We'll be giving a Oneness Blessing between 9 and 10pm, on the steps between Victoria Park and the University of Sydney.

The United Nations International Day of Peace is a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, and you are cordially invited to spend an hour - or more - participating in a series of meditations and vigils to promote peace on the planet.

The Sydney Peace Festival has been conducted since 2006, and is timed to coincide with the International Day of Peace (September 21st) each year.

It consists of three major events :

A 24hr Peace Vigil which unifies all the disparate voices, all the different cultures, occupations and roles in this desire for peace into one voice, one call, one Sydney – showing that our mutual desire for a peaceful existence supersedes any differences which may normally exist in our day to day lives.

A Peace Concert, held in Victoria Park and attended by hundreds of local residents. The concert, open free of charge, celebratesd what has already been achieved in our capacity to live harmoniously in our own local community. To tangibly demonstrate that the similarities are greater than the differences by combining all local cultures together with their different traditions, dances and music but the same universal aim.

A Peace Forum Conducted at Parliament House Sydney, aimed at facilitating in building a bridge between the peace practitioners and the politicians. It also aims to create a constructive pathway not only for dialogue and change but also to create a level of recognition that at its core is working together to achieve the same outcome – peace.

From: http://www.ministryforpeace.org.au/activities/index.html

Updates

-I haven't really watched any of the political conventions because, as you may or may not have read in previous posts, I don't care about them.

-Hurricane er, I mean, Tropical depression Hanna recently made landfall in some disappointing rain. It was really almost nothing at all. No power out around here. Maybe some flooding in Fairfax, but who the hell cares about Fairfax anyway?

-My beloved Redskins just dropped their season opener to the New York Giants on Thursday night. We'll get those Cards though.

So yeah I have been extremely busy lately with what I previously mentioned, and other shit that is just what it is - shit. I think I need to go on vacation. Not somewhere like a traditional vacation with a beach and stuff. I mean an unconventional one, like maybe to a city or something. I think Chicago is nice. Maybe I'll go there. We'll see. . .

Peace and pray that Hurricane Ike doesn't do any damage. We need to save it all for Hurricane Kyle!

But seriously, peace.

Kuala Lumpur, 4 September 2008 07:34
Para pendengar radio di Malaysia bakal kesulitan untuk mendengar lagu-lagu Indonesia kalau saja pemerintah setempat mengabulkan permintaan pembatasan penyiaran lagu Indonesia.

Adalah Persatuan Karyawan Industri Musik Malaysia (Karyawan), yang mengusulkan pembatasan penyiaran lagu-lagu Indonesia di radio. Rencananya usulan tersebut akan disampaikan kepada Menteri Tenaga, Air, dan Komunikasi Malaysia, Shaziman Abu Mansor.

"Kami akan menghadap menteri Shaziman besok (Kamis, 4/9) untuk menyampaikan tuntutan kuota 90 persen siaran lagu-lagu Malaysia, sisanya baru lagu Indonesia 10 persen," kata Ketua Karyawan, Ahmad Abdullah, kepada Malaysiakini. com, Rabu (3/9).

Menurut Karyawan, jika tuntutan kuota itu tidak diterima, perbandingan 80:20 masih bisa diterima.

Tuntutan itu didukung sekitar 700 karyawan yang bekerja di industri musik. Dalam pertemuan itu, Presiden Karyawan Freddie Fernandez, komposer dan penyanyi terkenal M Nasir dan Nan Saturnie akan hadir dalam pertemuan dengan menteri.

Para karyawan industri rekaman Malaysia sudah lama memprotes dan menuntut agar radio di Malaysia tidak terlalu banyak menyiarkan lagu Indonesia karena akan menambah penjualan album penyanyi Indonesia di Malaysia, dan menurunkan pangsa pasar album penyanyi Malaysia.

Para penyiar dan pengelola stasiun radio Malaysia beralasan seringnya memutar lagu Indonesia disebabkan banyaknya permintaan dari pendengar.

Bahkan, tiga stasiun radio swasta yang saling berlomba menduduki posisi teratas di Malaysia, Era FM, Hot FM, dan Suria FM, memiliki program pemutaran lagu Indonesia setiap hari Minggu, antara jam 10-12 siang.

