Here's another excerpt from that class I taught on The Self. This excerpt features some deep insights from some great conscious minds on the subject.
Enjoy!
CONSCIOUS & UNCONSCIOUS MIND
Freud - Two qualities of unconsciousness: the preconscious and the unconscious proper. A preconscious idea or memory is one which can become conscious quite easily because the resistance is weak. An unconscious thought or memory has a harder time becoming conscious because the opposing force is strong. Actually there are all degrees of unconsciousness. At one end of the scale, there is the memory which can never become conscious because it has no association with language; at the other is the memory which is on the tip if the tongue.
Jung - The contents of the collective unconscious have never been conscious. They are inherited from one’s ancestral past and so are not based on repressed experiences. The contents of the collective unconscious exercise a preformed pattern for personal behavior to follow from the day the individual is born. The form of the world into which the child is born is already inborn as a virtual image.
Broch (“Guide”) - The unconscious does not only harbor petrified wrong conclusions, destructive behavior patterns resulting from images, and negative emotions due to unresolved problems, but it also contains utter wisdom, divine truth, and the most constructive elements in the universe, constantly building up in unending creativity and love. These wells can be tapped to the degree that the obstructions are let out of their hiding place - the unconscious. That which is hidden from awareness continues to govern you, without your being able, through your reason, to change the unconscious outlook. Conscious misconceptions and unrealistic outlooks are more easily detectable in their unrealism and can therefore be corrected.
Two universal currents: the “Yes-Current” and the “No-Current”. The Yes-Current is often conscious; the No-Current (“resistance”) is often unconscious.
Roberts (“Seth”) - The conscious mind allows you to look outward into the physical universe and see the reflection of your spiritual activity, to perceive and assess your individual and joint creations. The conscious mind is a window through which you perceive the fruits of your inner mind. There is no battle between the intuitive self and the conscious mind. There only seems to be when the individual refuses to face all of the information available in his conscious mind. Your conscious mind is meant to assess and evaluate physical reality, and to help you chart your course in the corporeal universe of which you are presently part. The unconscious accepts those orders given to it by the conscious mind. Your conscious beliefs determine those unconscious functions that bring about your personal experience. Your beliefs, then are like hypnotic focuses. You reinforce them constantly through the normal inner talking in which you all indulge. This inner communication acts like the constant repetition of the hypnotist. This intensity allows messages to go directly to the unconscious where they are acted upon.
In order for consciousness to develop, there must be freedom for the exploration of all ideas individually and en masse. You must travel back through your beliefs and your own feelings until intellectually and emotionally you realize your rightness, your completely original existence in time and space. This knowing will give you the conscious knowledge that is a counterpart to the animal’s unconscious comprehension.
In the natural mind-body relationship, the sleep state operates as a great connector, an interpreter, allowing the free flow of conscious and unconscious material. In the natural back and forth leeway of the system, exterior dilemmas or problems are worked out in the dream situation.
In your present system of beliefs, and with the dubious light in which the unconscious is considered, a fear of the emotions is often generated. Their expression becomes very difficult; great blockages of energy occur, which can result in neurotic or even stronger, psychotic, behavior. The division between the two aspects of experience [conscious and unconscious - waking and sleeping] begins to take on the characteristics of completely diverse behavior. The unconscious becomes more and more unfamiliar to consciousness. Those [negative] beliefs build up about it, and the symbolism becomes exaggerated. The unknown seems to be threatening and degenerate. Self-annihilation seems to be the ever-present threat in the dream or sleep state. At the same time, those creative, spontaneous emotional surges (i.e.- sex, passion, rhythmic movements) that emerge normally from the unconscious can become feared and projected outward.
REPOST: ON "WORSHIPPING WOMEN" & "THE SEXUAL DIET OF BUDDHAS!"
This question is asked by Arjuna Ardagh, who refers to himself as an "awakening coach," in an interesting article entitled "Why It Is Wise To Worship Women":
"Have you loved for real, in a total and undefended way?"
It is an interesting read, and relates to some beautiful passages in Mark Epstein's book, "Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart," which I've written about before here.
Here's an excerpt from Ardagh's article, followed by a repost of my piece: The Sexual Diet of Buddhas":
"Somewhere around the second wall from the center, she casts the veils of her personality aside, and shows you that she is both a human being and also a portal into something much greater than that. She shows you a wrath that is not hers, but all women's. She shows you a patience that is also universal. She shows you her wisdom. At this point you start to experience the archetypes of women, who have been portrayed as gods and goddesses and mythological figures in every tradition. When you love a woman completely, at the very essence of her being, this is the one divine feminine flame."
