The biggest one is that the mind is constantly working, constantly analyzing.  I myself am more prone to this than most, but we're all prone.

Eckhart Tolle occasionally says that if you fall into analyzing his stuff you'll find it boring.  I've never had this problem.  If anything, the opposite is true.

I've always found deep insights into the nature of being and humanity to be the most fascinating thing around.  I'm something of a junkie for it.  I can rant for hours about the structure of moral rationalisation, or how we order the world around us to convince ourselves of things that deep down we know aren't true.

I'm well aware of the human capacity for self-deception because my own is so highly developed.  This isn't to beat myself up about it, it just is the truth.  In the past I've fought through crusade after crusade, switching one for another and making my life a battle for the privelidge of seeing myself as a hero, or a martyr, or a genius, or whatever.

We all do it.

And the thing is that I've done something like this before - never on this scale of course.  I've saturated my mind for weeks on end with Eckhart's voice.  I've had mixed results.

The reason I did it is that I'm prone to deep depression.  I've been on and off Prozac for a few years, which I suppose makes it official.  The smallest glimpse through my last blog will show you some pretty intense posts, and the last year has taken me right to the edge a few times.

Whenever I'd listen to Eckhart it was like plunging a red-hot sword into a pool of water.  I could almost feel the hiss and bubble as my mind rapidly cooled.

But no matter how soothing his words, how profound his teachings, my mind would whirr and buzz and weave a web of thought and judgement.  I'd construct a philosophy around his ideas, go on missions in my head to "destroy my ego" or "transmute my pain-body".

I'd go hell-for-leather at it, then get depressed and frustrated as initial insights and successes descended into chaos, confusion and failure.

Still, initial successes that in the end led me back to square one.

I don't know how much of that was down to the old life I used to lead.  Trying to reach a profound level of chill in the situations I'd put myself in was often like trying to build a house of cards in a hurricane.

That's of course not to say that I'm retreating to a zen mountaintop.  Actually, the point of this whole thing is to see what happens when I load myself full of Tolle in the context of a more or less 'normal' life.  I have a 9-5 job, I have friends I go out with, I have TV shows I like (Supernatural is great, IMHO) and all that jazz.

At the same time, I found myself crashing out emotionally over and over.  It hit a point where it became apparent to me that, in the words of Marilyn Manson "all the drugs in this world won't save you from yourself."

So I decided to listen to Tolle every night when I slept.  Instantly I was more chilled, less volatile.  Then I got an interview, and took the job.  I really enjoy it, by the way.  Great fun.  At this stage normality's like a novelty to me.  I feel so official, I love it.  The work's good fun too.  Creative, interesting.  Not too stressful.  It's cool.

Then I started listening to him in the day.

Then I sat back and reflected on my options.  There is a deep anger and agony in the centre of my chest.  Tolle's voice chases it into the background, but it's always there.  It's like all my nastiest, weakest traits and it's gone unchecked for a long time.  It's been feeding for a long time.

Thing is, no matter how much I may agree with what Tolle says, agreement won't save me.  No matter how deeply I may be able to understand or articulate his thought, I'll still get sucked right back into shit when left to my own devices.

The thing is, I don't think I'm going to be able to significantly chill if left to my own devices.  No matter how many flashes of insight I get, no matter how deep they are or how profound, no insight is going to save me.

And why?

It's simple, and really quite prosaic.  Truth is, because I'll just forget.

Given a week on my own I'll latch on to some other mission, some other answer.  And I'll follow that will-o-wisp into another patch of quicksand.

This way I don't need to remember anything.  Eckhart's always with me, keeping me on track.

The other thing is this - that in doing this I'll create what I used to call a Zen Ego.  I don't really like the use of the word Ego in this context (even though I was using it to refer to a conceptual sense of self before I even read Tolle).  Not because it's inaccurate, it's a great word to use.

At the same time I think it's all too easy to conflate that word Ego in the sense that Tolle uses it with the word 'arrogance'.  You hear the word Ego and you hear the word Egotistical, but the Ego that Tolle refers to is a much broader concept, a much deeper concept.  It doesn't just refer to arrogance, but to any sense of who you are based on ideas in the mind.  Arrogance can easily rise from this - but so can deep self-loathing, so it cuts both ways.

A Zen Ego therefore is not a Zen Arrogance.  It's a conceptual identity based on ideas gleaned from Tolle.  Easily done.  So how to avoid it over the next 997 days?

The answer is, again, simple.  I can't.  I really don't think it's possible for me to do this and not build a conceptual identity out of the concepts I'm pumping into my head.  It will happen.  Over and over.

My theory, and in some ways my bet, is that there will be another process going on under this.  The truth is, I'm going to build an identity around whatever I'm doing, be it my job or whatever harebrained project I've dreamed up next.

The analytical identity will happen.  That's a given.

But here's the thing.  I reckon that Tolle is a special case.  The man sweats Zen.  He oozes chill, he oozes presence.  I believe that there's a chance that even while my mind twists itself around his words, his presence itself will undermine that twisted process.

Given enough time.

Truth is, I don't know if it's going to work.  I think there's a chance that it might.

And no-one else will be my guinea pig.  So I'm doing it.

After the 1000 days are complete, we should have a pretty good understanding of the process.

I'll keep you posted.

I could list the crazy shit I'd done, but there's really no point.  Suffice it to say that I could go toe to toe with anyone you've ever met for having a weird-ass past.

I've made some strange choices.  I've done some dumb shit.  I've been a pretty intense guy.

I've got a story I could tell you about me in the past, about the mental stuff I've done and been.  It involves drugs, sex, and rock and roll.

Problem is, I always had an ambition.  Deep down somewhere in me since I was a young kid I always wanted to be a philosopher.  Not to 'think deep thoughts' as such, nor for the mystique of the thing, although to be honest I have gotten lost in both those sillinesses at various points.

No - it was because every now and then I'd get a glimpse of something.  Or more specifically every now and then I'd see the world from a certain angle and everything would make sense.

I think it's hard to describe what philosophy meant to me, but I'll try.

For me, philosophy was the only possible answer.  You see, once, when I was young, I looked around the world in which I lived and saw something unifying all the people in it, myself included.  And that unifying force wasn't good.  There was some common darkness that united all humanity in a veil of delusion.

It was like a mesh of moral judgements that only existed in our minds.  Like each person contained a whole constructed universe of division.  Like everyone in the world, or at least everyone I could see, even (especially?) on the news or in positions of power.

That all humanity was subject to some kind of elementary flaw - a flaw that was completely universal and highly specific.

That was the kicker, for me.  That the fucked-up-ness of the world was not random.  I mean sure, the ways in which that fucked-up-ness expressed itself seemed infinite, and infinitely cruel.

