tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64273742104578044512024-02-07T11:15:42.976-08:00Buddha of HollywoodAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.comBlogger319125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-67888101314754325712018-04-20T11:41:00.000-07:002018-04-20T11:41:58.936-07:00The Presence<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What is “Presence”?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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What does it mean to be “present”, to live in the “now”?<o:p></o:p></div>
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How do you define it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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How do you attain it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I love to travel. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I think traveling is one of the mind-expanding experiences a human been can have.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And I’m not talking about the cultural aspect and entertainment but the spiritual enrichment traveling provides.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Every time I am in a foreign country I experience a state of “Presence” a state of enhanced awareness underlined by a genuine feeling of curiosity, freedom, and exploration I used to have as a child.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is very hard to describe but if you have traveled you probably know that excitement, that state of mind I’m talking about. That “Presence” in the moment, in the NOW.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, once returned home the feeling is gone and I return to the mental-spiritual state of “Ordinary”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I always thought that was a normal thing and I always attributed the magical experience to the geographical location. You feel extraordinary in an exotic place and ordinary in an ordinary place. Right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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But here is the catch. I live in Hollywood and every time I pass by the Hollywood Boulevard I can see hundreds of tourists in the exact same excited state while the only thing I feel is the dread of the traffic congestion the tourists create.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, the excitement is not created by the place as I thought. The excitement is a state of mind, the place is just coincidental to the experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last weekend I made a day trip to Julian, a little quaint town south of LA.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The old buildings, the blooming spring flowers, the weekend visitors with smiling places, all that experience and feeling of being on a vacation came back to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once again, I switched from the “Ordinary” state of mind to the “Presence” state of mind just by being away from what I considered “ordinary”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But what is “ordinary”? How do you define it? <o:p></o:p></div>
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After all is Hollywood an ordinary place or an extraordinary place?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The other day I had to take my car to the dealer for some factory recall repairs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I had to drive about an hour to the city of Duarte, which I knew about but never been there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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BTW you can live all your life in LA and never see all the streets and locations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So why I was waiting for my car to be fixed I started walking around, found a Deny’s had some breakfast then went to Starbucks for some coffee and WIFI.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All this time I’ve been in Duarte I was in my “Ordinary” state of mind until that moment in the Starbucks when I snapped out of it and entered the “Presence”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I looked around and everything was suddenly different. The flowers, the trees the people sitting outside at the tables under the green canvas umbrellas, the morning sun sparkling a little brighter, the blue skies, the white clouds. Everything was vibrant, beautiful, new and exciting. I was “Present” living fully in the moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And it was at that moment I understood what the “Presence” was and what the “Ordinary” was and how the whole state of mind works.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is all in our brains.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The “Ordinary” is created in our mind by our Ego through the process of thought.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We build an imaginary reality in our heads, a story to put it simpler, that becomes the background of our life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In this story, we have a different reality better than what “reality” is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our jobs, relationships, even ourselves are viewed through this fantasy filter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We live in our heads, not in reality, therefore reality seems foreign boring, uninteresting, unappealing “ORDINARY” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Everything around us is “Ordinary” when we are living in the Ego build “reality”<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is really easy to see it once you become aware of it, but otherwise impossible to see because it is the normal state of our mind from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We spend our lives “thinking” we spend our lives inside our head inside our Ego reality.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The moment you stop living inside your head. The moment you turn your attention, focus, presence from the inside to the outside things change, your experience change, you become “Present”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is the state of mind of children which still find reality exciting. It is the state of mind of tourist which for a moment are back like children with a genuine curiosity and senses wide open to the external experience to the surrounding reality. The Ego and its mental construct are simply not there anymore.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I spent the next hour experimenting switching from one state of mind to another.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was very interesting because switching back to the Ego mind became more and more difficult.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You realize that the Ego reality is a make-believe, it is stupid childish and embarrassing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Think about if the people around you could hear your thought. How would you feel?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Embarrassed, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sao this is what I recommend you do: Take a little vacation this weekend (I know I will) and go to a place you would consider out of ordinary. Observe the change in your state of mind and then try to switch back and fore. I think that will give you a new inside in the process of living in the moment and an understanding of “Presence”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-80560820666001494712018-02-24T07:56:00.002-08:002018-02-24T07:58:06.039-08:00The Trap of Positivity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You wouldn't think a daily diet of cake and candy is good for your body.<br />
Then why would you think that feeding your mind all the time with feel-good positivity is good for your mind?<br />
<br />
Positive affirmations and visualizations just like the sugary foods are high in mental calories and it will give you bursts of spiritual energy but just like the sugary foods have very poor nutritional value and after the rush, it will live you depleted and needing even more of the same to keep you going.<br />
<br />
People on a high diet of positivity have very low spiritual stamina. They get easily offended, scared and depressed when faced with tough situations or prolong negative environments.<br />
A strong spiritual person is built on a strong spiritual foundation.<br />
Your belief system is the core foundation of that spirituality.<br />
<br />
What your mind needs is TRUTH which like broccoli and spinach is not very appetizing but 100% healthier.<br />
When your belief system is based on undeniable truths you can withstand the most devastating situations without collapsing spiritually.<br />
You may, in fact, come out of these situations even stronger than before with your belief system forged even more powerful by the battle.<br />
<br />
Is then positivity bad for you and should you avoid it?<br />
Of course not.<br />
Positivity when properly used is very beneficiary to our spiritual being.<br />
A session of positive affirmations at the start of your day will be like a cup of coffee in the morning just the right thing to get you started on the right foot.<br />
Or a little pick me up in the afternoon when you feel a little down spiritually will also do you good.<br />
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The problem with positivity like with everything else in our lives, comes when we start abusing it and neglecting the fundamentals of our spiritual being.<br />
Unicorns and rainbows hugs and kisses are nice but not very good at building a strong spiritual person.<br />
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The world we live in is still full of negativity and to survive and thrive in this world you have to be a fit spiritual warrior.<br />
Your mental health, your spiritual stamina, and strength have to be a top priority in your life just like good nutrition and physical exercise for your body.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-24114379363460592312018-02-09T00:06:00.000-08:002018-02-09T00:06:09.318-08:00Buddha on Diet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0uIbjguqD6PzkBDWGJydcPWe1x4IzzqS6tZCcUOo3rS6ka3yT7fALD_AnVSpwIozv_xamoS-CYNPXbmTGoV-5i3dsboS-ZE7uyjpD8rLJvg1LSqIU3vL60ryG3g4M0bcm9nOiR53YyKI/s1600/diet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0uIbjguqD6PzkBDWGJydcPWe1x4IzzqS6tZCcUOo3rS6ka3yT7fALD_AnVSpwIozv_xamoS-CYNPXbmTGoV-5i3dsboS-ZE7uyjpD8rLJvg1LSqIU3vL60ryG3g4M0bcm9nOiR53YyKI/s320/diet.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
Dieting: A system of starving yourself to death so you can live a little longer.<br />
Jan Murray<br />
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A diet is when you watch what you eat and wish you could eat what you watch.<br />
Hermione Gingold<br />
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A diet is the penalty we pay for exceeding the feed limit.<br />
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I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you must eat it with naked fat people.<br />
<br />
Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.<br />
Garfield<br />
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I'm on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it.<br />
<br />
The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out.<br />
<br />
I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren’t in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets.<br />
Dolly Parton<br />
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Never eat more than you can lift.<br />
Miss Piggy<br />
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A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand<br />
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If hunger is not the problem, then eating is not the solution.<br />
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I have gained and lost the same ten pounds so many times over and over again my cellulite must have déjà vu.<br />
Jane Wagner<br />
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Inside every fat person, trying to get out, there is a beautiful thin one - or even two or three.<br />
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Outside every fat man there was an even fatter man trying to close in<br />
Kingsley Amis<br />
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I don't diet. I just don't eat as much as I'd like to.<br />
Linda Evangelista<br />
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My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.<br />
Unless there are three other people.<br />
Orson Welles<br />
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There are no fat people, just people too short for their weight.<br />
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Praise is the best diet for us, after all<br />
Sydney Smith<br />
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Probably nothing in the world arouses more false hopes than the first four hours of a diet.<br />
Dan Bennett<br />
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An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.<br />
Irv Kupcinet<br />
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The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you're off it.<br />
Jackie Gleason<br />
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I told my doctor I get very tired when I go on a diet, so he gave me pep pills.<br />
Know what happened? I ate faster.<br />
Joe E Lewis<br />
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Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of happy fat women<br />
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I found there was only one way to look thin, hang out with fat people<br />
Rodney Dangerfield<br />
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The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends<br />
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It's strange but true. Fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing<br />
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I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in 14 days I lost two weeks.<br />
Joe E. Lewis<br />
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I've been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I've lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.<br />
Erma Bombeck<br />
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No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat.<br />
Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.<br />
Covert Bailey<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-38999115557403902682018-02-07T00:16:00.001-08:002018-02-07T00:16:33.767-08:00The accidental Buddha<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If life in a communist country can be summarized as “living in a zoo cage” capitalist life would be then most appropriately described as “the wildlife”<br />
