Teachings

I found a coot today, lying in the middle of Powhatan Dr., while I was driving to work. Picked him (her?) up, put him in the back seat on a poncho I had there and went on to work. I thought it was a dark duck, but found when I got it to the Wildlife Rescue vet (yeah Castle-West Vet Hospital!) that he was an American coot. Just trying to figure out what he was doing in my neighbourhood really. The closest bodies of water aren't really. Coots are marsh creatures- not little city made pond creatures....but they may be opportunists. Anyway, little fella had a busted up wing, damaged left leg and some contusions. Probably had a run-in with a car. The number of cats in the neighbourhood prohibited me just leaving him there. After a recent run in with a lazy group of young ducks, I am wondering if there is some weird attraction in my life recently for waterfowl. Rather Twilight Zone really.....

XFiles quotes, for future reference

From season three, "The Blessing Way"



Albert Hosteen (played by Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, probably the foremost Amerindian actour, ever): There's an ancient indian saying that something lives only as long as the last person who remembers it. My people have come to trust memory over history. Memory, like fire, is radiant and immutable while history only serves those who seek to control it. Those who would douse the flame of memory in order to put out the dangerous fire of truth. Beware these men, for they are dangerous themselves ... and unwise. Their false history is written in the blood of those who might remember it and of those who seek the truth. edit »

Albert Hosteen: When the FBI man Mulder was cured by the holy people, we were reminded of the story of the gila monster, who symbolises the healing powers of the medicine man, In this myth the gila monster restores a man by taking all his parts and putting them back together. His blood is gathered by the ants, his eyes and ears by the sun, his mind by talking god and pollen boy. Then lightning and thunder bring the man back to life. edit »

Mulder: You were here today looking for a truth that was taken from you. A truth which was never to be spoken, but which now bind us together in dangerous purpose. I've returned from the dead to continue with you, but I fear that this danger is now close at hand and I may be too late. edit »

Awaken the sleep of reason and fight the monsters within and without.

question to contemplate

Can man's organized religions ever lead to true enlightenment?

just found a group "Monks Without Borders." A bunch of religiously inspired people who go out and do "good" where they are, as they can. Noble and all that, but does it come with a dose of their versions of "God" in the process?
I have to wonder.

I am afraid that history will show that mankind ideas about religion have always gotten in the way of true personal growth. This is why the greatest teacher of our world so far, the Buddha, chose to dump all religion in favour of a non-religiously based field of self-discovery. religion is a wonderful way to present rules and regulations to enslave a population to lazy to think for itself, but it is not an answer for those truly seeking self-knowledge, and the eventual loss of self thst comes from that growth.

You see- self-awareness is the ultimate form of selfishness and ego- vanity to such a scale it cannot be described by mere words. It is the release of that non-belonging that brings true enlightenment.When one finally grasps the connectedness of all things, and understands that not only do we all -ALL- some from the Source, but that we are in fact made of exactly the same thing.

My biggest problem in the last decade has been to let others come to this understanding in their own time. I am impatient beyond all reason to get the hell off this mortal plane and back to the business of my real existance, and someone or thing just simply will not let me go! I am waiting for that someone or thing to tell me WHY.

I seriously doubt it will be Monks without Borders, however.

Some things cannot change...at least not quickly.

