The Feminine Whisperers

Female Energies are Returning to a Balance - it will be okay!

2011-01-10T15:45:00Z

Hi, my children - Natalie, Monica and Keith!

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Get-Started-Take-Debbie-Fords-21-Day-Consciousness-Cleanse

This looks really interesting and may be uplifting to the feminine part of our spirit as we face all the trials we go through with our relationships here on earth.

Monica is familiar with Debbie Ford from working in Midland at the dentist office. Debbie Ford was the Life Coach for some of the women in her office.

Oprah really supports her work. I just received this in an email from Oprah's Spirit Newsletter. You can sign up for Oprah's Spirit Newletter that comes every week with very uplifting and supportive resources for spiritual growth.

http://www.oprah.com/spirit.html - subscribe to the newletter on the right.

Women really need extra spiritual support in this world, men too, but especially women because the female energy has been so abused and repressed for thousands of years in time on earth. The ego has dominated our consciousness and the female energy is the most threatening to the ego's survival, that is why women are attacked so much in so many important areas of their lives. The men also reap the consequences of the lack of feminine energies in that love and peace are covered over with strong tendencies for aggression, attack, and power.

The male energy does not seem to be as threatening to the survival of the ego and is not attacked so dramatically as female energies. Oprah recognizes this and that is why she offers so many spiritual resources to all, but especially for women. I think this is why Joyce Myers concentrates so much on helping women, too.

To you, Keith, my son, you have feminine energies in you too, just as women have male engeries. The split-apart masculine and feminine energies are so out of balance in all of us that the ego reigns in our consciousness and causes great inequality and unhappiness on earth. The feminine side of energy needs to be released in our men as well as in women. Those acknowledging and returning the balance to the feminine energies are the ones who will lead the way back to love and peace.

Knowing how to do all this is what God is showing us now. A major shift is happening to balance our energies and usher back in the love and peace that the ego has hidden in time from all of us. This may be hard to understand but it will become clearer and clearer. We will lead the way for our sons and daughters. So hang in there and have hope!

Thank you for making my birthday so special. I love my sweet daughters and son so much. We will make it through all this disillusionment.

We do not take this journey alone!

Love you,

Mom

Light Flurries: The Glimpse of Shining Glory

2011-01-03T01:24:00Z

An Experience with my Dad after his Triple Bypass Heart Surgery

by Debbie

A snow flurry is a brief instance of light snow. A light flurry is a brief glimpse of seeing true holiness shining through.

I experienced one of these "Light Flurries" with my Dad after his triple bypass heart surgery this past September of 2010.

Going to Be with Dad for His Heart Surgery

All four kids were called to my Dad's bedside in the hospital where he lives in west Texas. His heart was giving out. He needed quadruple bypass surgery. I was the first to arrive at the hospital after a 4-hour drive. I rushed in to the hospital only to find that my Dad was insisting on checking out of the hospital, as he did not trust the doctor's procedures and, therefore, did not trust his diagnosis. His brother, Bob, was there along with Geri, Dad's wife. They both said we could only go along with Dad's wishes and that is what we did. We all went back to Dad's house and all the rest of the family arrived.  Three of us kids stayed at a motel for the next few days to see what Dad needed.

It was finally decided to go to the VA hospital in San Antonio, straight to the emergency room. Still Dad would not go on the day this was decided. He wanted to eat breakfast together the next morning and then drive over together. So we all gathered back together at a nearby small cafe that he frequented almost every morning. We had a great breakfast, then followed each other on the highway to San Antonio to take Dad to the emergency room in the VA hospital. One of the kids, Dad's only son, David, went on ahead with his girlfriend and bought some groceries and wanted us to come by for a light lunch before we headed to the VA hospital. Dad wanted to do this too. Patience was given by all and nothing was forced on Dad to do anything he didn't want to do.

As we were sitting around the apartment together sharing a light meal, there was an unusually close fellowship for all of us. Dad was calm, relaxed and enjoying all his kids together at last. We laughed and shared stories. We had not been all together for many years. There was an unusual calm about the situation, as if there was no emergency at all, and we had all the time we needed.

It finally came time to go to the emergency room and they admitted Dad right away. They sent for the test from the previous hospital because they didn't want to put his body through that again. It worked out that a friend offered to go by the hospital and pick them up. There is another story here but I won't go into that. Dad's current doctors decided that Dad needed a triple bypass and it was scheduled for a few days later in the week. We all visited Dad round the clock and took turns, with Sherry and her husband, Bill, being there most of the time. It was such a long drawn-out ordeal that Donna and I had to return back to work and drive back to San Antonio in the evenings. His surgery went well and he was in the hospital recovering for several days.

The Glimpse of Dad's Shining Glory

My spiritual experience with Dad was toward the end of that recovery time in the hospital. He was feeling a little better and out of intensive care. His room had four beds but all were empty, so we had the room to ourselves. All of us were there sitting around on the beds and in chairs. It was late afternoon and the sun was shining in the window behind Dad's bed. There was a lull in the conversation, and I looked at Dad closely. I had read in a book that when someone is close to death, sometimes, if you pay close enough attention, you can get a glimmer of their spiritual essence.  I had been very observant of Dad with keen awareness from the very beginning. Now I gazed at him even more intently looking to see if that doorway was there.

Dad was quietly looking around, and then I witnessed the blueness of his eyes becoming so brilliant that it filled the openings to where there was no white showing at all. It was such an intense blue that even a blue vapor-like mist floated from his eyes and hung in the air around his face. I was taken aback. He began to have a golden glow all over his body and his skin was a healthy bronze. His hair was a little longer and so blonde that it glistened. He was sitting there in a white robe and his physique was strong, and he looked so powerful yet very gentle. He looked at me and smiled like he knew I was seeing him in his glory. At that moment, I felt such love and devotion to him. I knew we connected in a mighty way on the soul level. My heart leaped for joy and gratitude for this vision in my Dad.

Then the most beautiful thing happened for me. As I saw Dad in all his shining glory, I fully realized that the wall, the great barrier, I had built between us was not real. All the things that I thought brought hurt and suffering were not even really there. They were an illusion that just crumbled before the shining glory of who he really is in this Divine vision.  I knew, without a doubt, that we had engaged in spiritual work together here on earth and it was completed.  I saw him in all his splendor, shining and full of light and love, an ancient Self on a mission. A mission completed and I experienced complete forgiveness in a way that I had not ever understood.  I also experienced a loving devotion to Dad for here and now. All this happened in a matter of seconds or minutes. It seemed as if time had stood still, and I think it did.

I looked around the room and no one else seemed to notice the exchange that was happening. I didn't speak of it then. In fact, I only briefly mentioned it later on to a few others. I did not tell Dad about it at all at the time it happened or for a few months. In fact, today is the day I actually told him the experience over the phone. I wanted to tell him in person but it worked out to tell him on the phone. That is close enough.

Telling Dad about the Experience

I'm not sure why I took so long to tell Dad. I realized this experience was not for me alone. It must be shared with Dad. It took several nudgings by the spirit before I began to initiate telling him. Not that I wanted to keep this from him, but I wanted time to think about it, to understand it. Also, I wasn't sure if others would believe me. I realized all that did not matter. It was time to share it with Dad. After the experience, I read in a book that such experiences are called "Light Episodes." When I read that I knew that is what I experienced. Some of you may be familiar with the book, A Course in Miracles. The description can be found in the Workbook - Lesson 15. Before the experience, I had not read about Light Epidsodes. Now, I know why. I got to experience it, then the book confirmed it. I love when that happens. It rings so true.

I wrote on Dad's facebook wall on Friday:

Hi Dad! HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! Hope you and Geri had a good Christmas. Sherry, Bill, Bill's son and daughter-in-law, Donna, Ivy, David and I had lunch together right before Christmas in San Antonio. We missed you and wished you and Geri were there. Hope you are getting your strength back.

I have something I want to tell you about when we see each other next, it was about when you had your surgery. Remember when you said you felt someone holding your hand when you were about to be operated on, and you opened your eyes to see who it was and no one was there. My story is along the same lines about you, and I can't wait to tell you.

Dad, I love you so much. I hope you are at peace because you as so very loved by all of us, and especially by your new puppy!

Dad called me on Sunday, today, and said he read what I wrote on facebook and asked me to tell him about it. I was thrilled that he wanted to know. So I began with saying that I was really paying attention to him all through that time he was going through his "heart surgery experience" and noticed how peaceful, gentle and calm he was with all of us kids and grandkids. It was beautiful to see and experience all of us together again in such harmony. I call it a "heart surgery experience" and it was on many levels. I reminded my Dad of him telling me someone was holding his hand before surgery and when he looked no one was there. He began to tell me that many things like that has happened throughout his life. He recounted his experience with polio and his mother's prayers for healing and prosperity for him. He also told of a time when he was younger and in a pasture with a bull who he thought was going to gore him to death. He said he dropped to his knees to pray for deliverance, and the bull just stopped and walked away. He's no stranger to mystical experiences.

I told him almost word for word what I saw and experienced as I explained it above. It moved my Dad to tears. I told him what a beautiful soul he is and how strong and powerful. He asked what he looked like. I described his brilliant blue eyes and his glowing golden hair and skin. I told him of his powerful physique and of his love and gentleness. I shared that he was dressed in a white Heavenly robe. He cried and I cried. He said his hair looked like that when he was younger. I explained to him that he was doing powerful work here on earth and he was a great teacher. He asked if I meant when us kids were younger? I said you were a great teacher then, too. Dad asked me if I would write this for him to let his family and friends see. I told him I would. He makes me smile.

What Forgiveness Means to Me Now

I told Dad I believe we came to be together on earth for him to teach me what true forgiveness means. It's not that I forgive this wrong and that wrong ... it's that all the hurt and suffering crumbles in a pile of dust before the glory of Heaven. I forgive myself and others that we believed in them so strongly. They are just an illusion that separates us here on earth for awhile. When we see each other in all our glory, the trivial will fall away and only love and devotion to each other remain. That is what is real and everlasting, not any quibbling over the temporary that does not matter or last.

I am applying what I learned with Dad in all my relationships, including my relationship with myself. I realized that if I can experience this pristine forgiveness with Dad, I can do it here and now with anyone. We all can experience this now, forgiving the belief in the illusion that keeps us separate from each other. The walls will crumble now. We don't have to wait until we leave this earth.

Dad and I communicated on many levels on the phone today. On the earthly level, we shared our story of love and forgiveness. On the spiritual level, we acknowledged and commended each other for a job well done. I told him he was an excellent spiritual teacher. Mission accomplished.

In remembering the Divine in all of us,

Debbie
www.thefemininewhisperers.net

The Little Girl That Time Forgot

2010-12-30T13:00:00Z

March 16, 2010

Hello my dearest little girl,

I am sending you this letter to let you know that I love you with all my heart. I am here now to protect you and will love you and keep you safe. We are together now and you can be free. Free to be an adventurous fun-spirited little girl full of innocence and curiosity about a nurturing, loving, welcoming world. You are not lost anymore or confined to a small dark space. You are a full participant in our beautiful world full of love and music and whatever you want it to be. I am the loving nurturing grown-up to help that happen for you.

Just always know this: Nothing was your fault, nothing you did or said caused any of this to happen. You are innocence. You are love. You are free. If your body naturally reacted, it is working the way it was made to work, and that it happened prematurely is no fault of yours. Again, that your body even reacted is not your fault. You are precious and very lovable and so very worthy of your own love as well as my love. We are complete. We are whole. My whole world revolves around us. Welcome home, finally!

I hold you close to me, right next to me. I love you as much as I possibly can, but you are still outside of me. I now break open my heart to you and you enter in. I breathe you into my whole being and we merge together in every cell of our body. The space and the water of each of us come together and we become one. You give me life and feelings back. You bring wonderment and curious playfulness into every cell of our body. Our energy merges and beautiful glowing light showers on us and permeates our being. It heals us and brings us rich gifts and abilities to be creative, intuitive, light-hearted, and healers. We have safety now as well as the glowing health of the source. We can breathe deeply and embrace life. We need no more layers to filter the detrimental blows to our body and mind. We are free to fully be alive and fully participate in all dimensions of Life.

The vast intelligence that WE ARE flows in this existence freely and harmoniously with All That Is. We are ONE heart, ONE Love. We shine. We glow. We are free!

I am here. Come to Life in me. I need you as much as you need me. I have been waiting so, so long for you. Thank you for being so patient.

All my love,

Debbie
http://thefemininewhisperers.net

(I mailed this to myself after a phone session with Luis. I still cry when I read it. It is beautifully healing.)

Contemplation Aligns Us with Context

2010-10-09T11:55:00Z

A Contemplative Life:

Alignment with Context
not Content

"Study, concentration, and attention tend to narrow focus and emphasize content and details, whereas contemplation is aligned with the overall field and its contextualization of significance, meaning, and value." (p. 214, Discovery of the Presence of God by Dr. David R. Hawkins)

First you may ask, "What is the overall field with which one is aligned in a contemplative life?" The overall field is what many call God or God-consciousness. Dr. Hawkins, affectionately called "The Doc", describes in great awareness the overall field in his teachings and books. In other words, you could say that you are in alignment with the journey of the Soul and not the illusory ego-self of this world that claims false power and authority.

Thinking back on a conversation I had several years ago, I remember the surprise I had over an answer I gave to someone very close to me at the time. We were discussing what are the major influences on our behavior. As it came my turn to put into words the underlying influences of my behavior, I explained to him that I had a high calling to which I am compelled to live my life. So when faced with decision in every day existence, I feel the pull of two natures. One nature is the pull of activity in the physical world to take care of my physical and emotional needs as I live with myself and others close to me. The other nature is the over-arching nature to which I am committed as a spiritual being and recognizing I'm not just a physical being.

I could see that he was not fully understanding the context in which I lived my life. I went on to explain that when asked to engage in behavior that sets off red flags for me, I look to both natures in making life decisions. On the one hand, my physical nature may be enticed but a small whisper comes from within prompting me to check if it's in alignment with my higher spiritual nature. Now I have a context from which to make my choice. If I choose poorly, the prompting from within will pull me back into alignment with my spiritual nature. As I mature, I make better choices that don't have such toxic consequences for all involved. Even more so, I find that I am not even faced with as many choices, and my life just flows more and more in alignment with my higher spiritual nature.

Now several years later, after studying Eckhart Tolle's teachings in great depth, I am brought face-to-face with Dr. David R. Hawkins' teachings of Radical Nonduality. Although I have a spiritual context by which I live my life and have studied, in depth, the evolution of the ego and its corresponding suffering, I have not been so inspired to take the teachings to the level of "Radical Nonduality" as I have been with Dr. Hawkins' spiritual teachings. I feel such gratitude to my "future pull" in aligning me with an even more expanded context with which to live for as long as I'm here on earth. There are many from all over the world studying these teachings. We have a local Hawkins' group here in Austin TX I love to be with.

I hope to write more as I journey on the radical path!

In love, light, and lightness,

Debbie
www.thefemininewhispers.net

Portals into the Unmanifested, Ch. 7 Power of Now

2010-07-15T02:16:17Z

Austin Eckhart Tolle Presence Meetup Group

Chapter 7 from The Power of Now
"Portals into the Unmanifested"
preceded by a meditation.

We viewed Eckhart Tolle TV - "Portals into the Now" last week.
This chapter will expand on those teachings.

Ch. 7, p. 131 - THE SOURCE OF CHI
"The unmanifested is the source of chi. Chi is the inner energy field of the body. It is the bridge between you and the Source."

"Chi is movement; the Unmanifested is stillness. When you reach a point of absolute stillness, which is nevertheless vibrant with life, you have gone beyond the inner body and beyond chi to the Source itself: the Unmanifested. Chi is the link between the Unmanifested and the physical universe.

So if you take your attention deeply into the inner body, you may reach this point, this singularity, where the world dissolves into the Unmanifested and the Unmanifested takes on the form as the energy stream of chi, which then becomes the world. This is the point of birth and death. When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realizes its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested. Then, when your consciousness comes back to the manifested world, you reassume the form identity that you temporarily relinquished."

P. 141 - "What appears to us as space in our universe perceived through the mind and the senses is the Unmanifested itself, externalized. It is the "body" of God. And the greatest miracle is this: That stillness and vastness that enables the universe to be is not just out there in space -- it is also within you."

QUESTIONS: So, what is the significance for us to cross the bridge to the Unmanifest and then reassume the form identity? What are the benefits we receive? Please share your insights.

Meditation: Going Deeply into the Body　

Practice "Following the Breath" before we start:

Breathing through the nose, sense the temperature and vibration of the air flow in the nose area at the intake of the breath. Follow with your awareness as the breath moves into and through the passageway. Feel the fullness of the force of air widening the nostrils and the opening at the throat area; listen to the breath as it passes. Feel the gentle expansion begin in the upper lungs and allow it to stretch to its capacity, then, at the same instant, feel the breath as it goes deeper and deeper filling up the space of the lower lungs and fully expanding the abdomen. Gently let the breath expand the abdomen to its very fullest extent and pause at this "pinnacle point" of breath awareness to encounter the fullness. The entire chest and abdomen are expanded to its capacity. Acknowledge this fullness and rest here for as long as you can, counting to 6 or so. Anticipate the out breath flow and then begin a gentle exhalation. Be aware of the vibration and temperature of the releasing breath as the chest and abdomen begin to fall back to normal positioning, but press on still further to release the breath to the extent that the space of the lungs and abdomen almost collapse, emptying every last bit of air that is there. Listen to the breath as it is totally relinquished from the body. Acknowledge this divine space and rest here for a count of 6, and then ever so gently breathe in a little to return to normal breathing.

Now, let’s begin the Inner Body Meditation:

Sit up, let your hands relax in your lap, and don’t lean back against your chair. Keep the spine erect to stay alert. Or, you can choose your own favorite position for meditation. Make sure the body is relaxed. Close your eyes. Using the "Following the Breath" practice, let’s take a few deep breaths counting to 6 during the inhalation, 6 at the pinnacle point, 6 again during the exhalation, and finally count to 6 when all the air is extinguished from the body.

As we breathe in, let’s follow our breath with our awareness from the tip of our nose to deep within the abdomen. Observe how it expands and contracts with each in breath and out breath. Don’t think about it – feel it. Feel the life energy inside your body. By doing this we reclaim consciousness from the mind. We are leaving behind the deadening world of mental abstractions, of time. We are getting out of the insane mind that is draining us of life energy, just as it is slowly poisoning and destroying the Earth. We are awakening out of the dream of time into the present and coming to know that we are beyond this outer form. Reclaiming consciousness from the mind is one of the most essential tasks of our spiritual journey. It is essential to bring more consciousness into our life. It generates an energy field in us and around us of a high vibrational frequency. No unconsciousness, no negativity or violence can enter this field and survive, just as darkness cannot survive in the presence of light.

When the breath is soft and full, it can attract our awareness deep inside the divine temple of our inner body, where it can help awaken our inner dimensions of spaciousness and silence. The energy of breathing, when it is experienced in the full light of our consciousness, can help animate and harmonize our Being at every level. We cannot underestimate its power.

As we begin to observe more clearly these movements of our breathing, we may start to experience a sense of energy deep in our abdomen. During the in breath, you may feel this energy filling your entire abdomen. During the out breath, you may feel the energy becoming more compact and concentrated.

Really bring our awareness to this sense of energy. Feel the energy being absorbed into the cells of our body. Feel the aliveness of the energy field in our inner body. Merge with the energy field. Become one with it, so that there is no longer a perceived duality of the observer and the observed. The distinction between inner and outer also dissolves now, so there is no inner body anymore. By going deeply into the body, we have transcended the body

Stay in this realm of pure Being for as long as feels comfortable. Now we will have a time of silence.

Become aware of our physical body again, of our breathing and physical senses, and open your eyes. Look at your surroundings for a few minutes in a meditative way – that is, without labeling them mentally, and continue to feel the inner body as you do so. We have entered a Portal into the Unmanifested.　

Benefits of Entering the Portal

Having access to that formless realm is truly liberating. It frees you from bondage to form and identification with form.

It is the realm of deep stillness and peace, but also of joy and intense aliveness.

It is the bridge between the outer you and the Source.

You are not the same person as you were before. You will have glimpsed a reality within yourself that is not "of this world," although it isn’t separate from it, just as it is not separate from you.

You draw from it the vital energy. This energy is much more vital than food: "Man does not live by bread alone."

You will know the truth directly.

Keeping the portal open at all times connects us directly with the vital energy needed that is timeless. It also connects us through our sensory realm to feel the God-essence in all that is. "All that is, is holy." "Split a piece of wood, I am there. Lift up a stone and you will find me there."

Our form identity softens and becomes somewhat "transparent" so the Unmanisfested can shine through us.

As soon as one of the portals is open, Love is present in you as the ‘feeling-realization’ of Oneness. Love isn’t a portal; it’s what comes through the portal into this world.

Our physical bodies of almost 100 % space are like a vibrational musical note upon which the Source plays its Love Song. Space is the infinite creative womb of all existence. Space is the body of God, the space without and within.

We are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important we are!

love, light, and lightness,

Debbie
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net

To the REAL Jonathan Seagull, who lives Within us ALL

2010-03-07T00:45:00Z

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
by Richard Bach

"When they hear of it, he thought of the Breakthrough, they'll be wild with joy. How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there's a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!" p. 30-31

"A seagull never speaks back to the Council Flock, but it was Jonathan's voice raised, 'Irresponsibility? My brother!" he cried. 'Who is more responsible tha a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live--to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I've found ...

The Flock might as well have been stone.
'The Brotherhood is broken,' the gulls intoned
together, and with one accord they solemnly
closed their ears and turned their backs upon
him.

... His sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see.

... What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid.

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with these gone from his thoughts, he lived a long fine life indeed." p 39-41

"He spoke of very simple things--that it is right for a gull to fly, that freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form." p. 114

"Are we ahead of our time? ...Well, this kind of flying has always been here to be learned by anybody who wanted to discover it; that's got nothing to do with time. We're ahead of the fashion maybe. Ahead of the way that most gulls fly." p. 115

"Oh, Fletch, you don't love that! You don't love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That's what I mean by love. It's FUN when you get the knack of it." p. 123

I was in my junior year in high school in English. We were studying this book in literature class. After studying it for several days and watching the movie, the teacher was talking with another teacher and pulled me aside. She asked me to tell her and the other teacher what I thought the book was about. I gave a very concrete answer and said it's about a bunch of seagulls learning how to fly.

She smiled at me and looked at the other teacher. I watched their exchange of facial expressions and I knew my answer was somewhat lacking. My teacher said thank you and I could go back to my desk. I knew I had witnessed something important to my life but I had no idea what it was at that young tender age. I had a knowingness that told me to make a mental note and never forget this book. It is important to me. I knew there was something much deeper to the meaning of the book from that moment on.

As the years passed, I noticed anything related to the book but didn't do much with it. In 1991, I bought a new copy of the book and reread it. I didn't underline anything or write in the margins, but I could see deeper into the meaning. Since 1991, my life has taken such an unforseen turn which has brought me, again, full circle to my little book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

As I watched the above video, my heart soared to the heights on the wings of Jon, the seagull. I found my copy of the book I bought in 1991 and just sat down and reread it. I can assure you, passages are underlined and there are many notes in the margin this time. What a beautiful journey! My heart overflows with gratitude for my English teacher prompting me to pay attention to this book. It feels much like my journey in this life. I'm not sure my teacher consciously knew the impact she would have on me with her questioning, but the Consciousness which came through her knew for sure. We are awakening!

As we travel this journey together,

Debbie

http://TheFeminineWhisperers.net
http://meetup.com/PresencePower/about
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-CMR-Process-CELLULAR-MEMORY-RELEASE/500482970380?ref=mf
http://serreal.ning.com/profile/TheFeminineWhisperers

Flowering Human Consciousness

2010-02-21T01:36:00Z

Life Forms:
Temporary manifestations of the underlying one Life, one Consciousness, Spirit, Divine, Essence

Critical Threshold:
Conditions reached that are favorable for widespread flowering to occur in a life form on Earth

Transformation:
An evolutionary progression, or even more radical is a discontinuity in its development. The life
form may leap to an entirely different level of Being and, most importantly, a lessening of materiality.

Life Forms
Critical Threshold
Transformation
Plants as green
vegetation
Weather conditions, oxygen increased, carbon-dioxide decrease
Widespread flowering of plants in an explosion of colors and scent with delicate petals, almost transparent

Rocks
Inconceivable heat and pressure
      Crystals, almost transparent

Carbon

     Diamonds

Heavy Minerals

      Precious Stones
Crawling Reptilians
Atmospheric changes,Need for mobility, Hunger, Weather changes
     Grew wings
     and became birds, thus
     defying the force of gravity
     that had held them for so
     long. They didn’t become
     better at crawling orwalking
     but transcended crawling
     and walking entirely.

Human Beings
       Certain degree of
       Presence reached, Global
       Internet, great
       suffering,destruction,
       television, stress,
       materialism, climate
       changes, environmental
       changes, object
       proliferation


Space-consciousness, less density, more transparent, lessening of materiality and materialism, possible discontinuity of evolutionary process due to a leap to an entirely different level of Being, a change in molecular structure, defy force of gravity and earth-bound time, sweetness and beauty not of this world
How will humans take on these qualities of transformation?      What will we look like? What will we be like?

Eckhart states on p. 21: What is arising now is not a new belief system, a new religion, spiritual ideology, or mythology. We are coming to the end not only of mythologies but also of ideologies and belief systems. The change goes deeper than the content of your mind, deeper than your thoughts. In fact, at the heart of the new consciousness lies the transcendence of thought, the newfound ability of rising above thought, of realizing a dimension within yourself that is infinitely more vast than thought.
The inner realm of Consciousness is where The New Earth emerges, from within, from the New Heaven which is our transformed state of Consciousness. The New Earth will be the outer manifestation in form of the transformed Consciousness within.

The Arising New Consciousness

Object-Consciousness
to

       Space-Consciousness
Object proliferation
to
       Expansiveness, free of
       materialism and materiality
Thought domination
to
       Stillness with creative and
       practical use of mind
doing, doing, doing
to
      Being with a sweetness and
      beauty not of this world
Fear-based system
to
     Love and abundance
A new species is arising on the planet. It is arising now, and we are it!

Debbie

http://TheFeminineWhisperers.net
http://meetup.com/PresencePower/about
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-CMR-Process
http://SerReal.ning.com

The Real Jim Carrey Waking Up

2010-01-24T18:39:00Z

Jim Carrey on Awakening and Eckhart Tolle's Teachings

http://enter.eckharttolletv.com

See Jim Carrey go deep and speak candidly from his soul level. He and his wife, Jenny McCarthy,
have supported their son through a diagnosis of Autism with a ferocious determination to rise
above the effects of what many children experience when faced with Autism in their life. This
couple faces ups and downs so like the rest of us. What is different in their life from the
average couple is an opening to a deeper awareness, a more authentic place of beingness,
and having glimpses of the expansiveness of who we truly are as our abiding essential self.

Hear Jim tell of his childhood worries and how he’d write on a legal pad in his room to try to
figure out the answers to what his life was all about, and how his life could have value and
meaning in his mother’s eyes. Jim tears up and his voice quivers as he recounts the story.

He goes on to say that after immersing himself in reading Eckhart Tolle’s books, one night
he had "the glimpse". It was the kind of "glimpse of awakening" where there is no going back.
Many mystics throughout the ages have experienced these "glimpses" and then go on to spend
the rest of their lives trying to get back there again. Jim Carrey must understand their dilemma
because he went on to say, "…and I’ve been trying to get back there ever since."

Of course, he said it in his wonderfully humorous way that only he can say it. Although I’ve heard
his wife, Jenny McCarthy, impersonate her husband being humorous on Oprah. Actually she was
quite good at it ... with all the mannerisms and voice inflection and everything. It was very funny to
see her do that. What a lovely couple and how their journey has helped them arrive at awakening
is very powerful indeed.

We are creating the "New Earth" of which Eckhart Tolle so fondly and profoundly speaks.

The YouTube video clips of Jim Carrey were recorded at the 2009 Inaugural GATE Event
(Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment). The live video was shot and produced
by Eckhart Tolle TV. Eckhart Tolle TV is an online video network offering transformational video
content featuring Eckhart Tolle & Kim Eng.

The Eckhart Tolle video included with Jim Carrey's clips is from the
July 2009 Issue on Eckhart Tolle TV. This is the preview, see the full
talk at: http://www.eckharttolletv.com

In the video clip, Eckhart describes why the collapse of ego-based
institutions is absolutely necessary for the planet and for humanity to survive.

As we go on this journey together, the divine in me
acknowledges and honors the divine in you!