THE SEXUAL DIET OF BUDDHAS
This is one of the most amazing passages on sexuality I've ever read, from Mark Eptein's book, "GOING TO PIECES WITHOUT FALLING APART." (Mark is a psychotherapist and a practicing Buddhist.) In the chapter on "Passion," Epstein describes the practice of sexual tantra and how surrendering to the feminine in sexual union is what brings us closer to true bliss. As I said in my blog entry, "The Poetry of Sexuality/Women are the Bridge," most men that I have talked to who have experienced deep sexual pleasure understand this idea, and the special nature of the woman's body.
Here's Mark Epstein:
"In sexual tantra, it is understood that most of our standard sexual conventions must stand on their heads. The male partner is encouraged to admit his dependence upon his lover, to continually subordinate his need to dominate or control, and to develop a reverent attitude toward the woman's unfathomable arousal. 'Her lap is the sacrificial altar,' reads one sacred text, 'her hair, the sacrificial grass.' In the culmination of practice, the man is urged to absorb the female sexual secretion in orgasm. Completely reversing the usual state of affairs in which the man ejaculates into the woman, the lovers are taught to do something different, to rest instead in the female response. No longer responsible for 'giving' his partner an orgasm, the man simply becomes part of it. While turning his own organs and fluids into offerings, the man is encouraged to receive the mysterious female essence as the culmination of the sexual act. Drinking the nectar of pure being, couples are able to realize the union of bliss and emptiness. 'This is the best diet,' reads the Candamaharosana Tantra, 'eaten by all Buddhas."
Footnote: one working definition of "tantra" might be - "an Eastern body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways."
"Have you loved for real, in a total and undefended way?"
It is an interesting read, and relates to some beautiful passages in Mark Epstein's book, "Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart," which I've written about before here.
Here's an excerpt from Ardagh's article, followed by a repost of my piece: The Sexual Diet of Buddhas":
"Somewhere around the second wall from the center, she casts the veils of her personality aside, and shows you that she is both a human being and also a portal into something much greater than that. She shows you a wrath that is not hers, but all women's. She shows you a patience that is also universal. She shows you her wisdom. At this point you start to experience the archetypes of women, who have been portrayed as gods and goddesses and mythological figures in every tradition. When you love a woman completely, at the very essence of her being, this is the one divine feminine flame."
THE SEXUAL DIET OF BUDDHAS
This is one of the most amazing passages on sexuality I've ever read, from Mark Eptein's book, "GOING TO PIECES WITHOUT FALLING APART." (Mark is a psychotherapist and a practicing Buddhist.) In the chapter on "Passion," Epstein describes the practice of sexual tantra and how surrendering to the feminine in sexual union is what brings us closer to true bliss. As I said in my blog entry, "The Poetry of Sexuality/Women are the Bridge," most men that I have talked to who have experienced deep sexual pleasure understand this idea, and the special nature of the woman's body.
Here's Mark Epstein:
"In sexual tantra, it is understood that most of our standard sexual conventions must stand on their heads. The male partner is encouraged to admit his dependence upon his lover, to continually subordinate his need to dominate or control, and to develop a reverent attitude toward the woman's unfathomable arousal. 'Her lap is the sacrificial altar,' reads one sacred text, 'her hair, the sacrificial grass.' In the culmination of practice, the man is urged to absorb the female sexual secretion in orgasm. Completely reversing the usual state of affairs in which the man ejaculates into the woman, the lovers are taught to do something different, to rest instead in the female response. No longer responsible for 'giving' his partner an orgasm, the man simply becomes part of it. While turning his own organs and fluids into offerings, the man is encouraged to receive the mysterious female essence as the culmination of the sexual act. Drinking the nectar of pure being, couples are able to realize the union of bliss and emptiness. 'This is the best diet,' reads the Candamaharosana Tantra, 'eaten by all Buddhas."
Footnote: one working definition of "tantra" might be - "an Eastern body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways."
TODAY'S REJECTIONS YOU GOTTA LOVE QUOTE!
"A show about women’s softball from the 1980’s isn’t something our content team is actively looking for."
(Somebody from Hulu you'll never hear of again commenting on a show he imagined was City Rock!)
(Somebody from Hulu you'll never hear of again commenting on a show he imagined was City Rock!)
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"Getting well is easy. It is getting sick that takes years of constant, dedicated hard work.”
Dr. Richard Schulze
Dr. Richard Schulze
JOE McRUNNER vs. DR. SCHULZE!
You create your reality from your beliefs. No exceptions. And that includes when it comes to what and how you eat.
Ha! Don't we all really want to hear that? Hmm...
Okay, then, listen up. I came across a piece on the Huffington Post with this title: "Joe D'Amico The 'McRunner': Man Training For Marathon Eats Only McDonald's For 30 Days."
"What?!" You say? That guy's going to have a heart attack for sure, right? What about the "Supersize Me" filmmaker who practically died from eating McDonald's for a month? Oh, well if this guy, Joe, doesn't die, it's because of the exercising, yeah...
Well, understandable reactions and good questions.
And here's my response: You create your reality from your beliefs. No exceptions.
