The world is naturally beautiful and meant to be enjoyed. However, humans can be overwhelmed with wanting to emulate or find this flawless beauty. We can become obsessed with needing perfection in all things, even though the perfection can be in the flaws. The smoothness of life is preferred to its rocky points but it is often found that life is hard to live in a constant state of ease.

As channeled by my master teacher, Jordann: Be at peace with the knowledge that the sun has risen and is among each and every one of you.  Bringing spiritual light, spiritual love, and spiritual peace, we are closer than breath, closer than yourself to the son.  For within this space is a prayer for peace, a prayer that each and every person know and understand the divinity within them.  For understanding this divinity creates the space to understand this reality, which is a dream, is not real.  The breath is real, the breath and the flow of life within the world, but all else is false, is illusion.  Notice and see the illusion for what it is.  Rejoice in its impermanence.  Do this now in your day-to-day life.  It is right path.

I was holding Boxer in my lap and thinking about how astral plane guides used dreams to communicate with those that looked after, when an idea occurred to me. I lifted Boxer and stared into his eyes (really my mother’s eyes since she was using Boxer to watch over me).

“You sent that classroom dream, didn’t you?” The enigmatic smile and the quiet mrow told me what I already knew. My mother had been trying to help me connect the clues by sending me that dream of the classroom with all the seemingly disparate objects on the desk.

“Sometimes I can be so slow,” I said, Boxer again sitting in my lap with my hand absently petting his smooth fur.

A deep meowr-rowr told me that Boxer (my mother) agreed. “So, am I on the right path now?” I asked the cat.

Boxer looked up, his amber eyes meeting mine, and another mrowr grumbled through his chest. I gave the cat a hug, and then carefully placed him in one of his boxes to lounge in the last slanting rays of the sun.

I still didn’t completely understand all of the clues from that classroom dream, but at least now I knew I was headed in the right direction—back to the radio station tomorrow. Tonight, though, I was headed back downstairs to fix dinner.

In the kitchen, I glanced at my watch and realized that Dave would be home any moment. I grabbed some stuff from the fridge and put together my version of a Cobb salad, then sliced some French bread and put it into the oven to warm. Dinner would be light tonight after our celebratory luncheon at Berghoff’s.

* * *

The next morning found me back on the train headed for Chicago. It wasn’t the same train as Dave, though. Since I wasn’t doing a show, I hadn’t needed to be at the radio station so early, so I was enjoying a second cup of coffee as the 8:00 express sped its way down to the Loop.

The morning walk to WKRV was brisk. I was glad I had worn my heavy wool pant suit, with the nubby, burnt-orange sweater underneath. The sun had not yet to found its way out from behind the gray-garbed clouds, and the wind, which whipped out at me from its hiding place behind the buildings, held a hint of winter.

When I entered the lobby for WKRV it was full of visitors, business types, and even a small mob of school kids who were waiting for a tour. I hung around the fringes for a few moments trying to identify any recognizable energy patterns, but the mix of people was too over powering. I couldn’t really identify any individual energies with the swirl of emotions and I didn’t feel any pings from anyone in the mess of people, so I moved around the edge of the lobby heading for the offices.

I paused at the doorways of the various offices. Some of the offices were unoccupied, so I passed them by. Other offices were occupied, but had the door closed, which made it a bit more difficult to reach out and “feel” the energies of anyone inside. Some of the occupied offices had several people inside, so it took several minutes of hanging around and trying to appear innocuous while I “felt” the energies of each person to see if they were the person I was looking for.

By the time I had wandered past nearly all of the offices, the lobby had quieted. A moment later, I saw that the receptionist was eyeing me in between her brief bursts of conversation with the package delivery man. She’s probably wondering what I am doing, I thought somewhat guiltily.

I put on my best smile and started toward her desk. As I watched the package delivery man put the stack of parcels and envelopes on her desk, I realized that the energy I had been looking for was hers.

I stopped halfway to her desk and, closing my eyes, I reached out with my energies and touched her aura. I focused on the pattern I had searched for from the email, and knew it was a match. As I thought about the nightmares and the person who had created them, I saw that it was also part of her energy pattern.

So, the pinging I had felt each time that I had left the radio station had been her. When I opened my eyes, she was staring at me.

“Are you all right? Do you need something—water, a chair?” she asked a worried frown on her face.

I blushed as I realized how odd I must look standing in the middle of the lobby with my eyes closed. I shook my head to her questions, and stammered, “Uhhh, no, I’m fine.”

I walked to her desk, and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Hi, what I need…”, I paused and searched the desk for her name plaque, “Rose…”. I stopped again. I could hardly blurt out that I had been looking for her, that I knew she was the emailer; the one who was worried about someone trying to take advantage of her father, or that she kept dragging me into her nightmares. Somehow, I was going to have to approach her with a little more finesse than that. So, I finished my sentence by saying, “…is to see the station manager for a moment. Tell him it’s Psychic Annya.”

I refreshed my smile, and showed her the agreement with my signature on it. She returned my smile, although I could feel her emotional energies wavering.

She’s probably wondering just how dangerous I am, I thought.

“Just a moment. I’ll see if he’s available.”

She picked up her phone and touched several numbers, then spoke briefly with the person at the other end. As she hung up the phone, she said, “He’ll be here in a moment.”

I nodded, and then walked toward the area where I knew the station manager’s office to be. A minute later he popped out and waved me back toward his office.

I showed him the notations that the lawyer had made; he signed the agreement, and then he made copies. As we shook hands and agreed on a start date, my mind kept wandering back to Rose McAndress, the receptionist. I had several ideas on how I could handle this situation, but I really wanted to speak to Katie first. Sometimes I think something is a good idea, but it takes talking it out for me to really see all the problems with it.

Katie was a great friend that way. She’d let me bounce any number of ideas off of her, and she had no qualms about telling me when she thought they were utterly stupid ideas. Nor did she have any qualms about telling me how stupid I would be to follow through on any of those dumb ideas.

Yep, I really needed to meet and talk with Katie.

I finished with the station manager, and then headed for the door. When I reached the lobby, Rose’s desk was completely surrounded again, and she didn’t even notice me leaving. Probably a good thing, I thought.

As I headed for the library to do my research, I called Katie. She agreed to meet me at a place near the train station about 4:30. So, I called and let Dave know that I would be home late (no, I didn’t know how late, but I was meeting Katie so that should give him an idea), and though unhappy at having to get his own dinner, he said he would survive. I smiled to myself, yeah, he would survive; he’d probably order something from Pizza Hut, knowing him.

The day was still gray and the wind was still cold, so instead of walking to the library, I decided to grab a cab.

Neerah pulled back from the Pyramid of Echoes crystal, her face as red as the setting sun. She understood Ionee’s curiosity, yet she couldn’t help but find the whole experience a bit embarrassing. Neerah was beginning to understand the problems that drove Ionee and DaeNoth apart. It wasn’t that either of them had been wrong, exactly, it was more that neither of them had really considered the other when making choices.