Penyanyi rock terkenal Malaysia, Amy Search, mengatakan bahwa jika jam 10 malam ke atas Malaysia sudah seperti Jakarta karena semua radio menyiarkan lagu-lagu Indonesia hingga dinihari.

Karena banyak penggemarnya, banyak perusahaan telekomunikasi seperti Maxis, DIGI, Celcom, dan Telekom Malaysia yang mensponsori konser musik musisi Indonesia di Malaysia. [EL, Ant] http://gatra. com/artikel. php?id=118149

 
 
And if anyone believes in Allah, (Allah) guides his heart (aright)’ (64:11). 

The guidance of the heart is the basis of all guidance, the law of all success, the origin of every deed and head of every action. The Prophet saws said:
 ‘Truly there is a piece of flesh in the body which, if it be wholesome, the whole body will be healthy and which, and if it be diseased the whole body will be diseased. Truly it is the heart.’

Thus the goodness of your heart is the guarantee of your happiness in this world and in the hereafter. Likewise, its corruption is the surest way to destruction, the extent of which only Allah knows.
 ‘In this, behold, there is indeed a reminder for everyone whose heart is wide-awake - that is [everyone who] lends ear with a conscious mind’ (50:37). 

Every creature has a heart. In reality though they are two hearts, a heart that is alive and pulsating with the light of faith. It is filled with intense conviction and God-consciousness. The other is a dead heart, covered and diseased with every wreckage and rubbish.

Allah Almighty says concerning the hearts of the foolish folk:
 ‘In their hearts is disease, and so God lets their disease increase’ (2:10). 

 ‘But they say, “Our hearts are already full of knowledge.” Nay, but God has rejected them because of their refusal to acknowledge the truth: for, few are the things in which they believe’ (2:88). 

Allah also says:
 ‘Will they not, then, ponder over this Quran? — or are there locks upon their hearts?’ (47:24). 

 ‘And so they say, [as it were:] “Our hearts are veiled from whatever thou callest us to, [O Muhammad,] and in our ears is deafness”’ (41:5). 

From all these verses we learn that the hearts can become ill, they can be covered, locked and they die. The enemies of Allah have hearts in their bosoms but they do not perceive with these hearts. Hence the Prophet saws used to say:
 ‘O dispenser of hearts make my heart firm in Your religion.’

The heart of the believer fasts during Ramadan and outside of Ramadan. The fasting of the heart is done by emptying it of all corrupt material such as destructive forms of polytheism, false beliefs, evil suggestions, filthy intentions and degenerate thoughts. The heart of the believer is adorned with the love of Allah. It knows its Lord by His names and His qualities as He has described Himself. This heart explores with a discerning eye the lines of His names and qualities and the pages of Allah’s making in the universe and the books of His creations.

The believer’s heart is filled with a brilliant light which does not allow any darkness to remain with it. It is the light of the eternal message, the divine teachings, and the omnipotent laws. To it is added the natural light upon which the servants of Allah were created. Thus two great lights come together
 . ‘Light upon light! God guides unto His light him that wills [to be guided]; and [to this end] God propounds parables unto men, since God [alone] has full knowledge of all things’ (24:36). 

The believer’s heart glows like a lamp, shines like the sun and sparkles like the morning light. It increases in faith whenever the believer listens to the verses of the Quran, it grows in conviction when it contemplates, and increases in guidance when it reflects. The believer’s heart abstains from pride because it breaks its fast. Pride does not reside in the heart of a believer because it is unlawful. The abode and dwelling place of pride is the heart. Hence, if it enters any heart, that person will become afflicted, foolish, arrogant and frivolous.

Allah Almighty says in a hadith Qudsi:
 ‘Pride is my upper garment and grandeur is my lower one, whoever contests with me for them I will punish him.’

The Prophet saws himself said:
 ‘Whoever shows arrogance to Allah, He will humble him, and whoever is humble to Allah, He will raise him in station.’

The heart of the believer fasts and abstains from egotism. Egotism is when the individual sees himself as perfect, better than others and in possession of good qualities that are not found in anyone else. This is destruction in its most naked form. The Prophet saws said:
 ‘Three things which are totally destructive: a person’s self-centredness and conceit, his reluctance to obey and his following of his desires.’