And the wildlife has but a simple rule: You don’t hunt you don’t eat!<br />
<br />
That means that if you are a newcomer to the capitalist jungle and you have no “pack” to protect you, no friends and no relatives to teach and support you, your only help is your welfare check. Until you learn how to hunt you have to live on the crumbs falling from the table of plenty.<br />
<br />
Welcome to America!<br />
<br />
I spent the first thirteen months of my free life on welfare.<br />
One month, navigating the bureaucratic paperwork required for all political refugees coming into the country and just being blown away, dazed and confused about pretty much everything America was; Six months to learn the English language and six months in an ITT vocational school.<br />
<br />
I remember running out of money at the end of one month. The hardest month ever.<br />
All I had in the fridge was a couple of slices of bread, a quart of milk and three large potatoes, one for each day until the welfare check would come in.<br />
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I would have a piece of toast and a glass of milk in the morning then I would go to school. I would come home at five, bake a potato and eat it with a cube of butter.<br />
I would do my homework and then just lay in bed in order to conserve my energy.<br />
I have never had a harder time in my entire life before or after that.<br />
<br />
Coming to America I have left behind everything I ever had: The loved ones, my family, my friends all my possessions, my language and culture, my country my memories.<br />
Here I was a stranger in a strange country leaving on welfare, three potatoes away from starvation; but I will tell you something stranger even than that.<br />
<br />
Those thirteen months of my life as hard as they were, they were the happiest days of my adult life.<br />
<br />
I would wake up every morning with a smile on my face. And that piece of toast and that glass of milk would be the best breakfast I could ever want. I wouldn’t have changed it for caviar and foie-gras because you see those thirteen months I was living on dreams.<br />
<br />
Those thirteen months were the months of infinite possibilities. Those thirteen months were the months of miracles and wonder.<br />
I have never been so focused in my life. I have never had such a clear vision, such a purpose, and drive.<br />
<br />
I was the complete master of my destiny and like a conductor conducting a symphony, every note was in perfect harmony every action and every thought was intertwining in a flawless melody.<br />
I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I was the fountain of my joy and happiness; I was the spring of infinite hope and inspiration; I was complete.<br />
<br />
I was walking the streets of Hollywood an enlightened Buddha and I didn’t even know it.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-17253473248740257492018-02-05T00:08:00.000-08:002018-02-05T00:08:53.276-08:00Zen Tales: The Frog and the Scorpion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSxwHsqsFN2u3spKTLBN0X7_NNoLlVbQkcfkd2X_tY_QF5wkpJCaFMfglODK22uviDJJHxlAAkbr9jkHWW_LAzkb0VHnUp-ETudV_HVnHz4Bf0TJbdETty_eCoIxnkTjNFJZ09-Otwl8/s1600/scorpion-and-the-frog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="960" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSxwHsqsFN2u3spKTLBN0X7_NNoLlVbQkcfkd2X_tY_QF5wkpJCaFMfglODK22uviDJJHxlAAkbr9jkHWW_LAzkb0VHnUp-ETudV_HVnHz4Bf0TJbdETty_eCoIxnkTjNFJZ09-Otwl8/s320/scorpion-and-the-frog2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
By the blue lagoon on the South of Hogtown, there lived a young frog name, Beth.<br />
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Beth was a teacher and she loved teaching and she loved kids more than anything else in the whole world and she hoped that one day she would get married and have a bunch of tadpoles of her own. The only problem was that of all the frogs she had kissed, none turned out to be the prince of her dreams. So she went back to her work and her quiet life until that fateful day when a young scorpion stopped by the lagoon for a drink of water.<br />
<br />
He was a very handsome fellow, with his metal blue eyes and his square jaw and all those muscles bulging from every part of his body. But he had a very bad reputation. His venomous sting had left a score of dead and wounded hearts in the bayou and Beth knew all the horror stories. So the moment she saw him she leaped to the safety of her lily pad.<br />
<br />
- Did I scare you? Asked the scorpion with a broad smile on his face.<br />
- No, not at all. Said the little frog with bravado.<br />
- Why should I be afraid of you?<br />
- Well, - said the scorpion – I have done some terrible things in my life, and if you would look down on me, I would totally understand. But now my wild and crazy bachelor days are gone. I found my calling working with children.<br />
<br />
That was true too. Beth had heard of his work with the boy scouts and it was quite impressive. So they start talking about kids and about life and things and what do you know? He turned out to be a very intelligent, erudite, charming young fellow, nothing like the jerk she had heard he was. So he came back day after day, never making a pass, never saying or doing anything wrong. Of course, Beth kept the distance and didn’t even dream of letting him on her pad.<br />
<br />
Then the scorpion didn’t show up for several days.<br />
Beth started worrying and started calling all her friends but nobody knew where he was. She almost lost all her hope when he showed up.<br />
<br />
- Where have you been? I was so worried. She said<br />
- I didn’t know you cared.<br />
He said with that killer smile on his face.<br />
- Besides I left you a note on your lily pad.<br />
<br />
She looked at the lily pad and there it was. A note explaining his departure. How embarrassing – and she thought all those bad things about him.<br />
<br />
- Anyway, - the scorpion said – I thought that we should celebrate, do something really special tonight. What do you say?<br />
- Of course! Said the little frog hardly concealing her excitement.<br />
- I always wanted to see the other shore of the lagoon. Since I can’t swim I thought you could carry me over there for a romantic dinner.<br />
<br />
The little frog stepped back in horror.<br />
- I know what you are thinking – Said the scorpion – but just think about it logically. If I sting you I would die by drowning.<br />
That makes perfect sense. Thought the little frog and although her instincts told her no her mouth said:<br />
<br />
- Ok! Hop on.<br />
He jumped on her back and she took off as fast as she could.<br />
It was a beautiful summer evening and in the fiery sunset, the lagoon looked magical.<br />
<br />
Beth slowed down. She could feel his body pressed against her and that electricity flowing melting them into one blissful union.<br />
And then when all her doubts were gone and she was feeling confident and secure. Wham! He stung her. The poison rushing to her heart, she muttered her last words.<br />
<br />
- How could you do this to me? How could you do this to us? We both are going to pay for this dearly. I thought you loved me. I thought you changed…<br />
- Sorry, babe! – he said – I am a scorpion, I can’t change.<br />
That is my nature.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-2337442986312091662018-02-02T09:28:00.002-08:002018-02-02T09:28:52.558-08:00Redemption<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"The doctrine of Redemption is the fundamental mystery of our holy religions, and whoso believeth in it shall not perish, but have everlasting life in which to try to understand it.”<br />
<br />
In my search for God and spirituality, I stopped and chose Zen Buddhism for several reasons, one very important one being the fact that Zen Buddhism emphasizes the act of human enlightenment. The practice of Zen is not a passive one of ritual observance and brown nosing to the all mighty.<br />
The practice of Zen aims at changing the individual and his life.<br />
<br />
What about “people can’t change their nature” statement?<br />
<br />
Nature is what we are born with. Like the color of our eyes, hair or skin. Things like personality, sexuality, talents, and abilities that are given to us by God – or genetic inheritance if you are inclined to believe so.<br />
<br />
You can’t change your nature simply means that no matter how much plastic surgery Michael Jackson will undergo, he will never turn from a black man to a white woman.<br />
It means that no matter how hard I want or try, I would never be a talented musician because I was born tone death.<br />
<br />
I was not born an asshole.<br />
I don’t know why but I have done hurtful things to other people, especially to the people that loved me.<br />
I have betrayed their love and trust, I have cheated and lie to them. I have behaved like a jerk.<br />
<br />
The practice of Zen has brought me face to face with that inner jerk. I had become aware of the evil and ignorance lurking in the recesses of my soul and I have decided to change.<br />
Have I succeeded 100%? Not at all.<br />
Have I changed my own nature? Not a bit.<br />
<br />
I see myself as one of those recovering alcoholics, locked in a battle with their disease for the rest of their lives.<br />
I am a recovering asshole and I will be all my life a recovering asshole.<br />
Maybe I should start an asshole anonymous group. …That will be really interesting.<br />
<br />
So I believe that one can change their behavior, one can be aware of their demons and try to keep them under control, but I believe one can’t change his nature.<br />
Even this behavioral change is extremely hard and rare.<br />
<br />
How many people in the US have bad eating habits? - More than 50%.<br />
If only changing one's habits would be so easy, we would all be trim, fit, healthy and successful.<br />
<br />
So for practical purposes and to keep you out of trouble and being taken advantage of, I would say that assuming that people wouldn’t change just because you love them is a fairly accurate statement and it will serve you well in the wrong run. What if they change? I would say then, a nice surprise is better than a nasty one.<br />
<br />
What about Jesus and believing in Jesus as a path to redemption?<br />
If I tell you – believe in me and you will attain enlightenment, what do you think am I asking you to believe?<br />
That believing that I physically exist will make you enlightened.<br />
Or: That by practicing my philosophy you will attain enlightenment.<br />
<br />
When Jesus was addressing his disciples and asking them to believe, he was not asking them to believe in his existence.<br />
He was right there in front of them. He was asking them to believe his teachings are the path to salvation.<br />
<br />
There is no one that believes in Jesus more than Satan. After all, how could he not, when he got his ass kicked by the all mighty so many times. So is Satan going to heaven because he believes Jesus exists and he's the son of God?<br />
Hell no. Satan doesn’t believe in love, peace and turning the other cheek.<br />
In other words, Satan doesn’t believe in Jesus and neither 99% of the so-called Christians.<br />
<br />
To believe in Jesus and to be a Christian means to feel, and think, to talk and act like Jesus.<br />
Mother Theresa is a Christian, not the Pope. Gandhi was a Christian, not Pat Robertson.<br />
<br />
The notion that just by saying “I believe Jesus is my savior’ will give you a free pass to heaven is absolutely ridiculous.<br />
This evangelical propaganda that you can do whatever you want without any repercussions as long as you hail to their dogma, has taken America on the path of moral decay and bankruptcy.<br />
The right-wing, fear mongering, war loving, hate spewing evangelism, sweeping America today, is taking us straight to hell.<br />
<br />
I believe there is a judgment day coming for all of us and I believe there are no free passes.<br />
More of, I believe God is not a Christian, Muslim, Jew or Buddhist and on that day of judgment, we all are going to have a huge surprise.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-30920117527909168842018-01-31T04:10:00.000-08:002018-01-31T04:10:01.308-08:00On the Human Nature<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Of course, when I say that human nature is gentleness, it is not 100 percent so. Every human being has that nature, but there are many people acting against their nature, being false."<br />
- Dalai Lama<br />
<br />
"On the highway of life, the secret of smooth riding is to avoid the potholes."<br />
-Anagami<br />
<br />
A long time ago I had a friend that was really bad with money.<br />
He couldn’t hold a job for more than six months, was always involved in some get rich overnight scam, never paid his bills in time and always got in trouble with the banks.<br />
<br />
One month, as usual, he was late in paying his rent and was facing eviction.<br />
He asked me to lend him 300 $dollars until next day and somehow I couldn’t say no.<br />
Well, guess what? I never saw my money back.<br />
<br />
My question was not why he didn’t pay back his debt – that was his nature.<br />
He did the same thing with every person he came in contact with – but why all the people got suckered in to give him money? Why somebody like me who thinks of myself as a pretty rational man, did not see it coming?<br />
<br />
At about the same time I started dating a very nice girl.<br />
Her best friend had a very nasty gossiping habit and I was quite shocked when my girlfriend started telling her very intimate tidbits of our personal life. I told her:<br />
- Don’t do that! She is a gossiper and she will take that information and spread it around.<br />
- No, she wouldn’t do that. She is my best friend. She replayed.<br />
<br />
Well, guess what? She did just that.<br />
So what is the moral of all this?<br />
It looks like all of us have some sort of a soft spot, a built-in gullibility I would say.<br />
<br />
We all like to believe that we are pretty special and that we deserved to be treated differently.<br />
We believe that we can change the people around us, especially the people we like.<br />
<br />
We get emotionally involved with those people and it becomes very difficult to see when we are suckered in.<br />
At the same time, if we are not emotionally involved, it is much easier for us to see the true nature of other people.<br />
<br />
The truth is that people cannot change their nature. A liar will be always a liar, even if he tells the truth when it is to his advantage.<br />
A cheater is a cheater an ass hole is an ass hole as well as a nice person is a nice person.<br />
<br />