Looking around to make sure she was alone, she took several deep breaths before going back into Ionee’s memories. She hoped she could skip some of them, now that she had made a partial connection to the problem, because some of these were just too personal and too embarrassing.

*****

Ionee was back in the human settlement just watching the people as they came and went. Two men stopped and began arguing about something, while several women walked by, some with children. Ionee was especially fascinated by the children. She was making silly faces at a little girl, whose mother had stopped to chat with one of the other women, and was surprised when the child responded back. It had never occurred to her, that anyone could see her, but evidently the little girl could. She was just kneeling down to be on the same level with the girl, when she felt herself jerked backwards.

There was a tug on her midsection, then a feeling as if she were falling. Suddenly she opened her eyes and found herself in her own bedroom lying on the lounge, DaeNoth standing next to her.

Startled, she snapped at him, “What are you doing here?”

“I…um…you asked me to awaken you for evening meal.”

Realizing that her anger was out of proportion to his actions, she apologized, “Yes, I did. I am sorry. I did not mean to snap at you,” she smiled pleasantly at DaeNoth. “You startled me that is all. I was dreaming, then suddenly the world was shaking.”

“What were you dreaming about?” DaeNoth asked, apparently happy now that Ionee was no longer angry with him.

“Um…I am not sure, now, it all seems to vague,” she responded as the stood up. She couldn’t tell him that she had been experimenting with essence projection again. Actually, she had been doing it now for several months, but he would never understand, especially since it was because of him that she was doing it at all. He was so overprotective. She couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without him tagging along, and if he thought that what she wanted to do was too dangerous or too risky, he would keep her from it. Who was he to dictate to her what she could and could not do. She had come to Danaria to find out what it was like to be physical, instead she had become a prisoner in the world of Aurisens.

*****

Ionee stood near the café and watched a young couple emerge. It was the same young man she had observed many times before over the past few months, but again he was with a different woman. While she watched them walk towards the corner, she longed to be the woman with him—to feel his touch, and to smell the evening. As that thought flew through her mind, she found herself looking out through someone else’s eyes, and walking with someone else’s body. Stopping, she looked down and realized that she was somehow inside the body of the woman who had just strolled past her. Briefly, she wondered where the woman was, but was soon too fascinated with her surroundings and her companion. She touched the fabric of the dress, sliding her fingers up and down the sleek and shiny smoothness of it. Then, catching a sweet, yet musky scent, she sniffed the evening air. There were so many smells; it was marvelous. The Forest of Reflections was so bland compared to this. Instead of just the aroma of flowers and grasses, here there were a great many odors that she didn’t even recognize. She turned toward the young man accompanying her, and marveled at how blue his eyes were and how soft his golden hair looked. Reaching out, she twined a lock of his hair around her finger, and smiled. It was soft, like the downy flower seeds.

The man reached up and took her hand from his hair, then pulling her close he kissed her. Ionee was in heaven. Her body—no, her borrowed body—trembled, and she felt as if her legs would no longer support her. She moaned deep in her throat, and the man pressed himself against her more fully. She could smell his musky scent mixed with the fragrance of some subtle perfume, though she didn’t know if it was his or hers. It didn’t really matter. Her senses were reeling from all the stimuli, yet she didn’t want it to stop.

Breathless, the young man eased himself away from her, “I fear you are almost too impatient, my dear. My place is just around the corner.” Taking her hand again, he began to lead her down the street.

Ionee, wanting to experience those strange breathless quiverings again, stopped and tried to kiss the man again.

“You are not only impatient, but quite forward. Something I find most intriguing,” he said when her lips nibbled on his ear lobe.

Just as he began to kiss her again, Ionee found herself back to being an essence projection again. The young lady, now returned to her own body, slapped her date, and stalked off. As Ionee watched the woman’s bewildered date rub his cheek, she knew she would have to find another way to visit. Her vicarious existence no longer satisfied her, she wanted to experience everything—every last nuance of life.

Dissatisfied yet determined, she returned to her own body.

*****

Neerah experienced several more memories in which Ionee stole someone else’s body. Stole was a harsh word, but Neerah felt that what Ionee had done was no better than what d’Oessler had done to Darkwind.

She shuddered at the thought of pushing someone out of their body just so she could go and have fun. It wasn’t right. Each time Ionee had stolen someone’s body she had returned it, but that still didn’t make it right. She was stealing part of their life and taking away their choices.

Neerah was growing despondent. She had always believed all the legends and stories regarding Ionee of Starfall. But they had painted her as the victim not the victimizer. Now, seeing the truth as to who Ionee had been—who she had really been—depressed her. She wasn’t sure that the Ionee she was coming to know was someone she liked very much.

If only Ionee hadn’t been so insensitive or DaeNoth so demanding and controlling, she sighed.

One of the best ways to see and understand the spiritual universe is to look closely at the physical universe.  The mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of our existence are not really that different from the physical.  The same laws apply.  Matter and energy all behave in more or less the same fashion.

Just as in the physical universe, everything is descended from light.  In the physical universe matter and antimatter both come from light.  If the two come into contact with each other, they annihilate each other.  But, they are not really destroyed.  All that happens is that they return to being pure light.  Spiritually the same principle holds.  Positive and negative both come from pure light, to cancel out a negative you use a positive, but truly nothing is destroyed just transformed.

Mental and emotional health functions much the same as physical health.  There are toxins that exist that are damaging to the mind.  There are traumas that can harm your emotions.  But, there are also things that can help to heal.  There is cure just as much as there is poison.

To understand the importance of keeping issues in perspective, again the physical universe holds examples that demonstrate natural law.  If you look at something under a microscope you can study it more closely and learn more about it.  This is important if you truly want to understand.  But, what you see under the microscope does not necessarily matter.  If you study a gem under a microscope minute flaws may be revealed that were not otherwise apparent.  Those flaws are frequently so small as to not really be a problem.  But, on the other hand, distance can make even the biggest of problems seem tiny.

Virtually any mental, emotional, or spiritual problem can be understood better by looking to the physical world.  Remember physics is physics, and health is health.  Whether it’s physical or not is largely immaterial.  We live in a rational universe, with laws that we can see and understand.  If something does not make sense, it means that there is a flaw in your knowledge or understanding.  Look carefully and you can find and correct those misunderstandings, and avoid the problems that lack of knowledge invites.

In the past, I had thought that people who claim to be atheists and agnostics and yet also say that they believe in “something more” were engaging in a kind of wishy-washy sentimentalism; that they were still emotionally attached to the idea of religion, even though they rationally objected to it. Over the past few months, though, I have found myself moving more and more to that position. Geoff Plauche’s recent post on Aristotle’s Prime Mover, which also links to 2 old blog posts by Roderick Long (Theism and Atheism Reconciled and The Unspeakable Logos), got me to thinking more about this, and I thought I would try and organize my thoughts on this.

