25 Random things about me

1. I just celebrated 40 years on my chose spiritual path in January. The resonance of this anniversary is still being felt.
2. Mary Carroll Moore and Lloyd King doing this exercise was the direct inspiration for me jumping in. It just hit me we are all three Aries. I have been working on a memoir for years. It amazes me that Mary has published so many good books. I want to know how to finish and publish one!
3. I have officially been married five times although I only had kids in one marriage.
4. The only ex-wife I maintain steady contact with is Sheila, the mother of my kids. Most folks know she is also known as Omnec Onec from Venus.
5. The most memorable year of my childhood was 1954. I was 11. I spent the summer at Circle Pines Center in Michigan. Big Bill Broonzy was the second cook, my mom was his boss. He interpreted his job to mean Resident Blues Singer; I often got called on to substitute in the kitchen for him. I love revisiting my memories from that year. My mom gave birth to my wonderful little sister that October.
6. I lived in Berkeley and Big Sur, California in the early 60s. I still dream about Big Sur all the time and I love to look at the web-cam Nepenthe has online:`http://www.nepenthethebigsur.com/ The house I lived in was right over the hill from Nepenthe.
7. I spent most of my working life driving a cab on the streets of Chicago. I usually loved this work, it rarely felt like a job. I had a zillion cool experiences, met and chatted with countless interesting people, and got many important life lessons.
8. I also met many famous people. I picked up Studs Terkel and his wife Ida and established a relationship with them. It helped that they knew my mom from their work together in progressive politics. Ida was a sweetheart and Studs was always his awesome self. Lloyd, one of the folks who inspired this list, also was quoted in Stud's book on Race. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-studs-terkel-dead,0,2321576.story?page=1
9. Probably my favorite random cab experience was picking up Ray Brown and Milt Jackson, two of my jazz heroes. I had been thinking about going to their show but had to work. They insisted I come to the gig and how could I refuse? They signed my sketchbook and I did a cool sketch of them playing at the Showcase.
10. I also picked up Sid Caesar a couple of times when he was in town doing a show at the Briar Street Theatre with Imogene Coca. He was very gracious. My mom was still alive then and he autographed my day-timer with a personal note to her. I told him about watching “Your Show of Shows” when I was a kid, one of the first things I remember watching on TV. Sid had a certain nobility to his presence.
11. John Belushi fell into my lap when I was sketching one night at the Earl of Old Town. He was drunk. People had been elbowing each other when he was up on stage singing the blues but I didn’t know who he was. I hadn’t had a TV for years and so I didn’t see his early work on SNL until much later and I missed him at Second City too, even though it was right across the street. I just thought he was a mediocre blues singer:)
12. The most important person I ever met in my life was Paul Twitchell. Meeting him was a life changing event that is still resonating. I met him inwardly after reading his biography and finally in the physical in 1969. He claimed to be the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master and when I found out it was true and who that really was, my life was never the same.
13. Back in the 60’s I hitchhiked around the country twice. I have visited all 48 contiguous states although not all hitchhiking. I have never crossed an ocean in the physical, hitching or otherwise:) I have been as far South as Oaxaca in Mexico and just a few miles into Canada North. I would love to do more physical traveling although I satisfy my travel jones in the dream state which allows the ultimate freedom and the price is right:)
14. Back in the 60’s I had a minor motorcycle accident coming back to Berkeley from San Francisco State college on my Puch cycle. A guy in a car made a left turn, caught my rear wheel and knocked me down. I got a small puncture wound in my knee. Some friends came and picked me up. When I realized how vulnerable I was, this permanently cured me of my desire to ride motorcycles.
15. The one other memorable incident that happened on this same bike was crossing the Golden Gate bridge into Marin county. There was a strong cross wind, I hit an expansion joint, flew up and literally came down a lane over. Fortunately there was no one in the other lane. This should have cured me of my motorcycle mania but it took the incident described in #14 to do it.
16. I’m a pretty decent cook. Although I never was formally taught, I made a great soup from scratch without a recipe the first time I tried. I’m sure this came from watching my mother in the kitchen. She was an amazing cook and I guess I just learned without realizing it. I never asked her to show me how.
17. I went from being homeless to living in a million dollar house in Lake Forest, IL within the course of about three years. I should add that the house wasn’t mine, I was just house sitting for a friend who owned it and wintered in Florida. This is the subject for a much longer piece. It mostly has to do with the power of attention.
18. I recently moved into a low cost housing facility in Round Lake Beach, IL. It’s the first time in my life I have ever lived in a building with an elevator. I am grateful for this apartment now although I resisted the idea of living in a county housing facility. Its actually quite nice for the most part. The rent is based on 30% of your income so its dirt cheap, clean and quite livable. Not like the housing projects in the city. This is Northern Lake county, a whole ‘nuther world.
19. One of the old men I met yesterday is named Ernie Forester. He is 84, was a gunnery officer in the Pacific theater during WWII. I want to introduce my video game-loving grandsons to him. This guy shot down real planes with real shells, kids.
20. I have already started a blog about my new digs. I call it Lamb’s Lambs. The resident manager’s name is Pam Lamb. I couldn’t resist:)
21. I love all color. It is one of the gifts of life that makes it worth living.
22. I have had a blessed life. I still am working on giving back as much as I have been given. It seems hardly possible although I love the effort. Yea Yoda, I know, there is no try, only do:)
23. Contemplating the gift of the present moment always inspires me.
24. My last wife passed in ’02 and I often wonder if I will find another suitable partner. I miss that a lot although I really love and relish my solitude and won’t give it up unless its really, really right.
25. It is so cool to contemplate the community of friends that inspired this and is going to read it. I love you all.

hot dog

Beth Tyler posted this picture on Facebook which is the very definition of viral. It required sharing! Mustard, no Ketchup!

Stop Fluoridation!

I would like to stop buying bottled water, but from the research I have done, filtration and other processing can remove everything but Fluoride from tap.

Fluoridation is a big scam perpetrated on the public. Christopher Bryson in his book The Fluoride Deception says:
“Fluoride science
is corporate science,
fluoride science is DDT science,
it’s asbestos science,
it's tobacco science,
it’s a racket.”

The organization that is fighting the good fight is the Fluoride Action Network. Go to their website, take some action! Let's get our tap water drinkable again:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/

Miso: Soup part two

When one writes his personal experience, what ends up on paper/the screen is always just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more that passed through my consciousness in that hour of soup preparation that what you have read is truly the tip of the iceberg. I trust you got that from my last sentence in part 1.

I wanted to mention Miso. This is another key ingredient in my soup. I learned about Miso from Dodie Bellamy many years ago when we had a brief life together. She is a very good cook and she taught me about adding Miso to soup. Thanks Dodie!

Our little live-together ended suddenly when I asked her to leave. We're talking 35 or so years ago. I often felt like I had been cruel and brusque.

Who should request friendship on Facebook recently but Dodie. She is married and living in San Francisco and doing poetry still and looks happy. It was so cool to be reconnected; basically I always loved her and was glad we could again be friends. Of course virtual friends are not real friends, at least in my experience, but they can be, and in this case we have such old karma together its nice that it feels all healed.

To say these are extraordinary times is to repeat the obvious. But I am amazed and excited by what is happening now that the winds of change are blowing so hard and cold. I am so grateful for all the years I have studied the spiritual life.

