Little ditty

"Only when the last tree has died
.
and the last fish has been caught
.
and the last river poisoned
.
will we realize that we can’t eat money"
.
Wrote someone
.
To which we reply
.
"Only when we respect each other as we do ourselves
.
and accept the truth of reincarnation and karma
.
and so see the reason for our many lives
.
will we realize that money is no answer"


Life is as life is

Money is part of life

Learn to handle it

Do not let it handle you

Ours to make the best of life

Yes it is hard

Yes and it only gets better when we feel good about ourselves

And that comes when we help others

Think of others

Because deep inside that is what we are here for

Deep inside we know we have many lives

Deep inside we know we should help others more than we do

Deep inside we know that money is not the answer

Our happiest days are not about money

Our happiest days are about sharing and caring

When we all do that then we have it solved

Just a question of velocity really

Mmmmm -70

Power belongs to him who knows

This is a very old axiom

Knowledge - the first step to which is the power of comprehending the truth

Of discerning the real from the false -

is for those only who, having freed themselves from every prejudice

and conquered their human conceit and selfishness, are ready to

accept every and any truth once it is demonstrated to them

Of such there are very few

The majority judge of a work according to the respective predjudices of its critics

Who are guided in their turn by the popularity or unpopularity of the author

Rather than by its own faults or merits

CW Vol X1V

What will matter

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.

.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.

.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.

.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

.
It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

.
It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

.
So what will matter?

.

How will the value of your days be measured?
.
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,

.
Not what you got but what you gave.

.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.

.
What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,

.
empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

.
What will matter is not your competence but your character.

.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,

.
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.

.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you.

.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.

.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

.
Choose to live a life that matters.
.
Michael Josephson

Place is space with memory

What makes a place interesting or memorable?

What makes it stick in our memory?

What makes us remember somewhere?

Some would say it's energy

.

It's beauty

Others it's features

Smell and history maybe

It's infrastructure perhaps

And at the end of the day, infrastructure is more than just roads, buildings and electrical lines.

Infrastructure is an interesting one because it carries so many elements that influence us

Speak to us

It’s about the social fabric of a community, and the collective memory of a geography, that determines whether a place will thrive and replicate, or destroy itself from within

.

And that's why we want to live where we do

.

Why we like visit and go back to certain places

.

Invisible but very real

.

That shiver when we enter certain places

.

That desire to leave others

.

Every place on Earth has it's story

.

Place is space with memory

Simple evasion

Once every four or five years voters get the chance to vote nationally in most Western countries

This vote on a national level is often preceded or followed by local voting

And for most that is it

Once every four years or so

A choice usually between two virtually indistinguishable parties

One slightly right of center

One slightly left of center

For many voters today neither party is attractive

There is no choice just x or y

Commentators seem surprised that most voters are fed up with this situation

That many refuse to vote

Because that one vote is usually couched in silly terms where both parties make nonsensical promises of heaven on earth

And after the vote?

Politicians then tend to ignore voters until election time comes around again

Paying scant attention except when crises arise

These politicians decide many aspects of our lives

.

Creating laws

.

Modifying laws

.

Implementing laws

.

Following the dictates of pressure groups and lobbyists

.

One such area is those who promote Genetically Modified crops

Europeans have said no they do not like this idea in country after country

In every country voters have said no thank you

Voters have expressed their dislike and concern for this over and over

The British government has chosen to ignore voters concerns by telling voters how important it is to use GM seeds bringing out various arguments ranging from increased productivity to lack of food reserves to health of crops

Telling voters that they are safe when no one can know as the subject area is too new for anyone to know the long term effects on man or nature

Why would we worry except that GM crops have mostly failed to produce the claimed benefits in productivity or disease resistance and reduce farmers choice of seed stock even further

Voters are still saying no thank you

The government is determined to proceed anyway

In Britain by law the government had to announce where it was doing trials

Trials were initiated and the crops were then uprooted by people who did not like this idea of trials

Now the Government is going to change the law so that it no longer has to announce where it is doing trials

So what is the point of having votes when the government refuses to listen to what its citizens say or abide by it's own laws?