I am a staunch atheist. There is no such thing as God or gods (or any “supernatural” entity, for that matter). I don’t think this because there is no evidence for God; I think this because the very concept of God is contradictory. One does not look for evidence of square circles, because they are impossible by definition. I think the same applies to any conception of God or the supernatural.

However, I do think there is “something more”. That “something” isn’t “karma” or some other similar mysterious principle (to those atheists who believe in “karma”, etc., my objections remain), but the logical structure of reality itself. Logic isn’t a constraint that the universe puts on thought, nor something that mind imposes on the outside universe. Either of those possibilities requires that one conceive of either an illogical universe or illogical thought, something that is by definition impossible (Long goes into this at length in his excellent Wittgenstein, Austrian Economics, and the Logic of Action). The logical structure of the universe simply is.

In his posts on the subject, Long states that many of the characteristics of God can be identified with the logical structure of reality. I am not as inclined to think so, especially as regards the idea of analogous attributes; I think that Aristotle makes this mistake as well, in his discussion of the Prime Mover. However, this is still something more than the reductionist atheism of, say, Richard Dawkins. I’m inclined to agree with Geoffrey, in that Aristotle’s Prime Mover can be more or less identified with the logical structure of reality; it is causeless, and the source of all other causes. This, incidentally, ties in nicely with Ayn Rand’s idea that the universe does not need a cause, although Rand’s own atheism was somewhat reductionist by this account.

This may seem to be a distinction without a difference; both the theist and the atheist may say “So what? Your argument doesn’t really change anything.” I think it does. Concepts like divinity, and worship, and even prayer, can be applied within an atheistic framework. Again, there is a parallel with Rand:

But such concepts do name actual emotions, even though no supernatural dimension exists; and these emotions are experienced as uplifting or ennobling, without the self-abasement required by religious definitions. What, then, is their source or referent in reality? It is the entire emotional realm of man’s dedication to a moral ideal. (from the introduction to The Fountainhead, pg. xi, 1994)

I would take the above idea even further, and say the concepts named (exaltation, worship, reverence, sacred) describe the emotional realm of man’s dedication to the truth (the good being an important subset of this, of course). Just because one is an atheist does not mean that one’s life is meaningless. Indeed, a properly grounded atheism takes concepts traditionally associated with religion and points them at their proper target.

Comments and criticism are welcome; this is a rather new train of thought for me, and I would like any help given in exploring it.

Discover Interview: Roger Penrose Says Physics Is Wrong, From String Theory to Quantum Mechanics
| Cosmology
| DISCOVER Magazine:

One of the greatest thinkers in physics says the human brain—and the universe itself—must function according to some theory we haven’t yet discovered.

by Susan Kruglinski; photography by Oliver Chanarin

“Roger Penrose could easily be excused for having a big ego. A theorist whose name will be forever linked with such giants as Hawking and Einstein, Penrose has made fundamental contributions to physics, mathematics, and geometry. He reinterpreted general relativity to prove that black holes can form from dying stars. He invented twistor theory—a novel way to look at the structure of space-time—and so led us to a deeper understanding of the nature of gravity. He discovered a remarkable family of geometric forms that came to be known as Penrose tiles. He even moonlighted as a brain researcher, coming up with a provocative theory that consciousness arises from quantum-mechanical processes. And he wrote a series of incredibly readable, best-selling science books to boot.”

(Via .)

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/06-discover-interview-roger-penrose-says-physics-is-wrong-string-theory-quantum-mechanics/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=/

Listen to this…

Hallucinations are one thing – they can be caused by almost any disorder, drug or depletion of bodily resources.  However, sometimes we see things in a more metaphysical way.

Id est, some see connections between fatalistic occurences and concidences; some see omens; some have prophetic visions.  These connections, when seen, cannot be proven empirically or described in true meaning to any other person.  Yet, sometimes these observed connections do not exist at all.

How does one explain this?  If one has seen his or her life in time-lapse, from start to finish, then one may be capable of making connections between things.  Learnedness and historical knowledge would also produce the same effect, not barring the psychological of mythos and their relative branches of the metanarrative.

One may be able to see things on math alone.

To sum it all up: There are connections in life; there are omens – just don’t try to count them or analyze too deeply or one can lose focus and wander lost in thought, distracted from the reality of days.

That’s all I can say at the moment.

Truly,

Rice Cutgrass

The Science Fiction of Philosophy

This conversation over at Dead Voles has been winding, snake-back, but in this bend in the road some interesting things were being discussed.

Carl gives his rendition of what he believes my position on the importance of philosophical argument, something with which I agree in part. Carl’s general sense is that philosophy (or perhaps metaphysics) isn’t really of any historical importance, both in terms of social justice, but also simply in terms of historical causation:

Carl: “If I understand correctly, Kevin agrees with this as a description of how philosophy usually works, but has a more activist commitment to the potential of philosophy to break the materialist circle and become a guide to better living. If he’s right that philosophical activism can actually have an effect on the world, and not just be an effect of the world, the stakes in philosophizing get very high, conflict is warranted (even mandatory) and withdrawal is not an option. Therefore I would expect Kevin to think that an unwillingness to fight over philosophy is in effect a cover for conservatism; so he would in principle reject the separation of affect and commitment I have made.”

Kvond: I’ve never heard my position towards philosophy summarized by another so this is interesting.

First of all I am equally, if not more passionate about art (plastic, film, poetry, fiction, etc), I just happen to blog about philosophy because this is what feeds my artistic process. And yes, to take of your thought, what we paint, film and narrate indeed expresses our historical, material, economic circumstances, but it does not ONLY do so like a dumb image floating in a mirror, it ALSO helps determine them. So everything that is at stake in philosophy is also at stake in the arts. It is only that the mode of criticism of both is different. The need for criticism of each is acute. (Part of the problem I have tried to put forth in regards to Graham Harman under the question of his Orientalism is the way in which he evades criticism of both. When criticized as philosophy, is merely being poetic, when criticized as poet, is being a philosopher, in the end taking refuge merely as a non-author.) I do also believe that the arts can be critiqued through a mode of truth, and philosophies as modes of the social, but these are not their primary traction points in the world, the force they exert.

