Osho was saying. He was absolutely brilliant. I never went to see him because I could not accept his imposed dress code. But he was stunning — starting as a professor of philosophy, he understood the context of belief systems to which he added his own brilliance, contradictions and insights. It was very stimulating. He did a lot of the thinking for us by cross-relating so many strands of thought.

Then, when I went to California, I got exposed to many new age teachers like Ramtha, to Native American sweat lodges, Zen teachers, Tibetan Buddhist influences.

I integrated things from each of them. It’s been a continuous quest. And I have reached my own provisional answers, my state of beliefs valid for the present moment.

I realize the world is an extraordinary mysterious place and I don’t understand half its dimensions.

Yet, do I believe in a personal God who would take care of me were I to pray Him? I don’t. Do I believe in God as a cosmic intelligence that underlies creation? Yes. Do I think people are wrong to pray to their particular gods for salvation? I don’t, if it helps their spiritual journey. If it takes them closer to happiness, then it’s all good. It just doesn’t resonate with me.

Open Letter to bipolarORwakingup

mohseyep — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:57:50 +0000

O Readers,

This is a letter I am writing for my own catharsis, my own release, and my own power.

I wrote it for a man who makes youtube videos. Click on his name.

I claim this story and my involvement in it as 100% my responsibility. I require nothing from you.

Please read it, if you want. Please ignore it, if you want.

Read on, knowing that I share in order to heal my self.

I also share because I believe in the absence of boundaries within my reality.

Self-compassion!

-Mohseyep-

*******

Jason,

I am writing you to give you more information about my background and episodes. This is a long story.

I will also attach links to various writings/pieces that are relevant to my story. There is a lot of story here, because I feel pretty passionate about the part of my consciousness that you represent. The healed one, and the wounded healer.

Take your time, do not feel obliged to read all or any of this, and get back to me when it feels right for you. No rush. I expect nothing from you.
Namaste,
B

I started my journey with psychiatry after an extended period of pretty intense depression. At that time, lets say beginning around January 2008, I was in a relationship that had soured, was living with my then-partner in Halifax, a city in which I had gone to university, from which most of my friends had moved on, and I was planning a year-long trip to Korea to teach English. I was working in a bike store as a mechanic after having graduated form a history of science and history double honours, highly academic BA. I was unhappy with just about everything about this situation, though I didn’t have the consciousness to know it, or the communication skills to express it. I was receiving my unhappiness as an ‘external’ manifestation, because I wasn’t taking the time or self-care-diligence to look within and really know how I was doing. This externally based sense of unhappiness stemmed from my continual research into the darkest aspects of humanity: conspiracy, corruption, war, corporatism, propaganda, powerlessness, apathy, environmental degradation, etcetera.

In September 2007, right after graduating university, I had my first LSD experience. I had moved to BC, and taken acid with two old highschool friends and one new friend, a man I now know much more about and respect totally. I knew I wanted to change my life in some way, but didn’t know how. I took the opportunity, and was connected to my divine mind, the one mind, for about 12 hours. Madness, unconditional love, total surrender, and absolute empowerment resulted. Then I woke up the next day, and continued living my life in the patterns that I had become accustomed to.

I came home from work in Halifax for about a week In April or May 2008 with no idea why I was weeping uncontrollably. I was deeply and thoroughly depressed. After some time, my partner called my parents, and they (my father is now retired, but was a family doctor for about 35 or 40 years, and my mom worked with him in his office) suggested that I go to the hospital. Thus began my relationship with hospitals and psychiatric medicine. I came to them in my most enfeebled, distraught, and desperate state, and received nothing but drugs. The environment in which I found myself was not conducive to comfort or compassion. Hospitals, in my experience, are deeply clinical and highly controlling places to be. So, after another few days, It became apparent that I could not continue at work, so it was decided either by my parents, my former lover, or myself to move with my partner back to Victoria BC, Canada, where I could live with my retired parents and recover, get some more help and have some unconditional support. Now it is obvious to me that this support was fully there from my partner. However, she needed support to love me through that time.

I began to see a shrink here in Victoria in May to July 2008. Within a few visits, I was prescribed Effexor for… obsessive compulsive disorder, and depression. There was no actual care involved. She sat well away from me, took notes, and stared at me. Her miniature dog barked at me occasionally. The role of the psychiatrist has been reduced by marketing, propaganda, and pseudo science from somewhat caring and interested in the patient’s story to the role of a human drug dispensary. Looking back at this experience now, I can see how telling my story to this psychiatrist was no more effective for my healing process than telling the full details of my story to an empty vending machine, deep in the lifeless guts of a long-abandoned underground warehouse.

My girlfriend had moved in to the house my family was sharing with another family, and these months were dreadful. The relationship was over. Everyone knew it. My ex stuck it out because I believe she still loved me deeply, even if I had moved on in my life to a new phase, new challenges. I was relieved every time I got time away from her. This was two summers ago, Beginning in the worst part of my depression around mid june and all of July. As I said, the relationships in that house were toxic: my parents to their mortgage-sharing house partner, me and my ex, everyone around us knew it. Taking effexor, I began to feel vaguely better, but not in a way that I absolutely KNEW was the answer.