I know how to live on nothing and be blissfully content. I don't need anything that I am not provided with and I feel such gratitude for the way my life is going.

Sure I need to lose weight, etc. etc. but on balance I am a happy camper. Here, have some soup!

Soup

I had a great day. I signed a lease on a new, better, cheaper apartment. I got my heater fixed on my old Honda, although that didn't hold. I spent most of the day with my ex, and we always enjoy each others company. It was a remarkable coincidence that she had an appointment at a medical clinic at almost the same time and in the same area as my new building. Yes the universe conspired:) So I drove her and we spent the day together.

I got home fairly late and pretty much feeling exhausted. I realized that I had bought soup ingredients and I had scheduled myself to make soup also. I could have done it tomorrow, but I decided to go ahead, it only takes an hour.

I normally love making soup. It is a familiar ritual and allows me to contemplate as I work, since I have done everything many, many times before. Tonight was no exception.

My mother was a great cook and although she never formally taught me, I guess I spent enough time in the kitchen watching her that when I decide to start making soup from scratch many years ago I just went ahead. I don't think I ever consulted a cook book, I just followed my nose.

The first soup I made turned out pretty decent. I remember when she was still alive I asked her to sample my freshly made soup. She tasted it thoughtfully and said, "Its good but it needs tomatoes". I had forgotten to put in a can of cubed tomatoes which is what I have done ever since.

Except tonight, I realized I had forgotten the tomatoes again! I could blame it on Mercury retrograde, but never mind. I forgive myself and I was somewhat amused at making this same old error.

I was very conscious of the fact that I was cooking vegetables. I know the chicken and barley need the processing of heat, but I kept thinking of all the enzymes I was killing by cooking these beautiful organic mushrooms, onions, peppers, broccoli, garlic and yellow squash.

The raw food folks are definitely on to something. My making of soup was so much governed by habit and tradition. I though of that story about the woman who cut off the top half of a pot roast and threw it away. When asked why, she said, that's the way my mother did it. As you probably know, her mother did it that way because she didn't have a pan big enough to fit the whole roast.

Consciousness has been brought to the task. I love that there are always variations on the ingredients.

Food can be a great metaphor. What ever we put our attention on is food for us. Does it truly nourish or is it poison? I have been watching TV too much. I think of giving it up like some artists I admire, but all I really want to do is just be much more discriminating in what I watch.

After I made my soup I sat down in front of the TV and caught the rebroadcast of Chicago Tonight. Phil Ponce was doing a wonderful interview with a literary academic about Blagojevich's use of poetry in his recent press conferences. The man was very, very insightful. I loved it. I don't want to give up this kind of TV!

Mostly today with the warm Leo moon I was just feelin' the Love. I am blessed and grateful for every moment of this life. I would like to do a better job of being of service, and now I know how.

Spiritual Lessons and Growing from Hardship

Normally I sleep in on Sunday morning. I woke up around 6am this last Sunday and realized that this was the day I should finally get back to the Rogers Park Eckankar center and attend a Worship Service. I hadn't been to one in a long time and not only that, I was supposed to be the manager of the center so I was way overdue for a visit.

I especially wanted to see the remodeling job that had been done, supervised by my old buddy Ellen O'Keefe. Ellen is a great artist and I really wanted to see what she had done with that modest little space.

An amusing thing happened when I looked up and found what the topic was going to be for this particular worship service: Spiritual Lessons and Growing from Hardship. I had to chuckle; I may know a bit about that, I thought, no wonder I need to go.

I had experienced homelessness for the first time a few years ago. I had moved more times in the last few years than I care to count. Been broke? Sure. It is pretty hard to go hungry in America so I never had that problem, but I certainly had my share of what many would consider hardships in the last few years especially.

Experiencing close up the death of my mother and a few years later my wife was no picnic either; all that had happened recently enough that I could relate spiritual lessons learned.

This is how it happens with the ECK (Spirit). You get a nudge and if you're smart you pay attention to it. Trust me, there are times when I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep but fortunately, this wasn't one of them.

The Rogers Park Center is a tiny two room storefront right on the lakefront. Ellen had done a magnificent job transforming the place. As the room filled up, I saw a lot of familiar faces. In fact I knew everyone in the room except for one person. I should add that the average age of the 15 or so people there was in my rough estimation close to 50.

Vicky, the clergy was walking with a cane, Rosy sitting next to me had just had a hip replacement, and just by the age of the group there was no doubt that everyone had stories to tell that could relate to the subject.

So after Vicky made some opening remarks and read some quotes from some ECK books, the topic got opened up for discussion. She had hurt her knee when she was dancing with her students; thus the cane. The first question that was asked was something to the effect; Have you experienced any hardships? What have you learned?

After Vicky asked the question there was this silence. I had to laugh, and so did everyone else. Yes, how much time do you have?

So we talked about how we had dealt with the issues that had been dealt us. Afterwards, I thought about that pregnant silence. Eckists are taught to find the spiritual lessons in their life experiences and the folks in this group were used to doing that. Perhaps it was modesty that kept people from speaking.

Most of the session was spent listening to one very sincere man who was trying to overcome a tobacco addiction. He got lots of good advice from the group which essentially can be summed up thus; It may not be easy but you gotta tough it out and do what you have to do to get through it. Persevere.

He was advised to call upon the Mahanta, which is the Inner Master that works with each individual chela (student) in ECKANKAR and listen to and follow whatever inner instruction he is given. You gotta walk that lonesome valley by yourself, as John Jacob Niles used to plaintively sing. With a little help from your Friend, WahZ..That's the spiritual name of the Master.

People talked about using the "as if" principle and imagining oneself as a non- tobacco user. This guy chewed, he didn't smoke. He gratefully took it all in.

I think the other reason that not much was said by the experienced folks there about their hardships was that they realized that essentially we were all very fortunate. Rosemary who had the hip replacement talked about experiencing discomfort before hand and she got advised that the only way she was going to be able to function normally again was to get this major surgery. She said she had to train like an Olympic athlete just to prepare for the surgery. But she wanted it so she did what she had to do and so she got through it and now she could look forward to gardening again in the spring, playing with her grand kids, etc.

Rosy didn't say it but she knew that she was fortunate to be living in circumstances that allowed her to have the option of having that hip replacement. Everyone living in America has more good karma than they realize.

Seeing the challenges in our life as opportunities for spiritual growth is a powerful perspective to have. It transforms everything.

I mentioned experiencing homelessness. I should also mention that a year later I was living in a million dollar house in Lake Forest. How did that happen? In the first case I was worried about being homeless and after putting so much attention on it, it was inevitable that I experience it.

In the second case, I had a long time fascination with Lake Forest. When I was in the limo biz I spent a lot of time driving its beautiful streets, dropping off and picking up folks there. I put a lot of energy and emotion into wondering what it would be like to live there. Again, the common denominator was attention.

Where attention goes, there energy flows. Or as Dr. Bernard Jensen put it, your attitude is your altitude. Where are you flying?

Zen Habits

I just subscribed to this very cool and practical blog. Lots of clean design, good suggestions, well communicated.

Great attitude too! Here is a post title: Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal My Content.

Here's the link: http://zenhabits.net/

Time, money and other illusions

I have an account at a website called Simpleology; I just went to log in there and I read the following notice:
Welcome Stan Schultz
Last Logged in: Sep. 25, 2008 11:46pm

The amusing thing was that I logged in at a little after 7pm, Sept. 25. This reminded me of a recent discussion I was having with some friends in an email group about sending emails to yourself from the future, etc. I would ascribe this event to Mercury going retrograde which happened earlier this week. Anyway, its all illusion...smoke and mirrors, baby!