The cure for this self-importance is to look at one’s own faults, one’s many shortcomings, thousands of sins and misdeeds that one has committed, wrongs that one has done and forgotten but the knowledge of which are with Allah in a book. For Allah is not led astray nor does He forget.

The heart of the believer fasts and abstains from envy because it lowers righteous deeds, puts out the light of the heart and stops its progress toward Allah the Most High. Allah says in the Glorious Quran:
 ‘Do they, perchance, envy other people for what God has granted them out of his bounty? (4:54). 

And the Prophet saws said:
 ‘Do not envy one another; do not inflate prices one to another; do not hate one another; do not turn away from one another; and do not undercut one another.’

The Prophet informed one of his companions three times that he would be among the people of Paradise. When he was asked about what was it that earned him a place in Paradise, the man said:
 ‘I do not sleep with envy, grudge or deceit in my heart for any Muslim.’

Are there any hearts that would, therefore, fast like the learned. The fast of the learned has a yearning for the Most Merciful Lord of the worlds. Their hearts fast at all times and in the early hours of morning they seek forgiveness.
O Allah guide our hearts to the straight path and make it firm on faith, O Lord of the worlds.

1 of 2

Please join me. Here is lesson #1 (and the only one we ever really will need). All else is commentary:

Abraham teaches us over and over again that there is only one Universal Law- 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!

I need to open that Page slot for Read, View and Click, but I don't want to discard this nostalgic log of the birth and rapid growth of P2. So, for the reader's enjoyment of a tentative startup that turned into a successful forum, we have imported and present this post from the first thirty days of Powerful Peace - the Blog:

[August 15, 2008]

That was a fine ride. In under one month, we raced up to 1,000 visiting clicks into Powerful Peace with just hours to spare. Now P2 can ride along growing naturally, if it's meant to grow at all. I will write, and welcome Comments and emails, and hope that all of this makes some real difference.

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[August 13, 2008]

1,000 "hits" for Powerful Peace is only hours away.

If you're reading this in the United States at the same time I post it, you're settling into a peaceful night of security and (I pray) well-being. It's 10:00pm on the evening of August 13th. You'll wake up safe and sound and ready to go to work, or see some friends, and maybe swing by your choice of stores to pick something up.

Outside my base in Iraq, thousands of fathers, mothers and children will wake up consciously grateful they weren't mutilated by a bomb or abducted and decapitated.

In the Palestinian region, thousands on both sides of the line will wake up trapped in a time warp of seemingly unbreakable, incomprehensible resentment and cravings for revenge...many of them will know they should try something different.

Many of them, like many of the rest of us, will feel confused and uncertain as to how to be the bigger person and begin to work at reconciliation while we're personally snarled in a conflict.

Millions in South Asia and Africa will wake up hungry, again; and hopeless...again.

When everyone wakes up, Powerful Peace will be one month old.

Things will change for the better for some, in time.

I'm going to believe it's possible to hurry that along.

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[August 12, 2008]

Congratulations! We're at 900 exactly! I glanced away and nearly fifty hits bounced in!

This makes it official - by the end of August 14 in two days, the one-month anniversary of Powerful Peace, we need to make ONE THOUSAND HITS.

Why?

Well...because it's a cool number, I suppose.

Please pass the word far and wide about P2.

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[August 10, 2008; Zero-Dark-Thirty]

We're four days from the one-month anniversary of the founding of Powerful Peace. The ticker has passed 800. 65% of the growth so far...occurred in the last six days.

It feels as though a wave is building. Thank you for all your attention, writing emails, writing comments, and forwarding the site to friends, family, and colleagues. I would ask that you keep the forwarding going strong; P2 is taking on a life of its own.

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[August 8, 2008]

As I write, the clicker-ticker hovers right around Seven Hundred and Fifty hits. That's three quarters of a thousand, and most of it took place in only the last few days. WordPress, just so you know, will not count any clicks that would happen when I come into the pages to post. (Okay, it had occurred to me.) I'm afraid the site's too smart.

This is all you.

Who's for a thousand?

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[August 7, 2008]

Okay, you've done it again...tonight we're about to shoot through 700.

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[August 5, 2008]

Holy mackerel.

Yesterday's entry on quick growth (below) referenced 330 hits since inception. Tonight, only twenty-four hours later - it's 530.