Indigenous grandmas nearly kicked out of Vatican
Indian Country Today July 18, 2008.
All Rights Reserved
Thirteen indigenous grandmothers, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, initial greeting at the Vatican was not pleasant. The group was almost kicked out while performing a prayer and waiting to speak with Pope Benedict They went to pray. They went to see Pope Benedict XVI on his home turf. They went to ask that he rescind historic church doctrine that played a role in the genocidal onslaught of millions of indigenous people worldwide.
For 13 indigenous grandmothers, accomplishing only one of their three goals wouldn't have been so bad - had they also not been harassed by several Vatican policemen who claimed the women were conducting ''anti-Catholic'' demonstrations. The elders, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, convened in the morning hours of July 9 at St. Peter's Square. After setting up an altar cloth, candles and sacred objects, including feathers and incense, they began holding a prayer and ceremony circle. Nine-year-old Davian Joell Stand-Gilpin, a direct descendant of Chief Dull Knife of the Lakota Nation, was brought along by one of the grandmothers to participate in traditional regalia.
Soon, however, four Vatican police officials asked the women to stop the prayer ceremony, claiming their prayers were in contradiction to the church's teachings - despite the two crosses on the alter cloth and some of the members being practitioners of the Catholic faith.
The officials told Carole Hart, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and filmmaker traveling with the grandmas, that the group was in violation of Vatican policy. They said a permit Hart had obtained in order to document the prayer gathering was only relevant in terms of filming, but did not allow the women to pray, sing or burn incense.The police said the actions of the grandmothers were ''idolatrous. Through the course of obtaining the permit, Hart had written to Vatican officials explaining that the grandmothers would be conducting a prayer ceremony at the site.''We stuck to the fact that we were legitimately there with this permit,'' Hart said. ''The grandmas did not back down.
Still, the police urged the grandmothers to move on; but Hart and the group appealed the decision to a higher authority. Finally, the police brought back a law official who assessed the situation. Upon seeing 13 indigenous elder women and hearing one of their songs, the official concluded there was no problem with the ceremony. The official also ultimately invited the grandmothers to enter St. Peter's Basilica to rest and pray.Despite their short-term success, the ultimate goal of the grandmothers - to hand-deliver a statement to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to rescind several controversial papal bulls that played a part in the colonization of indigenous lands - was thwarted.Documents from the 15th century, such as the papal bulls, show the papacy played a role in the genocidal onslaught that affected millions of indigenous people on the North American continent. In 1455, for instance, Pope Nicolas authorized Portugal ''to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans'' who had previously made their homes in North America.
Just a short time before the grandmothers left for their long-planned journey to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be leaving the Vatican to rest at his summer home, called Castel Gandolfo, in preparation for a trip to Australia. The pope had originally been scheduled to be in residence July 9. Laura Jackson, the grandmothers' publicist, described the pope's decision to leave the Vatican as a ''sudden cancellation'' and noted that the grandmas held tickets to a scheduled public audience he was to have held that day.
While Castel Gandolfo is less than 20 miles away from the Vatican, the grandmothers ultimately decided not to make the journey to the pope's summer getaway despite some in their inner circle encouraging them to pay an unexpected visit.
Hart believes the grandmothers chose to focus on St. Peter's Square because it's part of the Vatican and is a strong symbol of the pope.
''As women of prayer, I think they felt that bringing their prayer there, on the very ground on which the church as an institution stands, as close as they could get to the heart of the church, would have a great effect on what will happen next,'' Hart said. Additionally, the women had no guarantee that they would even be able to enter the grounds of the pope's summer residence. Instead, the elders left a package with one of the pope's personal guards at the Vatican. The package contained a written statement the women had sent to the Vatican in 2005 decrying the papal bulls, to which the Vatican never responded. It also contained a new 632-word statement to the pope asking him to repeal three Christian-based doctrines of ''discovery'' and ''conquest'' that set a foundation for claiming lands occupied by indigenous people around the world.
''We carry this message for Pope Benedict XVI, traveling with the spirits of our ancestors,'' the women said in their new message. ''While praying at the Vatican for peace, we are praying for all peoples. We are here at the Vatican, humbly, not as representatives of indigenous nations, but as women of prayer.
The package was given to the pope's guard via a traditional Lakota manner, by extending it to him three times with him then accepting it on the fourth attempt. The entire process was captured on film, and is expected to be made into a documentary by Hart in the coming year. It is unknown whether the pope has yet personally received the package, but legal scholars and Native activists in the U.S. have nonetheless been paying close attention to the grandmothers' journey.

''I think the trip is very significant,'' said Steven Newcomb, co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute and author of the book, ''Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery,'' and an Indian Country Today columnist.
''These are women who are very much grounded in their own languages and traditions. They're able to raise visibility of the issue in ways that others are perhaps less effective.
The grandmothers from the U.S. who sit on the women's council are Margaret Behan, of the Arapaho/Cheyenne of Montana; Agnes Baker Pilgrim, of the Takelma Siletz; and Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance, both Oglala Lakota of Black Hills, S.D.All of the grandmothers are currently in private council in Assisi, Italy, and are expected to be returning home by early August.
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I am not certain what these representatives of the Amerindian tribes hoped or believed would be accomplished, but I could have told them what would happen. The "church" has just now been willing to admit that its celibacy rule has bred demons in males who were never supposed to be like that. Now they want them to admit that the wars and atrocities committed against others in the name of god were also wrong? We Wiccan have been trying to do that for centuries- it has done no good. Saying I'm sorry doesn't come easily to the patriarchal regime. It will not change until we get rid of them either, and I fear that that change will have to be a violent one- males are not going to give up easily to the matriarchal way. At least not those raised by the "church."
Good try ladies. I am afraid the effort alone will have to be your reward.