I decided to move away from the city, and began to work on some farms on the gulf islands for all of August and much of September. These were deeply healing times for me. I began to have success with meditation. I had spent some of my time in the house reading online about the language of empowerment, the secret, manifestation, Wayne Dyer, and lots of the other gurus and pseudo-guru-cash-seekers. I found a CD of John Kabat-Zinns Mindfulness meditation and brought it with me to one of the islands. I began to get really excited about meditation. I built relationships with my farm hosts, and the animals, and myself. I began to feel much more human, and left a lot of the paranoia about corporate greed and governmental corruption and conspiracy behind. Or so I thought.

The relationship ended at one point, and I even helped her move away. It was a sweet relief, I think, for both of us. I still have unhealed wounds around relationship, but for now am pleasantly engaged in unattached, unconditionally loving, mindful singleness for the first time since I started pursuing long term monogamous love when I was 15 or so. I believed for a long time that young men were supposed to do that.

Upon returning to the city, I seemed much better to my family and few friends that I had found here. In early October, you may remember, we had an election in Canada. Just prior to the election day, about three or four … I can’t really remember for how long, I began to have my first genuine ‘manic’ episode. I believe that the high dose of Effexor I was on contributed much to this episode. It really is the perfect self-fulfilling prophecy: give the depressed person super-potent uppers, then crucify him for being manic later on: forcibly give him new drugs and tell him that he has a lifelong inability to manage his inner life, while the drugs repress his emotions, barring their expression and completion.

Anyway, things started to become much more meaningful. My concentration and logic abilities went way down, and my sensory experiences heightened and accelerated. I planned a lot more, and wrote down a lot more. I barely slept. I ate less, though I felt incredibly energized. I felt like through the basic meditation practice I’d been granted special powers. I no longer differentiated between words, spoken or written, from the objects they represent. No wonder the Egyptians believed names and words held total power. I felt like I could manifest just about anything, because everything that I experienced was so perfect in each moment, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Things that were traditionally near-meaningless became much more profound: bread crumbs, garbage, the sound of my footsteps. I felt expanded and connected, and more creative than I can ever remember. I helped to carry out the election as some kind of officer, though I forget of what kind. I told voters where to go all day, collected sheets from pollers all day, and had the most beautiful, celebratory experience of sharing food I can every member. At one point, I’m sure the lead officer/citizen was convinced I was insane. This was fine at that point, because I knew I was creating my experience; it didn’t bother me. The paranoia hadn’t started yet, this would come the day after, in the hospital.

After getting home that night, October 14th, 2008, I began to write a blog, much of which I remember as total gibberish to me now. I deleted all of it during a sensation of shame earlier this year. At the time, the blog held the secrets of my existence, and I was broadcasting them to the world, proving once and for all that enlightenment is no more than allowing the free flow of feelings to guide our way through life, and that everyone can do it.

I burned the midnight oil all that night, and made some pretty incredible art on this computer. I’d been impassioned about recording my experience and making art out of it for some time before. Some of the videos you can still see on my youtube channel. Look at predictive calculus, black new white, back to the middle, Mental # 1, Song No.1, All time no time, EMBARRASSMENT? The last 4 are especially significant for my experience of acute psychosis. In order to be able to see them, We first need to be youtube friends, then I will open them up to you. My name on youtube is Mohseyep – Please, feel free to add me and check them out at your leisure.

Anyway, I was up all night playing with light switches, making videos, talking to myself, burning magazines, feeling free and celebratory, excited and uninhibited, all those wonderful light feelings you describe so well online. The death of my ego, and the uninhibited expression of my inner light. Eventually, I began to feel depleted, drained of energy. I’d been burning a bright light of love within my heart for most of that day and all of the night, and I had sent out powerful vibrations to the rest of the universe, and to those people who were still paying attention. I wanted something to happen, because I couldn’t understand it with logic, the part of me that has been conditioned to expect full comprehension of everything in the universe. My ex phoned me, and I was running a bath, finally accepting the cathartic reality of my madness-freedom, and I was in no mood to talk to her. Our conversation was short, and very bitter. She almost immediately phoned my shrink, who pink-slipped me by phone with two large cops standing over me in my family home. I was taken by ambulance to the lowest security ward of the local psych hospital.

I spend two weeks there in hospital, struggling with the fear and the control and the anger, being drugged and not given a choice, let alone receiving the openness and space that I’d just given myself. I fully and joyfully resonate with your interpretation of mania as a sacred, natural, healing process that the body undergoes to heal past trauma. Because for two weeks this sacred self-healing experience was systematically and coldly repressed, I left there with a lot of unexpressed rage. I wanted nothing to do with the system, and nothing to do with the creepy doctors who saw me from time to time. I was highly motivated to get out. I’m now beginning to recognize the PROFOUND anger I can summon, if I choose to (though its not a highly productive choice, in fact its the one choice that the system needs to maintain its control over so many lives), not to mention the connection between the psychiatry industry and the systems which corporate culture, in collusion with near-completely corrupt lawmaking institutions have created in order to maintain control over the illusion of money and engender enough fear to feed our complicity. In this sense, I believe approaching mental health with a radically different approach is a deeply political spiritual act.