Debbie @
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/EckhartTeachings/about

Getting Started with Eckhart Tolle’s Teachings!

2010-01-24T02:52:45Z

Just Getting Started with Eckhart Tolle Teachings! Have you read one of Eckhart Tolle's books, or, perhaps, participated in Oprah's 10-week online webcast of A NEW EARTH? Are you ready to integrate these teachings into your life … to discover the freedom and joy of living "IN THE NOW" and to enhance your understanding that this is the key to ending conflict and suffering in the your life and in the world? There's no need to "go it alone" with all the resources available today. Eckhart Tolle speaks in all his books to living life from Being which is an evolution of the the way most of us currently experience Consciousness today. We live in the survival mode which has insured survival of the human species on the physical level, but we now feel the evolutionary pull of Consciousness taking us even fuller into who we really are as Conscious Beings here on earth. Living from Being is a whole new experience of life that transcends suffering, pain, arguments and power games. In his book, Practicing the Power of Now, Eckhart explains it like this: "Having gone beyond the mind-made opposites, you become like a deep lake. The outer situation of your life, whatever happens there, is the surface of the lake. Sometimes calm, sometimes windy and rough, according to the cycles and seasons. Deep down, however, the lake is always undisturbed. You are the whole lake, not just the surface, and you are in touch with your own depth, which remains absolutely still." He goes on to say: "You don't resist change by mentally clinging to any situation. Your inner peace does not depend on it. You abide in Being -- unchanging, timeless, deathless -- and you are no longer dependent for fulfillment or happiness on the outer world of fluctuating forms. You can enjoy them, play with them, create new forms, appreciate the beauty of it all. But there will be no need to attach yourself to any of it." "As long as you are unaware of Being, the reality of other humans will elude you, because you have not found your own. Your mind will like or dislike their form, which is not just their body but includes their mind as well. True relationships become possible only when there is an awareness of Being." "Coming from Being, you will perceive another person's body and mind as just a screen, as it were, behind which you can feel their true reality, as you feel yours. So, when confronted with someone else's surffering or unconscious behavior, you stay present and in touch with Being and are thus able to look beyond the form and feel the other person's radiant and pure Being through your own." At the level of Being, all suffering is recognized as an illusion. Suffering is due to identification with form. Miracles of healing sometimes occur through this realization, by awakening Being-consciousness in others -- if they are ready."

"THE WORLD CAN ONLY CHANGE FROM WITHIN." ~ ECKHART TOLLE
Some resources: Click here for 10-week webcast on Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth
Click here to Awaken Your Spirit - How A New Earth Changed People Around the World

Oprah’s Soul Series Webcast with the leading spiritual thinkers, teachers and authors to talk about matters of the soul. Now, she and spiritual teacher Elizabeth Lesser talk with students who have experienced aha! moments after watching and listening to the webcast. Listeners reflect on their own spiritual journeys and talk about Soul Series guests who have struck a chord with their spirits, including:

Eckhart Tolle - Wayne Dyer - Sarah Ban Breathnach - Dr. Larry Dossey - Jon Kabat-Zinn - Jill Bolte Taylor - Byron Katie - Rodger Kamenetz - The Rev. Ed Bacon

Click here for Eckhart's Recommended List of Books to Read

Click here for Eckhart Tolle Teachings on YouTube

Eckhart Tolle TV: Creating a New Earth Together
Serving global awakening through online teachings of Eckhart Tolle

Click here for EckhartTolleTV.com

Unlimited access to a private seminar series: each issue features a new, exclusive- to-this-site 60 to 90-minute streaming video with Eckhart Tolle
Unlimited access to online community to chat with members worldwide
Submit questions for Eckhart to answer in upcoming recordings—and become eligible for a seat in the audience
Eckhart will lead live online group meditations once per month
Exclusive content from Kim Eng
Receive 10% off Sounds True merchandise
There are three ways to subscribe. You can pay a monthly issue rate of $14.95 or pay $74.75 and get 6 issues for the price of 5, or $89.95 which gives you streaming access and both audio and video digital downloads of the material

Here's to Enjoyment and Enthusiasm!

~ Namaste

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers

A Happier You - Excavating Who We Truly Are

2009-07-29T16:53:00Z

"We cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday
pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world
grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself."

From the Inaugural Address
U.S. President Barack Obama
January 20, 2009

We are living in a time of unprecedented change; a perfect time to go deep to who we really are ... awakening ourselves from the constraints of biological and social conditioning, and engaging a higher level of consciousness for all sentient beings here on earth.

Can we now envision a world in which our oneness with each other and all of creation is not subject to question?

Can we now envision a world in which every living being understands, at their very core, that their life is assured of abundance, joy, peace, and creativity? Can we now envision a world where the notions of judgement, condemnation and superiority are regarded as the illusions they truly are? Our current state of change gives us an opportunity unlike that of any predecessors on this planet - to live out the simple statement, "We are all One." But how do we do this? How do we manifest this in external experience?

Eckhart Tolle explains, "What is arising now is not a new belief system, a new religion, spiritual ideology, or mythology. We are coming to the end of not only mythologies but also ideologies and belief systems. The change goes deeper than the content of your mind, deeper than your thoughts. In fact, at the heart of the new consciousness lies the transcendence of thought, the newfound ability of rising above thought, of realizing a dimension in yourself that is infinitely more vast than thought.

You then no longer derive your identity, your sense of who you are, from the incessant stream of thinking that in the old consciousness you take to be yourself. What a liberation to realize that the "voice in my head" is not who I am.

Who am I then? The one who sees that. The awareness that is prior to thought, the space in which the thought -- or the emotion or sense perception happens."

The greatest GIFT to ourself and the world is to realize our inherent peace and joyfulness already deep within Life. It is such a valuable event for us to experience human life. Below are 10 potent practices from Eckhart Tolle to excavate who we truly are and uncover our happiness.

A Happier You!

from Eckhart Tolle's teachings

Don't seek happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.
The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here are my thoughts about it. Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example, "I am ruined" is a story. It limits you and prevents you from taking effective action. "I have 50 cents left in my bank account" is a fact. Facing facts is always empowering.
See if you can catch the voice in your head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a thought. Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice. In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker. In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind.
Wherever you look, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence for the reality of time—a rotting apple, your face in the bathroom mirror compared with your face in a photo taken 30 years ago—yet you never find any direct evidence, you never experience time itself. You only ever experience the present moment.
Why do anxiety, stress, or negativity arise? Because you turned away from the present moment. And why did you do that? You thought something else was more important. One small error, one misperception, creates a world of suffering.
People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe. It changes constantly. They look upon the present moment as either marred by something that has happened and shouldn't have or as deficient because of something that has not happened but should have. And so they miss the deeper perfection that is inherent in life itself, a perfection that lies beyond what is happening or not happening. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is untouched by time.
The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.
Equating the physical body with "I," the body that is destined to grow old, wither, and die, always leads to suffering. To refrain from identifying with the body doesn't mean that you no longer care for it. If it is strong, beautiful, or vigorous, you can appreciate those attributes—while they last. You can also improve the body's condition through nutrition and exercise. If you don't equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes, or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way. In fact, as the body begins to weaken, the light of consciousness can shine more easily.
You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge.
If peace is really what you want, then you will choose peace.

We've Turned Kingdoms to Dust in song by Michael Jackson

2009-06-28T03:31:00Z

WE'VE TURNED KINGDOMS TO DUST

His work to raise the collective awareness will live on!

"Earth Song" is the third single from Michael Jackson's album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. It is a ballad that incorporates elements of blues, gospel and opera. Jackson had a long-standing history of releasing socially conscious material such as "We Are the World", "Man in the Mirror" and "Heal the World". However, "Earth Song" was the first that overtly dealt with the environment and animal welfare. The song was written and composed by Jackson; the task of production was split between Jackson, David Foster and Bill Bottrell.

Reviews were generally favorable, but some charged that the song sounded pompous, even if unintentional. "Earth Song" was accompanied by a lavish music video shot on four geographical regions. It centered around the destruction and rebirth of Earth and went on to receive a Grammy nomination in 1997. The song was a top five hit in most European countries. In the UK, it remains Jackson's best-selling single. "Earth Song" was not released as a single in the United States.

Jackson performed the song at the 1996 BRIT Awards, but was interrupted when Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage, offended with the imagery presented. Jackson went on to receive recognition from various animal and environmental organizations.

The music video for "Earth Song," directed by Nick Brandt, was expensive and well-received; it gained a Le Film Fantastique: Best Video Award in 1996 and a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1997. The production had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution and war. Jackson and the world's people unite in a spiritual chant—"Earth Song"—which summons a force that heals the world. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, war ends and the forests regrow. The video closes with a request for donations to Jackson's Heal the World Foundation. The clip was shown infrequently in the United States.

The video was filmed in four geographic regions. The first location was the Amazon Rainforest, where a large part was destroyed a week after the video's completion. Natives of the region appeared in the video and were not actors. The second scene was a war zone in Croatia, with residents of the area. The third location was Tanzania, which incorporated scenes of illegal poaching and hunting into the video. No animals were harmed in the making of the "Earth Song", as the footage came from documentary archives. However, a poacher killed an elephant within a mile of the shot. The final location was in Warwick, New York, where a safe forest fire was simulated in a corn field.

~ from Wikipedia

Michael Jackson - Earth Song lyrics
Written and Composed by Michael Jackson
Produced by Michael Jackson

What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain...
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop this notice
This crying Earth this we make sure?
Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah

What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son...
What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth this we make sure?

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah

Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)
What about everything
(What about us)
I have given you
(What about us)
What about nature's worth
(ooo,ooo)
It's our planet's womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We're ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can't we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)
Can't you hear them cry
(What about us)
Where do we go wrong
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about baby boy
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
(What about us)
What about the men
(What about us)
What about the crying man
(What about us)
What about Abraham
(What was us)
What about death again
(ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaaah

In loving tribute,

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net

HOME the Movie of Planet Earth

2009-06-10T17:13:00Z

This planet is over 4 billion years-old and humans are only 200 thousand years-old.  Yet in the race for survival that, in the end, turned to greed, humans have wreaked the greatest amount of havoc to the balance of Planet Earth, with most of it being waged in the last 50 years ... just in the wink of an eye in Earth time.

The movie, HOME, takes its audience on an astounding aeirial view of Earth with an accompanying audio history describing a virus that is running amuck. The virus they are speaking of is humanity and it is spreading like cancer.

My sister just showed me an excerpt she copied that was posted where she works out. I think it is appropriate here, too.

"The greatest tragedy of life is not poverty, or hunger, or even death.

          (click here to watch full-length movie)

The great tragedy is that we could, but we don't; we should, but we won't. Within us all exists the capacity for uniqueness, for accomplishment, and for freedom from unwanted obligations. Beginning at this very moment, you need never be the same again -- except by choice. But again, the great tragedy speaks loudly. We could, but we don't; we should, but we won't."

We all feel it; we are living in an atmosphere like no other time in history. Carbon Dioxide is the highest it's ever been. Scientists tell us that we have a decade to change the way we live to avert the catastrophic and horrendous consequences of our planet's runaway climate. The stakes are high for Earth and all its inhabitants.

HOME is almost an "eulogy" to the planet and its beauty and delicate harmony. We are taken on a magic carpet ride over the landscapes of 54 countries. Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on a unique journey all around the planet to awaken us before it's too late. But the film HOME is more than a documentary, it is a mesmerizing history of a relatively short life form that is destroying everything in its path. We are in perilous times when Earth's most evolved creature, humans, are the very virus that is bringing on its own destruction and that of the Earth.

The aerial cinematography by photographer Yann Arthus-Betrand is stunning, often turning the most dismally wasted landscapes into abstractions of color and form. It is almost disturbing to see that there is beauty to be found even in environmental devastation, but only if you film it from far enough away.

By the film's end, it proclaims that "it's too late to be a pessimist." We've depleted the soil, chopped down tropical forests for palm oil plantations, triggered the Sixth Great Extinction of animals and plants in the Earth's history, hoarded wealth, built crowded megacities, left most of the swelling human population of six billion plus in poverty and environmental degradation, and tipped the climate's delicate balance toward runaway global warming. When you're on the bottom, we can only be like the trees, and look up to the sun where there is light.

French luxury conglomerate, PPR, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Sergio Rossi, Stella McCartney and other luxury brands, has financially backed the production and distribution of this eye-opening film about our earth and the damaging effects of global warming.

On June 5, World Environmental Day, the film debuted in 127 countries. It was directed by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Earth from Above) and produced by award-winning director Luc Besson (Taken, Subway, The Big Blue, Nikita, The Fifth Element), with the support of Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of PPR. The goal of the film is to raise awareness of our collective responsibility towards the planet - ouir HOME. Profits will be donated to Goodplanet.org  - a non-profit organization working to raise awareness of the disasterous state of our planet and the need for human intervention and responsibility. It was shot in high definition in 54 countries and 120 locations over 217 days. HOME is narrated in English by Glenn Close and in Spanish by Salma Hayek.

PPR's support of HOME has enabled this film to be free of distribution rights and it will be shown on TV, in open-air theaters, on the Internet in partnership with YouTube and Google, in theaters worldwide at a reduced rate and on DVD. In the United States, it was broadcasted on June 5 on the National Geographic Channel and shown at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. In New York City, it was shown at Central Park in Cedar Hill. You can also catch it on YouTube. It sells for $19.98 on DVD and fifteen percent of the studio's profits will go to Conservation International.

In the above film, HOME, they refer to "climate refugees." The articles referenced below by Peter Russell have valuable information on impending climate changes and carbon emissions.

Runaway Climate Change
The Most Dangerous Aspect of Global Warming
by Peter Russell http://www.peterrussell.com/Earth/RunawayCC.php

See: Carbon Sequestration | BioChar
And Also: Fly or Drive? | Free Energy?-No Thanks!

It is time, indeed, to come together to make a big difference, and so many are aware of this in their hearts, all over the world. I liked the optimism at the end of the movie. Let's radically change our consumerism!

Here's a quote from the movie: "The engine of life is linkage, evrything is linked. Nothing is self-sufficient. Water and air are inseparable, united in life and FOR our life on Earth. Sharing is everything!"

In our hearts we have the power to create change!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers

www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.SerReal.ning.net/group/greencommunities

slumdog millionaire movie

2009-04-02T16:17:00Z

	slumdog millionaire Slumdog Millionaire is a movie that shows the slums of India and what children there face in everyday life. It is hard to begin to understand how they exist in such conditions. I'm grateful to the director for addressing some real life issues of our poor and innocent children. It may be glorified for movie making but we get a glimpse of their suffering and poverty that most westerners try not to think about
It really depicts the deeper issues of Human Trafficking of Children and Street Children. I have an ongoing awareness campaign for both these issues called IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE CAMPAIGN. Click here to see YouTube clips and details of the campaign. Below is a review by Peter Travers at Rolling Stone. Click here to watch the trailer and read other comments. Review: What I feel for this movie isn't just admiration, it's mad love. And I couldn't be more surprised. The plot reeks of uplift: An illiterate slum kid from Mumbai goes on the local TV version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and comes off like a brainiac. Who wants to see that? Final answer: You do. Slumdog Millionaire has the goods to bust out as a scrappy contender in the Oscar race. It's modern India standing in for a world in full economic spin. It's an explosion of color and light with the darkness ever ready to invade. It's a family film of shocking brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse, a fantasy of wealth fueled by crushing poverty. You won't find many fairy tales that open with a graphic torture scene. The cops think 18-year-old Jamal Malik (a sensational Dev Patel) is a fraud. Goaded by the show's host (the superb Anil Kapoor), the police inspector (Irrfan Khan) is determined to beat the truth out of Jamal before he goes back on the show and hits the jackpot of 20 million rupees. Presumably this is not the way Regis Philbin ran things when the show hit America in 1999. Brimming with humor and heartbreak, Slumdog Millionaire meets at the border of art and commerce and lets one flow into the other as if that were the natural order of things. Sweet. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) brings focus to Q & A, the episodic Vikas Swarup novel on which the film is based. Still, the MVP here is Danny Boyle, who directs the film brilliantly. Boyle is the Irish-Catholic working-class Brit who put his surreal mark on zombies (28 Days Later) and smack addicts (Trainspotting), and made us see ourselves in their blood wars. Those movies were so potent, as was his 1994 debut, Shallow Grave, that we looked the other way when Boyle went Hollywood with The Beach and screwed up with A Life Less Ordinary. Somehow we knew that Boyle had the stuff to work miracles. Here's the proof. We learn the history of Jamal and the other principal characters in flashbacks, as Jamal answers questions on the TV show not from book knowledge — he has none — but his own life experiences. Jamal is searching for two people from his childhood: his wild older brother Salim (an outstanding Madhur Mittal), now a thief and killer, and his adored Latika (the achingly lovely Freida Pinto), now stepping up from child prostitute to plaything of a gangster. Every incident, including the brothers' watching their mother die in an anti-Muslim riot, feeds into Jamal's answers on the show. OK, the concept bends coincidence to the breaking point. But Jamal's traumatic youth is his lifeline. Boyle makes magic realism part of the film's fabric, the essential part that lets in hope without compromising integrity. Anthony Dod Mantle uses compact digital cameras to move with speed and stealth through the slums and palaces of Mumbai. The film is a visual wonder, propelled by A.R. Rahman's hip-hopping score and Chris Dickens' kinetic editing. The whoosh of action and romance pulls you in, but it's the bruised characters who hold you there. Every step Jamal takes toward his final answer could get him killed. Even in the Bollywood musical number that ends the film, joy and pain are still joined in the dance. The no-bull honesty of Slumdog Millionaire hits you hard. It's the real deal. No cheating. PETER TRAVERS (Posted: Nov 13, 2008)
In awareness and intentional action we help heal our world! Debbie @The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.meetup.com/MindShift www.BeingReal.ning.com

Re: Come join me on "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT"

2009-03-31T21:21:00Z

A Very Personal Communication That May Speak to You as Well (names have been changed to protect identity)

From: Hank <hank @world-net.net> Subject: Re: Come join me on "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT" on SER REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising global consciousness To: "Debbie" debbie @yahoo.com Date: Sunday, March 29, 2009, 10:46 PM > I haven't talked to you in quite awhile...things have been really going bad in my life "the NOW" that I want to live in...doesn't seem to be obtainable so please tell me more about Toxic habits....sincerely Hank Hi Hank! We haven't connected in a long time. It's good to hear back from you. I have moved to the Midland/Odessa TX area to be close to my grandkids. I love the family connections I have here. I do understand where you are coming from. I'm still practicing and learning to live in presence and not be too identified with any negative thoughts or emotions that run through my mind. Life situations can really get to us and we can learn from others that have been there and made it to another way of experiencing life that is free from being so identified with all the negative emotions that tie up our thoughts and feelings and just plain bog us down. Studying Eckhart Tolle books helped me the most to begin this learning. Then I went online to find a group of people who feel the way I do and found this online community, a social network. It's called Ser Real/Being Real. It is a bilingual group of people because the author and workshop leader is from South America. He has a practice in California and South America. There are some groups in Spanish only and some in English only. I've never physically been to anything he offers but he puts a lot on the websites I'm sending you and does a teleconference call once a month. He also has an e-series that really helps you to begin the work of getting to another way of relating in this world, a way that is filled with more peace and joy. This is what I've been doing and I suggest it to you too. I hope you will really do it. That's what it takes. Not just hearing about all this help but actually getting out there and doing it. I think 90% of people I tell about this don't get out there and do the work for themselves. It's there and available for all of us. But Hank, it does not feel like work ... it actually feels like finally coming back home! Listen to the two teleconference classes and sign up for the Emotional Healing e-series at www.cellularmemory.org/index_english.php To listen to teleconferences #1 and #2, click on the first bar of each. Then do the 1-2-3 list he has there and be sure to read his free chapter from his book, The Memory in the Cells. This will really jump-start you learning all this. I study this stuff just like it's a college course. It has helped me tremendously. Also go to: www.SerReal.ning.com and sign up to be a member. The two internet sites are run by the same person, Luis Diaz. This is an interactive website for the emotional healing work. It's free and there are no worries as far as security. It is a very secure and safe internet place. On the left there is a list of groups you can join. I think the best group to begin is the group called, The Secrets to Emotional Healing with the eagle beside it. Hank, I truly believe this will give you such good information and help you too. Also, we can connect there when you get online and I'm online. We can discuss some of this. This is the kind of connections we need to make it in this world. At some point I want to go to some of the workshops in person but for now this is how I stay connected. If you are suffering, there is no need to stay in that place. This will really help you, Hank. Sincerely, Debbie --- On Sun, 3/29/09, keith @world-net.net wrote: From: Hank <hank @world-net.net> Subject: Re: Come join me on "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT" on SER REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising global consciousness To: "Debbie" debbie @yahoo.com Date: Sunday, March 29, 2009, 10:46 PM > I haven't talked to you in quite awhile...things have been really going bad in my life "the NOW" that I want to live in...doesn't seen to be obtainable so please tell me more about Toxic habits....sincerely Hank I SER REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising global consciousness: Por un > NUEVO PARADIGMA PLANETARIO / For a NEW PARADIGM > Debbie has invited you to join "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY > MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT" on SER REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising > global consciousness > -------------------- > > We can find that abiding peace and joy that is deep within all of us doing > this work. I hope you will come here and learn this with me. Luis is such > a great teacher and on a very personal level. > > Check out "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT" on > SER REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising global consciousness: > http://serreal.ning.com/group/tt?xgi=d2T41Kc > > If your email program doesn't recognize the web address above as an active > link, please copy and paste it into your web browser > -------------------- > > About "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT" on SER > REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising global consciousness > Here, we'll discuss the way to unroot those habits that we've learned > culturally that take away the natural peace and well-being from us. They > create disease, relationship and financial problems, depression, anxiety, > fear, shame... > > 2 members > 2 discussions > > Created By: Luis Angel Diaz > -------------------- > > About SER REAL/BEING REAL. Despertando & Raising global consciousness > COMMUNITY, AWARENESS & EMOTIONAL HEALING www.cellularmemory.org - > Comunidad, conciencia y sanacion emocional. > > 537 members > 671 photos > 47 songs > 211 videos > 263 discussions > 30 Events > 149 blog posts
In love we heal together! Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.meetup.com/MindShift www.SerReal.ning.com/profile/TheFeminineWhisperers

Doing the MindShift "In the Power of Now" 3.28.09 - Midland TX

2009-03-28T22:55:00Z

Welcome to our Reading & Discussion Group

Doing the MindShift ... "In the Power of Now"

THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WITHIN ... aware of a calling, a push or pull forward?

This is a weekly reading & discussion group for men and women sharing their spiritual path! Want to experience a sense of adventure by taking the hero's journey within to discover a more harmonious balance of life within and without? That is what this reading and discussion group is all about.

Take this journey with us! We are discussing THE AMERICAN BOOK OF DYING at this time.

                             Death is a Continuation of Life!
       (click above to listen to Marianne Williamson on A Course in Miracles)


                  Until Death is a GIFT, your WORK is Not Done

Our next book study for Doing the MindShift book club is The American Book of Dying by Richard Groves & Henriette Anne Klauser

For most people, the thought of dying or caring for a terminally ill friend or relative raises fears and questions as old as humanity: What is a “good death?” What preparations should be made? How do we best support our loved ones? In The American Book of Dying, authors Richard F. Groves and Henriette Anne Klauser offer comfort, direction, and hope for both the living and the dying through this collection of nine archetypal stories that reveal insightful and timeless lessons about death and dying.

This invaluable resource features a historic overview of the hospice movement; a survey of the sacred art of dying according to monastic, Celtic, Tibetan, Egyptian and other traditions; and extensive information on therapies such as coma therapy, music therapy, and rituals for remembering. Drawing from a variety of real-life experiences, Groves and Klauser present simple and effective ideas for easing the emotional pain associated with facing the end of life.

The American Book of Dying gives you permission and courage to trust your deepest instincts, as well as a reminder that, by telling the stories of those who have died, we remember and continue to learn from their experiences.

Today will be an ordinary day for most. The sun will rise and set on familiar work and relationships, but for some of our relatives and neighbors -- today will not be ordinary. For them, life as they have known it will come to an end. Today they will die. Most people have some warning about impending death and will die a natural death due to long-term disease or the aging process. In the face of dying, fears and questions as old as humanity arise.

According to the next book we are studying, THE AMERICAN BOOK OF DYING, -- America has two trends regarding death and dying. The first is related to the outstanding contribution of the hospice movement. Within one generation, comfort care has changed the face of end-of-life medicine. Fewer persons die in pain and families do not bear the responsibility of caregiving alone. The second trend is troublesome. Eventhough Americans have this amazing support for the dying, we do not generally die well. Something essential is missing. In this book the authors feel there is an answer to what is missing. It draws on the wisdom from our ancestor's legacy on the "art of dying" handed down in the ancient books of dying. It is this wisdom that appears to be missing in our modern day care of the dying.

Byron Katie talks a lot about death and dying in her book, A Thousand Names for Joy. She says, “No one knows what's good and what's bad. No one knows what death is. Maybe it's not a something; maybe it's not even a nothing. It's the pure unknown, and I love that. We imagine that death is a state of being or a state of nothingness, and we frighten ourselves with our own concepts. I'm a lover of what is; I love sickness and health, coming and going, life and death. I see life and death as equal. Reality is good, so death must be good, whatever it is, if it's anything at all.”

“Until you experience death as a gift, your work's not done. So if you're afraid of it, that shows you what to question next. There's nothing else to do; you're either believing these childish stories, or you're questioning them-there's no other choice. What's not okay about dying? You close your eyes every night, and you go to sleep. People look forward to it; some people actually prefer that part. And that's as bad as it gets, except for your belief that says there's something else. Before a thought, there's no one, nothing -- only peace that doesn't even recognize itself as peace.”

Join us in this in-depth study for the next month or so and learn the "art of dying" as it applies to our life situations!

You are invited to join us every
Thursday from 6:30-8:00 PM

Barnes and Noble Booksellers
(off Loop 250 next to the Olive Garden)
2617 West Loop 250 N
Midland, TX 79705
432-682-8880

A big THANK YOU
for providing this wonderful space!

(click here for directions)

When you enter the bookstore,
ask at the customer service desk
where we are meeting.

For more information, please go to our meetup page at:
www.meetup.com/MindShift

If interested, JOIN our Midland Meetup for access to our calendar,
discussion board, and information on future local events.

We really look forward to seeing all of you.

Enjoy!

Debbie @ Doing the MindShift
"In the Power of Now"
Reading & Discussion Group
Midland TX   USA

www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.BeingReal.ning.com
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net

IMAGINE

2009-03-14T17:00:00Z

IMAGINE All the People Campaign

An undertaking of this nature may bring a community together, yet in the process of developing this inward flow of like-minded individuals an outward manifestation of assisting humanity is kindled.

Eckhart Tolle calls this “awakened doing” and Thich Nhat Hahn describes it as “engaged Buddhism”. In Thich Nhat Hanh’s little book, Peace is Every Step, he has a short chapter called Mindfulness Must Be Engaged. His and Eckhart Tolle’s teachings are the main inspiration for our campaign called Imagine All the People. Another powerful inspiration is the video clip of the young girl giving a presentation to the United Nations in 1992. Some 17 years later, it is still a desperate appeal of the children. How do we do more? I'm doing my best to change from within, yet how can we do more at the same time? Like Thich Nhat Hanh, I don't want to be only sitting in meditation while the war is raging outside. Engaged buddhism is what he called his decision to combine mindfulness with intentional action.

Excerpt from Peace is Every Step

Mindfulness Must Be Engaged

"After careful reflection, we decided to do both – to go out and help people and to do so in mindfulness. We called it engaged Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?"

Thich Nhat Hanh

Nhat Hanh explains how the idea of engaged Buddhism came into being. “When I was in Vietnam, so many of our villages were being bombed. Along with my monastic brothers and sisters, I had to decide what to do. Should we continue to practice in our monasteries, or should we leave the meditation halls in order to help the people who were suffering under the bombs? After careful reflection, we decided to do both – to go out and help people and to do so in mindfulness. We called it engaged Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?

We must be aware of the real problems of the world. Then, with mindfulness, we will know what to do and what not to do to be of help. If we maintain awareness of our breathing and continue to practice smiling, even in difficult situations, many people, animals, and plants will benefit from our way of doing things. Are you massaging our Mother Earth every time your foot touches her? Are you planting seeds of joy and peace? I try to do exactly that with every step, and I know that our Mother Earth is most appreciative.

Peace is every step. Shall we continue our journey?”