This is Jane Roberts, channeling "Seth," excerpted from a post of mine entitled: "EAT DRINK and BE MERRY."
"The ideas you have, then, play a large role in the way the body handles its nutrients, and utilizes health and vitality…it is possible for your ideas to cause chemical reactions that impede your body’s ability to accept nourishment. If you believe that the body is evil, the purest health food diet may do you little good at all, while if you have a healthy desire and respect for your physical body, a diet of TV dinners and even fast foods may well keep you healthy and nourished. If we are talking about health, it is to your beliefs that we must look. It is up to you to form a body of beliefs that is worthy of your physical image – for you are nourished by your beliefs, and those beliefs can cause your daily bread to add to your vitality, or add to your cares and stress."
Here's Joe D’Amico: “My wife told me I was crazy, but I love McDonald’s and I love running, and this was a great way to combine the two.”
LOL! Now, don't get me wrong, folks. I'm not telling anyone to go out and scarf down a Big Mac. In fact, I'm writing this while in the middle of an intensive 2-week "Dr. Schulze" cleanse, eating only raw vegan food for the duration. But I know this: I create my reality from my beliefs. No exceptions.
I believe in Dr. Schulze's programs, and I piggy-back my belief in them on his very confident belief in them, and that's why I benefit from them. If I were a younger soul, perhaps like Joe D, the McRunner, and I truly believed in and delighted in those McNuggets and lard-ladened fries, I also know that I'd be just fine running a marathon or doing whatever it is that young souls do.
Meanwhile, I've got some "Superfood" and "Liver-Gall Bladder" tonic to take, so if you'll excuse me...
Ha! Don't we all really want to hear that? Hmm...
Okay, then, listen up. I came across a piece on the Huffington Post with this title: "Joe D'Amico The 'McRunner': Man Training For Marathon Eats Only McDonald's For 30 Days."
"What?!" You say? That guy's going to have a heart attack for sure, right? What about the "Supersize Me" filmmaker who practically died from eating McDonald's for a month? Oh, well if this guy, Joe, doesn't die, it's because of the exercising, yeah...
Well, understandable reactions and good questions.
And here's my response: You create your reality from your beliefs. No exceptions.
This is Jane Roberts, channeling "Seth," excerpted from a post of mine entitled: "EAT DRINK and BE MERRY."
"The ideas you have, then, play a large role in the way the body handles its nutrients, and utilizes health and vitality…it is possible for your ideas to cause chemical reactions that impede your body’s ability to accept nourishment. If you believe that the body is evil, the purest health food diet may do you little good at all, while if you have a healthy desire and respect for your physical body, a diet of TV dinners and even fast foods may well keep you healthy and nourished. If we are talking about health, it is to your beliefs that we must look. It is up to you to form a body of beliefs that is worthy of your physical image – for you are nourished by your beliefs, and those beliefs can cause your daily bread to add to your vitality, or add to your cares and stress."
Here's Joe D’Amico: “My wife told me I was crazy, but I love McDonald’s and I love running, and this was a great way to combine the two.”
LOL! Now, don't get me wrong, folks. I'm not telling anyone to go out and scarf down a Big Mac. In fact, I'm writing this while in the middle of an intensive 2-week "Dr. Schulze" cleanse, eating only raw vegan food for the duration. But I know this: I create my reality from my beliefs. No exceptions.
I believe in Dr. Schulze's programs, and I piggy-back my belief in them on his very confident belief in them, and that's why I benefit from them. If I were a younger soul, perhaps like Joe D, the McRunner, and I truly believed in and delighted in those McNuggets and lard-ladened fries, I also know that I'd be just fine running a marathon or doing whatever it is that young souls do.
Meanwhile, I've got some "Superfood" and "Liver-Gall Bladder" tonic to take, so if you'll excuse me...
Millions Prescribed Antidepressant Drugs for NO REASON!
I've talked about the nefarious medical-pharmaceutical-insurance cabal so often before, I'm only going to link to the news story HERE.
Read it and sleep. Or wake up. It's up to you.
Read it and sleep. Or wake up. It's up to you.
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"The office is closed. How many pages have I produced? I don't care. Are they any good? I don't even think about it. All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance."
Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield
TODAY'S REJECTIONS YOU GOTTA LOVE QUOTE!
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's Associates in rejecting a proposal for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
David Sarnoff's Associates in rejecting a proposal for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
Antoine de St. Exupéry
Antoine de St. Exupéry
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all."
Thomas Szasz
Thomas Szasz
TODAY'S REJECTIONS YOU GOTTA LOVE QUOTE!
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
Gary Cooper (on his decision to reject the leading role in "Gone With The Wind")
Gary Cooper (on his decision to reject the leading role in "Gone With The Wind")
TODAY'S REJECTIONS YOU GOTTA LOVE QUOTE!
"Who the hell wants to copy a document on plain paper?!"