As of the secondary question of conservatism I am not so high on this, as if buried conservatism is an inherent and ever lurking evil. I think that conservativism plays its own social role in the world, it is meant to conserve (perhaps Deleuze would say re-territorialize) aspects or relations in the face of radical change or dissonance. I am concerned about conservativism in two areas though. For one, I find the the Neoliberal (and really Fascist) elements in Levi Bryant’s Latourian objectology to be a vast case of political hypocrisy, and when someone bandies about the big rhetorical guns, blasting them this way and that, as he does, one better have one’s ps and qs straight in the positions you advocate. I find Levi’s metaphysics indeed to be Neoliberalesque, and his behavior as a person (for instance his call for uncloaking blogger identities, among many others) Fascist. When in the arena of political ideals, most important is that we don’t drag with us the very thing we are claiming to oppose. This leads to the secondary sense in which I find conservatism worth tracking. That is, because it is a social force, and has a social role, it is best if we identify it wherein it lies, so we can take it’s import into account, and look to just what it is that we are opposing. I made this point with Harman’s Orientialism as well. It is not that Orientalism is inherently “bad”, but that it contains dangers, possible negative side-effects which have a greater opportunity to manifest themselves when we are less conscious of what is going on, what is being expressed.

Perhaps this answer of mine clears up why I have bothered to tarry over Harman’s theory of causation in particular and his metaphysics in general. In the next line of our exchange I try to point out to Carl why the difference between Science Fiction and Science (by analogy) is important to philosophy’s own power to contribute to the discovery (or invention) of the world:

Carl once wrote: “…even in this ghetto philosophy has spun off useful new disciplines like Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science and so on that do much of the work philosophers used to do.”

Carl writes: “I actually agree with this ethic of getting it right and knowing where you stand, and I think it’s therefore of value to read closely and criticize when it’s warranted. I just don’t think philosophy, in particular metaphysics, is an area where there’s any useful standard of getting it right. It’s all science fiction.”

Kvond: This is the thing. I know you would like to treat philosophy as the latter, but the reason why philosophy WAS able and is STILL able to make these “spin-off” contributions to the social sciences is precisely because it recognizes the difference (within itself) between (Science Fiction) Pulp-Philosophy, and (Science) Philosophy. The internal coherence driven by the latter (and not the former) is what gave the force to descriptive systems that then power the descriptions of (some) social sciences. There is no EXTERNAL standard in the sense of a one-to-one correspondence, but indeed there is the standard of internal coherence amid systematic descriptions of the world which forces rigor within a theory that attempts to describe the world as it REALLY is. And it is this rigor that is missing from the Science Fiction aspects of philosophy.

This is one of the good things that blogs can do, just alert people to things being discussed, so that others may take the discussion in other directions or elsewhere. The arguments have the disadvantage of being rough-edged, but the advantage of being living cultures.

Many of us who are on a spiritual path know that we want to gain spiritual understanding, and to shape our own lives according to that understanding. And many of us also feel the call to put that spiritual understanding to greater use in the world.

The vision of the New Age movement, the vision of a better world through spiritual and social transformation, a better world of peace, harmony, justice and co-operation is one way for us to do this. Applying what we learn in our spiritual path to transforming the world, and joining with others with this common goal, benefits not just our own lives and those around us but the whole of the world as well. As we raise our own consciousness, we raise the consciousness of the world, and move farther along the path of transformation.

It is a spiritual calling – to be part of something larger than oneself. Spiritual awakening is not only awakening to one’s own spiritual nature and path, it is also about awakening to our own role in the transformation of the world. Whether you join in this vision in your own spiritual practice by yourself or as part of a group, you are part of this larger vision. Your spiritual path is part of a great road of awakening and transformation that leads to a splendid new world.

.

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Image by CraigHarper

What Am I? Who Am I? Why Am I Here? These question had been pondering upon each and every individual’s mind for the past millennium and yet this metaphysical question still remain inevitably elusive, why? Well, philosophers, scientists, physicists and so forth had been dying to know what is the purpose of our existence for over thousands of years starting from the Greek where Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and other prestigious philosopher until now and they’re still having some interminable debate.

These question can be answered by anyone, you’ll just need to percipient about of which category you’re into. If you are speaking  a fundamental statement then it goes like: what do I aspire to attain?, is it beneficial to my action?, what is the purpose of my life? and any other similar question that apply to yourself and others.

Those aren’t the only question that you’ll be answering in your life-time but a abundant of quirky yet quandary riddles,  suppose that you’re asking yourself religiously as: What my purpose of living? perhaps that answer is subtle or is it that you live to serve the almighty God for you shall be forgiven from all your sins. Putative that you asked: what is God to me? perhaps you’ll ask that God is the creator of the world and you will give thanks for his strenuous.

Suppose that you ask yourself as a layman where you desire to live life to the fullest no matter there’s God or no God and yet you choose to be unique and eccentric in  your own way of questioning everything.

]]> http://ricecutgrass.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/a-blog-with-philosophical-and-proetic-weight/ Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:00:35 +0000 Rice Cutgrass http://ricecutgrass.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/a-blog-with-philosophical-and-proetic-weight/

Weight, friends, weight.

Weight is the potential measure of my burden of verse; weight is the blockbuster bombshells encasing my most loose thoughts; weight is what I bring to the table; heavy are knowledge and power, like U.S. government-grade stainless steel.

As previously mentioned, this blog is undergoing a constant evolution, or shedding of skin, if you will. Nil of the ideas presented here are on themes of grudge or vendetta.  Presented here are merely questions for ponderance, statements of facts, and arguments for logical modes of life.

Id est, the goal here is not to offend; the goal here is fill everyone in on what’s going on. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Truly yours,

Rice Cutgrass

Astronomer and scientist Carl Sagan is one of my favorite science writers. I also consider him a hero. Few people have done as much to spark public interest in the wonders of science. Few fought more bravely or openly against the ignorance and bigotry that have hindered the advance of science since its beginnings.

I’ll never forget the impact of his wonderful thirteen-part PBS television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. (And who, who saw it, will ever forget his unique way of saying “billions and billions,” which became comic grist for comedians like Johnny Carson and Mike Myers?)

What comes through Sagan’s writing, and the man himself, is a deep humanity, and yes, even a spirituality. This spirituality was not religious in the typical sense, but religious in the sense that Einstein said he was deeply religious:

“A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity.”

Sagan himself said, “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” And to my mind, in few places does this spirituality and humanity come through more powerfully and eloquently than in his famous Pale Blue Dot speech, which I’ll quote in full at the end of this post.

But first, what was this “pale blue dot” that Sagan was speaking of? It is the first photograph of planet Earth taken at the very edge of our solar system.  The image was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 as it was heading out into deep space after a historic tour of the planets of our solar system.

The “pale blue dot” in photograph of the same name is planet Earth as seen from the record distance of over 3.7 billion miles. (The green oval shows Voyager 1’s approximate position when it took the photograph.)