If we could step outside of the emotional involvement and look at the true nature of our friends, relatives coworkers or other people involved in our lives we would avoid a lot of bad surprises.<br />
<br />
Only if that would as easy to do as it is to say it…<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-66147265594623965292018-01-29T01:16:00.002-08:002018-01-29T01:16:51.623-08:00Zen Tales: The Swan and the Swine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once upon a time in the little community of Hogtown, in the bayou country, lived a little swan and her family of pigs.<br />
<br />
I know what you are thinking "How come a family of pigs can have a swan daughter?" but let me tell you, it is more common than you think.<br />
<br />
The pigs were quite wealthy and offered their swan daughter the best education money can buy.<br />
The little swan was not only pretty but also very gifted and soon grew up into the most beautiful young lady in town. (Although some of the older pigs thought of her independence and free spirit as unbecoming of a young sow.)<br />
<br />
After finishing college she thought of starting a career but her handsome hog boyfriend proposed to her and in the excitement of the moment she accepted. (She also wanted to make her pig parents proud and happy by marrying the most eligible bachelor in town.)<br />
<br />
But married life did not turn the way she had predicted.<br />
Away from the protective shield of her parents, she found herself being totally unprepared for the porcine life.<br />
<br />
She tried very hard to play the role of a perfect swine but she was failing miserably.<br />
She even went to the best pig specialists looking for help.<br />
<br />
They pluck her feathers, broke her wings and cover her in sticky mud, but all their efforts to change her did not help.<br />
On the surface she kind of looked more swiney, but inside she felt more and more inadequate.<br />
She looked at the swine around her all happy whirling in the mud and dreamed she could be like that even for one day.<br />
<br />
Her husband seemed to be very understanding of her shortcomings and try to cover up their family problems buy putting up the front of a perfect marriage.<br />
<br />
The plans of her adolescence turned to dust.<br />
She gave up all her dreams and she gave up all her hope.<br />
All she was capable of is to survive and carry her pain.<br />
<br />
With broken wings, crawling through the swamp she keeps on living, until one fateful day when she met an ancient turtle.<br />
This old hermit basking in the sun atop of a mossy rock had on his face the most content smile she had ever seen.<br />
Somehow it looked like he did not care about the filthy mud he was living in.<br />
Somehow it did not affect him.<br />
<br />
She approaches the old man and asked him.<br />
- Why do I have to suffer all my life like this?<br />
Why can’t I be just like the other swine, thick and slow, stupid and coarse?<br />
Oh, why is God so cruel to me, why did he have to put this curse on me?<br />
Or has he made a mistake?<br />
<br />
- Oh no, my dear. Said the old man. God doesn’t make mistakes.<br />
We do.<br />
You are a swan and not a swine.<br />
Your life is what you get if you choose to crawl when you are meant to fly.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-79453886637587732352018-01-26T11:59:00.000-08:002018-01-27T07:24:55.902-08:00The Fall of Idols<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We are all God.<br />
That is until we develop an Ego and we start thinking we are Gods.<br />
And that ignorant belief throws us in a lot of trouble because your Ego is not God and it cannot control the universe and therefore it cannot control your life.<br />
<br />
Sooner or later, like a blind man walking a tightrope, you gonna take a wrong step and your castle build out of cards will come tumbling down.<br />
Then you start asking questions like:<br />
- Why is this happening to me? Maybe there is a God and for some unknown reason he really doesn't like me and is trying to ruin my life.<br />
Or something like that.<br />
<br />
Let me start all over again from the beginning.<br />
We are all God, not Gods.<br />
We are born from the De like waves are born from the ocean.<br />
We all have the same Divine nature. Actually, to be more precise everything there is, has the divine nature.<br />
<br />
What differentiates us as persons start after we are born.<br />
After our conception, we start a process of indoctrination by our power figures, which I call our IDOLS, into believing that we are something different than God. That we are human beings, a name, a race, a religion or country.<br />
We are taught and learn to identify and therefore to separate ourselves from anybody and anything else. Thus we become strangers to our own divinity.<br />
<br />
Furthermore our teachers, our Idols teach us how to lie, steal, hate, judge others, kill, deceive and betray and all that wonderful things that "humans" think, say and do all in the name of protecting US from THEM.<br />
Of course, no Idol will ever take responsibility for this corruption of the Divine in us, for teaching us the evil way, but somehow we all learn and know it by the time we hit adulthood or the time we leave our family nest and start acting out our independent life.<br />
<br />
It is at this time and point in our life when our disaster scenario programming starts unfolding.<br />
Yes, we all follow the same path of self-destruction with some variants of time, place and circumstances.<br />
It is inevitable. It is our destiny.<br />
The biggest problem is not that we fail but that we keep following our programming again and again, repeating the same mistakes until we die without ever realizing what's going on.<br />
<br />
So let me start again from the beginning.<br />
We are all born God.<br />
Everything else following our procreation is an experience of God in this material world.<br />
Everything else you believe you are is just a role you have been programmed by your Idols to play, which in turn have been programmed by their Idols, which in turn have been programmed by their Idols since the beginning of human civilization.<br />
<br />
In this process of self-programming, the chaos and error introduced by Ego each generation is perpetuating and amplifying constantly.<br />
Translation: Our dysfunctionality as individuals and society is increasing with each generation and it will end in self-destruction and a spiritual renaissance revolution shortly after.<br />
<br />
This revolution will be brought by the fall of Idols.<br />
The personal realization that your Idols, your mother, father, teacher, priest, politicians and scientists, prophets and laymen and last but not list YOU are ignorant assholes. That there are no Idols outside your erroneous perception that everybody is just like everybody else.<br />
<br />
I know it is scary to think that our Idols are nothing more than ordinary people doing their best or worst depending on how you see it, but their shit doesn't smell like roses and they are as ignorant and clueless as anybody else no matter how many diplomas, how much fame money or powers they have.<br />
<br />
But that is the inevitable outcome the inevitable end of our Ego experience, the liberation act from our Idols and the return to the original truth.<br />
We are all God.<br />
Everything else is just an illusion, the experience of our human manifestation.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-5421616837231866422018-01-19T07:59:00.001-08:002018-01-19T07:59:11.063-08:00The Age of Entanglement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Deep down at subconscious level, we are all connected.<br />
There are very few people that understand that and even fewer people that have made that connection at the conscious level.<br />
<br />
There are numerous accounts of the past in which this connection has been made.<br />
Finding out who you are, the true original nature of “I“ was enough to awaken you at a higher level of conscious connectivity.<br />
<br />
The sudden realization of the true nature of reality would trigger a chain reaction in which the illusion of the material world would collapse and the individual would be freed from the prison of reason reestablishing the natural supremacy of the Spirit over the Ego.<br />
<br />
The Zen literature is full of accounts of people, Zen students, that have attained enlightenment, spiritual awakening or Satori, by simply breaking through the illusion of separation and understanding the nonduality nature of oneness.<br />
It looks like that type of awakening is not possible any longer in our times.<br />
<br />
I’ve never encountered or heard about another alive human being enlightened at the present time with the exception of few momentary spontaneous enlightenment, the most notorious and documented being the so-called “near-death experience” which I like to call more appropriately “near life experience”<br />
But even these spontaneous enlightenment experiences were not powerful enough to create a permanent conscience change and reverted after a short time to the Ego-consciousness prior to the event, leaving behind only the memories of the awakening.<br />
<br />
That means that even for the people that have broken through the illusion of the material world and have made a total connection with the spiritual world at the conscious level, the awakening wouldn't last very long before reverting to the Ego reality set of mind.<br />
This situation is the result of a very strong Ego dominance over our thinking that has exponentially grown in intensity in our time.<br />
<br />
Zen Buddhism developed in Japan in the 8th century in a medieval society. <br />
Since then the world has become increasingly more interconnected and interdependent.<br />
New modes of transportation and communication have made our world shrink. It took years to circumvent the world, and about as long for the news to propagate.<br />
Now going around the globe has become a matter of hours and the news is transmitted at the speed of light to any corner of the globe. In the last decades, the information revolution has connected us 24/7.<br />
We are practically going to bed with our phones and waking up with our phone in the hand. On top of that, the complexity of our social and economic life has also increased. We are in a situation that our brain is overused and have no free time left in the day. Paradoxically all this development has not brought us together but contrary has made us more isolated from each other and tied us stronger to the Ego material world.<br />
<br />
You have to physically break away from any social interaction in order to escape the chains of entanglement.<br />
As long as you are a part of the social system, being in this world but not of this world has become an impossibility.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-77630012666992227032018-01-17T08:41:00.001-08:002018-01-17T08:43:33.243-08:00Happiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is been a continuous fight among the scientists about the human nature. Part of the problem is that our science doesn't understand nuances. For the scientific mind, things are either black or white and anything that cannot be classified scientifically falls out of the scientific understanding.<br />
But life doesn't obey the laws of science. Life is nuanced, infinite in complexity and constantly evolving.<br />
You cannot understand human complexity as a simple play between nature and nurture. Life cannot understand, life can only be experienced.<br />
<br />
We are continuously evolving. From the day we are born we are both biologically and spiritually evolving. Even scientists are starting to agree that what we think and feel are having an impact in changing our brain structure and our body functions.<br />
We are continuously and constantly being bombarded with information. Our lives are becoming increasingly complex. The rhythm and pace of our lives continuously accelerating. The pressure on our physical bodies and our minds continuously increasing. The result of all these changes is that we are becoming increasingly stressed, depressed and generally unhappy.<br />
<br />
So it is becoming trendy now that people are looking for ways to distress, to live more healthy and in general to be happier.<br />
But what are the ways, what is the path to happiness?<br />
It seems that in spite of spending more time, effort and money in the pursuit of happiness our lives, our relationships and careers are not much better than before.<br />
Happiness is not practicing yoga or going to the gym every day.<br />
Happiness is not chanting and meditating and burning incents and wearing crystals. Happiness is not having a safe space or passing new laws in Congress.<br />
<br />
The problem with happiness is that we have been programmed to believe that happiness is something coming from the outside world, that happiness is something that you can "get".<br />
We constantly see "happy" people on the media. Happy to buy a new car, happy to buy new things, happy to drink beer or happy for a happy meal. The idea being that having or doing something will make you happy.<br />
<br />
If you believe that you need something to be happy then you are screwed, because you will never be happy. You will never have enough of what it makes you happy because even if you get it, the moment you got it you will need increasingly more.<br />
It is the basic tenant of the Buddhist philosophy "desire is the root of suffering"<br />
So how can we get this happiness thing?<br />
You don't. You will never get the happiness you dream of.<br />
<br />
Happiness is not something you get. Happiness is something you manifest. Go outside, look at the sun, let the warm sink in your body realize you are alive and let yourself be happy.<br />
Look at a tree, be happy. Look at your family be happy.<br />
When you allow yourself to be happy with everything and anything in your life your happiness will start to flow.<br />
<br />
Happiness is this joy of simply being alive. Happiness is you being unbound, liberated from the idea that you have to be, or have to have, or have to do anything to be happy.<br />
Stop looking outwards for your happiness, look instead inwards. You can feel your happiness bottled inside, trying to get out, and probably you will be afraid to let it go because you were never told that you could be unconditionally happy.<br />
<br />
Start practicing expressing your happiness every day.<br />
Allow yourself to be happy, to express joy to smile for any reason or no reason at all. Practice happiness until it becomes a habit. Be happy until you start annoying the people around you until they start asking "what is your secret, what makes you so happy?"<br />