Good thing to remember when you think about Bush and the Secretary of the Treasury asking for $700 Billion dollars from us Quick! with no accountability required:)

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

ps. The image is actually a cool moving animation, a GIF. It doesn't want to move; anyone know why?

Pandora radio

Have I told you about Pandora radio? It is such a wonderful program that it has become one of those that I use almost everyday. It is a smart internet radio that is free. You input your preferences and it plays songs and tracks that match your preferences which you can constantly tweak.

I love it! Here's the link:

http://www.pandora.com

PS. The image is a pastel I did at Andy's Lounge on Hubbard St., Chicago of the Chuck Hedges Swingtet.

Binaural Beats

I just discovered a fascinating and possibly very useful website that allows free access to a series of healing soundtracks. You can play them on the Mp3 player of your choice. Among the choices are: Coffee, energy drink, relaxation, meditation, etc.
After some brief experimentation with them, it sounds like they do work and can be helpful and effective. Please check 'em out and let me know what you think.

http://www.i-dose.us/

Dylen the photographer

My grandson Dylen took this photo of me on a recent outing to the park in Vernon Hills. Not bad for a 7 year old, eh?

Shimer

www.shimer.edu.

My alma mater. I had a blissful college experience here 1960-1962.

water4gas

Perhaps you have heard the buzz about hydrogen as being the fuel of the future. Well folks, the future is now. This is an amazing, practical solution to the high cost of gas that you can implement immediately. You can recoup your investment in weeks with the cost of gas being what it is. Check it out:

http://tinyurl.com/3bymvb

Mark Joyner does blogging

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Waking dream?

I was watching TV late last night. Charlie Rose had a great interview with Alice Waters. I started getting chilly which is unusual since the TV room is usually pretty warm. I checked the thermostat and sure enough it was about 62 degrees in the house. The thermostat was set at 67. Something was amiss.

The furnace had stopped working.The manual said not to try to relight the pilot manually. All the electrical stuff was working ok. No need to belabor all the gory details. It is now the next day, the repairman has been called, and I am waiting for him to arrive. The house is chilly but I have a little electric heater nearby so I am not freezing.

But I am wondering about the furnace going off. Is this is a waking dream? If so, what is the significance?

A waking dream is a sign from Spirit. Sometimes they are easy to interpret and other times more mysterious. I am still working on interpreting this event. I am not even sure it is a waking dream, not every event is. But I do wonder.

The primary event that preceded this was the post that preceded this one, Big snow. It made me wonder if I was being irresponsible by airing my negative imaginings. As an artist and as someone on the spiritual path I am very conscious of the effect of my words. Could this be it?

I was speculating on the fragility of things, and sure enough I am sitting here in a cold house with no heat. Did I help to create this situation by publishing those thoughts? I am inclined to think that is the likely scenario. In fact the only reason I have not removed the previous post is because I want to share in this learning experience with you. I had submitted this same article to Associated Content but deleted it this morning, pending my conclusion of this investigation.

Of course there is a more sweeping interpretation, ie, my light is out. Have I fallen asleep spiritually? I don't feel like I have. I am more inclined to the previous interpretation.

A couple of interesting things happened this morning. I got an email from a woman I don't know asking me to vote for a short film she had done to be aired on PBS. I was particularly annoyed that she published my email address along with a hundred or so others, inviting further spam.

I was curious about her film though so I followed the link she provided. The film was about a murder. I wrote her to suggest she not spam people and also suggested she use her talents for more uplifting purposes. Do I need to take my own advice, especially the latter?

I also got a email from tarot.com inviting me to get a free I-Ching reading in honor of the the Chinese new year. That sounded like fun and I love the I-Ching so I got the reading. I asked if the furnace going off was a waking dream. I got the hexagram of Patience changing to the hexagram for Determination.

As I sit here chilly wanting to go out and do some shopping but needing to wait for the repairman, counseling patience was certainly appropriate. But not necessarily an answer to my immediate question.

The thing I love about the I-Ching is that even if the reading does not seem to apply directly to your question, the answers always have some useful wisdom in them. Being reminded to be patient is rarely inappropriate.

Maybe this is just another manifestation of Mercury retrograde? Since this situation falls in the category of inconvenience and annoyance, it certainly has the right earmarks. Am I perpetuating the Merc.ret. issue by publishing these thoughts?

Chill out Stanley! That too:) I would love to read your thoughts.

ps. I just became an affiliate of tarot.com. I will write more about that later, but since there is a graphic inviting you to participate, in the interest of full disclosure I thought I should mention it. I have never spent any money there, but have gotten a lot of free readings. They have good writers.

Big Snow

We got a big snow today. We have actually had quite a bit of snow this winter in the Chicago area where I live, but it always seems to be followed by rain and/or enough of a thaw that it quickly becomes a non-issue.

For me it is an issue because I am currently living in a big house with a hundred-foot driveway and no snow blower, plow or other mechanical means of clearing the snow other than an old-fashioned shovel.

I got stuck in the driveway earlier in the week for the first time this winter so I know I was going to have to do some digging if I wanted to get my car into the street without getting stuck.

I have an old Honda Accord with front wheel drive and newer tires that is pretty good in snow. But there are limits, and with about a foot of the white stuff on the ground, I knew I was going to have to move some of it out of the way.

My larder is getting a bit low and I thought I would go out to do a little shopping today. I was putting off going out and finally got myself going about 4:30 with just an hour or so of daylight left. It wasn’t enough time.

I got about half the driveway done and was feeling pretty bushed. Mind you, I am almost 65 and overweight so I took it pretty easy. I don’t want to become another victim of the old cliché. I decided I would make do with what I had in the house and finish the dig out tomorrow.

A couple of interesting things happened while I was shoveling. My two closest neighbors were clearing their paved driveways with their snow blowers; two men and one wife.

I thought how nice it would be if one of my neighbors offered to help me with his snow blower. Didn’t happen. Of course I have a gravel driveway so it doesn’t exactly lend itself to being cleared by a snow blower. Was that the reason? Probably not.

I haven’t really met my neighbors, except for saying hello once to the guy next door when we were both in our driveways when the weather was warmer. I am just house sitting and have only lived where I am for a few months.

It just made me nostalgic for when I was a kid growing up. I lived in a housing co-op where the neighbors knew each other and helped each other.

The other thing that occurred to me as I was digging was how vulnerable we really are and how fragile our lives are. We take our comforts so much for granted. What would we do if suddenly we didn’t have electricity, or running water, or what if I wasn’t healthy enough to clear the driveway myself?

I know that Soul is Eternal and so I am not really talking about life and death. I am just talking about planning for the uncertain future.

I named my blog What Now Grasshopper? because this has been an old tendency of mine, to not take life seriously enough. By this I am definitely not suggesting that we lose our sense of humor and became nothing but grim and practical. A sense of humor is a vital survival tool. But there is a balance somewhere.

Perhaps it is in part the 9/11 Consciousness, in part because I want to make my life more useful and be of more service. It is significant to me too that I haven’t felt much like writing until I went out and did an hour of honest work. What’s that about?