Note of passing

Sadly, that passing is of this planet as we humans know it. I am just beyond depressed at the level of damage done by humans that is causing cascading problems around the world. There is no way out of the cycle we've started- it will take the equivalent of several human generations to clear up anything we've created in the way of problems, and too many species, too many ecosystems, just do not have that kind of time.
To top it off, once more I am seeing signs that David Brin's book Earth was not just a piece of fiction but some kind of prediction. There is talk in the scientific community of creating miniature black holes.....the very premise of the book. Someone arrogant enough to think he can control a black hole makes one that seems stable, but it gets loose. A speck the human eye cannot see starts to consume the planet from within. Another main point to the story is a growing lack of privacy. Discover magazine has a big article in it this month about the emerging problem of privacy on a national scale: pictures of top secret places and things within the US government have made their way onto the Internet thanks to satellites like the one Google Earth uses. Certain countries around the world have made a huge stink about being photographed by satellite, but I guarantee, even if we the public ain't seeing it, that information is out there for the right bidder.

I dont' know if Brin was just making educated guesses, or if he had some kind of vision. His book is frighteningly accurate, and gets moreso everyday. It scares me, because the biodiversity of this planet is one of the things that makes it what it is. It is also such a detailed and intricate web that even one strand being removed can cause cascades of effect that may not be immediately evident. As the highest predator on the list, supposedly, humans have the most to lose too. I also think they have the self centered blindness to fail to see anything is truly wrong before it is too late.

I hate to tell everyone, but I am pretty sure it already is.

100 Years since Tunguska

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30jun_tunguska.htm?list151632

A legend in both the science and sci-fi world, to this day.

What We Are?

Humans are basically very selfish. It can be a good thing- it is a survival mechanism. With the onslaught of mass media, where we learn of crises around the world in moments or at the very least hours of their happening, we have tried to overcome that essential selfishness, thinking it uplifting to soul and mind to help others in trouble out. The U.S. in particular has gotten very good at rising to the occasion most of the time, to the point where it is almost expected of us. "You're the rich guys- you do it!" Well,.....this latest international duster may show how things are changing. Actually, some local stuff may too.
I have noticed that the debates about global warming have come to a screeching halt in the face of rising prices on fuel. That problem in turn is pressuring the wallet of every person on the planet, as well as curtailing delivery of food to places that cannot produce enough for themselves. Now we have the possibility that one of the biggest producers of rice for Indonesia- Australia- may not be able to make enough to export in the face of a huge drought. A friend in Austin expressed mild horror after being told by a touring Aussie band that people were starting to collect "brown water" to keep their lawns alive. Basically, if you don't know, they are using the water out of septic systems, only mildly treated, definitely undrinkable. In the face of not even having enough water to drink, I toot that as being smart. Every drop counts there right now.

The oceans are so full of our plastic debris that seabirds are dying of starvation while their stomachs are full- of plastic.

We have over fished to the point of destroying ecosystems that might take hundreds of years to come back.

Ice caps and glaciers world wide are melting at an alarming rate, and yet the amount of fresh water available for human use, both personal and agricultural, is diminishing at almost the same rate.

Weather patterns have changed worldwide, and our ability to predict, much less deal with it has not grown fast enough.

I don't know that the whole world is out of balance so much as She is shifting as she always has, and we are just too numerous to be able to deal with the shifts sensibly.
I bring this all up because I noticed that aid going to the most recent disaster in Myanmar (Burma) is maybe half of what would have happened two years ago. To top that off the political regime of the area is making getting aid to the worst hit places next to impossible. The human death toll may top 300,000, with disease and starvation taking many due to lack of help.

Is this what we are destined for ,as weather changes everything most of us alive today have ever known? Americans on the whole are a soft lot, and we may find ourselves in all sorts of trouble soon. If fighting for food and water starts to hit our streets, I will then know it is time to pack only what I need and head to where there are fewer humans.

I truly do believe we are the catalyst for the 6th great die-off of this planet's history. All the signs point that way. I personally think it is speeding up, but what kind of timeline exists for such things?

If I can remain dispassionate as it gets worse, this should be interesting to watch.


oh...and how did the local stuff show all this to be happening? A South Texas food bank has been begging for help this week- they literally have nothing in the warehouse to offer those who cannot afford to feed themselves. Are we so self concerned that a tank's worth of gas spent on groceries for the less fortunate is outside out ability anymore? I have to wonder.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5333797585907820770

The Next Great Path to Enlightenment?

Oh that struck a chord in me......livescience.com put out a list today of the 10 biggest or craziest cults. One response was that a cult is just a religion with no political power. Amen!

YEARS ago, during the Waco siege of the Branch Davidians, something struck me as really odd. A story came to mind, that I choose now to relay here, because it gave me the shivers, and still does.
First a disclaimer: I do not care what religion you are, nor will I tell you you are wrong if you live an honest life. All I ask in return is the same right I grant you. Keep it to yourself, and we can all live in peace. Start preaching, or as the fundamentalist types call it, "testifying," to me, and I will become a demon beyond your imagining.

Now, within a year of the Branch Davidian slaughter (no, I don't believe what was being preached there, but bear with me) a story crept into my head.