Even light, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, takes nearly three and a half hours to reach that far. From this vast distance, Earth shows up a mere speck of light, less than pixel in size even in Voyager’s strongest camera:

Can you even make out that single pixel of blue in the red band of light? You have to have good eyes and a good computer monitor to do so! Here’s a blow-up with a circle around the pale blue dot that is in fact our entire planet:

It was Sagan’s idea to take this mind-boggling photo, so it seems only right that no one has spoken more movingly and eloquently about its historic significance. The Pale Blue Dot is one of those paradigm changing images, like the Apollo moon-landing Earth-rise image:

“Suddenly, from behind the rim of the moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth . . . home.” Edgar Mitchell of Apollo 14

Photographically, the two images couldn’t be more dissimilar. Compared to the breath-taking Earth-rise image, the Pale Blue Dot seems almost a joke, a botched, grainy photograph of almost nothing—except for the almost invisible tiny blue dot. Yet, they are both the same place.

At this point, I’ll be quiet, and let Sagan himself speak to the significance of this that tiny dot:

“Consider again at that dot. That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

There’s a beautiful and moving video of the “pale blue dot” on YouTube. It’s really worth a view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnFMrNdj1yY

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The holidays are fast approaching and it is time to start thinking about gift giving (and receiving). With every topic covered from the Mayan calendar to metaphysics, Buddhism to health and healing, North Atlantic Books has the perfect book to match your loved ones’ interests, and some you’ll want to add to your own holiday wish list. You’ll find something for everyone among our newest titles this season.

To order, please visit www.northatlanticbooks.com.

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The Cracking Tower: A Strategy for Transcending 2012
by Jim DeKorne

With the end of the legendary Mayan “long count” calendar looming on December 21, 2012 and recent threats of a worldwide economic collapse triggering widespread apprehension and a search for answers, The Cracking Tower offers an arsenal of strategies to turn these fears into an opportunity for spiritual and personal growth. Shaping the discussion is the fascinating metaphor of the cracking tower, an apparatus for distilling gasoline, as a vehicle for distilling our awareness. Rather than speculating on what might occur in 2012, DeKorne proposes vigilance of a more introspective sort. “The important thing,” he says, “is to ignore the finger and strive to comprehend the moon,” to see what our apocalyptic tendencies reveal about ourselves.

$16.95 US/ $21.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-816-5
232 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale November 3, 2009

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Uncommon Happiness: The Path of the Compassionate Warrior
by Rinpoche Dzigar Kongtrul

From 2005 to 2007, Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche gave classes on Shantideva’s The Way of the Boddhisattva. His commentaries revealed such a deep understanding that Marcia Binder Schmidt decided to collect them for other students of Buddhism as an independent work. This book is the result. Kongtrül Rinpoche examines different aspects of Shantideva’s text, always relating the teachings to individual experience. He explores the training of the four immeasurables—equanimity, loving kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy—and discusses the importance of wholehearted engagement in the process. In the words of the editor, “Dharma needs to be trained in, integrated into our lives, and embraced by wisdom.” Uncommon Happiness contains the guidance to undergo that training with the right attitude of clarity and commitment.

$16.95 US/ $19.95 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-962-7341-63-5
192 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/2
On Sale November 10, 2009

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Rhythm and Touch: The Fundamentals of Craniosacral Therapy
by Anthony P. Arnold, PH.D.

With its low-impact, nurturing approach to working with the spine, the skull, the diaphragm, and the fascia to release pain in the body, Craniosacral Therapy has become an increasingly popular healing method. Rhythm and Touch explains in detail how it works, following a simple, step-by-step instructional model. Part one guides the practitioner in discovering the craniosacral rhythm and learning how to interpret and respond to its cues. Part two offers a thorough review of the brain’s protective and nourishing environment, the cranium. This section describes the bones of the mouth and face, their interrelationship and motions, and how to assess and release the results of injury. The final chapter offers reflections and recommendations for using this vast array of knowledge effectively.

$27.95 US/ $34.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-819-6
280 pages, 7 x 9-1/4
On Sale November 17, 2009

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Meditations on Nature, Meditations on Silence
Edited by Roderick MacIver

Meditations on Nature, Meditations on Silence is a collection of hundreds of quotes on the beauty and mystery of the natural world by writers and thinkers, including Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey, Rainer Maria Rilke, Henry David Thoreau, Louise Dickinson Rich, and Lewis Thomas. Through their inspirational poetry and other writings and Rod MacIver’s beautiful watercolors, Meditations on Nature, Meditations on Silence offers readers a retreat from our complex, fast-paced world. This book explores the beauty, strange cohesion, and complexity of the natural world and universe, drawing on sources as diverse as ancient Chinese poets, contemporary songwriters, wilderness adventurers, homesteaders, and modern scientists.

$16.95 US/ $21.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-916-2
96 pages, 8-1/2 x 8-1/2
On Sale November 18, 2009

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Where Pharaohs Dwell: One Mystic’s Journey Through the Gates of Immortality
by Patricia Cori

In this thought-provoking book, Patricia Cori focuses on her past-life experiences in ancient Egypt. The book begins with the traumatic recall of a past Egyptian life, when Cori relives a horrifying death by suffocation—from being buried alive. This experience propels her on a journey of exploration into the question of human immortality, leading her back to Egypt where she unravels the origins of the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with the resurrection of the soul. This exciting book weaves strands of science, history, and metaphysics into a shimmering tapestry of personal discovery.

$16.95 US/ $21.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-830-1
264 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale November 24, 2009

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The Circle of Fire: The Metaphysics of Yoga
by P.J. Mazumdar

The Circle of Fire examines the eternal metaphysical questions “What is God?” and “What is the purpose of life?” The book discusses the answers to these questions given by Western science and different schools of Indian thought, specifically detailing the answers to be found in India’s two most developed atheistic traditions, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Representative of a generation of Indians who have grown up with the best in scientific education and spiritual values, author P.J. Mazumdar takes a hard look at religion, science, and how two seemingly divergent bodies of knowledge can be brought together. Acknowledging the metaphysical insights to be found in both Western science and Eastern spirituality, Mazumdar pays special attention to the highest school of philosophy of Hinduism, Advaita, and its application to practical spirituality through the teachings and practice of Yoga.

$22.95 US/ $27.95 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-670-3
400 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale November 30, 2009

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The Intent On
by Kenneth Irby

Kenneth Irby has practiced his craft at the center of the American poetry scene for decades. An associate of the legendary Black Mountain poets, he was a close colleague of writers such as Robert Duncan, Ed Dorn, and Robert Creeley. This comprehensive collection marks the first time the full range of Irby’s artistry has been presented in one place.

Irby’s early career, starting in the 1960s, paralleled the late Beat era and the counterculture, and his blend of innovative wordplay with personal and political themes made him an important voice of that era. At the same time, he was able to forge his own path, conjuring a style that was both universal and distinctly American. Critics and other poets especially have noted his avant-garde use of sound, silence, and unusual sentence structure to seduce readers.