So, after being diagnosed with depression and OCD earlier that summer by an incompetent psychiatrist, I and my family all struggled to get me released after two weeks. In this case, I was taken off the effexor, and during my stay in hospital, I was diagnosed anew with bipolar disorder. I was put on the standard for antipsychotic medication here in BC: Olanzapine. In hospital, I gained 10 pounds on this drug. Outside hospital, I stayed on the drug for a very short period of time. At one point, I gained 8 pounds in seven days. I was absolutely infuriated by the treatment I had received in the hospital. I felt extraordinarily alone, and like no one else, especially not my parents, could understand the magnitude of my anger at being so harshly and obviously stuffed back into the repressed box society assumes to be natural. I burned the medications, and never looked back. This was one year ago, in November. This rage might connect to the choices that led me to my next episode, and it might not.

Med-free, I began to look for work. I was playing bike polo with a good community of men. I was having fun, and doing my best to manage the excitement I felt. I was writing a lot at this time, and doing a lot of release work with some recordings from www.limitlessness.com. An old friend of mine visited at this time. She is a nurse, and considering what I’d learned about energy, giving, and receiving, I became inspired. I applied to nursing school for September 2009, and began immediate work on a distance-education prerequisite course to fully qualify. I believe myself to be a wounded healer, and I thought it would be a great way to have a career and blend in, while getting lots of opportunity to hold space for people. The course started in January. It is a full-year course, and by March, I was 3/4s done it. My discipline and motivation in this period was very high. It’s no surprise, considering the direct repression of my experience that I agreed to, that I was working to get myself BACK into a hospital setting. Maybe this is conscious, maybe not. I don’t know. What I am sure of, is that I want healing.

I found a part-time job in a local tea shop, serving retirees around the end of November, in time for the Christmas season. At the restaurant I met a woman who immediately interested me. She was about 56, and had been practicing Reiki since 1984. I signed up for Reiki 1 in February, and loved it. I developed a relationship with other young members of her community.

In March, I met a whole new community, and my world began to expand at an unprecedented rate. I can give you an account of that evening here, on my blog: http://mohseyep.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/the-burning-moment/

That night, I encountered the first community I feel I can be a part of with my whole self. I certainly experienced a smaller, more time-constrained ego death that night. I felt no hesitation. I just started building relationships with as many of these people as I possibly could. I started to be out almost every night, and not sleeping so much. I quit my job at the teahouse. I fell in love. I began to contact juggle (http://www.shiftys-spheres.com/CJMoves.html).I slowed down and subsequently stopped working on my course as the social aspect of my life accelerated. This happened for two reasons. Firstly, I was altogether too excited to focus on it much when there were always so many amazing events and parties and social gatherings to explore. Secondly, UBC said no. At the beginning of April, they contacted me to say that my application had not been approved. This immediately took the wind from my sails. I slowed my work pace even more, not really KNOWing in that special way that we can KNOW that nursing was right for me. I slowed, assuming I would finish the course at a later date and reapply. I still don’t rule this out.At the end of April, they invited me for an interview in Vancouver. I went, aced it by being myself, and they invited me to the course a week later. In my perception, I didn’t have enough time to finish the prerequisite, so I said no. I then fully stopped working on the course, and opened myself up to the full experience of my new communities.

In April, I looked up a local shaman, and began to practice shamanic journeying. The results from this technique, what I take to be a highly active form of meditation in which I empower myself to learn from my own higher self and act accordingly, have been astounding. Synchronicity, image, timing, connection, new experience, growth, money, relaxation, self acceptance. I love this work, and I resonate with the stories you tell in your videos about Shamanism and tribal culture, and how critical it is for ‘people with bipolar’ and also people generally for us to evolve in consciousness as individuals and as a collective.

In may, through a connection within my burner community, I got a job which I still have and love, working for a community day centre for adults with developmental disabilities. I make my own hours, make a decent wage for my stage of life, and enjoy my job thoroughly. It fits me. I love giving people the space they need to be themselves. I now have a second care giving job working for a man in his home. He has muscular dystrophy.

In June, I went with my Reiki teacher to visit Amma in Seattle: www.amma.org. This was perhaps the most powerful and directly emotional experience of love in my adult life. I received darshan, asked for a mantra, and practiced the meditation I was taught to go along with it for months afterwards. Its intention was ’surrender’.

I had begun to take psychedelics. Slowly. I have had experience with them in the past, largely in high school. Mushrooms only, except for the LSD two Septembers previous. I took a dose of Mushroom juice in the park with some friends. Beautiful, safe, nurturing environment, lovely. Then I wound up at a festival. I took MDMA on the Thursday, and then on Saturday I surrendered completely to the experience, and took MDMA, mushrooms, and LSD all at the same time. This was a super-potent trip named “The Jedi.” At one point I remember being able to listen to the trees. I shouted my joy into the silence of dawn. I became one with the flow of energy that is life. Everything spoke to me within the self-referential language of personal symbol and archetype. Mine was a full on ego death, and I embraced every moment of it.