But it seemed to me then that the basic mechanics of hatred were completely universal.  It was the same mechanism, the same process.

And I resolved that if I could get to the bottom of that process, then maybe - just maybe - I could do something for the world in which I lived which would actually help it.

Now before you get all gung-ho, don't get me wrong.  I could talk for days on this subject - it has been the grand obsession of my life.  The truth is though that it's led me into some twisted places.  Just as hate is hate is hate, no matter the context and no matter the scale, obsession is obsession is obsession.

I have been obsessed for a very long time.

A lot of my life I've been indolent.  Wasting time for timewasting's sake.  You see one of the things about an obsession is that it gives you huge energy when you follow it, but everything else seems pointless beyond measure.  I've spent a lot of time in trivial pursuits and I've not done many basic things that I really should have done.  To give you an example I've beaten a vast number of computer games, but I've never learned to drive.

I don't mind that much.  I live in Edinburgh.  It's a lovely city for a walk.

The times in my life I haven't been wasting time, I've moved with furious energy.  All-consuming, burning energy levels.  Like a kamikaze I've thrown myself at things and very often those things have broken me.

Don't worry, I'm not bitching.  All my really deep wounds are self-inflicted.

But recently, about a year ago now, I was introduced to the work of a man called Eckhart Tolle.  He's a German, a man who I would classify as a philosopher.  A real one.  The kind I'd always wanted to be.  The kind I'd always thought of myself as.

I remember the first time I read something he wrote.  I was in a hotel room in London, with a bunch of strangers I was trying to impress.  The book was 'Stillness Speaks.'  My friend Owen had been telling me to read Tolle for ages and, lacking anything else to do within reaching distance of my hand, I picked it up and opened it to a random page.

I don't remember what the first line was, but I remember it stunned me.  It was rare that I would be impressed even in the slightest by someone else's philosophy.  But in one line it was apparent that Tolle had been looking at exactly the areas I'd been looking at - the lies we tell ourselves, the divisions in us, the deep reasons behind all conflict.

And in the same line it was apparent that he'd gone further than me.  There was a sense in my mind like "this is something new.  Haven't seen this before."

There was a clarity to it.  A deep clarity and truth that shone from his words.  I'd never seen anything like it.

I buried myself in the book.  On the way to the airport to fly back to Scotland I bought myself a copy of The Power Of Now, Tolle's first book.

By the time I got home I realised that he'd written the book I'd been trying to write for ten years.

I started delving into his thought, delving into his ideas.  This was deep, way deeper than anything I'd seen before.  He was tapping something primal, something profound.  It wasn't like he was really clever and he'd 'worked out the answer'.  It was like he was living the answer, sending messages from the other side.

Every sentence in his book hummed with life and power.  I read all four of his books.

Well, that's not really true.  I've never been able to make it through The Power Of Now.  I always get halfway in then have to put it down with my mind blown.

But I made a simple error.  I approached it like a philosophy.  Like a system of thought.  And it is a system of thought - Tolle constructs an incredibly coherent picture of the world around us that is as comprehensive as it is fascinating.

As a philosopher I'd always chased epiphany, chased that one insight that would make everything clear.  Each time I'd hit it, get to that 'eureka' moment.  Each time things would make sense.  And each time the simplicity would once more descend into complexity and chaos.  I'd lose it again.

This post is dragging out too long, but I wanted to give you some background on why I'm doing what I'm doing now.

You see, Tolle's philosophy is worthless, as is my philosophy.  What I'd always said was that beyond the world of moral division in which we lived there was another world, a deeper nature.  A deeper morality that ebbed and flowed way below the level of what we normally understand by use of the word 'justice'.

That state I called 'compassion'.  Eckhart Tolle refers to it as 'presence'.  My idea was that if I could find a way to destroy the fake it would expose the real.  What I failed to take into account is that destruction itself is part of the veil of delusion.  That destruction itself was the very core of the universe of morally charged fiction which was and is destroying humanity.  For a decade I fought fire with fire, and all I burned was me.

To mangle the truth into something that makes sense in human terms, Eckhart Tolle has discovered the answer to philosophy.  And it's not something you need to understand with your head - or something I need to understand with my head.

It's something I need to cultivate.

I've always been the kind of dude who tests stuff.  If I'm going to believe in something, I'll live it.  It's not because I'm brave.  It's because I'm genuinely interested in whether what I believe is true or not.  And if it's true, living it to the hilt will be a blast.  If it's not true, living it to the hilt will mess you up hard and fast.

At least that's the theory.

So from today I'm going to be putting my money where my mouth is as far as Eckhart Tolle is concerned.  I have an mp3 player.  Ironically enough, it's a Creative Zen player.  It's full of Eckhart's audio stuff.

For 1000 days - that's about three years - starting today, I will be listening to Eckhart Tolle at every available moment.

The rules are simple.

When I'm at work, at my desk, I don't listen to Tolle.  If I'm going out with my friends, I don't listen to Tolle.  If I'm in the shower I don't listen to Tolle, until I get some waterproof headphones.

All other moments I have Tolle in my head.  When I get up in the morning I listen to him on the way to work.  On my lunch breaks at work I plug straight in.  When I leave work I put on the headphones and listen.  I continue to listen until I sleep.

When I sleep, I sleep with Eckhart Tolle playing all night.  Then I get up in the morning.

I repeat this 1000 times.

This is the blog diary of 1000 days of presence, 1000 days of light.  I'm pretty damaged goods, pretty dark.

We'll see what happens.

Stay tuned...

"I was walking along the shore this morning, and the ocean seemed completely still. Yet huge waves were coming in out of the stillness, breaking like thunder. This thunder is like the thunder of stillness. The waves are like waves of bliss, of unconditional consciousness. It is vast. The waves break, then stillness again. Then another wave comes, very silently. These waves come from within now in many humans."

-- Eckhart Tolle, author of "The Power of Now," in a recent interview.

Malibu means "sound of crashing waves" in Chumash. It would be written hue-mali-wu in their language. The Chumash are the original people of this coastland, a culture that co-existed with the crashing waves on many levels. Their legends tie them to the lost continent of Lemuria and to intimate kinship with the dolphins. 

In the popular story of the Rainbow Bridge, the Chumash came to the mainland over a rainbow bridge created by god-spirits. As they crossed, some fell off the bridge into the sea, but instead of being drowned, they were changed into dolphins. The Malibu love affair with its dolphins lives on in dolphin imagery everywhere. 

Up until a few months ago, the contemporary Chumash presence in Malibu was more legendary than literal. But, extraordinarily, a new flame has been lit, re-activating the traditional Chumash presence in a modern context. 