And you can tell them the truth "nothing!"<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-48017339921444668422018-01-15T10:57:00.000-08:002018-01-15T10:57:13.881-08:00The Tao of Relationships<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GpS7gpwLQpuA6ARRolauyQNt7DvnWBSnoqqVebfU8f-_joGIXuy4bGk1vCoGtp50zL0jE5OBhwhaQt4_Wa-pQmdRjpqTKN1FmmqUtWz_cxf9-jo-AsmvZHc-jm23RvtB4KHFB3BbrWA/s1600/love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GpS7gpwLQpuA6ARRolauyQNt7DvnWBSnoqqVebfU8f-_joGIXuy4bGk1vCoGtp50zL0jE5OBhwhaQt4_Wa-pQmdRjpqTKN1FmmqUtWz_cxf9-jo-AsmvZHc-jm23RvtB4KHFB3BbrWA/s320/love.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Relationships are becoming increasingly more difficult to have and to preserve.<br />
From the dawn of history, we have tales of bad relationships.<br />
The Greek mythology is full of stories of relationships gone bad.<br />
From family feuds to tragic romantic love affairs to wars between clans and nations, people had always had a hard time getting along.<br />
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But all those Greek tragedies were special, rare occasions, not the social norm. Most of the time people had good relationships. They knew how to start a conversation, communicate effectively, handle differences and settle disputes.<br />
I know this first hand because I grew up on a farm were the social dynamics were unchanged for hundreds of years.<br />
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There was a time when everybody knew their neighbor by name when children play in the streets without fear of being kidnaped and when romance ended up in marriages that lasted a lifetime.<br />
Those days are gone.<br />
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We are living in the Internet era where everyone has thousands of friends and followers but if you need a ride to the airport you have to call a taxi because you don't know anybody that will give you a ride. We are living in the era where internet dating offers thousand of matches to choose from but not a single one that you would choose to go out with.<br />
Our marriages are statistically doomed from the start. Our best hopes are to find somebody that will stick around for more than a couple of month.<br />
We live solitary lives in cities crowded with millions of people.<br />
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What happened?<br />
We build societies and the human civilization to serve us the humans, to make us safer, prosperous, healthier and happier.<br />
In time the roles have changed we are no longer the masters of the social and economic system. We are the slaves.<br />
We have become part of the machine part of the system.<br />
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Our relationships have changed into social contracts. Love has become business. Anything that doesn't serve the system is discarded everything that benefits the system is promoted.<br />
And we buy into it because it gives us the promise of success.<br />
But people are becoming increasingly unhappy and all the material success and convenience of the modern life cannot replace the feeling of love and belonging we have lost.<br />
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To love is to give without asking anything in return.<br />
That goes against the social construct which is to take, to accumulate without giving anything in return or at least to give back as little as possible. That is the formula for success.<br />
That is the way we live our lives.<br />
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This is the Ego reality. The world of fragmentation and separation, the world of scarcity and fear.<br />
We have promoted the worst in us the Ego to be the one that takes all the decisions and directs our lives.<br />
We have created a soulless society where love and happiness come in a pill bottle.<br />
We all want love, we are starved for love, we all are beginning to receive it but who is the one to give?<br />
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Business is good for business but life is not a business transaction.<br />
The business rules do not apply to life and relationships and if they are applied, the results are always a disaster.<br />
The business model is based on competition on having winners and losers. Love is not a business affair<br />
In love, you can't have a winner and a loser.<br />
In a bad relationship, both parties are losers.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-60659080010051393932018-01-12T12:06:00.000-08:002018-01-12T12:06:16.430-08:00The Age of Righteousness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ieUUCeyb2dl6I4v7VhOXT7HqF4jxdU-qJjVI4DO1Qie805Dx2dpktdmX6Ax6HYTdHhyphenhyphenGdv51c00hiGMbBvp_uuC5Q-HuVzrTK8v9naUXRv5dLJVHIXmpTbJ-idht7teMAW0YI5hS5j4/s1600/1+monk+on+laptop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ieUUCeyb2dl6I4v7VhOXT7HqF4jxdU-qJjVI4DO1Qie805Dx2dpktdmX6Ax6HYTdHhyphenhyphenGdv51c00hiGMbBvp_uuC5Q-HuVzrTK8v9naUXRv5dLJVHIXmpTbJ-idht7teMAW0YI5hS5j4/s320/1+monk+on+laptop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As we were discussing in my last post, in the Western culture we see time in a linear fashion, we see the society evolving on a never-ending ascending path, like climbing an infinite mountain.<br />
That vision, of a linear timeline, is not shared by all cultures.<br />
Some people see time as a circular trajectory, they see the society evolving in cycles of growth and decay and according to that philosophy, we are now experiencing an age of decadence, the Kali Yuga.<br />
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One of the symptoms of a decaying society is the polarisation of spiritual beliefs, part of a larger trend of social fragmentation.<br />
The middle way of thinking has been abandoned in favor of the hard-line extremism.<br />
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According to Buddhist teachings, things and actions are not "good" or "bad" - for example, guns and killing are neutral.<br />
You can use a gun to rob a bank or you can use a gun to protect the bank from being robbed. Or the second World War, the Germans use guns and killing to subjugate people and destroy democracy and of course we used guns and killing to liberate the subjugated nations and reinforce democracy.<br />
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So all things being equal, the middle path is always the wise path to follow.<br />
That could be summarised in a simple statement:<br />
"Everything in excess is bad" or "Everything in moderation is good"<br />
This middle way path is a path of harmony, of balance rather than this, is "good vs this is bad" path of righteousness.<br />
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It is very hard to convince anybody that democracy is no better than dictatorship, that actually a political, social system is only as good or bad as the people that are running the system.<br />
A democracy run by corrupt people is not a good thing at all, and we are starting to see that in our own government at this very moment in history,<br />
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A dictatorship run by intelligent concerned people will always be superior to a democracy run by corrupted politicians.<br />
I know, that idea is very unpleasant and unacceptable to us Americans born and raised to worship democracy and freedom but the truth is that China, a communist dictatorship, is kicking our democratic asses, at this very moment, on all fields, economic, educational, healthcare, research and development and basically, military power would be the only thing that we could say we are better at, but even that is a very relative assumption.<br />
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That is just one example but the problem has become an epidemic. The "my way is the right and only way" philosophy is embraced by almost everybody.<br />
You cannot have a decent polite argument anymore, therefore all the paths to progress and reconciliations have been shut close. The only solution left is the frontal confrontation. The only outcome acceptable is the total annihilation of the opponent part.<br />
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This polarisation of beliefs will continue covering the lad, will continue to grow, especially with the help of mass media that thrives on chaos and negativity.<br />
The only good thing about this darkness is that will allow a lot of people to finally discern the light of spiritual teachings we have lost or forgot.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-27471159481155806912018-01-10T06:52:00.007-08:002018-01-10T06:52:57.380-08:00The Fascination of Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdu-FrcFtnIclCkX7cJs_98aiQtLcY9k-AIUYil-Q0nNaUGtgiiZJo-bwJcd5LXsval14N5K5MW_J9tB9PxSWx-DWjkUShgkQoAa3RgoeDJlI35cQlnLBuQQ-eMQt7rQexmP3x6z5-sE/s1600/yuga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdu-FrcFtnIclCkX7cJs_98aiQtLcY9k-AIUYil-Q0nNaUGtgiiZJo-bwJcd5LXsval14N5K5MW_J9tB9PxSWx-DWjkUShgkQoAa3RgoeDJlI35cQlnLBuQQ-eMQt7rQexmP3x6z5-sE/s320/yuga.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
There is a common thread in all ancient cultures, the very unusual fascination of the old civilizations for astronomy and time.<br />
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From the primitive paleolithic cultures like Stonehenge to the Greek antiquity, from the Mayan civilization to The Egyptian pharaonic empire, we have found very concrete and powerful evidence of their preoccupation and fascination with astronomy and time.<br />
There is no doubt about it the only question is "Why?"<br />
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There are some attempts to explain it like "They need it to keep time because they needed to know when to plant their crops and when the rainy season will come" and stuff like that.<br />
But that is a very weak argument not false but incomplete.<br />
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If you are familiar with the Vedic scriptures you have probably heard of the "Yugas" or cycles of time.<br />
Yuga in Hinduism is an epoch or era within a four-age cycle.<br />
A complete Yuga starts with the Satya Yuga, via Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga into a Kali Yuga.<br />
Our present time is a Kali Yuga, which started at 3102 BCE with the end of the Kurukshetra War (or Mahabharata war)<br />
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Not coincidentally the Greeks divided the time into a similar 4 ages structure: The Golden age, the Silver age, the Bronze age and the Iron age.<br />
According to the ancient wisdom, we are now living in the Kali Yuga or the Iron age which is the last of the periods - the end of time.<br />
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Two things.<br />
One: the Yugas are based on the Galactic precession, the Sun circular movement around the galaxy.<br />
How the hell that they know there is a galaxy and the galaxy is rotating. How did they measure it when we, the modern civilization, thought the Earth was the center of the universe till Giordano Bruno and Galileo? <br />
What does the galaxy moving have to do with planting the crops or tending the cows, or anything else?<br />
Why did they do it? There has to be an explanation for it.<br />
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Second: All ancient civilizations saw time as a cyclical occurrence not a linear one.<br />
It is funny that even now at this moment 2018 AD we believe in a linear time. We believe that progress and growth just keep on happening forever.<br />
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That view is obviously false. Nothing keeps on growing forever sooner or later we will run out of natural resources and space to expand and a collapse of the of the human society is inevitable. ( I know; if we learn to live in harmony with mother Gaya we can attain a sustainable symbiotic existence. The humankind will destroy itself in a global war before we learn to live in harmony with anything.)<br />
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But the old wisdom tells us that time is cyclical and all are warning us of the inevitable decay of the human civilization.<br />
According to the Sanscrit texts, we are now living in the Kali Yuga the age of the Kali goddess of destruction.<br />
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Kali Yuga: The final age. It is the age of darkness and ignorance.<br />
People become sinners and lack virtue. They become slaves to their passions and are barely as powerful as their earliest ancestors in the Satya Yuga.<br />
Society falls into disuse and people become liars and hypocrites.<br />
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Knowledge is lost and scriptures are diminished. Humans eat forbidden and dirty food.<br />
The environment is polluted, water and food become scarce.<br />
Wealth is heavily diminished. Families become non-existent. By the end of Kali Yuga, the average lifespan of humans will be as low as 70 years.<br />
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I know what you are thinking "this is the same BS as the Mayan end of time calendar" You are right in the sense that time cannot physically end but "the end of time" is a metaphorical expression, it is a warning that time is running out and we have to wake up before our civilisation will colaps due to our ignorance and greed.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-52790826899383065342018-01-08T00:42:00.000-08:002018-01-08T00:42:21.765-08:00The Chain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp55iBRHHaP17lTEvWaJqiAjyKF0ETag1hHY9Cv-r2nTfMAsSV1U3lFQX80__ToYC5vXnMpLCIwnSsY5_XBjLxZPMzaFulwr1tJ5xep93fjh2mqJmQ51zcykSfd_C4PMXjuut5JY4cphg/s1600/what.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="599" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp55iBRHHaP17lTEvWaJqiAjyKF0ETag1hHY9Cv-r2nTfMAsSV1U3lFQX80__ToYC5vXnMpLCIwnSsY5_XBjLxZPMzaFulwr1tJ5xep93fjh2mqJmQ51zcykSfd_C4PMXjuut5JY4cphg/s320/what.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
How clever an animal the human being is.<br />
So clever he doesn't even know.<br />
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We take a baby elephant and tie it to the trunk of a sturdy tree with a heavy chain.<br />
The baby elephant doesn't have the submission in his blood. He is a wild free beast, not a domesticated servant.<br />
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He tries to get free.<br />
He tugs at the chain with all his might but the chain is heavy and the tree too strong to unroot.<br />
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The baby elephant grows up chained to the trunk of a tree.<br />
After failing to free itself, again and again, he gives up his freedom.<br />
He stops tugging at the chain. He believes that his situation is inescapable.<br />
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After years the baby elephant has grown big and strong.<br />
The elephant handler uses him to lift up and carry heavy trees.<br />
The elephant could easily escape his master and run in the jungle to freedom, but he doesn't.<br />