Something wild and wonderful happened over this past day. I don't know what it was.

Keep it up.

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[August 4, 2008]

Thanks to all of you, this site has reached 330 "hits" in just over two weeks!

Please, keep the clicks, Comments, and Email coming.

We'll reach escape velocity together!

Unfortunately, since I hope to make a positive impression and anything I write would leave the reader gasping for euthanasia, I will tell someone else's story. I don't remember exactly where I heard it, which technically should qualify as giving all the credit I can. I think it may have been Dr. Wayne Dyer.

In any case, I thank you, mystery author, for this practical illustration of a principal of P2:

A businessman was visiting his distinguished colleague, the CEO of a very successful company. As they enjoyed a chat over coffee in the CEO's office, his receptionist suddenly barged in and blurted, "Sir, the Dallas office just reported a significant market loss!"

The CEO took the news in stride and mildly responded, "Remember Rule Number Six."

The receptionist immediately relaxed, adjusted her glasses, and with a sheepish smile said, "Thank you, Sir," before returning to her office.

The businessman was surprised by this event, but as his friend showed no inclination to explain, they resumed their conversation.

A few minutes later, the head of Marketing rushed in and snapped, "Bill, the printer just called and they've had a major breakdown! There's no way we're going to make deadline. The advertisers are going to scream bloody murder!"

The CEO grinned and repeated his instructions to remember Rule Number Six.

The marketing man calmed down, apologized with a chuckle, and stepped out.

By now the businessman's curiosity was overwhelming. He couldn't imagine what sort of incredible employee discipline or leadership techniques had been used to cause this instant transformation, and he begged the CEO to tell him what Rule Number Six was.

The CEO replied, "It's nothing, really. Rule Number Six is, 'Stop Taking Yourself so Damned Seriously'."

Deeply impressed, the guest marveled at this profound simplicity for a few moments. Turning back to his friend, he asked what the other Rules might be.

The CEO answered:

"There aren't any."

Your depression is a self-defense of your organism and your psyche against the mistakes you make, following the absurd suggestions of the wild side of your conscience or the absurd tendencies of the under-developed human side of your conscience. In any case you have two enemies, pushing you towards craziness, since even the human side of your conscience is absurd.

There is too much craziness accumulated in the anti-conscience, the wild part of your conscience, and this is why it is schizophrenic.

The human part of your conscience was only partially developed. You have to help your brain reach a stage of total development that will increase your intelligence, if you want to use all its potential.

Translating your dreams according to the scientific method, you can prevent depression, craziness and suicidal tendencies before losing your mental health, and completely develop your personality, becoming a real genius.

Craziness prevention is depression and suicide prevention as well, since craziness is responsible for the existence of depression and all mental illnesses. The craziness accumulated in the wild side of the human brain and psyche is responsible for the appearance of all mental illnesses in the human being.

Therefore, craziness prevention is in fact more than indispensable for everyone, especially for depressed people, for people that belong to introverted psychological types and for people ready to commit suicide.

Depression is a self protection of your organism and your psyche, because you may insist on making mistakes, but you have to be stopped somehow.

Depression is a warning that doesn’t let you continue making the same mistakes and insisting on finding happiness this way.

If you live with the wrong person, work in the wrong job and live in the wrong place, you cannot be happy, even taking anti-depressants daily…  

Yesterday I wrote an article about the case of a young man that has a girlfriend without loving her, only because she loves him and he decided to “try her out”.

He was terrified with a nightmare he saw, where he was violently attacking a person that “he should love”.

In other words, he was exploding and hitting the girlfriend that doesn’t let him find the right person for him. This nightmare was a warning and a prevision.

You cannot make absurd decisions and expect to live “normally”, without being depressed like the dreamer of our example, who already has neurotic behavior.

Your depression will make you pay attention to all the mistakes you are making, exactly because you live influenced by your anti-conscience, that pushes you towards craziness all the time and that obliges you to decide living with the wrong person, doing work that you dislike, and live in a place where you feel lost, so that you may easily become completely crazy with all the deceptions of your life.

You may believe that your decisions are really the result of your own thoughts and preferences, however, you have an enemy inside you influencing your behavior and suggesting wrong decisions to you without letting you think seriously about anything.