Ma-i'-wo, a Chumash "Shan"--what we could call a medicine man or shaman--has come here to perform the ancient role of ambassador to the community of Malibu. According to Ma-i'-wo, in the Chumash way the shan operates like a multi-dimensional host, seeing to it that the beings of all the worlds he enters are comfortable, healthy, happy and feel welcome. 

Ma-i'-wo is a member of the Dolphin Clan, which means that his turf is the surf, from Topanga to Carpinteria. For five days during this past winter solstice, Ma-i'-wo convened a traditional Chumash sweat lodge at Vital Zuman Organic Farm, invited local guests to participate, and spoke the traditional winter prayers of his people. 

As he explains it, this past winter the traditional flame in conjunction with the sweat lodge was relit for the first time in Malibu in over 200 years. This flame and the prayers of the winter solstice are also symbolic of the role of the Chumash in more contemporary Native American ceremonies. 

The Chumash are considered in the larger council of tribal affairs to be "The Keepers of the Western Gate," and received the Flame of Peace from a central fire in Kansas in 1986. This flame was as aspect of the fire that is tended for five days in the fire pit at Vital Zuman. This function is significant not only for the humans who acknowledge it, but also in the spirit world, the world that the shan accesses through ceremony, prayer and elder transmission. 

Ma-i'-wo and Alan Cunningham, owner of the Vital Zuman Farm, are making waves here in Malibu. Alan is opening up a portion of his family farm, historically a fig ranch and now a full-on organic vegetable farm, to an educational outreach program organized by Ma-i'-wo in the form of a demonstration Chumash village. 

Interest in permaculture structures and organic farming has put multi-cultural consciousness on common ground-home sweet Mother Earth-and at Vital Zuman Farm these ideas have been planted. Community members and visitors are invited to browse, volunteer in exchange for food, pick their own produce, and check in on the development of the Chumash Village. 

Like the waves that writer Tolle feels on his shoreline meditation, the rising of new consciousness comes out of a timeless sea that merges past, present and future. The vital energy that Alan Cunningham is sourcing for his evolution of the oldest certified organic farm stand in southern California finds itself intertwined with the resurgence of traditional Chumash hospitality. 

Already a nexus is forming as others with similar inclinations feel themselves attracted. On five cold winter nights, brothers and sisters from many different paths mixed breath and sweat with steam, mud and the deep sounds of ancient prayers and crashing surf--Malibu's eternal heartbeat.  

Elizabeth Whitney

Published January 17, 2002

Jesteśmy zależni od natury nie tylko z uwagi na fizyczne przetrwanie.
Potrzebujemy też natury, żeby wskazała nam drogę do domu, drogę wyjścia z więzienia, którym są nasze umysły.
Zagubiliśmy się w robieniu, myśleniu, pamiętaniu i oczekiwaniu - zagubiliśmy się i labiryncie złożoności i problemowym świecie.
Zapomnieliśmy to, o czym wciąż wiedzą skały, rośliny i zwierzęta.
Zapomnieliśmy jak być - być cichym (spokojnym), być sobą, być tam gdzie jest życie: Tu i Teraz.

Kiedy kierujesz uwagę na element natury, na coś, co powstało bez udziału człowieka, wychodzisz, z więzienia koncepcyjnego myślenia i, do pewnego stopnia, przebywasz w stanie połączenia z Bytem, w którym istnieje tylko to, co naturalne.

Kierowanie uwagi na kamień, drzewo, czy zwierzę nie oznacza, że należy o nich myśleć, lecz po prostu je odbierać, utrzymywać w swojej świadomości.
Coś z ich istoty przenosi się wówczas na ciebie.
Czujesz ich CISZĘ (spokój) i ta sama CISZA pojawia się w tobie- Czujesz jak głęboko spoczywają w Bycie - będąc jednością z tym, czym są i gdzie są.

Kiedy zdajesz sobie z tego sprawę, ty też docierasz do miejsca spoczynku głęboko w sobie. Spacerując, czy odpoczywając wśród natury, uczcij jej królestwo i bądź w nim kompletnie.
Wycisz się. Patrz. Słuchaj.
Zauważ jak bardzo każde zwierzę i każda roślina są sobą.
W przeciwieństwie do ludzi, nie podzieliły samych siebie na dwie części. Nie żyją mentalnymi wyobrażeniami o sobie, więc nie muszą ich chronić i wzmacniać.
Skała jest sobą. Żonkil jest sobą.
Wszystkie elementy natury są jednością nie tylko same z sobą, ale i z całością. Nie usunęły siebie ze struktury całości przypisując sobie oddzielną egzystencję: "ja" i reszta wszechświata.

Kontemplacja natury może cię oswobodzić od "ja", źródła wszelkich kłopotów. Bądź świadomy różnych subtelnych odgłosów natury - szelestu liści na wietrze, spadających kropli deszczu, brzęczenia owada, pierwszego ptasiego śpiewu o świcie.
Całkowicie oddaj się słuchaniu.
Poza granicą dźwięków jest coś bardziej rozległego: świętość, której myśl nie zrozumie.
Tu działa inteligencja potężniejsza od ludzkiego umysłu. Ta sama inteligencja podtrzymuje wszelką naturę. Nie możesz bardziej się do niej zbliżyć, niż będąc świadomym swojego wewnętrznego pola energetycznego - czując ożywioną obecność w ciele.

Figlarność i wesołość psa, jego bezwarunkowa miłość i gotowość do radowania się życiem w każdej chwili często kontrastują ze stanem psychicznym jego pana - z depresją, podenerwowaniem, obciążeniem problemami, zagubieniem w myślach, nieobecnością w jedynym miejscu i jedynym czasie, jaki jest: Tu i Teraz.

Zastanawiające, jak udaje się psu, który żyje z taką osobą, pozostawać sobą, być tak radosnym. Kiedy odbierasz naturę jedynie umysłem, poprzez myślenie, nie jesteś w stanie wyczuć Jej żywotności, jej istoty. Widzisz jedynie formę, ale nie jesteś świadomy zawartego w niej życia - świętej tajemnicy.

Myśl pomniejsza naturę, widząc w niej jedynie artykuł potrzebny do osiągnięcia zysku, czy wiedzy, albo innego użytkowego celu.
Wiekowy las staje się drewnem, ptak celem naukowym, góra kopalnią, lub czymś do zdobycia.

Kiedy odbierasz naturę, stwarzaj przestrzeń nie-myślenia, nie-umysłu.

Kiedy tak podejdziesz do natury, ona odpowie ci i weźmie udział w ewolucji ludzkiej i ziemskiej świadomości. Zauważ jak bardzo obecny jest kwiat, jak poddany życiu.
Roślina, którą masz w domu - czy szczerze jej się przyjrzałeś?
Czy pozwoliłeś temu znajomemu, choć tajemniczemu istnieniu, które nazywamy rośliną nauczyć cię swoich sekretów?
Czy zauważyłeś, jaka jest spokojna? Otoczona przestrzenią Ciszy?
Z chwilą, kiedy uświadomisz sobie bijącą z rośliny emanację spokoju i Ciszy, roślina ta stanie się twoim nauczycielem.