Girl Who Silenced the UN For 5 Minutes

Severn Suzuki...(ESPAÑOL) La Niña que SILENCIO al mundo por 5 MINUTOS

In continuing the journey here in West Texas, we are coming together and at the same time focusing our efforts on healing two very destructive conditions for humanity, the first being "street children" on our planet and the other is human trafficking of children. Our campaign is called Imagine All the People and our symbol is the peace sign. Imagine all the people of the world living in peace and harmony. It is our original reality. Let’s get involved in a very real way and get back to it!

Imagine by John Lennon performed by Eva Cassidy.

Imagine there's No Heaven
it's Easy If You Try
no Hell Below Us
above Us Only Sky
imagine All The People
living For Today...

Imagine there's No Countries
it Isn't Hard To Do
nothing To Kill Or Die For
and No Religion Too
imagine All The People
living Life In Peace...

you May Say I'm A Dreamer
but I'm Not The Only One
i Hope Someday You'll Join Us
and The World Will Be As One

Imagine No Possessions
i Wonder If You Can
no Need For Greed Or Hunger
a Brotherhood Of Man
Imagine All The People
sharing All The World...

you May Say I'm A Dreamer
but I'm Not The Only One
i Hope Someday You'll Join Us
and The World Will Live As One

2009 Street Children Project Lombok - NTB, Indonesia - 1.6 Million Children Living on Streets in Indonesia

Street children live under terrible conditions. They experience (sexual) child abuse, violence, and child exploitation. Despite all that, they have to survive. They usually beg and sing hoping people will give them money.

February 04, 2009
The Peduli Anak Foundation serves homeless and impoverished children by offering them a new path in life. By providing them with the necessary shelter, education, and psychological support directed towards vocational training, mentorship, and micro-credit opportunities, it strives to enable their re-entery into the community as happy and self-sufficient adults. This short film is about Sugeng a 11 year old boy living in the shelter of Peduli Anak.

2009 Street Children Project - The Peduli Anak Foundation @ www.pedulianak.com

2009 Human Trafficking of Children

2ND LARGEST ILLEGAL TRADE BEHIND DRUGS IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Opening our eyes to human trafficking! It's a hidden crime and happening all around us.

As big and ugly as it is, we can end slavery. In Ending Slavery, FREE THE SLAVES
puts forward a plan to bring MODERN-DAY SLAVERY -- human trafficking -- to an end FOEVER!

Governments, the UN, businesses, our communities, and each one of us has a role to play.

http://www.freetheslaves.net/

Human Trafficking in Atlanta, Georgia, USA - right in our own backyard!

Atlanta ranks as one of the highest U.S. cities for child sex trafficking. Up-to-date figures are that 200 -300 children a month are exploited there. It is a 32 billion dollar world-wide industry. Something we believed could only happen somewhere else is happening in our own backyard. The children want their freedom. They just want to go home.

Global Initiative to fight human trafficking.
http://www.ungift.org/

A Youth Initiative of World Vision Austrailia.
www.stir.org.au

Not for Sale - The campaign in the U.S. to end slavery in our lifetime.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

In love and with intentional action we help heal our children,

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers

www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.BeingReal.ning.com

Understanding the PRESENT MOMENT

2009-03-05T02:24:00Z

Now is the Only Time There Is!

by J.S. Ellington
October 19, 2008

Now is all there is. There is no other time. The past and future are concepts that can be thought about now but they can never be experienced now.

We believe in the illusion of a separate self. Self is only a concept. Eckhart Tolle, (Stillness Speaks, 2003) explains, "The mind is incessantly looking not only for food for thought; it is looking for food for its identity, its sense of self. This is how the ego comes into existence and continuously re-creates itself."

Trees, water, sky, hills--why do we divide life up and name the parts we have created?

The ego, manufactured by the mind, tells you who you are. The ego tells you that you are a body and its thoughts. Since you are a body, you can die. Since you can die, you are always in danger. Now must be broken up into pleasurable things, that are to be moved toward, and painful things that are to be avoided. Life is divided in two-- living and dying. The ego tells you that pleasure and life are the same and that pain and death are the same. This perpetuates the ego's practice of constantly resisting now--telling you that your life has problems that must be avoided and solutions that must be found. Suffering is born out of the stories we tell ourselves about pain. "Inner alignment with now is the end of suffering." (Stillness Speaks, 2003)

There is a tension that constantly moves us away from now. It says, "Go do something." It says, "Accomplish this." When a goal is accomplished, it is quickly replaced by another goal, and the moving away from now continues. It constantly seeks some time other than now. Instead of experiencing now as it is without labels, judgments, and descriptions, this mind-made self causes your true self to become lost in thought. To keep denying the reality of now, just as it is, it perceives and then describes life to you. You begin to have a relationship with life.The fact that you are life becomes obscured.

<:OD>The ego chatters incessantly. It tells you that there are things outside you and things inside you. Things that are inside you are admitted into consciousness. Things outside you are denied and become subconscious or are projected "out there" so that they can be judged and related to as if they are separate objects. The ego divides up the whole of reality into parts that it names and counts. "The landscape is made up of separate things. This is a tree, that is the ground, there is the sky." This abstracting denies the fact that there is no real dividing line between the tree, the ground, and the sky--or between anything and anything else. Everything is connected.

By moving away from now and into an imaginary future, or into a remembered past, the ego seeks to establish its existence and keep the mind from discovering the truth by accepting what is now. In the future, it tells you, you can add this or that or something else to yourself and become bigger. Tomorrow you will have accomplished more. Next year you will make more money. Further denying now, the ego ruminates about the past and all its horror. Still continuing its denial of now, the ego sometimes tells you about the "good ole days" of the past.

By breaking up life and moving away from now, the ego is addicted to dualistic knowledge. This is good. That is bad. It never allows reality to be experienced and known directly as a whole just as it is. The ego can only continue its existence by thinking about life. The ego cannot exist in the only time there ever is: Now.

How do you stay in the now? You feel life as it is. You experience instead of describing experience. You observe thought instead of believing it and becoming lost in it. You accept what is instead of resisting it. Even if something is happening that you would rather not be happening, you can feel and accept that you don't like what is happening now. Consistent with the Serenity Prayer, learn to change what should be changed and accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed. Just be and accept that there is nothing you need to do and nowhere you need to go. Things are the only way they can be. Stop resisting now.

That doesn't mean to stop living your life and having accomplishments. It means to be present while you are living life and having accomplishments. Feel your life. Accept and be with the feeling without labeling it or describing it or resisting it. Every success in recognizing the ego and its motivations can be built upon. Along the way, learn to observe the ego's criticizing of your progress in staying present. Eventually, it will lose its motivation to continue its chatter. When it collapses, along with its mindless emotional thinking, you will know yourself and find "the peace that surpasseth all understanding." All that is left is the timeless now.

SOURCES:

Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks (Novato: New World Library, 2003 and Vancouver: Namaste Publishing, 2003), p. 27, p. 118.
Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Bantam Books, 1980).
Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness, 20th Anniversary Edition (The Theosophical Publishing House, 1993).
A Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace, 1985).
Tony Parsons, As It Is (Inner Directions Publishing, 2002).

Here's to being in the timeless now!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.BeingReal.ning.com

GREEN COMMUNITIES Around the World

2009-03-02T12:30:00Z

Green Communities Around the World



Many are awakening more and more to a fuller awareness of the suffering and degradation of the animal kingdom, nature, and our earth. We hear their cries for healing, freedom, and renewal. As each of us in our journey of conscious living acknowledge the deep moaning of their suffering, we are compelled into action on their behalf as well as for ourselves. We are all interconnected in this web of life. If there is suffering anywhere, then we are still in our suffering, too.

Sustainable human settlements are currently evolving and providing a model and solutions to human and social needs, while at the same time working in partnership with the environment to offer an enhanced quality of life for all.

An ecovillage is what many call this type of human settlement; they are also described today as Green Communities. Green communities are urban or rural communities of people who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. In ecovillages you will find ecological building, renewable energy systems, biological waste water treatment, organic food production, sustainable economics, complementary currency and LETS (local exchange trading scheme), inclusive decision-making processes and more. The health of our communities, our planet, and ourselves depend on how we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings for a more sustainable future. A green community conserves its land, offers multiple options for transportation, provides open space for recreation and cultivation, and uses its natural and cultural resources wisely.

Green communities aren't a new idea. In fact, for most of human history, "green" wasn't something special--it was simply how people lived. We arranged our days around the rising and setting of the sun and our years around the seasons. Healthy land resulted in healthy crops, which resulted in healthy people. Living in cooperation with nature wasn't a matter of choice; it was a matter of survival.

Previous generations may not have used terms like "sustainable development" or "smart growth" but they knew that healthy places had clean air, fresh water, fertile soil, and viable ways to move goods and people around.

As people invented new technologies, we changed how we live. Without the old constraints of nature, we can



travel the world easily, use electricity to light up our nights and extend our days, and keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. These conveniences, however, have had consequences for our personal health--and for the health of our civic spaces and our planet. It turns out that living in cooperation with nature is still a matter of survival. Humans, however, are still inventive and many communities are now investing in new technologies--as well as relooking at some old ideas--to create greener approaches to modern life.

Earth, air, fire, and water are the sources of our food, fuel, and shelter--people have extracted, harvested, and cultivated these resources since the beginning of time. With each new technology, we redefine our relationship with nature.

Earth
From the land we live on and build with to the soil we cultivate to the energy we extract from below the surface, sustainable planning and design begins with weighing the benefits and consequences of different uses of Earth.

Air
Air is all around us and inside us; our health depends on its health. Communities are exploring a variety of ways to improve their air and take advantage of its energy-producing capabilities.

Fire
The sun’s radiation is the source of all our food and fuel, which we have mined, extracted, burned or harvested throughout history. Combining innovative technologies with older strategies, we can actively harvest the sun’s fire.

Water
In the face of our consistent need for clean water amid changing environmental conditions, communities today are focusing on innovative conservation and purification technologies and on new forms of hydropower.

People are looking for something like ecovillages … green communities, even if we don’t know it yet, where we can practice a way of life most of our species yearns for on a deep level — sustainable living in human-scale community. These ideas inspire me profoundly. I hope it inspires you, too.

We are taking a look at how communities are coming together and using sustainable strategies. Maybe it’s time more and more of us update how we live in relation to our earth and "all" that we share it with. We’ll research and feature an alternative sustainable green community until we have about 6 to give us a greater awareness of how others have forged a new way to live in more harmony and peace.

*** Below we will add a link to each GREEN COMMUNITY AROUND THE WORLD as we explore them together. AUROVILLE is open for public veiwing.  Click the other communities and the link will take you to this online community:    http://serreal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

** *Note: We are not connected to any of the following communities or organizations in any way. We are only presenting them in the spirit of getting to know how other people are living in a spiritual community and making Mother Earth green again. With this in mind please enjoy the following presentations.

GREEN COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD
researched by Debbie Magee, M.A.

DAMANHUR: An United Nations Award-winning Sustainable Community

This one is in Northern Italy and famous worldwide for its elaborately decorated subterranean temples constructed by its citizens. Damanhur is an eco-society and UN award-winning sustainable community.

"Damanhur cannot be foreseen. Inside the hill is an architecture and series of rooms that defies description. Imagine New York City’s entire Metropolitan Museum of Art taken apart and then reassembled in underground chambers leading up through a mountain…The temples at Damanhur are a living organism that is so massive on an astral plane that it dwarfs the Metropolitan or any other terrestrial museum…Damanhur is a gallery meant for visitors five hundred thousand years in the future or from other solar systems and time-space continua."

AUROVILLE THE CITY OF DAWN in SOUTH INDIA
(view on this website now)

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India near Puducherry in South India, whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity. It is a popular tourist destination, and has been described as a "New Age metropolis conceived as an alternative exercise in ecological and spiritual living." The township starkly stands out from the surrounding traditional Indian villages and farms. Auroville is a small town 6 km north of Pondicherry.

This town was a vision of The Mother from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. She envisioned an international town where unity will be celebrated and all will have a spiritual vocation. At this time, the city has about 1,500 people from over 35 different nationalities, from which about one third are Indians (more than 15% are French and another 15% are German).

ZEGG - Center for Experimental Culture Design near Berlin in Germany

Engaged in:
* Living in community
* Understanding among men and women
* Sustainable living
* Regional empowerment
* Support of international peace projects

The information on the website suggests that there are no ready recipes for the building of new ways of living. The challenges of our time are too complex. What is needed, besides the necessary changes on the outer level in the form of sustainable technologies, is a supportive context for inner growth. In 1991 they founded ZEGG with the intention to bring together these two aspects of change. What does the earth need, what do humans need? With their programs they are creating a space for new experiences in the area of love, community, and communication -- hoping to encourage taking the future into their own hands.

A new society can only be based on a wide network of multifaceted new models. This is one model.

The FINDHORN ECOVILLAGE in Findhorn, Scotland

Eckhart Tolle has a DVD called, Findhorn Retreat: Stillness Amidst the World. The small book that comes with two DVDs features photographs taken personally by Eckhart and selected quotations from the retreat. In the Foreword it reads. "In the spring of 2004, Eckhart Tolle lead an extraordinary weekend retreat at Findhorn, Scotland, a spiritual community on the leading edge of personal and global transformation.

In the Introduction, we learn a little more about the magic of Findhorn, Scotland. "The Findhorn Community in Scotland came into existence in the sixties, based upon a deepening relationship between humans and the realm of nature. A new relationship with nature is an essential aspect of the awakening of human consciousness. In our ego-based civilization, alienation from nature is normal and goes hand in hand with alienation from ourselves and each other."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

You can't miss viewing these intriguing communities. They are so promising. They are experimental, human-scale, eco-communities supported by the United Nations to lead the way for our future. Damanhur is a federation of eco-communities. They even have a tree-house community and one of their projects is to create and use technology that's able to listen to music made by the leafs of plants and trees. There's so much more to see in all the communities. It would take more than a few days at each community to experience all they have to offer.

These communities are eye-openers and just researching them has impacted me in a very postive way, giving me much hope for our future. Each community we've reasearched around the world have redefined community life and living in harmony. They have faced tremendous obstacles and criticism but their determination to find a healthier, more cooperative and authentic way to live and commune on earth keeps them on their path. We see what they are accomplishing, and we know we can do the same when we come together, and that may be sooner than we think. Each community offers training.

As we go on this world adventure together,

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.SerReal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

AUROVILLE - THE CITY OF DAWN in SOUTH INDIA

2009-03-01T22:59:00Z

HI EVERYONE! Once again, we are back with another Green Community for your viewing. This one, in South India, is more of a spiritual community that grew up around the teachings and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. We are not connected to this community or organization in any way. We are only presenting it in the spirit of getting to know how other people are living in a spiritual community and making Mother Earth green again.

With this in mind please enjoy the presentation.

Debbie and Luis
http://serreal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

Auroville – The City of Dawn

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India near Puducherry in South India, whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity. It is a popular tourist destination, and has been described as a "New Age metropolis conceived as an alternative exercise in ecological and spiritual living." The township starkly stands out from the surrounding traditional Indian villages and farms. Auroville is a small town 6 km north of Pondicherry.

This town was a vision of The Mother from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. She envisioned an international town where unity will be celebrated and all will have a spiritual vocation. At this time, the city has about 1,500 people from over 35 different nationalities, from which about one third are Indians (more than 15% are French and another 15% are German).

www.auroville.org

Model View of Auroville - South INDIA

www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in

CLOSE SPIRITUAL COLLABORATORS

Sri Aurobindo's close spiritual collaborator, Mirra Richard (born Mirra Alfassa),
was known as The Mother. Together they guided the Ashram, its Education Centre,
and later a city - Auroville.


Sri Aurobindo
(1872-1950)

Sri Aurobindo’s teachings are reflected in this quote:

"The yoga we practice is not for ourselves alone, but for the Divine; its aim is to work out the will of the Divine in the world, to effect a spiritual transformation and to bring down a divine nature and a divine life into the mental, vital and physical nature and life of humanity. Its object is not personal Mukti, although Mukti is a necessary condition of the yoga, but the liberation and transformation of the human being. It is not personal Ananda, but the bringing down of the divine Ananda -- Christ's kingdom of heaven, our Satyayuga -- upon the earth."

~ Sri Aurobindo

This quote reflects the spiritual presence of The Mother:

"I belong to no nation, no civilization, no
society, no race, but to the Divine.
I obey no master, no rules, no law, no social
convention, but the Divine.

To Him I have surrendered all, will, life and self;
for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by
drop, if such is His will, with complete joy, and
nothing in his service can be sacrifice, for all is
perfect delight."     ~ The Mother

Mirra Richard known as The Mother
(1878-1973)

A Little Background Information

To get a clear picture of the development of Auroville, The City of Dawn, we need a little history. Sri Aurobindo settled in Pondicherry to practice his yoga with several friends. Soon a larger group began to gather around him mainly to practice yoga under his direction.

In the very early years, Sri Aurobindo was a freedom fighter for India, then he settled in 1910 in Pondicherry with some of his friends, sheltered away from the revolution. He lived like this until the Mother met Sri Aurobindo in 1914. She and her husband spent some time there but did not come to permanently live in Pondicherry until 1920. At that time Mirra, later referred to as the Mother, began to give some organization to the group that had settled around Sri Aurobindo.

The interesting fact is that the Mother had a vision early in her life of a man she thought represented Krishna. As it turned out, it was not until the fateful meeting with Sri Aurobindo, that she realized it was he whom she had seen in her vison. Thus began the close spiritual collaboration between the two and all that were with them.

For years after his arrival in Pondicherry in 1910, Sri Aurobindo was unwilling to speak of his household as an Ashram. Not that the term would have been inappropriate, for an Ashram is simply "the house or houses of a Teacher or Master of spiritual philosophy in which he receives and lodges those who come to him for the teaching and practice. "It is true that in the early days Sri Aurobindo took no disciples as such. He once wrote, "With the three or four young men who accompanied me or joined me in Pondicherry, I had at first the relation of friends and companions rather than of a Guru and disciples; it was on the ground of politics I had come to know them and not on the spiritual ground. Afterwards only there was a gradual development of spiritual relations." But even as more and more aspirants gathered around Sri Aurobindo specifically to practice yoga under his direction, the grouping remained informal, and was not referred to as an "ashram".

It was only after the Mother finally settled in Pondicherry in 1920 that an attempt was made at collective organization. "The number of disciples then showed a tendency to increase rather rapidly." And as thus "the Ashram began to develop, it fell to the Mother to organize it." She had to see to the outward lives of the disciples, whose "numbers began so much to increase that it was thought necessary to make an arrangement for lodging those who came, and houses were bought and rented according to need for the purpose.

It is important here to understand the vital energy driving the Mother. You will understand it from this quote:

"At the beginning of my present earthly existence I was put into touch with many people who said they had a great inner aspiration, an urge towards something deeper and truer, but were tied down, subjected, slaves of that brutal necessity of earning their living, and that this weighed down upon them so much, took way so much of their time and energy that they could not engage in any other activity, inner or outer. I heard that very often."

"I was very young at that time, and always I used to tell myself that if ever I could do it, I would try to create a little world - Oh! quite a small one, but still - a small world where people would be able to live without having to be preoccupied by problems of food and lodging and clothing and the imperious necessities of life, to see if all the energies freed by this certainty of an assured material living would spontaneously be turned towards the divine life and inner realization."

The Entrance to the Ashram

The Ashram, Education Centre, Sri Aurobindo Society and Auroville

The Ashram has grown from an informal grouping of two dozen sadhaks into a diversified spiritual community with 1500 members. There is, besides, a significant number of non-members living in Pondicherry who take part in the Ashram's life. They establish many areas of responsibilities to manage the Ashram along with an Education Centre the Mother established in 1952 where much research is done.

       Sri Aurobindo left his body in 1950 and The Mother carried on the work of the Ashram and in 1960 established the Sri Aurobindo Society. Today, the Sri Aurobindo Society is a registered society with its chief administrative office at Puducherry. It has about 350 centres and 75 branches in India and outside. The Mother is the founder and the permanent President of the Society.

In 1964 the Mother launched the project of Auroville, the city of human unity, "the City of Dawn" named
after Sri Aurobindo. It is a city for 50,000 inhabitants and is hailed by people from all over the world. In 1968 the foundation stone of Auroville was laid and the Mother read out the charter herself. It was the manifestation of her dreams realized.

In 1973 on November 17th, after a brief illness, the Mother left her physical body. She was ninety-five. Nolini Kanta Gupta, a senior trustee of the Ashram made the following declaration:

"Mother once told me - `If ever I leave my body, my consciousness will remain with you.'

Mother is present amongst us and Her work continues. Let us once more dedicate ourselves for Her work of transformation with utmost sincerity and faithfulness."

***Watch this awesome documentary below of what it took to make a community like Auroville thrive.
~ narrated by the Banyan Tree (Click Play Button)

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township in South India whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity. It is a popular tourist destination, and has been described as a "New Age metropolis conceived as an alternative exercise in ecological and spiritual living."

The Banyan Tree today, the one talking in the video above!

Auroville - The City Of New Life

The main aim of Sri Aurobindo Society which has sponsored the project of Auroville is to work for 'the advent of a progressive universal harmony'. Auroville is being established to give a concrete shape to this ideal. Introducing the project, The Mother, President of the Society, declared:

"Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities.
The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity."

It proposes to realize this unity in diversity and not in uniformity. It will bring together those who believe in a progressive universal harmony and want to work for it. In fact "the first condition for living in Auroville is to be convinced of the essential unity of mankind and the will to collaborate in the material realisation of that unity". Named after Sri Aurobindo, Auroville literally means the 'City of Dawn'.

The Auroville Beach nearby

Auroville marathon participants take a break

The video above has lots of information relating to Auroville. For a more indepth look, see the attached files below.

For information about The Mother's writings and discoveries go to: http://www.auroville.org/vision/maagenda.htm

We hope you enjoyed this little vacation to the southern shore of India as much as we enjoyed researching and writing it. We'll be back next month with another interesting destination of a Green Community.

If you have an interest in a certain community like this or are very knowledgeable of a community, please let us know. Please feel free to add any comments or discussions or research that you have done to give us a more comprehensive and reliable view of these communities.

*** Attached are two PDF files you may download if interested in looking a little deeper. One is a little over 40 pages of detailed information and photos about this community. The other is an article that cites some controversies showing the reality that a community like this takes a lot of work and the friction between the people sometimes is very heavy.

To download - right click on the file link and choose "save as" to save to a destination on your computer. You can click on the file as well but if you have trouble with that, use the right-click method.

Auroville.pdf          Differences.pdf

OTHER GREEN COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD

We have featured three other GREEN COMMUNITIES from Around the World.  Click here to view!

Or click below on the other communities and the link will take you to this online community:    http://serreal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

You can't miss viewing these intriguing communities. They are so promising. They are experimental, human-scale, eco-communities supported by the United Nations to lead the way for our future. Damanhur is a federation of eco-communities. They even have a tree-house community and one of their projects is to create and use technology that's able to listen to music made by the leaves of plants and trees. There's so much more to see in all the communities. It would take more than a few days in each community to visit and experience all of what these Green Communities have to offer.

DAMANHUR: An United Nations Award-winning Sustainable Community

This one is in Northern Italy and famous worldwide for its elaborately decorated subterranean temples constructed by its citizens. Damanhur is an eco-society and UN award-winning sustainable community.

"Damanhur cannot be foreseen. Inside the hill is an architecture and series of rooms that defies description. Imagine New York City’s entire Metropolitan Museum of Art taken apart and then reassembled in underground chambers leading up through a mountain…The temples at Damanhur are a living organism that is so massive on an astral plane that it dwarfs the Metropolitan or any other terrestrial museum…Damanhur is a gallery meant for visitors five hundred thousand years in the future or from other solar systems and time-space continua."

ZEGG - Center for Experimental Culture Design near Berlin in Germany

Engaged in:
* Living in community
* Understanding among men and women
* Sustainable living
* Regional empowerment
* Support of international peace projects

The information on the website suggests that there are no ready recipes for the building of new ways of living. The challenges of our time are too complex. What is needed, besides the necessary changes on the outer level in the form of sustainable technologies, is a supportive context for inner growth. In 1991 they founded ZEGG with the intention to bring together these two aspects of change. What does the earth need, what do humans need? With their programs they are creating a space for new experiences in the area of love, community, and communication -- hoping to encourage taking the future into their own hands.

A new society can only be based on a wide network of multifaceted new models. This is one model.

The FINDHORN ECOVILLAGE in Findhorn, Scotland

Eckhart Tolle has a DVD called, Findhorn Retreat: Stillness Amidst the World. The small book that comes with two DVDs features photographs taken personally by Eckhart and selected quotations from the retreat. In the Foreword it reads. "In the spring of 2004, Eckhart Tolle lead an extraordinary weekend retreat at Findhorn, Scotland, a spiritual community on the leading edge of personal and global transformation.

In the Introduction, we learn a little more about the magic of Findhorn, Scotland. "The Findhorn Community in Scotland came into existence in the sixties, based upon a deepening relationship between humans and the realm of nature. A new relationship with nature is an essential aspect of the awakening of human consciousness. In our ego-based civilization, alienation from nature is normal and goes hand in hand with alienation from ourselves and each other."

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These communities are eye-openers and just researching them has impacted me in a very postive way, giving me much hope for our future. Each community we've researched around the world have redefined community life and living in harmony. They have faced tremendous obstacles and criticism but their determination to find a healthier, more cooperative and authentic way to live and commune on earth keeps them on their path. We see what they are accomplishing, and we know we can do the same when we come together, and that may be sooner than we think. Each community offers training.

As we go on this world adventure together,

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers

www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.SerReal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

Working With Light

2009-02-16T00:44:00Z

Returning to Our Original Light

by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Clips 1 through 11

Within the heart is the spark of oneness, our deep connection to the divine
and to all of life. How can we awaken this connection that belongs to our soul
and the soul of the world?

How can our primal knowing of oneness come alive within ourself and within
the world?

Mysticism awakens us to our real power and potential, so that we can contribute
fully at this time of global transition.

It connects us with what is real: the Oneness of Life.

Feminine Mysteries of Love
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

The pain of love became the medicine for every heart, the difficulty could never be solved without love.
~ Attâr

Love is the most powerful force in the universe, and for centuries mystics have understood the transformative potential of divine love. Love draws us back to love, love uncovers love, love makes us whole and love takes us Home. In the depths of the soul we are loved by God. This is the deepest secret of being human, the bond of love that is at the core of our being. And yet we have forgotten this essential nature of our being; we are hidden from our own deepest love. The mystical path is an uncovering of this love, an awakening to our own capacity to love and be loved.

Like everything that is created, love has a dual nature, positive and negative, masculine and feminine. The masculine side of love is "I love you." Love’s feminine quality is "I am waiting for you; I am longing for you." For the mystic, it is the feminine side of love, the longing, the cup waiting be filled, that takes us back to God. Longing is a highly dynamic state and yet at the same time it is a state of receptivity. Because our culture has for so long rejected the feminine, we have lost touch with the potency of longing. Many people feel this pain of the heart and do not know its value; they do not know it is their innermost connection to love.

Longing is the sweet pain of belonging to God. Once longing is awakened within the heart, it is the most direct way Home. Like the magnet, it draws us deep within our own heart where we are made whole and transformed. This is why the Sufi mystics have always stressed the importance of longing. The great Sufi Ibn ‘Arabî prayed, "Oh Lord, nourish me not with love but with the desire for love," while Rû mî expressed the same truth in simple terms, "Do not seek for water, be thirsty."

The feminine mystery of longing belongs to the nature of the soul, which is always feminine before God. In the innermost chamber of the heart we look toward God, receptive and attentive, needing God’s nourishment. The mystic knows that only God can make us whole, only God can heal the sickness of the soul. The ninth-century mystic Râb’ia, one of the first Sufis to stress the importance of devotional love, expressed this mystical truth:

The source of my grief and loneliness is deep in my breast.
This is a disease no doctor can cure.
Only union with the Friend can cure it.

The heart longs for God, and seeks to find its true Beloved. If we follow our longing, if we allow ourself to be pierced by the pain of separation from the source, we will be drawn back to God.

Longing is the central core of every mystical path, as the anonymous author of the fourteenth-century mystical classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, simply states: "Your whole life must be one of longing." Yet our present Western society is so divorced from this mystical thread that underlies every spiritual path that we have no context within which to appreciate the nature of the heart’s desire for Truth. Many people who feel the unhappiness of a homesick soul do not know its cause. They do not realize the wonder of their pain, that it is their heart’s longing that will take them Home.