You have to get rid of this enemy, before it completely destroys the human side of your brain and psyche through craziness.

You have also another enemy: your own under-developed, ignorant and selfish human conscience, that has to learn too much until it may be able to help you in life, instead of provoking you so many problems.

If you don’t pay attention to the warning given by your depression, you may simply accept the crazy behavior imposed by the anti-conscience, without criticizing it in order to verify its absurdity, or the behavior imposed by your psychological type, which is also totally absurd.

If you are not depressed yet, care about the meaning of your dreams without delay, so that you may easily prevent depression, craziness and suicidal tendencies now that you can.

Depending on the seriousness of your psychical problem, you may delay too much to recuperate your mental health or you may lose it for good.

Don’t let things arrive at this point!

Be prudent and prevent the worst, especially now that you have learned how dangerous, violent and evil the absurd content accumulated in the wild part of your brain and psyche is and how absurd the human side of your conscience is too, even though you believe that the known part of your human conscience is balanced and “normal”.

Learn more at: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com

and http://www.booksirecommend.com

Click below to download your copy of the Free e-book

Beating Depression and Craziness

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christina_Sponias

Love and Happiness for Life and Interpreting Dreams About The Person You Love, your bonus, are ready!

Find them at http://www.booksirecommend.com

Last days!

Submit your dreams while you can because I really am not going to do it for too much longer!

Go to http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com and learn more!

The Nobel Prize winners include U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and vice president Al Gore. They could surely get the public's attention if they had something to say on the subject. Who am I to write this plan if this august group has not managed to do it?

And perhaps they have, and I just don't know about it. Well, that's not quite right. I know about the government's Seoul Plan of Action, and the Warsaw Declaration. They don't make for very good reading in my opinion.

I proceeded to write a plan in spite of this uncertainty. It is 22 pages long, including a glossary and some other back matter.

My plan is pretty decent, in my opinion, but what I find more interesting than the plan itself is my discovery of the forces that impede peace making. I thought I would share what I learned in this area. One of the most helpful resources I found was a book from the University of Arizona library. My friend Robert Mitchell, a U of A librarian, found it for me. The book is Institutionalizing Peace, The Conception of the United States Institute for Peace and Its Role in American Political Thought, by Rhoda Miller. Ms. Miller chronicles the long history of efforts to create organizations, mostly government sponsored, to promote peace. It is quite obvious that they have not been successful.

The first obstacles to peace are the world's dictators. Dictators are violent people by nature. A non-violent dictator would be cast out of power quickly enough. So the first task is to unseat the 40-plus dictators who operate around the world using non-violent means. The methods for doing that are provided to us in a book titled Breaking the Real Axis of Evil, How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025. The author is Mark Palmer. He provides a list of 198 non-violent methods of unseating dictators. The standard book on dictators, by the way, is Tyrants, The World's 20 Worst Living Dictators, by David Wallechinksy.

The reason to get rid of dictators is that they are the people who pick the fights. Ordinary citizens want to go about their lives and leave others well enough alone.

Ousting the dictators probably isn't the hardest part of creating peace. The hard part is getting democratic governments to align around the task. They have lots of individual agendas that are counter to peace making. This is thoroughly documented in Ms. Miller's book. In addition, the United States government has a troubled record of supporting dictators one day and trying to assassinate them the next. The people in charge have a truly screwed up set of priorities and values. These people must be replaced with public servants who have a moral compass and a deep sense of honor.

Government is not well served by academia, either. Scholars want to conduct study after study and spin new theories about the causes of war. The universities are simply not much help.

Citizens, as a group, are handicapped by a peculiar law passed in 1799 called the Logan Act. It was designed to restrain an American named Dr. George Logan, of Pennsylvania, from talking directly to the French government about relations with the United States. Although the Logan Act is rarely enforced, it serves as a deterrent to citizens dealing directly with foreign governments "or their agents." So the government's inability to promote peace cannot be supplanted by the public's willingness to do so. The bottom line is that the laws have to be changed to empower non-governmental organizations to conduct effective peace making activities.