$40.00 US/ $49.00 CAN
Hardcover
978-1-55643-833-2
704 pages, 6-3/4 x 9-1/4
On Sale December 1, 2009

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Ortho-Bionomy: A Path to Self-Care
by Luann Overmyer

Ortho-Bionomy is based on the premise that the body inherently knows how to heal and self-correct, given the opportunity. This user-friendly guide by one of the pioneers of the approach presents positions, postures, and movements designed to release tension and ease pain. Positions for each part of the body are clearly described in lay terms and illustrated with photos and drawings. Quick fixes for sciatica, suggestions for dealing with menstrual cramps, and exercises to address posture, scoliosis, and flexibility of the spine are just a few among 150 techniques described. The book also includes simple exercises to increase ease, function, strength, and flexibility once the pain has subsided. Rounded out with human-interest stories and client examples, this accessible work can be used quickly and effectively by anyone with pain.

$26.95 US/ $33.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-791-5
344 pages, 8 x 10
On Sale December 15, 2009

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Heart Lamp: The Heart of the Matter and Lamp of Mahamudra
by Tsele Natsok Rangdrol

Tsele Natsok Rangdröl is renowned in the Kagyü and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism for his brilliant scholarship, profound exposition, and meditative accomplishment. This collection presents four essential Buddhist strands of philosophical viewpoint and meditation technique: the teachings of the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) body of literature; the philosophy of the Middle Way; Mahamudra meditation; and Dzogchen teachings and practice. The focus is on how to realize that essence through “effortless” training based on the four techniques. Since the training is unbound by cultural or temporal limitations, the truth the book conveys is as valuable today as it was in centuries past.

$17.95 US/ $21.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-962-7341-60-4
224 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/2
On Sale December 15, 2009

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Art as a Way of Life
by Roderick MacIver

Filled with elegant watercolors and inspirational prose, Art as a Way of Life offers reflections on art and creativity, empowering us to discover and nurture the creative spirit within. It is an encouraging book for people wanting to live, work, and love in the creative spirit.

A wide range of creative innovators, including Carl Rogers, Robert Henri, Tom Jay, Henry David Thoreau, Ansel Adams, and Vincent van Gogh, contribute poignant and moving thoughts, quotes, sayings, interviews, and poems on the beauty of love and art. Through these contemporary and past theorists, musicians, artists, writers, and poets, Art as a Way of Life explores what it is to be passionate, inspired, and blissful.

$16.95 US/ $21.00 CAN
Trade Paperback
978-1-55643-920-9
96 pages, 8-1/2 x 8-1/2
On Sale December 15, 2009

Many people do and have doubted the effects and even the reality of energy healing. There are many different forms of energy healing and some of them are finally being scientifically studied and the results can not be denied. Energy healing does work!

Of course we are still in the infancy of this type of research, but it is an exciting time to see confirmation of what many have known for centuries. Rather than describe the studies and the results I will let the studies speak for themselves. Below you will find a few that have been published in medical journals. There are still many studies going on at this time. Personally I look forward to seeing the results of them all.

Studies on Energy Healing:

“Call it laying on of hands, distant healing, or prayer, the method seems to work more than half the time. This has been shown in an analysis of nearly two dozen well-designed studies of people with a variety of disorders, including rheumatic diseases and cancer. The analysis was published last month in Annals of Internal Medicine, the leading medical journal for internists and other primary care physicians.

For their analysis, John A. Astin, PhD, and colleagues conducted a search of the medical literature and chose only those studies that met specific criteria. The studies must have randomly assigned study participants to either a form of distant healing or a placebo (or other adequate control); been published in a peer-reviewed journal; and involved human participants. The criteria were met by 23 clinical trials involving 2,774 people. The interventions in these trials were versions of distant healing, including prayer and non-contact Therapeutic Touch. The latter is performed by many hospital-based nurses.

Dr. Astin and colleagues chose their words carefully when concluding, “The methodologic limitations of several studies make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the efficacy of distant healing. However, given that approximately 57% of trials showed a positive treatment effect the evidence thus far merits further study.”"

COPYRIGHT 2000 Center for Medical Consumers, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Pilot crossover trial of Reiki versus rest for treating cancer-related fatigue.

Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Mar;6(1):25-35
Tsang KL, Carlson LE, Olson K.
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Fatigue is an extremely common side effect experienced during cancer treatment and recovery. Limited research has investigated strategies stemming from complementary and alternative medicine to reduce cancer-related fatigue. This research examined the effects of Reiki, a type of energy touch therapy, on fatigue, pain, anxiety, and overall quality of life.

This study was a counterbalanced crossover trial of 2 conditions: (1) in the Reiki condition, participants received Reiki for 5 consecutive daily sessions, followed by a 1-week washout monitoring period of no treatments, then 2 additional Reiki sessions, and finally 2 weeks of no treatments, and (2) in the rest condition, participants rested for approximately 1 hour each day for 5 consecutive days, followed by a 1-week washout monitoring period of no scheduled resting and an additional week of no treatments.

In both conditions, participants completed questionnaires investigating cancer-related fatigue (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Fatigue subscale [FACT-F]) and overall quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, General Version [FACT-G]) before and after all Reiki or resting sessions. They also completed a visual analog scale (Edmonton Symptom Assessment System [ESAS]) assessing daily tiredness, pain, and anxiety before and after each session of Reiki or rest. Sixteen patients (13 women) participated in the trial: 8 were randomized to each order of conditions (Reiki then rest; rest then Reiki).

They were screened for fatigue on the ESAS tiredness item, and those scoring greater than 3 on the 0 to 10 scale were eligible for the study. They were diagnosed with a variety of cancers, most commonly colorectal (62.5%) cancer, and had a median age of 59 years. Fatigue on the FACT-F decreased within the Reiki condition (P=.05) over the course of all 7 treatments. In addition, participants in the Reiki condition experienced significant improvements in quality of life (FACT-G) compared to those in the resting condition (P <.05). On daily assessments (ESAS) in the Reiki condition, presession 1 versus postsession 5 scores indicated significant decreases in tiredness (P <.001), pain (P <.005), and anxiety (P<.01), which were not seen in the resting condition. Future research should further investigate the impact of Reiki using more highly controlled designs that include a sham Reiki condition and larger sample sizes.

PMID: 17351024 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
J Altern Complement Med. 2006 Nov;12(9):911-3.
Crawford SE, Leaver VW, Mahoney SD. Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, Perry, ME, USA. phadrus@ptc-me.net

Using Reiki to decrease memory and behavior problems in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease.

OBJECTIVES: This empirical study explored the efficacy of using Reiki treatment to improve memory and behavior deficiencies in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease. Reiki is an ancient hands-on healing technique reputedly developed in Tibet 2500 years ago. DESIGN: This study was a quasi-experimental study comparing pre- and post-test scores of the Annotated Mini-Mental State Examination (AMMSE) and Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC) after four weekly treatments of Reiki to a control group.

SETTINGS/LOCATION: The participants were treated at a facility provided by the Pleasant Point Health Center on the Passamaquoddy Indian Reservation. SUBJECTS: The sample included 24 participants scoring between 20 and 24 on the AMMSE. Demographic characteristics of the sample included an age range from 60 to 80, with 67% female, 46% American Indian, and the remainder white.