Obserwuj zwierzę, kwiat, drzewo i patrz, jak spoczywa w Bycie. Ono jest sobą. Ma mnóstwo dostojeństwa, niewinności i świętości. Ale żebyś mógł to zobaczyć, musisz porzucić mentalny nawyk nazywania i przylepiania etykietek.

Z chwilą, gdy tak będziesz patrzył, poczujesz niewypowiedziany wymiar natury, którego nie da się zrozumieć myślą, ani odebrać zmysłami. To jest harmonia, świętość, która wypełnia nie tylko wszelką naturę, ale jest także w tobie.

Powietrze, którym oddychasz, to natura, tak jak i sam proces oddychania. Skieruj swoją uwagę na oddychanie i zdaj sobie sprawę, że nie ty to robisz. To jest oddech natury. Gdybyś musiał pamiętać o oddychaniu, szybko byś umarł, a gdybyś próbował przestał oddychać, natura by zwyciężyła. Ponownie łączysz się z naturą w sposób intymny i bardzo silny, kiedy jesteś świadomy swojego oddechu i starasz się utrzymywać na nim swoją uwagę. To leczy i głęboko cię wzmacnia. Powoduje zmianę świadomości z koncepcyjnego świata myśli do królestwa bezwarunkowej świadomości.

Potrzebujesz natury, jako swojego nauczyciela, żeby pomogła ci znowu połączyć się z twoją istotą. Jednak nie tylko ty potrzebujesz natury, ona także potrzebuje ciebie. Nie jesteś oddzielony od natury.

Wszyscy jesteśmy częścią Jednego życia, które wyraża się w niezliczonych formach w całym wszechświecie, formach, które są ze sobą wzajemnie powiązane.

Kiedy rozpoznasz świętość, piękno, niesamowity spokój i dostojeństwo, w jakim kwiat, czy drzewo egzystuje, dodajesz kwiatu, czy drzewu coś więcej.

Poprzez twoje rozpoznanie i twoją świadomość natura poznaje także samą siebie.

Poznaje swoje piękno i świętość - poprzez ciebie. Wielka, cicha przestrzeń trzyma całą naturę w swoich objęciach.
Trzyma także ciebie.
Tylko kiedy sam jesteś spokojny możesz dostąpić królestwa Spokoju, właściwego skałom, roślinom i zwierzętom. Tylko wtedy, gdy uciszy się twój hałaśliwy umysł możesz połączyć się z naturą na bardzo głębokim poziomie i wykroczyć poza podziały, stworzone przez niepohamowane myślenie.

Myślenie jest jednym z etapów na drodze ewolucji. Spokój właściwy naturze istniał jeszcze przed narodzeniem się myśli. Drzewo, kwiat, ptak, skałą, nie są świadome własnego piękna i świętości. Kiedy ludzie doznają tego Spokoju, wykraczają poza myśl.

W Spokoju, który wykracza poza myśl, pojawia się dodatkowy wymiar świadomości wiedzącej. Natura może cię doprowadzić do Spokoju, to jest jej dar dla ciebie. Kiedy odbierasz naturę i łączysz się z jej wymiarem spokoju, twoja świadomość stapia się z nim.
To jest twój dar dla natury.
Poprzez ciebie natura staje się świadoma samej siebie.
Natura w pewnym sensie czekała na ciebie miliony lat.

Eckhart Tolle - Cisza przemawia

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Black giant dog with head in lap drooled over me, I started laughing, stood up, and reached into my memory banks that BIG DOGS ARE GENTLE...and quietly told them to follow me outside. Dog #2 decided that the stairs leading to my comfy couches in the living room was a much better option- I had to coax him down the stairs, and led them both outside into my front yard.

I stood there wondering what to do. Were they lost, and who the heck owned them? My biggest fear at that point was that they would "poop" in my yard- I did NOT want to have to clean that up!

Well, they wandered off, and I called our Dog Catcher who never showed up. That was that.

Friday, I looked outside, and there was my friend again- Dog #1. I went outside, because now I was concerned that he was really lost and scared- I grabbed my portable phone with the Dog Catcher's phone number. He came up to me wagging his giant tail, I sat on my bench on the porch, he settled down making sure his backside was on my foot, and we meditated together.......he eventually wandered off before DC came. When she did arrive, I had seen him go up my street, she went up and found out that my new neighbours who are currently just coming over the renovate the cabin, were their owners and would now keep them nearby.

I still laugh when I think of their strolling into my office- here is a picture of another person's close encounter! And when I attract, I attract BIG these days!!!

Great to have you here.  Great to see you've followed me through cyberspace like you were all a bunch of children and I, as the Pied Piper, have lured you away to my secret kingdom.  There are sweeties here and worry not - you'll all get a chance to sit on my knee.

I think it's probably a mistake to give a big mission statement at the start of this blog.  I think that would limit it too much.  It's also a little too much of a Ciaran thing to do.  Let's try to make a break from all that, shall we?

And that's the theme of this blog.  It's a break with the old, new start - new program even.  Wordpress.  I have no idea how to use this thing.  Apparently it's better than blogger, but as far as I'm concerned it's all a bunch of weird techno-magick that will one day doom us all to a world of John-Connor themed apocalyptic tomfoolery.

If anyone knows how to set up the stuff I had on blogger (like a place to subscribe for emails, and get an rss feed and all that jazz) then post it in a response and I'll give you a cyberhug.

Today's topic will be the recent financial crash which may or may not (as of today) have been avoided by Bush's government.  It's amazing how times of crisis reveal deep things about the nature of a nation.

One thing that amazed me was the influence that Ayn Rand has had in the highest echelons of American thought.  It's like Atlas Shrugged, in 1956, provided a highly potent dogma that many at the top of US society follow with fanaticism.  There is a compelling, almost cult-like attraction to her words, to her ideas, to the simplicity of a world looked at through objectivist eyes.

What interested me was the top politicians kicking off over the 'bail out' of Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros and the Financial Markets.

1.3 trillion dollars looks to be the estimated cost of bailing out the US economy.   Let's just put that in context.  This is a bill for over four times the total debt of the entire African Continent (which is 300 billion bucks).

I find this crisis fascinating, not least of all because I probably understand it better than most of the commentators who are telling me about it on the news.

I used to be a financial headhunter.  I workedthe derivatives market in New York including, interestingly enough, direct and sustained contact with the credit derivatives desk at Lehman Bros.