A friend had a simple and powerful dream in which she was alone in a landscape howling at the moon. There was no reply, no answer to the anguish of her calling, and when she awoke she felt a failure. She had called out and there had been no answer. But the tradition of lovers has long known that our calling is the answer, our longing for Him is His longing for us, "it is You who calls me to Yourself." The longing of the heart is the memory of when we were together with our Beloved. The pain of separation is our awakening to the knowledge that somewhere we are united with God.

Longing draws us from separation back to union, from our fragmented sense of self to the deeper wholeness of our true being. The longing of the heart is the sign of the deepest fulfillment, and yet it terrifies the mind because it does not belong to this world. There is no visible lover, no one to touch or to control. It is a love affair of essence to essence that was born before the beginning of time. Sadly, we have forgotten its potency; our culture has no place for this desire for what is intangible. In the Christian tradition, this relationship is embodied in Mary Magdalene’s devotion for Christ. After the crucifixion she stood at the empty sepulcher where he had been buried, weeping. And when Jesus, risen from the dead, came and spoke to her saying, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?," she first mistook him for a gardener until he called her by name, "Mary," and then she "turned herself and said ‘Rabboni,’ which is to say, Master."

In this meeting there are longing and devotion and the ancient mystery of the relationship of teacher and disciple. It has been often overlooked that Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ, but it is deeply significant; for it is this inner feminine attitude of the heart, of longing and devotion that she embodies, that opens the lover to the transcendent mystery of love in which suffering and death are the doorway to a higher state of consciousness. The lover waits weeping for the Beloved to reveal His true nature.

Our culture has forgotten and buried the doorway of devotion, and the lover is often left stranded, not even knowing the real nature and purpose of the longing that tugs at the heart. It is easy to think that this discontent of the soul is a psychological problem, to mistake longing for depression or identify it as a mother complex or the result of an unhappy marriage. We need to reclaim the sanctity of sadness and the meaning of the heart’s tears. For the longing of the lover is a longing to return to the source in which everything is embraced in its wholeness. The suffering of His lovers is the labor pains that awaken us to this higher consciousness, in which love joins this world with the infinite, and the heart embraces life not from the divisive perspective of the ego but from the eternal dimension of the Self. From within the heart the oneness of love becomes life’s deepest wonder, for, in the words of Hildegard von Bingen, "It is the heart that sees the primordial eternity of every creature."

If we can create a context of longing, then those whose hearts are burdened with this quest will come to know the true nature of their pain. They will no longer need to repress it, fearing it as an abnormality or a psychological problem. We need to be able to collectively affirm this inner secret: that the heart suffers because it has not forgotten its true love.

If we follow the path of any pain, any psychological wounding, it will lead us to this one primal pain: the pain of separation. Being born into this world, we experience being separate from oneness, from God, from our heart’s Beloved. We are banished from paradise and carry the scars of this separation. But if we embrace the suffering, if we allow it to lead us deep within ourself, it will take us deeper than any psychological healing. Love and suffering are powerful transformative agents because they embrace the mystery of being human. Longing is love’s call to "return to the root of the root of your own self," to the place within the core of our being where we are always whole.

We are conditioned to avoid pain, but for the mystic the pain of the heart is the thread that leads us, the song of the soul that uncovers us. Meister Eckhart said, "God is the sigh in the soul," and this sigh, this sorrow, is a most precious poison. How love heals us from the sufferings we inflict upon ourself is always a mystery. Love cannot be understood by the mind just as it cannot be contained by the ego. Love is the power that opens and transforms us, that intoxicates and bewilders us. Love leads us deeper, away from the prison of our limited self to the freedom and wholeness of our divine nature. In the words of the Sufi saint Jâ mî, "Never turn away from love, not even love in a human form, for love alone will free you from yourself."

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Ph.D., is a Sufi teacher and the author of several books on Sufism, including "Sufism, The Transformation of the Heart," "The Face Before I was Born," "Sufism," "Dreamwork" and "Jungian Psychology." Sounds True has also published sets of his audio tapes, "Love is a Fire," "I am Wood," and "The Sufi Path of Love." He was born in London in 1953 and has followed the Naqshbandi Sufi path since he was nineteen.

Here's to returning to our original light!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers

www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.BeingReal.ning.com
www.SerReal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

Love Truly Knows No Bounds

2009-02-09T01:14:00Z

It's beyond the beyond the beyond!

This is a true Love Story made into a book and movie.

"...we are not much different in fact to many other forms of animal life; and it is because of subtle human conditioning not the actual facts that we are raised to believe there is a wide gap between what is human and what is animal."
-- Gareth Patterson, Last of the Free (1994)

Christian, the lion, was separated from his parents at an early age and put up for sale in a London department store. Christian's parents were zoo lions, the father came from the Rotterdam zoo and the mother from Jerusalem, and they lived at the Ilfracombe zoo. When they had cubs, the zoo sold them, and two cubs went to the department store.

Two men, Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, found him there and immediately fell in love with him and determined to buy him. They scraped together the money and brought the little lion home when he was only a few weeks old. They named him Christian.

Tony and John dedicated themselves to giving Christian the best life they could, and the bond that developed between them is a joy to behold. Christian was a remarkable lion, obviously very intelligent and loving, and gentle to everyone, both human and animal.

As he grew, Christian began to need bigger facilities than Tony and John could provide. Thanks to a chance meeting with Bill Travers (who had starred in the movie Born Free), they hit upon the idea of sending Christian to Africa to live as a wild lion.

Bill Travers contacted George Adamson to set up the project, and came up with the idea of making a documentary movie of it all, to fund the project. Christian is an absolute joy to watch in this movie. The love he shows, his intelligence, his joie de vie, are beautiful.

George Adamson was the bridge between the worlds of humans and animals. The first step when Christian arrived at George's compound, was to introduce him to Boy, a lion who had been in the movie Born Free and who George had already sent "back" to the wild, without losing his relationship with him. Christian and Boy eventually became best friends, and within a year Christian was living as a wild lion.

When that year had passed, Tony and John came to Africa to see Christian. After a year of struggle, tragedies, and life with a pride of lions in the wild, the relationship Christian felt with Tony and John was as strong as it had always been. In fact, Christian's wonderful relationship with Tony and John caused the other lions in the pride to accept and be at peace with them as well.

A bridge existed, and it withstood the separation and the learning of a new way to live. Christian was another lion of two worlds. Ace and John saw Christian again, the last time was in 1974 when Christian was twice as large as he was in the movie, and had cubs of his own.

The question that eludes us is how to enlarge the scale. How can a bridge be built that encompasses all life?

Today, Ace Bourke is a museum curator in Australia. John Rendall is a trustee of the George Adamson Wildlife Trust, an organization actively involved in preserving African wildlife. The organization, according to Rendall, is part of Christian's legacy. (For those in the US, Rendall recommends the site WildlifeNow.com.)

Read more and see more video clips at MSNBC

Here's to beyond the boundaries and crossing the bridge!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers

www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/Mindshift
www.BeingReal.ning.com

PEACE IS EVERY STEP by Thich Nhat Hanh

2009-02-01T03:25:00Z

    PEACE IS EVERY STEP: the Path
    of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

                     by Thich Nhat Hanh

"Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand new hours to live."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.

~ Confucius

Peace is Every Step is a beautifully designed book with detailed instruction in conscious breathing, mindfulness and walking meditation. Based on Zen Buddhism (his teachings are beyond any particular philosophy or religion), Thich Nhat Hanh's method of teaching is simple, easy to follow, and focuses on everyday activities and situations. By using anecdotes, personal stories, and meditation techniques, Hanh shows how meditation in the small acts of our daily lives, using conscious breathing, can remind readers to be conscious of their present existence. In doing so, readers can improve their relationships, lower their anger levels, and increase overall feelings of peace and joy. Practicing mindfulness helps us transform and heal difficult psychological states. Peace is Every Step takes you on a personal journey through awareness in an effort to obtain the inner peace necessary to work towards peace on a worldwide scale.



The following description is written on the back flap of the book. "In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to "mindfulness" -- the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now.

Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader.

It begins where the reader already is -- in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part -- and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices.  The deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the mindFUL." (-publisher's)



download radio interview by Krista Tippett: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/thichnhathanh/

April 10, 2008

Forcibly exiled from his native country, Zen master and poet Thich Nhat Hanh recently visited Vietnam for the first time in nearly 40 years. In 2003, Speaking of Faith took a radio pilgrimage with the Buddhist monk at a Christian conference center in a lakeside setting of rural Wisconsin. Thich Nhat Hanh offers stark, gentle wisdom for living in a world of anger and violence. Here, he discusses the concepts of "engaged Buddhism," "being peace," and "mindfulness."

Thich Nhat Hanh

Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen monk, poet, and peacemaker. He cofounded the An Quang Buddhist Institute, the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Vietnam, and Plum Village, a Buddhist training monastery in France. He is the author of many books, including Being Peace, The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation, and Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962–1966.

Review by Whole Earth Magazine:

The 14 Precepts of the Order of Interbeing
by Thich Nhat Hanh

Peace Is Every Step

Tending roses is a Form of meditation if you put your attention into it. And putting your attention into the present moment is the essence of meditation practice. It is self-defeating to go to the trouble of raising roses only to let your mind wander away to thoughts of other things. And if you let your attention stray from rhe precise conditions of the present moment, your roses will rip your flesh.

Like meditation, peace might be something Far less esoteric than has been portrayed. "The path of mindfulness in everyday life" means that you can truly make yourself and those around you happier and more peaceful by remembering to smile when you wake up in the morning, by noticing when you inhale and exhale, by Feeling the dishwater on your hands.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk interrupted his education at Princeton and Columbia in 1963 to return to his native Vietham, where he helped lead the Buddhist antiwar movement. When he returned to the US to talk about the sufFering of his people, he was convincing enough to move Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize. He set up the Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969. After the war, in 1973, he was refused permission to return home; since then he has lived in France and America, working with refugees, writing, publishing, and lecturing. Here's your chance to learn a powerful spiritual practice from a living bodhisattva. It's simple. You can do it while riding the subway, answering the telephone, or turning your compost.

Telephone Meditation

The telephone is very convenient, but we can be tyrannized by it. We may find its ring disturbing or feel interrupted by too many calls. When we talk on the phone, we may forget that we are talking on the telephone, wasting precious time (and money). Often we talk about things that are not that important. How many times have we received our phone bill and winced at the amount of it? The telephone bell creates in us a kind of vibration, and maybe some anxiety: "Who is calling? Is it good news or bad news?" Yet some force in us pulls us to the phone and we cannot resist. We are victims of our own telephone. I recommend that the next time you hear the phone ring, just stay where you are, breathe in and out consciously, smile to yourself, and recite this verse: "Listen, listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true self." When the bell rings for the second time, you can repeat the verse, and your smile will be even more solid. When you smile, the muscles of your face relax, and your tension quickly vanishes. You can afford to practice breathing and smiling like this, because if the person calling has something important to say, she will certainly wait for at least three rings. When the phone rings for the third time, you can continue to practice breathing and smiling, as you walk to the phone slowly, with all your sovereignty. You are your own master. You know that you are smiling not only for your own sake, but also for the sake of the other person. If you are irritated or angry, the other person will receive your negativity. But because you have been breathing consciously and smiling, you are dwelling in mindfulness, and when you pick up the phone, how fortunate for the person calling you!

Love in Action - The 14 Precepts of the Order of Interbeing

Several members of our community have been practicing the following principles, and I think you may also find them useful in making choices as to how to live in our contemporary world. We call them the fourteen precepts of the Order of Interbeing.

1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.

2. Do not think that the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.

3. Do not force others; including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat. money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.

4. Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, by all means, including personal contact and visits, images, and sound. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.

5. Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit. wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.

6. Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them while they are still seeds in your consciousness. As soon as anger or hatred arises, turn your attention to your breathing in order to see and understand the nature of your anger or hatred and the nature of the persons who have caused your anger or hatred.

7. Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing in order to come back to what is happening in the present moment Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing, both inside and around yourself, Plant the seeds of joy, peace, and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the work of transformation in the depths of your consciousness.

8. Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

9. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things that you are not sure of. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.

10. Do not use the religious community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party. A religious community should, however, take a clear stand against oppression and injustice, and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts.

11. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realize your ideal of compassion.

12. Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.

13. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others but prevent others from enriching themselves from human suffering or the suffering of other beings.

14. Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only an instrument. Preserve vital energies for the realization of the Way. Sexual expression should not happen without love and commitment. In sexual relationships, be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world. Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings.

COPYRIGHT 1994 New Whole Earth LLC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
Howard Rheingold "Peace Is Every Step". Whole Earth Review.

In awareness to first set our hearts right,

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.BeingReal.ning.com
www.meetup.com/MindShift

2009 Presidential Inauguration in the USA

2009-01-20T19:31:00Z

President Obama's Inauguration Oprah-Style!

If we can’t be there in person, this is the next best thing. It is just
beautiful, the energy of Hope. Enjoy the Celebration!   ~ Debbie

Oprah is very gracious to add so much more to this momentous event for home viewers.

Beyonce at Inaugural Opening 'We Are One' Concert 18 Jan 2009

There’s no place Oprah (or I) would rather be! On Monday, January 19th, Oprah will be at The Kennedy Center featuring surprise guests and a world premiere performance. The celebration continues Tuesday, January 20th. It's a two-day event for America! It's the moment Oprah's been waiting for—and she's counting down the hours in Washington, D.C. Join Oprah this Monday for a star-studded two-day event. Mary J. Blige, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Will.i.am, David Foster, Faith Hill, Seal, Forest Whittaker, Usher, Scarlett Johansson, Anderson Cooper. And many more! The stage is set for a world premiere musical performance you won't see anywhere else.

Beyonce Sings "At Last" for President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama at The Neighborhood Ball after the Inauguration!

Oprah's bringing us 24/7 coverage you won't see anywhere else. Live from D.C., get exclusive blogs, videos, surprise interviews, twitters, photos and more! Plus, don't miss the once-in-a-lifetime Oprah Show premiere!

* Just a few hours left…download Will.i.am's new song!

* It's the moment Oprah's been waiting for!

* Read Lisa Ling's blog from D.C.

Former President George Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush will fly into Midland, TX where I live. There's a big celebration welcoming them home to West Texas. Then they will be on their way to their ranch in Crawford, then to Dallas where they bought a home for their new residence. My deepest gratitude and respect goes out to them for serving our country!

In Gratitude for both Presidents!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.BeingReal.ning.com
www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net

Eckhart Tolle TV – Living in a Critical Time in History!

2009-01-18T02:41:00Z

Entering the State of Consciousness called Presence

"The main endeavor is to allow you to enter that state of consciousness we may call Presence, here and now. There is no need to wait.
We are at a critical time in the history of humanity. This current state of consciousness is no longer working. Just read the history of the 20th century and see how destructive the collective state of humanity has become.

If there is no shift in consciousness at this time, then humanity may very well self-destruct. So, the question for us as a species is, ultimately, do we want to evolve or die?

There is an enormous power now, an evolutionary impulse pushing us into this new state of consciousness. There is a deeper reason why we are here. It goes far beyond the personal dimension. It is an expression of an evolutionary impulse in the collective consciousness of humanity. It wants to evolve. It wants to reach a new evolutionary stage of consciousness. This is the power of Consciousness itself. It is working through us. Something in the collective wants that change. All we need to do is be open to this evolutionary impulse so that we can cooperate with it. Part of this teaching here is to show you the possibility of opening yourself up more and more to what wants to happen on this planet. It is much bigger than the individual person but it can only happen through the individual person." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Welcome to Eckhart Tolle TV! Your Source for New and Original Teachings

ECKHART TOLLE, international best-selling author of The Power of Now and A New Earth, is one of the worlds most honored and respected teachers. Now, at this time of accelerating change and profound transformation, people from all over the world have the opportunity to join together and experience Eckhart Tolle’s teachings in a pioneering new format – via monthly online broadcasts designed to catalyze spiritual awakening and provide clarity, guidance, and support to viewers worldwide.

In order to make new material accessible as quickly as possible, to as many people as possible, Eckhart is creating this new online subscription service, Eckhart Tolle TV.

Through it you will have access to … (click here for more information)

Lots of free valuable content, too!

You won’t need to subscribe to Eckhart TV to take advantage of the many benefits, but you will need to register!

Below are some of the free, non-subscriber highlights planned for Echart TV!

Tip sheet – biweekly support to help us practice Presence
Video highlights drawn from past months of Eckhart TV
Advance notice of upcoming special live events, with descriptive audio and/or video trailers
"Power of Presence reminders – provocative wisdom quotes designed to turn your attention to the present moment
Access to streaming live events with Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart TV is planned for launch in the Spring of 2009. Register below to keep informed of all the exciting developments … and offer you – soon! -- an opportunity to be among the first to subscribe.

"Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected. A "New Heaven" is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness. And a "New Earth" is its reflection in the physical realm.

The foundation for "A NEW EARTH IS A NEW HEAVEN" -- the AWAKENED CONSCIOUSNESS. The arising of a New Heaven and, by implication, a New Earth are not future events that are going to make us free. Nothing is going to make us free because only the Present Moment can make us free. That realization is the Awakening."
~ Eckhart Tolle

Here’s to opening to the evolutionary impulse of the universe!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup,com/MindShift
www.SerReal.ning.com/profile/TheFeminineWhisperers

Visit SER REAL/BEING REAL



Cannot Deny Entry Here

2009-01-07T01:35:00Z

Cannot Deny Entry Here

written by Debbie



Suffering abounds in this unfolding drama of life ... due to the stories we’ve been told, and the stories we still tell ourselves.

This suffering and gloom are such ordinary effects. They are common and displayed on every corner newstand.

As for me, in The Now, I call forth joy, love, peace and … yes, even blissfulness, the Rarer Saga.

While living alone, with acceptance and enthusiasm, I’m finding that I more and more fully inhabit my own inner sanctuary, my own inner dwelling of bliss.

What is commonplace in the world cannot deny me entry here.

With time accelerating on the surface level toward imminent change, many of us communicate through writing, books, music, art, teachings on CDs, DVDs and the internet. We meet dangling from strand to strand on the world-wide web, blogging, and joining social networks and smaller groups within our social networks. We weave the web like magical little spider-bots linking from soul to soul.

When we choose to appear on the surface, it is in intentional communities of like-minded sojourners to enjoy the company and inspiration we give each other, or to enjoy the fine arts, or the beauty and smells and sounds of nature.  We may find intentional spaces to run or go for walks along a path breathing oxygen deeply into our body.  This kind of intentional surfacing is calming and reassuring even in the midst of our suffering world that is so frantic and busy and searching.

Many of us work on the surface level, so we keep ourselves grounded in conscious breathing and inner body awareness as we move among the hustle and bustle of the crowds. We can be an opening for Presence to enter into the world around us.  It can be challenging but we have our inner sanctuary with us that we can enter in and out of while on the surface level. The best relief is when I get home after a day’s work to my place where the vibrational frequency outwardly is more of a match to my inner sanctuary. There is no place like home.

At home I can enter the timeless realm through hobbies, playfulness, passion, relaxation, reading, meditation and silence. "We are in this world but not of it," as Jesus so eloquently phrased it. Another words, don't think this world and all its suffering is who we really are, or that this existence is all there is. It's not. We will come to know more and more the fullness of who we truly are as we go on this magnificent journey together, linking soul to soul.

Joy, Love, Peace and Pure Bliss be with us,

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.SerReal.ning.com/profile/TheFeminineWhisperers

2009 PREDICTIONS

2009-01-04T13:24:00Z

Michael Brown

THE PRESENCE PROCESS
  A Healing Journey into Present Moment Awareness

A New Paradigm for Healing our Life



(click here to watch an excellent in-depth interview)

www.ThePresencePortal.com

MICHAEL BROWN’S 2009 New Year Letter
Greetings,

In time, 2008 will reveal itself to be ‘a pivotal point’ within our individual, and
hence, collective human experience. Like a hinge that swung open a door of
possibility – or a fork in the road that presented ‘an alternative’.

If we have not been in tune with our individual experience, and using what we
receive from within it as our point of reference – it is likely our perception of the
collective experience throughout 2008 has appeared chaotic, confusing, and
filled with fearful possibility.

However, if we have trusted our personal experience to be our truth, that it is in
all its unfolding exactly what is required, and used it as a compass to navigate
by, then the collective happenings of 2008 would have embraced as expected,
anticipated, and filled with murmurings of potential and possibility.

One way or another, 2008 has been a year of active-8-tion. If we courageously
‘made that move’ or ‘did that thing’ or ‘initiated that task’ or ‘left that group or
person’ - as our intuition has been encouraging us to - it is likely we are now
spared the feeling of ‘having missed the boat’. We may at times miss and long
for what we left behind – for what we released or let go of - which is normal. It
is however more important that we now really focus on grounding ourselves into
where we are.

WE ARE GOING TO REQUIRE ‘STEADFASTNESS’ IN 2009 [STEADY-FASTNESS].

2008 contained within it not only the potential and possibility for activation – but
also all the required resources to support the intent. Everything required has
been abundantly showered upon us in the last 12 months. And, as long as we
were not still mindlessly hankering after ‘our wants’, we would have used the
available momentum to reposition ourselves to meet and consciously contain
what 2009 is already set to deliver.

As we enter 2009, we may still be operating from a point of view that thinks we
can ‘one day change our course’ or ‘reposition ourselves at some later stage’ or
‘start doing things differently when it really counts’. If this is our current
mentality – then it is also true that this is what we have been thinking or telling
ourselves for years now. Be warned, procrastination is a mentality that in 2009
proves perilous. More than ever, 2009 operates within the frequency of, ‘now or
never’.

The actuality is, if we have not spent this past year [and the ones immediately
preceding it] activating those potentials and possibilities that our intuition has
been consistently urging, they may now become the ‘what could have been’
scenarios we regretfully revisit in the quiet hours of late nights or early mornings.

THE SHIP DOES NOT WAIT FOR THE DRUNKEN SAILOR – THERE IS TOO MUCH AT STAKE.

Some 2008-ish questions to reflect upon are:

Did we manage to walk away from that situation we knew was not healthy - despite its undeniable seduction?

Did we leave that job/position/relationship we knew was simply enabling us to tread water - despite fears of possible loss and insecurity?

Did we pack up and depart that location, which although appearing safe and secure now, is obviously fragile when push comes to shove?

Did we listen to that voice instructing us to ‘make that specific change NOW?
If we did, well done! The momentum of 2008 was largely about repositioning of
our experience against the supposedly better judgment of onlookers. Those
operating around us in a fear frequency would have urged us to stay our course
mainly because they are afraid to shift theirs.

In recent times the Hopi Elders have asked us various pertinent questions.
Undoubtedly, as we now depart 2008 and enter 2009, the three most significant
are:

Where is your water?

Where is your garden?

Where is your community?
The relevance of these three simple questions may not yet completely make
sense to many of us right now. Especially to those of us still ... (Page 2)

2009 PREDICTIONS (cont.)

2009-01-04T13:20:00Z

Michael Brown's 2009 Predictions (page 2) (page 1)
http://ThePresencePortal.com

stumbling around within a hypnotic trance focused on attempting to fulfill
our wants [to the extent we completely overlook our requirements].

In 2009, a series of sudden shifts in planetary events – shifts that are clearly as
yet unforeseen by the masses – shatters the illusion that ‘fulfilling our wants’ is
the same as ‘filling our bellies’. These unexpectedly sudden shifts, coupled with
an exponential escalation in circumstances already initiated in 2008, shall be
perceived by many of us as ‘catastrophic’.

In 2009, in many locations upon our planet, it will become evident that the
corner store is not the same as a garden, the tap in the bathroom is not the
same as a spring, and what is shown to us on Reality TV is not the same as
actuality. Through a kind of ‘shock experience’, the world’s collective delusionary
state is to become suddenly and blatantly transparent! [Our collective trance
becomes apparent.]

Many of the specific 2009 events facilitating this mass rude awakening to ‘the
magnitude of our collective hallucination’ are already activated by 2008 events
still unfolding. Unfortunately, we sleepy dreamers still stumble along a dim-lit
corridor driven unconsciously by attempting to ‘subdue our inner emotional
turmoil’, rather than ‘paying careful attention to the current cyclic shift unfolding
within of our entire solar system’.

It is not that our Seers and Indigenous Elders have been quiet about this. It is
just that the sacred hilltops and Mesas from which they have sang their warnings
are now scattered with Cell Phone Towers whose signals ring in every ear to the
point no authentic planetary voice is heard - inwardly or outwardly.

The murmurings of the events to unfold in 2009 have already been clearly
activated in 2008 – naked upon the planet earth stage for all to see. So, it is not
that what is coming is in any way ‘hidden from us’; this predicament rumbles into
all our collective human experiences like a tidal wave of shrilling alarm clocks.
However, our current disadvantage is that we really cannot see or hear what
is happening to us. This is why we require a tidal wave of alarm clocks!

As a species, we are currently perceptually blinded and deafened to ‘what is
actual’ - a perceptual blindness and deafness which contains three distinct levels
of blind spot within it.

MANIFESTING THE REQUIRED SCENARIOS SERVING TO AWAKEN US FROM OUR INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE HALLUCINATION IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE COMING 2009 FREQUENCY.

Accordingly, within this letter, I now share a simple perceptual tool which assists
me greatly whenever I remind myself of it. It is delivered by means of an
illustration. I find it useful in reminding myself that ‘there are many other points
of view’ to the one we are currently collectively feasting upon. If like me, you
find this illustration useful to you – please share it with others when and if the
moment calls.

This perceptual tool is initiated by simply recounting a theatrical demonstration
by a hypnotist. Once you read it for yourself – and you ‘get it’ on whatever level
it impacts you – it is then quite easy to share with anyone who mistakenly
assumes ‘the world we currently see and hear is the only world there is’.

UNWRAPPING THE THREE LEVELS OF PERCEPTUAL BLINDNESS AND DEAFNESS
[OR, AWAKENING TO OUR BLIND SPOTS]:

Imagine yourself in a theatre in which a hypnotist is performing for an audience.
The hypnotist asks for two volunteers from the audience – a woman and a man.
Once upon the stage, the hypnotist asks their permission to hypnotize them for a
harmless but entertaining demonstration of the powers of hypnosis. They agree.
The hypnotist then prepares the two volunteers by skillfully counting them down
from 10 to 1 – at which point they enter a deeply relaxed trance-like state. He
then carefully explains to the entranced man:

“When I click my fingers, you shall open your eyes and see this woman as a
teapot. You dearly want a cup of tea. Drinking a cup of tea right now is the only
thing on your mind. Nothing else matters. When I clap my hands, you shall
awaken from this experience into your normal state of being, feeling happy and
relaxed.” The man agrees.

He then turns to the entranced woman and carefully explains to her: “When I
click my fingers, you shall open your eyes and see this man as a jar of cookies.
Eating a cookie right now is the only thing on your mind. Nothing else matters.
When I clap my hands, you shall awaken from this experience into your normal
state of being, feeling happy and relaxed.” The woman agrees.

He then clicks his fingers and a very entertaining and amusing bought of activity
unfolds: The man tries to use the woman to pour a cup of tea, and the woman
simultaneously tries to open the man to get a cookie out of the jar. This amusing
spectacle continues until the hypnotist claps his hands.

The interesting predicament about being in such a hypnotic trance-state is this:

No matter what anyone tells these two individuals while they are
hypnotized, there is no convincing them – no mental ‘understanding’ or
‘explaining’ – that leads them to believe ‘the other’ is not a pot of tea
or a jar of cookies.

When the hypnotist asks them what they are doing – they reply with conviction:

“I am trying to pour a cup of tea from this pot” or “I am trying to get a cookie
out of this jar”. One may write books, give lectures, show demonstrations, and
provide them with DVD’s and CD’s to watch, or do whatever one wants to try
and explain or illustrate the situation to these two. However, while they remain
within this hypnotic trance, all attempts to reveal ‘what is actual’ are futile. No
matter what is said – the woman is a pot of tea to the man, and the man is a jar
of cookies to the woman.

To a physically-transfixed individual, this predicament does not initially appear to
be an issue of ‘blindness’ or ‘deafness’. These two individuals are clearly still able
to see and hear well enough to interact with each other and the physical world
around them. However, they are clearly perceptually blind and deaf, because no
visual or audible attempts to show them ‘what is actual in that moment’ succeed.

They can only see and hear what they have been programmed to see and hear –
even though none of it is valid.

This condition represents The First Level of Perceptual Blindness and
Deafness. As sighted and hearing people on earth, we can still see and hear
well enough to function. However, unbeknownst to us, we remain blind and deaf
to the actual identity of what we perceive and are only able to see and hear
what we want to see and hear of others and of the world in which we live
according to what is energetically programmed into us. For the most part, we
can only perceive the world in terms of ‘the cookies and tea we are after’ – or,
whatever else it is we assume we want.