My Ex-wife was born on Venus

I’m guessing that most of you who read the title of this article might be thinking that it is a set up for a joke. In fact it’s no joke. Her Venusian name is Omnec Onec. If you have not heard her story, you might want to continue reading this little introduction.

We met on Wells Street, Chicago during the hippie era in the middle 60’s. She and her girlfriend were playing at shooting hippies with toy rifles. I watched this little melodrama unfold.

Some of the hippies would play along and fall to the ground. The cops stopped her and checked out her weapons and discovered they were toys and told her to cease and desist.
After they drove down the street, the girls started up again. The cute blonde one shot me but I didn’t play her game.

I was however very attracted to her, so I walked up and introduced myself and invited her to tea. She accepted. There used to be a restaurant called the Stagecoach on the corner of North and Wells; we went in there.

She kissed me and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.
We ended up staying together for more than 10 years, marrying and having two kids together. She spent 2+ years writing an autobiography with the help of a writer friend and we had lots of wonderful adventures together.

She had a hard time getting taken seriously. Jerry Springer had her on back in the early days of his show, along with our kids and me. The theme was, What was it like to grow up with a mom who said she was from Venus.

They intended to make a mockery of her, with a panel of scientists, etc. But Sheila/Omnec impressed everyone with her dignity and the seriousness and credibility of her presentation. To this day she is the guest that has gotten the most mail in response to a show.

We split in ’76 and soon after she moved to Germany. She was taken more seriously there and spent many years giving talks, seminars and workshops all over Europe.

She managed to get featured by all the major media in Europe and basically had a career telling her story and inspiring people with her mind-blowing experience.

Visa problems and other issues now have her back in the states. I would normally be babysitting my grandsons tonight, but she is in town so I am getting a break. So here I am returning the favor by writing this little piece.

She had a two-volume, 400-page autobiography that tells her story published years ago. Currently it is out of print. If you look on Amazon, copies are selling from $400 to $2000. It is still available in German translation and there will be a Japanese translation published in ’08.

I have recently decided to again help her bring her story to a larger audience. We have had our share of differences over the years but the love bond is still strong and mutual. And I think her story is so amazing that I can’t imagine anything more important to do.

Is she authentic? I decided so many years ago, and I got important confirmations from authorities I trusted. Of course this is the sort of thing that you have to decide for yourself.

Science tells us that it is 7 or 800 degrees on the surface of Venus and the planet cannot support human habitation. NASA has probed and mapped the surface and found nothing that looks like life as we know it.

So what is the truth? Just remember that cutting edge science used to be sure that the earth was flat and that the Sun revolved around the earth. So much for science:)

I think she has an important mission and message for us all in these crazy, fast changing times. I think it is worth listening to what she has to say. You have to judge for yourself. Be sure to check out the little video excerpt of one of her talks on You Tube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=40jo5uElYNI

Cuddle Parties

I was just looking around at meetup.com. and I ran across these. I am very curious about them but it does not look like they are happening much in the Chicago area. If anyone reading this has been to one of these, I would love to hear what your experience was.

Here is their website: http://www.cuddleparty.com/ One of the great quotes on this website from the Dalai Lama, "The main cause of depression is a lack of affection."

I have always been a touchy-feely kinda guy, also subject to depression. I'm guessing more affectionate touch would go a long way toward solving that.

I looked long and hard for an appropriate image for this post. I love the image I found but it is probably a little too intense and romantic for this particular context. What do you think? Thanks to Clarita and morguefile.com for the free image.

The Medicated Child, a Review

I just got through watching this Frontline program on PBS and I wanted to record my thoughts about it while they are still fresh. I have a special interest in this subject since I have an eight-year old grandson who has been diagnosed with ADHD and has been on medication for about a year.

If you have not seen this program and the subject interests you, it is possible to watch it online if you have a high-speed connection. www.pbs.org. As is typical with these Frontline presentations, the subject is well covered and thoughtfully done. There were some pretty conspicuous errors of admission which were glaringly obvious to me, although you may not have noticed them if you weren’t looking for them. This is one of the reasons I felt moved to write this article.

The statistics of the number of children that are being medicated for psychiatric disorders are alarming. Increasingly, this is the conventional solution of choice for children with behavioral problems. The program barely mentioned alternative approaches which was what was so disturbing to me.

What was talked about in the presentation is that many of the children who were originally diagnosed with ADHD have now been called bipolar. A pediatric psychiatrist wrote an influential paper noting the similarities in the symptoms of both conditions, and ever since then increasing numbers of doctors have been diagnosing kids as bipolar and prescribing medications appropriate for this diagnosis.

One of the big problems in dealing with these medications with children is that they were never tested on children so their effects are largely unknown on this age group. It is like a big experiment that is being done on our children.

Perhaps the most telling fact in this whole presentation came out when it was talking about a piece of legislation that was passed during the Clinton administration. A huge incentive was provided for the pharmaceutical companies if they would do pediatric testing on these psychiatric medications. What was the incentive? The drug companies would get an additional 6 months of exclusivity on their patents, before the drugs were opened up to become generics. This additional 6 months of exclusivity might be worth as much as a Billion dollars in extra profit for the pharmaceutical manufacturer!

This is the real bottom line, in both a literal and figurative sense: Obscene profits for the pharmaceutical companies.

Which brings me around to alternatives. The problem with the whole allopathic medication approach is that it merely treats symptoms; it does not get down to causes. And sometimes finding causes is not such a difficult process.

One thing that an observant person would notice is that most of the parents of these kids were overweight if not obese; in other words typical Americans. In many of the shots the kids were busy downing some kind of sugar; pop, candy, etc. Duh! Think that might have something to do with the problem?

In my own experience with my grandson, my daughter and I saw noticeable improvements in his behavior when she reduced the amount of refined sugar he was consuming. This in addition to a conscious effort to improve his diet by increasing the amounts of organic fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, etc.

So let’s get over our hypnosis folks! Drugs are not the answer. It was apparent from this presentation that Doctors don’t know much and are really just experimenting on our kids. We need to take responsibility for our own children. If we start making better choices about what foods we are feeding our children, we can see enormous changes in behavior, not to mention other health benefits. There are other lifestyle factors too that can be helpful which are worth exploring. In the one brief clip where it was showing alternatives, one of the kids was doing an exercise like yoga.

These alternative approaches may require some effort and some reeducation on our parts, but if we want to effect real change we need to get down to the real causes. Pharmaceuticals can never do this.

ps. the photos are of my grandson Tystan

America, from Freedom to Fascism, Aaron Russo's Legacy

What if you found out that you could legally not pay income tax? Further, that the 16th amendment to the constitution that mandated the income tax was never ratified by a sufficient number of states? These are just some of the very provocative issues raised in Aaron Russo’s last film, America, from Freedom to Fascism.

Aaron Russo was an award winning filmmaker who had a very successful career. He died of cancer in August of 2007 at the age of 64. I first heard of him back in the 60’s when he opened a concert/dance venue in Chicago called The Kinetic Playground. This was a place you could go to hear the latest bands. Instead of sitting you could dance, bounce around big playground balls, and have a very good time. I heard the band Hiroshima there.

Aaron went on to manage the career of Bette Midler for many years and finally ended up as a film producer in Hollywood. He produced the films Trading Places and The Rose among others.

Russo got involved in politics and ran for the Libertarian nomination for President in 2004 but was defeated. He kept hearing about the illegality of the IRS and when he investigated it himself he was amazed to find that it was true. This led to the making of the final film of his life, America, from Freedom to Fascism.