(1940 Rejection Letter to Chester Carlson, inventor of the XEROX machine. In fact, over 20 companies rejected his "useless" idea between 1939 and 1944. Even the National Inventors Council dismissed it. Today, the Xerox Corporation has an annual revenue in the range of one billion dollars.)
(1940 Rejection Letter to Chester Carlson, inventor of the XEROX machine. In fact, over 20 companies rejected his "useless" idea between 1939 and 1944. Even the National Inventors Council dismissed it. Today, the Xerox Corporation has an annual revenue in the range of one billion dollars.)
IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN? NOT!
THIS is a beauty to go along with the other two posts I put up recently on the placebo effect and Prince the dog.
Chase Britton was born prematurely and doctors were prepared to diagnose him with cerebral palsy. When they tested him, they said he had the MRI results "of a vegetable." No kidding. They said it. Why? Because Chase had no cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motor skills, balance and emotions!
But Chase is no veggie, folks. He eventually managed to sit up on his own, something he shouldn't have been able to do without a cerebellum to provide balance. Next he learned to crawl, first dragging himself military-style, then pushing himself upright. Now, he's learning to walk.
"He keeps going," his mom said. "He keeps picking up new things and progressing. We call it, 'Chase pace.'"
In the fall, Chase started going to a specialized preschool near his New York home three days a week.
"I'm in awe of him every day," Sharon Schultz, his teacher at CHC Learning Center in Williamsville, N.Y., told WGRZ.
"Things that, based on that diagnosis, he should not be able to do, he is doing. I mean, walking up and down the hall, riding a bike, holding a pencil or a pen to work on projects, using scissors."
Chase also loves to play on his Ipad with doting brother Alex.
"The doctors didn't know what to say to us," Chase's mother said in a telephone interview. "No one had ever seen it before. And then we'd go to the neurologists and they'd say, 'That's impossible.' 'He has the MRI of a vegetable,' one of the doctors said to us."
Chase has left doctors bewildered and experts rethinking what they thought they knew about the human brain.
LOL! You gotta love the experts!!
You think the doctors might want to consider that the mind is actually not located in the brain?
Chase Britton was born prematurely and doctors were prepared to diagnose him with cerebral palsy. When they tested him, they said he had the MRI results "of a vegetable." No kidding. They said it. Why? Because Chase had no cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motor skills, balance and emotions!
But Chase is no veggie, folks. He eventually managed to sit up on his own, something he shouldn't have been able to do without a cerebellum to provide balance. Next he learned to crawl, first dragging himself military-style, then pushing himself upright. Now, he's learning to walk.
"He keeps going," his mom said. "He keeps picking up new things and progressing. We call it, 'Chase pace.'"
In the fall, Chase started going to a specialized preschool near his New York home three days a week.
"I'm in awe of him every day," Sharon Schultz, his teacher at CHC Learning Center in Williamsville, N.Y., told WGRZ.
"Things that, based on that diagnosis, he should not be able to do, he is doing. I mean, walking up and down the hall, riding a bike, holding a pencil or a pen to work on projects, using scissors."
Chase also loves to play on his Ipad with doting brother Alex.
"The doctors didn't know what to say to us," Chase's mother said in a telephone interview. "No one had ever seen it before. And then we'd go to the neurologists and they'd say, 'That's impossible.' 'He has the MRI of a vegetable,' one of the doctors said to us."
Chase has left doctors bewildered and experts rethinking what they thought they knew about the human brain.
LOL! You gotta love the experts!!
You think the doctors might want to consider that the mind is actually not located in the brain?
TODAY'S REJECTIONS YOU GOTTA LOVE QUOTE!
"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer founder, on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer founder, on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
MAD HOUSEWIVES/KILLER MOMS!
THIS was in the New York Times today, an open confessions of a self-described "mad housewife" who has been violent with her children. It is very honest and courageous, and I applaud KATHERINE ELLISON who revealed herself in this way.
Here's Katherine saying something shocking but true that really needs to be said:
"The mad housewife is a reliable comic icon, her trials trivialized as boredom and cabin fever. It’s hard for most people to accept that mothers — even maybe their own mothers! — can be unloving, and sometimes unsafe."
Right. Being a parent, in no way, shape or form, guarantees that a child will be receiving love. My readers know that I have written and spoken a great deal about the terribly dysfunctional state of marriage and childrearing in our society. I am also going to talk about it on video soon. During this past week, we have been filming a promotional video for our upcoming debut of the FULL PERMISSION LIVING SHOW, which will be a regular web television program on the soon-to-be launched CITY ROCK NETWORK.
Here's an excerpt from one of the episodes of the FPL Show:
"Parenting, as we know it, folks, is not only dysfunctional, it is impossible! In the soon-to be-extinct nuclear family model (just follow the statistical trends), two people (usually young) are expected to undertake the most incredibly taxing job on earth, twenty-four-seven, for two decades, with no qualifications! That's right. Parents, of all available adults, are usually the least qualified to raise children. You need to pass two tests to get a license to drive a car or sell real estate. It's required to have a college degree or some period of focused training for most careers. Yet, to have children, one of the most important and difficult occupations in our society, all you have to do is (excuse me) fuck somebody!"