INTERVENTIONS: Twelve participants were exposed to 4 weeks of weekly treatments of Reiki from two Reiki Master-level practitioners; 12 participants served as controls and received no treatment.

OUTCOME MEASURES: The two groups were compared on pre- and post-treatment scores on the AMMSE and the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC). RESULTS: Results indicated statistically significant increases in mental functioning (as demonstrated by improved scores of the AMMSE) and memory and behavior problems (as measured by the RMBPC) after Reiki treatment. This research adds to a very sparse database from empirical studies on Reiki results.

CONCLUSION: The results indicate that Reiki treatments show promise for improving certain behavior and memory problems in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease. Caregivers can administer Reiki at little or no cost, resulting in significant societal value by potentially reducing the needs for medication and hospitalization.

PMID: 17109583 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Using Reiki to manage pain: a preliminary report.

Cancer Prev Control. 1997 Jun;1(2):108-13.
Olson K, Hanson J.
Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alta. karino@cancerboard.ab.ca

The purpose of this study was to explore the usefulness of Reiki as an adjuvant to opioid therapy in the management of pain. Since no studies in this area could be found, a pilot study was carried out involving 20 volunteers experiencing pain at 55 sites for a variety of reasons, including cancer. All Reiki treatments were provided by a certified second-degree Reiki therapist. Pain was measured using both a visual analogue scale (VAS) and a Likert scale immediately before and after the Reiki treatment. Both instruments showed a highly significant (p < 0.0001) reduction in pain following the Reiki treatment.

PMID: 9765732 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

By T. Knowley

A great quote from Andrew Collier’s Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy:

If there is a single philosophical idea which reflects more closely than any other this commercial (rather than technological) spirit, it is the epistemic fallacy, which reduces nature to our cognitive appropriation of it, just as this spirit reduces it to our economic appropriation of it. This epistemic fallacy has dominated philosophy for just the same period. In offering us the chance to break decisively with this fallacy, and the consequent anthropocentric world-view…, Bhaskar’s realism makes possible… a much greater respect for the integrity of things independent of us. (149)

This point is far broader than talk about cognition. The same point could be made with respect to linguistic appropriation of the world, semiotic appropriation of the world, social appropriation of the world, historically informed appropriation of the world, etc. There is a common structure among all of these strains of thought. Collier’s point holds every bit as much for object-oriented philosophy, where the realism of object-oriented philosophy opens the way towards a much greater respect for the integrity of things independent of us.

Intuition or Instinct

The sun trickles through the tall trees and settles on the dew-drenched grass in a small clearing in the forest. In the clearing a dear quietly grazes on the grass. She moves slowly as she eats, tasting the bitter-sweet flavor that she loves. Suddenly she raises her head, the hair on the back of her neck stand at attention as her ears scan the surrounding forest, searching for a sound, any sound. She moves her large brown eyes over the brush, looking all around her. She smells the air, trying to get a sent of what has alarmed her. She sees nothing, she hears nothing, she smells nothing. But somewhere deep down inside she has a twinge, a gut feeling that something just isn’t right.

Twenty feet away a cougar crouches down wind from the clearing; he crept quietly to a spot where he knew he would be hidden behind the thick brush just fifteen minutes before the deer entered the clearing. He had been tracking her for sometime. He had seen her coming down the mountain through the trees and had started moving toward her. When he noticed the clearing he crouched down on his belly and waited, after all she was coming right to him. Just before she entered the clearing he made sure to make no sound, no movement, here he waited knowing he was downwind of her, knowing she would be an easy catch if he allowed her to come closer. So here he stayed, here he waited, knowing she had no idea he was there.

“Intuition” what is it? Many say its nonsense, just imagination. Others say it’s one of our many senses. But no one has ever really defined what it is. That gut feeling we get when we just “Know” something is wrong for no apparent reason, what is it that causes this, that gives us a little insight into what’s about to happen before it does? When it comes to animals it’s called instinct. Animals just know when a predator is around. They don’t have to hear it, smell it, or see it, but somehow they just know, and this is accepted as instinct. But when people just know something without any apparent way of knowing it they are thought to be imagining things, or making it up. Why is this? After all we too are animals.

Yes we have spent centuries trying to subdue our primitive selves, trying to rid ourselves of our animal instincts. And we have succeeded to a certain degree, we have learned to control those instincts when we try, but it doesn’t mean they are no longer there. Our animal side is very much a part of who we are and the fact that we can control it for the most part is an amazing thing and opens us up to many possibilities. Possibilities that a large majority are trying so hard to subdue that they actually think anyone that learns to develop that instinctive part of them selves is either just plain crazy or a scam artist.

Why is it that with all we know about our world and the inhabitants of it we are still so blind to who we truly are? Why is there still so much fear surrounding our own instinctive abilities? Before we can answer these questions, we must first answer the question “What is Intuition”. Personally I think it is an innate part of who we are as human animals. It is a primitive instinctive part of ourselves, of who we have always been as a species. It has given us the ability to not only survive our evolution but to thrive above all other species on this planet. In the beginning it alerted us to predators we didn’t know were near, it told us to find shelter and come in out of the rain. As our evolution progressed it guided us to develop what we most needed at the time. It came to us as inspiration for art, music and writing. We trusted it, we needed it, and we used it without question of what it was or where it came from.

Without that instinctive part of ourselves would we have survived as a species and come as far as we have? How sad it is that the majority of us no longer trust our own instincts. We meet people and know instantly that something is wrong, but do we trust it? No, we tell ourselves that it’s just our imagination and ignore that part of ourselves that tells us not to trust this person and in the end we pay for not trusting our instincts, our intuition.

If intuition is nothing more than one of our many instincts, another one of our senses, why try to suppress it? Why not try to develop it? Many have tried and succeeded through out the centuries in developing this part of their selves. By developing their intuitive side they have developed the ability to “know” at will about certain things.

In developing the ability to “Know” many have connected to another part of their instinctive (intuitive) side, the ability to heal. By first knowing where healing is needed they are then able to direct healing energies to those areas. The ability to know and to heal go hand in hand. Ongoing scientific studies are beginning to show that we do have the ability to heal ourselves and others, although there is no concrete proof at this time of how it works, the proof that it does work has been shown.

If by developing our instincts our “intuition” allows us the amazing ability to know and to heal at will, imagine the possibilities that are yet to be realized as we continue to develop and discover that instinctive part of ourselves that we have tried for so long to suppress.

By Tiffiny Knowley

I hear this a lot in moral politics, and why are most people not wary of it?  Instead, the masses seem to be finding comfort in this way of thinking. How can something not psychologically stable possibly be of comfort when it comes to running the whole nation? 