The picture that is painted in this film is grim and chilling, and it will take courage to face the truth of the message but face it we must! Please examine the evidence and judge for yourself. This film goes way beyond the work of Michael Moore. It is really a call that goes beyond the need for reform. If you care about our freedom we must face the issues that are raised in this film very seriously.

The film itself is close to two hours long and you can see it for free at Google video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173 In order to do so, a very good high-speed connection is required. I have slow DSL and experienced some glitches trying to watch the video. The film was taken down from You Tube after getting over two million hits.

Because of its length, I would advise starting by watching some of the shorter clips that are available on the website created to promote the movie. http://www.freedomtofascism.com/ The interview with the Conscious Media Network is probably the best place to start. If this doesn’t pique your interest you had better check to see if you are still breathing:)

I noticed that this film has already been reviewed several times on Associated Content, and Russo’s ideas have often been dismissed as fringe conspiracy theories. (I have submitted this same article for publication on AC).I think folks who jump to these conclusions have not done a careful, dispassionate view of the evidence. The conclusions that are reached in this film are disturbing to say the least, and most of us are not that willing to question the status quo. So know going in that many of your assumptions are going to be questioned and be prepared to be open minded about what is presented in order to get some value from the presentation.

Anyone who is paying the least bit of attention knows that we are living in incredible times. It takes courage to face some of the unpleasant and difficult truths that are presented in this film. I am almost 65 years old so I feel like it is going to take the energy of youth to really get the changes done that are called for in this film.

Ron Paul has been getting about 10% of the Republican vote in the nominating process as of this writing. This is a long way from what it needs to be. As much as I like the charismatic Mr. Obama, I am going to vote for or write in Ron Paul in the next election because he is the only candidate who is addressing the issues aired in this very important film. Please find a way to give it your attention.

Join the Upwising

If you love puns as much as I do, you will find this latest 1 minute video from the Institute of Noetic Sciences irresistible. It could only have been done by Swami Beyondananda:

Grandsons

complete with red eye, please excuse:)

Trystan and Dylen

This was taken on one of our many outings to Independence Grove, Libertyville.

Dawsons

This photo of John and Margit was taken at a party at the O'keefe-Manns.

Eve

This photo was taken in Independence Grove in Libertyville, one of my favorite Lake County forest preserves.

Being a Star

I really like Mike Dooley. He is so wise and so creative. He sends out a daily free email which he calls a note from the Universe. They are always playful and very condensed; perfect for the times. He writes like the Universe is writing you a note, and the perspective makes you think; it is classic out-of-the-box thinking.

Here is part of today's email. How brilliant a summary of the right way to achieve goals is this:

Here are 3 sure-fire steps that will take you from wishing upon a star to being one:

Imagine your dreams as if they already exist.

Speak as if they already exist.

And act as if they already exist.

The Universe (mike dooley) © www.tut.com ®

Merle Haggard endorses Hillary Clinton

I turned on my car radio the other day and got right in the middle of a phone interview with Merle Haggard. I was astounded to hear that he had not only endorsed Hillary Clinton for President, he had written a song about it called Hillary. I wrote an article about it just published on Associated Content. Please check it out:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/456647/merle_haggard_endorses_hillary_clinton.html

Its not too late!

http://oneminuteshift.com/videos/its_not_too_late

True Story of My Encounter with a Ghost

Please check out my first online audio, published by Associated Content:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/audio/1248/true_story_of_my_encounter_with_a_ghost.html

Some Rumi

I love Rumi and have pretty much since I have discovered him. It is astounding to me that this poet who lived 800 years ago speaks so clearly to what I am experiencing this moment.

Someone has put some Barks translation of Rumi into a really lovely multimedia presentation, check it out:

http://www.beliefnet.com/rumimeditation/index.html

Image by Ron Wennekes: Catch and Carry

Being Original

I like to read before going to sleep, except if I am really exhausted it is my usual routine to read for a few minutes before I turn off the light.

One of the books by my bedside is an old favorite by Alan Cohen, A Deep Breath of Life. It is set up like a daily journal, with a reading for each day of the year. Oct.11 really touched me; I want to share it with you:

Oct. 11
Don’t Wait for Worth

Think not you lack a special value here.
--A Course in Miracles

In all his lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh sold a single painting for a pittance. At a recent auction, one of Van Gogh’s paintings sold for $82.5 million—an all-time high for a piece of artwork. Currently four of his paintings are among the ten highest-priced paintings ever sold.

It is ironic that Van Gogh was not acknowledged during his lifetime, and posthumously has become the highest-valued painter in history. This tells me that the immediate reaction or acknowledgment of the world is not always an indication of true quality. Quite often great artists and geniuses are overlooked in the early stage of their careers or during their lifetime.

When setting out to create art, music, or literature, to invent an object or method of service, or to choose a career, consult your own heart rather than the world. If you build your creations around the opinions of others, you will give away your power rather than draw it from within. As you allow your creations to spring from your inner vision, you will be a master of your own destiny and ultimately render great service.

Anyone can plug numbers into a formula. Many movie, television, novel, and song writers play on stock story lines that are sure to sell to the masses; some successful writers crank out plot after plot that simply dress old puppets in new clothing. True art, on the other hand, moves beyond what has been, and invites viewers to look at life from a grander perspective. Here is where originality, spirituality, and vision are called for. Such inventors must play on the cutting edge of their own creativity and call the masses to be bigger than they were.

Allow your genius to come forth uniquely—it is your greatest hope to live your destiny.

I pray to be a channel for fresh and wonderful ideas that bring healing and empowerment.

The mind of God within me creates beauty, service, enlightenment, and success.

Alan Cohen

Gotta love it! Thanks Alan for reminding me of what I need to do.

Foreclosures biz

Foreclosures are the hot trend in the real estate biz at the moment, and those who have the stomach for it can make serious profits. Here is a program that is helping a lot of folks interested in foreclosures:

Click Here To Search Foreclosures

Abundance Affirmations

By Oyvind Hennum

Affirmation is a powerful tool that you can use to change your life. It is a statement that you are repeating over and over again until it becomes a part of your truth.

The positive affirmation becomes more powerful when it is stated with a feeling behind it. It is not enough to repeat it like a parrot or on automatic. The best way of repeating your positive affirmation is to first bring yourself into a relaxed state of mind before you start.

A simple technique is to sit down in a chair, relax your breathing, and close your eyes.

Then, start to focus on your own breath by breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. When you breathe in, follow the breath all the way down in your belly, feeling that your belly expands.

Then, breathe out through your mouth. To go deeper into relaxation, open your mouth and make a soft sound of “aaahhh” while you breathe out.

Do this while you are counting up to ten and then back to one again, counting one number on each out breath. Then, you are ready to start with your positive affirmation. Take the sentence you chose and repeat it ten times—one time on each out breath.

After you have repeated your sentence, go on with your next one, and do the same for every sentence. Pick only a few sentences to work with until you feel they have become a part of you, and then you can pick new sentences to work with. After you have done your positive affirmation session, it is important to show your gratitude to Existence (or God) and yourself by saying: “Thank you for making this a part of my life.”

An affirmation of gratitude is the most powerful positive affirmation.