Stay tuned for more, and once again, thank you, Katherine Ellison, for speaking the truth.
Here's Katherine saying something shocking but true that really needs to be said:
"The mad housewife is a reliable comic icon, her trials trivialized as boredom and cabin fever. It’s hard for most people to accept that mothers — even maybe their own mothers! — can be unloving, and sometimes unsafe."
Right. Being a parent, in no way, shape or form, guarantees that a child will be receiving love. My readers know that I have written and spoken a great deal about the terribly dysfunctional state of marriage and childrearing in our society. I am also going to talk about it on video soon. During this past week, we have been filming a promotional video for our upcoming debut of the FULL PERMISSION LIVING SHOW, which will be a regular web television program on the soon-to-be launched CITY ROCK NETWORK.
Here's an excerpt from one of the episodes of the FPL Show:
"Parenting, as we know it, folks, is not only dysfunctional, it is impossible! In the soon-to be-extinct nuclear family model (just follow the statistical trends), two people (usually young) are expected to undertake the most incredibly taxing job on earth, twenty-four-seven, for two decades, with no qualifications! That's right. Parents, of all available adults, are usually the least qualified to raise children. You need to pass two tests to get a license to drive a car or sell real estate. It's required to have a college degree or some period of focused training for most careers. Yet, to have children, one of the most important and difficult occupations in our society, all you have to do is (excuse me) fuck somebody!"
Stay tuned for more, and once again, thank you, Katherine Ellison, for speaking the truth.
"The Myth of Joyful Parenthood: The Ultimate Cognitive Dissonance?"
Worthy reading by one Wray Herbert HERE.
Here's an excerpt:
"Raising children is hard, and any parent who says differently is lying. Parenting is emotionally and intellectually draining, and it often requires professional sacrifice and serious financial hardship. Kids are needy and demanding from the moment of their birth to... well, forever. Don't get me wrong. I love my children dearly, and can't imagine my life without them. But let's face the facts: Study after study has shown that parents, compared to adults without kids, experience lower emotional well-being -- fewer positive feelings and more negative ones -- and have unhappier marriages and suffer more from depression."
This needs to be explored and talked about people. Let's talk!
Here's an excerpt:
"Raising children is hard, and any parent who says differently is lying. Parenting is emotionally and intellectually draining, and it often requires professional sacrifice and serious financial hardship. Kids are needy and demanding from the moment of their birth to... well, forever. Don't get me wrong. I love my children dearly, and can't imagine my life without them. But let's face the facts: Study after study has shown that parents, compared to adults without kids, experience lower emotional well-being -- fewer positive feelings and more negative ones -- and have unhappier marriages and suffer more from depression."
This needs to be explored and talked about people. Let's talk!
THIS DOG STORY SHOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING!
Okay, now check this out. This is a true story. It was in the Huffington Post today. The headline: "Prince The Dog Returns Home After 5 Years, Finds Owner Myrna Carillo's New House!"
Here's an excerpt from the news item:
"If you move four times in five years, it's hard enough for the mail to find you, let alone a dog. But that's just what one smart Shih Tzu did this past week. According to NBC News, Myrna Carillo lost her beloved dog Prince over five years ago in California. Since then, she has married, had two boys... and moved four times. And yet, somehow Prince showed up on her doorstep last week. Myrna immediately recognized the furry dog, and more impressively, the dog recognized her. Prince is already bonding with Myrna's sons, and is reacquainting himself with his rediscovered family.
This isn't the first pet miracle. Last year, a cat returned home after going missing during Hurricane Katrina five years ago. And an Australian dog returned home after a nine year disappearance. As for Prince -- while his house may have changed four times in his absence, there seems to be no place like home."
This story demonstrates perfectly that there is a collective consciousness that transcends space and time and our five physical senses, that we all really are connected in ways we normally don't see. If you really think about it, a story like this should be major news, and should change everything. Instead, it's just a "cute" story hidden in the back pages, if it's even reported at all. "Coincidence." "A mystery." "Whatever." "Can't explain it."
Oh well, what's for dinner, Prince?
Here's an excerpt from the news item:
"If you move four times in five years, it's hard enough for the mail to find you, let alone a dog. But that's just what one smart Shih Tzu did this past week. According to NBC News, Myrna Carillo lost her beloved dog Prince over five years ago in California. Since then, she has married, had two boys... and moved four times. And yet, somehow Prince showed up on her doorstep last week. Myrna immediately recognized the furry dog, and more impressively, the dog recognized her. Prince is already bonding with Myrna's sons, and is reacquainting himself with his rediscovered family.