There was, in a time past, a young man born to a religion. This religion was strict and concise, telling him exactly what and how everything should be. There was a special book his people were supposed to follow, full of rules and regulations meant for their own good. Conducting one's self by these rules was supposed to lead to a sanctified life and afterlife.
As this young man grew, he observed that while the people of his faith spoke mightily of following the path set for them by the"one God," many fudged on the rules, or flat out ignored them to suit the moment. Some even went so far as to change the rules when the rules did not allow them to do or be as they wanted.
As a person who wanted very much to live that sanctified life, the young man found himself dissatisfied. He went out and learned the way he believed life should be lived, and tried to get the people of his faith to come back to the True Path, as he saw it. Needless to say, his attempts were met with stubbornness. No one within his faith wanted to hear they were doing things wrong.
Ironically, many people outside his faith, and a small handful within, listened and heard his wisdom. Without meaning to, he started his own version of his faith, with enough followers to be seen as a threat. The threat was perceived by the local government, not the religion he came from exactly, and when the religious leaders were asked to "get him under control," those leaders threw up their hands and said he is not one of ours.
The local government watched until they saw him to be a real problem, unwilling to live by the state laws in lieu of the ones he felt were set by his faith. When he would not respond to their requests for intervention or dispersion, they took it upon themselves to intervene, and destroy this potential danger.
His people were attacked. He was found and he himself killed.

Sound familiar? It isn't about Joshua ben Joseph, better known as Jesus Christ. It is the exact story of David Koresh.

I have personally wondered if a whole new religion might be born from this person's being martyred by the U.S. Government. Stranger things have happened, my children......

A good guide to the chakras

New Light on the Chakras
by Owen Waters



We live in an invisible sea of consciousness or mind
substance, an atmosphere of thoughts and their associated
feelings. Each one of us receives mind substance from the
environment. We process it through our own consciousness
and then transmit it back into the collective unconscious,
the atmosphere of the global mind.

In this way, our contribution to world consciousness is
automatic. As you think and feel, so you affect the global
mind in your own way.

Traditionally, the seven major chakras are viewed from the
front of the body. They appear as doorways of consciousness,
located just in front of the physical body. Each chakra is a
spinning vortex of etheric energy which channels its own
specific frequency band of consciousness to or from the
local environment.

From the base of the spine upwards, these are the traditional
names of seven major chakras:

1. Root chakra (base of the spine)
2. Sex chakra
3. Solar plexus chakra
4. Heart chakra
5. Throat chakra
6. Third eye chakra (forehead)
7. Crown chakra (above the head)


The root, sex and then the solar plexus chakras are activated
as children grow into adulthood. Having reached adulthood, many
people go on to activate their heart chakras and some venture
into the realm of the throat chakra, especially during
meditation.

The functions of the chakras are as follows:

1. Instinctual. The root chakra prepares vitality, or life
energy, for the chakras above it. It provides the base
frequency of human existence including the instinct for
survival.

2. Emotional. The sex chakra powers the basic emotions and
passions of human life.

3. Intellectual. The solar plexus chakra is used in the
development of intellect or mental ability in a linear
direction. Examples of thought expressed as linear
intellect include the performing of arithmetic and the
operating of machinery.


4. Holistic. The heart chakra is developed as issues of
separation are resolved and integrated. Mind, body & spirit
are seen as facets of a human being with integrity or
wholeness.


5. Creative. The throat chakras function is creativity.
It is capable of inspiring the imagination to create new
ideas, inventions and works of art. Most scientific thinking
today is still in its early, linear phase. With the addition
of imagination, science will enter a phase of great expansion
where it will solve many mysteries of the universe.
The further development of the throat chakra results in
gaining the power of conscious creation, the ability to
consciously transform your reality.

6. Spiritual. The third eye chakra is the home frequency of
your soul family. While a persons closest soul mates can be
usually counted on the fingers of two hands, soul families are
much larger. They are extended, related groups of, typically,
2,000 individuals. When you feel a yearning for your true
spiritual home, you are remembering your connection to this
level of consciousness. In the cycle of reincarnation, it is
to this frequency of consciousness that you ultimately ascend
in spirit before planning your next physical incarnation.


7. Universal. The crown chakra is your connection to the
universe on a cosmic scale. Its complete activation brings
the ultimate state of human achievement and enlightenment,
that of cosmic consciousness.


You can call the chakras by their physical position, like
solar plexus, or by their function, like intellectual.
The choice is yours. Their names, by function, are:


1. Instinctual chakra (root)
2. Emotional chakra (sex)
3. Intellectual chakra (solar plexus)
4. Holistic chakra (heart)
5. Creative chakra (throat)
6. Spiritual chakra (third eye)
7. Universal chakra (crown)



This article was written by Owen Waters, author of
"The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness"

http://www.infinitebeing.com/theshift