What about the thousands of organizations (Paul Hawken estimates there are at least 2 million organizations world wide devoted to some kind of public service) that are already at work doing good around the world? While generalizations are always flawed, I will say that the community of peace making organizations is ineffective for the following reasons:

• they do not focus on the major root cause of war—dictators (in part because they are not allowed to)
• they do not effectively coordinate their efforts
• much of their worthy and noble efforts are devoted to easing the pain of war rather than making peace for the long term future

The barrier to peace is not a lack of knowing how to create it, since even I have a plan for it. The barriers come in the form of fragmentation of purpose among the very institutions that should be trusted to make peace.

We have to shine light on the government, point out the inconsistencies, and put people in office who will pursue peace instead of warmongering and pursuing profits.

I learned a lot doing this project, and I hope this article was informative for you. I welcome your comments.

(September sunrise in the Bogs.  September 2008.  © Robin)

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves
-- slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future;
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I thought it time for the long face to go.  It was depressing.  Plus I think it was unfair to the sunflower.  I've rather enjoyed following the sunflowers from seeds to, well, back to seeds.  I found them beautiful in all their phases.

This sunrise from home (the photo doesn't do it justice) was so beautiful, so peaceful, and so still that I want to be reminded of it when I occasionally drop in to check up on things.  Being a smart blogger, I uploaded the photo before leaving home.  The stillness of this sunrise was something I wanted to carry with me.

We waded through the rains of Tropical Storm Hanna today.  The winds are just starting to kick up now.  It's nice to take a moment just to enjoy some quiet.  The pounding rains of Hanna resulted in a pounding headache for me.  The wind is almost a refreshing change.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by and offered good thoughts and wishes.  I feel lucky to have such lovely blogmates.  :)

Meowlightful.

What do I have lingering that is so important that I decided to write it in a semi-public forum for other's thoughtful consumption?

I am a little concerned about Peace. Have you seen Peace lately? I think I've seen her reflection in a few faces and places. In lakes and rivers and other spots like that. But then, I noticed some others were talking about Peace and they said that she was cool. And then they claimed peace meant war - and I was like - "Whoa! Has Peace heard about this?" 

Anyway - there were lots of others talking about peace all over the place and I didn't know why she didn't come out and start a protest march, block off some streets blockade-style and say - "DO NOT USE MY NAME IN VAIN" or something fantastically biblical like that. Yeah, and she should say it completely in that booming voice from the old "10 Commandments" style movies...only a female voice instead of a male's...but I guess that's not her style.

Anyway - I don't know what Peace is up to these days. I hear that while all the talk is circulating she's hanging out in a few odd spaces and places. I still see her reflection in faces. No blockades and no grenades, but I know she is with us...somewhere.

Ï

Dear Sister Alma Rose—Is it sinful to want to be rich? If not, how can I become wealthy? —Penniless in Potsdam

[caption id="attachment_475" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Palace of Versailles; photo by Eric Pouhier"][/caption]

Dear Penniless—Sister Alma Rose wouldn't say "sinful"; unenlightened, perhaps. The answer to y'all's question depends upon why y'all want to be rich, and what kind of riches y'all are seeking. Sister Alma Rose has found that those who are the saddest are the very poor and the very rich... the poor, because they struggle, and the rich, because wealth don't satisfy them the way they thought it would do. Sister Alma Rose wishes she had thought to say this before Marsha Sinetar wrote a book about it: Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. If y'all have true abundance—friends, joy in your work, a welcoming home, and peace in y'all's heart—then outward abundance will be likewise manifest. And if it ain't, would you care?

Sister Alma Rose's niece Jo Ellen wrote this bit of verse that might speak to y'all:

I Won't Mind It If I Fall

I want to be a powder-scented
grandma who bakes cookies and
wears aprons and is plump and
matronly... not now, but maybe
someday soon, before my grandchildren
grow up and have to pay a duty call and
wonder if I’ll know their names when
they approach me shyly, in the Home. I
truly hope I’m not incontinent. But
I’ll be rich by then, I think, and have
my own domestic staff anticipating
every wish and bringing me my food
and drink upon a tray that has a doily,
lace, not paper, and I don’t want
ketchup in the bottle, not that I’ve the
tiniest affection for that condiment, but
still.

Today, however, I’ll be reckless and not
mind it if I fall, for I have nothing, so
I’ve not a thing to lose. And
it’s not true, not true at all, that I
have nothing, if by something is
meant “money.” There are days when dust
motes drifting in a ray of sunlight make me
giddy with delight. Perhaps I should get
out more, though I always walk the
neighborhood to see what subtle changes
have been made since yesterday. We must
have had a shower in the night; the air
smells clean, my sweet alyssum is a little
greener, and the sky is bright.

