Friday, July 31, 2009

They felt it back then too - 2


Human hearts must be changed before any radical reforms can become effective

People are not going to do right unless they see a reason for it

Unless their minds are molded in harmony with the facts of nature

Fed as the western nations have been
.
On unpleasant fairy tales about life present and future

They are at sea for a rational explanation
.
Current religious misinterpretations of the original teachings given to every race have outraged man's sense of justice
.
In the groping after truth confusion of sects, good bad, and indifferent has arisen worse than the
Babel of tongues

G W van Pelt

Thursday, July 30, 2009

They felt it back then too - 1

There is nothing a child so keenly resents

Nothing that so embitters an adult

As a feeling that he has been unjustly treated

People will accept misfortunes, at least without bitterness

If they know that they deserve them

Unfortunately in the confused and distorted mental outlook of today

With selfishness so rife and the everyman for himself doctrine so commonly practiced

There is in the western lands no confidence in the justice of things

How could there be after centuries of false teachings and counter strokes of revenge all down the ages until few can be found who are not in the tangle?

Nothing but a true philosophy of life can possibly make people face the facts

There must be a broader outlook than the one-life theory offers

Some chance to harmonise with justice the frequent sight of good punished and bad rewarded must be given to men before they can clear their hearts of bitterness

Turn suspicion into trust

And shake off the deceiving lenses which have disguised every brother as an alien

G W van Pelt

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Nature





Nature is imperfect

Hence of necessity makes "mistakes"

Because its action derives from hosts of entities at work

What we see around us all the time is proof of it

If nature had sprung from the "hands of the immutable Deity "

It would be a perfect work.

It is much to the contrary as we know

And its imperfections or "mistakes" arise from the fact that the beings existing in and working in and controlling and making nature extend in endless hierarchies from the Inmost of the Inmost

From the Highest of the Highest, downwards for ever, upwards for ever, in all degrees of imperfection and of perfection


FEP 57 - G. de Purucker

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Real evil



Real evil proceeds from human intelligence and its origin rests entirely with reasoning man who dissociates himself from Nature

The chief cause of nearly two thirds of the evils that pursue humanity ... is religion

It is the sacerdotal caste, the priesthood and the churches

It is in those illusions that man looks upon as sacred

That he has to search out the source of that multitude of evils

Which is the great curse of humanity and that almost overwhelms mankind.

Ignorance created Gods and cunning took advantage of the opportunity. ...

Is not man ever ready to commit any kind of evil if told that his God or Gods demand the crime? ...

The sum of human misery will never be diminished until that day when the better portion of humanity destroys in the name of Truth, morality, and universal charity, the altars of their false gods


ML2 57-8 / MLC 273-5 - The Mahatma Letters

Monday, July 27, 2009

Something you probably think you know




That your life is precious and to you at least this is probably true

Modern man is taught how precious life is

In other times man did not see life as being so precious, life being cheap and expendable

Man saw himself as being part physical man living in this world and the other part his soul being off planet as it were

Because of this his life on this planet was less important to him as he knew that his soul survived physical death

Modern man, in the West at least, is not so sure about this

Today many do not accept that they even have a soul

Having the false heroic idea that it is all over when they die

We say false heroic because it makes for nice macho I don't care kind of chit chat

A short consideration of this idea though says evolution is evident everywhere

And in our case yes we all have a soul or spirit how else can evolution walk onwards for a self reflective consciousness?

'It would be utterly meaningless if we simply appeared on this earth for one short earth life and then vanished and no good came of it, or mayhap no retribution for our evil doings

We are here because we have been here before, because here we sowed seeds of destiny, and we come back on this earth to reap those seeds which we sowed

Our very being here . . . is a proof of reincarnation

Otherwise we must say cosmic law put us here by chance.

And who believes that?

If fortuity governed this world we would see the stars in their courses and all the planets running helter skelter all over the cosmic spaces without law, without reason, without order, without intelligence, without system.'

WoS 274-5 - G de Purucker

And who in arguing against reincarnation has ever thought to acknowledge that the stars and planets having order in their movements dictate against a random one off meaningless experience for man?

Yes your physical life is important, but not probably in the way you think

It is important because through your actions here you create your next life

All the good things you do in this life going to expand your soul experience and the bad being noted for future karmic payment

A small consideration on your part will show that doing the best you can everyday in whatever comes your way is a pretty neat use of your time under any scenario

Something now you know

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Revenge cold or hot?




Are men more prone to revenge?
.
Sally Antia faces jail in Dubai for adultery after the father of her children ‘tipped off’ police.

And he’s not the first husband to act in this way

It doesn’t surprise me that it was a man, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, the author of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, who recognised that revenge is a dish best served cold.

From my experience the male psyche is much more adept at “striking” with premeditated force when wronged.

Sally Antia, 44, the British woman currently in custody in Dubai, awaiting trial for alleged adultery, has had three long weeks to ponder this.