This isn't the first pet miracle. Last year, a cat returned home after going missing during Hurricane Katrina five years ago. And an Australian dog returned home after a nine year disappearance. As for Prince -- while his house may have changed four times in his absence, there seems to be no place like home."
This story demonstrates perfectly that there is a collective consciousness that transcends space and time and our five physical senses, that we all really are connected in ways we normally don't see. If you really think about it, a story like this should be major news, and should change everything. Instead, it's just a "cute" story hidden in the back pages, if it's even reported at all. "Coincidence." "A mystery." "Whatever." "Can't explain it."
Oh well, what's for dinner, Prince?
SUPERBOWL FEMINIZING MEN? OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?!
Well, this is fun! A piece in the DAILY BEAST, entitled "The Superbowl May Harm Your Masculinity," caught my interest this morning. Turns out, though, that the article was about how excessive carbohydrates, of the kind ingested in mammoth proportions by many men during football games, cause testosterone levels to drop.
Here's an excerpt:
"As you stock up on pizza, nachos, chips, soda, and beer for your Super Bowl feast, here’s something you might want to consider: Those foods are feminizing men. Not exactly the way you meant to celebrate our annual tribute to red-blooded American masculinity, is it? But undeniably true. Many of the unhealthy things we eat today have been found to cause a drop in sperm count and testosterone, the essential male hormone. If you routinely eat sweets, or carbs such as bread, pasta, baked goods—which your body turns into a form of sugar—you are continuously hammering your ability to produce testosterone."
Okay, that's a fascinating but basically 3-dimensional cause and effect linear formula: a lot of carbs/sugar lowers testosterone, which leads to various physical problems related to the production of that hormone.
So, let's offer a 4th dimensional look at the situation, one that isn't as linear and includes the intentionality of the nacho-chomping, beer-guzzling pig skin aficionado.
For example, what if the guy watching the majorly macho gladiatorial game known as football is doing so with such extreme gusto, and gustatory bingeing, because he is compensating for his own latent feminine feelings, feelings that cause him a great deal of subconscious anxiety? In other words, maybe that big guy with the big bowl of chicken wings and blue cheese dip is reassuring himself that he's a manly man by watching 300+ pound behemoths give each other concussions. Yet, by virtue of the gorging, he is emasculating himself hormonally while consciously fantasizing about extreme masculinity. (I'm sure that a statistical study of the incidence of men having sex with their girlfriends or wives on Superbowl Sunday evening would show a dramatic drop-off of marital coitus.)
Personally, I like to watch the Superbowl, even though I don't really watch football for most of the season. I like the drama of high-level sports contests at times, and the Superbowl can be quite a spectacle in that regard. (True confession, though - I TiVo the game, so I can fast forward through the commercials and some of the navel gazing. And I won't be having any nachos or beer. Maybe some organic popcorn and a Manhattan, but only one, especially because I may still want to be able to...
Here's an excerpt:
"As you stock up on pizza, nachos, chips, soda, and beer for your Super Bowl feast, here’s something you might want to consider: Those foods are feminizing men. Not exactly the way you meant to celebrate our annual tribute to red-blooded American masculinity, is it? But undeniably true. Many of the unhealthy things we eat today have been found to cause a drop in sperm count and testosterone, the essential male hormone. If you routinely eat sweets, or carbs such as bread, pasta, baked goods—which your body turns into a form of sugar—you are continuously hammering your ability to produce testosterone."
Okay, that's a fascinating but basically 3-dimensional cause and effect linear formula: a lot of carbs/sugar lowers testosterone, which leads to various physical problems related to the production of that hormone.
So, let's offer a 4th dimensional look at the situation, one that isn't as linear and includes the intentionality of the nacho-chomping, beer-guzzling pig skin aficionado.
For example, what if the guy watching the majorly macho gladiatorial game known as football is doing so with such extreme gusto, and gustatory bingeing, because he is compensating for his own latent feminine feelings, feelings that cause him a great deal of subconscious anxiety? In other words, maybe that big guy with the big bowl of chicken wings and blue cheese dip is reassuring himself that he's a manly man by watching 300+ pound behemoths give each other concussions. Yet, by virtue of the gorging, he is emasculating himself hormonally while consciously fantasizing about extreme masculinity. (I'm sure that a statistical study of the incidence of men having sex with their girlfriends or wives on Superbowl Sunday evening would show a dramatic drop-off of marital coitus.)
Personally, I like to watch the Superbowl, even though I don't really watch football for most of the season. I like the drama of high-level sports contests at times, and the Superbowl can be quite a spectacle in that regard. (True confession, though - I TiVo the game, so I can fast forward through the commercials and some of the navel gazing. And I won't be having any nachos or beer. Maybe some organic popcorn and a Manhattan, but only one, especially because I may still want to be able to...
TODAY'S QUOTE!
"Study after study has shown that parents, compared to adults without kids, experience lower emotional well-being -- fewer positive feelings and more negative ones -- and have unhappier marriages and suffer more from depression."