The interesting thing is this - the current crisis didn't come about because of 'dodgy lending'.  It didn't come about because of 'bad debt.'

It came about because the cleverest people in the world relied on their minds.

You see, there is a science called 'financial engineering'.  What this involves is taking the most complex mathematical tools in existence, and applying them to the financial markets.

We're talking about tools like Stochastic Calculus (the mathematics of chaotic systems, used to model the patterns of wind-blown sand in the desert, or the veins in the petals of a rose).  If you're not into your Stochastics, you can build a Support Vector Machine, which projects your information into multi-dimensional space in order to identify a pattern in it.  If you're not into your Support Vector Machines you might want to construct a Kalman Filter (as used by Chloe in 24 to find terrorists) to reduce the white noise in your financial data by creating a mathematical model of the white noise itself.

I once met a man who'd finished a PhD at Harvard University at the age of 18.  In Astrophysics.  And Chaos Theory.

Because just the one would have been a waste.

What we are witnessing is the failure of intelligence.  Not that their intelligence failed them, or they weren't clever enough, or that some later technique or better equation was needed.  But that analytical intelligence itself, because of it's inherently static nature, will always fail us whether on a global or an individual level.

Why do I say this?  Simple.  Within the analytical mind there's a constant hunger to find the 'answer' - the one final equation with which you'll 'get' it.  And there's also a profound desire to believe that the answer you just came up with is indeed the answer.  It's like we're desperate to find something once we find something we're desperate to believe it's found to the point of total self-delusion.

Nonetheless this process is structural to the analytical mindset.  And it's important to realise that analysis is not simply an inert tool which can be used to achieve set aims.  It is a voracious psychological process the conscious aspects of which are entirely incidental to the deeper parts we don't know about, and cannot bring ourselves to admit to.

There are many different Gods we are taught from a young age to worship.  One of them is analytical intelligence.  We defer to it at a deep level, and we desire, fear and hate it it also, as we do to all our idols.

But there is another kind of intelligence which is common to all of us.  Something you can tap into that transcends the abilities of even the most massively intelligent men and women alive today.

It doesn't obey the normal rules of human life that mean you slog through miles of agonising effort to find an answer, only to have it cheat you of all the happiness it promised.  It doesn't get bogged down in deep, intractable issues.

You see, we live assuming that it's acceptable and right and proper to analyse this, analyse that.  To work out the right way of doing this, work out the right thing to say to her, the right present to give to him, the right clothes to wear, the right person to be.

But way back in the day, right at the start of the ancient wisdom traditions that now span the worlds, there was a story which contains a truth we have forgotten.

The snake in Eden did not corrupt humanity by making people do bad things.  He corrupted humanity by introducing something into human consciousness - the knowledge of good and evil.  A way of looking at the world in terms of right and wrong.

And we forget that, that simple truth.  That what is wrong with the human condition, what is wrong with you and me, what is wrong with all of us is that - very simply that.  It is our division of the world, splitting it into dividing lines, raging against the one to prove to ourselves we are the other - it is this which sets us against each other, sets ourselves against the world, sets ourselves against God.

Through iron and fire we have come, pouring our hate upon each other and on ourselves.  But the Kingdom of God, of Change, of true power, of healing, of hope, of courage and cool, of insight and power - that kingdom never left us.  It was always here, waiting with arms open for the moment we dropped the divisions and came back to who we were supposed to be.

This is not something you should believe in.  Indeed, I'll go further - your agreement is irrelevant and may even be harmful to you.  If you agree with this it won't help you make it happen for you.   Agreeing is a subtle disguise for the analytical mind - another smokescreen that makes you believe you're changing, but that only creates another ideology, another belief system - another analytical structure through which to judge the world in terms of 'right' and 'wrong', in terms of 'good' and 'evil'.

As in "this person's too analytical," or "I'm being too analytical today".  Or "I was great today, I didn't analyse at all."

Don't get me wrong - shit like that will happen to you.  Just be aware it's another smokescreen to hide you from the truth.

Anyway, it's too late now and I've some food to cook before I go to bed.  I've got work tomorrow.  Oh yes, I have a real job.  Like a real person.  Pimp.

From Abraham: "Within 30 days of mild effort, you can go from being one of the most resistant people on the planet to one of the least resistant people on the planet- and then, those who are watching you will be amazed by the number of manifestations that begin to occur in your physical experience."

And here is the affirmation from Abraham as well:

" I'm going to begin my day by meditating and bringing myself into alignment with my Source Energy. And as I move through the day, I am going to look for opportunities to appreciate, so that all day long I'll bring myself back into Source Energy. If there is an opportunity to praise, I'm going to praise; if there is an opportunity to criticize, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and try to meditate. If I feel like criticizing, I'll say, ' Here kitty, kitty,' and I'll pet my cat until that feeling goes away."

There it is!

Care to join me? Fifteen minutes in the morning before starting our day, and then another meditation around 4 pm or whatever works for you- even just once a day is sufficient. How to do it? Just find a comfortable chair to sit in, and start to breathe- in and out, in and out- when you catch yourself thinking about stuff, just bring your thoughts back to your breathing. As time goes on, you will start to feel a lightness, a clarity, and you will just be in a timeless place, breathing and allowing.

A few photos from the Eckhart Tolle afternoon at the Tai Pan Hotel 2008.

Buffet lunch for 170 baht per person in pleasant surroundings. We reserved 8 tables.

Oprah is the Guru-maker extraordinaire - she ran a 10 part series on the usually laconic Tolle.

Next time perhaps we can arrange the chairs to aid seeing who has the mic.

Long time meditator Tony, who studies at the monk's university in Bangkok.

Tolle provides a smorgasboard of ideas - we looked at some relating to the ego, which in his teaching is the sense of an independent and seperate self, with all its problems.

Wide range of people....

Tanya, yoga teacher on www.bangkokyoga.wordpress.com Describing her search for a 'self'.

Grainy picture of Holly doing her best Marjoe impression.

When your heart is singing, you are allowing Well-being. When you are appreciating, you are allowing Well-being. When you are yelling at somebody, you're not. When you're feeling insecure, you're not. When you're frustrated, you're not-Abraham

Excerpted from an Abraham-Hicks workshop in St. Louis, MO on Tuesday, July 18th, 2000

What a lovely day...fall is well upon us here in the Salish Sea. I can now really feel Well-being flow through me when I am appreciating, and the gloom that descends upon me when I am not.

Entering fifteen minutes of quiet meditation in the morning has been a way of allowing......playing piano....writing in my journal about all the things that I do appreciate is another. Life flows effortlessly and joyously along when I am allowing.