In the midst of an acrimonious divorce, her husband Vincent Antia, originally from Lincolnshire, allegedly reported her to the United Arab Emirates police.

This is a country in which adultery is punishable by up to a year in prison, swiftly followed by deportation.

If charged, Antia could lose custody of her children, aged 11 and 13.

I suspect that it never crossed Sally Antia’s mind that she would find herself in this dire situation.

That’s because she’s reasoning from within the female psyche.

Women tend to wreak temporary havoc when seeking revenge.

They’ll do a “Sally Moon”.

Once styled as Lady Sally Graham-Moon, the wronged wife famously cut the sleeves off her unfaithful husband’s Savile Row suits, then gleefully gave away his fine wines to neighbours.

In another case, the ex-wife of Jack Kidd, Jodie Kidd’s polo-playing brother, sent a revealing e-mail to 200 of his friends and business associates informing them that her relationship with Kidd was over after he had admitted being unfaithful during their six-year marriage.

But the anger over ruined clothing or a damaged reputation pales against losing access to one’s children.

This is something that Marnie Pearce well understands.

Sally Antia’s story mirrors that of Pearce, 40, who spent three months in a Dubai prison after being found guilty of cheating on her Egyptian husband.

She was pardoned when it was found that the allegations of her ex-husband, Ihab El Labban, were untrue.

In the meantime, though, Pearce lost custody of her sons — something that might never have happened if the court had known that she’d been wrongly accused.

She has now appointed a lawyer and is hoping to regain custody. “Being separated from your children is the worst punishment a mother could imagine,” she said recently. “Not being able to wake up with them feels as if I am serving a life sentence.”

During my years as a relationship counsellor I have found that women leap at symbolic acts of revenge rather than going for something more profoundly destructive.

This, I believe, is due to some key differences in the way we handle relationships.

On the whole, when feeling angry and wronged, women act with more speed and less thought of exacting long-term damage.

They tend to want an instant rise out of their partner.

They find immediate release from the stress of the situation by letting their emotions run riot.

Men tend to bottle things up more and are extremely goal-directed.

This plays out even when planning their exit from a relationship or — as Sally Antia and Marnie Pearce found — when aiming to get custody of children.

When such men have bottled up hurt feelings, they start to consider their long-term goal.

Take the experience of Michael, 42, who found out that his wife of 15 years, Cathy, had been cheating on him with a colleague.

He discovered the affair at least four months before he let Cathy know.

Typically of many men in this situation, he gathered as much information about what was going on before presenting his “case” to her.

In the meantime, Michael took sums of money from their joint account, placing them in his personal savings account.

He slyly asked her to make purchases on her credit card that he might normally have made.

By the time Michael announced to Cathy that he knew all about her affair, he had amassed a nest egg that she would have difficulty getting her hands on after the break-up.

Roger, 37, also bided his time before letting his live-in partner, Hannah, 35, know that he had found out that she had told colleagues their relationship was “heading for the scrap heap”.

Feeling betrayed and hurt, he took time to find a studio to rent, leaving her high and dry with large rental costs for the flat that had been rented in her name.

Of course, some men react in vengeful ways instantly — just as some women carefully plan revenge — but I find that men are more likely to channel such feelings to a particular end.

Women want to get such feelings out of their system and move on to the next task, be it dealing with a break-up or discussing plans for custody.

It’s as if women want to purge themselves emotionally and to start with a clean slate.

This reflects the way in which women often handle disagreements in a relationship: they want to sit down, face to face, and sort things out.

Many men want to mull things over first.

As the child psychologist and Times columnist Professor Tanya Byron says: “Revenge is revenge — men and women just approach it differently.”

In general, when it comes to the children, she adds, “some parents punish them by playing out their anger for a failed relationship through them.

This is reprehensible, but sadly it’s something I see a lot.

Parents can often get so caught up in their own bitterness that they use the kids as the weapon.”

The desire for revenge can be so powerful that it overrides a person’s sense of right and wrong.

As Byron acknowledges, revenge extracted through the children in this way “is a very immature way of dealing with problems in a marriage; it’s like being in a playground and telling on someone to get them into trouble.”

Sadly, the real victims can often be the children.

In the long term, children who are trapped in the midst of a bitter divorce can themselves develop psychological and behavioural problems: “

Their outer behaviour manifests the inner turmoil within the family,” Byron says.

They can develop acute anxiety, anorexia, and start to refuse to go to school.

As they grow up, these children may themselves have issues with trust and intimacy and problems forming loving relationships.”

Certainly, I’ve witnessed playground-type behaviour from partners who might normally behave better.

But when it comes to feelings of betrayal, I always ask people to put plans for revenge on hold and revisit their idea a month later.

A cooling-off period usually gives time to reinstate their good judgment.