There are so many roads I wish to travel,
in the next life if I haven’t got the time in
this one. God is economical; we’re given
longings for a reason, to be satisfied in
God’s time, in their season, by God's grace. I
can wait; I'm happy as a kitten with a junebug
in this place. 

Ï

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This morning Andy & I tried Morningstar's Veggie Breakfast Sausage links. I highly recommend them.  The texture does not feel like meat (I actually prefer this texture). But because of the seasoning the flavor is very sausage like. 

Downside: rather high in sodium.  

Upside: no cholesterol, some fiber, protein & vitamins, two links = 1 WW point.

Of course, what he probably hears is this: 

This morning my liberal intellectual elitist cohabitant and I tried commie hippy rabbit food packaged up to look like meat because that's how all the lefties eat out in LA LA land. I wish you were more like us. The texture doesn't feel like actual red blooded American Farm produce (I actually prefer this texture). But because of the seasoning, the flavor is very sausage like. 

Downside: You'll never vote for Obama no matter what I say. 

Upside: No cholesterol, some fiber, I'm a know-it-all, protein & vitamins, I deserve your praise forever because I've kept 34 pounds off for 7 years.

But what I really meant was: 

This morning Andy & I tried a non-animal food alternative. I highly recommend them.  The texture does not feel like meat (I actually prefer this texture because it reminds me that for at least one meal, I've made the choice not to eat animals that were raised in a cruel environment and later slaughtered). But because of the seasoning the flavor is very sausage like. 

Downside: Rather high in sodium. Too bad all of my favorite meat products can't be replaced this way. No matter what I say, you'll vote for the Crypt Keeper and his Fundamentalist-loon-mean-spirited-racist running mate who has nothing approaching a fraction of the adequate experience required to lead our country. Have you lost your mind?  

Upside: No cholesterol, some fiber, protein & vitamins; see we can correspond without having to discuss politics; two links = 1 WW point. Stop denying it: Obama and Biden are great leaders. 

Last week in The End Times, I wrote about my despair in general, and my desire for rain, and now it’s raining. And even if the rain is too late for the corn and soybeans, which I’m sure, around here, many a farmer will tell you that it is, because they’re still wrapped up in their depression, the rain is definitely not too late for me or the rest of the earth’s textures that are soaking up this delicious splash. I am delighted by it all, and happy that I don’t have to drive around and water the plants and flowers that I’m responsible for as a servitude gardener of the earth. Thank you, God, for this gentle rain and your unending loveliness in our lives.

I think the place to go from here, after telling you that we’re at the bottom of despair, having involutedly crashed hard into the realm of matter, as dense human beings wondering how to get out of here, is to now use a new image. Let’s think of ourselves at the bottom of a chalice; a holy vessel from which to drink from that we’ll call The Holy Grail. I know that there are many interpretations of the Holy Grail, of what it might mean to us individually. (I personally believe it is the forgotten feminine in a patriarchal world.) For the sake of this writing, let’s visualize The Holy Grail as a rusted and corroded chalice cup filled with slick grime and slime in which we are treading for our lives.

Once the Holy Grail, the cup of love, shone brightly, highly polished as it was with God’s grace. Over the course of billions of years, the cup, ever so slowly, began to fill with pollutants of our own doing, from whining and crying, to playing cowboys and Indians, and cops and robbers, and givers and takers, all in the womb of the chalice, with power players powering over the less savvy masses, and this and that, including all of the life stuff that we live, seemingly as mortal beings trying to eek out a living so we can take care of ourselves and our families. As cups will become when they’re filled up with grime and slime and all the rest of the crap that we put into life, such as hate and fear and jealousy, the cup, that beloved chalice that we once dove into feet first, becomes left with the muck and mire of our petty foot prints in the matter of that that matters no more, leaving us with an acrid aftertaste that we no longer desire, because we are drunk up with our own distaste!