Lobbyists enjoy ready access to politicians

Laws are changed, the will of the people is ignored

And so it goes on

But when trials go wrong or something is amiss the last to be found are the politicians who changed the laws............... for none are accountable

.

Yes they will have plenty of weasle words and excuses

While the companies involved merely pay off those affected, if they even bother to do this

Governments are not listening and insist that they know best regarding GM foods and products

Behind them stand lobbyists for the chemical and agribusiness companies

Voters can say all they like lobbies are getting their way

Votes mean little, lobby money does

However surveys and opinion poles do attract politicians interest if only for self survival or the chance to posture

On an individual level it is important to inform yourself and be clear about what you think

.

After all these modified foods are increasingly what you are buying and eating

.

Whether or not you know it

.

And the long term harm they might be doing to you or your children?

.

No one knows

.

So yes it is time

.

To voice discontent with the abuse of the electorate by unaccountable governments

Over time this system has failed the electorate in country after country

New Internet pressure groups are making headway in challenging government and lobby groups

Do you support any?

Should you?

The Han colonisation of Tibet

Tibet was autonomous until October1950 when he Chinese invaded and occupied the country

It was a poor country by material standards

With a feudal system of government

Isolated to the extent that few really understood or knew it's reality

A Buddhist country with the Dalai Lama as one of it's leaders

The Dalai Lama was forced into exile in India along with 100,000 other Tibetans

There has been an increasing influx of Chinese settlers into Tibet in recent years as transport has improved, but the exact figures are a matter of dispute.

According to an official census in 2000, there were 2.4 million Tibetans in the region and 159,000 Han Chinese.

The government in exile says there are many more Chinese if migrant workers and soldiers are counted.

The Dalai Lama has said there is a Han majority in Lhasa, the regional capital.

China has denied carrying out any deliberate settlement policy aimed at the dilution of Tibetan culture and points instead to the benefits brought to the region by economic development and investment.

The Dalai Lama claimed over-settlement and over-exploitation of Tibet was threatening the quality and flow of rivers flowing out of the Tibetan highlands, including the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Indus, the Mekong and the Ganges.

Due to carelessness these waters have been polluted and also reduced, and I think billions of people's lives depend on these rivers the Dalai Lama said.
.

There has been mining without proper care, deforestation, irrigation without proper planning. In some valleys, new diseases have developed which some specialists believe is the result of water pollution

While outsiders are unable to verify many things it is clear that increased Han immigration is a reality

It is also clear that control of the region and economy is in Han Chinese hands and that indigenous Tibetans have little if any say in the future of their country

Can Tibetans protect their land?

Hard to see how when the Dalai Lama is unable to engage the Chinese in meaningful dialog and local Tibetans have been marginalized

The outside world is powerless and unable or unwilling to influence Chinese behavior and strategy

Has it ever been thus

Poor world over and over politicians choose to ignore or avoid challenging abuse by bullying countries prefering to say nothing

Throughout history the bully has been allowed to behave badly

The world then has to pay when the bully goes too far

Will we ever learn?

We will see but the precedents are not encouraging

Healers

So many claim to be healers today

Seems like it's the fashion

All kinds of approaches from quaint and weird to sane and secure

Our take on this is simple

A true healer, in our understanding of that word, will never ask for money

Why?

Because if they are healers using the resources of nature, which most claim to be doing

Then they may not charge for something that is not theirs

The act of healing another is one of service not profit

And yes in the modern world this is rare

However this is how we see it

The healer may accept donations and yet may not ask for any

Those who choose to give do so because they feel to do so, not because of any obligation to do so

Those who do not are free to create their own karma, which is not the business of the healer

The healers we are talking about accept that life will carry risk and they accept this

Somehow life looks after them and provides what they need

Note what they need not what they might want

Wanting is also a no no for those we are talking about

They do not want they appreciate what they have

Their focus is not on the material

Their focus is on doing the best they can with whoever and whatever is sent their way

Just a few thoughts on your average modern healer

If your healer has not healed him or herself then they are mixing their energy with yours

Happy about that?