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After the work is done the master takes the elephant back to the village.<br />
He ties a chain around the elephant's leg and the elephant stays there obedient.<br />
In its mind, the elephant is still tied to a big tree with a heavy chain.<br />
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What holds the elephant from his freedom is not the flimsy chain tied around its ankle but the belief in his head that he cannot escape. The chain is just a clever make-believe, a trick of the master.<br />
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How clever an animal the human being is.<br />
So clever he doesn't even know.<br />
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I've seen the elephant handlers logging the rainforest for precious wood.<br />
They are poor people, uneducated people, doing what they are taught to do by their masters.<br />
They have no idea of the impact they have on the lives of the elephants they have enslaved, the rainforest they have decimated or the planet we all live on.<br />
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The people living on the threshold of poverty in misery and slavery have no idea that they are free.<br />
Free to take control of their destiny, free to pursue a better life, free to build a better future, a better society.<br />
They have been brought up wearing the heavy chains of social rules they masters have put around their ankles.<br />
They don't see that like the elephants they ride they have the real power, not the masters that keep them in slavery.<br />
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How clever an animal the human being is.<br />
So clever he doesn't even know.<br />
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It is easy for us as Westerners to see what's happening to our brothers and sisters in the poor regions of the world.<br />
Thou, it is hard for us to see how we the Western culture has created this social injustice and build our wealth on the back of the exploited nations.<br />
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Who has the money to buy elephant ivory trinkets and decorate our lavish house with furniture made of exotic rare woods?<br />
Well somebody does and that is not the elephant rider or the logger cutting down the rainforest.<br />
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Don't be too hasty to judge.<br />
Yes, we are all just doing our jobs, doing what we are told.<br />
We all have our ankles tied with flimsy social chains. We all obey our master handlers.<br />
True some of us have better larger cages and get better food than the others but still, we wear the same mental chains.<br />
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Are you living the life you want and deserve to live?<br />
Are you living in the place, the neighborhood, the state or country of your dreams?<br />
Are you pursuing your dreams, working the job of your dreams doing what your inborn talent is?<br />
Are your relationship, healthy and loving as you want them to be?<br />
are you free to do and live as you please?<br />
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There is an unspoken feeling every time you try to escape your current situation. We all have been chained, domesticated, beat into submission by social rules and laws.<br />
We are no better than the elephants we have subjugated.<br />
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How clever an animal the human being is.<br />
So clever we don't even know.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-50516285153139942682017-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:002017-12-15T09:00:01.846-08:00The Spirituality Ego Trip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFVr3UNGRwDGe989m3nQeLmyClyq9TzwiXVX6de0fVK2VwB76f3aJNpvgqekMoO0IYX-XIWzRROKmzdT2ojaYBJmEay45szDcMtO-0UbxPzJtcJy4qZ3-4vQTY_XJ1dgds0onf5KVuSxg/s1600/path+the.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFVr3UNGRwDGe989m3nQeLmyClyq9TzwiXVX6de0fVK2VwB76f3aJNpvgqekMoO0IYX-XIWzRROKmzdT2ojaYBJmEay45szDcMtO-0UbxPzJtcJy4qZ3-4vQTY_XJ1dgds0onf5KVuSxg/s320/path+the.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The ONE is nonduality, it preludes reality, and it is the source of all existence and non-existence.</div>
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All consciousness from the simplest to the self-consciousness, rises from the ONE as waves rise from the ocean, and after their journey in the duality world, all consciousness returns to the source, to the ONE.</div>
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I have discussed this metaphysical concept, at large, in some of my previous blogs but today this will be just a brief introduction to the subject at hand “The Spiritual Ego Trip” </div>
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So, what is the Ego and what is an Ego trip?</div>
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As we are born we still have the quality of non-duality, that means the newborn and very young babies have no knowledge of “Good” or “Bad” we are pure Spirit encapsulated in a meat, bones and skin bag. </div>
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We must learn what pain is in order to know what pleasure is, we have to learn what a lie is in order to know what truth is, we have to learn what hate is in order to know what love is. In short, we must know the evil in order to know the good.</div>
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This may sound harsh but without losing our innocence we wouldn’t be able to survive in the material world. This is our original sin “eating the apple from the tree of knowledge”</div>
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Along with the knowledge, we also learn how to speak and how to reason using language and symbols.</div>
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We are also indoctrinated in the concept of identity.</div>
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You are no longer a manifestation of God part of all that there is but a separate individual, a human.</div>
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To enforce that identity, you are given a label, a name and a role you have to play – to be John the son or Mary the daughter of your parents. Usually, after that, you are assigned another role “the student role”</div>
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Sometime around 7 years old +- our learned function “the reason” connects to the assigned identity.</div>
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and thinking becomes predominant over all the other functions of the Spirit; intuition, imagination, creativity.</div>
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If you are lucky some of your talents may be nourished and further develop or unlucky and have all your talents be suppressed and never develop.</div>
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It is in the teenage period when the reason reaches the stage of self-consciousness “the I think therefore I am” form. At that time, the Ego takes control from the Spirit and asserts itself as the true identity of the human experience. Our Ego trips multiply. We are sports fans, boyfriend, and girlfriend, democrat or republican, Christian or Muslim, athlete or cheerleader etc.</div>
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But these Ego trips are just the introduction to the big roles, father, mother, engineer, teacher, entrepreneur or worker etc. Just ask anybody who are you and they will answer with the assigned label and role. Nobody has any clue that, that is just an Ego trip not the real identity of the “I”</div>
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The development of the Ego imposes the Ego qualities over our personality overshadowing the qualities of our Spirit. All Ego qualities arise from the belief in its separate state from everything as opposed to the spirit that knows it is connected to everything.</div>
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Some of the Ego qualities derive from that are the belief of scarcity, poverty, ignorance, and fear but what keeps the Ego in power is the supreme quality of the Ego – Vanity. The I am better than you Ego game that all of us are involved in even if we are not aware of it,</div>
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The classical example of vanity Ego trip would be any person driving a Ferrari or similar car, any person decked in jewelry or a guy with a trophy wife. That is the Ego saying to the world look at me I am better than you. I am a winner and everybody else is a loser. But that is just a façade, an empty attempt to fill the void of Ego existence.</div>
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Another form of Ego trip is the spiritual Ego trip. Because of the explosion of information, we now know that material success doesn’t equate with happiness and we even look down on people with money.</div>
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Having money will not excuse you from being a douche bag so some people have found another way to be better than you. The spiritual pseudo “non-material” Ego trip.</div>
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One of my favorite spiritual Ego trips are the eco-planet-saving warriors. You know the type; vegan, hip, Prius driving apple book totting, save the planet preachers.</div>
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Here is the point: For millions of years, we have been living in harmony with the planet without generating any garbage or industrial pollution. Actually, there are people that do that even now. </div>
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The Amish people live in perfect harmony with planet earth. </div>
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They cultivate their own food, make their own clothes and have a zero impact on the planet.</div>
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So, all those hip types trying to make you feel guilty for using plastic bags or eating a beef steak are just little hypocrites. </div>
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They are not here to save the planet they are here to show you how much better they are then you. </div>
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If they really cared about the planet they should give up their Priuses, Apple laptops, and cell phones and go live on an Amish farm with zero impact on the planet they say they love. Right?</div>
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And then of course then is us the Zen Buddhist, Born again Christians, Hassidic Jews, and Fundamentalist Muslims. You know the type; My God is better than your God and my religion and beliefs the only right one. In other words, I am better than you Ego trip disguised as “I am doing you a favor saving your soul from the eternal flames of hell”</div>
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It is all a charade, a grotesque circus of hypocrisy. The Pope and the Vatican are the richest men and institution on the globe. How did they get all that money, treasures and land? From ripping off the poor and then turning around to lead the fight against the poverty they created. Just like our eco-warriors friends. If you want to end poverty why not do it? After all, you have all the means and nobody will stop you. </div>
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So, the bottom line is, if you belong to any organized religious or non-religious group you are on an Ego trip. </div>
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Jesus and Gautama had no church or temple. Christ was not Christian and Buddha was not a Buddhist. </div>
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If you want to be a spiritual person you should be like Jesus “in this world but not of this world” and like Gautama a beggar, a nobody meditating under the Bodhi tree.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-23440064180346625962017-12-13T08:16:00.002-08:002017-12-13T08:16:57.952-08:00The promise of spirituality<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTT_QW1osK8PM-klCNP46f2T2hKWabYKokDeC0zEL6XKCu9RZjLkvu6et69dsC_RUXDQatIXumt6amORS1NA2I17LmZB8xZmFfQ2LuX9rY1wwFAb65O3wN6vkEZ3NGsVuCz9czmvSs_hI/s1600/religion+and+spirituality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="219" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTT_QW1osK8PM-klCNP46f2T2hKWabYKokDeC0zEL6XKCu9RZjLkvu6et69dsC_RUXDQatIXumt6amORS1NA2I17LmZB8xZmFfQ2LuX9rY1wwFAb65O3wN6vkEZ3NGsVuCz9czmvSs_hI/s320/religion+and+spirituality.jpg" width="174" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“We cannot solve the world’s significant problems with the same
level of consciousness that created them”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Albert Einstein<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I was having a picnic in the
park with my family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It was around the Easter and
the kids were having fun hunting for the hidden eggs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I was lying on the blanket next
to the remains of the picnic feast when I noticed an ant coming searching for
food.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t know if the ant could
smell the food, for sure she couldn’t see it, but somehow she knew the food was
around and it was determined to find it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The funny thing about this is
that from my vintage POV it was quite clear where the food was and what the
obstacles and the clear path was but the poor ant had no idea and no other way
to find it than by trial and error.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Eventually after many trials
the ant found a crumb of food but I was thinking what if the ant knew what I
knew?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What if, just like the ant, we
are looking around for whatever we are looking, unaware that all the
information, all the knowledge we need for success in life it is already
available?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What if we could have a
different POV where all that information about life’s obstacles and the optimum
path would be clearly visible to us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This is the promise of
spirituality:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">To put us in touch with a
higher source of knowledge and wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">To transform one’s life path
and experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">To elevate the level of human
consciousness to an optimum level.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This is the path I am looking
for and if you are looking for the same thing you are welcome top come along on
my journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But as Albert Camus said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"Don't walk in front of