It’s also a good idea to get third party mediation with couples counselling.

Most importantly, couples with children should always put themselves in their young shoes and consider how they’d feel witnessing such bad behaviour in their parents.

Dr Pam Spurr - Times

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Tough times


Everybody goes through tough times.

"You’ve just got to figure out how to get through them

It’s my history and my memory.

I used to really take things personally but if you can be truthful and honest with who you are, then you have a much easier time walking through life.

That took me some time to figure out"

The above is a quote from someone in the public eye who has recently begun to sort herself out

We all feel that we are different however we all go through many of the same experiences whatever our place or position in society

We will all lose ones we love

We will all fail at various things

We will all be betrayed or let down

We will all be sick from time to time

We will all know pain, many times

And so when we begin to build this list we can see that our lives are in many ways very very similar

The differences of culture and race when looked at from the standpoint of what we experience are not really so different

In fact there are many more similarities than there are differences

And wherever you are tough times are best dealt with when you are honest with your self

Get rid of your games

Drop the pretences

See clearly what your faults are

You do have some don't you?

Name three

Take the last one and get rid of it change it drop it

Accept that tough times are a natural part of experiencing life

Learn to smile through these times

And to do this honesty makes it that much easier

Friday, July 24, 2009

Tension




Plays a role in all our lives

Body language too

Are you aware of the tension you show?

Watch tv or movies and notice the tension in peoples faces

Watch their body language

For example when the person you are talking to suddenly crosses their arms chances are that they do not agree with what you are saying

In a sense they are signalling that they no longer go along with you
.
They do not agree with what you are saying
.
Some say that body language is 65% of all communication between people and yet so few of us have ever studied this subject

Even if the figures are exaggerated body language plays an important role in our communications with others
.
We meet, talk and communicate with people every day and yet we have never studied this
.
Why would this be?
.
Something that can help us understand what people are really thinking or feeling
.
Funny that
.
Are you able to read the small signs in others?
.
Do you know the basic body language differences in different cultures?
.
Worth learning more
.
No courses are necessary just more focus on others
.
Note the tensions
.
Tension is not so easy to hide if you look closely
.
Tells us volumes about each other
.
And as we get over fifty it is etched on our faces
.
No wonder some need plastic surgery, the better to try hiding
.
Not just those lines
.
Those characters
.
Not so pretty
.
Tension does so much to us in all ways not just physical but emotionally and mentally too as we have all experienced
.
Learn to let it go
.
Tension in others tells us so much learn about that too

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The end game




Or is it the beginning of the end for personal privacy

No it is the end of any personal privacy

Once an individual has been assigned a unique index number, it is possible to accurately retrieve data across numerous databases and build a picture of that individual's life that was not authorised in the original valid consent for data collection

Often this is done with the best of intentions or so say those who do this

Data-mining techniques across databases are becoming increasingly important and will produce a .new generation of spies.

The ability to conduct intelligence work in a hostile environment behind enemy lines, as in the cold war, will remain an important part of the total picture, but in future a new kind of intelligence agent is needed - an access or mission manager who can access, manipulate and collate the required sets .of information from the most effective set of sources

Those who have the expertise to access the databases and open sources on the internet are those who will be able to find the information needed to track, for example, terrorist groups and their .financing.

But this work must be done within an ethical human rights framework and this is where things break .down.

Recommended guidelines must include

• Sufficient sustainable cause and the scale of potential harm justifies using national intelligence in this way.

• There must be integrity of motive and the advantages sought are justifiable in terms of public good.

• The methods used must be proportionate to the seriousness of the business in hand using only the minimum intrusion into the private affairs of others.

• Proper authority has to be authorised at sufficiently senior level with appropriate oversight.

• There must be a reasonable prospect of success with acceptable levels of the risk of unintended consequences or of political or diplomatic damage if exposed.

• Use of secret intelligence methods must be the last, rather than the first, resort - is the information available from open sources?

Advanced technology now available to the intelligence community is proving particularly valuable in providing early clues to the existence of covert networks.

But the very effectivness of these techniques is already rubbing up against feelings of invasion of individual privacy, and worries over the wider uses to which such information might be put.

It is a significant challenge to ensure that the intelligence community can access the full range of data relating to individuals, their movements and associations in a timely, accurate, proportionate and legal way that is acceptable in a democratic and free society

The Guardian

"In a democratic and free society"

And just where might that be?