At another festival, the weekend following, I took LSD again. This choice to do LSD came just after facilitating a meditation workshop at the festival. I used simple breath exercises, chanting, and visualization techniques. One man cried, beautifully. This was an important milestone for me, because friends I knew and loved were not only accepting that part of my reality but embracing it. A far cry from the hospital. On the LSD, the intensity of my experience began to overwhelm me. I became an old man, and died another ego death. My parents, with whom I still lived with, and from whose reality I was consciously building up blocks, were beginning to really worry about my mental health. They suspected, but didn’t actually know until I told them later on that I had been experiencing a lot more drugs than was normal for me. Normal is zero, save caffeine.

In months of spring, March, April, then May, then June as well, I had been consciously barring my parents from my experience. I assumed they couldn’t help or support me. When the opportunities came up, I berated them with words which made sense to me in my enlightened-psychotic state, but which they had no frame of reference for understanding. Whether intentionally or not, I was alienating them from me, the two people who I would depend on most for comfort in my second hospitalization.

This last July was ugly. My communities continued to function without me, and I began to feel very strange. The third ever dose of LSD came at the end of June. It was very difficult for me to pack up my gear, costumes, tent, and other belongings. In my interpretation, the following two weeks of total fear, absolute paranoia, and delusional thinking resulted not from something ‘wrong’ with me at a core level, but because of the lack of intention and consciousness with which I used all of those drugs. Also, I have no idea. There are probably some other traumas that have gone unhealed for a long time as well which I am not conscious of – yet.

Surrender is one thing, but to make such choices was very much outside of my character. My ego had died, and I was functioning from a space in those prior months in which I didn’t mind if I made uncharacteristic decisions. I was in the flow of the truth of my being, for months – why my dad and psychiatrist would later name hypo-mania. After taking psychoactive street drugs, I opened myself up to the spirit world in such an unprotected way that I incorporated a lot of the same old fear systems that have gone on for millenia. The negative space of paranoid delusions also had much to do with the trauma I’d undergone in the hospital the previous October.

I went on a camping trip with an older man from work, someone who has now become a close friend of mine, a week after my final LSD experience. He held open a space of unconditional acceptance and total confidentiality. In this way, his questions led me to understand ad believe that ‘I might have something going on in my reality that I don’t understand. I need to ask about it to get it checked out.’ Respecting him, and believing this for myself, I later chose to go to another new psychiatrist. This was the true beginning of the paranoid delusions that led me to take time off work. In this interaction, I totally closed the door on pharma-drugs, because I associate pharmaceutical drugs with fear and dis-empowerment. She also reminded me, after having told her my story, not to do any kinds of street drugs whatsoever. In this way, she was only able to recommend rest, exercise, nutrition, and routine. She wasn’t afraid of me, but was interested in promoting my own fear of myself, which she did very well.

I remember the episode right after my visit to see the shrink. I went to a vocal beatboxing workshop, and there were three beautiful, conscious, superbly healing women around me. I sensed attraction from one woman early on that evening. This was exactly the right situation for me. I kept my shit together, had a blast, and released a lot of the emotional stuff I’d been holding on to. It was a sacred workshop, and the intention to hold space was open and initiated the evening. I was obviously struggling with something, but I’m not sure if any of us knew exactly what that was. After the workshop ended, I decided to stick around and socialize. One of the girls offered me a joint. I smoked, and all the chemical changes in my body from the psychedelics, underneath the surface of my consciousness rose to the forefront. Fuelled by my confusion and a good deal of the negative, controlling, fearful energy I’d picked up in my drug journeys, I became a monster. Judgmental, sexist, manipulative, attention seeking, full on egotistic breakout. Despite my enactment of some of the lowest parts of my consciousness, they held space for me, and when I could get it together, I went home. I am very grateful for these three and more. All night, a power animal of mine was watching.

I began to believe and know that I could ‘read’ peoples thoughts, projecting my own words and particular flavors of fear on them as soon as I knew whether they were coming from a place of love or fear. Most people on the street? Fear. Most of my colleagues at work? Fear. My old friends conspiracy, corporatism, and corruption blossomed into fears of drug lords, mafia, hell’s angels, illuminati, secret societies, hidden governments. At its worst, even the friends and family who I ’should have known’ loved and supported me came into my perception as a part of the delusion.

Work was unbearable. All of the ‘developmentally disabled’ people our culture sequesters at places like the one where I work every day are FULLY tuned in and turned on. They can recognize things about you that most people have no idea they are even revealing about themselves and their inner processes. I was frigging terrified at work that day because I knew that all of the clients could read me, and I could read them. Some of the interactions were positive. One lovely woman came straight up to me and told me she loved me. Another hit herself in the head repeatedly. I had no filters, no skills for being in two worlds at the same time.

The main problem with all of this, apart from the more than usual unpredictability of all the clients I worked with that day, was the staff. The staff were literally walking enforcers of the modern logical, empirical, consensus-reality choice to ignore the multidimensional nature of our consciousness, and instead focus on measurable, arms-length objectivism. I saw how each interaction between staff and client was either an embrace of love or a fearful rejection or attempt to control. In both cases, there were levels of communication and reality which I had no normal awareness of that was able to clearly perceive – in each case, the client was significantly more evolved than the staff member. I understood how the only reason I had been allowed in to this place of control was because I too was at work from within my chosen programming, controlling myself, limiting myself, controlling others, while ostensibly serving them.

This experience has shown me how our jobs and the habits they engender promote a monolithic lack of self-awareness as the desirable norm, and slow or stop our evolution as a species. In this way, I am complicit. I admit that I help to co-create the system of fear that enslaves people to their own projections of limitation, allowing the collective ego of the human race to enslave, torture, and kill itself. I still work at this place, and I do my best to come from a feeling of unconditional compassion and love for each client in each interaction. I am learning to be comfortable with the unknowing of whether I am reducing harm or exacerbating it.

I had to tell my supervisor that I was having severe personal problems, and wanted to book time off. That night I went downtown to busk. I am a contact juggler, and I’ve gotten pretty good. I thought that by doing some really intentional service, I could redeem some of the harm I’d committed in the name of my individuated and the collective ego. I busked and busked and busked. I made 70 bucks in 6 hours once that week. I will refer you to some more writing of mine, which talks about this experience of busking a little bit: http://mohseyep.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/attention/ I attracted attention with my ball-dancing, and held crowds using multi-ball contact and Byron Katie’s “The Work’ self-inquiry methodology. (http://www.thework.com/index.asp) I framed this combination as street theater hypnosis. I was very vocal about this, at first.

In any case, I was now in the full flow of ego death, though this was no healing, beautiful, light and celebratory experience of love within the flow of energy. What I was feeling was the contorted regimentation of consciousness that I had believed was freedom. I felt the suffering of each individual that passed by me as my own. I knew that everyone around me was walking with fear in their heart. The city seemed like a monstrosity to me, and I was its only sane inhabitant. I looked around in the city, shouting things like ’street hypnosis!’ or ‘all I need is one volunteer,’ and received my free expression with looks of disgust or fearful curiosity. My charisma and brute force was able to hold people’s attention for a while, but if they sat for too long, I began to see them as the enemy, spying on me.

This went on for hours. As my paranoia grew, so would the totality with which people ignored my busking act. As my confidence in my ability to express myself grew, so would my ability to gather and hypnotize people, earning little coins and papers. The next part of my story, in fact, all of my story must be taken as a story, a perception of one of an infinite number of experiences – not a reality. I was in a story, not a reality. Even as I tell this story to you, I recognize my egotistic identification with it and its irrelevance. This is why I am comfortable sharing this ‘intensely personal’ story with you. It is not me, and never was. The fundamental nature of each person is sensory, experiential, and immediate. It has nothing to do with our stories, our pasts, or our plans. Now, now, now, now we are. Now, I am that.

As I was busking, I noticed that a police car had driven by twice, with its sirens on just around where I was working. This didn’t bother me. I continued to work. Then an ambulance did the same thing. This got the response I was trying to avoid. I sat down. I showed some weakness. I felt that later, this was the true beginning of my paranoid psychosis. There was a kabuki cab, a cycle cab driver standing nearby, projecting his energy into my space. He held a phone. I introduced myself, I I cast him as the agent of the controller (of course, a a part of my own mind), and the rest unfolded. I believed he was an undercover cop, phoning me in. I maintained my space, until I felt my phone ring. I picked up a message from my mother about her plan for the evening, and to check in with me. I cryptically interpreted this message as proof that she was conspiring with the cops and the people at my work to get me back in the hospital. This is when I really began to cease trusting my loved ones.

I left, and found myself in front of a cafe I love, re-reading notes form my job, trying to associate the physical objects I had in my life with some aspect of normalcy, to remind myself of my responsibility and of my capability to deal with the world. There was a man sitting next to me. A woman came right up to him, with a giant bag of weed, and openly offered it to him. I assumed they were both corrupt undercover cops, and bolted. For the remainder of the night, I was pursued by the ghosts of my internal world. I projected the controlling, observing, judgmental, reductionist, power-hungry and intimidating aspects of my own psyche as a blanket on to everything I could see, touch, hear, or smell. My phone was tapped. My parents were cooperating with the illuminati. I was alive, fully alive, inside hell. Everywhere were demons, no-faced agents of my destruction. There could be no salvation. I was damned, and afraid forever. I felt like I was completely insane. I called my parents after some time, drive home with my father, and blamed him for everything. My parents were obviously guilty of putting the cops on to me. I have no memory of how I calmed down or slept that night.

The following morning, I tried to fill the prescription for different drugs I’d received from the shrink a week or two before. In my state, their inability to fill the script due to not having enough meds was the last straw. I walked in, sure after the previous evening that everyone in the city knew that I was an insane freak who needed to be hospitalized, and showed the man my prescription. In response to my presence, he behaved like a man who was having a relaxing morning and had suddenly been given a choice to either fill my prescription or be held responsible for the genocide of a small country. I have no idea whether what I heard was actually spoken at all, but I definitely heard a conversation in which my name was mentioned, and the following words were heard: “disaster response protocol.” I left, fully freaking out, knowing that I was going to live within this corrupted and terrible world of fear for the rest of my life, unless I chose to drug myself. I went home, and called 911.

Every person’s behaviour from the ambulance driver to the nurses continually reinforced my feeling of insanity and wrongness-within. Their fear of my psychosis confirmed the fact that the drug lords, organized crime bosses, secret societies, corrupt cops, paid off nurses, laughing psychiatrists, idiotic social workers, and especially all the other patients in the hospital were included in my delusion. It seemed as if I was the person for whom the farce of the mental ward had been created. It seemed like the other patients were in control, and like some had been specially selected to have a stay with me in order to scare the shit out of me. I remember the first lady I met in the safe room. This woman was a competent psychic. She left notes out for me to read by ‘accident.’ The contained explanations of my worst fears, and confirmations that I had been detected by the illuminati. I look up from this note to see a ‘Mason-lift’ truck pull away from the street outside, confirming that I had seen the note. She looked me in the eye, talked to me, and told me that I would never get out.

After four days, I was moved to the other room. It is as if the place exists solely to box up and repress our ability to see, hear, and feel things for what they truly are. I had no one to talk to except patients who were much worse off than me (thinking about them now, my heart breaks), and nothing but my own thoughts to keep me company. From day one, my ego had risen to such power that I believed that everyone in the hospital knew when I was alone and calm. I believed that the act of meditation would prolong my stay. I had no idea what to do. I accepted the drugs. No one was allowed in to see me until after I’d left the safe room. My friends and family came, and they were part of the delusion too. It was horrific.

I was reminded that I was bipolar. I started taking lithium. It took about 5 days of concentrated effort, but after a while, my meditation practice began to generate some personal space around myself. I was able to walk around the room without feeling attacked and brutalized by the other patients. I was able to calm my fears by repeating: “I am confident, secure, and sure of my freedom” for days on end.

I was able to leave once I’d become much less delusional. I left in late July.

I’d bought my ticket to burning man in May. I decided to go through with the plan, and spent much of August preparing for my journey to the unknown. An account of my burning man experience can be found here: http://mohseyep.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/burning-man-2009/ I camped with HeeBeeGeeBee Healers, an international community of healing arts professionals. It was absolutely wonderful: http://www.heebeegeebeehealers.org/

I am actively pursuing my own healing, and this process led me to you. Your videos resonate deeply. In the hospital, some part of me accepted that I ought to fear myself. I no longer accept this choice. I am going to heal, whether I can find help or not. I want to be med free again, asap.

I am ready. I am asking. I am creating.

Much love…

*******

If you got this far, thank you for reading. I admire your curiosity and patience.

One love.

-M-

Petit Ninja Watch Out

sauveniere — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:32:11 +0000

Avant de commencer le week-end, une très belle animation, ou plutôt un court-métrage, devrais-je dire, les aventures humoristiques et palpitantes d’un petit, mais alors tout petit ninja, soyez remerciés pour vos commentaires, passez un très bon week end et moi je vais me reposer un peu, ne regardez pas trop votre PC

Ce qu'il ne faut pas faire en créant une société sur le Web...enfin faites le si vous voulez....

tregor001 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:55:25 +0000

Alors ce post me tiens beaucoup à cœur à vrai dire car c’est un peu un résumé de ma vie professionnel (enfin…résumé…j’ai 24 ans…alors c’est un résumé de mon résumé de vie (oula c’est philosophique)).

Bref, donc je voudrais un peu parler de CE QU’IL NE FAUT PAS FAIRE quand on crée un site(marchand ou non marchand). Je n’ai pas la prétention de dire que je sais tout, mais ayant travaillé pendant plus de deux ans dans des start up, si j’ai bien vu une chose, c’est que quand on est pas issu du web et qu’on veut créer un site, souvent on ne pense pas réellement à la réflexion qu’il y a en amont (et c’est souvent ça le problème…la réflexion).

1) Réfléchissez au projet!

Non mais ça parait bête comme ça mais franchement arrêtez de vous dire “j’ai le bon concept” et c’est tout (encore faut il qu’il soit bon pour quelqu’un d’autre que vous).Quelque soit la société que vous créez, réfléchissez y en PROFONDEUR, parce que c’est souvent ça qui manque …de la profondeur (avec un beau cahier des charges par exemple).

2) Etudiez la concurrence

Quelque soit le brillant de votre projet, sachez que vous avez une chance sur dix (approximativement) pour que personne n’y ai réfléchit avant vous. Faites un benchmark, étudiez les “best practices” de vos concurrents, en bref regardez ce qu’ils fonts et demandez vous si votre projet n’est pas trop similaire et trop concurrentiel pour toucher une cible. Arrêtez de penser que vous ferez mieux que toutes les sociétés réunis (qui eux possède 100 fois plus de développeurs que vous), vous ne faites pas mieux, vous faites différents.

3) Arrêtez de vouloir toucher tout le monde

Alors ça, je l’entends tous les jours…je pense bien que, avec les 4P en marketing c’est la première chose qu’on apprend en école, il faut CIBLER! Vouloir toucher tout le monde équivaut à ne toucher personne (déjà va falloir m’expliquer comment vous touchez les nouveaux nés, parce que j’ai bien essayé de les faire allé sur Facebook mais ils m’ont jetés le clavier à la figure).

Deux termes à ne pas oublier : coeur de cible (les personnes qui ont le plus de potentiel sur votre marché) et cibles générales (non ce n’est pas tout le monde !!)

4) Arrêtez de développer avant de réfléchir !

Je me vois encore arrivant dans une société pour réfléchir à la conception du site et m’apercevant que tout avait déjà été développé ! Arrêtez de croire que les développeurs passent avant le marketing, un développeur est sensé travailler sur un cahier des charges établis, réfléchis et validé ! Parce que développer un site et ensuite se dire « bon on fait quoi comme fonctionnalités ? » c’est comme s’essuyer l’arrière train avant d’avoir effectué la grosse commission (pardonnez moi la poésie). La structure du site doit être établie selon les fonctionnalités qui veulent être misent en place à court et long terme.

Arrêtez de pousser au développement des fonctionnalités sans avoir rédigé le cahier des charges (ça parait lourd comme mot mais en fait avec un bon vieux Excel et un « story board » sur Powerpoint on peut rapidement se rendre compte des limites de nos fonctionnalités et ainsi ne pas perdre du temps par la suite lors du développement avec des « et on fait quoi si »où vous n’aurait pas la réponse).

5) Réfléchissez au référencement naturel !

Alors certes il y a des agences web très compétentes dans le domaine du « je vais vous aider à être en première position sur l’expression achat de chaussure blanche à lacet rouge en cuir de peau de lapin » alors que vous vendez des jeans, mais vous pouvez optimiser vous-même votre site au référencement naturel. Pensez à l’optimisation du site pour les robots Google (75% du marché) dès sa conception, cela prend du temps certes, mais il y a des choses très simples à mettre en place pour améliorer son référencement naturel et cela gratuitement (je vais d’ailleurs créer un post à ce sujet d’ici peu).

6)Embauchez du personnel qualifié !

Vous lancez une société, vous n’avez certainement pas un budget à rallonge, mais si vous embauchez un développeur au rabais et que celui-ci met deux ou trois fois plus de temps pour faire son travail, vous allez perdre énormément d’argent. De plus, il risque de faire n’importe quoi et rattraper ses erreurs risque de vous faire perdre encore + de temps ! Un bon recrutement est la base pour réussir !

7) Testez votre site !

Faites tester votre site en béta test à des personnes qui correspondent principalement à votre cœur de cible, demandez leur des retours pour savoir ce qui cloche en terme d’ergonomie, de fonctionnalités. On peut avoir les meilleures fonctionnalités du monde, si l’internaute ne comprend pas comment les utiliser elles ne serviront à rien.

8 ) Communiquez de manière originale

Faites un effort ! La bannière pub est devenue presque invisible pour l’internaute lambda, mais il existe beaucoup de méthodes (qui plus est gratuites) pour communiquer auprès de vos clients. Alors je ne dis pas d’arrêter de communiquer de cette manière, mais mêlez votre communication au communautaire (blog,facebook,twitter…).Etablissez un réel contact avec vos clients finaux (avec un community manager par exemple :) ), c’est eux qui parleront de votre société à votre place.

Bref :
Cette liste n’est certainement pas exhaustive, mais en tout cas, je pense qu’elle peut être utile à se poser les bonnes questions du moins « marketinguement parlant ».

A mon avis…car ce n’est que mon avis…

Good Luck les gens

Jim's Re-boot; let's start at the top: Genesis 1-2; Abraham 2-3

jimnose — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:07:02 +0000

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…” (Gen. 1)

“And the earth was without form, and void…” (Moses 2)

“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…” (from The Sound of Music)

In Chapter 1 of Genesis, it says God took six days to create the heaven & the earth, including the stars (with all of their own aspects) and earth, with all of its elements and life.

It also marked each section into days and nights – it appears that He practiced working on projects in “day-tight compartments.” He also rested on the seventh day, and it was perfectly appropriate that he recognize and praise the good work.

For some reason, I want to know everything at once, not pause to recharge (feel guilty), and only acknowledge someone else’s praise as valid, while minimizing it in myriad ways.

If taking a day to do a day’s work is good enough for God, it ought to be good enough for me. He’s shared with us some measure of the gift of creation and trusts us to use it well.

If resting for a day here and there is good enough for God, then it ought to be good enough for me.

If trusting His own judgment about work being complete and good is good enough for God, then trusting my own judgment in some matters should be good enough for me.