me, I may not follow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Don't walk behind me, I may not
lead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Just walk beside me and be my
friend."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-56740016815228179982017-12-11T07:47:00.000-08:002017-12-11T07:47:10.641-08:00Choice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircgxr4BmsPv2t4gl5hDcTzP4KZbB6NRxHByLdB_INmeMfI27EgOlUCbrfBOoV8GmQ75IOutHoIoglNAEvKSxCrkMalQW-rMQDdL30wK7rudrss3-EpltmPdM9wa0xpF7Z_onkeRjn8pY/s1600/choice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEircgxr4BmsPv2t4gl5hDcTzP4KZbB6NRxHByLdB_INmeMfI27EgOlUCbrfBOoV8GmQ75IOutHoIoglNAEvKSxCrkMalQW-rMQDdL30wK7rudrss3-EpltmPdM9wa0xpF7Z_onkeRjn8pY/s320/choice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I have been asked many times:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“Have you ever seen God?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“Have you ever seen a picture
or any scientific proof of his existence?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">(For some reason people believe
God is a dude :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And invariably the other
question:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“How can an educated and
intelligent man like you believe in a superstition about something that doesn’t
exist?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“The same way I believe in
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I like to reply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You see, not everything that is
important to me exist in a physical form.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Actually, of all the things
that are really important to me only, health, clean air, and healthy food are
of material nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The most important things in my
life; love, happiness, and freedom do not exist in the physical realm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But for me, they are more real
than the things I can see and touch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Here is the scoop:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I do not have the choice of the
reality I live in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">However, I have the choice of
my beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Do I want to believe that I am
just an evolved monkey?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">An insignificant part of a
mechanical universe being banged around like billiard balls by cold mechanical
forces and laws?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Do I want to run my life by
biological animal instincts in the name of survival of the fittest?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Or do I want to believe that I
am somebody and something special?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">That I can overcome my animal
instincts and evolve into something noble, enlightened, a beautiful human
being?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It doesn’t make any difference
if God exists or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If the universe is a stupid
exploding bunch of rocks or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If there are heaven and hell,
karma and reincarnation or just nothing after life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Those things are not a choice!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">They are or they are not.
That’s all, but they are not something you can choose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The only thing you and I can choose is our beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Do you want to live your life
according to what; the society, mass media, government, the scientific
establishment, or the church has chosen for you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Aren’t you tired of being
manipulated, lied to, used and abused by the very institutions that were
supposed to watch over your wellbeing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, if you do, you ought to
know that you have the choice to choose your beliefs according to the life you
want to live not according to anyone else may tell you to do!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">(Including yours truly Anagami)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The choice is yours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Define your own reality!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-49631081163321359332017-12-08T07:41:00.000-08:002017-12-08T07:41:02.836-08:00The Acorn Universe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTWGiN8ksgrCe5suCUK8OEsT8yBMGvw6J2-MV8H6pRve6MgBzzVkVYmeXoNDNPkxT5X6aFjDH8u9lA3tlNGBmkA0VA2kGUSAjYixJgBPmLUK0tJh1g8vsP52urrXXEggqFf3oWAzwBsE/s1600/galaxy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTWGiN8ksgrCe5suCUK8OEsT8yBMGvw6J2-MV8H6pRve6MgBzzVkVYmeXoNDNPkxT5X6aFjDH8u9lA3tlNGBmkA0VA2kGUSAjYixJgBPmLUK0tJh1g8vsP52urrXXEggqFf3oWAzwBsE/s320/galaxy2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">“Believe those who are seeking the truth.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Doubt those who find it.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Andre Gide</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">I was watching this time-lapse photography on YouTube.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">It was a vine climbing up a wall, and this young sprout acted like an arm or tentacle probing and searching the wall.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">When it found a nail on the wall, something amazing happened.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">The vine sprouted a curly ending and grabbed the nail!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">That time lapse camera showed not only that the vine was moving but that it was doing something intelligent too!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">I had a moment of epiphany.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">I realized that instance how narrow and prejudiced we see the reality around us.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Out of the infinite spectrum of electromagnetic radiations we see an extremely narrow band.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Out of the sound spectrum, again we can only hear a tiny portion.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Our senses of smell and taste are even worse, we are nothing compared to dogs or sharks.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Not to mention that we lack some senses totally – like the shark’s ability to sense electrical fields, the snake's ability to see infrared or the bats to see sound.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">But the biggest problem is our prejudiced way in which we look at reality.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">We look at reality according to our frame reference of time, size, form or function.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">For example, we only see things moving at close to human speed, therefore we do not see plants moving.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">We see the things the way we are not the way they truly are.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Imagine that you could see 50 years of evolution of an oak tree in a second.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">It would look like the oak acorn explodes into an oak tree!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">…Imagine that you could look at the universe without the human subjectivity.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Would the universe still look like exploding or would it look like an acorn growing up, evolving not expanding, budding into galaxies and solar systems in an organic way rather than a random blast?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">I always had an ambivalent feeling about the big bang theory.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">You see, if you would take a can of paint and a stick of dynamite and exploded the paint into an empty white room, you would expect to get just a random splash of paint on the walls. You wouldn’t expect to get anything like repeated shapes or organized patterns.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">So to me, this explanation that the universe exploded into being the way it is just by accident sounds totally bogus.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">I am not a scientist and I can’t prove my theory, but for me, the idea of an “Acorn Universe” growing and evolving, sounds more sensible than the "Big Bang" theory.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">What do you think?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-70909188320403227692017-12-06T08:58:00.000-08:002017-12-06T22:46:26.045-08:00The Chemical Brain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXmnIlUKY8gjSIlL5f4LLMxeYTXvmyrj-nKlhHSzHHjj_QtvdO08krKs9QQX3CjdrWKNyROpXvCS0U7-WOzCbf9a8f2YekU3PMYNr-Qc86RL50V9Ce2_rdIc7I8SUdcdcpMUIKNeaHgc/s1600/chemb.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="510" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXmnIlUKY8gjSIlL5f4LLMxeYTXvmyrj-nKlhHSzHHjj_QtvdO08krKs9QQX3CjdrWKNyROpXvCS0U7-WOzCbf9a8f2YekU3PMYNr-Qc86RL50V9Ce2_rdIc7I8SUdcdcpMUIKNeaHgc/s320/chemb.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You can look at a human brain and compare it with a personal computer <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
You have the hardware, that collection of billions of neurons connected in trillions of connections, and you have the software, all your memories, and thoughts firing the neurons creating an electrical storm in your brain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This is a rather new view of the brain’s functionality. For the longest time, we thought that our thoughts are created by the neurons firing but now we understand that the brain is just a machine and it is the software, our thoughts, that makes the brain think.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So where is that software, that data in our brain that thing we identify as being us, comes from?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We are a quilt of data collected and put together from all over the place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
We start with the data inherited from our parents through our DNA. We add to that the formative learning from our primary caretakers, parents, grandparents or nurses. Then we enter the school system, the media, TV and Internet and of course our own curiosity impulses will make us search and assimilate more data.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
All this data put together makes up what we call “I”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Since I can remember I felt that in my head there were to people present. I couldn’t quite understand it and nobody could explain it to me why I felt that way. Later when I grew up I kept it as a secret because of the stigma attached to the people that heard voices in their heads but latter when I start my search for spirituality the question came back to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The best I could do is to separate the “I” into two parts. The “Spirit” or “Soul” being the part we are born with, the information carried through the DNA from generation to generation from the beginning of time. The I am therefore I think presence. I look at that primordial data as the BIOS of the brain, the language on all the other languages are built.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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The second voice of “I” is the Ego or “Reason. This is the part that is added to us through education and experience. This is the “I think therefore I am” presence. It is a higher language using abstractions like words, written words, and spoken words. This Higher language is specific varying from culture to culture and individual to individual.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I also believe there is a “hardware” duality as well. I believe that the “Spirit” resides in our “primitive” brain the limbic system and that the Ego resides in the modern brain, in the cortex.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, the way the two manifestations of “I” have separate ways of operation and interface with the rest of the body.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Spirit / Soul operates in feelings and emotions and interacts with the rest of the body through hormones: Estrogen, Testosterone, Adrenaline, Ephedrine, Dopamine, Serotonin etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Ego /Reason operates in electrical pulses through the firing of the neurons in the cortex and the interaction with the rest of the body is done also through electrical pulses carried to all the muscle that we can control.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Getting old has its set of problems, especially health-related problems. So, I found myself with a little lower back pain problem. I went to see a pain specialist (OK my problem wasn’t that little) and he prescribed me a large dose of a drug used in the treatment of depression that also has a pain control effect and not like the opioids it is not addictive in long time use.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But my greatest concern was not the addiction part but how this mood/pain control drug will affect my spiritual practice, mainly my meditation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since the pain had already ruined my meditation sessions I went ahead with the drug treatment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I thought I will be like some of my friends that are doing long-term depression drug treatments.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Turn into a zombie indifference to what’s going on without any genuine feelings or creative expression.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What I found very interesting is that the effect was exactly the opposite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My meditation practice has not suffered I even go as far as to say to say that is better.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That doesn’t make any sense unless the meditation somehow changes the way the drug affects my system. That is a fascinating hypothesis and it would be really interesting if a comparative study will be done to see what is the effect of meditation on mood-altering drugs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-78451356570089412972017-12-04T07:05:00.000-08:002017-12-04T22:56:28.521-08:00The Ultimate Illusion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZCdui6TrmEFpyvYGC0s6QF7iBJo459e8pKCAjUn7WqWe7gwSr1JZhRTXJ0IjRT2RSPWudGiKo-c-no6R63vE8BtK7qAXf7izO99oodJ4o3Dkp4DGgkBVf4JLWNy3QGfhDtBbulOnBq6Q/s1600/triangle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZCdui6TrmEFpyvYGC0s6QF7iBJo459e8pKCAjUn7WqWe7gwSr1JZhRTXJ0IjRT2RSPWudGiKo-c-no6R63vE8BtK7qAXf7izO99oodJ4o3Dkp4DGgkBVf4JLWNy3QGfhDtBbulOnBq6Q/s320/triangle.