Another is the “god-fearing”  mentality, which usually goes hand-in-hand with this.  We like our government to be watched by god 24-7, of course, but it seems that all heaven will do is watch.  We make god in our image – something to be “feared”?  And it doesn’t seem to work this way, although people seem to be begging for this kind of system by keeping to this line of thinking. 

“Either/Or Thinking”

by Lou Tice of the Pacific Institute

Do you know what either/or thinking is? Either/or thinking, or black and white thinking as it is sometimes called, is a very dangerous thing, and it is basically just what it sounds like.

Either/or thinkers don’t see shades of gray. They want easy answers and they like to keep it simple. So they see life in terms of winners and losers, good guys and bad guys, success or failure, right and wrong. They fail to realize that right and wrong depend on time, place, culture and purpose, among other things.

They don’t see that no one is all good or all bad, or that success and failure depend on how you define them, as do winning and losing. Neither do they see the degrees of difference that stretch between most opposites, because if they did, it would require more complex thinking skills and the ability to deal with subtle differences.

Now, I mean it when I say they don’t see these things. They build blind spots, or scotomas, to this information, because it threatens their either/or belief system, and it doesn’t get through. You can see evidence of this every day, in the local, national and international news stories. Just check today’s newspaper or online news services.

Do you ever catch yourself doing either/or thinking?

Most of us do, from time to time. It’s a dangerous habit, but one you can learn to break, if you choose to. Self-awareness is the first step. A strong desire to change and grow will help you open up your thinking to all the possibilities and keep you from getting stuck in a black and white world.

Here is a great article (or rather a lecture) that unites a lot of my recent interests in philosophy.

In this lecture, David Velleman, argues, like I do in this post, that we should think of ourselves as perduring rather than enduring. We have spatial parts and the parts pervade space. The unity of all these spatial points compose me. I am not each of these points, but rather the agglomeration of them. The perdurantist says something similar about time. The claim is that we have temporal parts or slices and that we are not each of these slices, but rather the unity of all the slices together. So, each moment I’m alive is a different part of me that exists that way forever.

This goes hand in hand with the belief that time does not flow. Rather, time, on this interpretation, is just a “container” like space. People and things are located sometime and they always reside there unless they move (moving Napoleon from his temporal position to our temporal position would require time travel for example, which phsyics, by the way, says is theoretically possible), just like the walls in my room are always 2o feet from each other unless they move.

Velleman claims that the illusion that time flows, which is in part due to our belief in a unified self over which it flows, causes us pain. The primary example from Velleman is death. We think that when someone dies, they are gone. However, the eternalist about time (someone who believes that time is like space) just believes that the person no longer exists in a simultaneously temporal position. Death, on this view is no different than realizing that one of my good friends is in Dallas and not in Boston with me. Of course, since time travel is much more difficult than spatial travel, death would still be a de facto permanent separation, even though strictly speaking, a dear friend who died would still exist, just at a temporal distance.

According to the eternalist, and perhaps the Buddhist too (tying this philosophical issue to yet another one of my recent interests), death is life having a good friend move to Saturn. You couldn’t really visit, but he’s not non-existent.

In the 1980s, one of the highlights of every year for me was the December 31 World Peace Meditation, known also as the World Healing Day, World Instant of Co-operation, and World Peace Day. It was a time for people all over the world to gather in meditation for world peace and world healing.

Word of it first circulated in 1984, and although the creators of this event designated 1986 as the time for it to start, many of us began holding the gathering in 1984 in our local areas. By 1986 it was in fact a worldwide event.

This one hour group meditation was so very powerful to experience. It was held at the same time all over the world (noon Greenwich time) and the group energy that was created was multiplied so many times over. Imagine yourself linked in meditation to millions of people with the intent of creating peace and healing all over the world! It was an uplifting, inspiring, and healing experience.

I don’t know how many people still celebrate World Healing Day, but I would like to encourage everyone to join in this year, whether it is by yourself or with a group. The website of the original founders, The Quartus Foundation, is at http://www.quartus.org/WorldHealingDay.html There you can find more information, as well as locations where the event is being held if you want to join with a group for the meditation.

I would love to see the World Healing Day spreading again to the numbers that participated in it years ago, and even beyond. You can help spread the word about it, join with a group, or meditate on your own (although not alone!). Every bit you can do is important – one by one we make up those millions of people. And if you do join in, I hope you find it as powerful, healing, and joyful as I have.
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The Pine Ridge region, northwestern Nebraska

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Bucolic spot in the Pine Ridge area

Thanks to all 431 of you who visited Write Light on November 29 — my second-biggest day ever for this blog!

My dear friend and colleague Queen Jane the Easygoing and Way Smart is the person who submits my poetry and prose to periodicals and publishers. Sometimes she has difficulty choosing; I’m quite prolific.

In the next few weeks I’m going to post ten of my particular favorites — poems A through J (yes, I had to count off the letters on my fingers). I’d like your comments as we go along and, in particular, when all ten have appeared, your ranking. Which do you like best (10 points)? Least (1 point — I can’t bear the thought of getting Zero points)?

Thanks! Oh, I already said that. Well, thanks again, in advance….

TURNED AROUND

Because I have been less than inches
from the chasm of unbeing,
and have been afraid that, having
nowhere else to go, I would
on purpose, accidentally,
fall in, and simply fall and fall
forever, since unbeing has no
floor; and have been rescued, and
been certain of my rescuer,
and have again felt almost-solid
earth beneath my feet; when I
had given up on earth and sky
and sun and rain and comfortable
shoes and friends and weddings; having
been as good as dead, there in that
purgatory of unbreathing,
and then being turned around,
embraced, and liberated — I
believe in miracles. For everything
is living once you have been almost
dead; and all things shine, as if their
only purpose is to serve as
a reminder of that brief and
infinite dependence on
the spirit who exhaled to give me
breath again.

* * *

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Sister Alma Rose Insists…

Omigosh. If it’s still December 3 when y’all read this, go immediately to the Morning Prayer at DivineOffice.org and listen to…

Hymn: Amazing Grace by Jane Chifley And Pat McGrath from their album Traditional Catholic Hymns – Lifeboat 14

Sister Alma Rose could dig up only one album by Lifeboat 14 — Who Will Adore Him? (2004) — upon which “Amazing Grace” could not be found.  She looked on several sites and finally discovered this description of the band at Eternity Music:

It’s finally here! Who Will Adore Him? is a CD by Lifeboat 14 containing a mixture of rock, folk, serenade and country. It’s taken a long time and is worth every moment of listening.

Music that will rock you. Music about Mary and the Blessed sacrament. Music that’s Australian. Music that’s Catholic.

You won’t find anything but faith on this CD.

Every Lifeboat 14 album has different artists performing…. The band was founded by Jane Chifley.

Sister Alma Rose sampled several cuts from the album, but none was as clean, elegant, and simply lovely as the unpretentious duet “Amazing Grace.”