Wray Herbert
Wray Herbert
Repost: "Faith versus Logic: Spock's Rebirth!"
This is an oldie but goodie, first posted in 2008.
Interesting little piece by Stacey Lawson called "What is faith?" on the Huffington Post. What I like about the brief article is that she doesn't equate faith with religion. Rather, she addresses the apparent conflict between faith and "rational" thinking.
Lawson:
"Faith seems not quite natural to the modern mind. Mind is rational while faith is irrational. Mind is logical; faith illogical. Mind is doubtful while faith is doubt-free. We are more committed to the calculations of the rational mind, than to the holistic wisdom of spirit. When we put more stock in the workings of our rational mind than on discerning a deeper truth beyond the intellect, faith seems relegated to a precariously irrelevant position."
I agree, Stacey. But what exactly is faith? Wishful thinking? Hopefulness? Belief? No, faith is the precursor to knowing, and knowing comes not from the mind, but from the body and from our feelings. The more connected we are emotionally, the more those inklings of faith turn into knowing.
A while back, I posted an excerpt from a class I taught on "gut feelings," in which I talked about how our "second brain," located in our solar plexus, is where our best and most certain decisions are made from (http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/2008/01/gut-feelings.html). When we "feel" the rightness of a choice, we don't second guess ourselves, but when we "think" our way to a decision, the potential pros and cons can consume us for great lengths of time without ever leading to a feeling of certainty.
Here's Stacey Lawson again:
"Faith is the decision to step out of ego and deny its claim on a finite reality. Faith is about possibility. It is utter positivity. An unknown sage once said, 'God does not ask about our ability, but our availability.' Are we available to believe in something higher than our own ego-mind? Are we available to trust in a pervading wisdom that can know and do everything? Are we available to suspend doubt and disbelief and live in utter positivity? I leave you with these questions of faith."
I'll leave you with a quote from "Mr. Spock," in one of the later "Star Trek" movies, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." By this time in the saga, Mr. Spock, who was the ultimate exalter of logic throughout the early years of the series, had experienced life and death and rebirth, and he had also discovered the value of feelings. When a young Vulcan he is mentoring criticizes some behavior as "illogical," Spock scolds her by saying: "Logic, logic and more logic! Logic is only the BEGINNING of wisdom, not the end!"
Yeah! Live long and prosper!
Interesting little piece by Stacey Lawson called "What is faith?" on the Huffington Post. What I like about the brief article is that she doesn't equate faith with religion. Rather, she addresses the apparent conflict between faith and "rational" thinking.
Lawson:
"Faith seems not quite natural to the modern mind. Mind is rational while faith is irrational. Mind is logical; faith illogical. Mind is doubtful while faith is doubt-free. We are more committed to the calculations of the rational mind, than to the holistic wisdom of spirit. When we put more stock in the workings of our rational mind than on discerning a deeper truth beyond the intellect, faith seems relegated to a precariously irrelevant position."
I agree, Stacey. But what exactly is faith? Wishful thinking? Hopefulness? Belief? No, faith is the precursor to knowing, and knowing comes not from the mind, but from the body and from our feelings. The more connected we are emotionally, the more those inklings of faith turn into knowing.
A while back, I posted an excerpt from a class I taught on "gut feelings," in which I talked about how our "second brain," located in our solar plexus, is where our best and most certain decisions are made from (http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/2008/01/gut-feelings.html). When we "feel" the rightness of a choice, we don't second guess ourselves, but when we "think" our way to a decision, the potential pros and cons can consume us for great lengths of time without ever leading to a feeling of certainty.
Here's Stacey Lawson again:
"Faith is the decision to step out of ego and deny its claim on a finite reality. Faith is about possibility. It is utter positivity. An unknown sage once said, 'God does not ask about our ability, but our availability.' Are we available to believe in something higher than our own ego-mind? Are we available to trust in a pervading wisdom that can know and do everything? Are we available to suspend doubt and disbelief and live in utter positivity? I leave you with these questions of faith."
I'll leave you with a quote from "Mr. Spock," in one of the later "Star Trek" movies, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." By this time in the saga, Mr. Spock, who was the ultimate exalter of logic throughout the early years of the series, had experienced life and death and rebirth, and he had also discovered the value of feelings. When a young Vulcan he is mentoring criticizes some behavior as "illogical," Spock scolds her by saying: "Logic, logic and more logic! Logic is only the BEGINNING of wisdom, not the end!"
Yeah! Live long and prosper!
Repost: "Jump the Fear Shark!"
Fear. It is perhaps the most crippling of all the so-called "negative" human emotions. Why? Well, first of all, ninety-nine percent of our fears are irrational. Right. That's a lot of crazy time. Nonetheless, it's true that most of our fears are a reaction not to any actual danger in the moment, but to possible dangers in a vague possible future. As a result, our ability to react flexibly to normal life situations in the present is greatly inhibited by irrational fears. They sap our energy levels and create tunnel vision, literally and figuratively. In addition, since the human psyche is always trying to self-correct, cleanse and heal itself of negative emotions caused by negative thoughts, we will end up attracting events that seem to meet the criteria of our worst fears in order to work them through.