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 18px;">"Life is like a train of moods like a string of beads, and, as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue. . .” </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">― Ralph Waldo Emerson</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">Look very carefully at the two triangles in the picture</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Are they equal or is the triangle on the bottom bigger by the one white square?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">What is the ultimate illusion?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">No, it is not the damn triangles – although they are not bad either.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">The ultimate illusion is “EGO”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">Let’s start with a simple question “Who are you”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">And the usual answer would be something like; John or Marry.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">But let’s take the question a little deeper than that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">Let’s start when a dad’s DNA and a mom’s DNA first got together.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Obviously, that DNA union cannot be called a child; the best I can think of would be to call it a gate, an open door through which the universe would come into being.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">But there is no “John” or “Marry” in a woman’s womb.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">There are carrots and peas, beef and potatoes and all that is recycled into a new fetus.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">But the fetus is not made of “John” or “Marry” it is simply hand me down matter, it is the universe restructured into a new experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">That, that once was the experience of carrot, potatoes, and beef is now the experience of a finger or a nose.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Well, I am simplifying all that process but you get the idea.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">The notion we have, that we were made by our mothers is completely false.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Our mothers’ wombs were no more than a gathering place for the universe to express itself as a newborn.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Once the gate is open the mother has no control over the process of creation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">The universe acts on its own.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">Then after nine-month, the baby is delivered, not borne as the common knowledge falsely tells us. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">All that the parents do is to give it a name “John” or “Marry”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">We spend the rest of the childhood being thought that we were made, not that we are self-expression.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">We spend the whole childhood into being brainwashed that we are not a part of the universe but that we are indeed “John” and “Marry”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">We grow up to see ourselves as individuals separate from nature and to see nature as an enemy that has to be conquered and held in submission.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">We grow up to see ourselves separate from all the other human beings and spend our entire life competing, fighting, to win the success race</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">But we are not “John” or “Marry” we are the universe experiencing a human form.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">The “Johns” and “Marries” are parasites growing on this experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">The “Johns” and “Marries” have no control over this experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">We grow, mature, get old and die. We have no control over that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Nobody ever had, not even Buddha in his whole glory; he died just like everybody else, an old man.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">But look at it from the universe’s point of view.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Birth and death do not exist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">The experience of the universe is a continuous transformation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">What is eternal remains eternal through all the transformations and metamorphoses. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Only the “EGO” the “Johns” and “Marries” is created and therefore destroyed when the illusion is over.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">And that is the fear that we all live with; that when “John” and “Mary” are gone, the experience will stop and there will be nothing left but a big black hole.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Nothingness forever! Aaaaah!!! The horror.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">But when the illusion is over and our Ego ends, the universe doesn’t end, it just goes on and on, creating new “Johns” and “Marries”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">BTW the bottom triangle is bigger because it is not actually a triangle It is a quadrilateral</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-47666585265179606892017-12-01T09:01:00.000-08:002017-12-01T09:01:38.849-08:00The Simplicity of Problem Solutions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNG5svjxjbraVVSfXx_8wjpYbAoIc0QBn9HOux4XkQE5WEH1rZHDNU6Hx1NiNB2IMes2c-RvlL3PAyGtZwp4xmCLrqj579qoF6jqBxtWEBZJovvylqgLf2RogjNy-7ph5w-yBAYeoIaGg/s1600/problem+solving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="231" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNG5svjxjbraVVSfXx_8wjpYbAoIc0QBn9HOux4XkQE5WEH1rZHDNU6Hx1NiNB2IMes2c-RvlL3PAyGtZwp4xmCLrqj579qoF6jqBxtWEBZJovvylqgLf2RogjNy-7ph5w-yBAYeoIaGg/s320/problem+solving.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Initially, I wanted to name this post “The Simplicity of Problem Solutions and the Complexity of Systems” But that seemed a little bit too long. I just want to let you know that latter on the post we will talk about System and how they relate to problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">More likely if you are alive you have some problems to deal in your life right now and (I know you don‘t want to hear this) your future is full of problems you don’t even dream about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Also, I know that dealing with your problems is not always easy or pleasant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I would even go as far to say that dealing with problems is one of life tasks people hate most.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Actually, this is a totally wrong sentiment, a myth passed down from generation to generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This is similar to the false rumor spread in the school system, that math is hard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Math is actually very easy, so easy even computers do it if you know what you are doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So it is solving life’s problems super easy if you know what you are doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">How can solving problems be simple? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Here it is: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You are hungry, you eat. You are tired you rest. Your job sucks, you get another job. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Your relationship sucks, you get a new boyfriend/girlfriend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">See how simple it is?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Solving problems is simply because at the basis of every problem there is a fundamental law of nature. It is the law of causality AKA the law of cause and effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This law tells us that for every effect there is a cause therefore for every problem there is a solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You get a splinter in your finger, that causes pain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You remove the cause of the pain – pull out the splinter – the pain goes away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And that’s the law. If you remove the cause the problem disappears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Solving problems is very simple. Recognizing the cause-effect relationship is more problematic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Let me give you some examples:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Poverty, war, drug addiction, Donald Trump, prostitution, terrorism and much, much, more of our social problems are actually no problems at all. They are symptoms. Hence they cannot be fixed because we are violating the law we just explained in the previous paragraph.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You can’t fix a problem by treating the symptoms. You have to remove the cause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Donald Trump, to pick a hot and controversial issue, is not a problem like most people believe. He is a symptom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">By fighting DT we are not addressing the “cause” that propelled him in the White House.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We are fighting the symptom and the effect of that is actually exactly the opposite of what we want. The result is we are making Trump’s position even stronger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In the 2020 elections, unless the economy goes into a recession, DT will be reelected possible by a landslide. And I am willing to bet on that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We have declared war on alcohol and drugs, on prostitution and poverty on inequality and terrorism, just to mention a few. We have not won a single one of those wars and we are never going to win any of them because they are not problems and because we are not looking at what causes them, which is where the real problems are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And here is where the complexity of systems comes into play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A simple cause and effect problem is easy to see and easy to solve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You broke your glasses; you buy a new pair of glasses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">When it comes to complex systems like relationships or social and economic problems there is no simple cause and effect interaction but a series of causes all acting and interacting at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If you have a bad relationship in your life, you try to analyze all possible causes and eliminate them hoping to fix the relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">By trial and error, we can logically eliminate all the problems and make the relationship work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This approach works for any complex system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But even then you may not fix the problems and the relationship will fail<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So you will try a new relationship and another and another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If these relationship failures turn into a repeating pattern you have to stop and ask:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What is the one constant one feature all these bad relationships have in common?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Yup, that would be you. So fixing the problem would be replacing you with a better you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Very simple. Yes I know it is very hard to change but I never said I’ll give you an easy way to fix your problems just a simple one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And last but not list. Problems do not fix themselves and contrary to popular belief problems do not disappear in time if we ignore them, they just get even worse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So catching a problem when it first starts is easier to fix than after it gets complicate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Fixing your problem ASAP is the best way to deal with your problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-63440700221015228932017-11-29T08:06:00.001-08:002017-11-29T08:06:15.292-08:00Wolves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_ya4rYqxDdzXL6NMykOwqupfAiu2ep18qKiduK3evgvr7jdQ2LL4vgX8ArHC53D_lp0vFOsfrn1RA7FwudSEaVWXBjrGHNIyFarVl3PeFbzy4-lXWKXpaK_VInj4LYYShHx1BLHaY68/s1600/wolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_ya4rYqxDdzXL6NMykOwqupfAiu2ep18qKiduK3evgvr7jdQ2LL4vgX8ArHC53D_lp0vFOsfrn1RA7FwudSEaVWXBjrGHNIyFarVl3PeFbzy4-lXWKXpaK_VInj4LYYShHx1BLHaY68/s320/wolf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This makes it hard to plan the day."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">— E.B. White<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There is this old Cherokee story:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">One evening beside the fire an old man is telling his grandson a story<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“Inside every one of us, there are two wolves in a battle of life and death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">One white, pure and good, full of love, hope, joy, kindness, generosity, compassion, and faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The other one black as the night, evil, full of anger, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment and hate.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"Which wolf wins?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The old Cherokee simply replied,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">"The one you feed the most."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I couldn’t agree more but things have changed a little bit since the Cherokee Indian times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We now live in a society of "entanglement" where personal boundaries are more and more violated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I wake up in the morning full of energy and enthusiasm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I take a shower, brush my teeth, do a quick meditation, eat breakfast and then proceed to the daily chores.