Learning that my feelings are good, valid and simply indicators has been liberating- when I feel "bad", I now know to determine what it is that I am focusing on that I do not want, and then to determine what it is that I do want. Oh so simple.......and oh so powerful.

It was only minutes before they were passing over the crinkled blue of the Bristol Channel, and almost at once Combe Island lay beneath them, as unexpectedly as if it had risen from the waves, multicoloured and as sharply defined as a coloured photograph, its silver granite cliffs towering from the white boiling of foam. Dalgliesh reflected that it was impossible to view an offshore island from the air without a quickening of spirit. Bathed in autumnal sunshine there stretched a sea-estranged other world, deceptively calm but rekindling boyhood memories of fictional mystery, excitement and danger. Every island to a child is a treasure island. Even to an adult mind Combe, like every small island, sent out a paradoxical message: the contrast between its calm isolation and the latent power of the sea, which both protected and threatened its self-contained alluring peace.

-from "The Lighthouse" by P.D. James

I moved to my Island in the Salish Sea sixteen years ago, and when I read this last week I understood why....

"You need nature as your teacher to help you re-connect with Being. But not only
do you need nature, it also needs you.

You are not separate from nature. We are all part of the One Life that manifests
itself in countless forms throughout the universe, forms that are all completely
interconnected. When you recognize the sacredness, the beauty, the incredible
stillness and dignity in which a flower or a tree exists, you add something to the
flower or the tree. Through your recognition, your awareness, nature too comes to
know itself. It comes to know its own beauty and sacredness through you!"
~ Page 30

While I was eating, I looked around a decided to sit down on a chair to eat- the chair beside me was empty. I decided to try something new: I said to myself " I want the person who chooses the chair to do so because they want to learn about Law of Attraction." And so I just sat there by myself and enjoyed eating, while watching all the activity around me.

After a few minutes, a young woman, one of the not- so -regular attendants, sat down beside me and said to me " Are you still doing a lot of walking- because I see you all the time walking and you look fantastic. You are simply glowing- what are you doing????"  Well, talk about a segue and away we went!!!!

It turns out, she is a single mom with a lovely 5 year old daughter, and is hitting a rough patch in her life- I asked her if she had heard of the Teachings of Abraham. She had not, and then I talked about the movie "The Secret" which she had heard of and explained that its origin was a filming of an Abraham-Hicks seminar. We talked a bit more about the principles of LOA, and she was getting more and more excited, as was I.

And where we left the conversation is that she is coming over to borrow some books and CDs......and there you have it....the beginning of the Wisdom School is happening wherever I go.

I am still amazed at the simplicity and  beauty of understanding this most basic and fundamental Law of the Universe.

Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand
and becoming comfortable with not knowing." ~ Page 26

Could it be when my brother- in -law offered us a trip to Mexico within two weeks of my simply thinking how nice it would be to go somewhere warm over the winter school break? And then could it have been when, on the first day of the glorious vacation, he gave me my first Abraham- Hicks book to read?

So there I was, lime margarita in one hand, lounging in my oceanfront lounge chair on the Sea of Cortez, reading about the Law of Attraction. And I had never bothered to see the movie "The Secret"!!

I can tell you- the hairs on my neck started to stand on end as I read more and more of the book, eventually digging up a highlighter, and getting more and more excited as I read.  This was giving me a deep understanding of what I had experienced and wondered about all my life: How do you explain co-incidences that change your life? What about "prophetic" dreams and "chance" happenings?

I started on that vacation a journey over the last nine months that saw me start this blog, purchase all the Abraham-Hicks books there are, join the bi-monthly CD program, and become an active participant on a forum (www.theabeforum.com) that discusses these concepts: the wisdom contained in these teachings is transforming my life, and the next while I will write about them on my blog.  The aspiration of my soul has called in, through the law of attraction, this infinite wisdom.

Please join me.

Abraham teaches us again and again that the most powerful, and therefore the most important Universal Law, is the Law of Attraction stated thus:

That which is like unto itself is drawn.

Abraham then goes on to teach us that our emotions will tell us whether we are attracting that which we DO want or that which we DO NOT want.

There are in fact only two emotions: good and bad.

So, if you are feeling bad, then you are attracting ( by thinking and focusing)on what you do not want.

And if you feel good, then you are attracting that which you do want.

And that is why Abraham teaches that nothing is as important than that you FEEL GOOD...because that indicates that you are in the process of attracting that which you want.

And if you truly understand Law of Attraction, you can then relax into your good feeling feelings and know, without a doubt, that what you want is on its way.......without a doubt!

Respira profundo y lento 3 veces,…relájate  y luego observa este video.

EJERCICIOS

Insisto.. solo con la modificación de la red neuronal, se puede acceder a la consciencia de  manera plena…. y esa modificación se hace a través del cambio de pensamientos, emociones y hábitos… ¡¡ TOMA EL CONTROL !!... desconéctate del piloto automático.

¿ Terminaste ya la lectura de los libros de Eckhart Tolle, El Poder del Ahora y Practicando el Poder del Ahora ?

¿ Lo estas descubriendo ya ¿?... empiezas a comprender quien realmente eres ¿?,

¿Puedes ya conectar al inmenso campo vibracional de la PAZ..?..o sigues sufriendo, quejándote y culpando a “otros” por tus problemas.

Tienes que INTEGRAR el conocimiento subyacente en estos dos libros, y hacerlo parte de tu experiencia de vida… Tienes que MODIFICAR CONSCIENTEMENTE tus hábitos, que son los que transforman la red neuronal, y permitirán la manifestación plena de la CONSCIENCIA en ti, es la puerta de acceso a la felicidad/amor y poder consciente.

Continuamos los ejercicios diarios….

Haz los ejercicios como si fuesen un juego, deja que tu niño interior se complazca en ello, no mentalices...... ¡Juega! a visualizar y verte reunido con el grupo… los ejercicios son TODOS los días, esa es la forma de alcanzar resultados.

Eres bienvenido a este lugar especial del ahora, que es el momento donde todos coincidimos, y estamos reunidos como Grupo, .... es una gran pirámide de luz con un amplio salón donde nos sentamos sobre el piso luminoso formando un amplio círculo.... y realmente si estamos reunidos en este nivel de conciencia haciendo nuestro ejercicio, todos en el mismo momento del ahora.  

Te sugiero procurar hacer el ejercicio en la mañana al levantarse, pero si no puedes en esta hora, hazlo en el momento apropiado para ti y solamente pon TU Intención de estar en ese momento metafórico del ahora donde todos coincidimos... (El Espíritu esta fuera del tiempo lineal, que percibimos como humanos, así que tiene el poder de conectarte con el grupo en tu momento apropiado).