This is why it is extremely perilous, and will become more so, upon this planet in
2009. When moving about amidst our populations, one cannot actually be ‘seen
or heard’ by most people. This is because most of us see and hear only what we
want to according to the drive of our programmed trance-state. Whenever we
encounter others in this world, we therefore have to continually remain alert to
the instinctive human propensity for ‘experience manipulation’ – to the current
human condition of continually attempting to use each other as a means ‘to pour
tea’ or ‘grab a cookie’.

We do not even real eyes we are behaving in this manner, and while we are
entranced, no amount of ‘mental explanation’ assists in bringing this behavior to
light for us. We perceive ‘the manipulation of others and our environment as a
means to satisfy the drive of our metaphoric wanting for tea and cookies’ as
being ‘normal and appropriate behavior’. We do not intentionally mean to be
hurtful – yet, we are. And very soon, as a species, we shall become even more
dangerous to be around.

THIS FIRST LEVEL OF PERCEPTUAL BLINDNESS AND DEAFNESS HIDES ‘THE ACTUALITY OF THE MOMENT’ FROM US AND INSTEAD TRANSFORMS ‘THE ACTUALITY OF THE MOMENT’ INTO SOMETHING THAT APPEARS EITHER USEFUL OR USELESS IN SATISFYING OUR PRE-PROGRAMMED WANTS. IN THIS MANNER, IT OBSCURES THE ACTUAL IDENTITY OF OTHERS FROM US.

To start awakening to our First Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness, we
simply ask ourselves this question:

“What is the difference between ‘a need’, ‘a want’, and ‘a requirement’?”

To communicate The Second Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness,
we return to the hypnotist’s performance.

Not only do the two hypnotized individuals not see each other for who they
actually are, and not only do they remain impervious to all attempts to
demonstrate this actuality, but while hypnotized, they also remain completely
unaware that just minutes prior to the debacle in which they now participate,
they were sitting in the audience and had entire life histories!

While they attempt to get tea and cookies from each other, they are completely
unaware of their vast and intricate identities – of the entirety of their life
experience outside of the situation in which they are now in. While they remain
hypnotized, they are oblivious that they have jobs, homes, children, birthdays,
pets, allergies, and favorite foods, etc. While they operate within this trance-like
hypnotic state, their ‘actual reality’ is completely invisible to them. It is as if it
had never existed.

If the hypnotist asks them about their home life and their loved ones, they would
for a moment look upon the hypnotist with a blank expression, then immediately
continue their futile attempts and get cookies and tea from the mistakenly
perceived teapot or jar of cookies. Nothing else matters.

Within this Second Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness, no other
reality exists outside the attempt to fulfill the programmed want. Nothing! If
someone says to a perceptually blind and deaf individual: “You are an unlimited
being - an immortal presence who is currently and simultaneously experiencing
countless eternally ongoing life experiences, and who is established within
uncountable intimate connections with millions of other presences throughout
creation”, they would simply respond with a blank expression. Such an assertion
appears crazy to them. Such assertions have no point of reference for them
within the perceptual incarceration of the hypnotic trance.

The Second Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness renders us
inherently unaware of our own actual identity. Pointing out this identity to us is
as futile as telling the hypnotized couple they have a family sitting in the
audience and a whole life experience outside the theatre walls.

While we are entranced, we may sometimes willingly choose to ‘believe’ a claim
that we are indeed ‘more than we real eyes we are right now’ – just like the
religious choose to believe the priesthood’s claims, or voters choose to believe
politician’s claims, or consumers choose to believe profiteer’s claims. However,
while we are entranced, our acceptance of any ‘claimed actuality other than the
one we are experiencing right now’ is an awareness based purely on belief [hearsay],
not on any actual knowledge [experience].

ALL BELIEF IS A STATE OF HYPNOSIS.

THE SECOND LEVEL OF PERCEPTUAL BLINDNESS AND DEAFNESS HIDES OUR OWN ACTUAL IDENTITY FROM OUR AWARENESS. IN PLACE OF THIS ACTUAL IDENTITY, OUR MEMORY FIELD IS A BLANK, EMPTY, AND SEEMINGLY A VACANT SPACE. OR, IT IS FULL OF HALLUCINATIONS GOVERNED BY BELIEF SYSTEMS IMPOSED FROM OUTER INFLUENCES [AS OPPOSED TO ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE ACTUALIZED FROM PERSONAL INNER AND OUTER EXPERIENCE].

To start awakening to our Second Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness,
we simply ask ourselves the question:

“Can I remember not being alive?”

To illustrate The Third Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness, we
again return to our theatrical hypnotic demonstration.

While these two hypnotized individuals dance through their trance, they are also
completely unaware of the actuality of the greater environment in which they
operate. If someone runs into the theatre and shouts, “Tornado coming directly
this way, head for the shelter in the basement!” They would not respond.
Regardless of very clear instructions being given about the seriousness of the
approaching predicament, the hypnotized couple would continue attempting to
get cookies and tea from each other.

Unless the hypnotist deliberately awakens them from their trance by use of the
agreed hand-clap, they would still be trying to manipulate each other in an
attempt to satisfy their programmed wants right up to the moment they are
whipped into oblivion by the twister. They won’t hear it or see it, and no amount
of trying to convince them of the imminent danger changes this. They are
destroyed by it and do not even real eyes what hit them.

It is this Third Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness preventing us
from realizing, and hence responding, to our current ‘event horizon’. Even
though ‘the rumble of the tornado is already audible’, and even though ‘the
twister’ is already clearly visible, we individually and collectively continue to
dance in a hypnotic trance.

We remain completely unaware that what we are looking at and for is not
actually valid. We remain completely unaware of our own actual identities. We
remain completely unaware of the rapidly unfolding transitional juncture through
which our entire solar system now cascades. We have absolutely no clue about
what is actually happening to us – even though it is being broadcast clearly by
the elements and the unfolding life experiences all around us.

THE THIRD LEVEL OF PERCEPTUAL BLINDNESS AND DEAFNESS RENDERS US
DISCONNECTED TO THE ACTUALITY OF THE RHYTHMS, TIDES, AND CYCLES
OF OUR GREATER ENVIRONMENT. WE THEREFORE OPERATE AS IF DISCONNECTED
FROM AND INVULNERABLE TO THE ENTIRE MECHANISM OF CREATION.

To start awakening to our Third Level of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness, we
simply ask ourselves this question:

“If we humans are responsible for the shifting environmental conditions upon our
planet, then who is responsible for the actuality that every planet in our solar
system is now simultaneously experiencing shifts in their environmental
conditions?”

These Three Levels of Perceptual Blindness and Deafness are triggered and
maintained by the trance-state in which generations of emotional imprinting
perceptually incarcerate us.

While we continue to believe, and so behave, as if we are able to mentally and
physically make adjustments within our current human experience to quiet and
subdue our imprinted emotional condition – all our activity remains ineffectual –
selfish – and self-destructive. Because such ineffectual behavior arises out of our
imprinted fear, anger and grief, its consequences serve only to lead our
unfolding experience directly back into fear, anger, and grief.

It is this circular hallucination of ongoing ineffectuality from which we are now
asked to awaken.

It is because we are hallucinating that we are so naively willing to assume we
can ‘fix the economy’ and ‘bail ourselves out’ of our current circumstances. Only
when we real eyes we cannot eat or drink our money, nor can we trust anyone
who has less food and water than us, are we going to real eyes that ‘fulfilling our
wants’ does not necessarily guarantee ‘we develop the capacity to remain
receptive to our requirements’.

After my extensive traveling and teaching experience of the past 13 years, I am
in agreement with the conclusions of the Hopi, Aboriginal, and other Indigenous
Elders:

It is unlikely that much of our planet has the capacity to now curtail the
momentum which propels us toward an inevitable precipice. This precipice is
required. This precipice may well destroy the physical vehicles of many, and in
so doing, serve as the catalytic clapping of the hypnotist’s hands for the few.
Our New Age naivety and religious mania which espouses ‘we are going to be
saved or rescued from the consequences of our actions if we just believe it’, is
simply entranced lemming mentality. And, all of us who actually believe that
impressive speeches delivered by seductive politicians will suddenly ‘make
everything okay’ are just as naïve and foolish.

THE UNIVERSE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT FANCY LINGUISTICS OR BELIEF SYSTEMS.

The actuality of our human condition is this: There is no way around
emotional cleansing. There is no one that can save us from this required inner
work. There is no fancy machine that can do it for us. There is no councilor or
facilitator or healer that can do it for us. There are no changes in political policy
or religious addresses or shifts in the interest rate that impact this predicament
by even 0.0001%. Only inner work accomplishes emotional integration.

In 2009 – those who do not have the capacity – and who have not already been
doing the work to develop the capacity - to contain the exponentially increasing
waves of the vibrational – shall commence equal and opposite exponentially
accelerated self-destruction. Those who have eyes to see already real eyes this.
Many will also fervently partake in the collective destruction of others.

2009 also contains within its frequency the strong possibility that many may still
awaken in time to tend to their emotional responsibilities. However, the window
of opportunity for the required organic unfolding of emotional development is
fast closing.

In 2009 it shall become disturbingly apparent that it is no longer possible for the
masses to sedate and control the authentic state of their emotional bodies. The
rising vibrational impulses shall be too powerful for those who have not
consciously practiced containment. These impulses shall override the hold
pharmaceuticals, alcohol, cigarettes, and street drugs currently have as far as
‘masking the authenticity of our collective human emotional predicament’.

This sudden increase in random, outwardly-projected, destructive behavior of the
masses is already increasingly obvious and has already been active-8-ed for all to
witness in the most unexpected places. The wheels for this unfolding have
already been ‘Greece-d’, one might say: One person is killed and millions riot in
reaction – burning and destroying everything in their path.

IN 2009 MANY WILL CONTINUE TO FACE UNEMPLOYMENT – BUT THE RIOT POLICE
DEPARTMENTS ON PLANET EARTH WILL DEFINITELY NOT. ON THE CONTRARY, THEY WILL OFFER GREAT RECRUITMENT PACKAGES! WATCH YOUR LOCAL PRESS FOR DETAILS AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES!

The only hope for humanity right now is that there are enough self-trained
alchemists willing to open themselves up completely to feel and contain these
escalating vibrational impulses. There are clearly no longer enough Indigenous
Elders to accomplish this on our behalf.

2009 IS TIME FOR US TO ‘GROW UP’ AND TAKE OUR PLACE AT THE TABLE OF PLANETARY GUARDIANSHIP.

Many have been given all the necessary tools to approach the unfolding
experiences upon our planet consciously. However, because of our trance state,
many of us have foolishly viewed and used these tools in terms of ‘their
efficiency in helping us to get what we want’ – as opposed to opening us up to
develop the capacity ‘to receive what we require’.

‘What is actual’ is that most so-called ‘civilized humans’ no longer have the
capacity to discern between a need, a want, or a requirement. Such capacity
requires significant emotional development, and emotional development, like the
growth of a flower, is an organic unfolding. It cannot be quickly organized by
politicians, discounted on a summer sale by profiteers, or granted via absolution
to congregations by priests. Those who are not already consciously developing
themselves emotionally are unlikely to have the capacity to enter such inner
workings.

ONCE THE BULLS ARE CHARGING, THE PEOPLE IN THE STREET NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF DECIDING WHERE IN THE CROWD TO POSITION THEMSELVES.

The frequency of 2009 is akin to ‘the running of the bulls’. It is fun for those who
consciously ‘show up’ and therefore ‘respond’ to the occasion – but horrific and
devastating for those who suddenly awaken from their leisurely shopping spree
in the midst of panicking masses.

So, let us get to the crux of the matter by taking a brief look at the frequency of
2009 as reflected by my personal numerological system:

2009 begins with 2 [activity] and ends with 9 [completion and transition], and in
between these two numbers it has 00 [activity impulsed from within the void].
9 + 2 adds up to 11 [the possibility for Mastership through integration of
opposites – otherwise – extreme active conflict of opposites].

11 = 1 + 1 which adds up to 2 [activity, again]. So, expect the entire year to be
so full of activity – individually and collectively - that it becomes literally
impossible to ‘think’ or ‘plan’ anything.

The frequency of 2009 may therefore be briefly summed up as follows:

This year is actively, through ongoing vibrational impulses, moving us
toward required transformation. The key to this transformation is
mastering the seeming conflict of opposites – or integration of opposing
forces. Failure to integrate these seemingly opposing forces will for many not
mean ‘transformation’ – but instead ‘transitioning’. As a ‘rapid’ makes or
breaks a canoeist, this year makes or breaks us individually or collectively.

Some key words for 2009 are:

Activity / Busyness / Vibrational / Completion / Transition / Transformation / End
/ Relating / Relationships / Integration / Conflict / Peace / Intimacy / Mastering /
Rapid

A key recommendation for successfully navigating 2009 is:

TO DELIBERATELY AND CONSISTENTLY INSTALL MOMENTS OF QUIETNESS, STILLNESS, AND EMPTINESS INTO OUR ‘DAILY NOW’.

IN 2009 ‘LATER’ IS NON-EXISTENT.

This applies to whether we live in a small little town – like I do – or in a
metropolis. The sudden drastic increased intensity of activity that 2009 initiates
shall feel like the last few hundred meters of a high stakes horse race. This
‘rapidness’ unfolds within everything. ‘Rapidness’ is the common experience for
all throughout 2009.

In 2009 the undisciplined shall be caught up in the currents and swirled all over
the place. Floating logs, whirlpools, and jutting rocks abound everywhere! The
disciplined shall forsake a full night’s sleep, get up early everyday, before the day
starts, and, while others stir restlessly in their dreams, consciously feed
themselves the nourishment of stillness, silence, and emptiness.

This daily diet of stillness, silence, and emptiness – no matter how we
incorporate it into our daily routine [route in] - provides the necessary
nourishment for fueling our capacities to consciously engage with the vibrational.
It also decreases reactivity. It alerts us to bobbling logs, whirlpools, and jutting
rocks as the currents of 2009 pull us rapidly along. No other nutrition provides
this capacity quite as efficiently. Without this nutrition, in 2009 we shall become
completely, maniacally, and insanely busy.

To the emotionally unintegrated, 2009 shall appear to be ‘the end of my world’.
On many levels it is ‘the end of the world as we know it’. A vast aspect of what
we call ‘our world’ has already ended. Many of us are now simply clinging to an
era that is already a carcass. This is why, for so many, ‘life stinks’.

Expect sudden and massive ‘endings’. What ends in 2009 are all the outer
structures we have unconsciously manifest out of our unintegrated emotional
states.

While we are still driven ‘to fulfill our wants in an attempt to feel better about
ourselves’ – we cling tooth and nail to the outer structures we have manifest that
we believe will give us these things. Maybe it is our job, our companion, or our
vehicle. While we remain entranced by the impulses of unintegrated emotional
signatures, we vehemently cling to our political ideologies, our religious belief
systems, our economic objectives, our completely insane personal relationships,
and all the stuff we have manifest to numb our inner discomfort. While operating
within the perceptual hallucinations triggered by this state, it is catastrophic to us
when these structures end. It really feels to us like ‘the end of the world’.

As the vibrational waves exponentially increase within our solar system and
throughout our planet [also from within us!] throughout 2009, they impact these
outer structures right within their causal point: Within their foundations in the
emotional realm. If we do not remain alert, these impacted unintegrated
emotional states reflexively manifest mentally as ‘stories we tell’ and physically
as ‘reactive behavior’. In 2009, more than in any other period of our life
experience, we are to be aware of ‘any story told in anger’. Any behavior
emanating from it shall be regrettable.

It is really important for us to real eyes that these increasing vibrational impulses
are not manifesting ‘to grant us what we want’. All our ‘wants’ stem from fear,
anger, and grief – not from love. [In 2009 I offer my personal condolences to all
The Secret people of planet earth.] This is why it is important to ask ourselves
the question:

“What is the difference between a need, a want, and a requirement?”

LIVING IN ‘AN UNLIMITED UNIVERSE’ DOES NOT MEAN WE CAN HAVE WHATEVER WE WANT. IT MEANS IN EACH MOMENT WE RECEIVE WHATEVER WE REQUIRE TO INTEGRATE THE EMOTIONAL CONDITION CURRENTLY OBSCURING THE ACTUALITY OF OUR VIBRATIONAL IDENTITY FROM US.

These exponentially increasing vibrational impulses are not here to prop up false
paradises built in a world whose gods have become anything or anyone that
satisfies our unconscious want for ‘getting’. They are here to liberate us of this
hallucination so we may once again feed upon the nutrition we require. In 2009
those of us infatuated and seduced by the nipple of the world and the structures
built of our unintegrated emotional turmoil are going to suck in increasingly
unpleasant gulps of putrid, sour milk.

2+0+0+9 = 11. What a powerful number! 11 is the first of ‘The Master
Numbers’. 11 represents ‘mastership accomplished through integrating an
apparent conflict of opposites’. 2009 is therefore the year of ‘relating to’: Of
relating to oneself, relating to others, and relating to the universe, etc.

It is the year of intimacy [into me and see]. Whether we navigate our experience into ‘a conscious transition into completion’ – or into ‘an unconscious tripping into self-destruction’ – rests entirely upon whether our ‘relating to’ is responsive or reactive. Are we relating lovingly, or manipulatively?

Relevant 2009 questions are:

Do I attack ‘the other’, or do I masterfully integrate what ‘the other’ reveals to me about myself that I am currently too hypnotized to perceive?

Do I attack myself, or do I now masterfully integrate those aspects of myself still being perceived as discomfort, wrongness, and broken?

In 2009 our choice of ‘response or reaction’ with respect to the manner in which
we ‘relate to all’ applies not only to us as individuals – but also to whole
countries, religious systems, and political organizations. Accordingly, 2009 holds
the greatest potential for massive planetary chaos or harmony we have yet
witnessed in our lifetimes. Current activation points like the conflict in Georgia
and the election of President Barrack Obama have already set the ball rolling.

Can Russia, America, China, and Iran see each other as each other’s shadows requiring compassionate integration?

Can Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Christians see each other as each other’s shadows requiring compassionate integration?

If not, then 2009 is going to be bloody messy. The sleeves are already rolled up
on many fronts as one group projects their unintegrated emotional imprint upon
another. Everyone is determined they will extract cookies or tea from the other.

Those left functioning in a state of physical, mental, emotional, and vibrational
well-being after the next 12 months shall be those who are able to consciously
contain the emotional impulses now being triggered by the exponentially
increasing vibrational frequencies.

Those of us who are able to avoid ‘telling the stories’, or at least ‘not believe
them’ when they are told by our mental body, have a chance. Because, when
one is dealing with the frequency of 11 – with ‘integrating the conflict of
opposites’ - the primal energy being ‘impulsed’ when manifesting in any
outwardly projected, unintegrated form, is ‘anger and rage’. Anger and rage are
extremely proficient storytellers. If we believe their stories for minute - to the
point of physically acting upon them – we are doomed to immense discomfort
and suffering.

2009 ALSO ASKS THE QUESTION: “DO WE HAVE THE PLANETARY LEADERS WHO CAN SPEAK THE RIGHT WORDS TO CHANNEL THIS EMMERGING ENERGY INWARD TOWARD INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE INTEGRATION?”

Right now, in my life, I am attempting to be a realist. I am placing aside all the
spiritual propaganda that denies taking responsibility for the quality of our
personal experience. Alchemy – the conscious, compassionate containment of all
our felt-experiences - is the only tool I personally know that works if consistently
applied. Accordingly, I am staying as alert as possible so as to not suppress
anything. I am letting it all in – letting it all be-here-now – letting it wrack my
bones and twist my muscles if that is what is required. I am letting it break my
heart over and over and over again, if that is what is required.

As I look out upon the theatre of the world, I see throngs of hypnotized human
beings in an increasingly desperate dance for tea and cookies. This is ‘the actual
scenario’ – not the one we may wish for – or hope for – or believe in. The real
McCoy is that everywhere upon this planet of ours the masses are fearful and
hurting – and those which are not, are sedating and controlling. This is ‘the
actuality’ of our current human experience.

I know there are many who profess to looking out and seeing a world on the
verge of some ‘New Age peace experience’. I think these people are drunk – or
else trying to sell something – or simply hallucinating. I ignore the so-called
‘spiritual voices’ who speak of ‘oneness’, but yet obviously ignore the
unintegrated condition of their own emotional imprinting – and so appear blind
to the collective unintegrated emotional condition of humanity.

When I look at the number 11, I see a picture of the authentic being [1]
standing beside their emotionally imprinted noise [1]. How many of us can hear
our own emotionally imprinted noise above the increasing loudness of our cell
phone and I-Pod society? Unless we are able to step within and perceive our
own inner noise, and then take full responsibility for it by consciously containing
and so integrating it, we are unconsciously driven by it into manifesting outer
circumstances that become chaotic exaggerations of this inner noise.

Mastering the number 11 is a matter of consciously developing the capacity to
‘actively’ recognize, integrate, and so still our inner noise so we may hear the
increasing communication being transmitted to us all from within the vibrational.
This is exceedingly challenging as 1+1 = 2 [activity]. So, the primary force
through 2009 is ‘2’ – which means activity, activity, and more activity! Non-stop
activity.

As the Mayans and other Elders warn us, “In 2011/12/13 the sun shall speak, if
we do not hear it, we shall perish from the surface of this planet.” How many
among us are ‘listening’ to the Sun? Most of us run from it, hide from it, and
accuse it to be an attacker coming to ruin our world. But it is not – its increasing
voice comes only to ‘end the world we built out of our inner noise’. If we insist
on identifying only with our noise and with the world we have built of it – the
landscapes of quietness, stillness, and emptiness beckoning us back into the
resonance of ‘the actual moment’ appear terrifying to us.

I too, like the Elders to whom I have done my best to give my good ear and
good eye, am choosing to enter the Kiva of my heart and ‘to get myself straight
with God’ – whatever this means. Obviously, what this means for me is different
to what it means for you or anyone else. Only the heart contains the truth of
such a revelation.

IN 2009 IT BECOMES PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THERE ARE NO ‘SET RULES FOR EVERYONE’ – THERE IS ONLY THE RICHNESS OF THE ACTUAL MOMENT COMMUNICATING EXACTLY WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR EACH OF US WITHIN EACH UNFOLDING MOMENT.

In 2008 our intuition called us to activate the required steps to set the stage for
this inner purpose: For getting straight with ourselves. Many of us have listened,
I know this. Many of us, through the Grace of the universe, listened and
responded without even knowing this is what we were ‘up to’. I have seen this
too. The ‘common experience’ is extremely powerful.

Now, it is a matter of becoming as quite and as still as possible so we may
individually and collectively hear the subtle intricacies of the communication of
the vibrational. Its voice won’t necessarily make sense – it won’t deliver us unto
the fulfilling of our wants – but it will assist us to continue developing the
capacity to contain what we require. This voice is only heard ‘in the moment’ – it
does not speak from or to our fear, anger, and grief. It has nothing to do with
our plans. It speaks only to our conscious reentry into ‘what is actual’.

Though some of you may read this letter – and because of your as yet
unintegrated fear, anger, and grief, perceive it as a disturbing and fearful
communication – I must tell you that I am not at all disturbed or fearful as I
write it. Not even slightly. I trust the seeming chaos within the flow of this great
river of life.

I have too often entered the dark contortions of my own emotional imprinting,
and so know through repeated personal experience that as one approaches the
moment of ‘integration of seeming opposites’, all may appear hellish. On many
an occasion I have contorted into a fetal position in the darkness of my room
and exclaimed, “Hell’s teeth!” But, in every occasion, by responding consciously
and unconditionally to what appears to be ‘the end of my world’, a doorway has
opened into a newfound perceptual paradigm containing new horizons of
possibilities and probabilities.

May this be the fate of us all? 2009 may well be ‘a massive contortion’ come to
cleanse us collectively – or at least to give us the opportunity to deepen our
current cleansing experience. Can we greet each new convulsion consciously and
without condition? We are all going to find out.

I feel for those who still run urgently into the maddening crowd because they are
propelled by their own unintegrated emotional condition to ‘save this world’.
Accordingly, I deeply respect all who have not been mistakenly seduced into
feather-dusting the holograph – but who have instead had the courage of their
inner convictions to as best as possible attempt to awaken themselves within this
hallucination.

This is my personal little recommendation for 2009: Get a hobby! If you do not
have a hobby, start one. If you have one – cherish it. Because, in 2009, if we do
not have the capacity to ‘potter about seemingly meaninglessly’ – we will
definitely be drawn into the dramas of others – and into their vain and fruitless
attempts to mend a broken, outdated machine [con-trap-shun] so many still
believe necessary to fix.

A simple hobby gives one an outer point of focus while the inner quietly and
consistently practices the art of ‘watching the story’ and ‘containing the felt vibrations’.

In 2009, a hobby that appears outwardly as ‘meaningless to
others’ may well be the most profoundly efficient ‘spiritual practice’
available to us.

Personally, I am going to grow cactus, play my Native American flute in the bath,
write an actuality fiction adventure, practice the art of ‘rain-making’, attempt
consistent communication with Orbs, and other completely meaningless
endeavors. And, every now and then I shall curiously switch on the TV and
watch ‘the greatest show on earth’.

I am as ready as I can be for 2009. However, I have no illusions about any
clean-sailing. These are ‘the rapids of our timeline’ in which a moment’s lapse in
alertness may be devastating. [‘Rapid’ is a word which has an appropriate
double-meaning.]

I depart 2008 and enter 2009 with awe and gratitude. I am glad I received a
ticket for this one! The seating from my ‘point of view’ is not too shabby either. I
am glad you are here with us all.

From the center of my heart to the center of yours – I send the deepest of love I
am able to muster. Onward, inward, and upward then…or not…

Michael.
www.thepresenceprotal.com

THE PRESENCE PROCESS

We no longer need to feel that the path tread by most of humanity is one of quiet desperation. In The Presence Process we now have a sensible step-by-step procedure that empowers us to heal the ghosts from our past so we can live liberated lives - Now.

What was hard to explain has now been written. What was previously assumed to be a peaceful territory available only to “spiritual adepts” is now open to all. By simply reading this book, our perceptions are cleansed. By participating experientially in The Presence Process, our life experience can be healed.

In showing us how to step beyond our personal physical, mental, and emotional afflictions and addictions, The Presence Process takes a bold step into a new paradigm of healthcare by empowering us to facilitate ourselves into wholeness. It is an invitation to step beyond the victim and victor mentality perpetuated by the stories we tell ourselves of our wounded past and a future to be feared.

The lucid flow of this text magnetically and gently draws us into a transformational experience that automatically grounds us into the vibrant radiance of present moment awareness – where we find our liberation, our healing, our innate wisdom.

As such, The Presence Process enable us to take present moment awareness from a mental concept to an abiding experience.

Michael Brown – Biographical Sketch

Until 1989 South African-born Michael Brown was living what he called “a blissfully unconscious life” as a music journalist. He then developed an acutely painful neurological condition called Horton’s Syndrome. After four years of suffering through conventional medical approaches he embarked on a quest to heal his experience. In 1993 this intention unfolded into a nine-year odyssey that took him beyond the borders of his home country. In San Francisco he studied Swedish Massage and Reiki Therapy. He also crossed the border to Mexico and participated in ceremonies with the Huichol Indians.

As Michael’s quest to find relief unfolded, he began entering “present moment awareness”; a paradigm of heightened consciousness that appeared to be running parallel to the conventional and mundane world experience. He discovered that his repeated entry into this enlivened state of Being, which he accomplished through ceremonial practice and conscious breathing, resulted in a decrease of his own painful condition to the point that it subsided completely.

In the late 90s Michael began to chart a methodical pathway into present moment awareness with intent to develop a practical procedure that anyone, anywhere, could follow to initiate this experience for themselves. This procedure became known as The Presence Process. In 2002 Michael returned to South Africa and invited others to experience this inner journey. He discovered that as others embraced present moment awareness they too automatically experienced release from physical, mental, and emotional discomfort, including psychological disorders and addictions. To make this journey accessible to everyone Michael wrote The Presence Process: A Healing Journey Into Present Moment Awareness.

Michael Brown continues to live in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he shares his knowledge through personal facilitation. By means of this book, his healing contribution is available for all. Michael will be traveling extensively to speak and teach about The Presence Process.

Until It Is Your Time to Rejoin

2008-12-28T17:26:00Z



The Twin Flame Blessing

presented by www.HumanityHealing.net
             www.HumanityHealing.ning.com

In the sky above us, Venus and Mars ride the
night together. This is known to be a time for
creating or opening paths for new relationships
as well as strengthening existing ones.