And distaste is a very good place to be, because when the vile and violent troubled waters of the chalice are emptied, it’s gone, and it’s almost gone! But the trick is not to refresh the cup with clean water while it still has residuals in it. Rather, the trick is to literally turn the vessel over and get in there with our human-made scrub brushes and polishing machines, and our love and worth and godliness, and take responsibility for making sure our beloved Holy Grail is pristine and smooth and spotless before we turn the chalice back over and begin filling it up with the clean and pure refreshing waters of universal life. There are many ways for us to take responsibility in the cleaning up phase of humanity at the bottom of the Holy Grail that will literally have us ascending out of the chalice so we may begin anew. Forgiveness is the fastest way to cleaning up the anxiety of our souls. Let go of shame and blame and fear, and extend yourself with love. Taking care of the plants and animals and each other, in ways that nurture and sustain is a great way to help. Teach your children, by your own example, how to not only love your pets, but to take care of their immediate needs who depend on you, such as keeping clean litter boxes, filling up food and water dishes, giving dogs and cats and horses and other domestic animals good environments in which to live in and exercise by, say by extending pastures, freeing wildlife from pens because we think the little bunnies, for example, are so cute, when in fact we hardly pay attention to them and their dirty cages. Pick up litter in your community, and don’t complain about those who have left it behind. Rather, do it because it makes you feel good to see it cleaned up. You can always wash your hands later.

I literally use water as a means to cleanse, whether it be in filling up the bathtub, or a washing machine, or turning on the hose to water plants. I use it as a metaphor when cleaning up humanities residuals. I just think of the water as a scouring agent, especially when I open the drain on the bathtub or flush the toilet, seeing all the waste and grunge being transported out of here with a flow that washes away the grime. When I drink water, I see it filling me up with crystal bubbles of love, that literally make me feel refreshed in ways I didn’t know I could experience, but yet I experience them with water, the great purifier.  When I fill up my gas tank I think of gold filling up my car, and filling up me, using these symbols as a game that delivers. When I walk by the power plant that this community so heartily protested against, but yet, came in the end, I use it as a power source for me to surge in, taking its power into my being when I walk past it out in the country with the dogs, making me feel all-God powerful, instead of complaining that it’s there providing for our electrical needs, even when I know that the solar of our sun could be providing that for free.

Treating others the way you want to be treated is huge, because you’re offering yourself up as an example for others to live by, and because it’s nice to be nice. Everyone is related as the one family of God that we are, and so why not just be kind. Our smiles in recognition of one another, as gods, knowing that we all matter can literally change our world, especially when we do it with gratitude. Therefore, give gratitude freely to yourself and each other, and to God, who created this glorious life. Step away from your fallacies, knowing that our mistakes are really the tools for us to grow by. Embracing a new revelation of love is the most courageous thing we humans can do right now. It is with this wonder of love’s power, along with the opening up of our unlimited minds to our glory and grandeur that will take us home to the light. Fill up your Holy Grail with the giving of yourselves, with good thoughts and creative thinking, and drink in the holy elixir of life. Let us offer a toast to life’s blessings, including our Universal Life to come!

Case Study,
Anti Corruption
Commission

Mahmudur Rahman

It is September, the month that ended with the beginning of the suicide attempt and the revelation. A year ago today I was floating along life's busy highway without any idea of the head on collision that lay ahead on the road. It was if my life--our life--was on a collision path with a semi or a train and there we were naively marching right into it.

A year ago my daughter seemed to be doing well. New job and stable in her life. No way did any of us--not even her boyfriend--know what was ahead. Then on that day, something went horribly wrong. Often I have asked myself "Why that day?" but there is no answer. The load she carried all these years, the turmoil, the pain, the sorrow, the burden finally built up and gave way. When it gave way, she just wanted to stop it and so tried to stop her life.

The scars remain on her arms. The sorrow remains in all of hearts, but we are healing. She is at a new job and today she is going to a local fair with us. The family is healing and our love has grown.

I will keep writing. I still want to hear from other mothers and from children who have been sexually abused. I still feel together we help each other and together we can fight to protect others from enduring this horrible crime.

I am still not sure if I was retreating or hiding by not writing over these past weeks. Even as I type these words, I know there really is no hiding or retreating for either my daughter or me--for none of us. When a child is sexually abused, it weaves into the life cloth of all who know and love the child. There is no retreat and there is no hiding, but there is survival, healing, and love.