Busca un lugar y momento apropiado en el que puedas estar en silencio, sin que nadie te interrumpa; siéntate cómodamente manteniendo la espalda recta....  relájate, cierra tus ojos, y haz 3 respiraciones lentas y profundas, inhala por la nariz y exhala por la boca,  luego continua respirando tranquila y normalmente.... siéntete lleno de Paz… Piensa “ mi boca se llena de saliva fresca “.. siente la humedad en tu boca y procura mantenerla así durante todo el ejercicio.

Visualiza tu cuerpo de luz por unos segundos, y con los ojos cerrados permaneces en quietud y silencio mental procurando mantenerlo hasta completar 5 minutos, si aparecen pensamientos,.. no te enganches con ellos obsérvalos y déjalos pasar.

Práctica el canto estimulante AAAA en la ducha, y ahora cuando lo hagas pon tu intensión/atención en el centro de tu pecho.

Antes de dormir Piensa “mi boca se llena de saliva fresca “.. Siente la humedad en tu boca, y céntrate en “sentirlo” hasta que te duermas, no te enganches con ningún pensamiento, déjalos pasar como si fueran nubes. Continuamos con esta práctica de la boca húmeda para cada momento del día en que te acuerdes, se trata de integrar esto como un habito.

De aquí en adelante pondrás en práctica el OBSERVAR tus emociones y pensamientos, procuraras hacerlo durante el mayor tiempo posible durante todo el día…. OBSERVA como ciertos pensamientos desencadenan ciertas emociones,.. experimenta a cambiar conscientemente pensamientos y ve la emoción/sensación que se produce.

AHORA, nos mantendremos conscientes del momento presente, el mayor tiempo posible durante el día, así que TOMA CONCIENCIA DEL PRESENTE. Cada que comas algo, ubícate en el presente, siente los sabores, y observa los detalles del instante, colores, texturas, etc. evita pensar, en ese momento, sobre asuntos del pasado o el futuro.

De aquí en adelante procuraras pasar en contacto con la naturaleza el mayor tiempo posible, ten cerca una planta viva preferiblemente, coloca un paisaje de naturaleza en tu pantalla, cuadros de naturaleza en tu hogar y oficina… obsérvalos a menudo.. Simplemente observa… CONECTATE con esa energía,.. no pongas etiquetas,.. no pongas pensamientos,..

¡¡ CONECTATE !!... DESPIERTA

Pasaras a la parte (20), después de 7 días de realizar los ejercicios indicados en esta.

Si en 15 días no he subido la siguiente parte, debes continuar con los ejercicios, hasta que se indique algo diferente,… recuerda que estamos haciendo un trabajo que transforma la red neuronal, y esto se logra con hábitos de pensamiento/emoción

Un abrazo de luz,

Paloma

Si apenas te enteras de este experimento y deseas unirte, debes iniciar por la parte numero uno y seguir el recorrido tal como se indique.   http://masacritica.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/1-prologo/

Sorry about the delay in writing up notes for this chapter. This book is so full of hot air and balderdash that it is difficult to want to read or review it. Chapter Six is called Breaking Free – maybe sometime soon, I can break free from this book!

Reviewing the book also makes me feel ill and exhausted – I am beginning to believe that there’s something dark and sinister behind all of this.

Page 161:         When you recognize the pain body for what it is, it can no longer pretend to be you. How can what is you not be a part of you???

The pain-body cannot renew itself anymore by feeding on your thoughts  …Tolle has been watching too much Star trek for his own good…

Page 162          The energy trapped in the pain-body changes its frequency and become transmuted into Presence. This is pure sophistic bunkum. It’s modern-day quackery and gullible people are falling for it.

Most people sense an energy field from others….some people don’t know that they can sense it…he just contradicted himself in the same paragraph.

Many accidents are caused by drivers whose pain-bodies are active…a supposition, M’Lord and absolutely no proof. They’ll soon be setting up pain-body cameras next to the red-light ones on city streets.

Page 163:         Unconsciously, two active pain body drivers want the accident to happen…was Tolle unconscious when he wrote this baloney? Are people really buying into this junk psychology?

Talks about diminished responsibility as a defense in court for an accident – Tolle is beginning to see the absurdity in his own theory…

How can you be responsible when you are unconscious, when you don’t know what you are doing?...Tolle is promoting individual anarchy, not evolution. This is libertarianism, not liberty.

Page 164:         When you can’t stand the endless cycle of suffering anymore, you begin to awaken….usually identified as Karma in Buddhism & Hinduism.

Tolle begins an anecdotal account of an unhappy person – in his eyes, she views the world through her pain-body. He is connecting with a lot of unhappy people seeking to get rid of their misery.

Page 165:         Who is speaking? You or the unhappiness in you? – schizoid psychotherapy. He is enabling her to disassociate herself from her miserable feelings.

Page 166:         You cannot be unhappy without an unhappy story….excuse me, Tolle, I thought it all was the pain-body’s fault???? You mean that circumstances dictate our feelings and not our parasitical pain-bodies?

I witnessed the arising of Presence in another human being…or he had implanted his delusion in her pain body!

Page 167:         heavy energy – atmosphere murky…open a window….demonic presence????

Page 168:         the universal human pain-body had come back to tell me, “You thought you defeated me. Look, I’m still here…” Tolle is setting himself up as a false Messiah…no doubt his deluded devotees will lap this up.

Page 169:         The Pain-Body in Children….clever. Tolle is connecting with all those anxious Oprahnic moms who worry about their kids sensitivity…     

Where does all this unhappiness come from?...the child’s share of the collective pain-body… rather than putting it down to bad temper tantrums and poor-parenting skills.

Highly sensitive children are particularly affected by their parents pain-bodies….the New Agers will drink this psycho-babble dry…

Page 170:         child having a pain-body attack…good grief, he’s just given hopeless moms a label for their kids bad behavior.

Don’t buy into the drama…for once I agree with Tolle.

Page 171:         Child: the more unhappy I become, the more likely I am to get what I want. This is a recipe for dysfunction in later life…Credit where credit is due: Tolle is 100% correct on this.

Tolle writes about having a conversation with the upset child to name their unhappiness…alienating the child from being responsible for his/her actions

Page 172:         Use curiosity rather than criticism or condemnation….this will make the child totally unprepared for the real world…does Tolle have any kids of his own???? If not, then this is the equivalent of a Catholic priest giving marriage guidance…

Awareness is the child will grow stronger and the pain-body will diminish…emotional brainwashing

Some unhappiness is created whenever you are out of alignment with the present moment….this is Buddhism again.

Achieve the ‘present moment’ (Nirvana)..and you will be empowered by Life itself…no place for God here, nor the Holy Spirit.

Page 173:         insignificant things act as triggers for unhappiness. Agreed.

Pain-body and ego are close relatives. They need each other.