If they have illness be it physical or mental do you really want to mix yours with theirs?

And just what have they learnt?

Where and with whom?

Before engaging a gas repair man you want to know if he has the right credentials

Same for a healer

Where did he learn?

What did he learn from whom, for how long, and did he have to show or prove aptitude?

If the answers don't sound right then think twice

18th century Russian women

Did you know?

For much of the eighteenth century Russia was ruled by women

After Peter the Great died he was briefly succeeded by his wife Catherine I

She was followed by Peter's grandson Peter II

But he died in only three years and was followed by Peter's niece Anna

When she died in 1740 she was briefly succeeded by a baby prince

He was soon deposed by the daughter of Peter the Great who became the Empress Elizabeth

She was followed in 1762 by Peter II

Within a few months he was overthrown by his wife, the German Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst, who became Catherine the Great

Though widely differing in tastes and talents these women all contributed to increasing the visibility of women in Russian public life

It could well be argued that they did as well or better than the men who have ruled Russia

Is it not time we had another woman ruling Russia?

Quotes - 4

Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts

- Henry Adams
.

Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire

- William Yeats
.

The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd.

The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been

- Alan Ashley-Pitt
.

What is a weed?

A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson
.

The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatsoever that it is not entirely absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible

- Bertrand Russell
.

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

- Anne Frank
.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.

Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great

- Mark Twain
.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away

- Henry David Thoreau
.

Some trees grow very tall and straight and large in the forest close to each other, but some must stand by themselves or they won't grow at all

- Oliver Wendell Holmes
.

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be

- Ellen Burnstyn
.

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this... you haven't

- Unknown
.

It's better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all

- Anne Bradstreet
.

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.

All life is an experiment.

The more experiments you make the better.

What if they are a little coarse, and you may get your coat soiled or torn?

What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice.

Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson
.

Not all who wander are lost

- J.R.R. Tolkien
.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are there

- Yasutani Roshi
.

Patience will achieve more than force.

- Edmund Burke
.

Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold.

For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you.

So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will be powerless to vex your mind.

- Leonardo da Vinci
.

Should you shield the valleys from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their canyons. - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go

- T. S. Eliot
.

The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth,' and so it goes away. Puzzling..

- Robert M. Pirsig
.

Many people suffer with their thoughts, not knowing that revealing them on paper, continuously over a two hour period, removes the stinging bitterness which they are tightly wrapped within.

- Asmos
.

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness

- Chuang-tzu
.

Success is not the key to happiness.

Happiness is the key to success.

If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
.

The thing you set your mind on is the thing you ultimately become

- Nathaniel Hawthorne
.

There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion

- Carl G. Jung

Being positive

We are often asked why we are so positive

How can we stay so positive?

Positive when our lives are spent hearing about terrible situations

Treating those with horrible terminal illnesses and other conditions

Seeing some die and decline

Others walking away too frightened to fight or change

Yes it does get to us

It is hard to have a permanent firewall between ourselves and those who come to us for help

Hard not to get emotionally involved when you like those you are helping

So how come we are positive when we can also see through the lies and hypocrisy of those who lead us?

Like most of us we hate the hypocrisy, greed and selfishness so prevalent today

When we can see the future

When we can know what will happen

Answer

Because we follow rules

Because we lead disciplined lives

Because we believe

Believe in what we do

Beyond belief we know beyond doubt, for ourselves that is, the truth of what is and is not

The truth of the perennial or ageless wisdom

We understand why we are where we are as a species

And what we must go through as a species

We know where we are as individuals and can imagine no other way of life

Serving is fine

Making a contribution is fine too

In whatever comes our way

Accepting pain and sorrow along the way is OK with us

Feeling and experiencing an ever closer relationship with nature is amazing

Feeling part of the creative aspect of nature is a powerful experience

So for us as half atoms in a big universe being positive goes with the territory

Being positive comes with where we are on our journey

As it can be for any other person who so chooses

Choices we all make

Choices made easier by taking the trouble to find out the truth of things

That's why we are positive