Intent is everything
.
What is the real motive of those mining the data?
.
Unfortunately as history shows once such tools are more widely available data mining will be abused
.
Such is the proof of human nature over thousands of years

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Watch TV


A film, listen to the media and you can believe the very worst of humanity

Daily bad news
.
Daily indoctrination
.
Daily feeling of being powerless
.
Daily stories of mindless violence, and crude greedy people
.
Daily spin
.
Daily lies everywhere
.
Conspiracy gamers would say that there is a small group who control things
.
That the game is to get us all dumbed down
.
Docile, doing what we are told
.
Eating rubbish foods, consuming junk till the day we die
.
Consuming pills to get us up down and sideways
.
Anything to feed the money machines of the greedy people
.
Believing whatever we are told, not believing, they no longer really care
.
Yes there are some very evil greedy people out there
.
Many are our leaders
.
Leaders of business, politics, banking and religions
.
All the centers of power
.
But then next time you walk out of your office or home look at the normality of those around you
.
Normal people doing normal things
.
Being polite and correct with each other
.
Respecting each other
.
Most people are nice
.
Most people are not murderers or rapists
.
Most people will help each other
.
Yes it is true the vast majority of humans are basically nice people
.
People are people the world over doing normal people things
.
So there is one thing the greedy worry about
.
And that is the day when the masses realise what is being done
.
The day they push that little too far
.
And that day is coming
.
More and more are realising how if they just say no
.
Then the game stops and there is nothing they can do
.
Threaten us?
.
Give us more stories of terrorism, the end of the world and terrible plagues to come?
.
Yes certainly and if we still say no?
.
Then and only then can we take back our rightful powers
.
However it starts with us
.
You and me that is
.
When in your own life you communicate how you feel
.
So that all begin to see that we all feel the same way
.
Act in your life with integrity
.
Act as you would like others to behave towards you
.
This will help people to see that there is indeed such a thing as people power
.
It starts when we behave and act as it we care for each other
.
It starts when we vote and make known our anger at the lies and deceit
.
We have so many recent examples in the overthrow of communism and changes in other situations
.
Can we not see that the Emperor is naked?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Self worth



High-flying career? Tick.

Baby? Tick.

World travel? Tick?

But crazy benchmarks and checklists won't make us happy

It starts early.

You have a part-time job in the university holidays, but some of your friends are travelling and working, or signed up as film extras.

Then you get a full-time job, but a few of your contemporaries have set up businesses, moved in with boyfriends and started writing on the side.

You get a promotion; they get a promotion and they get pregnant.

Meanwhile, they get a half share in a weekend cottage by the sea and a film deal.

You are 35 and you feel the low hum of anxiety, because you still have six significant achievement boxes to tick before you hit 40.

There’s a lot of talk about women’s ticking clocks, but the biological one is just the tip of the iceberg.

We have hundreds, all timed to go off in groups, starting with a small section alarmed for our twenties and more for the ensuing decades.

There are a few labelled “Where I should have got to in my career by now”

One named, Owning a place of my own

And lots of little individual clocks called things like

Earning enough to live like a grown-up

Having own office

Serious travel and

Doing something charitable, possibly abroad.

After 40, we relax a bit and are less obsessed with notching up the credits, but we never get over that feeling that everything we do is only worth something if you get there on, or before, the deadline, and ahead of (or at least not far behind) the women we most admire.

This is why so many women are dissatisfied, despite seeming to have it all — because they can’t see how much they have achieved, only the missed deadlines and other women’s superior capability.

If you compliment a woman who has just cooked you a three-course dinner, complete with handmade chocolates, she might say: “But I only work four days a week.”

The dinner doesn’t count, because she had time to do it.

If you congratulate the publisher and mother of three on her latest chart-topping bestseller, her reaction will probably be: “But I’m such a mess — your life is so organised!

Your flat is so lovely!

It sounds like a meaningless social reflex, the equivalent of air-kissing, but the truth is that most women are genuinely panicked by how they rate on the lifetime-achievement chart, including the ones who seem to fit more into a week than you fit into a year.

When a woman says, “I’m useless, you’re the extraordinary one”, it’s because that’s exactly how she feels.

And she feels it more than ever now because anything and everything seems possible.

Why do women feel useless?

Sunday Times

Could it be that measuring themselves against others they are missing the point?

Somewhere along the way many humans discover that vertical or spiritual evolution is what life is truly about

Has been for millennium

Written about in all the great books, handed down from generation to generation

Apparently the women described above never found peace of mind

How could they chasing illusions?

Never found out about non material non competitive values

Such a narrow life

They never "got it" have you?

Monday, July 20, 2009

Resonance



Is often something we associate with music

Or maybe things we like

And then again we say we resonate with someone

Ever thought what is really going on when we resonate with someone?

When we feel attraction or repulsion there is a scientific basis for this

This is well documented elsewhere and not where we want to go here

Rather we want to make a point about how we impact upon each other

All of us have a field around us

This field reflects our energy profile

So for good or bad we project this energy profile

Some people are good at masking this, some at reading it

With others it just is so clear that we feel an immediate attraction

In various blogs we have talked about various aspects of attraction

Here we take it to another place those energy fields are a function of our personal energy profiles

These profiles will attract us and be attractive to those of a similar profile

But then sometimes we don't see this

When we look at some couples we can observe that they are so different from each other

On occasion this is true

Usually though this is not so

That beautiful woman with that ugly male how can that be?