Heavy pain-bodied people cannot step ‘outside’ of their heavy emotional ‘story.’  - they cannot compartmentalize themselves from it, nor alienate themselves from the consequences of their pain.

You are trapped in your own hell…is Tolle obliquely referring to troubled marriages here???

Page 174:         People with strong active pain-bodies have a repulsive energy emanation…is this for real??? Where’s the proof?

Heavy pain-bodied people provoke conflicts…I would call it being belligerent or bloody-minded myself

A high degree of Presence can overcome confrontation with heavy pain bodied people…as opposed to the reconciling presence of the Holy Spirit….

Eckhart Tolle weaves either a web of deceit and folly or of transcendental bliss in his latest book A New Earth. In either case, I'm caught up in it all. That is not to say that I accept what Tolle says implicitly, rather with a grain of salt. When I started reading A New Earth, I wholeheartedly believed that this review would be negative, that I would rail upon this book until my pen died or my computer crashed. I have since revised my position, though only slightly.

Tolle strings fact together with fiction as he describes the egoic mind, something he implies, has become the root of all problems. He says that who you are is not reflected in the things you have, the job you do, your experiences, or you past. You are not your gender, race, age, etc. The deepest part of you is your life force, your soul. The only way you can separate the two is through awareness. You must first be aware of your egoic mind, your conditioned thought processes, in order to truly embrace yourself. This is just one of the things Tolle emphasizes throughout A New Earth.

This book is not, however, for strict religious fundamentalists. Tolle repeatedly takes words from an array of spiritual teachers out of context, allowing a loose, sometimes misguided interpretation. On page 23 in the paperback edition Eckhart states, " ...both the Old and New Testament... speaks of the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of 'a new heaven and a new earth.' We need to understand here that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness." In essence, Tolle believes that

Heaven, which has been the staple of many faiths, is not a corporeal place. This completely smashes organized religion as a whole, even though Tolle says, "This book's main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything... " (page 6). The entire purpose of writing such a book like this, is to inform and persuade your readers. In other words, to bring about a belief in your readers similar to your own belief.

But can this book be applied to daily life? Certainly, but it's effects would be debatable. Psychologists I'm sure would have a field day with this book. They could say things like: "This book, if followed to the letter, would cause disassociation with the subject's environment and life. The overall effects would be negative, and you would have achieved nothing." The truth is, the negatives and positives haven't been evaluated yet.

Tolle himself seems normal on the surface, albeit somewhat too calm. The concepts of this spiritual practice, this ideology, aren't too widespread-at least in my experience. Personally, I'm not sure what to think of this book. Truth resonates on a deep level, but so does various warning signs. Can Being truly satisfy someone? Can it tell you who you are? Will it make you a better person? (This must be my ego talking.)

Debatable at most, this book is a controversy in itself. Oprah, who has peddled this book for ages, has certainly gone off the deep end. Dive at your own risk.

Was erzählt mir der Herbst?
Es erzählt von einer goldenen Landschaft,
Und einer herrlichen Farbenspracht,
Rötlich-wärmend,
Gelblich-aufgehend,
grünlich-braun immer bestehend,
Das darfst du sehen,
Verinnerlichen und mit mir zusammen erleben.

Stille kehrt ins Dorf,
Die Fenster beschlagen,
Die Kerzen versagen,
Der Strom fällt aus,
Der Wind umzingelt das Haus,
Die Blätter wehen aufs Dach hinauf,
Wir sind gefangen in unserem eigenen Haus,
Meine Geschwister wollen alle hinaus,
Trauen sich gar nicht mehr hinaus,
Kanten scharf die Blätter fliegen sie dahin,
Und zeigen wie stürmisch,
Das Herbstkind,
Pfeifend, mächtig, gefährlich,
Umkreist es diesen Bezirk,
Das Radio setzt auf Warnstufe einz,
Und wir empfinden Angst,

Wenn der Sturm verblasst,
sieht man das Wunder erbracht,
Pilze und Kürbisse zeigen sich,
Das Moos und Gras vereinigen sich,
Die Naturgewalt,
Das stürmische und Schöne reizen mich.
Deshalb genießt den Herbst aus beider Sicht.

weitere Gedichte erhältlich auf: http://www.poesie4you.de

von Noemi Geltz

Was ist Liebe?

Liebe ist ein großes Kapitel,
Es trägt viele Untertitel,
Das sind die Mittel,
Zuhören ,Verständnis,
Interesse ,Kompromisse,
Und es gibt noch eine weitere Liste,
Gutes kennenlernen,
Erleichtert das Vertrauen,
Und keiner muß sich gegenseitig Gedanken an den Kopf hauen,
In Ängste nicht verlaufen,
Und sich zusammen,
In guten, schlechten Phasen behaupten,
Und sich große Gefühle erlauben,
Der Glaube an sich macht einen Schön von Innerlich.

Noemi Geltz         http://www.poesie4you.de ]]> http://noego.wordpress.com/?p=176 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:06:36 +0000 spangy http://noego.es.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/video-recap-from-week-2-ego-current-state-of-black-men/ Week 2, we provide you with a series of video clips for you to see the energy, the transformation and connection that is taking place with Black men to being in the Present and awake, all taking place in the safest environment.  The barber shop.  Spread the word by adding these videos to your blog or website.

Clip 1 - Ego Defined

Clip 2 - Ego Explored

Clip 3 - Personal Conflict with the Ego

Clip 4 - Getting the Ego Under Control

Clip 5 - Inner Struggle with the Ego - Ego Loses

Clip 6 - Raising Your Consciousness to Manage the Ego

[wpvideo QkM2wkyc]

Clip 7 - Conclusion for Week 2

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As I was reading about acceptance, I thought to make a list of the things in my life I am particularly attached to (it seems to me that attachment is one of my obstacles to acceptance). I asked and answered two questions:

What am I attached to?

• The idea that I have substantial value to contribute to the world
• The dream that I will be rewarded financially for that value
• My apartment and living situation
• My sister, my nieces, my mother
• The story of how "perfect" the events were that led me to meet my girlfriend and connect with her as strongly as we have
• The implication that because of the events of that story, it must mean a great future for us as a couple
• My identity as a coach and entrepreneur

If I wasn't attached to these things, what would I do?

• Coach as many people as I can
• Work with other entrepreneurs and business owners testing out creative marketing ideas
• Play with my nieces more
• Do physical work (digging holes, moving heavy things, whatever)

These lists are by no means exhaustive, simply the first few answers that came to me, some of which were quite a surprise! I intend to explore this inquiry more.

I went to my primary purpose (as Eckhart Tolle teaches in A New Earth), becoming present and accessing a deep peace. But on the surface there is still a big question: What do I do?

I invite answers to come into my consciousness...