On 12:12, 2008, Venus and Mars will be in
aspectation AND there will also be a Full Moon
in Gemini, the sign of the Twins. This astral event
is when the spiritual separation between Twin
Flames is at its thinnest.

In addition, the date 12:12 represents a gate of
Ascension, through which we can journey to
completeness. We can reach out through the Gate.
Using both the Law of Intention and the Law of
Attraction properly, you can reach out across Time
and Space and touch your Twin, calling on their
Blessing to connect and integrate both halves of
your Souls energy into your Life.

Remember until it is your time to rejoin, your Twin
Flame wants you to be happy!

Text Comments (2 weeks ago)

FeminineWhisperers

Thank you for the beautiful rendering of that
which I feel deep inside me. I have felt this
energy come to me and go out from me on
a few occasions in my life. I felt cradled in the
arms of my soul lover. I rested on the breast
of my lion. I slept in the arms of my lover in a
four-post bed on the ocean's shore ... dreams
of reunion, completeness and timelessness.
This new video brought tears to my eyes and
yearning to my heart. I send my energy out.
I am ready!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another video that really resonates with me!

The Star Seeded Souls

presented by www.HumanityHealing.net
             www.HumanityHealing.ning.com

A single soul is richer than all the worlds.
~ Alexander Smith

Many are experiencing the awakening of their Soul
and the reason for their existence.

"Starseeds" are described as evolved beings from
another planet, star system, galaxy, or plane of
existence whose specific missions are to assist Planet
Earth and her peoples to bring in the Golden Age, which
is happening now and will be accelerating on an even
greater scale in the near future. Starseeds incarnate into
the same conditions and total amnesia concerning their
identity, origins and purpose as do Earth humans.
Starseeds, however, have genes that are encoded with
a "wake-up call" designed to "activate" them at a
predetermined moment in their life. Awakening can be
gentle and gradual, or it can be quite dramatic and abrupt.

Starseeds can be Angelic Humans, Indigos, Walk-ins,
Crystals, etc.

You are not alone.

Humanity Healing will be offering to the members of the
Humanity Healing Network a free course in the Awakening
of the Starseeds as well as knowledge and support during
this time of transition. The course will begin in January
2009 and will be limited in size.

To join, please visit:

www.humanityhealing.ning.com

To reserve your place in the Course, please visit:

www.humanityhealing.ning.com/group/starseededsouls

Much Metta,
Humanity Healing Team

Finding Peace and Freedom in These Special Times - SerReal.ning.com

2008-12-27T05:58:00Z

Dear Debbie,

It has been an intense and beautiful year with a lot of transformation.

I finally feel refreshed after all the traveling. On this snowy winter afternoon, I am reflecting on it.

I want to express all my joy and recognition for what we've done together in the past while exploring the path of inner connection.

The energy and support that I've received from all of you motivates me today to continue creating new tools that will bring us to a more real place. These holidays, I wish for you and your loved ones the reminder of the true rebirthing we are all going through that deeply connect us to our inner values of Love, Peace and Freedom.

I would like to extend a gift to you that I plan to release on January 6th.
It is an e-series delivered to your email inbox that will last for approximately two weeks, delivered to you every other day. It marks the beginning of inspiring and empowering materials that are supportive for your journey during these challenging times. Each one will include a valuable, practical exercise that you can use for the rest of your life and teach to others.

I am enjoying creating this material and very excited to share it with you.

It is the most updated and practical information I have written on the pain body and the cellular memory and it is only available through this powerful e-series. The first one will be delivered to you on Tuesday, January 6th.

To your own healing and self-awareness!

Luis Angel Diaz

CMR International
11994 Marjon Dr.
Nevada City, CA 95959
www.cellularmemory.org
www.SerReal.ning.com

Click here now to get your free gift!

http://www.cellularmemory.org
www.SerReal.ning.com

Your place has been reserved for the e-series on Cellular Memory

Thank you for taking the time to sign up, Debbie.

I look forward to sharing this e-series with you after the new year.

Wishing you all the love and connection this holiday season.

Luis
CMR International
11994 Marjon Dr.
Nevada City, CA 95959

Seeding the Planet

Help spread the benefits of Cellular Memory Release
into your community!

"CMR International" is open to the possibility to visit other places that are ready to organize and share the CMR Process.

Regardless of belief system, spiritual orientation, cultural or educational background, the work of CMR-Cellular Memory Release is a refreshing addition to any contemporary, educational, or spiritual practice.

We would like to continue to expand our work to interested organizations, businesses, branches of new thought practices, educational systems, and holistic healing centers around the world.

If you are interested in getting started in bringing this work to your area, please fill out the following form and submit it to us. We'll answer you via email shortly. We are happy to go over any specific questions or concerns you may have regarding the Cellular Memory Release synthesis, our practices, and our event policies. Please feel free to contact us at any time.

Video Biography of Luis Angel Diaz

Part I - Cellular Memory Release Interview

Part 2 - Cellular Memory Release Interview

Part 3 - Cellular Memory Release Interview

The Process of CMR (in Spanish)





May love, joy and peace
Become states of Beingness
Which have no opposites!

Blessings to you on your path!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.BeingReal.ning.com

Luis Diaz - The Pain-body (in Spanish)

Introduction to CMR by Luis Diaz
(transcript in English)

Life is full of possibilities. It’s expression is unique to each one of us. As it comes and goes, we are often distracted by the things we do and who we believe we are that we miss the magic of the present moment. There is so much power in the present moment that when we bring our attention to it, the transformative grace and divine source is there to guide our lives and create it in peaceful ways. It is found in each and every thing there is and it has never left.

Too often in our perception and judgment of what is happening in and around our lives gets in the way and prevents us from experiencing the peace that holds it all together. We create beliefs about what we see and feel. We make decisions about who we are and what our lives should be like. These concepts condition our lives. They limit us from knowing our true potential. In a very organic way, they are stored within us, reproducing and creating in our life’s situation. In this way, we are powerful beings. We get to experience exactly those beliefs and feelings that we hold within ourselves.

The work of Sessions in Cellular Memory is a response to transforming concepts of what we are not. An investigation within of that which no longer serves us allows us to transform and create newer healthier possibilities for our life. If we bring awareness to that which we are not, maybe what we are will make itself known to us.

We invite you to join us in exploring the practical tools of Sessions in Cellular Memory that is a way to bring awareness and healing to your present life.

www.cellularmemory.org
www.SerReal.ning.com

Jesus and ... Living in the Power of Now

2008-12-21T00:56:00Z



Doing the MindShift:

Jesus Before, During, After

       written by Debbie

No, Jesus is not being remade to fit our image of him. He is the same as always, but for many of us the story we understood of Jesus is moving closer to the essence of this man that lived on earth over 2000 years ago. During this time of accelerating change, one of the big questions many of us, at some point, are asking is, "Who Am I really in the larger scheme of things?" The next looming inquiry is then, "Well, who or what is God?" And then, many who adhered to the belief that Jesus was the savior only for Christians, begin to ask ourselves the pivotal question, "Who is Jesus really with all this shifting in our awareness to a more awakened state of Being? Who is Jesus to me from this higher vantage point?"

It is through deep inquiry within and challenging the reality of the life of Jesus and how he relates to me now, that I find myself confused and almost at a loss of knowing the Jesus who comforted me and loved me unconditionally for all of my life. Just how does he fit with my newly discovered and ongoing liberation from layers and layers of old self-defeating mind structures conditioned by years and years of living in this world? I know the reality of Jesus resonates deep within my soul but in what way now? Who is this fascinating man to me I once called "the lover of my soul?"

In understanding the depth of Deepak Chopra’s timely book, I came full circle back to my intimate relationship with Jesus. I extend much gratitude to Dr. Chopra who, from his higher vantage point, shares with us such timely and insightful spiritual teachings of the Jesus who came to earth knowing his life’s inner purpose was to show the way for all humankind to turn within and join Jesus in the New Heaven and the New Earth. Jesus lived and died for the spiritual path we are all on at any one time while on this earth. Jesus came to live in human form in this physical dimension once and for all to show humanity that this is the way to God – it is within. As the show-er of the way to the God within all of us, he told us to follow him there, to join him there within. He is the light for all spiritual paths. He exemplified in his short earthly life how to answer all three previous questions. He taught us great spiritual truths; loved us unconditionally; healed the diseased, lame and afflicted; alleviated suffering and emotional pain by removing negative energy from the body; returned life to some that had actually died; brought those who were ready





into unity; deeply loved his earthly mother and other women, men and children; followed his spiritual passion in communion with others that were like-minded; and lifted up those who did not understand … those who even caused him suffering and death in this outward physical life on

earth. He showed them compassion by exclaiming that "they know not what they do." Jesus did not exclude anyone from his deep spiritual teachings but claimed his life was to show the way for all, even those who did not understand the spiritual teachings. In this new place I find myself, I feel I’ve actually died before I experienced my physical death. The religious man-made teachings were stripped away in this death, and I was raised to newness of life with this intimate and deeply spiritual relationship with Jesus with a clearer realization of who Jesus really is to me now. I’ve always loved him, what I envisioned him to be at any given time.

Jesus came to earth for each and every one of us to shed light on our spiritual oneness with him, with each other, and with the God who is All That Is. He showed us the great power we have available to us in our life on earth and beyond. He claimed that we would eventually do even greater things than what he was able to show us. He died at 33 years-old and according to the accounts of his life, his spiritual teachings lasted for only three short, miraculous years.



There has never been anyone like him before or after that could compare to his level of consciousness of God. No one group of people have a market on Jesus. They may claim they do but in Jesus’ words, again, "They know not what they do." The Jesus I know and love and who loves me back, even to this very day, is available to all who have "an eye to see and an ear to hear" his teachings. If you are not ready to see and hear about Jesus and what he means to your life, then that is just where you are on your spiritual path. You are not condemned. There is no condemnation, falling from grace, hell or damnation. You just do not understand him for whatever reason. Jesus clearly knows some are unaware of his teachings, nevertheless, he is still the way-show-er for all and loves all humankind at any level in their spiritual walk. Even if you are blind to his teachings and cannot hear him, he loves you. His life still shows the way for you and lights your spiritual path in your soul’s journey. Be comforted in this. Jesus’ teachings are not exclusionary. They are for all humanity not only for those who realize the journey of their spiritual path

Humanity, as far as we know, is the form in this world that develops a conscious awareness of the expansion of God-consciousness. Jesus clearly shines a light for us to follow and even move beyond the limited spiritual teachings of his day. He claimed we would learn of our power in even greater ways than he demonstrated to us. The earth and our solar sphere is the living system in which all this is accomplished.

Beyond our limited knowledge of the galaxy, whether it be because of our incapacity to experience all that there is to experience in this

dimension - or even other dimensions which we are totally unaware of at this time, Jesus knew more spiritually by far than any human that has ever walked the face of the earth. He could see in all dimensions.

His miraculous life and spiritual teachings are for each and every one of us, it is not dependent on if we believe in it or not. Study his life from the higher vantage point of "dying before you die" and see for yourself who Jesus is to you now, in a more enlightened and awakened state of Being. You will come full circle, too, especially if you were familiar and close to who you thought Jesus was before.



Returning to an intimate relationship with Jesus is like coming home or, at the very least, experiencing as close to coming home as we can at this time. Jesus came and showed us the way to live a liberated life in our earthly existence, liberated from the dictates of the ego and suffering. There are many souls at different levels on this path of understanding his spiritual teachings about God and our relationship to him. God being the label I use in language to provide an understanding of what I’m trying to communicate. Whatever we name him, he is the center, the source of Being from which we came, and who we will grow into Being, the fullness of God.

So, I honor Jesus’ birth, life and inner purpose in reaching humanity. Our path to the fullness of God was so obscured. I give honor and glory to Jesus for liberating us from our limited thinking and showing us the way to higher truths and the way of Being in God.

Jesus illuminates my path to Beingness in God, and I commune with him as one in my inner sanctuary. The fullness of God is there. They are always with me, loving me unconditionally, soothing me in times of sorrow, and celebrating with me by enjoying all that is now, until I come into the fullness of knowing my Being.

Merry Christmas to all, and it is for all ! Jesus’ teachings are for all, and the truth of his life will shine through anything that’s been added by man in trying to make him fit into our limited way of thinking. Those additions will fall away. The power and light will shine through for you to see and hear and be comforted until we can realize the fullness of God.

I celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus
as the light of the world! I will join with
others to sing praises and honor his life’s
work and success in coming to this earth
to show humankind God and to open
the portal to our inner dimension of life
with Him in the New Heaven and Earth.



Happy Holidays and may this joyful
season be filled with Peace and Love!

Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/MindShift

Enter The Chopra Community

Deepak Chopra talks about his book, The Third Jesus:
The Christ We Cannot Ignore. We have to set Jesus
free to be the Greatest Enlightened Teacher of all time.
His teachings are for all once the dogma and manipulating
traditions fall away. "When we see the exhortations of
Jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane,
his words suddenly make sense. What Jesus actually
taught is much more radical and at the same time
mystical. It points toward a mystical realm, the only place
where human nature can radically change. What made
Jesus the Son of God was the fact that he had achieved
God-consciousness. Jesus said as much, over and over,
when he declared that "the Father and I are one." He
knew no separation between his thoughts and God's
thoughts, his feelings and God's feelings, his actions and
the actions God wanted performed.

These two versions of Jesus - the sketchy historical figure
and abstract theological creation - hold a tragic aspect for
me, because I blame them for stealing something precious:
the Jesus who taught his followers how to reach
God-consciousness. I want to offer the possibility that Jesus
was truly, as he proclaimed, a savior. Not the savior, not
the one and only Son of God. Rather, Jesus embodied the
highest level of enlightenment. He spent his brief adult life
describing it, teaching it, and passing it on to future
generations. The third Jesus offers a direct relationship that
is personal and present.

The Third Coming - finding God-consciousness through
your own efforts - happens in the present. I'm using the
term as a metaphor for a shift in consciousness that makes
Jesus' teachings totally real and vital. My hope is to give
you a glimpse of what I believe Jesus truly intended. Jesus
looked upon his arrival as the most important event in world
history, an event whose significance could be judged only in
God's time, not human time. Jesus thought timelessly.
And two millennia later, he remains our contemporary,
just as he intended." ~ quotes found on pages 1-20

Breaking Free

2008-11-20T05:40:00Z

Breaking Free of the Pain-body

written by Debbie

from the book A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (p. 161-184)

1.   First, you realize that you have a pain- body.  (description of the Pain-body)

2.   Then, more importantly, you stay present enough, alert enough, to notice the beginning stage of the pain-body becoming active in yourself as a heavy influx of negative emotion.

3.   When you consciously recognize the pain-body is becoming active, it cannot pretend to be you, and live and renew itself through you by feeding on your thoughts. Conscious Presence breaks identification with the pain-body.

4.   The pain-body may not dissolve immediately but once you have severed the link between it and your thinking, the pain-body begins to lose its energy.

5.   In this way, without emotions clouding your thinking, your present perceptions are no longer distorted by the past. The energy that was trapped in the pain-body then changes its vibrational frequency and is transmuted into Presence. "Every time you are present when the pain-body arises, some of the pain-body's negative emotional energy will burn up, as it were, and become transmuted into Presence (p. 180)."   This is why Eckhart says that the pain-body can be fuel for consciousness.

6.   "The rest of the pain-body will quickly withdraw and wait for a better opportunity to arise again, that is to say, when you are less conscious (p.180). Being less conscious could be after you have had a few drinks or watched a violent movie. Even the tiniest negative emotion such as being irritable or anxious can serve as a doorway for the pain-body to arise again.

Pay Attention to Triggers

Triggering events or situations bring back to life the old accumulated emotion of the pain-body, so it's very important to be aware of our triggers if at all possible. Something relatively minor can set off someone's pain-body but this is usually not the apparent cause. It can look as if it is an overreaction to the other person but the trigger is tapping into old pain, usually something from early childhood. Eckhart explains, "The triggering event or situation is then interpreted and reacted to through the screen of a heavily emotional ego. This is to say, its significance becomes completely distorted. You look at the present through the eyes of the emotional past within you. In other words, what you see and experience is not in the event or situation but in you. Or in some cases, it may be there in the event or situation, but you amplify it through your reaction. This reaction, this amplification, is what the pain-body wants and needs, what it feeds on (p. 173)."

Eckhart further explains that the pain-body will often react to only one particular kind of trigger or situation.  The current trigger or situation will resonate with a certain kind of emotional pain suffered in the past. Eckhart recommends to:

Quickly learn your most common triggers that activate the pain-body, then you will immediately see them for what they are.

When you recognize a trigger, enter a heightened state of alertness and within a second or two, you will also notice the emotional reaction that is the arising pain-body. (This reminds me of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's 90-Second Rule)

In that state of alert Presence, you won't identify with it, which means the pain-body cannot take you over and become the voice in your head.

"When the pain-body is activated, know that what you are feeling is the pain-body in you. This knowing is all that is needed to break your identification with it.   And when identification with it ceases, the transmutation begins (p. 183)."

Transmutation

This knowing is all that is needed to break identification with the pain-body. "The knowing prevents the old emotion from rising up into your head and taking over not only the internal dialogue, but also your actions as well as interactions with other people. This means the pain-body cannot use you anymore and renew itself through you. The old emotion may then still live in you for a while and come up periodically. It may also still occasionally trick you into identifying with it again and thus obscure the knowing, but not for long. Not projecting the old emotion into situations means facing it directly within yourself. It may not be pleasant, but it won't kill you. Your Presence is more than capable of containing it. The emotion is not who you are (p. 184)."

Eckhart cautions us to not fall into the error of thinking something is wrong with us. "The knowing needs to be followed by accepting. Anything else will obscure it again. Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the is-ness of the Now. You can't argue with what is. Well you can, but if you do, you suffer. Through allowing, you become what you are: vast, spacious. You become whole. You are not a fragment anymore, which is how the ego perceives itself. Your true nature emerges, which is one with the nature of God (p. 184)." This teaching says we are already whole - with or without the pain-body. So, be what you already are, whole.

Psychic Toxicity

Eckhart describes an energy field that emanates from every human being that corresponds to his or her inner state. He states that most people sense this subliminally even before any words are exchanged. It is very interesting when he says, "A little later, however, words take over the relationship and with words come the roles that most people play. Attention then moves to the realm of the mind, and the ability to sense the other person’s energy field becomes greatly diminished." (p. 162)

The energy we bring into our immediate surroundings emanates from our inner state. We cannot suppress the pain-body. Our homes are pervaded with this negative energy we carry in our energy field. It is extremely toxic and that psychic toxicity is absorbed by others, even our children. Do the work of transmutation not only for yourself but for your children and grandchildren as well.

Evolutionary Impulse of the Universe

Where do people that stay unconscious fit into all this? Eckhart explains that unconscious human beings are out of alignment with the "evolutionary impulse of the universe" and are meant to evolve into conscious beings. They truly don’t know what they are doing in their unconsciousness, but will, nevertheless, suffer the consequences of how they act (p. 163). But, "… from a higher perspective, it is not possible to be out of alignment with the evolution of the universe, and even human unconsciousness and the  suffering it generates is part of that evolution. When you can’t stand the endless cycle of suffering anymore, you begin to evolve." (p. 164)


Witnessing Presence Coming into this World (p. 164-167)

Much of our emotional pain is not caused by our present situation but originated in early negative life experiences. Our mind quickly identifies with this negative emotional-charge because structural characteristics of the past experience correspond to the current experience eventhough the content may be totally different. It then acts as a catalyst to produce the same corresponding chemicals in our body, which then give rise to the same negative emotional charges. Also, a current threat to the body-mind system may be something you are only thinking, the body’s intelligence is reading it as if it is actually happening in the physical world. There seems to be no mechanism to discriminate the real signals from the thought-only signals to the brain.

    Steps Eckhart used to Facilitate the Release of Pain in a Woman
                        Physically Abused as a Child by her Father

Direct the focus of her attention to what she is feeling inside her body.

Direct her to sense the emotion directly instead of through the filter of her thoughts, of her unhappy story. You can say, "At this moment, this is what you feel. There is nothing you can do about the fact that at this moment this is what you feel."

Ask her to inquire within asking, "Instead of wanting this moment to be different from the way it is, which adds more pain to the pain that is already there, is it possible for me to completely accept that this is what I feel right now?

When the answer comes ask, "Who is speaking, you or the unhappiness in you? Can you see that your unhappiness about being unhappy is just another layer of unhappiness?"

After a short amount of time, whether anything is said or not, clarify by saying, "I'm not asking you to do anything. All I'm asking is that you find out whether it is possible for you to allow those feelings to be there. In other words, and this may sound strange, if you don't mind being unhappy, what happens to the unhappiness? Don't you want to find out?"

Sit for a brief moment or two of silence as needed. You may notice a significant shift in her energy field. She may sense or visualize some space around her unhappiness, some distance between her and the unhappiness. The unhappiness may seem to matter less. That space comes when there is an inner acceptance to whatever you are experiencing in the present moment.

Don't say much else for a few moments and allow her to be with this new space around her unhappiness. Encourage her to just be, don't label or judge it.

Then discuss the teaching that the moment she stopped identifying with the feeling, "... the old painful emotion that lived in her, the moment she put her attention on it directly without trying to resist it, it could no longer control her thinking and so become mixed up with a mentally constructed story called "The Unhappy Me." Another dimension had come into her life that transcended her personal past - the dimension of Presence. Since you cannot be unhappy without an unhappy story, this was the end of her unhappiness. Emotion itself is not unhappiness. Only emotion plus an unhappy story is unhappiness." Emotion + Unhappy Story = Unhappiness.

At the end of the session, report the witnessing of "... the arising Presence in another human being. The very reason for our existence in human form is to bring that dimension of consciousness into the world."  Also acknowledge "a diminishment of the pain-body, not through fighting it but through bringing the light of consciousness to it."

The Reattachment of Released Toxic Energy from the Pain-body
Eckhart proposes that the released toxic energy of the pain-body he was working with may have, somehow, piggy-backed on his energy field to arrive at another physical location and entered another human form with which its vibrational frequency resonated. Read the story of the man in the wheelchair

eating at the same restaurant as Eckhart (p. 167-168). Eckhart had just finished a session and witnessed a major release in someone with a very dense pain-body. Even a friend that came by to drop something off felt the energy as heavy and murky and told him to open the windows and burn some incense. Eckhart said he opened the windows and then left to go eat at a small Indian restaurant nearby. This is where the man in the wheelchair had a verbal and physically violent outburst, ending with the police being called. Eckhart wrote, "… the released energy field left behind after our session followed me to the restaurant and attached itself to the one person in whom it found a compatible vibrational frequency, that is to say, a heavy pain-body."



After reading this I recall the account of Jesus casting out demons in the Bible (Mark 5:1-20). On one occasion Jesus cast out a "legion of demons" from a man with a dense pain-body and directed them to enter a bunch of pigs. The pigs then ran off a cliff and fell into the sea and drown. "Demons" could be their word for toxic negatively-charged psychic energy generated from a dense pain-body. Eckhart even calls this negatively-charged energy field of the pain-body a "psychic parasite" (p. 148) that feeds on the cycles of deeply negative thinking and the ensuing drama that it produces, which, in turn, give rise to even more negative thinking and drama.

Personal Consideration

The Meditative Practice of Grounding

You can begin each meditation and/or pain-body release work by grounding your energy center within the energy center of Mother Earth.

Grounding anchors your spirit to your human consciousness and physical body.

Grounding is your unique connection to Source through your heart center.

Grounding enhances your heart connection and your intuitive abilities.

Grounding is the conscious act of connecting yourself to Source through your heart center and center of the planet. It enhances your connection to your highest essence. It is an action and a state of Being.

Grounding is a spiritual connection.

When you are not grounded, you may feel like you are bouncing around, unfocussed, confused, and feel the effects of negative energies around you. You might notice you misplace things, drop things, stub your toe, feel rushed and out of control, and generally "frayed" or "spacey". Decisions are more difficult to make and the smallest thing might irritate you. You might feel depleted, that your energy is scattered.

Grounding connects you to Mother Earth so that you have access to her frequencies. This is especially important in the present time when there are so many chaotic energies on the planet. This allows you discernment and the ability to connect to your unique spiritual energy without getting knocked out of your body and "spaced out." When the physical body is grounded, it is easier to ground yourself to higher vibrations and your heart center. This is also a healing to the planet as you provide a connection for consciousness to and from the Source.

Grounding draws your life force energy around you. You have the fullness of your energy to use.

Grounding puts you in touch with where your body is, and what it needs in present time.

Grounding enhances opening up to your intuitive abilities and higher Consciousness.

Grounding creates "centeredness" in prayer and meditation as you communicate with your highest essence.

Grounding enhances your ability to move through your day with certainty, joy and enthusiasm.

Many strongly recommend integrating grounding into every aspect of our daily life. Below is a simple way to add this meditative practice. You can add your own unique ways. (click to read my unique way)

Be aware of your energy center (vortex) that is located in the general area near the base of the spine. Allow a "cord" of energy to flow downward from your body and into the deep earth beneath. Allow your grounding to flow down into the earth past all the rocks and layers of the planet, past the water, deep deep into the earth, into the heart of Mother. Until it reaches the center of the earth.

Allow your grounding cord to connect securely into the center of the planet. Be aware of your grounding cord being securely connected also to your energy center.

Breathe and relax and experience your grounding, your spiritual connection to this beautiful planet.

Notice how your body responds to your grounding and becoming more present in it. Release tension and discomfort down your grounding cord, allow it to simply drain away.  Your grounding belongs to you and you can create it in any form you like.

Eckhart Tolle and Oprah talk about the Pain-body

www.eckharttolleTV.com

May love, joy and peace
be more fully realized
as our state of Beingness
which has no opposites!

Blessings to you on your path!

Debbie @
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
http://etolle.meetup.com/239

   Luis Diaz and the Pain-body (in Spanish)



Introduction to the Process of CMR (transcript in English)

Life is full of possibilities. It’s expression is unique to each one of us. As it comes and goes, we are often distracted by the things we do and who we believe we are that we miss the magic of the present moment. There is so much power in the present moment that when we bring our attention to it, the transformative grace and divine source is there to guide our lives and create it in peaceful ways. It is found in each and every thing there is and it has never left.

Too often in our perception and judgment of what is happening in and around us, our lives gets in the way and prevents us from experiencing the peace that holds it all together. We create beliefs about what we see and feel. We make decisions about who we are and what our lives should be like. These concepts condition our lives. They limit us from knowing our true potential. In a very organic way, they are stored within us, reproducing and creating in our life’s situation. In this way, we are powerful beings. We get to experience exactly those beliefs and feelings that we hold within ourselves.

The work of Sessions in Cellular Memory is a response to transforming concepts of what we are not. An investigation within of that which no longer serves us allows us to transform and create newer healthier possibilities for our life. If we bring awareness to that which we are not, maybe what we are will make itself known to us. We invite you to join us in exploring the practical tools of Sessions in Cellular Memory that is a way to bring awareness and healing to your present life.

www.cellularmemory.org

For the Celebration Season

2008-11-17T23:19:00Z

In Thanksgiving

                           by Debbie

As the year embraces a time of gratitude,
I'm aware of a downtrodden corner
In my mind that still shows an attitude.

It tingles, jingles and blurts out a platitude
Of such words that come from a scorner.
Yet, in considering heart's past, I find latitude.

With understanding of this flow of thought,
I tuck light into the folds so dark with pain
And my chin trembles as release is sought.

I usher in this season with pensiveness in fraught
And reconcile all that is for pity's gain,
Giving way to love, in thanksgiving, I am taught.

Change Not Easily

2008-10-27T01:48:00Z

      Change Not Easily

All That Is, flowing through me.
        I have always loved you,
        What I envision you to be.
All That Is, please, whisper of thee.
      by Debbie

I’ve not been writing for awhile. I’ve made some changes in my personal life, once again, to try to find some kind of fit. It seems I cannot depend on any of my former survival-mode tactics I’ve used over the years of my life. I’ve always tried so very hard but, over and over, I find these tactics just get me by and are not really working for me. I almost decided not to publish this article because of its content. It didn't seem to be supportive of our spiritual path, yet, in a paradoxical way, it even furthers me along on my journey deep within. I feel that my struggles are the same as other's struggles, and other's struggles are mine as, in oneness, we come to know who we truly are. So, with that said, on I will go with my story.

Lately, I’ve heard so much about Joe, the plumber, in the American political scene, and I thought … you know, I’m Debbie, the school teacher, in this American scene. I’m not so different from Joe. I’m not so much in tune with the politics of everything as I am with the spiritual journey, but I am very concerned just like Joe. Joe’s concerned about his small business in this economy. Debbie’s concerned that she is losing the stamina to do what she has to do to survive in any economy. Debbie, like Joe, wants more than mere survival, but it’s at a point now where a well-known depressive energy is looming at the edge, waiting to befriend her again.

As part of my quest on the spiritual path, I read Eckhart Tolle’s books A New Earth and The Power of Now. I became engrossed in the teachings back in March of 2008 while following Oprah and Eckhart in the 10-week live webinar covering all 10 chapters of the book, A New Earth. From there I’ve facilitated book clubs and a silent local group. I’ve watched DVDs of Eckhart’s teachings and listened to audio CDs and still do to this very day. I started a blog and write inspired comments about the New Earth spiritual journey I am apart of with my friends online, in the book club, and in the silent group. I spend time in the silence in meditation and use my breathing and inner body awareness. I’m heartily working to integrate these teachings into my psyche but still find myself at this place I’ve known so well before Eckhart’s teachings, on the edge of depression.

I thought to myself, if I can’t live the teachings in my life and truly integrate them, then what good is sharing in a blog or facilitating a group. I’m a fake and just riding a high from the wave. I have to be able to deeply integrate these spiritual practices into my everyday life. I go online and read my own blog and what I’ve written over the past several months. It is even inspiring to me as if I’m reading something someone else wrote. How could I have written all this and still feel such familiar looming depression. Am I fooling myself? Have I not really been in touch with that deep place of Stillness, of Presence within? Why is it so damn elusive? Is this the human condition and why is it the human condition, for what higher purpose? There should be a more direct way to Love, Joy and Peace. What’s the point of all this, if there really even is a point!

Oh, the teachings have profoundly changed my life, but in such a drastic way that I cannot function in my day-to-day life with all the drama. I felt so constrained in the behavior work I did with the public school system, and now that I’m in the same town with my children, I am so close to their drama.   What a predicament - to come in such close and continuous contact with such stress; I find I’m quite unable to be with it all or to be without it. I love being close to my family and in my work I can express such passion, and yet the stress of it all bears down so hard it's suffocating. I can’t seem to "be the space for it," as Eckhart puts it.  (Listen below to Eckhart go into detail on "Can I Be the Space for This?" This really helps me!)

As I try my best to fit somewhere with my family and work, I become more and more despondent that it is not easier to do with this spiritual insight at hand. I find myself thinking, at least with the egoic-state of the survival-mode intact, I could work. Now, I won't tell myself that contentment and peace is somewhere out there in work, intimate relationships and material possessions. I know it is within and so then without. There is a balance but the equilibrium has not set in yet. This is where I cling to the present moment. I ask myself, in this moment is there anything wrong? Each time I can tell myself, in this precise moment I am fine. It's only when I think about the unsureness of the future that I feel panic.

I feel my life shifting in a direction that looks very unsteady to onlookers such as family and professional colleagues. I have resigned my position with the public school system and moved close to my children and grandchildren. I gave away most of my things to make the move from a big city to a small town and into a very small one-bedroom apartment. I sold my van with high payments and paid in full for a 1995 car. As I said, I made drastic changes. I had already turned off much of the noise in my life. I’ve gone almost two years without cable television. I purchase my own music, so no radio. I’ve become very comfortable with silence, living alone and going places alone. The changes were not hard to make. I felt compelled to do them.  Now, waiting for the flow of the Universe to bring in the NEW for which I have made space is daunting. It’s such a new way of being in the world. At times, I feel like I’m challenging the Universe to show me there is some kind of validity to all this.

My children and grandchildren are the love of my life, and I devoted my two degrees and my certifications to a professional career in education. Now, I find it almost unbearable to be in the drama of it. I’ve become so sensitive to the energy that this kind of day-to-day surviving produces that I hoped Eckhart’s teachings would point a way to ground me in Being.

Yet after immersing myself in the teachings and being so hopeful, I feel this looming depression coming around me again. I observe it. I shine the light of awareness on it. It dissipates somewhat. I write about it and immerse myself in the teachings and silence. Aloneness, maybe I should not be so alone. I should move in with someone. Discussed it. Won’t work. The dark energy returns. Still no job and now problems in my daughter’s life. She has two of my grandchildren, six-years-old and five-months-old. Protective order, her and the kids have to move. I help her as much as I can. The physical part of moving her is over. Go into the Silence. Be aware of the emotions. Observe. Breathe. Stay with it, breathe. Feel your inner aliveness. Be with the energy of the Universe, and with Mother Earth.

Sleep, eat, breathe. Have pleasant conversations if there’s contact. Don’t alarm them. Go into the Stillness, into the no-thinking mind. Just be. The light, don’t forget the light of consciousness. It’s there. Where are you, are you there? Refreshing sleep. I feel better. How do I go on like this without diversions? I need diversions. Walk in nature and let it love you and love it back. Stretch your body and feel it relax. Think I should go live with someone. I can’t be so alone. Oh, the smell of rain. It renews me. Go to your inner place, on the shore where the huge rock stands. Crawl up there and feel the warm of its surface. Look out over the ocean to the small island on the horizon. See the waves and hear the rush of the water onto the shore. No phone, it is turned off. I want to drive to the ocean. Just stay here, with this energy. Transmutation. How long? Days if you have to. See it through. You’ve not done this before. It will be okay. Breathe.

I ask myself questions like: Are the structures of the ego in my mind too ingrained at this point in time? Do I have some kind of organic brain damage keeping me from solidifying a shift in my consciousness? Then I find a dark corner of my mind saying things like, what do I have to lose if I don't make it, I don't make it. How cunning of the ego to make me think I’m on a spiritual journey, only to be disappointed again. The energy and momentum I’ve given to this teaching, all a waste of enormous energy just like all rest of the efforts you’ve given to new beginnings all your life. Oh, my ... how dark it can look, but I remind myself, things are not what they seem!

For the book group I’m in now, we are to the discussion of the Pain-body. I’ve studied the Pain-body before with the other study group when I first read Eckhart’s books. Now, I am going deeper into the teachings of the Pain-body. Recently I researched and reread on the subject of the Pain-body as well as delved into my own dealings with my Pain-body. We were to discuss it three weeks ago. I missed two discussion groups and then the others could not come this last week. So, I thought I’d write something. Sometimes, I think even my reading and writing are diversions.

At this time, for further investigation, I'm drawn to the writings of Katie Byron as well. I think The Work process, described in her book Loving What Is, will address my belief in the stressfulness of my life situations. I've watched some of her videos and began reading her book. I know Oprah claimed, in her interviews with Byron Katie, that she felt it took the spiritual journey to the next level. I especially love what Katie says about Heaven. Below is a link to the interviews.

Click here for Oprah's three-part interview with Byron Katie.

Also, I've been drawn to Peter Russell's work on consciousness for quite some time. He has many articles and free downloads on his website. I recently ordered his new meditation CD.  His calm, soothing, gentle voice teaches you to go deeper into yourself wherein lies your own inner wisdom. The last meditation is a treasure!

New Meditation CD by Peter Russell

The 2012 Mindshift: Meditations for
Times of Accelerating Change

Five meditations to help you stay cool, calm, and collected—no matter what the tides of change may bring. Listen to online preview.

Be sure to read Peter Russell's articles:   Accelerating Change

Stress of Change

  A Singularity in Time

Below Eckhart Tolle teaches a group
in Seattle, WA - Feb. 23, 2008.
It is truly fascinating and liberating!

60-minute clip teaching the mantra -

"Can I Be the Space for This?"

For my blog I envisioned the name, The Feminine Whisperers, because I
knew, deep within, I was one who would greatly benefit from the whisperings.

May love, joy and peace
Become states of our Beingness
Which have no opposites!

Debbie @
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net
www.meetup.com/MindShift

The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage - The Real Goods Solar Living Book

2008-08-19T18:41:00Z

The Hand-Sculpted House:

A Practical and Philosophical

Guide to Building a Cob Cottage

by Ianto Evans (Author), Michael G. Smith (Author),
Linda Smiley (Author), Deanne Bednar (Illustrator)

Paperback 384 pages (June 2002)
Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co
ISBN: 1890132349

The Hand-Sculpted House is theoretical and philosophical but intensely practical as well. You will get all the how-to information to undertake a cob building project. As the modern world rediscovers the importance of living in sustainable harmony with the environment, this book is a bible of radical simplicity.

Review by Amazon.com: Are you ready for the Cob Cottage? This is a building method so old and so simple that it has been all but forgotten in the rush to synthetics. A cob cottage, however, might be the ultimate expression of ecological design, a structure so attuned to its surroundings that its creators refer to it as "an ecstatic house."

The authors build a house the way others create a natural garden. They use the oldest, most available materials imaginable—earth, clay, sand, straw, and water—and blend them to redefine the future (and past) of building. Cob (the word comes from an Old English root, meaning "lump") is a mixture of non-toxic, recyclable, and often free materials. Building with cob requires no forms, no cement, and no machinery of any kind. Builders actually sculpt their structures by hand.

Building with earth is nothing new to America; the oldest structures on the continent were built with adobe bricks. Adobe, however, has been geographically limited to the Southwest. The limits of cob are defined only by the builder's imagination.
Cob offers answers regarding our role in Nature, family and society, about why we feel the ways that we do, about what's missing in our lives. Cob comes as a revelation, a key to a saner world.

Cob has been a traditional building process for millennia in Europe, even in rainy and windy climates like the British Isles, where many cob buildings still serve as family homes after hundreds of years. The technique is newly arrived to the Americas, and, as with so many social trends, the early adopters are in the Pacific Northwest.

Cob houses (or cottages, since they are always efficiently small by American construction standards) are not only compatible with their surroundings, they ARE their surroundings, literally rising up from the earth. They are full of light, energy-efficient, and cozy, with curved walls and built-in, whimsical touches. They are delightful. They are ecstatic.

About the Authors

Ianto Evans is an applied ecologist, landscape architect, inventor, and teacher with building experience on six continents. Cob is traditional in his homeland, Wales. In addition to teaching ecological building, Ianto has consulted with USAID, the World Bank, the Peace Corps, and several national governments.

Michael G. Smith teaches practical workshops and consults on cob construction, natural building, and permaculture. He is the author of The Cobber's Companion: How to Build Your Own Earthen Home and co-editor of The Art of Natural Building: Design, Construction, Resources.

Linda Smiley teaches workshops on cob, sculpting sacred spaces, intuitive design, and natural plasters and finishes. With a background as a recreational therapist, she specializes in helping people use natural building as a tool for personal transformation and healing.

Barefoot Builders

Cob Workshops & Custom Cob Structures

Bastrop (near Austin), TX

2008 Workshop Schedule

Owner-Builder Training (condensed)

Bastrop (near Austin), Texas

November 7th - 14th, 2008

This workshop will be a hands-on building intensive designed specifically to prepare you for building your own cob home. You will have the chance to learn and practice all of the skills you’ll need to build a cob house. We will cover foundations, walls, windows, doors, roofs, plasters, sculptural work, electricity and plumbing. This is an ideal workshop to take if you are considering building your own cob home. The workshop will take place in the beautiful and secluded 'Lost Pines' area of Bastrop on a heavily wooded 2 acres lot.



Cob Fireplace
Bastrop, TX
November 16, 2008
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Natural Plasters, How to make
and apply earthen wall finishes
Bastrop, TX
November 22 & 23, 2008

Learn to make and apply many types of natural non-toxic paints and plasters to a variety of surfaces. Applying a natural paint or plaster is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to transform your conventional home or finish your natural home. While conventional paints are based on toxic synthetic chemicals and can outgas for years, natural paints are made from materials like clay, milk, and lime. Natural paints and plasters are very fun to make and use and they can be made in virtually any color.

http://www.rawfoodsbible.com/barefootbuilder/barefoot_index.html

This workshop will be a hands-on building intensive designed specifically to prepare you for building your own cob home. You will have the chance to learn and practice all of the skills you’ll need to build a cob house. We will cover foundations, walls, windows, doors, roofs, plasters, sculptural work, electricity and plumbing. This is an ideal workshop to take if you are considering building your own cob home.

People used natural materials to build breathtakingly beautiful and comfortable homes for thousands of years before sheetrock, latex paint, fiberglass and all the rest were ever invented. Many people today are looking to these ancient traditions of natural architecture to provide relief from chemical-induced illness and refuge from high stress environments.

Once again, we are realizing that healthful, comfortable, and delightful houses can be built entirely from stone, wood, straw and earth, without any synthetic materials at all.

Barefoot Builder is a natural building team based in the Southeastern US. We teach workshops all over the country and are one of the few groups offering cob workshops and custom buildings in the Southeastern US. It is our goal to inspire and empower those who have traditionally been shut out of the building process to create their own healthful and heartful homes. We offer a wide range of family-friendly workshops, from one-day earth ovens to comprehensive owner/builder courses. We also provide consulting services in cob building and occasionally build custom cob structures and landscape elements.

What To Expect at a Barefoot Builders Workshop:

When you come to a Barefoot Builder workshop you will be fully participating in the construction of a real building, often someone’s home. We do not build practice structures or mock-ups, so when you leave you will have the confidence that comes from real experience. We also provide some of the only workshops that include hands on experience with installing plumbing and electricity in cob. Our workshops are designed to give you building skills through first hand experience and practice. Be prepared to get dirty! Most workshops involve several hours each day of moderate physical work on the building site. We encourage you to pay attention to your body and work at a pace that is comfortable for you.

Participants in our workshops usually range widely in age and physical ability. Being on a cob building site is like a step back in time with the whole “village” pitching in to build something with our hands. There are no loud power tools or heavy equipment and we often sing together as we work.We take long breaks after lunch during which you will have chance to look over our collection of natural building books, go for a hike or swim, nap, or just hang out. There will also be lectures and demonstrations during the day and possibly slide shows, videos, and a camp fire at night.

Families and children:

We love having children in our workshops and on the worksite! Most children have a lot of fun cobbing and are very good at it (often better than the adults). Cob building sites are not at all like a conventional construction site and are generally very safe, quiet and child friendly. However, if you have very young children it may be difficult for you to fully participate at all times and we cannot provide childcare. In order to make the workshop more accessible to parents we do offer a family or group discount which varies by the length of the workshop. Please ask about this.

Why Build Your Own Home?

Your home is your sanctuary, the place you go to rest and recuperate, a medium for expressing who you are and perhaps the culmination of years of hard work. Buying a home is the major achievement of many people’s young lives. The house is a symbol of stability, family and prosperity and is likely to be the recipient of a great deal of your time and money spent on decoration and maintenance. You will probably spend fifteen to thirty years of your life working at a job that you may love or may loath in order to pay your mortgage. Yet this hard won sanctuary that you so treasure may also be quietly destroying your health.

The modern home is a chemical gas chamber made of thousands of toxic synthetic materials that are dangerous to builders, homeowners, and the environment. Houses are not just made of wood and brick. They are wrapped in plastic and Styrofoam painted with toxic paints, have tiles glued down with adhesives, vinyl flooring, Formica countertops, plastic carpets, formaldehyde soaked insulation, fire retardant synthetic furniture, poly-vinyl-chloride water pipes, plastic bathtubs and enameled metal ones; the list goes on and on. In fact, probably the majority of the components of a home are toxic. The chemical off-gassing from a new house (“new house smell”) can last for the entire lifetime of the building, which in the case of most homes built today is only about 50 years. At the end of that time the house becomes toxic waste, nothing more than a disposal problem for your children. Compounding the problem is the fact that well intentioned efforts at improving energy efficiency have meant that most homes now are virtually hermetically sealed. Very little fresh air comes in and few toxic chemicals can escape.

Most homes leave something to be desired in the area of human comfort as well. New homes are usually straight edged and sterile with little connection to nature. Residents often spend thousands of dollars on decorating to soften or disguise the soul impoverished linear qualities inherent to the modern home design. We all come from thousands of generations of people who have lived and died surrounded by the natural environment so being surrounded in our homes by straight lines and perfectly smooth surfaces that never occur in the natural world can be subtly unsettling. Living as we do now, in cities and suburbs, the closest most of us get to our ancestral environment is a chemical drenched lawn or a city park. While we may enjoy the stimulation of this lifestyle, the lack of connection with our natural environment can cause constant low level stress and ultimately damage the psyche as well as the physical body.

There is an alternative, however to living in a toxic synthetic environment. People built breathtakingly beautiful and comfortable homes for thousands of years before sheetrock, latex paint, fiberglass and all the rest were ever invented. Many people today are looking to these ancient traditions of architecture to provide relief from chemical induced illness and refuge from high stress environments. Houses can be built entirely from stone, wood, straw and earth without any synthetic materials at all. When we surround ourselves with the elements that we have evolved with throughout human history we are far less likely to be harmed by them than by chemicals that have existed only for the past two or three generations.

Earth is the oldest and most common building material on earth. About one half of the world’s people live in homes built of the earth and many of us who have not grown up with these traditional buildings are beginning to see the need to revive them in the Western world. Earthen buildings in one form or another have been built for thousands of years all over the world, in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Parts of the Great Wall of China are built from earth as well as large parts of the first great cities, Babylon and Ur. In Yemen there are cob buildings five stories high built in the middle ages and still inhabited today. In Southern England tens of thousands of cob homes between 500 and 700 years old remain in use today as hundreds of new ones are being built with the encouragement of the Queen. In the United States there is the Taos Pueblo, the oldest existing buildings in North America, built entirely from earth. Even in the northeastern US many colonial era homes are built of earth, most of the wooden ones having long ago burned or rotted away. There are at least forty adobe homes in New York over 100 years old. There are cob and adobe homes in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Even Paul Revere’s home in Boston is built of adobe bricks.

Cob is a style of earthen building developed in the harsh wet environs of the British Isles. It is similar to adobe, being made of the same natural ingredients, but where adobe is formed into bricks and sun dried cob is applied directly to the foundation by the handful or by the shovelful to create hand sculpted free flowing walls. Building with cob is a creative experience similar to sculpting with clay. Cob is stronger than adobe and more resistant to wet weather because it has a higher straw content and because it is monolithic. In other words, cob is not made into individual bricks, but rather the whole building is one single brick. There are no seams for the walls to crack along.

Cob homes can be built entirely from natural materials from the foundations to the paints. These houses are cool in summer and warm in winter because of their thick walls and thoughtful designs. A cob building may never need to be heated or air-conditioned except in the most extreme climates. I spoke recently with a woman who grew up in a stately old adobe house in Central America. She recalled afternoon naps as a child, taken to escape murderously hot afternoons, in the pleasantly cool bedroom of her parents’ thick walled earthen home.

One of the greatest benefits of a cob home is that not only will it not be poisoning you, but it can also be very inexpensive. Thus you can spend less time in a stressful work environment and more time participating in the life of your family and community which will certainly also keep you healthier and happier.

Cob Courtyard Walls

Do you love the old world charm of Spanish style courtyards and garden walls?

You can build beautiful courtyards, outdoor dining areas and more with the traditional European building material, cob.

Learn all the basics of building beautiful free-flowing walls to accent outdoor spaces. Cob can be used to create an infinite variety of sculptural forms. Cob courtyards can have niches for candles, cozy benches and nooks, and dramatic fireplaces for outdoor gatherings or quiet evenings by the fire.

Cob garden walls are great for landscaping, insulating your yard from road noise or protecting against deer in the garden. Once plastered, your courtyard walls will be nearly impervious to wind and rain and can last for hundreds of years.

In this relaxed hands-on workshop you will learn how to plan a wall, make and build with cob, add sculptural details, and protect your cob walls from the elements.

Build Your Own Cob Wood-Fired Oven

Build an authentic cob oven that will bake the best pizza and bread you’ve ever tasted .. or just anything!

Common Asked Questions About Cob:

Does cob work in humid climates?

Cob is a form of earthen building developed in the British Isles, a very wet area famous for beautiful mists and vicious storms. Yet the native cob buildings in these places have withstood centuries of harsh weather and still remain in use today. When I built a cob studio Pensacola, Florida in 2002 many people were skeptical that it would survive our 98% humidity and frequent hurricanes. However, the building has had no problems despite soaking rains throughout the building process and a hurricane that destroyed many of the surrounding wooden buildings. Even in humid climates cob does not rot, grow mold, get eaten by termites, or melt on the rain.

Cob is very porous and can absorb a tremendous amount of water without softening. In fact, unless it is completely submerged, cob will never just “melt”. It will however erode over time if it is exposed to direct rain. The solution to protecting cob from moisture is “a good hat and boots”. In other words, a cob house needs a good roof with wide eves and the bottom of a cob wall must sit on a non-absorbent stem wall so that it cannot wick moisture up from the ground or be splashed by water coming off of the roof. Cob walls are very thick, often two feet or more, so even the heaviest rain will never soak through more than the outer layers of plaster. Even if your walls get soaked with rain occasionally (like in a really big storm) they will be fine as long as they can dry back out. For this reason it is very import to never plaster a cob wall with a non-breathable coating like cement stucco.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to protect your cob walls by sealing them from moisture. Even the best stucco job will inevitably develop tiny cracks and allow moisture into the wall, but it will not allow the moisture to evaporate back out. Eventually water will condense on the inside of the stucco and build up inside until the wall is saturated. Many cob buildings in Europe that had stood for hundreds of years have suffered partial collapses in recent years because of new cement plasters.

Is it dirty inside?

No. Once the inside of an earthen building is plastered there is no more dust or dirt than you would find in any other building. In fact, the plasters used in cob buildings are often the same ones used on the plaster and lath walls of older wooden homes. If you want smooth white walls you can still have them with cob.

Is it cold and wet inside?

No. Cob homes are exceptionally dry and warm in winter/cool in summer. The breathable clay walls seem to pull some of the moisture out of humid air keeping the inside cooler in hot humid weather. In winter cob absorbs the energy of the sun during the day and radiates it back into the building at night, keeping the inside warm and cozy.

Is it well insulated?

Technically speaking, no. Cob is very cool in summer and warm in winter and with good design you may never need to heat or cool a cob building. If you do heat and cool your building it will hold that temperature for a long time. But, cob does not get these thermal properties from insulation. Instead cob works because of its thermal mass. Thick heavy earthen walls absorb the heat of the day and store it like a battery, keeping the inside of the building cool and comfortable. Then, when the weather is cooler they radiate that heat back out keeping the building warm.

Can I paint my cob walls?

Yes! In addition to colored plasters, you can paint an earthen wall with an almost endless variety of colors from clay and mineral pigments. There are many excellent recipes for beautiful natural paints and there are few stores and mail order businesses that sell ready made natural paints. In fact, natural paints are beginning to come back into use in conventional homes as well. Even if you are painting a conventional wall you may want to consider natural paints because latex and oil based paints off-gas very toxic chemicals, sometimes for years.

You should never paint your cob walls with latex or oil based paint for the same reason that you would not plaster with cement; it impairs breathability. You can find sources for Natural paints and recipes here (resources).

Will termites eat the straw out of my cob?

No. There is nothing in cob that the termites are interested in.

How fast can I build with cob?

How fast you finish your house depends on how skilled you are, how hard you work, how many people help, how big and elaborate your house is and, to some extent how much money you have.
In warm breezy weather you can build 2 or 2 ½ feet of height on your wall each day. That may not sound like much, but if you build your walls 8ft high then you could theoretically have them done in four days. Cob is actually faster than most other building methods (including traditional stick framing and straw bale) because once the walls are built they are done. In other types of building there are multiple layers. For example, even if a framing crew framed your entire house in four days or less they would still have to add insulation, vapor barriers, exterior sheathing, drywall and paint. This process would probably take you the next thirty years to pay for. With cob, you may spend an entire summer building your walls yourself plastering them and putting a roof on them, but it could cost you as little as $1,000 so you won’t be working to pay the mortgage for the rest of your life.

How much does a cob house cost?

Ianto Evans has been quoted with the best answer to this question that I have ever heard; “How long is a piece of string?” Really though, your cob house can cost as much or as little as you have to spend on it. The basic materials, clay, sand and straw are very cheap and you may even be able to get most of them on your own land. Huge amounts of excellent, often brand new, building materials are thrown into dumpsters every day. I have found porcelain sinks, entire boxes of marble tile, endless amounts of high quality lumber, and every other material you can imagine for free. Because cob is so malleable, it is very easy to use odd salvaged windows, doors, and wood, so if you take the time to scavenge you may not have to buy much at all. Some cob homes have been built for as little as $500 and many for as little as $5,000.

How big can I make a cob house?

Just like with any other house, you can make it as big as you can afford (in money or in time.) You probably won’t need as much square footage as you think you will though, because cob homes are usually built in rounded shapes which offer far more useable space than square buildings. You can sculpt your cob home to fit you like a glove! Also, it pays to change the way you think about space and size when you are thinking about cob. We in the Western world have been taught that square feet are the same thing as space and that bigger is better. The fact is that numbers do not represent spaces. Space is a psychological experience and it usually has more to do with shape, light and function than with square feet. Have you ever noticed that people often gather in the smallest rooms in the house? Most people actually feel more comfortable in cozy intimate spaces than in cavernous cathedral-like rooms.

Since cob home owners generally do most of the work themselves, they usually choose to keep their houses to a modest size. One of the great things about cob is that if you decide later that you need more room you can just make an addition or build another cottage next door for the kids.

Something to really think about.

Here's to Enjoyment and Enthusiasm!

Debbie
The Hero's Journey Within
Oprah.com Reading Group
& Midland Silent Group
Midland TX

http://TheFeminineWhisperers.net
Midland Eckhart Tolle Meetup - The Hero's Journey Within

Doing the MindShift "In the Power of Now" 9.4.08 - First Meeting - Midland TX

2008-08-13T17:40:00Z

Welcome to Our Reading & Discussion Group

Doing the MindShift ... "In the Power of Now"


THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WITHIN ... aware of a
calling; a push or pull forward.

This is a weekly reading group for men and women sharing
their spiritual path! Want to experience a sense of adventure
in taking the hero’s journey within to discover a more
harmonious balance of life within and without? That is
what this reading and discussion group is all about.

Take this journey with us! We are discussing the teachings
of Eckhart Tolle at this time. After that, we will continue to
study other authors that follow the same spiritual teachings.

Join us every Thursday evenings for enlightened discussions.
The location will be emailed to you. If interested in attending our
reading group's discussion beginning Thursday, September 4,
from 6:30-8:00 PM please join at:

www.meetup.com/MindShift
We are beginning the book A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle.
The first chapter is an introduction to the teachings. It ends with
his belief that the Bible prophecy describing "the collapse of the
existing world order and the arising of a new heaven and a new
earth" seems more applicable now than at any other time in
human history. Eckhart Tolle goes into great detail within the
first six chapters of the book describing who we are not and
how to understand this and break free from it.The chapters are:

Chapter 1 - The Flowering of Human Consciousness
Chapter 2 - The Current State of Humanity
Chapter 3 - The Core of the Ego
Chapter 4 - Role-playing: The Many Faces of the Ego
Chapter 5 - The Pain-Body
Chapter 6 - Breaking Free

The "final four" heart-warming Chapters 7-10 bring us home
to who we really are. We will discuss them after we finish
Chapters 1-6.

Again, be sure to join so we know who to expect at the
discussions and for access to our message board and
calendar.

Here's to Enjoying the Now!

Debbie @
Doing the MindShift
"In the Power of Now"
Reading & Discussion Group
Midland, Texas USA

www.meetup.com/MindShift
www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net

The Feminine Whisperers Bandera Rd NW - Summer Schedule - July and August 2008 - San Antonio TX

2008-07-14T19:01:00Z

Hi To All The Feminine Whisperers
                at Bandera Rd NW!



This is another convenient location for Oprah.com
Reading Groups in San Antonio, Texas for women
interested in furthering their spiritual path and
diving especially deep into the teachings of Eckhart
Tolle. We are coming together during Oprah's Summer
School for the 10-week webcasts of A New Earth with
Eckhart Tolle, and we will continue together to experience
the changes we all want to see and feel on this planet!

If interested in attending, please join our Yahoo
Message Board at:

Feminine Whisperers Bandera NW Yahoo Message Board

     Summer Schedule
for July and August 2008
   (for Bandera Rd NW group)

July 17 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 1 - The Flowering of
            Human Consciousness

July 22 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 2 - Ego: The Current
            State of Humanity

July 29 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 3 - The Core of the Ego

July 31 - River City Silent Group 6:30-9:00 PM
             DVD - Findhorn Retreat: Stillness Amidst the World,
             Part II

Aug 5 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 4 - Role-playing: The Many
            Faces of the Ego

Aug 12 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 5 - The Pain-Body

Aug 19 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 6- Breaking Free

Aug 26 - Barnes and Noble   6:30-9:00 PM
            A New Earth, Chapter 7 - Finding Who You Truly Are

Aug 28 - River City Silent Group 6:30-9:00 PM
             DVD - The Flowering of Human Consciousness, Part 1


Join us for enlightened discussions! You are invited to
come every Tuesday evening to Barnes and Noble from
6:30-9:00 PM for the reading group discussions.

Also, you are invited the last Thursday of each month to
watch a DVD of Eckhart's teachings with the River City
Silent Group. All are invited to attend whether in a reading
group or not.

The bookstore is located in the Bandera Pointe Shopping
Center, at the southwest corner of Loop 1604 and Bandera Rd.
The address is 11711 Bandera Rd. Isn't this a great location.

Thanks Barnes and Noble!

Click to Barnes and Noble for Reading Group Details and Directions!

Again, be sure to join our group's Yahoo Message
Board so we know who to expect at the discussion
and for access to our messages and calendar.

To Enjoyment and Enthusiasm!

The Feminine Whisperers -
Bandera Rd NW
Oprah.com Book Club
San Antonio, Texas



The Feminine Whisperers -Bandera Rd NW- Webpage
Feminine Whisperers -Bandera Rd NW- Yahoo Message Board

Life Forms	Critical Threshold	Transformation
Plants as green vegetation	Weather conditions, oxygen increased, carbon-dioxide decrease	Widespread flowering of plants in an explosion of colors and scent with delicate petals, almost transparent

Rocks	Inconceivable heat and pressure	Crystals, almost transparent
Carbon		Diamonds
Heavy Minerals		Precious Stones
Crawling Reptilians	Atmospheric changes,Need for mobility, Hunger, Weather changes	Grew wings and became birds, thus defying the force of gravity that had held them for so long. They didn’t become better at crawling orwalking but transcended crawling and walking entirely.

Object-Consciousness	to	Space-Consciousness
Object proliferation	to	Expansiveness, free of materialism and materiality
Thought domination	to	Stillness with creative and practical use of mind
doing, doing, doing	to	Being with a sweetness and beauty not of this world
Fear-based system	to	Love and abundance


This planet is over 4 billion years-old and humans are only 200 thousand years-old. Yet in the race for survival that, in the end, turned to greed, humans have wreaked the greatest amount of havoc to the balance of Planet Earth, with most of it being waged in the last 50 years ... just in the wink of an eye in Earth time. The movie, HOME, takes its audience on an astounding aeirial view of Earth with an accompanying audio history describing a virus that is running amuck. The virus they are speaking of is humanity and it is spreading like cancer. My sister just showed me an excerpt she copied that was posted where she works out. I think it is appropriate here, too. "The greatest tragedy of life is not poverty, or hunger, or even death.	(click here to watch full-length movie)
The great tragedy is that we could, but we don't; we should, but we won't. Within us all exists the capacity for uniqueness, for accomplishment, and for freedom from unwanted obligations. Beginning at this very moment, you need never be the same again -- except by choice. But again, the great tragedy speaks loudly. We could, but we don't; we should, but we won't." We all feel it; we are living in an atmosphere like no other time in history. Carbon Dioxide is the highest it's ever been. Scientists tell us that we have a decade to change the way we live to avert the catastrophic and horrendous consequences of our planet's runaway climate. The stakes are high for Earth and all its inhabitants. HOME is almost an "eulogy" to the planet and its beauty and delicate harmony. We are taken on a magic carpet ride over the landscapes of 54 countries. Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on a unique journey all around the planet to awaken us before it's too late. But the film HOME is more than a documentary, it is a mesmerizing history of a relatively short life form that is destroying everything in its path. We are in perilous times when Earth's most evolved creature, humans, are the very virus that is bringing on its own destruction and that of the Earth. The aerial cinematography by photographer Yann Arthus-Betrand is stunning, often turning the most dismally wasted landscapes into abstractions of color and form. It is almost disturbing to see that there is beauty to be found even in environmental devastation, but only if you film it from far enough away. By the film's end, it proclaims that "it's too late to be a pessimist." We've depleted the soil, chopped down tropical forests for palm oil plantations, triggered the Sixth Great Extinction of animals and plants in the Earth's history, hoarded wealth, built crowded megacities, left most of the swelling human population of six billion plus in poverty and environmental degradation, and tipped the climate's delicate balance toward runaway global warming. When you're on the bottom, we can only be like the trees, and look up to the sun where there is light. French luxury conglomerate, PPR, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Sergio Rossi, Stella McCartney and other luxury brands, has financially backed the production and distribution of this eye-opening film about our earth and the damaging effects of global warming. On June 5, World Environmental Day, the film debuted in 127 countries. It was directed by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Earth from Above) and produced by award-winning director Luc Besson (Taken, Subway, The Big Blue, Nikita, The Fifth Element), with the support of Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of PPR. The goal of the film is to raise awareness of our collective responsibility towards the planet - ouir HOME. Profits will be donated to Goodplanet.org - a non-profit organization working to raise awareness of the disasterous state of our planet and the need for human intervention and responsibility. It was shot in high definition in 54 countries and 120 locations over 217 days. HOME is narrated in English by Glenn Close and in Spanish by Salma Hayek. PPR's support of HOME has enabled this film to be free of distribution rights and it will be shown on TV, in open-air theaters, on the Internet in partnership with YouTube and Google, in theaters worldwide at a reduced rate and on DVD. In the United States, it was broadcasted on June 5 on the National Geographic Channel and shown at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. In New York City, it was shown at Central Park in Cedar Hill. You can also catch it on YouTube. It sells for $19.98 on DVD and fifteen percent of the studio's profits will go to Conservation International. In the above film, HOME, they refer to "climate refugees." The articles referenced below by Peter Russell have valuable information on impending climate changes and carbon emissions. Runaway Climate Change The Most Dangerous Aspect of Global Warming by Peter Russell http://www.peterrussell.com/Earth/RunawayCC.php See: Carbon Sequestration \| BioChar And Also: Fly or Drive? \| Free Energy?-No Thanks! It is time, indeed, to come together to make a big difference, and so many are aware of this in their hearts, all over the world. I liked the optimism at the end of the movie. Let's radically change our consumerism! Here's a quote from the movie: "The engine of life is linkage, evrything is linked. Nothing is self-sufficient. Water and air are inseparable, united in life and FOR our life on Earth. Sharing is everything!" In our hearts we have the power to create change! Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.SerReal.ning.net/group/greencommunities

You are invited to join us every Thursday from 6:30-8:00 PM Barnes and Noble Booksellers (off Loop 250 next to the Olive Garden) 2617 West Loop 250 N Midland, TX 79705 432-682-8880 A big THANK YOU for providing this wonderful space! (click here for directions) When you enter the bookstore, ask at the customer service desk where we are meeting.
For more information, please go to our meetup page at: www.meetup.com/MindShift If interested, JOIN our Midland Meetup for access to our calendar, discussion board, and information on future local events.
We really look forward to seeing all of you. Enjoy! Debbie @ Doing the MindShift "In the Power of Now" Reading & Discussion Group Midland TX USA www.meetup.com/MindShift www.BeingReal.ning.com www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net

Now is the Only Time There Is!	by J.S. Ellington October 19, 2008 Now is all there is. There is no other time. The past and future are concepts that can be thought about now but they can never be experienced now. We believe in the illusion of a separate self. Self is only a concept. Eckhart Tolle, (Stillness Speaks, 2003) explains, "The mind is incessantly looking not only for food for thought; it is looking for food for its identity, its sense of self. This is how the ego comes into existence and continuously re-creates itself."
Trees, water, sky, hills--why do we divide life up and name the parts we have created?
The ego, manufactured by the mind, tells you who you are. The ego tells you that you are a body and its thoughts. Since you are a body, you can die. Since you can die, you are always in danger. Now must be broken up into pleasurable things, that are to be moved toward, and painful things that are to be avoided. Life is divided in two-- living and dying. The ego tells you that pleasure and life are the same and that pain and death are the same. This perpetuates the ego's practice of constantly resisting now--telling you that your life has problems that must be avoided and solutions that must be found. Suffering is born out of the stories we tell ourselves about pain. "Inner alignment with now is the end of suffering." (Stillness Speaks, 2003) There is a tension that constantly moves us away from now. It says, "Go do something." It says, "Accomplish this." When a goal is accomplished, it is quickly replaced by another goal, and the moving away from now continues. It constantly seeks some time other than now. Instead of experiencing now as it is without labels, judgments, and descriptions, this mind-made self causes your true self to become lost in thought. To keep denying the reality of now, just as it is, it perceives and then describes life to you. You begin to have a relationship with life.The fact that you are life becomes obscured. <:OD>The ego chatters incessantly. It tells you that there are things outside you and things inside you. Things that are inside you are admitted into consciousness. Things outside you are denied and become subconscious or are projected "out there" so that they can be judged and related to as if they are separate objects. The ego divides up the whole of reality into parts that it names and counts. "The landscape is made up of separate things. This is a tree, that is the ground, there is the sky." This abstracting denies the fact that there is no real dividing line between the tree, the ground, and the sky--or between anything and anything else. Everything is connected. By moving away from now and into an imaginary future, or into a remembered past, the ego seeks to establish its existence and keep the mind from discovering the truth by accepting what is now. In the future, it tells you, you can add this or that or something else to yourself and become bigger. Tomorrow you will have accomplished more. Next year you will make more money. Further denying now, the ego ruminates about the past and all its horror. Still continuing its denial of now, the ego sometimes tells you about the "good ole days" of the past. By breaking up life and moving away from now, the ego is addicted to dualistic knowledge. This is good. That is bad. It never allows reality to be experienced and known directly as a whole just as it is. The ego can only continue its existence by thinking about life. The ego cannot exist in the only time there ever is: Now. How do you stay in the now? You feel life as it is. You experience instead of describing experience. You observe thought instead of believing it and becoming lost in it. You accept what is instead of resisting it. Even if something is happening that you would rather not be happening, you can feel and accept that you don't like what is happening now. Consistent with the Serenity Prayer, learn to change what should be changed and accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed. Just be and accept that there is nothing you need to do and nowhere you need to go. Things are the only way they can be. Stop resisting now. That doesn't mean to stop living your life and having accomplishments. It means to be present while you are living life and having accomplishments. Feel your life. Accept and be with the feeling without labeling it or describing it or resisting it. Every success in recognizing the ego and its motivations can be built upon. Along the way, learn to observe the ego's criticizing of your progress in staying present. Eventually, it will lose its motivation to continue its chatter. When it collapses, along with its mindless emotional thinking, you will know yourself and find "the peace that surpasseth all understanding." All that is left is the timeless now. SOURCES: Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks (Novato: New World Library, 2003 and Vancouver: Namaste Publishing, 2003), p. 27, p. 118. Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Bantam Books, 1980). Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness, 20th Anniversary Edition (The Theosophical Publishing House, 1993). A Course in Miracles (Foundation for Inner Peace, 1985). Tony Parsons, As It Is (Inner Directions Publishing, 2002). Here's to being in the timeless now! Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.meetup.com/MindShift www.BeingReal.ning.com

Green Communities Around the World
	Many are awakening more and more to a fuller awareness of the suffering and degradation of the animal kingdom, nature, and our earth. We hear their cries for healing, freedom, and renewal. As each of us in our journey of conscious living acknowledge the deep moaning of their suffering, we are compelled into action on their behalf as well as for ourselves. We are all interconnected in this web of life. If there is suffering anywhere, then we are still in our suffering, too. Sustainable human settlements are currently evolving and providing a model and solutions to human and social needs, while at the same time working in partnership with the environment to offer an enhanced quality of life for all.
An ecovillage is what many call this type of human settlement; they are also described today as Green Communities. Green communities are urban or rural communities of people who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. In ecovillages you will find ecological building, renewable energy systems, biological waste water treatment, organic food production, sustainable economics, complementary currency and LETS (local exchange trading scheme), inclusive decision-making processes and more. The health of our communities, our planet, and ourselves depend on how we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings for a more sustainable future. A green community conserves its land, offers multiple options for transportation, provides open space for recreation and cultivation, and uses its natural and cultural resources wisely.
Green communities aren't a new idea. In fact, for most of human history, "green" wasn't something special--it was simply how people lived. We arranged our days around the rising and setting of the sun and our years around the seasons. Healthy land resulted in healthy crops, which resulted in healthy people. Living in cooperation with nature wasn't a matter of choice; it was a matter of survival. Previous generations may not have used terms like "sustainable development" or "smart growth" but they knew that healthy places had clean air, fresh water, fertile soil, and viable ways to move goods and people around. As people invented new technologies, we changed how we live. Without the old constraints of nature, we can
travel the world easily, use electricity to light up our nights and extend our days, and keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. These conveniences, however, have had consequences for our personal health--and for the health of our civic spaces and our planet. It turns out that living in cooperation with nature is still a matter of survival. Humans, however, are still inventive and many communities are now investing in new technologies--as well as relooking at some old ideas--to create greener approaches to modern life. Earth, air, fire, and water are the sources of our food, fuel, and shelter--people have extracted, harvested, and cultivated these resources since the beginning of time. With each new technology, we redefine our relationship with nature. Earth From the land we live on and build with to the soil we cultivate to the energy we extract from below the surface, sustainable planning and design begins with weighing the benefits and consequences of different uses of Earth. Air Air is all around us and inside us; our health depends on its health. Communities are exploring a variety of ways to improve their air and take advantage of its energy-producing capabilities. Fire The sun’s radiation is the source of all our food and fuel, which we have mined, extracted, burned or harvested throughout history. Combining innovative technologies with older strategies, we can actively harvest the sun’s fire. Water In the face of our consistent need for clean water amid changing environmental conditions, communities today are focusing on innovative conservation and purification technologies and on new forms of hydropower. People are looking for something like ecovillages … green communities, even if we don’t know it yet, where we can practice a way of life most of our species yearns for on a deep level — sustainable living in human-scale community. These ideas inspire me profoundly. I hope it inspires you, too. We are taking a look at how communities are coming together and using sustainable strategies. Maybe it’s time more and more of us update how we live in relation to our earth and "all" that we share it with. We’ll research and feature an alternative sustainable green community until we have about 6 to give us a greater awareness of how others have forged a new way to live in more harmony and peace. * Below we will add a link to each GREEN COMMUNITY AROUND THE WORLD as we explore them together. AUROVILLE is open for public veiwing. Click the other communities and the link will take you to this online community: http://serreal.ning.com/group/greencommunities Note: We are not connected to any of the following communities or organizations in any way. We are only presenting them in the spirit of getting to know how other people are living in a spiritual community and making Mother Earth green again. With this in mind please enjoy the following presentations. GREEN COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD researched by Debbie Magee, M.A. DAMANHUR: An United Nations Award-winning Sustainable Community This one is in Northern Italy and famous worldwide for its elaborately decorated subterranean temples constructed by its citizens. Damanhur is an eco-society and UN award-winning sustainable community. "Damanhur cannot be foreseen. Inside the hill is an architecture and series of rooms that defies description. Imagine New York City’s entire Metropolitan Museum of Art taken apart and then reassembled in underground chambers leading up through a mountain…The temples at Damanhur are a living organism that is so massive on an astral plane that it dwarfs the Metropolitan or any other terrestrial museum…Damanhur is a gallery meant for visitors five hundred thousand years in the future or from other solar systems and time-space continua." AUROVILLE THE CITY OF DAWN in SOUTH INDIA (view on this website now) Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India near Puducherry in South India, whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity. It is a popular tourist destination, and has been described as a "New Age metropolis conceived as an alternative exercise in ecological and spiritual living."* The township starkly stands out from the surrounding traditional Indian villages and farms. Auroville is a small town 6 km north of Pondicherry. This town was a vision of The Mother from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry. She envisioned an international town where unity will be celebrated and all will have a spiritual vocation. At this time, the city has about 1,500 people from over 35 different nationalities, from which about one third are Indians (more than 15% are French and another 15% are German). ZEGG - Center for Experimental Culture Design near Berlin in Germany Engaged in: * Living in community * Understanding among men and women * Sustainable living * Regional empowerment * Support of international peace projects The information on the website suggests that there are no ready recipes for the building of new ways of living. The challenges of our time are too complex. What is needed, besides the necessary changes on the outer level in the form of sustainable technologies, is a supportive context for inner growth. In 1991 they founded ZEGG with the intention to bring together these two aspects of change. What does the earth need, what do humans need? With their programs they are creating a space for new experiences in the area of love, community, and communication -- hoping to encourage taking the future into their own hands. A new society can only be based on a wide network of multifaceted new models. This is one model. The FINDHORN ECOVILLAGE in Findhorn, Scotland Eckhart Tolle has a DVD called, Findhorn Retreat: Stillness Amidst the World. The small book that comes with two DVDs features photographs taken personally by Eckhart and selected quotations from the retreat. In the Foreword it reads. "In the spring of 2004, Eckhart Tolle lead an extraordinary weekend retreat at Findhorn, Scotland, a spiritual community on the leading edge of personal and global transformation. In the Introduction, we learn a little more about the magic of Findhorn, Scotland. "The Findhorn Community in Scotland came into existence in the sixties, based upon a deepening relationship between humans and the realm of nature. A new relationship with nature is an essential aspect of the awakening of human consciousness. In our ego-based civilization, alienation from nature is normal and goes hand in hand with alienation from ourselves and each other." --------------------------------------------------------------------- You can't miss viewing these intriguing communities. They are so promising. They are experimental, human-scale, eco-communities supported by the United Nations to lead the way for our future. Damanhur is a federation of eco-communities. They even have a tree-house community and one of their projects is to create and use technology that's able to listen to music made by the leafs of plants and trees. There's so much more to see in all the communities. It would take more than a few days at each community to experience all they have to offer. These communities are eye-openers and just researching them has impacted me in a very postive way, giving me much hope for our future. Each community we've reasearched around the world have redefined community life and living in harmony. They have faced tremendous obstacles and criticism but their determination to find a healthier, more cooperative and authentic way to live and commune on earth keeps them on their path. We see what they are accomplishing, and we know we can do the same when we come together, and that may be sooner than we think. Each community offers training. As we go on this world adventure together, Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.SerReal.ning.com/group/greencommunities

	PEACE IS EVERY STEP: the Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh "Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand new hours to live." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh "To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right. ~ Confucius
Peace is Every Step is a beautifully designed book with detailed instruction in conscious breathing, mindfulness and walking meditation. Based on Zen Buddhism (his teachings are beyond any particular philosophy or religion), Thich Nhat Hanh's method of teaching is simple, easy to follow, and focuses on everyday activities and situations. By using anecdotes, personal stories, and meditation techniques, Hanh shows how meditation in the small acts of our daily lives, using conscious breathing, can remind readers to be conscious of their present existence. In doing so, readers can improve their relationships, lower their anger levels, and increase overall feelings of peace and joy. Practicing mindfulness helps us transform and heal difficult psychological states. Peace is Every Step takes you on a personal journey through awareness in an effort to obtain the inner peace necessary to work towards peace on a worldwide scale.
	The following description is written on the back flap of the book. "In the rush of modern life, we tend to lose touch with the peace that is available in each moment. World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to "mindfulness" -- the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now. Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh's experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader.
It begins where the reader already is -- in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part -- and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. The deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the "mindless" into the mindFUL." (-publisher's)

Cannot Deny Entry Here written by Debbie
	Suffering abounds in this unfolding drama of life ... due to the stories we’ve been told, and the stories we still tell ourselves. This suffering and gloom are such ordinary effects. They are common and displayed on every corner newstand. As for me, in The Now, I call forth joy, love, peace and … yes, even blissfulness, the Rarer Saga. While living alone, with acceptance and enthusiasm, I’m finding that I more and more fully inhabit my own inner sanctuary, my own inner dwelling of bliss.
What is commonplace in the world cannot* deny me entry here.* With time accelerating on the surface level toward imminent change, many of us communicate through writing, books, music, art, teachings on CDs, DVDs and the internet. We meet dangling from strand to strand on the world-wide web, blogging, and joining social networks and smaller groups within our social networks. We weave the web like magical little spider-bots linking from soul to soul. When we choose to appear on the surface, it is in intentional communities of like-minded sojourners to enjoy the company and inspiration we give each other, or to enjoy the fine arts, or the beauty and smells and sounds of nature. We may find intentional spaces to run or go for walks along a path breathing oxygen deeply into our body. This kind of intentional surfacing is calming and reassuring even in the midst of our suffering world that is so frantic and busy and searching.
Many of us work on the surface level, so we keep ourselves grounded in conscious breathing and inner body awareness as we move among the hustle and bustle of the crowds. We can be an opening for Presence to enter into the world around us. It can be challenging but we have our inner sanctuary with us that we can enter in and out of while on the surface level. The best relief is when I get home after a day’s work to my place where the vibrational frequency outwardly is more of a match to my inner sanctuary. There is no place like home. At home I can enter the timeless realm through hobbies, playfulness, passion, relaxation, reading, meditation and silence. "We are in this world but not of it," as Jesus so eloquently phrased it. Another words, don't think this world and all its suffering is who we really are, or that this existence is all there is. It's not. We will come to know more and more the fullness of who we truly are as we go on this magnificent journey together, linking soul to soul. Joy, Love, Peace and Pure Bliss be with us, Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.meetup.com/MindShift www.SerReal.ning.com/profile/TheFeminineWhisperers

Your place has been reserved for the e-series on Cellular Memory Thank you for taking the time to sign up, Debbie. I look forward to sharing this e-series with you after the new year. Wishing you all the love and connection this holiday season. Luis CMR International 11994 Marjon Dr. Nevada City, CA 95959 Seeding the Planet Help spread the benefits of Cellular Memory Release into your community! "CMR International" is open to the possibility to visit other places that are ready to organize and share the CMR Process. Regardless of belief system, spiritual orientation, cultural or educational background, the work of CMR-Cellular Memory Release is a refreshing addition to any contemporary, educational, or spiritual practice. We would like to continue to expand our work to interested organizations, businesses, branches of new thought practices, educational systems, and holistic healing centers around the world. If you are interested in getting started in bringing this work to your area, please fill out the following form and submit it to us. We'll answer you via email shortly. We are happy to go over any specific questions or concerns you may have regarding the Cellular Memory Release synthesis, our practices, and our event policies. Please feel free to contact us at any time.
Video Biography of Luis Angel Diaz	Part I - Cellular Memory Release Interview
Part 2 - Cellular Memory Release Interview	Part 3 - Cellular Memory Release Interview
The Process of CMR (in Spanish) May love, joy and peace Become states of Beingness Which have no opposites! Blessings to you on your path! Debbie @ The Feminine Whisperers www.TheFeminineWhisperers.net www.meetup.com/MindShift www.BeingReal.ning.com	Luis Diaz - The Pain-body (in Spanish) Introduction to CMR by Luis Diaz (transcript in English) Life is full of possibilities. It’s expression is unique to each one of us. As it comes and goes, we are often distracted by the things we do and who we believe we are that we miss the magic of the present moment. There is so much power in the present moment that when we bring our attention to it, the transformative grace and divine source is there to guide our lives and create it in peaceful ways. It is found in each and every thing there is and it has never left. Too often in our perception and judgment of what is happening in and around our lives gets in the way and prevents us from experiencing the peace that holds it all together. We create beliefs about what we see and feel. We make decisions about who we are and what our lives should be like. These concepts condition our lives. They limit us from knowing our true potential. In a very organic way, they are stored within us, reproducing and creating in our life’s situation. In this way, we are powerful beings. We get to experience exactly those beliefs and feelings that we hold within ourselves. The work of Sessions in Cellular Memory is a response to transforming concepts of what we are not. An investigation within of that which no longer serves us allows us to transform and create newer healthier possibilities for our life. If we bring awareness to that which we are not, maybe what we are will make itself known to us. We invite you to join us in exploring the practical tools of Sessions in Cellular Memory that is a way to bring awareness and healing to your present life. www.cellularmemory.org www.SerReal.ning.com

Jesus came to earth for each and every one of us to shed light on our spiritual oneness with him, with each other, and with the God who is All That Is. He showed us the great power we have available to us in our life on earth and beyond. He claimed that we would eventually do even greater things than what he was able to show us. He died at 33 years-old and according to the accounts of his life, his spiritual teachings lasted for only three short, miraculous years.
There has never been anyone like him before or after that could compare to his level of consciousness of God. No one group of people have a market on Jesus. They may claim they do but in Jesus’ words, again, "They know not what they do." The Jesus I know and love and who loves me back, even to this very day, is available to all who have "an eye to see and an ear to hear" his teachings. If you are not ready to see and hear about Jesus and what he means to your life, then that is just where you are on your spiritual path. You are not condemned. There is no condemnation, falling from grace, hell or damnation. You just do not understand him for whatever reason. Jesus clearly knows some are unaware of his teachings, nevertheless, he is still the way-show-er for all and loves all humankind at any level in their spiritual walk. Even if you are blind to his teachings and cannot hear him, he loves you. His life still shows the way for you and lights your spiritual path in your soul’s journey. Be comforted in this. Jesus’ teachings are not exclusionary. They are for all humanity not only for those who realize the journey of their spiritual path
Humanity, as far as we know, is the form in this world that develops a conscious awareness of the expansion of God-consciousness. Jesus clearly shines a light for us to follow and even move beyond the limited spiritual teachings of his day. He claimed we would learn of our power in even greater ways than he demonstrated to us. The earth and our solar sphere is the living system in which all this is accomplished. Beyond our limited knowledge of the galaxy, whether it be because of our incapacity to experience all that there is to experience in this
dimension - or even other dimensions which we are totally unaware of at this time, Jesus knew more spiritually by far than any human that has ever walked the face of the earth. He could see in all dimensions. His miraculous life and spiritual teachings are for each and every one of us, it is not dependent on if we believe in it or not. Study his life from the higher vantage point of "dying before you die" and see for yourself who Jesus is to you now, in a more enlightened and awakened state of Being. You will come full circle, too, especially if you were familiar and close to who you thought Jesus was before.

Cob Workshops & Custom Cob Structures
Bastrop (near Austin), TX

Owner-Builder Training (condensed)
Bastrop (near Austin), Texas
November 7th - 14th, 2008

The Feminine Whisperers

Female Energies are Returning to a Balance - it will be okay!

Light Flurries: The Glimpse of Shining Glory

An Experience with my Dad after his Triple Bypass Heart Surgery

An Experience with my Dad after his Triple Bypass Heart Surgery

Going to Be with Dad for His Heart Surgery

The Glimpse of Dad's Shining Glory

Telling Dad about the Experience

What Forgiveness Means to Me Now

The Little Girl That Time Forgot

Contemplation Aligns Us with Context

A Contemplative Life:

Alignment with Context not Content

Portals into the Unmanifested, Ch. 7 Power of Now

To the REAL Jonathan Seagull, who lives Within us ALL

Flowering Human Consciousness

The Real Jim Carrey Waking Up

Getting Started with Eckhart Tolle’s Teachings!

A Happier You - Excavating Who We Truly Are

We've Turned Kingdoms to Dust in song by Michael Jackson

HOME the Movie of Planet Earth

slumdog millionaire movie

Re: Come join me on "TOXIC HABITS, HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MAKE THE CHANGES YOU WANT"

Doing the MindShift "In the Power of Now" 3.28.09 - Midland TX

IMAGINE

Understanding the PRESENT MOMENT

GREEN COMMUNITIES Around the World

AUROVILLE - THE CITY OF DAWN in SOUTH INDIA

Working With Light

Love Truly Knows No Bounds

PEACE IS EVERY STEP by Thich Nhat Hanh

2009 Presidential Inauguration in the USA

President Obama's Inauguration Oprah-Style!

Eckhart Tolle TV – Living in a Critical Time in History!

Cannot Deny Entry Here

2009 PREDICTIONS

Michael Brown THE PRESENCE PROCESS A Healing Journey into Present Moment Awareness

Michael Brown

THE PRESENCE PROCESS

2009 PREDICTIONS (cont.)

Until It Is Your Time to Rejoin

Finding Peace and Freedom in These Special Times - SerReal.ning.com

Jesus and ... Living in the Power of Now

Breaking Free

For the Celebration Season

Change Not Easily

New Meditation CD by Peter Russell

The 2012 Mindshift: Meditations for Times of Accelerating Change

The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage - The Real Goods Solar Living Book

Doing the MindShift "In the Power of Now" 9.4.08 - First Meeting - Midland TX

The Feminine Whisperers Bandera Rd NW - Summer Schedule - July and August 2008 - San Antonio TX

Alignment with Context
not Content

Michael Brown

THE PRESENCE PROCESS
A Healing Journey into Present Moment Awareness

The 2012 Mindshift: Meditations for
Times of Accelerating Change