Even where it appears the relationship is based on looks for money

Get to know them and lo and behold while they might be at opposite ends of the scale of ugly and beautiful they are oh so similar in character

Sometimes polar opposites, but underneath oh so similar

Why?

Because their energy profiles attracted them to each other

For a while the relationship might last, sometimes for a long time

But then if the profile was selfish this must provoke a breakdown

And so?

Well if you think about it if you want the best partner then time to work on yourself so that your energy profile is the best

Like does indeed attract like

And that is what we call resonance

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Mmmmm - 63




I maintain that the more our experiments and observations are exact and many sided,






the deeper we penetrate into facts,
.
the more we try to fathom and speculate on the phenomena of life,
.
the more we acquire the conviction, that even those phenomena that we had hoped to be already able to explain by physical and chemical laws,
.
are in reality unfathomable.
.
They are vastly more complicated, in fact; and as we stand at present, they shall not yield to any mechanical explanations
.
Dr Pirogoff

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Whoops!


"All diseases start at some level of cellular dysfunction"

Or so says an eminent western scientist

Now why would he say that?

Because in a materialist world things have to be physical
.
We would suggest that on the contrary disease starts on the subtle levels not the physical
.
What appears as 'cellular dysfunction' is a symptom of the underlying cause
.
It is not the cause itself
.
The cause is what provokes the 'cellular dysfunction' in the first place
.
This in turn means that no amount of research is going to unearth anything other than treatment for the symptom
.
Western science and medical researchers are not go to find the causes of anything until they start looking in the subtle areas
.
Can you believe that so much money is being spent on identifying and treating symptoms?
.
What a game
.
Meanwhile the causes of so many diseases are yet to be found
.
What a world

Friday, July 17, 2009

Total solar eclipse of 2009


July 22nd and if you should be anywhere along this path on that date then enjoy a special experience
.
Experiencing a total solar eclipse is special
.
Make it a time of quiet contemplation

Thoughts of where we come from

What we are part of

The wonder that thousands of years ago our ancestors had plotted all these eclipses

Knew a lot more than we do today

Sure with our computing power we can name and photograph distant stars

As for knowing what will happen in the future we know little

Asurumya certainly had this knowledge before the time of Atlantis and his teachings came down well into Greek times since which time they have for the most part been lost

One day we will know this again

Until then we can only guess at what is coming our way

Forget the pretences, few know and they are not in the West

Never mind not knowing is probably better for us
.
Just wonder at one of natures phenomena

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Fresh






Comes from stimulus

Not talking here about vegetables

Talking about us not becoming vegetables

So many become vegetables in all but name

Nothing fresh in their lives

Locked into patterns of routine

Never taking a risk

Never a thought disturbing the routine of their lives

Nothing fresh just endless routine

Happily persuaded that this is the best way

Well for some it might be however for most of us this is not so because we need stimulus

Like exercising to make the food taste better

Like many things in life when we earn them they have an additional buzz about them

Freshness is something that keeps us going

The freshness of the morning air lifting us with enthusiasm

Freshness of doing something new and different

Fresh clothes feel better

Fresh bedsheets feel different to used ones

And so the list goes on

So why would your life experience be any different?

Failure to bring freshness into your life brings monotony boredom

Do you act and live as if this is true?

Or have you forgotten the importance of fresh in your life?

Make the decision to bring fresh into your life

You might even decide to do this until it requires some effort

Then you slide back into routines

Until nature stops you that is
.
Keep your life fresh!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Those flying ants



In the highly unlikely event that you are an ant and you are reading this, then good luck – you're going to need it.
.
For we are approaching Flying Ant Day – the few hours a year in which the six-legged arthropods emerge from the shelter of their colonies to reproduce in the land of giants.
.
You may see only vast and vaguely-menacing clouds of insects, but as we watch them turn to slime on our windscreens, it's worth considering the life-or-death enormity of this entomological D-day.
.
It's the event in the social calendar, says Paul Pearce-Kelly, a curator and bug expert at London Zoo.
.
It's the biggest one-night stand in Britain and we are bang in the middle of the season. Some eager ants took the opportunity to make insect love when conditions were right at the end of June – but he reckons the majority among Britain's 50 ant species are still primed for action.
.
They like warm, humid weather and often come out on dusky summer evenings, he says, wistfully.
.
That could be any day now, but why the insect equivalent of the mile-high club?
.
It's a dispersal thing, Pearce-Kelly explains, killing the romance.
.
By sending up ants for nuptial flights, they maximise the chances of breeding and creating colonies elsewhere."
.
But post-coital insects must be valiant if they are to survive – and that's only if they're female.
.
Hapless males will die in very quick order, while successful females will have to escape the attentions of birds and people, says Pearce-Kelly.
.
When they land they lose their wings.
.
It's then the very lucky few who find a nook or cranny where they might start to form the basis of a new colony
.
It's a tough deal for ant chaps, but the reward for those few females who conceive and form a colony is huge
.
Workers are lucky to live for a few months but after one hectic day in the air the ant who becomes a queen can live safely in her colony for up to 15 years, producing millions of young
.
So happy Flying Ant Day (Flant Day in America), you ballsy little beasts – fly away and let nothing stand in your way.
.
Simon Usborne
Independent

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Laws




The gods are the higher inhabitants of nature ... its informing principles.