Here's the Pathwork Guide, channeled by Eva Broch, saying it quite eloquently:
"As long as you have fear, it is sometimes inevitable that you experience what you fear in order to lose the fear. If fear can be shed by realizing the truth that there is no reason to fear, then it is not necessary to experience it. But you are often incapable of this insight, so you must familiarize yourself with the feared circumstances until they lose their threatening aspect."
Yes. This is one of the driving forces behind the "repetition compulsions" so many suffer from, those patterns of going through the same painful situations or relationships over and over. What the Guide is saying above is that part of the "goal" of the repetitions is to neutralize the fear of the situation being repeated. (That reminds me that in the 1970's, I had to watch "Jaws" about a dozen times before I was finally convinced that Roy Scheider actually killed that damn fish! And then, to top it off, that same summer, I finally got back in the water on an East Hampton beach to test myself in the ocean. True story. Yep. Refreshed and confident from a round of body surfing, I swam ashore to find... a dead shark on the beach!! YOW!!!)
There's more. If your motivations for the good things of life that you desire are covertly or overtly fear-based, you will again be thwarting yourself.
The Guide:
"As long as you want the positive mainly because you fear the negative, your fear barricades the way to the positive. If you want happiness because you fear unhappiness, happiness remains unreachable. If you want happiness for its own sake, and not because you fear its absence, nothing will block its attainment. And this is an enormous difference.
"Every aspect of living follows this principle. If you desire health in a spirit of fearing sickness, you prevent health. If you fear the aging process, you prevent eternal youth. If you fear poverty, you prevent abundance. If you fear loneliness, you prevent real companionship. If you fear companionship, you prevent self-containment. So it goes on and on."
This is why "positive affirmations" and other meditations meant to bring abundance don't work for so many people. (It was also kind of left out of "The Secret" DVD and book that so many millions latched onto. The producers sort of neglected to mention that in order to use the Laws of Attraction positively, you first have to surface and clear out the negative beliefs and intentions hidden below the surface of consciousness.)
The Guide again:
"The great enemy is fear, and the best way to meet and conquer this enemy is first to ascertain, admit, and articulate it."
In other words, folks, don't have fear of your fears. See them, embrace them, then challenge their validity, and finally exhale them out of your life and make room for abundance.
Then, you can jump the shark, too.
Here's the Pathwork Guide, channeled by Eva Broch, saying it quite eloquently:
"As long as you have fear, it is sometimes inevitable that you experience what you fear in order to lose the fear. If fear can be shed by realizing the truth that there is no reason to fear, then it is not necessary to experience it. But you are often incapable of this insight, so you must familiarize yourself with the feared circumstances until they lose their threatening aspect."
Yes. This is one of the driving forces behind the "repetition compulsions" so many suffer from, those patterns of going through the same painful situations or relationships over and over. What the Guide is saying above is that part of the "goal" of the repetitions is to neutralize the fear of the situation being repeated. (That reminds me that in the 1970's, I had to watch "Jaws" about a dozen times before I was finally convinced that Roy Scheider actually killed that damn fish! And then, to top it off, that same summer, I finally got back in the water on an East Hampton beach to test myself in the ocean. True story. Yep. Refreshed and confident from a round of body surfing, I swam ashore to find... a dead shark on the beach!! YOW!!!)
There's more. If your motivations for the good things of life that you desire are covertly or overtly fear-based, you will again be thwarting yourself.
The Guide:
"As long as you want the positive mainly because you fear the negative, your fear barricades the way to the positive. If you want happiness because you fear unhappiness, happiness remains unreachable. If you want happiness for its own sake, and not because you fear its absence, nothing will block its attainment. And this is an enormous difference.
"Every aspect of living follows this principle. If you desire health in a spirit of fearing sickness, you prevent health. If you fear the aging process, you prevent eternal youth. If you fear poverty, you prevent abundance. If you fear loneliness, you prevent real companionship. If you fear companionship, you prevent self-containment. So it goes on and on."
This is why "positive affirmations" and other meditations meant to bring abundance don't work for so many people. (It was also kind of left out of "The Secret" DVD and book that so many millions latched onto. The producers sort of neglected to mention that in order to use the Laws of Attraction positively, you first have to surface and clear out the negative beliefs and intentions hidden below the surface of consciousness.)
The Guide again:
"The great enemy is fear, and the best way to meet and conquer this enemy is first to ascertain, admit, and articulate it."
In other words, folks, don't have fear of your fears. See them, embrace them, then challenge their validity, and finally exhale them out of your life and make room for abundance.
Then, you can jump the shark, too.
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