This is a prayer that works because you are stating who you are. If you are only repeating what you would like to be true, you may repeat forever without effect. The effect comes when you allow yourself to believe that what you are stating is actually true. It takes quite some faith to do this because you are stating a truth about yourself that you cannot see or experience yet.

You will have to gain such clarity and focus—determination and drive—toward what you desire to create with your positive affirmation: that there is no doubt in you that this will come true. This is your new reality, and it starts with believing, then seeing and experiencing. Not the other way around, which has been the standard for human beings for a long time: “Let me see it, and I will believe it.”

You now know that this is not how it works. It works the other way around, and it starts with you. With your positive affirmation, you are stating who you are—right now. This is how you create your own reality. You are doing this all the time on an unconscious level; your thoughts about yourself create who you are. This is the reason that so many things seem to happen to you.

You are giving yourself all the time affirmations that you are not conscious about in the way you are thinking about yourself. Unconscious negative thought patterns create your reality as easy as your conscious positive affirmations about yourself.

That is why it is important to make your statements in a positive way with positive words: “I am not a smoker anymore” (which sounds like you would still like to be one!) works with the negative connotation “not.”

“Not” rejects a part of yourself and does not include all sides of you. A positive, creative, and supportive way of making this statement would be: “I am living a healthy and happy life without cigarettes.”

If you are still a smoker and you would like to live a happy life without cigarettes, I suggest you stop. Now! There will never be a right moment other than now!

Then, in the next moment, you state proudly and to the whole world: “I have stopped smoking, and I will never touch a cigarette again in my whole life!” Wow! What a determination and intention behind that statement! You mean business!

Do this and stick to it, and you will never smoke again.

When you do the positive affirmation exercise and you set yourself goals and pursue them, you will probably have all your judgments and negative thoughts coming to the surface.

Statements like “Yeah, yeah, good luck, smart ass,” “You are dreaming, buddy,” or “This is bullshit; it will never work” and similar thoughts are likely to interrupt you trying to make hindrances on the way to a better life. Take a closer look at the second judgment: “You are dreaming, buddy.”

That one has some truth in it. When a new thought enters your mind, it can feel like a vague dream. You see yourself in a place where you really would like to be, and you immediately discern the thought as a dream.

By discerning the thought, you stop your new thought about yourself from becoming reality. It works in a very simple way: The universe copies your thoughts into reality!

Your strongest thought becomes reality; even the underlying ones that you are not aware of will do so. In this way, you become what you think. Understand that principle and you’ll be already a good step ahead in changing your reality. But understanding is not enough. You also need to take action to change. And the most beneficial action you can take is to become aware about yourself and your thought patterns.

Then, you will more easily be able to catch yourself thinking a negative thought or doing a negative action. Negative thoughts look like these: “You don't have money, so you have no right; who do you think you are?” “Money is bad and filthy anyway.” “I will never make it to get money together.”

When you catch yourself thinking like this, simply change the thought by will. Say to yourself: “Okay, here we go again—the old record is playing again.”

Accept that this side will always be a part of you but that you are now going to be in charge of this record player. That means you can choose what thoughts you are thinking. This may sound like brainwashing—and that is in fact what it is. You clean out the negative thought patterns and replace them with positive ones.

But don’t worry: Your negative thoughts will sneak up on you again before you know it, so don’t think you are losing a part of yourself by doing some brainwashing. You are simply gaining control over your own thoughts.

Saying a negative sentence about yourself works the same way as thinking a negative thought: It creates your reality even stronger than the thought you had before you spoke it out loud. “I’m broke and I don’t know how to get it together this month. I have loads of bills and my job sucks and pays lousy.”

When you say this outloud, the universe copies your statement, and that is the reality you are creating. Still, it is too quick to think that just by saying “My job is great and I can pay all my bills easily,” things will change instantly for you. This will not be the case.

Simply lying about a fact in your life—like having a lot of unpaid bills—does not change your situation.

You need to rephrase your statement: “I am making it my priority to pay my bills this month because my economic situation is not looking very good right now. I am actively working on changing it, and I am also looking for a better job while I keep doing the one I have now—doing the best I can.”

Change your negative thoughts around bills too. Bills are blessings! They are a physical proof that someone else trusts your ability to pay! That is more trust than you have in yourself when you think and talk negatively about them. Someone else allows you to buy or do something and says “You can pay later; we trust you” by sending you a bill! They may not say the words, but that is what their action means. That bills are blessings does not mean that you should collect as many as possible. Rather, do it the other way around. Always look for ways to minimize your expenses and learn from other people who manage to pay their bills easily. They are obviously doing something you are not! As for the statement that your job “sucks,” it definitely will not become better from you repeating negative affirmations about it! Think of your job as a springboard; a starting point for the rest of your career.

Do your absolute best as long as you are there, and see it as a possibility rather than something that holds you back. What I mean about possibility is that the job covers your day-to-day expenses while you are looking around for new possibilities.

While you are in a job, take it on one hundred percent and be fully behind it. Give always a bit more than you get paid for. That is an incredibly powerful statement to yourself, your employer, and to the universe.

Your statement and action say: “I always do my best, and that gives me the opportunity to choose exactly what I would like to work with.” This is a real positive affirmation. A negative action would be to stay in the job and be resentful about it, blaming the world for giving you such a lousy job.

Complaining and blaming others for your own situation are absolutely the best ways to stay stuck in it. Simply stop it!

Start thinking, talking, and acting in a constructive way, and you will see your reality change. Maybe it will take some time before you get a new job or can pay all your bills easily, but the feeling about the issue will change immediately.

The situation is no longer a huge problem because you changed your perception about it. In fact, your situation is just that—a fact, not a problem. And this fact can change when you understand and apply the laws of creation.

Think, talk, and act toward a solution and your “problem” with money will be solved. Now, in the meantime, your mind probably goes: ”It cannot be this easy; I don't believe it.”

This is okay; you just don't have to listen to it and can decide to become the creator of your life situation instead of the victim of it. By victim, I mean a victim of circumstances— seemingly out of your control.

This is a very common perception about life: It just happens to you! And you can do nothing about it!

If you recognize yourself here, it is time to look a bit deeper! Deep down in the subconscious, where your statement about the world creates your reality.

Saying “Life just happens to me, and I can do nothing about it” gives you not only very little choice but also gives you the “benefit” of not having to take responsibility for your life. If you are tired of living like this, then take action. Say to yourself: “I am responsible for my life, and I am going to become the creator of my life. I am no longer a victim.”

From there on, you can start to move into a different and new dimension of your life—the one that you yourself are creating by using positive affirmations!

Copyright (c) 2005 www.financial-freedom-made-simple.com

About the author:

Oyvind Hennum runs the web site:
http://www.financial-freedom-made-simple.com

The site contains: Book reviews, articles, biographies, free e-books, motivational quotes, abundance affirmations, practical tips, success tests, budgeting advice and resource directory.

How much is your Blog worth?

My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

Spiritual dialogues.com

In an earlier post, I talked about a website called Little Known Pubs, which was the online outpost for the writings of the talented ECK journalist Doug Marman. This website has been updated and upgraded and renamed: http://www.spiritualdialogues.com/

Doug has published an amazing new book called The Whole Truth, The Spiritual Legacy of Paul Twitchell. which is available on this website. This is a book of great scholarship that attracted positive comments from both Gail, Paul's widow, and Brad Steiger, Paul's biographer.