They are as much subject to the wills and energies of still higher beings

Call these will and energies the "laws" of higher beings

If you will -- as we are

And as are the kingdoms of nature below us.

The ancients put realities, living beings, in the place of laws

Which, as Occidentals use the term, are only abstractions

An expression for the action of entities in nature

The ancients did not cheat themselves so easily with words

They called them gods, spiritual entities

Not one single great thinker of the ancients

Until the Christian era, ever talked about laws of nature

As if these laws were living entities

As if these abstractions were actual entities which did things

Did the laws of navigation ever navigate a ship?

Does the law of gravity pull the planets together?

Does it unite or pull the atoms together?

This word law is simply a mental abstraction signifying unerring action of conscious and semi-conscious energies in nature.'


OG 53-4 - G. de Purucker

Monday, July 13, 2009

When I just





Get my new car

Move in to my new house

Get that raise

Then life will be different

Were it so we would all be smiling happily

Living happily ever after even

But it does not work that way the novelty wears off and soon the car is just a means of transport

Taken for granted like all the other physical things in our life

Funny thing we keep on wanting to believe that buying yet another new object will magically change our lives

And so it just might for a short time

Like the raise for a short time it does allow us to buy more things or pay off some bills

Then back we go to wanting the next thing

Or is it wanting a fix?

Some of us learn that such things are a con they never really deliver

How can a thing give us what we want?

So what do we want?

A great big contradiction

Happiness without pain or fear

And just how do we think that this is possible?

Why we swallow all those ads that tell us to buy this and that, because then happiness on earth will be ours

Look around you

A world filled with pain, stupid use of resources, and so many other inequalities

Just how is buying some object going to solve your problems

Make yoiu feel good in a world of pain?

The change must comes from the inside

Inside you this is where it is to be found

No one else but you can change your experience of life

The zillion inch plasma tv won't do it any more than a new pair of shoes or car can

Finding peace is not something to be bought

Finding that pleasure in being alive is not bought for money

This is only attainable by our own efforts

Lots of efforts to understand how the truth of things really are

Efforts that teach us to help others
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Incorporating our understanding of the truth of things into our own lives

Moving away from selfishness

Moving towards altruism

Yes that is where true happiness will be found

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Whatever next?



David Rogers, an expert in ecology and disease at Oxford University, observes his research has linked levels of photosynthesis, detected from satellites, to the size of a vein in the wings of west African tsetse flies.

This vein-measurement indicates the health and size of fly populations—and suggests the likelihood of epidemics of sleeping sickness, a tsetse-borne parasitic disease that kills tens of thousands of Africans a year.

That means satellite data can be used to predict epidemics without having to collect any flies on the ground.

Jacques-André Ndione, a researcher at the Centre de Suivi Ecologique, a government public-health agency in Dakar, Senegal, is also impressed by the power of satellite monitoring.

He cites one study which showed that in west Africa malaria tends to spread faster in suburban neighbourhoods than in cities and slums.

The reason, revealed by satellite, is that the suburbs have more backyard ponds and puddles.

Indeed, satellites can not only count such small bodies of water, they can measure their longevity, salinity and mud content—and thus how mosquito-friendly they are.

And it is not only Africa that is benefiting.

Satellite research indicates a “significant risk” that dengue fever, malaria and Rift Valley fever will enter Europe, according to Renaud Lancelot, the head of the EDEN project, a group of laboratories and public-health agencies in 24 European and African countries.

Indeed, chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus endemic to tropical Africa and Asia, has already arrived in Albania and Italy.

A harbinger of things to come, perhaps?
Economist

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Scare point health



Is not what we want to talk or think about

However we live in a world with populations concentrated in cities world wide

With lifestyles that bring us into close proximity with each other in shopping malls, sports events, gigs, trains, buses, planes, work places, restaurants you name it

Not easy to avoid each other and as we live in these dangerous times it might be smart to know what we can do

On the health front a pandemic is one of the more likely events to come our way

A major health issue where swine flu, SARS or another as yet unknown nasty gets loose

Chances are that this will happen over the next few decades

True defence possibilities are extremely limited because of the speed of virus mutation and the lead times needed to produce a tailored response

And even the best vaccine will only give limited protection by reducing the time of infection

None can offer total protection

So what can be done?

Having a strong immune system obviously is a good starting point

Most importantly a strong spiritual state is the most effective defence by far

This might not seem obvious until you look at history for clues and see that those who worked in leper colonies and in plague infected areas had no protection and yet many doctors, nurses and helpers survived

So how come they didn't get infected?

How come they did not die?

A curious answer

Around all of us is what people commonly call an aura

Imagine it as a plastic bubble or shield that encases us

The size of this bubble is a function of our energy profile

Angry, violent, evil people have small shields

Loving caring people have larger bubbles

Spiritually evolved people have even larger bubbles

Essentially these bubbles offer protection against the viruses

The virus cannot penetrate the bubble or shield of the spiritually evolved person

And this is why those ancestors did not die even when working in such difficult conditions

You will not find this statement in any books however it is the truth and the way it works


So this might be a reason to develop your spiritual strength

The irony is that those who have such a strong protection seldom care about their own well being

They care more about the well being of others

Those they help

Which is how they developed their spiritual strength in the first place

As we have often said consciousness evolution is the movement towards altruism

Friday, July 10, 2009

Stories



Everyone has a story

Everyone

And everyone of those stories can teach us something

Something even if it is an outright lie

Outright nonsense

Outright lies and nonsense can teach us a lot

About the person telling them

About why we need to be careful in what we accept

Often time we accept stories without considering their truth or accuracy

These stories when spread in the public domain can cause untold harm

Sometimes they are helpful in righting distortions

Today though none of the above is in our mind

Rather it is how patience in listening to someone's story can have a profound impact on them

Often we have no time for each other let alone strangers

Time taken to listen to that story because it can be life changing

Recently we listened to someone's story

Really listened

And made a few comments

We parted

Months later almost by chance we met again

What a change!

Those few comments had resonated

Had caused a reappraisal

Had led to actions

Had resulted in a success

Had led to changes in other aspects of her life

All were positive and totally unexpected

What a nice feeling to have contributed

Empower someone listen to their story

Take the time

Who knows one day someone might listen to your story as we did to hers

Then you will experience how sharing can empower you

Can lead us on to greater understanding

Towards wisdom and understanding even

Stories

Everyone has one

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Your feet

Huge numbers of people develop foot pain in their 60s, but it can start as early as the 20s and 30s.

Excessive weight, diabetes and circulation problems can contribute to foot pain.

Proper footwear and regular exercise can play a crucial role in preventing foot problems.

The average person walks the equivalent of three times around the Earth in a lifetime.

That is enormous wear and tear on the 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons, ligaments and muscles that make up the foot.

In a recent survey for the American Podiatric Medical Association, 53 percent of respondents reported foot pain so severe that it hampered their daily function.

On average, people develop pain in their 60s, but it can start as early as the 20s and 30s.

Yet, except for women who get regular pedicures, most people don’t take much care of their feet.

A lot of people think foot pain is part of the aging process and accept it, and function and walk with pain,” said Dr. Andrew Shapiro, a podiatrist in Valley Stream, N.Y.

Though some foot problems are inevitable, their progress can be slowed.

The most common foot conditions that occur with age are arthritic joints, thinning of the fat pads cushioning the soles, plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the fibrous tissue along the sole), bunions (enlargement of the joint at the base of the big toe), poor circulation and fungal nails.

The following questions will help you assess whether you should take more preventive action as you age.

Are you overweight?

The force on your feet is about 120 percent of your weight. “Obesity puts a great amount of stress on all the supporting structures of the foot,” said Dr. Bart Gastwirth, a podiatrist at the University of Chicago.

It can lead to plantar fasciitis and heel pain and can worsen hammertoes and bunions.

It’s also a risk factor for diabetes, leading to the next question.

Are you diabetic?

Being farthest from the heart, the feet can be the first part of the body to manifest complications like poor circulation and loss of feeling, both of which can lead to poor wound healing and amputation.

Diabetics should have their feet examined annually by a doctor and avoid shoes that cause abrasions and pressure.

Do you have poor circulation?

If you suffer from peripheral artery disease — a narrowing of veins in the legs — your feet are more susceptible to problems, said Dr. Ross E. Taubman, president of the American Podiatric Medical Association.

Smoking also contributes to poor circulation.

Do your parents complain about their feet?

Family history is probably your biggest clue to potential problems.

Do you have flat feet or high arches?

Either puts feet at risk.

A flat foot is squishy, causing muscles and tendons to stretch and weaken, leading to tendinitis and arthritis.

A high arch is rigid and has little shock absorption, putting more pressure on the ball and heel of the foot, as well as on the knees, hips and back.

Shoes or orthotics that support the arch and heel can help flat feet.

People with high arches should look for roomy shoes and softer padding to absorb the shock. Isometric exercises also strengthen muscles supporting the foot.

Are you double-jointed?

If you can bend back your thumb to touch your lower arm, the ligaments in your feet are probably stretchy, too, Dr. Gastwirth said.

That makes the muscles supporting the foot work harder and can lead to injuries. Wear supportive shoes.

Do your shoes fit?

In the podiatric association’s survey, more than 34 percent of men said they could not remember the last time their feet were measured.

Twenty percent of women said that once a week they wore shoes that hurt, and 8 percent wore painful shoes daily.

Feet flatten and lengthen with age, so if you are clinging to the shoe size you wore at age 21, get your feet measured (especially mothers — pregnancy expands feet).

Do you wear high heels? “

The high heel concentrates the force on the heel and the forefoot,” Dr. Gastwirth said.

Heels contribute to hammertoes, neuromas (pinched nerves near the ball of the foot), bunions and “pump bump” (a painful bump on the back of the heel), as well as toenail problems.

Most of the time, wear heels that are less than two and a half inches high.

Do your feet ever see the light of day?

Fungus thrives in a warm, moist environment.

Choose moisture-wicking socks (not cotton), use antifungal powders and air out your toes at home.
Have you seen a podiatrist?

Minor adjustments, using drugstore foot pads or prescription orthotics, can relieve the pressure on sensitive areas, rebalance the foot and slow the progress of a condition.

Do you walk?

Putting more mileage on your feet is the best way to exercise the muscles and keep them healthy.

Telegraph

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Quotes from George Orwell


An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.
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A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats
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Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind
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Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent
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At age 50, every man has the face he deserves
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On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time
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Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
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Liberal: a power worshipper without power
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Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. "
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Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past
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If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear
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We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
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Power is not a means, it is an end.
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One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
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The object of persecution is persecution
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The object of torture is torture.
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The object of power is power
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War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Top level





Top level sportsmen and sportswomen share several things in common, whatever their sport

They all have ability

They are all driven to win

They all train harder than most

They can stand immense pressure be it physical, mental, or emotional

They are prepared to make all the necessary sacrifices in pursuit of their goals

And this is where they are really different

Their inner belief in themselves

An unshakable belief that they will prevail

And guess what?

They usually do

And why am I writing this?
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Because life itself is no different
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To be successful in life is analogous
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Not the winning at all costs
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Nor the pursuit of materialistic goals
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These are the kiddy stuff
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The understanding of what life really is
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Real life is also unremitting struggle\
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And importantly a successful life is where the individual has an unshakeable inner belief
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A belief in himself that whatever comes his way he will surmount
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His morality is unshakeable
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His purpose a contribution
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A contribution in whatever way life allows
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Being the best he can everyday in whatever comes his way

Life is not a weekend hobby to be taken up when we are bored

It is not about having it easy, doing a few courses
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Chasing constant happiness

Can you believe that some people actually feel that life is just about being happy?

Happiness is an emotion that comes and goes, and by definition is unpredictable

Sure you can increase the likelihood of having more rather than less

But to think that this is an objective is ridiculous when all of us without exception experience the pain of life

The real substance of life life is struggle

Struggle to learn what it is all about

Struggle to master our inner selves

Struggle to overcome our fears

Struggle to learn patience

Struggle to learn humility

Struggle to live with powerlessness

Sound tough?

Yes it is

However the irony is that this is really the easy way

How come?

Imagine being asked to meet someone on the other side of a mountain

And choosing to go round the base of the mountain because it looks easier

Then finding that there are swamps and dangerous man eating animals along the way

Too late to go over the top you are committed

Had you known before you would have gone over the top of the mountain

And this is really like life

Why?

We look at it and decide to go round the bottom because we have no reason to imagine that it is the hard way

Our culture says it is all about making money, which is said to be the measure of success

Finding business or career success

Enjoying ourselves having fun

Finding the easy way

No one tells us that this is the hard way

That if we follow this "easy" path we will find out around middle age that it was a con

That cancer, heart attack, business failure, middle age crisis are real and sit there waiting for us

Life becomes more dissatisfying when the only objective is self indulgence

When the only pursuit is monetary reward and happiness

It does not work

True satisfaction comes from service

Service to others

The pursuit of knowledge and understanding

So true life is about fighting ourselves to see clearly what is going on and what things are really all about

Overcoming our fears that block our understanding

Having the courage and will power to fight our weakness and fears

Looking at your own life

Have you accepted that it is struggle?

For those of you who have decided to go over the mountain

The true way towards spiritual growth is by healing yourself

This means just that physical, mental and emotional

And if you do?

Then we can only share our own experience that it is an amazing journey

Showing you pastures unimagined

Clarity of purpose relieving you of stress and fear

Growing not for yourself

But in helping others
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Take on board the idea that life is constant struggle

And when you do then the struggle changes it becomes engrossing and rewarding rather than frightening and depressing

Sometimes your top sportsmen and women move on too although most though stay stuck with the one activity