We are taught that He made us in His own image, therefore we have his attributes. We are also taught that we literally are His children and that He loves us. If He loves us and we have His attributes, then it stands to reason that He is raising us up to some good purpose. He instructs us through revelations, gives us commandments and provides guidance, testimony and warning through the Holy Ghost. Since He knows a whole lot more than we do, then obeying Him happily should be good enough for me, too.

In summary, there should be no guilt in resting sometimes, doing a day’s work in a day, and unabashedly using the seed of the ground, the beasts of the field, etc. for our sustenance, strength and creativity, and to be gratified by our daily work, the fruit of our labors. The one piece to add is, that if He trusts us, we should trust Him and check in with Him often to receive His opinion on matters. And that ought to be good enough for me too. Up to now, I thought I was the exception. Life keeps telling me I’m not. And it’s up to me to learn how it all works. Well, with a little help from my friends, that is.

A Thanksgiving Poem

bloodbought — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:55:56 +0000

I could never exhaust the praise
that king Jesus rightly deserves.
Words fail to express the Thanksgiving
Which is in my heart for your death on my behalf.

All glory, honor and thanks is Jesus’
For by His blood He ransomed people for God.
You are holy, holy, holy, there is none like you.
All creation is yours and by your will we exist.

When you bring your redeemed to the new heaven and earth
We will spend all eternity giving thanks for who you are
And that you have called us to yourself
So that we can be complete and satisfied in you.

Lego: Link et Zelda + Casquette New Era par Castelbajac

The Yellow Kid — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:44:01 +0000

Personnellement, je n’ai jamais réussi à construire un truc potable avec des Lego. Que ce soit un véhicule, une base pour mes personnages ou des créations abstraites, tout ce que mes mains parvenaient à assembler ressemblait vaguement à un tas difforme.

Alors quand je vois cette plaque Link et Zelda (époque NES) réalisée par Naneto avec les petites briques de couleur de notre enfance, forcément, je pleure. Parce que c’est beau, et parce que je me dis que j’étais vraiment bidon quand j’étais jeune. D’autant plus quand je tombe la minute suivante sur la casquette New Era réalisée par Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, que je trouve tout simplement dingue. C’est décidé, à Noël je rachète une boîte de briques.

Via

Pour voir d’autres images de Zelda sur NES et de la casquette New Era x JCDC en Lego, vous pouvez cliquer pour

The history and future of the world, and the meaning of life, in a few paragraphs

Viktor D. Huliganov — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:40:31 +0000

I was asked by Frank J, on talk.origins: Assuming for the sake of argument, that “the world

Elves at work - our creation storyboard!

iwonderbee — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:50:34 +0000

Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Hehe, can you guess the reasons I used an envelope to represent Day 0?

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Shiiiiiiiiiing!!! Check out the glow

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Clouds to represent the bodies of water in the sky!

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Day 3 - part one

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

Day 3 - part two

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Starting to look really nice!

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

Turn the blue foam over on the reverse side, and ta dah - sea creatures! Ah ha, what's on the other side of the orange foam...?

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Now that's really crowded!

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Click here for instructions on how to make a storyboard backing.

Our cell group has just started an apologetics bible study series on DVD, and the first of the series is on the Creation account, which inspired me to do up a storyboard for the kids. In our preparation, I found that when I tried to go through the frames from memory without referring to the Genesis account, I got the order all mixed up between Days 3-5. That’s a 43% error rate, shame on me!

So it turned out to be a really good and timely Sunday School revision.

INDIGEN LE PROJET DE SUPINFO COM

sauveniere — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:01:31 +0000

Ce n’est certes pas un nouveau projet que je vais vous présenter, peut-être le connaissez-vous déjà, mais celles et ceux qui ne l’auraient pas vu seront contents , non seulement, de passer un bon moment de franche rigolade, mais d’admirer le travail fourni par les élèves de SUPINFO COM, ce film d’animation mettant aux prises un homme et un animal provoque , malgré quelques scènes trash, d’inévitables contractions du côté de vos zygomatiques, et j’espère que vous aurez du plaisir à le voir ou à le revoir, car on ne se lasse pas de ces petits chefs d’oeuvre, il est remarquable de voir que le travail au niveau du script et de l’animation sont en totale adéquation, ciselés comme de la dentelle, pas de temps mort. Bon visionnage et belle journée à toutes et tous. Notez qu’il leur a fallu six mois de travail pour arriver à ce résultat.

SciFi - Marre de se lever le matin?

kairosmosaique — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:44:12 +0000

Avec Nicolas Bordas, on a eu le droit récemment à l’idée qui tue. Moi de mon côté, je pourrais écrire un bouquin intitulé l’idée qui tue… que j’aurais voulu avoir mais que quelqu’un a eu avant moi. Ce quelqu’un serait aujourd’hui la chaîne thématique SciFi. Voici un spot Intitulé Human Suit incroyablement créatif, poétique, ironique aussi et qui donne des idées à ceux qui ne veulent pas se lever le matin pour aller bosser. L’impossible devient ici possible même si le mythe de l’Homme rattrapé par sa Création est au centre de la réflexion. La signature “if” est enfin très habilement glissée dans le nom de la chaîne…