If you have any interest in the work of Paul Twitchell, this book is a must read. I was pleased to be able to contribute several photos from my collection for the book, including the portrait that was used for the front cover, taken by Jerry Lenon. Where are you Jerry Lenon? Inside Doug included a photo I took of Paulji chucking my then infant daughter Tobi under the chin, while she was being held by Sheila, my then wife:)

There are other books of interest on this website also; check it out!

Love or Fear?

It was a beautiful spring day, just this last Saturday in April. I had the responsibility for taking care of my 6 and 7-year-old grandsons.

We stopped by my house and I made a big bowl of buttered popcorn and the boys entertained themselves with coloring books I had picked up on my last shopping trip while they munched their snack.

After I finished my home office business, we went to the local park to play. This is a lovely playground that the boys are very familiar with, so they went to play, happy to be there.

We hadn't finished the popcorn so I had decided to just bring the big bowl with us and finish munching it there. I installed myself on one of the picnic tables in the shade, with a good view of the playground.

I was feeling very exuberant and happy so I offered some popcorn to a mother and her kid as they passed by on the way to their car. They seemed to ignore my offering and I thought nothing of it.

A few minutes later a couple of the local police approached me and asked for my ID. I said sure, but what was the problem?

Apparently someone had complained that there was a man in the park trying to sell popcorn to kids!

I have had nothing but good experiences with the Mundelein police so I got my driver's license and chatted with them while they checked me out to make sure I wasn't some kind of pedophile or something. In a few minutes they handed my license back to me and said I was ok to go.

So what to make of this incident? Of course if there was some strange man in the park trying to seduce kids by offering them popcorn he should be reported.

And maybe because I have a beard I looked not like a typical Republican suburbanite. But jeez folks!

If the mother or whoever reported me consulted her intuition or even just used her powers of observation for five minutes she would have seen/known that I was just an innocent grandpa in the park with his grandkids.

But her decision to call the alarm must have been a knee jerk reaction just based on fear. This is a sad and hopefully avoidable situation.

The events of 9/11 created a New World for many. There is no doubt that there are sexual predators out there that we need to take precautions against to protect our children. The world can be a pretty scary place and it is easy to yield to fear and just live a paranoid existence. But do we really want to live this way?

I certainly don't. And even though there is much negativity in this world, I still see Love to be the most powerful force in my life and in this world. I intend to live my life based on love, not fear. If we end up living in fear the terrorists have won.

I am not a Pollyanna who wants to hide from the realities of modern life. I just want to remind everyone that a lot of your reality is based upon where you put your attention. If you have been watching too many news reports and have not been tending to your relationship with God, you will have a tendency to develop a warped perspective, one that is fear based.

If your recollection is that you are Soul and are eternal, it is possible for you to bring the force of love into your daily existence in a meaningful way.

Are you going to share the popcorn or call the police?

Some thoughts on the tragedy in Virginia

Tragedies like the murders at Virginia Tech provide fresh reminders of the fragility of our lives. Why did this happen? What does it mean?

We live in a time that esoteric literature has described as the Kali Yuga, or the Iron Age. I first ran across this term when I was studying Hinduism and later encountered it again in Eckankar, the religion of the Light and Sound of God.

Wars, strife and disharmony characterize the Iron Age; it is also called the Dark Age. Events like this are a stark reminder that this is indeed the age we live in. We could see the war in Iraq as more of the same.

A Yuga is an incredibly long period of time. Scholars differ as to its length, which is traditionally described as 432,000 years but some think is shorter.

Do your remember spinning a top as a child? It spins beautifully for a long time, but then it begins to wobble. Once it starts wobbling, it will soon fall. The Kali Yuga is the time when the top of the universe is wobbling madly.

Each age is shorter than the previous one, and there are four. The first is the Golden age which is remembered as the garden of Eden and in many other utopian legends.

How is this relevant to the tragedy in Virginia? Remember the serenity prayer? One of the things we cannot change is the time into which we have incarnated. So we have to learn to deal with it.

How? By remembering that Soul is eternal and we are all sparks of the Divine. This is the central truth of Eckankar and most of the world's religions. Further, Eckankar teaches that Soul exists because God loves it. So even though the reasons for the deaths in Virginia may be unfathomable, we must know that Soul does not die, only the body.

Is their some karmic connection between the murderer and the people he killed? More than likely. It is a given that more bad karma has been created, but who knows what karmic drama was manifesting?

Detachment is the key quality that is taught in Eckankar and it can be a very useful skill in times like these. Detachment does not mean not to care. It really means to realize that you are not your emotions. So grieve, but as the Chinese say, do not let the bird of grief build a nest in your hair.

I personally would like to hope that this incident might cause the lovers of guns and their freedom to buy same to take a fresh look at the tragic consequences of the easy availability of automatic weapons. The only reason for the existence of these weapons is to kill large numbers of people.

One could hypothesize that a determined person can always find a way to get access to what weapons he wants, but why should we continue to make it so easy? You have probably seen the statistics about the number of violent crimes involving guns that occur in America versus every where else in the world. This is something we can change in America if we have the will.

Each moment of our lives we have a choice where we put our attention. This is a freedom that we always have and always will. We create our reality by where we continue to put our attention.

If this incident can serve as a wake up call perhaps that is the lemonade. Remember that we are Soul, that our life in this body is a gift and can be taken from us at any moment. Let us live accordingly.

Little know Pubs

No, this is not referring to cool dive bars you haven't discovered:) It is referring to the great work of Doug Marman who I referred to in my articles about how to find God. I wanted to include this link most prominently so it is easy to find:
http://www.littleknownpubs.com/DialogIntro.htm

How to Find God, Part 2

Note: I published part 1 of this series on AC:
I offered them an exclusive on Part 2, but their offer was so paltry that I decided to just publish it on my blog here. So if you haven't read part 1, this article will make more sense if you do that first.


How to Find God, Part Two.
Reconsider the HU

I never dreamed when I wrote the original article that it would create the little hotbed of controversy that it did. Twenty-four comments and counting as of this writing. The only responsible thing to do will be to write this follow up.

I think that slightly more heat than light was generated by all the comments, and I would like to remedy that situation if I can. People can get passionate about this subject but in order to view it clearly some detachment is necessary.

It is important for me to reiterate what I said at the beginning of my original article. One’s spiritual life is a very subjective business and no one can tell you what is right for you. Only you can determine that for yourself.

First let me settle one simple controversy. I am an Eckist, a member of Eckankar and have been for almost 40 years in this life. But let me again remind you of this: we do not evangelize in Eckankar! It is not for everybody that’s for sure. Only you can determine what is right for you! All I want to do is share my own experience. You have to reach your own conclusions.

The modern controversy surrounding Eckankar has created such a smoke screen for the seeker that only the most determined truth seeker will penetrate it. In order to help you do this; I included the work of Doug Marman in my resources. He has written very insightfully on this whole issue and I highly recommend reading his work if this topic interests you.

I did not mention Eckankar in the original article because I wanted to keep the emphasis simply on the process of getting in touch with your own divine nature. I again call your attention to the ancient word HU, because it is an elegant and precise tool for doing just that.

It is absolutely essential in matters of the Spirit to have your own personal experience. Reading about it in books or hearing someone talk about it may be helpful, but ultimately you must have your own experience in order to discover the validity of what is being read or heard.