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As long as I stay inside my house, I can control my life with no problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The moment I open the door – the physical one or the informational one– the outside world rushes in bringing with it the inevitable negativity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It could be some well-intentioned friend emailing me about a swine flu pandemic in Europe or Asia, news of war, death, and destruction or economic and political disasters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It could be some guy cutting me off on the freeway or my boss in a bad mood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Some colleague with some petty office quarrel or a million other irritating, useless garbage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You try to stay positive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You try to be the loving and understanding “good” guy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You turn the other chick, you make amends, you forgive and forget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the end, you end up tired and polluted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You go home, take a shower, do your meditation and go to bed hoping the next day will be a better one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I have walked some distance on the path of spiritual enlightenment and by now I know very well I shouldn’t feed the bad wolf inside me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The problem is all the other people in my life that are feeding it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It is impossible to go through the day without being bombarded with bad news and negativity. The whole society is built that way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We are constantly manipulated by the media to live in fear and uncertainty because people in that mind state are easy to control and manipulate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I know it sounds like one of these far-fetched conspiracy theories but I lived long enough in fear and worry and I heard one too many times that the sky is falling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And after all these years here I am still kicking and screaming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So what was all the fear and the worries I had for all these years? Absolutely nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I spent precious energy and time on illusory dangers and disasters just to lose focus on what was important in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Do you know, or can you imagine what your life would be like if every day you would hear only the good news, positivity and optimism? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Can you imagine how that would feel? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Unfortunately, we can only imagine because we will never live that reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So, how do we stop our negativity from growing, our dark wolf from being fed in a world where we have no power or control? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Very simple – you just don’t give a shit about all the bullshit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I used to try to avoid people and places just to protect myself from the bombardment of negativity and I have failed. So I did the only other option I had, stand up and fight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Whenever somebody approached me with “have you heard of…?” I pulled out my guns and fire “I don’t give a shit!” and pretty soon none of my friends was feeding my wolf anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you feel overwhelmed like I used to feel, you should try it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t give a shit! It is totally liberating and empowering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-138483904148824042017-11-27T08:23:00.000-08:002017-11-27T08:33:55.949-08:00Perspective and Perception<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6WlMut2-OmrFfZg3C0oD1301MOvUKXJh2TNw0xSqmawtusjiX201yvtR6s9N_AJiINdDUr2C9meVPrcrE1B9ZAFfDZvNDzoe4CB_WieZfN37WlsCMKepGSJjyxDOsORsEC62sfWILY8M/s1600/plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="397" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6WlMut2-OmrFfZg3C0oD1301MOvUKXJh2TNw0xSqmawtusjiX201yvtR6s9N_AJiINdDUr2C9meVPrcrE1B9ZAFfDZvNDzoe4CB_WieZfN37WlsCMKepGSJjyxDOsORsEC62sfWILY8M/s320/plane.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There is a story of a little boy that grew up near a municipal airport.<br />
Although, for his parents living next to an airport was a nuisance, and the only reason they bought the house at that location was the cheap price, for the boy living next to the airport was an amazing gift.<br />
The boy would spend hours and hours watching the planes take off and land and when he was not doing that he was playing with his favorite plain toy.<br />
<br />
One day when he was about 5-6 years old his parents announced that they would go on vacation and that they will fly a plane over there.<br />
Needless to say, the boy was in heaven. He was super excited, not that much about the vacation but because for the first time in his life he’s going to fly on a plane. It was a dream comes true.<br />
<br />
So, after what it fell an eternity and after a sleepless night, the big day arrived.<br />
The little boy could hardly contain his excitement.<br />
They took a taxi, they went through the TSA line, they waited at the gate and finally, they boarded the plane. Of course, the boy got the best seat by the window.<br />
<br />
And here he was, after all the wait and anticipation the engines roar and the plane rolled to the tarmac.<br />
The boy was glued face to the window.<br />
Finally, with a rush and a rumble, the plane took off.<br />
<br />
After a couple of minutes, the boy became very agitated. He was looking frantic at the window and then at the passengers on the plane.<br />
-What’s wrong? Asked his mother<br />
-Are we flying in the air? Ask the boy.<br />
-Of course dear, we are up up up in the air. Isn’t this wonderful?<br />
- Yes – said the boy – but when are we going to get smaller?<br />
<br />
Of course, as adults, we know planes don’t get smaller when they fly, they stay the same size, only our perception changes.<br />
We know things do not change they stay the same unless WE change them. Like getting in a car accident. That will definitively change the car.<br />
<br />
So things do not change by themselves they are changed by the wear and tear of use or by accidents but if preserved, like some artifacts buried in the funeral chambers of the pyramids, they will last forever.<br />
What about things that are not material like love, hope, luck, opportunity, dreams and aspirations, fears and hopes? Do non-material things change by themselves?<br />
<br />
We have a tendency to believe that immaterial, ideal, things change by themselves, A classical example is luck. When somebody wins something we believe their luck has changed. But is it the luck that has change or the person?<br />
We say that things like opportunities will come our way. But is it that the opportunities are moving or that opportunities have always been there and we are moving towards them?<br />
<br />
Do things come our way or do we move towards them or away from them?<br />
This is a fundamental question and depending on how you answer it you will give yourself control over your life or take control away.<br />
Things do not change unless we change them and that rule applies to all things material and ideal<br />
Most people will not agree with that because deep down to their core they are afraid to take the responsibility for their lives.<br />
People will live in the superstition of luck and destiny. They will look at life like the little boy looking at the planes. They will say things like “look at that successful person, how lucky they are” but are the people getting lucky or is just our perception that it does?<br />
<br />
Once you take control of your life and realize that things will not come your way, that you have to move towards the things you want, your life will start changing.<br />
People that are following their dreams will find themselves getting lucky, having people and opportunities coming their way having answers and solution to their problems magically appear at the right time.<br />
<br />
But that is just a perception, Things do not change. All the opportunities, the people the money, the luck, the answers and solution to your problems as well as the bad luck the traps and accidents the negativity and all the wrong answers are already existing out there<br />
Getting them come your way or not is a matter of you walking towards or away from them.<br />
<br />
It is a matter of you moving instead of waiting for things to move your way.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427374210457804451.post-71934836857793696782017-11-24T07:56:00.000-08:002017-11-24T07:56:30.432-08:00The Pearl of Wisdom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB1bg8XHvFGLXi2OQ0-8DpEaR2mpMZGAo8HK9Sxdo2nbilQabfPLqxan4Bppk2AeKok6Dqobduz4Fk8FnXMPRxz_ayuPqBqcDeK44Yq43oyn035SZFFchy_IwuvRaHtMl7gU9r1gQzEpE/s1600/pearls-of-wisdom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="639" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB1bg8XHvFGLXi2OQ0-8DpEaR2mpMZGAo8HK9Sxdo2nbilQabfPLqxan4Bppk2AeKok6Dqobduz4Fk8FnXMPRxz_ayuPqBqcDeK44Yq43oyn035SZFFchy_IwuvRaHtMl7gU9r1gQzEpE/s320/pearls-of-wisdom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This is the story of little Ozzy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">He was the 4456th son of Mother of Pearl and of all his brother and sisters he was the smallest oyster in the bunch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">He was always a little slow – as oysters go – and nobody thought he would accomplish anything in life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As expected, when the time came to pearl out little Ozzy turned out to be a failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">All his brothers and sisters proudly displayed their pearls but no matter how hard he tried little Ozzy came out empty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">He was the laughing stock of the oyster culture and ashamed of himself he decided to run away and save his family from the humiliation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">One dark night he sneaked out and went into the open ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When the first rays of the sun started shining, tired of pulling his shell all night, he stopped by a big rock and started sobbing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Hey! What’s with the crying? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It turns out that the rock was just an old turtle doing his morning meditation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- I am a total failure and disgrace to my family. I am an oyster without a pearl. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Would you please eat me and put me out of my misery?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Well, I am a vegetarian – said the turtle – But I tell you what. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I will give you the pearl of wisdom so you wouldn’t be a pearless oyster anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- The pearl of wisdom, what is that? – asked Ozzy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- It is the most magnificent, amazing, perfect pearl in the ocean. - said the turtle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It will give infinite wisdom to anyone that wears it. Just open up and say aaa!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As Ozzy open up his shell the turtle picked up a round pebble and shoved it in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- How do you feel? – Asked the turtle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Wow! That feels great, big and heavy. I shell go back and made my family proud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Wait, wait! You cannot go back to your family. – Said the turtle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- This is a magic pearl and if you show it to anyone it will turn into a rock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Very disappointed but very happy at the same time, little Ozzy thanked the turtle and left to look for his fortune in the underwater world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">He decided to be a monk and spend the rest of his life helping the poor and the sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Ozzy went from place to place imparting his new found wisdom to anyone he met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Soon his reputation and fame grew and creatures from all over the ocean, the poor and the rich, the humble and the powerful, came seeking his wise advice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">He was a great teacher and counsel and many generations of disciples followed him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In time his pearl of wisdom became legend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">After years and years of travel, feeling that his end is near Ozzy decided to go back home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">News of his return traveled fast and all the oysters, his brother and sisters and his little nephews were waiting with great anticipation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It was a triumphant return and they gave him the highest honors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">They all gather around in the town square to listen to his life story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">At the end, his nephews shouted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Uncle Ozzy can we see the pearl of wisdom, can we see it pleeease?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Oh, what the heck. Said Ozzy to himself. After all, I don’t need it anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So he opened up its shell for the first time since he had met the turtle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And there it was, whiter and more radiant than the angels' skin, glowing in brilliant radiance: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The most magnificent, amazing, perfect pearl in the ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16577023239841176697noreply@blogger.com1