This is why chanting the HU can be so useful. By having your own personal experience with Spirit, you can cut to the heart of this whole debate. Ultimately, it is necessary to transcend the mind and chanting HU is one of the most efficient ways to get there.

If you allow yourself to be put off or discouraged by the Naysayers on the path, you cannot be considered a real seeker. Find your own answers, have your own experience, and then you will know.

One of the most refreshing aspects of Eckankar is that it is not based upon belief. You need not take anyone’s word for anything. Authority is not contained in any external media. You are your own truth. You reach your own conclusions based upon your own experience.

I was privileged to know Paul Twitchell when he was alive, and I have also been privileged to know the current living ECK Master, Harold Klemp. No one can take away from me what my own experiences have been with them. Again I encourage you to have your own experience. Don’t be turned away based upon some third party whose voice and agenda may not be in your best interest.

When I first heard about Eckankar, Paul Twitchell had an approach that appealed greatly to my scientific bent. He suggested I take the idea that I was Soul as a working hypothesis, and test it by doing spiritual exercises.

Chanting the HU is just one possible exercise; there are hundreds more suggested in the writings of ECK. What happened to me was that I finally experienced myself as Soul. Once I had that experience, I knew! Nothing could take that away from me. This is what Eckankar is really all about, finding that experience. Once you have that experience, you know. End of story!

Wake up call

I grew up in a kind of utopian community called York Center Community co-operative. One of my neighbors was Terry Patten who is living an exciting life. He is currently on a citizen diplomacy mission in Iran sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He has a great blog which I heartily recommend you explore.

This blog has been a wake up call for me. I love the way that Terry is active and engaged and it challenges me to do likewise with my own life. I feel like I have some more serious writing to do and reading this blog has inspired me to get to it! Thanks Terry!

http://terrypatten.typepad.com/iran/

Project Payday update

I finally was able to access the project payday material and not only does it look legit, it looks very promising. It will take a while to test and experiment with, but I am excited about it. The instructional materials were very clear and straighforward and well written, and they do explain what is a very real opportunity.

This is not a get rich quick scheme, but it does look like a very real opportunity to make some money. I have applied to become an affiliate and I will begin using their methods immediately so stay tuned for updates.

Project Payday

This morning against my better judgement I responded to a website with the title of the subject. It made a nice pitch and offered the option of getting the program for free by accepting an offer from the list of offers. I looked over the list and chose BlogToolKit for obvious reasons. It offered a trial for $1.95 which was easy to accept but I didn't find out until after I had submitted my CC number that after 14 days I would be charged $39.95 a month. Of course I had the option of cancelling, but to not disclose all the terms of the deal before I was asked to sign up is dirty pool, it's unethical.

I don't understand why merchants pull these kinds of stunts. How can they engender confidence in their materials if you immediately feel like you have been manipulated?

Not only that, but I still haven't heard from Project Payday with how to access their materials. Perhaps this notice will come; it has only been a few hours, so I will reserve my judgment here. But this was certainly not an auspicious beginning, and with Mercury retrograde I have a policy of not beginning new projects, so I should have known better anyway!

Plaid

Milt Jackson's Grace

Saving NPR and PBS Once and for All

If you have any political awareness at all, you know that public radio and TV are under constant attack. I thought this recent email from Move On was worth printing here:

Dear MoveOn member,
Thanks to word of mouth, we reached our goal—over 600,000 people have signed the petition to save NPR and PBS once and for all! That's off the charts.
Congress heard us loud and clear. In fact, the chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), reached out to MoveOn members. Here's what he had to say:
"Despite getting rid of Tom Delay and the Republican-led Congress, the Bush administration continues proposing draconian cuts to public broadcasting. MoveOn played an invaluable service in the last Congress to help restore funding, and I hope MoveOn will continue its efforts as I and other members of the Public Broadcasting Caucus work to secure funding for PBS and NPR once and for all."
But the fight isn't over. In reaction to our petition, a right-wing group has launched a petition calling on Congress to eliminate all funding for NPR and PBS.1 This is a real fight, and we hope you're in it for the long haul.
If you like, you can contribute to our efforts here:
https://civic.moveon.org/donatec4/creditcard.html?id=9925-4257346-fFfKsv&t=1
The battle is on—let's guarantee NPR and PBS have permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling. We'll print and deliver this massive petition to every member of Congress. And we'll keep you in the loop on the next steps.
As always, thanks for all you do.
–Noah, Wes, Carrie, Joan and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team Friday, February 23rd, 2007
Source:
1. "Report Sees Few Funding Alternatives for PBS," TV Week, February 20, 2007http://www.freepress.net/news/21196

On Being Single: A Personal Reflection

I was just googling around this morning and I found this great essay. First I googled "mystic" and found: http://themystic.org/ This site is most fascinating and looks very worthwhile.

Then I googled "spiritual" and found another very interesting website. The following link is to an essay that has the same title as this post. There is lots of other juicy material on this website but especially for the single folk, I direct you to this brilliant short essay: http://www.soulhealing.com/single.htm

Freelance work exchange

I finally took the plunge and became a member of the freelance work exchange. There are lots of useful resources here and lists of legit jobs. I have started to plow through the material and apply for jobs for which I am qualified. We shall see how it goes. My first impression is that this may be a worthwhile investment; only time will tell.


Get Instant Access to Hundreds of Work-at-Home Jobs

Want exclusive access to the hottest freelance jobs online today? Signing up for trial membership of Freelance Work Exchange gives you access to cool projects like these:

Fire your boss and set your work-at-home career off to a cracking start. Click here to get instant access for just $2.95.

Article on Circle Pines Center just published on AC

Check out my recently published content on AC:Send Your Kids to Summer Camp at Circle Pines!

Happy 65th Birthday Jan! part 2

I thought long and hard about what kind of gift I could give you that would be appropriate to this milestone birthday. I woke up this morning knowing I wanted to write you an essay and I decided the ideal thing to do would be to publish it to this blog, since the subject is so universal I thought you would not mind if I shared this with the world.

Over the years I have collected a few artifacts related to the subject of aging and the postcard reproduced below that I got from Vera and Leo a few years ago is right at the top of the list of objects that address the subject masterfully. So that is the first thing I share with you. Of course it is especially poignant now that Leo is gone.

Happy 65th Birthday Jan!

How much have you lost from procrastination?

One of the Editors at Judy's book asked this question and I had to respond!

Oh baby, thanks for asking a really juicy question. This is one I am addressing daily!

I could recommend a whole library of books I have read on this subject, putting 1/2 of 1 % of what I have learned into practice! That will give you a hint about my style of procrastination.

Let me just give you a quote from a lovely little flip book written by Ruth Hayes, called the "flip book of the DEAD." BTW, in case you're not familiar with the term, a flip book is a primitive form of animation, where you flip the page ends to view a changing scene. I'm sure you've seen them:

"O procrastinating one, who thinketh not
of the coming of death,
Devoting thyself to the useless doings of this life,
Improvident art thou in dissipating
thy great opportunity;
Mistaken, indeed, will thy purpose be now
if thou returnest emptyhanded from this life. . .
Wilt thou not be acting even as a traitor to thyself?"

Geek Philosopher

I saw this great image accompanying an article on Associated Content. The theme was The Path to True Confidence. Is this not the perfect image for that subject?

Credit for the image was the Geek Philospher, a very cool website worth exploring. Among many other things, they have an excellent selection of free stock photos, each one of which is a gem. Check 'em out: