Help Our Hearts, Jesus

You Will Know Them by Their Hearts

2009-02-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

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You Will Know Them by Their Hearts

For You.

For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me... What you did to one of the least of these, my friend, you also did to me.

- Jesus, The Gospel of Matthew

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give away; whatever austerity you practice, do that as an offering to me.

- Krishna

If you do not take care of one another, who else will do so? Those who would care of me should care for those who are sick.

- Buddha

The world can be turned over by that man who loves all people as he loves himself.

-The Tao

Jesus could not have studied with Tibetan Buddhist lamas for the very simple reason that Buddhism did not reach Tibet until seven centuries after Jesus' death! Had Jesus gone to Tibet, he would have discovered not Buddhists, but shamans and practitioners of Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet... Had Jesus gained his wisdom from Eastern gurus, he would be a much less imposing and religious figure. It is Jesus' uniqueness from all other teachers that has always made him important. Jesus, while being a mystic, was not a quietist, as the Buddha and most mystics are. He was a social revolutionary as well as a spiritual one. He stood up to the hypocrisy of those who publicly made a display of their religion, and he challenged the social order..."

- Richard Hooper "Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu, The Parallel Sayings"

Ascending Heart

2009-02-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

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Welcome to Planet Heart

One day you were born and became subjected to gravity...

Welcome to Planet Heart!

You got a lot of love, you thought it was from your mother. You got a lot of tossing in the air and fun; you thought it was from your father. You had some craziness too! With a brother or a sister... One day you looked around and found yourself alone.

You saw you were more than just your fingers and toes. You saw you had eyes to see with, ears to hear; you could reach out and taste things with your tongue. You could rest your hands on objects, and sense and feel.

Then came a time you felt a deep sadness in your heart; you couldn't understand why.

Who put the barbed fence of thorns around your heart?

What part did you have in it?

Somehow you unplugged from your Higher Power.

Maybe you held your breath? Stopped breathing-in the light?

I sometimes think we lose connection with our child-self the minute we witness a lie.

It is the child-self needing to stay connected with Higher Power. If we talk to our inner child, we can assist him or her to re-establish connection, plug-in again.

And remember, Jesus, Our Lord, said "I AM the light, and the way."

We can use these technologies of prayer, right-thinking, and working with meditation to bring God's light back in our hearts.

This is a blog about shifting ourselves upwards, into our Higher Power. With this blog, I am doing a kind of psychic surgery on you, the reader. I am reaching out to sweep away the stiffness, and the pain. Be calm, and learn the ways of Christ's Sacred Heart.

With each word, you will feel me pulling thorns out of you.

With each prayer, you will find yourself burning, in spiritual fire.

No need to be afraid... You are bigger and greater than all this.

You can come here, be here any time... Day or night. It's up to you.

Come as a little child.

We are here on this planet to learn how to ascend.

We are not alone!

The Violet Flame
The technique, below, was shared with me a friend, Ruby Fire... It's called the Violet Flame. Whenever you see flames coming from a heart image, now you will know, it represents our abilities to transmute dead energy. The wings represent lifting ourselves up again, to rise above the pettiness of our thinking, our value judgments and egos.

The Violet Flame helps so much! Especially when you're alone at night and in pain? You can visualize it burning through your entire body... It is very calming, and will purging you of all loss and negativity. When the world has hurt you, turn this meditation over to God. It will help you, give you strength to start moving in the right directions, to ask for and get the right help you need.

The following quotes are from a past lecture by Elizabeth Clare Prophet. She's speaking about things that tend to block the heart and keep it from opening.

"What usually collects at the heart chakra is what is called "hardness of heart," or the unmerciful heart. The unmerciful heart never forgives. It may say that it forgives... People may say, "Yes, I forgive you," but they hold bitterness and resentment, not only for one lifetime, but for many, many lifetimes."

"Hardness of heart is like a substance of concrete that encases the heart and doesn't allow us to send out love...[It] creates insensitivity to life. We no longer identify with another's pain, but we expect everyone else to identify with our sorrows and our pains."

"Opening-up the heart to the sufferings of humanity and to individual persons we know, providing comfort and care for them, is the beginning of the melting of that granite that can encase the heart so that it cannot expand. This is the condition of many today."

(Ruby) To work on opening the heart I use the Violet Flame. It really does work! I like to visualize the flame literally consuming the records of the past and all that has collected around my heart, all that is weighing me down. I visualize it consuming all hurt and pain, non-forgiveness and hardness of heart.

I use the mantra, "I AM a being of Violet Fire, I AM the purity God desires." (It's quick and easy to remember.) Also you can use any other affirmations you are comfortable with.

Afterwards, I give other prayers and visualize the light covering the world with healing, comfort and joy.

Sending love and light to all,
Ruby

I knew I was dying. I still have days when the pressure on my brain makes me wonder if I'll make it. Well, at least if I don't, I will try to help someone today. I'll do something for someone out of kindness, even if they never notice. Or I will clear-up something ugly and make it right. I won't live in vain.

I used to sit in bed, reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead... Contemplating whether or not I would choose rebirth for my next lifetime. Is it time to give it all up?

Now I listen to music... Jim Morrison and The Doors, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, Gino Vannelli; Joni Mitchell, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sarah Brightman and Stevie Nicks. Music heals me.

My wake-up call came with the sudden death of my younger sister; she was 39. She hadn't been well for a long time. Had we all been in denial? It was a brain aneurysm. Doctors had never been able to treat her adequately. She'd been on every drug imaginable; the drugs affected every aspect of her life.

We knew she lived a dangerous, reckless life; made some destructive choices along the way. Actually, she had never been "well" from the time she said, she was 8 years old. Certainly not in any time we could remember. Now suddenly she was gone! It was a week before Easter, when all the trees were just coming into bud. The landscape was emerald-green that day; the sky was misty and purple, filled with double-rainbows.

This must God? God was welcoming her Home.

I knew by the time we got to the hospital she was gone.

Soon after I found a psychologist, someone I could talk to realistically about my own life. He took me under his wing and kept me there. Now I know I would have died without his help and compassion.

I would not have lived without his compassion, because I hated myself. So his presence in my life is a consistent reminder that I have to be gentle with "me"... And have compassion, starting with myself.

He was the person who ushered me out of my lifestyle, into a space where I could finally find rest. He was my advocate when I couldn't speak for myself. He wrote letters, sent faxes, made phone-calls. He tolerated my insecurities; he assured me, comforted me, adjusted resources for me and called me on my shit. The man is an Angel.

Sometimes it takes another person to look into our souls when the pain is too much to bear. We cannot see ourselves objectively. We think we are naturally caustic and miserable, even!

We don't know where to turn, how to turn; we do things like walk into walls, bump our heads, have car accidents; run over small dogs. We forget to pick up the kids at school, where we put our keys, that today is our anniversary. Sometimes, it is just enough to focus on this moment.

If I can just get through this moment, then I can take this action, this project, this need, this concern on a moment-to-moment basis.

Well, the Dali Lama says it is like that... Dying. It feels like taking little baby steps. Time becomes suspended and you get to have glimpses of yourself throughout your life, little by little, acting like an ass.

Wo unto the person who lies to himself! You won't make it. It is too difficult to make it without a support system, and especially if you can't ask for it. Especially if you cannot own up to your mistakes, the idea that, you fucked-up; you got it wrong. Things are not working out.

This is a process of peeling away, layer by layer, everything you represent. This is a willingness to want to shed your skin and face a new day. It could mean a spell of drying-out. It could mean a spell of long sleep. It could mean a spell of tears, of being cut-into, of trying different options. It could mean a time of long dialogs with God. Certainly it is one of letting-go - people, things, situations that don't support you; jobs, money, friendships. Possibly even things like a leg or other body parts... Forcing you to learn how to use your body differently.

It is all worth it, if at the end of the process you get peace.

No need to hang myself off the banister today.

Either way, if I am here, then I am obligated to get my heart open again. I want to remember what it feels like to be happy. I have to stop and make a note of this every day.

I observed the eyes of the people closing around me in my pain. I saw their hands going up in the stop motion; forefingers coming up to their lips to "sshh!"

I saw how their eyes were diverted or completely closed; my pain was scaring them, reminding them... Hey! (They are also in pain.)

Some people are very caustic, negative and smug. They feign to be friendly... Deep down, you see, they are terrified of being alone. They take you out of your heart energy with their agendas, controlling, and attitudes. They work hard to take you down... What does that mean? It means, for them, to be miserable is "normal". By taking you to their level of normality, "normalizing the abnormal" - they will feel more comfortable. Everything is great as long as you are not disturbing their comfort-zone. It is all about them.

Other people actually feign to care, "pretending" they are hearing but not actually listening. They are not plugged-in, they are just going through the motions of smiling, posing, being politically-correct. You don't really get a heart-connection with people like that, you see; they are not sincere. So your heart will let you know!

And who the hell isn't hurting here?

The Violet Flame - Surrender

If you feel burdened, blocked, distressed, depressed... These are signals happening in our lives where we may be being required to let go of control, to surrender. So much of what goes on in our daily lives is over-load; the Violet Flame is a technique to be used when it is time to un-load. I find myself loving to do this meditation in the early parts of the morning when it's still dark outside. However, you can use it whenever you need it! Refer other people you know to these blog pages if they need help, too; spread the word!

Take a moment to sit down in a comfortable spot... Ask your Higher Power to help you anchor in the Violet Flame. Close your eyes and look for a ray of Violet light above you, in your mind; now imagine it flowing down to Earth to create a beautiful bonfire of Violet fire. Feeling ready to feel better?

Begin to pile things into the Violet Flame that you no longer need... Possessions that no longer serve or support you; relationships, too. Any old habits or attitudes that are trying hard to die? Put those in the flame now. How about any systems of thought, philosophies, rituals, beliefs, fears? Are these ready to go? See them being consumed in the Violet bonfire now...

Ready for your new life? Take a deep breath...

You've got so much to do, don't you? Or do you? Go ahead and begin to pile all those activities and issues into the Violet flames. Burn the unresolved issues, the relationships you didn't get closure with, and the ones that confuse you.

Everything gets to become nice and toasty! Do you want to burn all your degrees? Your properties and bank accounts? Go ahead and throw all those in! Watch them burn away in the Violet Flame.

Feeling freer? Yay!

Go ahead and breathe...

Who have you hurt? Throw that situation into your Violet bonfire. Imagine all the things you have done that might have created difficulty in some other being's life? See those images getting splintered into pieces as you throw them into the Violet flames. Let it all burn. Do you need some help? Imagine there are resources in the flames burning, igniting to attract you in the most perfect timing... Do you need to forgive yourself or someone else? See those needs being consumed in the Violet Flames. You will be given everything you need in the most perfect timing, so for now, just trust... Let it go in the flames.

Who are you?

Are you a "mom", a "brother", a "doctor", a "lover", a "garbage man"? Are the roles and positions you have held in your life sabotaging? It's time to throw all that into your Violet bonfire now... See everything being transmuted in the purple flames, helping you to feel better and freer with each moment.

Can you feel it?!

What about your power issues and other titles? Go ahead and let those burn, too, rock star! Why not let them burn? Go ahead and burn 'em in the flames of Violet light...

Now it's time to burn everything you love! This is the best part!

This includes all your possessions, your pets, your cars, computers, cell-phones and ipods! Toss all those into the Violet Flames...

Can you feel your awareness of things being cleansed?

Doesn't this feel GREAT?!

Last, but not least!!

Don't forget to throw yourself in...!

Go ahead and step into your visual bonfire of Violet Flames.

See, that's not so bad, is it?

Take a deep breath and soak in the violet fires; allow them to consume every aspect of your being, good, bad and ugly. Burn, burn, burn all those little aches and pains! Trust you are going to get some resolutions here, the more your relax and surrender to the Violet Flames...
Don't forget to Toast your Heart
in the
warm Violet Light.

Can you see it? Can you feel it?
The light of God's love coming in?

Stay with this fervor for as long as possible...

And now, I will just say, you can maintain this ascension by being grateful, using gratitude to get on with the next phases of allowing more good things into your existence.

Gratitude is the key to the spaceship of your soul.

Slowly the flames will die down.

Be assured, you are making things better.

And don't you feel much better?

Yeah.

Golden Heart

2009-02-12T01:16:00.000-08:00

The golden light of this heart
is the heartbeat of Mother Nature...
It represents our life force energy fully ignited.

As we connect to the planet through the food we eat for sustenance, and to one another for friendship and compassion, our energy can become golden light. We can receive this light by meditating in the sun, allowing light to flow into our bodies, also contemplating the relationship of Earth's gold to lead. We can "plug" into the center of the Earth during meditation, and draw Her fire up into our hearts through our breathing. I love to go and lay somewhere where the rocks or the sands are warm.

We can change the rate of our pulse and blood-flow by tapping into Mother Earth's gold. We can perform martial arts, heal the sick, shift-shape and travel through time...

The more we do this, the more we learn how to experience our bodies as "Soul Spaceships", so to speak.

Our bodies are putting out energetic messages all the time, and it is not just all about being "sexual". This is where some people are very messed up. Don't let anyone mess with you anymore in this arena.

I don't like to discuss it too much because people pervert things. If you start asking people how they feel about their bodies, of course they will relate to their pain or their sexuality. In other words, most people are walking around, seeing their bodies as being nothing more than containers... (As if our bodies are no more useful than a suitcase?! There's something wrong with that kind of thinking.)

My point is this: people don't just communicate with one another in words, we also do it through our body language.

There are so many people out there practicing a kind of black magic with their body language... They don't even know they're doing it. They may think they are speaking in great truths? But they are not effective because their physical bodies are putting out a different message. If they are spiritual people who seek to understand their own intentions, yet they do this? Something is wrong.

An old woman I know likes to follow her friends to restaurants... Then she will just sit there without paying or leaving a tip. She will fold her hands under her arms and stare off into space, helplessly, with her lips buttoned. So then, her friends always foot the bill, or end up buying an entree' to share, enabling her while she sits there... Sending off a message to everyone in the place that she's "poor". This way, restaurant owners feel sorry for her.

She recently accused my friends of "not loving" her. Yet in knowing her (for 20 years now), I have observed she has never really been able to receive love! She is one of these people who runs away, darting left to right, always clutching her poisoned apple under her cloak... (Like all she really wants is to be enabled in her poverty-mentality.) I think this junk has made her heart grow small.

The ancient teachings of alchemy were shown to direct us to the healing power of gold. Gold is a metaphor used for literally shifting the leaden blocks in our blood to lighter matter, and for healing and removing the gravity (lead) in our hearts. In this way, we build chi, or energy. We can meditate with, and use this gold light energy to connect to others. All we have to do is allow gold light to flow into our hearts whenever we want or need it!

We can also sit and meditate with a piece of gold.

The feeling is the kind of lightness you feel in your heart when you are in love.

Jesus Laughing

I had a teacher who used to say, we are not here on Earth for ourselves. In fact the anagram for "Earth" is "Heart". So she used to say, we are living here on Planet Heart.

Everyone searches for a reason to be alive, don't they? We run into all kinds of diversions as we go along, because here on Earth, we're in Life School. We get to keep repeating the same lessons over and over again, remember? We have to, until we learn them. Once we learn them, they are written inside us.

Relationships, however, are a little more complicated. For one thing, we left the Garden of Eden to experience things like choice-making and free-will. Are we getting it, God?

The challenge is to see how every person is a brother or a sister; by befriending them in such a way, we might find something more. We might learn something about ourselves! We cannot ever really know ourselves unless it is through another human being. Isn't it ironic?

Sometimes it is not always possible to help someone or talk with them. Either way, we should pray for ourselves and the people we care about. Don't leave someone in the dark. If you need to postpone a conversation for a week to get them to think, do it. But don't abandon anyone if you know you can help them see the light. Try and empower others with tools and information and resources, if they let you. They are another You.

I'm a big fan of Judge Judy. I think she rocks! I love how she gets into session and starts asking 20-questions. I love when how, someone tries to speak-over her, and she'll holler back - "I get to ask the questions here!" I think it's cool how she can catch anyone in a lie! Whenever I invoke my Inner Judge Judy? You can bet someone around me is breakin' the law.

Of course, when you are dealing with someone like Judge Judy? The intensity is deflating. There are some women out there with really negative or intense "inner-Judge-Judy's", ready to emasculate the first guy who comes along. Then she'll use your balls for ping-pong, boys.

You see many of us as being cougars and pythons?! Beware!

Because if you are one of those double-standard boys out there, playing the game of He's Just Not That Into You, you might go for one of us "older" babes.

Just be forewarned and wary: we'll be looking for what you believe in, and we will challenge you from every angle on it. We'll want to know from you about what it means to be a friend. We'll be asking you about your views on the differences between love and sex.

We weren't born yesterday, and we won't trust you or endure your foolishness and double-speak. We already know you're working with a forked-tongue and an f'd-up mind. We will work the 20-question-methods in order to squeeze the life out of you. Then? We'll suck out your brains. We'll leave you, pulsing in a husk, on the freeway of your life.

Dang! Must I always be so punitive?

Having gone through most of my life accounting for every stuck-fart on paper or otherwise, to every authority I've ever known... I've always hated that. I sometimes refuse to apologize for my bad attitude. Let's face it, most of the real compassion I've received in my life has been from the opposite sex. I'm meeting a lot of men who are more sensitive and active as fathers than their wives are as mothers. (But golly, there isn't anyone I haven't met who doesn't have "issues".)

Aren't people supposed to be presumed innocent until they are like, tried in a court of law?

I spent a lot of my career wondering - what did I do? Deeply questioning and searching the possibility that somehow I must be a bad person? Because I was educated by nuns, and always worked for punitive a-holes. That's where I learned all this!

So the other day a friend of mine (who is 30 years younger than me) pointed out - "why don't you try Mr. Rogers?"

I didn't think he meant it so literally. But as we began to talk, he simply said he learned during his life in the orphanage... People simply don't listen. And a lot of time they don't even want to. So he began to use Mr. Rogers as his role model.

Here we are, angling around one another's body languages... Twinging and latching onto other people's souls as if they are suitcases (not spaceships).

"If you don't want to be punitive, or sound punitive, I would recommend talking like Mr. Rogers," he said.

"Start by introducing what you want to say in 'I' and 'me' terms... Try telling them a couple of times. Then, if that doesn't work? Then do the Judge Judy."

Well, unfortunately, I missed out on Mr. Rogers somehow. (But he's still airing on PBS.) My friend had to teach me to say a few things like this:

"My feelings are hurt when you blame me for the mold on your shoes."

Believe me, I am gritting my teeth all the way...

"Wow, it scares everyone in the building when you slam the door like that..."

"Gee, I can't talk fast enough when you keep interrupting me. It makes me feel anxious..."

I'm getting the hang of it!

And also asking more questions instead of being accusing or blaming, like:

"Yikes! It's hard to laugh when you are hitting my grocery cart with your grocery cart. Is this supposed to be funny?!"

WHY?

I am learning more to ask "why?"

Instead of being like Judge Judy, and saying something like: "I don't wish to participate in discussions about my personal business!" I can ask: "WHY is it important for you to want to discuss my personal business?" and "Why must I participate in this discussion?" and "Why isn't dating you any fun anymore?"

I think I'm getting it...

"I'm just a soul the on the planet;
I'm trying to do good, be good, feel good..."

-Meshell Ndegeocello
"The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams"

Jesus Enlightenment

2009-02-12T01:04:00.000-08:00

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Jesus, Enlighten Me

I trust in You, Christ,
to help me steward my sexual energy.
Help me to understand the nature of disease,
and the sanctity of my own sacred space.
Keep me focused on upholding
my personal standards.
Keep me from generating harm
to any other being
through the mis-use of my sexual energy or needs. Teach me to be patient and happy
during the long spells of celibacy.
Help me run my energy in positive ways.
Help me to aspire to a normal life, God,
in such a way that
I do not have to function
as another person's possession.
I love you, Jesus!

Y

Why did you hurt me?
You, who stole from me, lied to me, denied me, raked me over the coals?
Condescended and abused, leaving me bruised?
You who blamed and presumed,
copped an attitude;
tuned me out,
and
reduced me to begging...?

WHY?

Y

You know God?
That person was a miserable-fuck.
That's why.

Y

Orgasmic Heart

2009-02-12T00:37:00.000-08:00

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The Orgasmic Heart
is a total opening-up of our body's energy...
The body has a system of energy centers. These centers were defined in ancient Hindu and tantric Buddhist cultures, where they were studied as "chakras".
There are seven chakras in the body,
which correspond to the colors of the rainbow.

harmanvisions.com

These views came into definition as shamans and healers studied our relationship to light, and found, our bodies respond to different levels of light... In the same way we intuitively respond to the colors of the rainbow. When we feel orgasmic energy, all that light rises up through our bodies and ignites our hearts. So tantra is a form of directing this energy into the heart consciously, as we inhale. In this way we can heal ourselves and others. We can send light out through our hearts as we exhale.

We can all become responsible stewards of our own energy. Yes, there are times we need help and need to ask for it... However, it is immoral for someone else to try and run you with their energy and negativity. Be prepared to call the person on it, because they are being biased and will be repeat offenders. Try to understand that their hearts are suffering inside.

Orgasmic energy is generally the first experience of this phenomena and should not be repressed. It is, in essence, our life-force energy.

My sexual ethics are: sex, energy, plus meditation.

And it is the easiest thing to join them, because while making love, the moment you come to an orgasmic explosion, your thoughts disappear, time stops. Suddenly you have melted into the other. You are no longer an ego. And these are the qualities of meditation: no ego, no time, no thinking. Just pure awareness and a melting into the whole.

Where sexual orgasm ends, meditation begins. They can be joined very easily. The easiest thing to do is to join them, they are so close.

My own insight is that people came to discover meditation through sexual orgasm, because of these qualities. They could see that when thoughts stop, time stops, ego disappears and you are in a tremendously beautiful space. Although it lasts only for seconds, it has given you the taste of something that is not of this world, something of the beyond.

We don't know who discovered meditation, perhaps thousands of years ago. In the East we have books at least ten thousand years old describing methods of meditation. But any method brings the same qualities.

This is my feeling, without sexual orgasm nobody could have been able to discover these three qualities. Once they discovered these three qualities, people of intelligence must have tried to experience them without going into sexual orgasm. Is it possible to attain to such a consciousness? Somebody must have succeeded, and since then millions of people have succeeded.

The whole of humanity lives in misery for the simple reason that they have the wrong kind of sexual ethics... A kind which teaches them to repress it. And the more you repress your sexuality, the farther away you are from meditation. The more you repress it, the closer you are to madness, not to meditation.

And now it is a fact established by psychoanalysis - by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud - that repressed sex is the basic cause of human misery, of all kinds of perversions, of all kinds of mind sicknesses. But the religions still go on preaching the same thing.

Sigmund Freud should be remembered as one of the milestones in the history of man. But his work is only half. He simply fought against repression; his work is negative. In itself it takes you nowhere; it is fighting against darkness.

My sexual ethics are a completion. Repression has to be dropped. And a deep acceptance, a deep friendliness towards your own energies, a loving intimacy with your own energies so those energies can reveal all their secrets to you... And joining them with meditation, orgasm becomes the door to the temple of the divine.

To me, if sex is the creative force in the world, it must be nearest to the creative center of the world - whatever name you give to it. Creative energy must be closest to creation, to the creative source of it all.

People should be taught the art of converting sexual energy into spiritual enlightenment.

- Osho, The Path of Mystic, Chapter 21

This is a Mandala, below,
which shows the energy chakras of our physical bodies...

The red center is at the spine and the sphincter...
Balanced, it is strong and sensual; imbalanced it will feel numb, dense, disruptive and destructive.

The orange center rules the genitals...
Balanced, it brings power and energy; imbalanced, it brings control issues.

The yellow center is below the belly button,
giving power to make commitments to life; imbalanced, it will bring up emotions of anger and greed.

The green center is the heart center!
It rules compassion, and is peaceful and soothing. Imbalanced, it will create depression and feel oppressed.

The blue center is ruled by the throat, face and our psychic center, the "third eye"...
Balanced, it is clear and honest; imbalanced it holds denial, and is chaotic and reactionary.

The purple center is the crown of the head.
Balanced, it brings feelings of lightness, music and ecstasy into the body. Imbalanced, it will bring delusions and madness.

Meditation with white light links these chakras to the Universal Energy centers... And yoga is used to keep these areas of the body clear, balanced, and resilient.

Y

Star Mandala

The Five Universal Energy Centers
c) 2009 Orandon

These categories are derived from my personal studies in Buddhist art, and the use and theories behind meditating with mandalas. We use meditation with mandalas as a way of traveling through time and space, beyond the three-dimensional.

I am placing two mandalas on this page... The one with the sky and clouds is a Star Mandala. It represents the flight of masculine and feminine energies uniting. The other is the Kalachakra Mandala. It is the Dalai Lama's personal mandala, and can be found in other areas on the internet for more info. It represents the UNITY of all things.

All beings have five basic energy centers outside their bodies... These energy systems hold such things as vibrations, memories, body language, heat, cold, other frequencies of emotion, light and darkness. The health of these energy centers varies throughout a being's life, depending on the condition of their personal health. Drug use rips "holes" in these energy centers, and is not condoned for that reason.

Center of Action,
relative to our immediate bodies, is the immediate environment in/or through which one has taken action and generated movement. (The effects or presence of the physical body are generated as vibration, into the environment... But also taken into account are objects owned by the physical body - such as garbage.) MASCULINE SPIRIT GUARDIANS spend a great deal of focus in this realm of our lives. This energy center carries cause and effect vibrations (karma) which erroneously touch the lives of many other beings.

Center of Atmosphere
is tied-in to the presence of a person or being. It is representative of places where one has been and left "residue". Atmospheric energies are generated by fragrances, dust, dirt or skin flakings, hair and DNA. (Please also include here bio-hazardous products as well as those used for the disposal of blood and sperm-filled prophylactics.) FEMININE SPIRIT GUARDIANS (also known as divas and dakinis) spend a great deal of focus in this realm of our lives. This energy center generates psychic awareness, and the erroneous effects one's presence has physically on many other beings. This center is attributed to the DREAM TIME of the collective unconscious.

Center of Solar Radiation
connects to the time and place of birth (as in the map of the astrology chart). This energy center represents your birth position, and where the stars were when you or another being was born. It corresponds to other souls who share the same astrological birth signs or attributes - and to the common programs being fulfilled in the coarse of life by these beings. SHARED SPIRIT GUARDIANS commonly show whatever needs or lessons are required by collective groups of individuals for proper soul growth. It is a normal phenomena here to experience one's personal Spirit Guardian's sudden presence in another person. Just know that you have attracted this phenomena by Law of Attraction; it may not be authentic unless you are.

Center of Universal Radiation
is representative of a star system one feels attuned to. As an energy center it holds information gleaned from the rapport with/and any beings who were or are there. TRIBAL SPIRIT GUARDIANS we might recognize from mythology and religions, who effect the course of groups of people/beings. Exploring this realm can be dangerous and should not be explored through experimental drug use, nor by those who are untrained. (In his youth, Jim Morrison spent a lot of his time putting his awareness in this center... As many poets do!)

Center of Divinity
is represented by our Higher Power, also known as the Holy Guardian Angel, the Eternal Self or the "Megaphone of the Soul" (as written about by Chris Griscom)... This is the sound of our own guiding voice, which speaks forth from deep within. Accessing this energy is the attainment of MASTERY through LOVE.

Kalachakra "Unity" Mandala

Jesus, I am Your Child, Too

2009-02-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

Y

Jesus...

Thank You for investing Yourself
in someone like me...
Help me step back and be mindful of my own needs,
because I am Your child, too.
Help me become aware
it was not okay to grow up
in a verbally and physically abusive home,
and not accept that in my life from others.
Help me treat others with excellence, Lord.
Help me add to their lives, not take away.
Help me be mindful,
I do not have to be willing, acceptant
nor an active participant of other's negativity;
I can walk away.
Help me to see-through their suffering, Lord.
Help me to become aware
of when I am being undermined
by someone trying to run me with their energy.
There are so many people out there
struggling with jealousy, stinginess and greed, God!
Please keep me mindful,
they will not be good friends.
If they think I am rude, then I know
they are not doing their homework.
If I can inspire, encourage and help them,
I will.
If they don't want my help,
show me how to move on.
Time is becoming too precious, Jesus!
I don't have time to assume or presume
I know what's going on with others God.
I can't read anyone's mind.
All I can do is ask You help me
stay in my own meditative mind.
I am claiming the peace I need in my life
through You, Jesus.
Because I am Your child, too.
Amen.

Y

I want people to know there is a difference between humility and humiliation.
Some people think these two words are the same thing.
Some people are unwilling to be humble
because somewhere in the back of their minds
they must feel they are taking a risk in being "humiliated".

Isn't it a shame to consider how all human beings have experienced some sort of humiliation in their childhoods? Some situations may have been fun, or funny, or accidental; others may have run into something that was painful and purposeful. Some people never grow out of this! It's strange to look back on these times in our lives.

When I was about 5, I used to feel very embarrassed by my mother's red lipstick. There was something about that red lipstick? When it came on it changed my mother's face. I found her to be cruel and embarrassing to be near. But it was funny when my brother took that red lipstick and smeared it all over his face! We got the biggest kick out of that! (Mom didn't think it was so funny.)

When I was 7, I was in Catholic school when Sister Theresia called me up in front of the class. She turned me towards the blackboard and hit me around the shoulders with her yardstick. I had the worst trouble getting math! I remember doing everything to fight back my tears. It was even more difficult to turn around and face the smug expressions on the faces of my classmates. I ended up in the hospital with an ulcer that year.

Certain levels of humiliation have a sobering effect on one's life. This is why so many people can be a drag to be around.

We get all-up in ourselves about it. We think we have to go through all kinds of posturing in order to be accepted by others. Whether that happens through socialization, or religion or traditions, it can be hard to break free from. Is it any wonder human beings come to see themselves as entitled?

No one wants to be made fun of. No one wants to take a lesser place, or be a have-not... In our own ways, we overcompensate for this pain by working very hard to be "special". Oddly, over time we might outgrow those efforts. I think this is the real challenge of mid-life, when people hit their 40's, for example. What happens to our passion for life?

Humility, learning when to be humble, quiet and graceful, is a way of helping ourselves find more grace in our world. We have to be able to forgive ourselves before we can forgive others.

Instead of adding to another person's suffering, instead of chastising and pigeonholing people, instead of needing to be right, we can simply be quiet and decisive. It is possible then, to recognize who and what we want to include in our true passions about things. Living our lives would not feel like a waste of time...

For me, humility is like a tai chi movement... A simple one, of getting out of my own way, and allowing God to work with me a little more. So, when I feel good? I can be more decisive about what really matters!

The goal in life should be to feel good about life.

Everyone should feel entitled to make decisions about their lives, then stand on those decisions. That's where the real power rests.

Instead of dodging the balls people throw your way, you can let them fall to the ground if you're being hurt or humiliated. Maybe those games aren't for you. With some practice and awareness, you can just move on.

Instead of going through the motions of dodging the balls of the competition around you - once in awhile you could decide to pick up your own game. Get your own ball; play! Play something new.

And when you do? Let it be something you feel passionate about.

Zen Heart

2009-02-11T11:57:00.001-08:00

Y

The Zen Heart is a Melting Heart...

personaltao.com

The Zen Heart has crashed itself along the hard shores of life so many times...! It has completely disintegrated, and become one with ALL life.

You can have attitudes about anything. Once you have attitudes, your innocence is destroyed and those attitudes start controlling you. Zen is neither for anything nor against anything. Zen says whatsoever is ordinary is good. To be ordinary, to be a no one, to be a nothingness, to be without any ideology, to be without character, to be characterless...

When you have a character you have some kind of neurosis. Character means something has become fixed in you. Character means your past. Character means conditioning, cultivation. When you have a character you are imprisoned in it, you are no more free. When you have a character you have an armor around yourself. You are no more a free person. You are carrying your prison around yourself; it is a very subtle prison. A real man will be characterless.

What do I mean when I say he will be characterless? He will be free of the past. He will act in the moment according to the moment. He will be spontaneous; only he can be spontaneous. He will not look back into the memories for what to do. A situation has arisen and you are looking in the memory - then you have a character. Then you are asking your past, "What should I do?" When you don't have any character you simply look into the situation and the situation decides what has to be done. Then it is spontaneous and there is response, and not reaction.

- OSHO

Oh... Um... About me...

I still cannot believe I have been living with paralysis.

I am so grateful to have my Tui Na healer get to it and work it out! By this time I have consulted nine doctors who could do nothing.

I have felt degrees of paralysis throughout my life, starting when I was about 7. You see, it is all generated by anxiety. My body cannot conduct adrenaline correctly.

But I know the left side of my head and face have been paralyzed for at least four years.

The most difficult part about this? It feels like I am living with a concussion. I have had to get used to the sensation of living like this, you know? The world is perpetually-warped and slanted. That includes the faces of people here. Strange smells are in the air, burning my eyes. Animals talk in their own painful languages and such.

It's very Bosch and Van Gogh. (I would say, on the good days it's more, Van Gogh.)

I believe my spirit refuses to take any more shit from people. I believe it's my spirit's way of protecting me, keeping me from bringing that weird, untamed energy into myself.

I feel things... I internalize. When I was young, people would tell me I'm psychic. Then I trained as a psychic and taught workshops and helped people for many years.

My feeling is, they should try it for themselves sometime.

I feel my spirit loves her inner world here. If I can share some of that with others, that's a bonus. And if someone can share with me? That's the icing on the bonus.

I am a practicing Buddhist. I am all about intention, and peace. I was born and raised Catholic. I became interested in Buddhism in my 30's. I took my vows when I turned 35. It has helped!

You see, no one can see anything wrong here. To some extent I am still expected to function as if I am "normal" - unless I start telling people. I can always count on being met by denial.

I have had to learn how to talk around it, inside and upside down in it, bust it down, break it out, and penetrate through all kinds of discussions of it... To the point I can't see straight; I hate talking anymore.

This has been the greatest hurdle living with this condition - how society would want me to normalize the abnormal. I hate that. I think sensitive people have a tough time, in general. Many become smokers, many try to protect themselves with food, and layers of fat. Nothing is normal; everything and everyone is unique. So it is inhumane to normalize the abnormal. You have to stop and DECIDE how much energy you are going to put into situations. Then you have to stand your ground, because people are still in denial and will try to coerce you.

I think I was always an angry person because of this. I'm sure I'm not the first.

As I approached my 40's the anger began to harden me... To the extent it could have killed me if I let it! I'll be 50 this year. I don't know what happened to my 40's. My doctors say it is more difficult to manage this condition as people get older.

Doctors have tried to talk me into viewing this condition as being something else... Every medication we tried made me feel violent. My body has to run her own energy. It is an adrenaline-heart-brain thing. I knew all this when I was 14!

We have to learn how to be very careful, very gentle, and walk softly on the planet. We have to understand what pressure is, and not abuse it! Is that so hard?

I know Jim Morrison was very hard on his body... He used drugs and drank; it was his way of coping with this same condition. He used to have panic attacks in High School. He often passed out on the floor in the hallways. He had severe panic attacks on stage, too. You know, I think of him as the big brother I never had? I am sad to have never had the chance to see him in person. People said he was a shaman.

Well, I think he just went about his death a little quicker, that's all. He was trapped in a lifestyle, trapped in his ego. He wanted to live, and live blatantly in the face of conformity. He did not want to be a hypocrite.

He was outrageous. He didn't know how to get out of it before it was too late! I know, he tried. The world forces us to get caught up in things - and that becomes fate. I'm sure he wouldn't have done it any other way.

When you live with a condition like this? You're not allowed to have an ego. The only thing you are allowed to have is reality. A lot of people can't deal with it, so they just choose to check-out.

You have to be as honest with yourself as possible. That includes your limitations, your desires, the supposed gifts and "talents" you think you have, which others encourage you to pursue - you have to learn these things don't and can't define you.

You have to conduct a ritual of stopping often, looking in the mirror, and checking with yourself to see if you're lying. You have to become extremely present with the idea that you're human... A human-being, not a human-doing. Or no one will help you.

That's what I know about me.

P.S. Ray, Happy Birthday!

Secret Desert Heart

2009-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

I'd recognize this heart anywhere...

This is the heart of someone who has gone through a horrendous experience, and who harbors that experience in their heart as if it is some sort of lost jewel or a treasure (when it is junk). Now you want to become a teacher, a preacher, a healer, a social worker, a mother and a father based on that experience?

This person has the potential to bring a lot of chaos into the lives of others... Because s/he refuses to get the proper and appropriate help to get healed, herself. He or she may be extremely talented and gifted, with a profound ability to remember and retain knowledge. But that livelihood will ricochet if caution and intention are not there.

We all have to get clear in our intentions for wanting to be with someone else. That's why we live in a world full of contracts.

We all go through many painful, repetitive lessons dis-covering how it is our strengths also become our weaknesses, and how to balance that!

The spiritual lesson of the Secret Desert Heart is, you cannot go through life hardened, and expect to be loved. You cannot harbor a hardened heart and, at the same time expect to be effective or good at what you do. It doesn't work that way.

"I wonder what Halal food is?" I thought, walking past the little restaurant on the corner from my healer's place. That cafe is always crowded, packed with people and many others coming and going in the cars out front. I headed to the bus stop, fearful of hanging out too long in The Hood.

That night I had a wonderful dream! I had a flying carpet - and I rode it everywhere, skimming the surface of the planet and all your houses.

Yes, I saw some of you are homeless, too, living in the streets and alleys, and forbidden byways where you stay just to get a little shelter from the storms and fires... I was able to edge myself to the border of the carpet, and look over and see you trying to rest there. I want you to start making some wishes, okay? To feel better, choose to feel better, because that is a choice. And there's a lot of magic in that. It's going to happen for you. It is just a matter of asking God.

My carpet, as if by will, took me up towards the sky where I found falling stars and opened my arms to them! They came falling to me, filling my hands and mind with light. As I rode through the night I looked down to my hands and saw they were filled with jewels, so many falling from the stars I could not fit them all into my pockets or blouse.

I had to circle around, and drop some into your hands; you can start making that wish now. Do something good for someone else today, and keep believing.

The next day I found myself in a shop holding a large amethyst jewel, bevelled and crystalline, rainbows pouring out of my hands. I got to take it home...

"I wonder what that Halal food is all about?"

I pondered it again, walking past the little cafe on the corner. It is always packed full of people. I laughed at the thought of my flying carpet... With the pretty threads of black, red and blue. I remembered how I rode it all night! And it took me home as the sun was rising and the birds were waking, and the leaves on the trees were fluttering like my heart, flittering, fluttering.

"I need to learn more about these people..."

I began to collect versions of "Arabian Nights", and videos like "Aladdin" and "Sinbad". Wow! I was thinking it would be fun to have a Genie. How do you get one? I was curious. Surely, I've seen some awesome Genie Bottles, but how do you get a Genie inside one? Looking on ebay, I saw lots more bottles, but thought - why not just search? I typed in "Genie Bottle" and found Babayaga Hauntings on ebay! With real and true Genies - in Bottles! How exciting is that?!

"I want to try this food," I told the owner of the little cafe on the corner. He gazed at me from behind the counter, his eyes large like saucers.

"Sit down, my lady," he said.

He brought a large glass of water with a little ice. He brought a crisp salad with tomatoes, onion, cucumbers and creamy dressing. He brought succulent, juicy shish-kebabs from lamb and chicken; marinated in lemons and garlic and spices. He brought a meso kebab, all this char-broiled and resting on a bed of lemony butter rice. He brought pita bread and hummus and baklava. OMG!!!! President Obama should be eating this food.

Everyone in the place raves over his food.

"I am here every day," said one guy. All the guys are very friendly, and I'm often the only woman in the place. But the people come and go in waves.

After my first meal, I lost 3 nights of sleep. For 3 nights I tossed and turned, unable to think of anything but that food. Naturally I've been back several times since!

"Please, I just want to take these few pieces home for my altar," I asked for a to-go box. He got a faraway look in his eyes.

Imagine being able to feel the LOVE from a place to the extent that you can sense it, without ever going inside. You can stand outside, 8 yards away, and feel the living energy there. That is the talent and intention coming from this man. I am so happy he's here, in Seattle, Washington, the U.S. of A.!

So I felt very surprised and blessed today, when the shop cleared out and he and I were the only ones in the place. In a moment he disappeared; then came back out holding, of all things... A carpet.

It was just a little carpet, very ornate with threads of black and red and blue. Fit for a little child, really.

He placed it down in the far north corner of the room, and began to pray and do prostrations. This lasted about 15 minutes; and then it was time to go.

"Tell me, my friend, what does Halal mean?" I asked as I paid.

"That is the way the animals are cared for, bred, raised and slaughtered," he said. "You know? We have been doing these things in my tradition for thousands of years, never knowing or understanding why," he added. "And only in the last few years we have been learning about the mad-cow disease? When our ancestors have been telling us about this forever! They knew! So I am just taking care of my customers."

He's adorable.

He makes for a darling Valentine Stimulus Package!

Riyadh pressured on death penalty Gulf News
Saturday, Feb 07, 2009

Gulf News

Geneva: Western countries Friday called on Saudi Arabia to halt floggings and amputations, allow religious freedom and abolish a system of male guardianship sharply limiting women's rights.

Britain, Canada, Switzerland and Israel challenged Riyadh on its high number of executions. Saudi Arabia executes murderers, rapists and drug traffickers, usually by public beheading, and judges sometimes give the death sentence to armed robbers and those convicted of "sorcery" or desecrating the Quran.

A Saudi delegation defended its record at the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying the country was cracking down on domestic violence by men who abused their roles as guardians and beat their wives and children.

Zaid Al Hussain, vice-president of the state-affiliated Saudi Human Rights Commission, told the forum much remained to be done to ensure that individual followers of Islam upheld human rights standards, as required by Sharia law.

"Consequently, we do not claim to be perfect, nor do we reject criticism, which is welcome provided it is objective and intended to preserve human rights and dignity," he said.

The 47-member Council began regular reviews of all UN members last June in a bid to avoid charges of selectivity.

Al Hussain said non-Muslims could follow their faiths in private in the kingdom, but it would be difficult to allow non-Muslim houses of worship as "Islam is the final religion".

The oil-exporting Gulf country, a major US ally, has paid $100 million (Dh367 million) in compensation to people detained in terrorist cases who were later found to be innocent, he said.

Israel accused Saudi Arabia of "severe discrimination against women and minorities, corporal punishment, torture, forced labour, and the sexual exploitation of children".

It should "abolish corporal punishment, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in general, and public floggings, eye-gouging, flogging of schoolchildren, and amputation of limbs in particular", Israeli ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar said.

British envoy Peter Gooderham urged Riyadh to "abolish the guardianship system which severely limits the rights of women to act as autonomous and equal members of Saudi society".

Canada recommended that Saudi Arabia "cease application of torture" and other cruel treatment.

The United States did not take the floor in the three-hour debate. The Obama administration is reviewing its policy towards the Council, which the Bush administration had essentially boycotted since last June citing its "rather pathetic record".

Riyadh Despite stringent measures being taken by Saudi authorities against domestic violence and child abuse, official figures continue to reflect an alarming rise in such incidents in the country.

Hospitals in Riyadh alone received more than 50 cases of domestic violence last year, most of the victims being women and children, according to a source.

"The actual figure of such cases could be many times higher than the reported ones. This is because in most cases the victims were afraid of informing others about such incidents," said Dr Saeed Gharamullah Al Ghamdi, head of the Family Protection Team at the Health Department in Riyadh.

Speaking to Gulf News, Al Ghamdi said sexual assault figured in quite a few cases of domestic violence. Seven cases of sexual assault by a father had come to light, he said, adding that another five cases involved culprits from outside the family circle.

Some 15 women had been subjected to violence at the hands of their husbands, the official said. There were also 11 cases involving non-Saudis.

The Ministry of Health has constituted a special family protection team comprising consultants and specialists to supervise the formation of committees at almost all the hospitals in the Riyadh region, Al Ghamdi said.

A total of 35 panels have been formed so far.

"Domestic violence cases against women and children are on the rise day by the day in various parts of the kingdom. This prompted the concerned authorities to form such specialised committees besides holding seminars and campaigns to create awareness in a bid to fight domestic violence and child abuse," he said.

Several Saudi newspapers carry reports about domestic violence against women and children on a daily basis. One such report recounted the tragic story of a Saudi girl aged 12 who succumbed to her injuries after being tortured by her father.

The girl, with serious burns on her face and bruises to various parts of the body, died before being brought to the emergency unit of Al Iman Hospital in Riyadh last week.

Her younger sister, aged 9, had also been taken to the hospital with serious injuries caused by her father. A source at the hospital told Gulf News that the medical team at the hospital found several scars, old and new, on the dead girl's body.

There were also horrific burns on her face and several bones had been exposed after the man poured boiling water over her head, the source said, adding that it was the hospital staff who had informed the police and later shifted the body to the morgue.

A source at Riyadh Police said that the girls' father had been taken into custody for interrogation, and that they were awaiting the post-mortem report to ascertain the real cause of death.

"Immediately after the incident, a team of investigative officers and experts reached the home of the girls, where they found the two younger brothers (aged 7 and 8) and sister (aged 9) of the dead girl.

The younger siblings had also been subjected to beating and torture. The boys were allowed to leave with their paternal uncle after receiving primary treatment from the Riyadh Medical Complex.

The other injured girl, who was still in Al Iman Hospital, told police that she and her siblings had been mistreated by their father.

Police informed the Department for Preventing Domestic Violence at the Ministry of Social Affairs about the incident and the case was transferred to the Investigation and Public Prosecution Commission for further action.

The case of Zahra, a girl aged 8, who was subjected to domestic violence also received widespread attention. According to press reports, she was subjected to incessant torture, both physical and mental, by her parents, who forced her to go out and seek alms.

Zahra was forced against her will to beg on pavements and in front of commercial centres. Whenever she refused, the girl was tortured with a vengeance and she eventually fled her home to escape from her parents.

Warning against the rising cases of domestic violence in the kingdom, Dr Mufleh Al Qahtani, president of the Saudi National Human Rights Society, said the watchdog would soon release its new statistical report about domestic violence cases.

There were several cases of domestic violence that never came to light, Al Qahtani said. "These include sexual abuse of girls by their fathers, reckless divorce, girls being prevented from continuing their education, and inhuman torture," he said.

Dr Rashoud Al Kharif, professor of social science at King Saud University, said there were very few studies about cases of domestic violence in the Kingdom.

"Some of the studies showed that about 90 per cent of the culprits in such cases were men, and most of the cases happening against wives," he said adding that generally women were the first victims in all such cases.

© Gulf News 2009. All rights reserved.

Saudi Blogger Detained for Recording Conversion to Christianity
By Dibin Samuel
Christian Today Reporter
Sat, Feb. 07 2009 09:17 AM EST

A 28-year-old blogger who recorded his conversion from Islam to Christianity has been detained by authorities in Saudi Arabia.

Hamoud Bin Saleh was arrested last month, according to International Christian Concern (ICC), and detained at Eleisha political prison in Riyadh for expressing his views on Islam in his blog "Masihi Saudi" atchristforsaudi.blogspot.com.

The arrest came just five months after the killing of a Saudi official's daughter who converted to Christianity. She was burnt to death by her father who cut her tongue after learning of her Christian faith, which blossomed through the internet.

According to ICC, Bin Saleh, who was arrested in November 2008, was released by the government, during the Saudi-initiated interfaith dialogue held at the United Nations in New York. However, after the conference, the officials chose to re-arrest Bin Saleh because “the entire world is busy following up on the aggression on Gaza, and the Saudi authorities may seize the chance to make an example with nobody watching."

Bin Saleh's blog, which has been blocked by the Saudi authorities, contained his spiritual walk and Christian faith after witnessing the public beheading of three Pakistanis convicted of drug charges.

“I was convinced that the wretched Pakistanis were executed in accordance with the Muhammadan laws just because they are poor and have no money or favored positions, which they had no control or power over,” he wrote.

“My mind was persistently raising questions and desperately seeking answers. I went on vacations to read about comparative religion, and I got the Bible, and I used to give these books to anyone before going back to Saudi, as going back there with such books is considered an unforgivable crime which will throw its perpetrator in a dark jail.”

It was the life of Jesus that inspired Bin Saleh to convert to Christianity. The story of Jesus forgiving a woman condemned for adultery drew him closer to the Bible.

“Jesus ... took us beyond physical salvation as he offered us forgiveness that is the salvation of eternal life and compassion,” he wrote.

Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its oppression of religious and political minorities. Freedom of speech and the press are restricted to forbid criticism of the government or endorsement of "un-Islamic" values.

Islam is the official religion. The government prohibits the public practice of other religions in the kingdom.

feminist wire | daily newsbriefs
February 9, 2009

UN Human Rights Council Urges Saudi Arabia to Give Women Rights

At a meeting late last week, members of the United Nations Human Rights Council urged Saudi Arabia to actively work to end pervasive human rights violations in the country, particularly those against women and children. According to Reuters, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, and Israel spoke against Saudi Arabia's current practices. Israel's delegation reportedly accused Saudi Arabia of "severe discrimination against women and minorities, corporal punishment, torture, forced labor, and the sexual exploitation of children."

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia are currently limited on a number of fronts including marriage rights, freedom to travel, property ownership, education, and work. According to Human Rights Watch, although some human rights laws have been introduced in Saudi Arabia, little implementation or enforcement of these laws has occurred.

Prior to the UN Human Rights Council review, Human Rights Watch's Middle East Director Sarah Leah Whitson, said that "The international community should ensure that its review of Saudi Arabia does not just produce more promises, leaving the Saudi people empty-handed….The Saudi reply to inquiries about rights violations or legal developments is typically total silence."

Media Resources: Reuters 2/6/09; AFP 2/5/09, Human Rights Watch Press Release 2/4/09

Saudi Arabia: Kingdom Human Rights Report Discussed

The Vice-President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission Zeid Al-Hussein has delivered a speech during the fourth session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group which reviewed the Kingdom's report on human rights.

Al-Hussein said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not only an Islamic state, but it is also the cradle of Islam and its civilization, the land of the Two Holy Mosques and the destination of Muslims around the world. Therefore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has to take care of Islam, perform its rituals and serve its sanctities.

From this perspective, the universal periodic review is in line with the guidance of Islam. The national report was prepared in accordance with Universal Periodic Review (UPR) guidelines, Al-Hussein added.

All Government authorities and civil society institutions in the Kingdom were fully involved in the report. One of the Kingdom's main peculiarities is its rapid transformation from a tribal society, characterized by conflicts and widely dispersed and totally unconnected regions where people lived in isolation and forms of economic and educational backwardness, to an advanced phase of its political, economic, social and cultural life.

The religious particularities, as correctly viewed in Islam, supplement rather than undermine international human rights standards.

Saudi Arabia derives its values from all sources provided that they are compatible with the objectives called for by the Islamic Shari'a, Al-Hussein said.

Islamic Shari'a pays special attention to the rights of vulnerable groups such as minorities and non-Muslims. The Sharia granted women extensive rights.

The government of Saudi Arabia acknowledges that there are some human rights violations attributable to individual practices.

Many of these violations fall within the context of domestic violence, he added.

During the past two years, great efforts have been made to bolster rights of children and women and promote the role of the family in the society.

Women's awareness of their rights has been considerably increased in recent years through the social development centers, women's associations and the National Society for Human Rights which has adopted a policy of disseminating and promoting a legal culture, in general, and women's rights, in particular, he said.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also sought to achieve a balance between requirements of the campaign against terrorism and the need to respect human rights.

From the beginning of the terrorist problem in the Kingdom to the end of 2008, about $100 million in compensation had been paid to persons detained in terrorist cases and who were later found to be innocent, Al-Hussein added.

There are more than 1,000 other civil society institutions concerned with issues relating to the protection of human rights.

Since the submission of the UPR national report, the Shoura (Consultative) Council approved a law governing the activities of these institutions and ensuring their fulfillment of their duties independently, he said.

In Islam, rights are derived from the Holy Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet, which constitute the source of all legislation and a comprehensive way of life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he added.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has adopted promising plans of human rights, which included the adoption of a comprehensive programme sponsored by the Human Rights Commission and which included the participation of all governmental agencies and civil society, Al-Hussein said.

Like other States, Saudi Arabia was not exempt from certain manifestations of human trafficking and the Government was taking rigorous measures to combat such violations and had conducted numerous symposia and training courses have been held in collaboration with various local and international bodies, he added.

These endeavors culminated in the drafting of a Prevention of Human Trafficking Act designed to eradicate this phenomenon.

The Saudi Human Right Commission is in close conformity with the Paris Principles and achieves its objectives within the limits of its mandate, he added.

Regarding not allowing the establishment of worship places for non-Muslims in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we believe that Islam is the seal of religions and that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the cradle of Islam, the land of the Two Holy Mosques, the place where the Seal of Messengers was buried and the destination of 1.5 billion Muslims.

Therefore, the religious particularities make it difficult to establish worship places in the Holy Land. However, non-Muslims in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are completely ensured the freedom of worship and can practice the rituals of their religions in their own places.

In terms of freedom of religion and belief, the aims of the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for dialog among followers of the predominant global religions and cultures were to promote mutual understanding among them; to highlight the beneficial aspects of these cultures; and to affirm the importance of common denominators and the need to use them to develop human civilization and pave the way for universal peace and harmony.

In conclusion, Al-Hussein said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appreciates the initiative taken by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in organizing a symposium in October 2007 on the difference between the freedom of expression and incitement of religious hatred. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hopes that other steps would be taken as a follow-up to that symposium.

Unhook and Unpin

Ever notice how much junk we've got going on in our lives? What a challenge it can be to get some relief, even, when every time we turn on the TV or try to relax we get bombarded - with junk? I'm a big advocate of getting un-hooked and un-pinned.

Part of this comes from working for years in academic environments... Where everyone around me was all-up in their heads and their egos? Everything was a "process" (including the need to take a break to the restroom). There was so much posturing, so much "political correctness" going on! It was the very thing that made me the madwoman I am today! It was polarizing. It made people around me manic and hostile. And then? We got trips laid on us too, about how we had to speak in terms of "I" and "me" so we didn't sound as if we were blaming anyone. Okay... That's all cool. (So not all of us grew up with Mr. Rogers.)

I was working with a prominent teacher... She was a feminist and political activist; she pulled me aside one day and encouraged me to think in terms of withdrawing my support of things and people I didn't believe in.

"If you don't believe in them, just withdraw your support, and they will fall down. They will go crashing down and be ruined by their own accord."

That was 20 years ago.

Funny, I no sooner began to do that (in very passive ways, I might add) when people started telling me I had problems with authority figures. To this, all I can say is - GEE, You Can't Win! Well, maybe you can win, but you'll have to kiss somebody's ass all the way. (If you decide to go that route, just make sure it's the right person's ass. And you might want to read my other blog - the section on being a people-pleaser.)

Maybe Jim Morrison or Neitzche, or whoever the hell said it, was right? He said, you will always have problems with authorities until you become an authority.

I say, we need to learn how to get rid of the junk in our lives. Boot-it.

Sure, you have seen those episodes of Oprah where she brings in someone to help organize somebody's closet, apartment, or house? And they come in and boot all the person's valuable junk? And the person is screeching all the way. But do you think that's enough? It's only the first step.

It's only the first step, you see, because we have needs, and nature abhors a vacuum. So we have to make room in our lives for the more important things to come in.

Since our lives are cluttered with junk, we have to get rid of it. It can be as literal as cleaning out closets, getting rid of and passing on stuff you haven't used in awhile. I categorize things in terms of 7 years, 3 years, and 2 years, by order of importance. But if it is just hanging around on my energy? not serving me? not making me happy? It's a nuisance! Time to unpin myself from it.

Some people can become your literal hook-ups, okay. What's with that?

Man, I feel sorry for kids today! I mean, my generation was in there, sandwiched between our headphones for years. Fine. But this generation is dealing with something altogether different with say, text-messaging addiction. How could you?

I mean, don't you know how much better it is to be sitting with someone in person? looking into their eyes?

I mean, like the lover you don't actually sleep with? And he's down the hall with his blackberry and you're up the hall with yours? That's just idiotic. A spasmodic mis-use of energy that is ready to fry-you. If the pattern is frying you, unhook from it.

Dare yourself to start unpinning and unhooking from junk and lies.

No, wait! I dare you!

One useful little ritual I have is to imagine "it" as a piece of paper I can just crumble up and toss. I'm un-hooked. People will bring their "stuff" to me; their lies, for instance. You know, people like that are just messing with you, unhook from them. People, say, who have emotional hang-ups? They are HUNG-UP, for cryin' out loud! See that for what it is. It might not be for you, okay?

At one point someone in the media began to dish Barack Obama junk about his former preacher... By this time Obama had just been elected President, and he just shook his head and laughed. "You're just messing with me," he said. "We addressed all that stuff before I was elected, now let's move on!"

If someone else tries to hang their junk and their lies on you... You can choose not to participate. You can also let them know in these very terms I am describing. "Thanks for asking, but I don't wish to participate in discussions regarding my privacy, my sexual orientation, my political party, my religious practices or what kind of butt-wipe I use."

And while you're at it? It doesn't hurt to talk to them in a very soft, kind voice, like Mr. Rogers would do. Then, they don't feel threatened.

I know that sounds dumb, but people generally only hear what they want to hear.

Let me retract back to the butt-kissing syndrome: most people don't actually listen to anything you say. They may act like they hear you, but they are not listening. There's a difference! If someone is actually listening or not, you will feel it. Truthfully, learning the difference between hearing and listening could define a lot of your success in life! Just ask Oprah!

If you feel you must only tell others what they want to hear, it might not hurt to unpin yourself from that person, conversation, cell-phone, email or text message.

You could just be talking to yourself.

Extra-Terrestrial Heart

2009-02-10T11:36:00.001-08:00

I have come as one born out of due time
to show the way to other Earth,
to make known unto you the Secret of the Heart.
Keep in memory
what I show you here
and do not fall back into the ways of this world...

(Sure; I know... It is very dangerous to hang out with aliens. Worst case scenario: you could end up with a major case of helmet-head!! Either way? Your hair will be messed-up for a full day!) ; )

Octomom Sees Angels at Meeting With Dr. Phil Wed., Mar. 4, 2009 5:15 PM PST by Marc Malkin

Angels in Waiting may not have to wait much longer to help Ocotomom.

I just got word that the meeting between the world's most famous mother of 14 and Dr. Phil and Gloria Allred yesterday also included a representative from the children's nonprofit.

As you may recall, Nadya Suleman rejected an offer from Angels last month to help support her. Allred represented the group.

"They are now coming up with a rescue plan to help Nadya pull herself out of this mess," a source tells me of the get-together, which took place at Dr. Phil's Beverly Hills home.

A rep for the television doc declined to identify who was at the meeting but confirmed that there were "many parties involved."

Surprisingly, it sounds like we will not be seeing footage of the pow-wow on a future episode of Dr. Phil's syndicated chat show.

"Nadya didn't want cameras there," the source says. "That was part of the deal to go to the meeting."

Allred told E! News yesterday that the meeting was "all about the babies" but declined to give further details.

Dr. Phil said on The View today that he does think it's possible for Suleman to raise all of her kids. "Do I trust this woman to handle 14 children and raise them with responsibility? No, I do not," he said. "But I think she could be taught. I think she could be trained."

However, he also estimated that it would probably take about 80 to 90 volunteers each week to provide proper care. "We have got to monitor this situation," he said. "I'm worried about these children."

Allred declined to comment for this story.

"Octomom" spawns bills limiting embryo implants
By Associated Press
Thursday, March 5, 2009

ATLANTA - A Georgia Senate panel is set to take up a bill inspired by California’s octuplet mom.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will hear testimony Thursday on a bill that would limit the number of fertilized embryos that a woman could create and implant through in-vitro treatments. The legislation that would allow no more than two embryos to be implanted at any one time in a woman younger than 40. For women older than 40, the legislation would limit the number of embryos to three.

Opponents say it would put fertility clinics out of business in Georgia. Supporters say it’s needed to rein in the big bucks baby-making industry. Debate has raged since Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets on Jan. 26. She has six other children.

Because You Are Creating a Human Being

I feel for your parents. They worked hard; they did everything that they could, but they had no idea how psychology functions. Instead of being taught how to become a mother or how to become a father, they were being taught how to become a Christian, how to become a Marxist; how to become a tailor, how to become a plumber; how to become a philosopher... All these things are good and needed, but the basic thing is missing. If they are going to produce children, then their most significant teaching should be how to become a mother, how to become a father.

It has been taken for granted that by giving birth you know how to become a mother and how to become a father. Yes, as far as giving birth to a child... It is a biological act, you don't have to be psychologically trained for it. Animals are doing perfectly well, birds are doing perfectly well, trees are doing perfectly well. But giving birth to a child biologically is one thing, and to be a mother or to be a father is totally different. It needs great education because you are creating a human being.

Animals are not creating anything, they are simply producing carbon copies. And now science has come to a point where they have discovered that carbon copies can really be produced! It is a very dangerous idea.

If we make banks - and sooner or later we are going to make them; once an idea is there it is going to become a reality. And scientifically, it is proved that it is one hundred percent possible... There is no problem. We can have banks in the hospitals for both the male sperms and female eggs. And we can create exactly the same two sperms and exactly the same two eggs, so two children are born which are exactly the same.

One child will be released into the world; the other will grow in a fridge, unconscious, but all his parts will be exactly the same as the other person. And if the first person is in an accident and loses a leg or loses a kidney, or has to be operated on, there is no problem: his carbon copy is waiting in the hospital. From the carbon copy a kidney can be taken out - he is growing exactly at the same rate, he is just unconscious - and it will be exactly the same as the kidney that has been lost. It can be replaced.

That carbon copy will always be available for replacing any parts – even the brain. You can fall into a coma or you can even have a heart attack... Your brain can remain alive even after a heart attack for at least four minutes - but not more than that. If during these four minutes an identical brain is inserted, an identical heart is inserted, you will never feel that anything has changed or anything has happened to you.

Perhaps you fell asleep and now you are awake.

You will never know that your brain has been changed, that your heart has been changed. This idea of having carbon copies seems to be a great advancement in medical science in a way, but it is dangerous - dangerous in the sense that man becomes a machine with replaceable parts, just like any machine. When something goes wrong you replace the part.

And if every part can be replaced, then man will be falling farther and farther away from spiritual growth, because he will start thinking of himself as just a machine. That's what half of the world, the communist world, thinks - that man is a machine.

You are fortunate that you can understand the situation your parents were in. They have not done anything specifically to you; they would have done the same to any child that was born to them. They were programmed for that. They were helpless. And to be angry against helpless people is simply not right. It is unjust, unfair, and moreover it is harmful to you.

If your parents cannot understand me, you should not be worried about it. The whole world cannot understand me. Your parents are normal people; they just follow the crowd, which is safer. You have fallen out of the crowd. You have chosen a risky and dangerous path. If they don't want to go into a dangerous lifestyle, it is their choice; that should not be a cause for your anger.

In fact, you can help them by really becoming the individual that I am talking about: more conscious, more alert, more loving. Seeing you can only change them. Seeing you so radically changed can only make them think twice, that perhaps they are wrong. There is no other way. You cannot intellectually convince them. Intellectually they can argue, and argument never changes anybody. The only thing that changes people is the charisma, the magnetism, the magic, of your individuality. Then whatever you touch becomes golden.

So rather than wasting your time and energy in being angry and fighting against the past which no longer exists, put your whole energy into becoming the magic of your individuality. So when your parents see you they cannot remain untouched by the new qualities that you have grown, qualities which are automatically impressive: your freshness, your understanding, your unconditional lovingness, your kindness even in a situation where anger would have been more appropriate.

Only these things can be the real arguments. You need not say a word. Your eyes, your face, your actions, your behavior, your response, will make the change in them. They will start inquiring about what has happened to you, how it has happened to you -- because everybody wants these qualities. These are the real riches.

Nobody is so rich that he can afford not to have the things that I am telling you. So put your energy into transforming yourself. That will help you, that will help your parents. Perhaps it may create a chain reaction.

Your parents may have other children, they may have friends, and it will go on and on. It is just like you are sitting on the bank of a silent lake and you throw a small pebble into the lake... The pebble is so small that it creates a small circle at first, but circle after circle... And they go on spreading to the far ends, as far as the lake can take them. And it was only a small pebble...

We are living in a certain kind of new sphere, a new psychological lake, in which whatever you do creates certain vibrations around you. It touches people, reaches to unknown sources.

Just create a small ripple of right individuality, and it will reach to many people - and certainly to those who are most closely related to you. They will see it first, and they will understand with great awe. They will not believe their eyes because all that they know of religion is the Sunday church, where nothing happens. They have been going every Sunday their whole lives, and they come back home just the same. In the name of religion they know only the Bible or the Koran or the Gita; and they have been reading it and nothing happens, because they know one thing - that you are a living being and a book is dead.

...So feel blissful. Here you have a chance to get totally transformed. And help your poor parents, because they did not have such a chance; feel sorry for them.

- OSHO, The Path of the Mystic, Chapter 15, Question 2
Lectured sometime in the early '70's

Asteroid Misses Earth
Written by Austin Cook
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
An asteroid, about the size of one that leveled more than 2000 square km of forest in Siberia a century ago, just buzzed the Earth on Monday, March 2.

The asteroid caught the eye of scientists located at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. They named the asteroid 2009 DD45. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory measured this space rock’s distance from Earth to be about 78,000km (48,000 miles) when it zipped past. "This was pretty darn close," astronomer Timothy Spahr of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said Wednesday. Spahr later said he knew within an hour of their discovery that it would pose no threat to Earth. Luckily, this asteroid was not as close as the tiny meteoroid, 2004 FU162 that came within 4,000 miles of the earth.

The Planetary Society estimated the asteroid, which flew by early on Monday to be between 69 feet and 154 feet in diameter, nearly the same size as the asteroid that exploded over Siberia in 1908.

The last encounter that the earth had before this was last year, when the asteroid 2008 TC3 harmlessly burned up in Earth's atmosphere. The asteroid burned up only 19 hours after it was discovered.

“The next close encounter that the earth will have with an asteroid is estimated to be in 2029. The name of this asteroid is 99942 Apophis. This asteroid will come within 32,000km and measure to be 885 feet,” said Donald Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Artist's portrayal of Earth being "sterilized" by asteroids.

Astronomers Are Just As Dumb As Economists
Eric Falkenstein
March, 2009

(Editors note: Last week we wondered whether Tim Geithner thinks the recession is like a giant asteroid, something completely unrelated to our own doing that just happened to hit us. Turns out, as our guest author notes, astronomers themselves think everything is the result of an astroid, too.)

While economists have been taking a beating for not predicting the future correctly, it is useful to remember that when you take a physicist to the real world, he too has little to say. Consider our understanding of our solar system, a seemingly straightforward issue.

Mercury: Has an abnormally large iron core. For its size, its density seems too high. This is a puzzle. Leading theory: hit by asteroid.

Venus: Venus rotates in a clockwise fashion, in contrast to other planets. Leading theory: an asteroid hit it to spin the other way

Earth: No one knows where the water came from. Leading theory: snow comets hit us. The Moon's origin, also, is not obvious, because it doesn't have enough iron, and if it just spun out of a really fast spinning Earth, the Earth would still be spinning fast or the energy release needed to slow the Earth down would raised the temperature to 1000 degrees Celsius. Nebula forming two planets, or planetary capture, don't work. Leading theory: an asteroid hit the early Earth, creating the Moon.

Mars: There appears to be evidence that Mars used to have water, as it seems to have lots of old lake beds and dry river beds. Why did the water leave? The atmosphere is currently about 0.3% of the earth's, so currently water goes immediately from ice to water vapor and then floats into space. So where did the atmosphere go? Solution: solar winds, or an asteroid hit it and pulled away the atmosphere.

Jupiter: Jupiter is 1300 times the volume of the earth, yet spins around once every 10 hours. Puzzling.

Saturn: Where did the rings come from? At some point in Saturn's early history, a moon about 300 km across got too close to Saturn and was torn into pieces. Or, it's also possible that two moons collided together, or a moon was struck hard enough by an asteroid that it just shattered.

Uranus: Uranus spins on its side, rolls around like a ball, unlike the other planets. This is a puzzle, because in theory, the solar system started as a spinning nebula of debris that generated a similar spin to it agglomerated parts, and also, because its moons circle the planet on a different axis. Solution: an asteroid hit it.

The Moon Miranda has a very strange surface. There are huge faults, deep canyons, steep cliffs, smooth plains, and curiously shaped rifts, smooth in some areas, rocky in others, that make it seem like it has different parts. A leading explanation: hit by asteroids.

You can only use the 'hit by an asteroid' explanation so many times, before it starts sounding like a filler for 'we have no good theory'.

We have a lot of work to do figuring out lots of prosaic stuff. Nobel physicist Robert Laughlin points out, much interesting physics are emergent phenomenon, they are not derived from basic forces. Very little, if any, collective organizational phenomenon, such as crystallization and magnetism, has ever been deduced from its lower lower-level parts. Those predicting the End of Physics are ignoring all the interesting problems that are not potentially generalizable to everything.

A physicist's ability to predict the terminal velocity of rocks falling from the Tower of Pisa, is like an economist predicting that when you subsidize something you get more of it. True in itself, but few are interested in such isolated phenomena.

Christ, Help Us Remember

2009-02-10T11:01:00.001-08:00

Christ, Help Us Remember

Dear God help us
regather, reconvene, rejuvenate,
and rejoice in remembering Your Promise.

Y

Only Breath
by Rumi

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, sufi or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or the next
did not descend from Adam or Eve of any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath, breathing human being.

There is a way between voice and presence
where information flows.

In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes.

Y

Y

Old Soul's Heart

2009-02-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

I love this copy of a great tattoo,
showing a baby heart being born-again
inside an older heart...
When I saw it, the first thing coming to mind is,
this is the heart of an Old Soul.

This brighter version is the heart of a baby
or small child coming into the world;
someone who has an innate memory of having lived other lifetimes.

Y

As this person goes through life,
s/he may sometimes feel alienated,
or somewhat an outsider simply because s/he
can see through others.
His or her values and experiences of perception are different
from most people's, because s/he is in a process of re-membering.

This is why this heart
is one of the spiritual hearts.
A spiritual life is necessary for it's survival,
and it's ability to keep renewing itself
in spite of all the obstacles of the world.
This heart has to rise to the spiritual planes,
staying connected to God, and to heaven.
Then he or she will quickly learn
how to access information, receive guidance,
let go of dis-ease, turn things around,
walk through walls, flip things upside-down,
transform, transmute,
guide, decipher, and heal.

Y

Y

Cake Hearts; Cake, Not War

2009-02-09T18:44:00.001-08:00

Here are a few more ideas to make the winter days more fun... I googled these images, which were some of the more artistic cakes I found online. If you want to find them, google the name in parenthesis with the words "heart cake"; they should come up. There are no recipes! Just people wanting to sell you a cake... The rest of the cakes out there are the usual chocolate decadent-looking Valentine slabs you see around; these are the unique cakes. You can see a lot of love went into them.

"Angel Food" Cake

Angel Food is a very light white cake, made from mostly egg whites, I think. It's very sponge-like. Usually these are dressed with a fruit juice creamy-drip frosting. I love the addition of strawberries here! The little marshmallows brighten it up.

"German Cake"
Chocolate with Lemon Frosting, Raspberry Filling

This is really a pretty cake - not a lot of frosting, which must mean the cake is super-rich. White vanilla frosting on top, with a lemon frizz drizzle and raspberries - this cake must be killer-delish!

"Strawberry Heart Cake"

This looks like a sweet cake, something fun for kids,
a nice way to express love.

Purple "Engagement Cake"

What could this cake possibly be like?! How is the frosting made? I imagine it to be a crisp, blueberry crackle frosting, with a really super-moist blueberry chocolate something, like thick fudge pudding inside! If this were my engagement cake, I'd want a Cinderella coach figurine on top, with Cinderella and the Prince kissing. And I'd want a few live, red and white roses around it.

"Chocolate Fudge" Cake with Strawberries

This is a beautiful cake. I like how the chocolate fudge is dressed with whipped cream, as opposed to frosting. The addition of fruit to a cake always enhances cake eating.

While we are making our Valentines and eating our cakes, I hope we will all say some prayers for the well-being of our country and hopefully, the end of the war. Our own country is in great need, Valentine!

I have been praying for Barack and our Senate this week. I love how he makes intentional efforts to speak to people's hearts. I'm proud he did his best to stand his ground with the Senate - what do they think we are supposed to do? How are our children supposed to go with less? I hope tomorrow brings a break-through that works more in our country's favor. What are we supposed to do, Eat Cake?!

Then LET US EAT CAKE!! Here are a few stats I downloaded today...

This federal stimulus money will last our country a total of about two years - then it will be gone. In the meantime...

Senate Moves Forward on Stimulus, Now $838 Billion
Stimulus Survives Senate Test, Vote Possible Tuesday
By JONATHAN KARL and Z. BYRON WOLF
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2009

The Senate voted 61-36 today to close debate and move forward with a gargantuan stimulus package meant to kick-start the moribund economy with $838 billion in one-time spending and tax credits. Sen. Kennedy arrives on Capitol Hill to support President Obama's stimulus plan.

The bill could pass Tuesday, but cleared a key procedural hurdle today with help from three Republicans and ailing Democrat Ted Kennedy, who voted for the first time this year.

Kennedy, D-Mass., who suffers from brain cancer, returned to the Capitol for the first time since he had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance after suffering a mild seizure just after President Obama's inauguration last month.

"I returned to the Senate today to do all I can to support our president and his plan to get our country back on track. We face a historic crisis and must act quickly, boldly and responsibly to enable our economy to begin growing again in Massachusetts and across America," Kennedy said in a paper statement.

Democrats will need the senior senator from Massachusetts again Tuesday, when there is another 60-votes-needed motion, and they will have to be able to break the Republican filibuster after the bill is reconciled with what passed the House.

Those votes could come later this week, depending on how the conference goes -- and whether the Republicans who supported the bill today still support it after Democrats change it in conference later this week.

The bill won't pass the Senate until Tuesday, but Democratic congressional leaders tell ABC News that House, Senate and White House negotiators already began meeting today, starting discussion on how to resolve the differences between the bills passed by the House and Senate.

The early discussions are a recognition the clock is running out on Obama's President's Day deadline, and this will be a long and difficult negotiation.

The conference committee will be a small one, likely to include only the leadership and the chairman of the key committees.

(AP Photos/ABC Graphic )
President Barack Obama and both houses of Congress face tricky negotiations to produce a unified version of a stimulus bill. In the main image above, the American flag flies at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009.

For the Democrats, it will be Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus of Montana, Appropriations Committee chairman Dan Inouye of Alaska, House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank and House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey.

The Republican troika that crafted the compromise -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- won't be there, but their presence will be felt. If the bill changes much, Democrats will lose their support and, therefore, will not be able to pass it in the Senate.

"I feel very strongly that the House simply cannot reinsert the wasteful expenditures that don't create jobs and do nothing to help turn the economy around," Collins told ABC News today. "If the conference report diverges greatly, then I would not be able to support it."

House Democrats will fight hard to restore the two biggest cuts in the plan made by the moderates:

$40 billion reduction in the so-called Fiscal Stability Fund for the states;

$16 billion in school construction that was eliminated.

House Democrats (and many of their Senate brethren) argue that these cuts are an especially bad idea, because this money would work directly to create or save jobs. Without the money, the argument goes, state governments will be forced to layoff more workers and make cuts that undo much of the impact of the stimulus bill.

Collins has rejected these arguments, pointing out there's still a lot of money in here for the states.

"The states are going to receive more than $200 billion as a result of our compromise, $200 billion," Collins told ABC News. "That is all new funding. It is new money for the states. So the states are going to receive much needed assistance from our bill, but there is a limit to how much the states can spend wisely in a short period of time."

Iraq War Results & Statistics at January 29, 2009
4,236 US Soldiers Killed, 31,004 Seriously Wounded

By Deborah White, About.com

Feb 2 2009
For your quick reading, I've listed key statistics about the Iraq War, taken primarily from data analyzed by various think tanks, including The Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, and from mainstream media sources. Data is presented as of January 29, 2009, except as indicated.

U.S. SPENDING IN IRAQ

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $800 billion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through mid-2009.

U.S. Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion in 2008

U.S. Spending per Second - $5,000 in 2008 (per Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on May 5, 2008)

Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

Number of major U.S. bases in Iraq - 75 (The Nation/New York Times)

TROOPS IN IRAQ

Iraqi Troops Trained and Able to Function Independent of U.S. Forces - 6,000 as of May 2007 (per NBC's "Meet the Press" on May 20, 2007)

Troops in Iraq - Total 147,000, including 142,000 from the US, 4,100 from the UK, and 900 from all other nations

U.S. Troop Casualties - 4,236 US troops; 98% male. 91% non-officers; 82% active duty, 11% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 11% Latino. 19% killed by non-hostile causes. 54% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 72% were from the US Army

Non-U.S. Troop Casualties - Total 315, with 178 from the UK

US Troops Wounded - 31,004, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 68 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

IRAQI TROOPS, CIVILIANS & OTHERS IN IRAQ

Private Contractors in Iraq, Working in Support of US Army Troops - More than 180,000 in August 2007, per The Nation/LA Times.

Journalists killed - 136, 92 by murder and 44 by acts of war

Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 8,887

Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualties have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000.

Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 557

Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 306, including 57 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 89 status unknown.

Daily Insurgent Attacks, Feb 2004 - 14

Daily Insurgent Attacks, July 2005 - 70

Daily Insurgent Attacks, May 2007 - 163

Estimated Insurgency Strength, Nov 2003 - 15,000

Estimated Insurgency Strength, Oct 2006 - 20,000 - 30,000

Estimated Insurgency Strength, June 2007 - 70,000

QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS

Iraqis Displaced Inside Iraq, by Iraq War, as of May 2007 - 2,255,000

Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan - 2.1 million to 2.25 million

Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect

Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 - 50%

Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 28% in June 2007 (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%

Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000

Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000

Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion - 2,000

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 1 to 2 hours, per Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (Per Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2007)

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 10.9 in May 2007

Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 5.6 in May 2007

Pre-War Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 16 to 24

Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems - 37%

Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies - 70% (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated - 22%

RESULTS OF POLL Taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense (Source: Brookings Institute)

Iraqis "strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops - 82%

Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security - less than 1%

Iraqis who feel less secure because of the occupation - 67%

Iraqis who do not have confidence in multi-national forces - 72%

You Are Never Alone

2009-02-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

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You Are Never Alone

What is needed is, that you become aware of your aloneness, which is a reality. And it is so beautiful to experience it, to feel it, because it is your freedom from the crowd, from the other. It is your freedom from the fear of being lonely.

Just the word "lonely" immediately reminds you that it is like a wound: something is needed to fill it. There is a gap and it hurts: something needs to be filled in.

The very word "aloneness" does not have the same sense of a wound, of a gap which has to be filled. Aloneness simply means completeness. You are whole; there is no need of anybody else to complete you.

So try to find your innermost center, where you are always alone, have always been alone. In life, in death - wherever you are, you will be alone.

But it is so full! It is not empty - it is so full and so complete and so overflowing with all the juices of life... With all the beauties and benedictions of existence, that once you have tasted aloneness the pain in the heart will disappear. Instead, a new rhythm of tremendous sweetness, peace, joy, bliss, will be there.

- Osho

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Candy Hearts

2009-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

Since Valentine's Day is less than a week away, here are a few ideas for flirting with the ones you love, and for making everyone else nervous...

Check out this cool Gummy, or Soft Heart!
It's anatomical, and you can eat it!

This is the perfect heart to pass on to a teacher... I'm not sure if it's doll-sized, but if so, a fun idea to give with a doll (such as one of the Harry Potter dolls by Tonner). Hide it with a sexy note, in a special spot to catch someone by surprise. Put it in a prescription bottle with a note, in your lover's medicine cabinet. Get a safety pin and pin it to your jacket or hat with a flower. (Make sure you look sad, like you're hungry for love.) Tie it to a firecracker... And keep it on your desk near the telephone. Or give it to your boss! I dare you! Make a really scary-looking dessert, like cheesecake with strawberries and sauce; leave it on the side of the plate for your Gothic boyfriend. Tie an engagement ring around it with a happy bright white or pink ribbon.

Of course, everyone recognizes these candies...

This are fun for kids to stick inside their Valentine cards to friends... Can also be used as small offerings on a plate in a personal prayer space, where they can stay for some time. Do you have a personal message you'd like to get to God? Have your favorite people "make a wish" as you place one on someone's tongue...

Ahem! This heart is upsetting a lot of women... Translation? "He doesn't have the maturity to man-up"?

But the ORIGINAL HJNTIY? began on an episode of SEINFELD - the one where George encourages Jerry to propose a threesome to his girlfriend's roommate...? "She's INTO it!!!" Jerry learns. It's that episode where Jerry cries - "I don't wanna be an orgy-guy! I'd have to get orgy-clothes! I'd have to get an orgy-robe, and grow a mustache! I'd have to get all new furniture - ORGY furniture! I'd have to find new friends! Orgy-friends!"

Women, maybe there is something to that whole orgy thing... Organize your own orgy, set your own rules. Invite your returning soldiers and hot immigrants from places like Iraq, Iran and Pakistan! They are so grateful to get to the U.S.! They can't wait to snuggle down between some warm breasts! And stay there! (War does that to guys.)

This was a colossal design I copied from web images... SOMEBODY put a ton of work into it! This is the DON'T EAT ME HEART... I would put a sign near the display with instructions "DON'T Eat Me!" especially if there are kids in the house.

A heart like this would take about 9-12 hours to create. You would need an anatomical image to go by. You might need a styrofoam ball and a few other pieces of carved styrofoam to make your basic shape. These would all have to be glued together as firmly as possible with a glue gun and toothpicks. (If you could get your hands on a large piece of hard styrofoam, to carve the entire shape, that would be the way to go! Once you start working on the hearts, you don't want to be managing a piece of junk.) Do I sound like Martha Stewart?

You'd need about 8 large packages of hearts, maybe even a little pink food dye to soak your white and pink hearts together to color them as one. Then, it's a matter of making sure you have a TON of glue sticks and time to sit and glue, glue, glue, layering about 3 levels of hearts, one on top of the other, to get the full effect. The "sideways" hearts have to be braced on the flat-laying ones.

(My Uncle Jim used to make junk like this all the time... And I was always warned - "no" - and always stupid enough to at least try and get in a lick... His projects always tasted like dust and crap-ola! yechhh! bleche! spit spit spit!!)

Yum!

These hearts are really sexy, I think. Also they are low carb candies, so skinny b's like 'em! I would put mine in a hot, romantic valentine card, or sprinkle some around the bedsheets with some real rose petals. See, they are very pretty because they look like little drops of blood. One wonderful idea - if you love to make curries, make a really pretty, spicey, saucey chicken curry for Valentine dinner. Plate it up with a few of these cinnamon candies in the sauce at the last minute - delicious. Serve some steamy chai tea to your McDreamy, with a cup and saucer, and the candies on the saucer. Take a handful and decorate your body when you lay down with your partner, or use a little honey in the bedroom to make them really stick...

I thought this was an interesting heart, below...

Any candies striped red and white have an ancient tradition behind them. They represent the number of "lashes" Jesus received during the whipping from the soldiers, as He carried his crucifix to Calvary! So when we see the red-stripes, we are instructed to remember how Christ suffered as He died for our sins. And with candy, we are prompted to remember the sweet sanctity of Christ's Promise, to redeem us, and to show us how to bring Heaven on Earth. And all that jazz.

And I don't know how I know all this; I just do.
I was raised Catholic... Ya know?

If you really love me... If you want to show your devotion, a heart-shaped box with chocolate is one of the best ways to go! 'k?

Just remember! Get the best chocolate you can find, in one of the most beautiful boxes available... Even if you are just doing this for yourself! A pretty, elegant box is the best keepsake. Besides, no one wants to get fat on cheap chocolate! If you must get fat, or get someone else fat? Make sure it's on something dreamy, beautiful, awesome and memorable!

Love is the only thing worth getting fat for. If you are going to eat it, love it, or leave it.

Have a foamy latte or hot coffee drink prepared with an open box of chocolates on the table; and maybe a truffle sitting next to your coffee cup and saucer. If you're home alone? Why not put in a Tom Cruise or Leonardo movie? That always cheers me up! ; )

The Secret of All Hearts

2009-02-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

The Secret of All Hearts...

The Secret of All Hearts...
is they are one and the same Hearts.

Lord God,
do we understand?
Do we get it?
The Secret of All Hearts is,
they are interconnected.
I am Another You,
and
You are Another Me...
What we sew
we reap,
what we eat,
we wear.*
What we breathe
we share;
What we cast-off
we live in.

Are we getting it, God?

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*from a sermon by Joyce Meyer.

Meat 'n Potato Hearts

2009-02-07T16:56:00.001-08:00

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Mmmm! YAY! It's meat!!

There are a stunning number of photos on the web of food shaped like hearts... Most of that food, BTW is made of MEAT. "YAY!" Or should we say nay?

I get such mixed reviews regarding the eating of meat, especially from the opposite sex. I know a few men who are college educated and refuse to touch a piece of meat with a ten-foot pole. All their reasonings are political... They all have doctorates. And I have to say I've been prompted, and continue to be prompted to look into the Politics of Meat time and again, because of them.

Then I know some other men who insist we cannot live without eating meat, that it is a bodily requirement because we do not get enough of the right proteins from beans and nuts. So from them I have learned, you must supplement your beans, okay? With rice. How about you women out there? What are you eating for your heart health, etc.?

As for myself, I'm Irish
and grew up eating potatoes. YAY!

Or is that a good thing?
Because I understand there is not
actually a lot of nutrition in white food,
(such as a white potato, white rice or white bread).
According to some,
this is basically like filling your gut up
with paste.
In fact? It all turns into white sugar
and makes people fat!

Yes, I'm Irish. In my family, we ate meat and potatoes, and lots of it. For generations. We also have this "hereditary" thing going way back with arthritis, rheumatism, and fibromyalgia. I don't ever remember a time in my life when I didn't contend with... Achy knees, joints in my neck, fingers and feet which snapped, crackled and popped.

Recently doctors prescribed neurontin for my mother's pain. I was stunned to go online to discover the medication was originally developed to treat people with herpes!?

That's when I struck on the idea and googled "herpes and food". Voila! Try it, and treat yourselves to the nasty truths online.

Got e coli? It's interesting how casually the news reports come in regarding the recent outbreak with peanut-butter salmonella - food we've been feeding our children. I know the Obama Administration began to crack down on the feds this week.

All of us in the USA need to become more aware of where our food comes from - how it's grown and stewarded, and... No, it wouldn't kill us to cut-back on our intake of meat. Just keep in mind - your heart gets to filter and pump all that junk.

Sometime after WWII, the feds decided it would be good for farmers to shoot-up the animals with steroids and hormones - substances we take into our bodies. My understanding is, the government wanted to produce an image to the world, of Americans being robust and healthy. So, they felt hormones were the answer. Steroids and hormones from our meat are turning Americans into a country of Fat-Asses. Meat-Eating Foreigners leave their countries, right? And come to here, to America, and eat our meat? And they grow Big Giant Fat Asses.

Further, our meat is riddled with the herpes virus (a.k.a. e coli), causing arthritic conditions which keep our medical and pharmaceutical practitioners in BIG business. This is due in part to the cruel conditions in which the animals are raised. If the cattle and chickens are grazing on human waste and sewage, for instance, or fed with food that was grown with or in sewage... Treating the animals with antibiotics should not be the alternative.

Beginning steps to making a shift in your health and well being:
1) Buy organic, hormone and steroid free meat.
2) Ask about where your meat is coming from; get grocery and restaurant owners to think about it.
3) Limit your meat to about 4 ounces a week, and replace it with other proteins
4) Think of your meat as a treat, Man!

Once I started googling "food and herpes" on the internet, I began to feel entirely different about how I eat. Then, it became literal!

Once I started eating organic, and less meat, I stopped having pain in my joints. I stopped having mood-swings around the time of my period... (Ladies, my periods have come and gone with barely any fluctuation in weight, bloating, inconvenience. Gee! This is coming from someone who would normally have to suspend her life for 10-15 days out of every month, to be "on the rag". Of course, I have all quit all caffeinated products, too. Highly recommended! All that stuff about chocolate is a myth. You can replace it with a pint of sorbet and some cookies with chocolate bits.)

The same holds true for our vegetables and fruits - like the peanuts - these also are subject to e coli. Check it out on the web - it's all there. If our foods are not grown organically, they may be subject to toxins and pesticides which are screwing up our bodies. If they are being fertilized with animal products that are tainted with e coli, it's a problem.

You will taste a big difference between an organic banana or tangerine, and ones that are not. Many non-organic fruits are sprayed with ethanol gas, I believe, as a preservative. So even if you peel away the skin, you will have an after-taste of gas in your mouth once you eat the fruit. (It will make you belch and have other questionable effects that make eating non-organic not worth it.) Sure, your fruit will last a whole week or longer! But there is nothing more putrid than biting into a piece of orange, with an after-taste of ethanol! With organic, you want to keep your foods fresh by getting them a couple times a week, then using them!

My tui na healer has urged me to stop eating fish altogether. I didn't bother to ask why. Being a great lover of sushi, I always knew I was taking a chance, eating mercurial poison. It's pathetic. I have stopped eating seafood.

On this note, we should all be looking at the quality of our drinking water. I suggest always filtering and boiling water before you use it. I always keep cold water in the fridge, with lemon juice in it. I don't drink carbonated drinks - the bubbles are very hard for the heart to filter! They can interfere with medications and make people black-out... They take away from the oxidation in our bloodstream. Everyone needs a good vitamin product, because we are not getting enough nutrients in our food. Some of the herbal products out there, like "Great Start Vitamins" are splendid and give lots of energy.

My main diet these days consists of raw or slightly steamed veggies, brown rice, some dressings and marinades for the veggies. Lots of raw juices, farm-fresh cage-free eggs, soups, fruits and tons of tofu and soy milk. Peanut butter and honey are staples. Safeway has a great line of organic foods; a wonderful organic series of breads which taste better than any other breads on the shelves...! Safeway also carries affordable organic fruits and veggies, and hormone and steroid free meat products. You find, once you start eating good food, you actually need less food. Once a week I "treat" myself to either a kosher hamburger, a little cheese pizza with some turkey pepperonis, or some beautifully-prepared shish-kabobs and Mediterranean Halal food... Far away, in a hidden place outside the city.

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"Christ Among the Doctors"

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AP IMPACT: Drugmakers' push boosts 'murky' ailment
AP - 02/08/2009 17:36:46
By MATTHEW PERRONE

Two drugmakers spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year to raise awareness of a murky illness, helping boost sales of pills recently approved as treatments and drowning out unresolved questions -- including whether it's a real disease at all.

Key components of the industry-funded buzz over the pain-and-fatigue ailment fibromyalgia are grants -- more than $6 million donated by drugmakers Eli Lilly and Pfizer in the first three quarters of 2008 -- to nonprofit groups for medical conferences and educational campaigns, an Associated Press analysis found.

That's more than they gave for more accepted ailments such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. Among grants tied to specific diseases, fibromyalgia ranked third for each company, behind only cancer and AIDS for Pfizer and cancer and depression for Lilly.

Fibromyalgia draws skepticism for several reasons. The cause is unknown. There are no tests to confirm a diagnosis. Many patients also fit the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome and other pain ailments.

Experts don't doubt the patients are in pain. They differ on what to call it and how to treat it.

Many doctors and patients say the drugmakers are educating the medical establishment about a misunderstood illness, much as they did with depression in the 1980s. Those with fibromyalgia have often had to fight perceptions that they are hypochondriacs, or even faking their pain.

But critics say the companies are hyping fibromyalgia along with their treatments, and that the grantmaking is a textbook example of how drugmakers unduly influence doctors and patients.

"I think the purpose of most pharmaceutical company efforts is to do a little disease-mongering and to have people use their drugs," said Dr. Frederick Wolfe, who was lead author of the guidelines defining fibromyalgia in 1990 but has since become one of its leading skeptics.

Whatever the motive, the push has paid off. Between the first quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2008, sales rose from $395 million to $702 million for Pfizer's Lyrica, and $442 million to $721 million for Lilly's Cymbalta.

Cymbalta, an antidepressant, won Food and Drug Administration approval as a treatment for fibromyalgia in June. Lyrica, originally approved for epileptic seizures, was approved for fibromyalgia a year earlier.

Drugmakers respond to skepticism by pointing out that fibromyalgia is recognized by medical societies, including the American College of Rheumatology.

"I think what we're seeing here is just the evolution of greater awareness about a condition that has generally been neglected or poorly managed," said Steve Romano, a Pfizer vice president who oversees its neuroscience division. "And it's mainly being facilitated by the fact the FDA has now approved effective compounds."

The FDA approved the drugs because they've been shown to reduce pain in fibromyalgia patients, though it's not clear how. Some patients say the drugs can help, but the side effects include nausea, weight gain and drowsiness.

Helen Arellanes of Los Angeles was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in September 2007 and later left her job to go on disability. She takes five medications for pain, including Lyrica and Cymbalta.

"I call it my fibromyalgia fog, because I'm so medicated I go through the day feeling like I'm not really there," Arellanes said. "But if for some reason I miss a dose of medication, I'm in so much pain."

A single mother of three, Arellanes sometimes struggles to afford all her medications. She said she is grateful that a local Pfizer sales representative occasionally gives her free samples of Lyrica "to carry me through the month."

The drugmakers' grant-making is dwarfed by advertisement spending. Eli Lilly spent roughly $128.4 million in the first three quarters of 2008 on ads to promote Cymbalta, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Pfizer Inc. spent more than $125 million advertising Lyrica.

But some say the grants' influence goes much further than dollar figures suggest. Such efforts steer attention to diseases, influencing patients and doctors and making diagnosis more frequent, they say.

"The underlying purpose here is really marketing, and they do that by sponsoring symposia and hiring physicians to give lectures and prepare materials," said Wolfe, who directs the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases in Wichita, Kan.

Similar criticisms have dogged drugmakers' marketing of medicines for overactive bladder and restless legs syndrome.

Many of the grants go to educational programs for doctors that feature seminars on the latest treatments and discoveries.

Pfizer says it has no control over which experts are invited to the conferences it sponsors. Skeptics such as Wolfe are occasionally asked to attend.

The drug industry's grants also help fill out the budgets of nonprofit disease advocacy groups, which pay for educational programs and patient outreach and also fund some research.

"If we have a situation where we don't have that funding, medical education is going to come to a screeching halt, and it will impact the kind of care that patients will get," said Lynne Matallana, president of the National Fibromyalgia Association.

Matallana founded the group in 1997 after she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. A former advertising executive, Matallana said she visited 37 doctors before learning there was a name for the crushing pain she felt all over her body.

A decade later, her patient advocacy group is a $1.5 million-a-year operation that has successfully lobbied Congress for more research funding for fibromyalgia. Forty percent of the group's budget comes from corporate donations, such as the funds distributed by Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

Pfizer gave $2.2 million and Lilly gave $3.9 million in grants and donations related to fibromyalgia in the first three quarters of last year, the AP found. Those funds represented 4 percent of Pfizer's giving and about 9 percent of Eli Lilly's.

Eli Lilly, Pfizer and a handful of other companies began disclosing their grants only in the past two years, after coming under scrutiny from federal lawmakers.

The message in company TV commercials is clear. "Fibromyalgia is real," proclaimed one Lyrica ad. Researchers who've studied the condition for decades say it's not that simple.

Since the 1970s, Wolfe and a small group of specialists have debated the condition in the pages of medical journals. Depending on whom you ask, it is a disease, a syndrome, a set of symptoms or a behavior disorder.

The American College of Rheumatology estimates that between 6 million and 12 million people in the U.S. have fibromyalgia, more than 80 percent of them women. It's not clear how many cases are actually diagnosed, but Dr. Daniel Clauw of the University of Michigan said pharmaceutical industry market research shows roughly half are undiagnosed. People with fibromyalgia experience widespread muscle pain and other symptoms including fatigue, headache and depression.

After 30 years of studying the ailment, rheumatologist Dr. Don Goldenberg says fibromyalgia is still a "murky area."

"Doctors need labels and patients need labels," said Goldenberg, a professor of medicine at Tufts University. "In general, it's just more satisfying to tell people, 'You have X,' rather than, 'You have pain.'"

While Goldenberg continues to diagnose patients with fibromyalgia, some of his colleagues have stopped, saying the condition is a catchall covering a range of symptoms.

Dr. Nortin Hadler says telling people they have fibromyalgia can actually doom them to a life of suffering by reinforcing the idea that they have an incurable disease.

"It's been shown that if you are diagnosed with fibromyalgia, your chances for returning to a level of well-being that satisfies you are pretty dismal," said Hadler, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who has occasionally advised health insurers on how to deal with fibromyalgia.

Hadler said people labeled with fibromyalgia are indeed suffering, not from a medical disease but from a psychological condition. Instead of drugs, patients should receive therapy to help them "unlearn" their predicament, he said.

Research by the University of Michigan's Clauw suggests people with fibromyalgia experience pain differently because of abnormalities in their nervous system. Brain scans show unusual activity when the patients experience even minor pain, though there is no abnormality common to all.

Clauw's work, however, illustrates the knotty issues of drug company funding. He has done paid consulting work for the drugmakers, and he's received research funding from the National Fibromyalgia Research Association, which receives money from the drugmakers.

While Clauw acknowledges that Lyrica and Cymbalta do not work for everyone, he has little patience for experts who spend more time parsing definitions than helping patients.

"At the end of the day I don't care how you categorize this -- it's a legitimate condition and these people are suffering," Clauw said.

If you suffer with fibromyalgia,
you must get all caffeine out of your system,
and keep it out... It is poison.

Gambler's Heart

2009-02-07T16:32:00.001-08:00

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"I am the utterance of my name."

"I yam what I yam," says Popeye the Sailor Man... The Gambler is actually the archetypal student - this is the person who is all-up-into-it with the books, the studies, the knowledge, the background, the degrees, the doctorates and the PhD's. These people thrive on puzzles, mysteries, science and unknowns. If they are uneducated they still know how to make ends meet through the craftiness of their thinking.

If they have their wits about them, they will understand that LOVE is the answer... Regardless of how protective they may feel about guarding themselves from everyone else. Regardless of the medications they make or prescribe.

Unfortunately, this is the one heart which becomes a big promoter of self-interest. Take a closer look and you will see how desperately isolated this person has become. Without the intention of love behind his or her work, there are attitudes of cynicism and bitterness, humor at the expense of others. Oh yea - and great losses... Because all that upholds this heart is fear-based ego. So the love has to embellish it and keep it strong, or it will devour itself.

In my mind? This image is incomplete without the addition of snake, eating it's own tail. Left to it's own devices, it might have few options but to Beat It or Eat It.

Madoff sent to jail as furious victims applaud
AP - 03/12/2009 15:16:49
By LARRY NEUMEISTER and TOM HAYS

Careful to blame only himself, a "deeply sorry and ashamed" Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to pulling off what could be the biggest, most spectacular swindle Wall Street has even seen, and was sent off to jail in handcuffs to the applause of his furious victims.

"I realized that my arrest and this day would inevitably come," Madoff said in a courtroom crammed with many of the investors he cheated out of billions of dollars.

The 70-year-old financier could get up to 150 years in prison at sentencing June 16 on 11 counts, including securities fraud and perjury. He could also be fined and ordered to pay restitution to his victims and forfeit any ill-gotten gains.

In a long, detailed statement delivered in a soft but steady voice, Madoff implicated no one but himself in the vast Ponzi scheme. He said he started it as a short-term way to weather the early-1990s recession, and was unable to extricate himself as the years went by.

"I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed," Madoff said in his first public comments about his crimes since the $65 billion scandal broke in early December.

The scandal turned a well-respected investment professional -- Madoff was once chairman of the Nasdaq exchange -- into a symbol of Wall Street greed amid the economic meltdown. The public fury toward him was so great that he was known to wear a bulletproof vest to court.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin promptly revoked the $10 million bail that had allowed Madoff to remain free since he confessed to his sons three months ago. In ordering him jailed, the judge said Madoff had the means to flee and an incentive to do so because of his age.

The court appearance came as a disappointment to many of Madoff's investors, who hoped to hear him say who might have helped him pull off the scam, and where the money went.

Because Madoff pleaded guilty as charged, without any kind of deal with prosecutors, he is under no obligation to cooperate with them. As a result, some legal experts and others have speculated that he is sacrificing himself to protect his wife, his family and friends.

"He's trying to save the rest of his family," said investor Judith Welling. "We need to find out who else was involved, and we need, obviously, to freeze the assets of all those people involved to help the victims."

There was a smattering of applause after the judge announced Madoff would go directly to jail -- the drab, windowless high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center next door to the courthouse to await sentencing. But that did not lessen his victims' anger or satisfy their desire for retribution.

"So he spends the rest of his life in jail -- is that justice? People's lives are ruined," said Adriane Biondo of Los Angeles, one of five members of her family who lost money with Madoff. "He's sitting in jail? That's awesome," she said sarcastically. "Where's the money, Bernie?"

DeWitt Baker, an investor who attended the hearing and said he lost more than $1 million with Madoff, said: "I'd stone him to death."

Prosecutors gave assurances they are investigating Madoff's wife and other family members and employees to determine what role, if any, they played in scam.

"A lot of resources and effort are being expended, both to find assets and to find anyone else who may be responsible for this fraud," federal prosecutor Marc Litt said.

In court documents, prosecutors put the amount of the fraud at $64.8 billion. However, experts said that the actual loss was probably much less and that the higher number reflects the false profits Madoff told investors they were making. So far, authorities have located only about $1 billion for investors.

Prosecutors have already said low-level employees in Madoff's New York offices participated by mailing out tens of thousands of phony monthly statements and trading confirmations to make it look as if customers were making money in the market.

Some investors suspect their money ended up in the hands of Madoff's wife, Ruth. She was not in court Thursday. But the mere mention of her name drew jeers and laughter.

In one instance, defense lawyer Ira Sorkin was describing how Madoff had, "at his wife's own expense," paid for security at his $7 million penthouse in Manhattan. Loud laughter erupted among some of the more than 100 spectators crammed into the courtroom on the 24th floor of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. There was more snickering when Sorkin mentioned Mrs. Madoff's "small residence in France."

His thousands of victims included individuals, trusts, pension funds, hedge funds and nonprofit organizations. The scheme wiped out people's fortunes, ruined charities and foundations, and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide.

Investors big and small were swindled, from Florida retirees to celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. Many of Madoff's victims were Jews and Jewish charities, which trusted him because he is Jewish. Those cheated included Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

In court Thursday, Madoff -- a stocky figure, clad in a charcoal-gray suit, with swept-back, wavy gray hair -- said he began the scheme during the last recession, when "I felt compelled to satisfy my clients' expectations, at any cost." He did not put his investors' money into the market, as he claimed. Instead, it was a Ponzi scheme, or a pyramid, in which early investors are paid off with money taken in from later ones.

"When I began the Ponzi scheme I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme," he said. "However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and as the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would inevitably come."

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "The president is glad that swift justice will happen."

Gibbs said the Obama administration will do everything possible to ensure strict enforcement of securities regulations "and hope that through those actions that that kind of greed and irresponsibility and that kind of criminal activity never happens again."

Before the court hearing, helicopters circled above the courthouse, and federal officers with automatic weapons stood outside. Investors signed in before entering the courtroom.

"I wanted him to see some of the faces of the people he lied to and destroyed," said Cynthia Friedman, 59, of Jericho, N.Y. She and her husband, Richard, said Madoff defrauded them of their life savings of $3 million. They learned it was gone months before Richard Friedman was supposed to retire -- a plan now on hold.

Madoff did not look at any of the three investors who spoke at the hearing, even when one of them turned in his direction and tried to address him. At the hint of a confrontation, a marshal sitting behind Madoff stood up, and the judge directed the investor to speak directly to the bench.

Madoff told the court that he falsely told investors he was employing a "split strike conversion strategy": He claimed he invested their money in a batch of stocks from the Standard & Poor's 100 that closely tracked the price movements of the index. He also told investors that he would periodically pull their money out of the market and put it in Treasury bills. And he claimed he bought stock options to hedge against losses. All of that was false.

Madoff also said that to fool his clients into thinking he was buying and selling stocks, he transferred money from his fraudulent operations into his wholesale stock-trading firm, which he otherwise described as an honest, legitimate business.

Afterward, Burt Ross, a lawyer from Englewood, N.J., who lost $5 million in Madoff's swindle, said: "It's a little bit like seeing the devil."
------
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and David B. Caruso contributed to this report.

au·ton·o·my
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural au·ton·o·mies
Date: circa 1623

1: the quality or state of being self-governing ; especially : the right of self-government

2: self-directing freedom and especially moral independence

3: a self-governing state

People who come to America from other countries are challenged to give-up many things, not understanding how it has come about that, Americans are basically autonomous in nature.

Many people come to America in the pursuit of freedom, only to discover this is a Melting-Pot of cultural identities, and religions; a hodge-podge of political views and addictions... A land of spiritual "orphans" so to speak, where many of us have lost connections to our roots, where we came from, what our actual histories are.

Those people coming here from other lands cannot understand why it is we tend to have such disrespect for one another. In the paradigms they are used to, people have things - like family traditions and heritages, deep histories, religious roots that tie them to their families and ways of life. So by not honoring these things in people it is often seen to be a huge signal of disrespect.

We come here for religious freedom... We find, in the process, we often have to change-it-up for something that is more authentic and more spiritual than dogma. This nation was founded on many religions, but is primarily Christian.

In Christian thought, Jesus Christ promoted American possibilities in his teachings when he said "Let the dead bury their dead". Learn how to leave the past behind, especially if it does not serve you. Throw down your fishing nets, and forsake your family, your husbands and your wives. Follow Me.

Americans have had to separate our religious practices from our involvement in government and politics, in order to hang on to our spirituality. From the 1960's onward, we began the psychological act of processing our spiritual paths. The '60's on through to the 90's have been about revolutionizing our personal and sexual identities. If we had not been able to go through this process (which did not happen over night) our lives would still be very much like something from "Gangs of New York".

In many ways American lives are divisive unless we can help one another understand and use the elements of real autonomy to do things like... Create not just one, but numerous communities to belong to.

If you want to wear a veil over your face and work at MacDonald's, you might not get hired. And if you do get hired, and continue to wear the veil and want to practice your religion on the job? You can bet your life someone is going to give you grief about it.

If you want to remain independent of becoming American, yet live in this country and reap the benefits of being here, you may have to change-some-things-up - like your attitude and your beliefs.

If you are stuck in beliefs and traditional thoughts that your wife and your children are your "possessions", and your "tribe" are your true "customers", you might not succeed here.

Beliefs can keep you
in a kind of black-and-white thinking
that may not be serving you.

In America,
beliefs are reduced to being ideas,
and ideas can change.

So can you.

If you want to give all your power-over to your doctors... (Who have been trained that they must convince you they are in "control"...) You just might die.

You do have to have an innate system of values... Something that works at the core of your life to give you the strength, stamina and resilience needed to survive the ignorance and greed of other Americans.

We can learn from foreigners; they have much to teach us about things like respect, gratitude, spirituality. This is the Melting-Pot.

This country has become a place of freedom fighters, at all costs. We believe we have the right to question authority, including government, medical and Biblical authorities.

We have been willing to sacrifice and disown our minds, our bodies, our families, our heritages, our homes, the numerous jobs we've had in the search of something more authentic, more personally fulfilling, more real.

We are Americans, and we are rebels and revolutionaries to the bitter end.

This is why everyone living in America needs to have a basic understanding of autonomy: because it is the basis of our freedom, and without it, we are slaves.

Infinite
In connection with the infinite,
you will find that everywhere there is center,
nowhere circumference.
But to realize this you must try to live in eternity,
the spiritual world.
- Swami B.R. Sridhar

Children,
in many parts of the world,
our ancestors left images
of spirals, mazes, and labyrinths like this...
These were left behind for us, the children,
so we could place our hands
on the images and trace our heritages.
So we could walk through
the mazes and labyrinths
to re-member ourselves,
who we are, where we came from,
and understand
our intrinsic abilities to navigate our futures.

Such sacred sites
are not only remembrances
of our connection to Mother Earth,
but also symbolic
of our connections to one another
through our DNA,
and through the cosmos.

This is the Spiral of the Invisible
Use it to teach yourself how to access the Invisible...

It is difficult, sometimes, for you to read this blog, isn't it, Little One? Are you here because people have only been loving you in little pieces? Am I helping you get strong? I hope so. I am keeping you in my prayers.

Through the process of writing, I'm wanting you to stretch your mind beyond the things you believe in. Getting to this point is a transition area... For, I want to say, everything we know, deduce and understand has come from our black-and-white thinking. And you've been feeling this here, right? Well, you've made it this far! Congratulations!

We have been trained from childhood to think in terms of good/bad, hot/cold, pretty/ugly, nice/mean, happy/sad. So even when we focus on an image like the Spiral of the Invisible? We tend to look at the geometry of the black path, completely missing the white path inside. The white path is The Invisible.

The Invisible is going to teach us how to think larger, grow bigger, expand into sharing, stretch our minds, become more visionary. Keep it in mind, Little Children.

"There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."

- Morpheus to Neo, from "The Matrix"

Life is not black and white, but color...

Children, our lives,
especially the spiritual aspects of our lives,
are becoming more of a fusion
of allowing and being,
than thinking and competing.

The Law of Attraction is going to help us get our needs met by using practices such as gratitude and respect for all living beings. In this way, we are able to use Invisible resources, access Invisible informations and do things like travel through time, walk through walls... See with the eyes of visionaries...

If some continue to look at life through the eyes of duality and black and white thinking? That is where some Souls will be confined.

When we feel we are being confined, we are just using our eyes to see as voyeurs. Are you hurting, my friend?

Try and work hard to keep expanding your minds enough to become visionary.

Do you notice
how your heart feels
when you look at these spirals?

These images mimic the motions of our hearts...

When people suffer with heart conditions, there is an actual repression that goes on inside the heart muscle; it closes in on itself. Deep inside (the spiral of) the heart muscle is a vacuum, which can become tight and constricted, like any muscle. It is the Heart Knot.

That vacuum has to be exercised back into resiliency; it has to be strengthened, expanded outwards, because you see, it feeds the health of your being.

Someday soon, in the future,
our DNA is going to become a commodity.

Children, if you are reading this,
then know,
it will be our final revolution.

He who sees himself only on the outside,
not within, becomes small and makes others small.

- The Savior, The Gospel of Mani

The Self
is hidden in all beings,
but is manifest only to those
who have the intuitive abilities

to recognize it.

- The Upanishads

He who experiences the unity of life
sees his own Self in all beings,
and all beings in his own Self,
and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

- The Buddha

He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.

- The Tao

Gothic Heart

2009-02-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

"I burn my books once the lessons are written through my guts."

At first glance, it would seem the Gothic Heart is one which holds on to the past, is perhaps even overly-sentimental about what once was. I chose this heart as The Gothic Heart because it looks as if the arms of a scarab are coming up around it in the form of it's thorns. To me, it looks as if it is rebirthing itself. The Gothic Heart is more about art-appreciation in that way. It recognizes we are dying every day. Therefore, it is better to let-go of the things which don't serve our needs, our being.

The Gothic Heart plays around with Law of Attraction - through transmuting and transmission of the old. Old things can be passed on for someone in need, sold for something new. Old lovers will move on to repeat the same old mistakes with new lovers, until they learn. The Gothic knows, we keep on repeating the same lessons over and over again - until we LEARN them.

Old hearts will shift-shape and become new again. It is all a matter of never being afraid of death you, see. Death does not have to be something that blocks a person or takes them down to a certain level of gravity of non-existence; but you must learn how to become a Master of Death. This is only accomplished by going through the death-like trance we call Life... We must go through the energy, not avoid it. It is by going through it that we study it, learn it, Master it, so it cannot master us. We create our realities by Law of Attraction. We attract our own migraines, pains, environmental phenomena, and ghosts. People take on inner "positionalities", attitudes of blame, if you will, believing they are victims, when in fact they are the perpetrators.

Jesus McCartney

2009-02-05T22:55:00.000-08:00

Y

"All you need is Love..."

Y

Musician's Heart

2009-02-05T22:40:00.001-08:00

Y

Music is the Universal Language...

And I could talk all night. It's a good thing I have music as an outlet to talking; otherwise I wouldn't get anything done! I have to be in my own space, working at my own timing, night or day. My goal is to mutate and orchestrate places and minds with sound. Even when I'm silent, there's a rhythm playing in my pulse. Actually, it's hard to be still. Some of the best compositions come to me when I'm asleep. I swear, it's the Angels talking! The music comes to me, not from inside me. It's a matter of forcing myself to be a better listener. My nervous system is sensitive. I sometimes use caffeine and nicotine to reach various levels of musical consciousness. I've also been known to be a speed freak, a weed fiend and have used LSD to find ways to pull sound out of my environment... I channel it into something cohesive. I can play several instruments, read and write music. If I can't make a living on it? I'll teach it.

Y

Y

Pop Heart

2009-02-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Y

I've got my heart
on the pulse
of everything new and exciting...!
(I sometimes forget
to take care of myself, because of it.)
But I will turn you on the newest raves and beats,
the funnest dances, the most groovin' trances,
the best places to get some eats!

I'm crazy and gay; I get confused about my sexuality. I always need outlets... I started with painting, drawing and art?? But I get impatient. I have lots of energy to burn! It's a good thing - because I could get FAT! Maybe all the crap I eat is part of the problem? We're all gonna die, anyway!

Somebody said I should get myself a dog. I'm not too bad of a writer, but I'd rather be playin' or singin'. I'd rather be shoppin', ya know? If I go shopping, can I take a dog with me? I can't do all I do and go around looking like shit!! I need to stay on top of it... Get some decent, rockin' shoes for dancing - some body paint, some make-up - yea! Some glitter! It's also time for some new music!

My mom and I used to be pretty close; I don't know what happened to my dad. Mom always wants to hang out with me and my friends - I'm not cool with that. I guess I'm just a free spirit!

God,
it's important to have something
to believe in, isn't it?

Y

Choose Your Isms
(just add an "ism" to the word)

animalism humanism hetrosexualism RACISM feminism specieism stigmatism separatism ethnicism culturalism pluralism socialism nationalism patriotism dominism sadism Catholicism masochism sexualism homophobism authoritarianism lesbianism PREDJUDISM elitism anarchism republicanism baptism MARXISM mentalism retardism impressionism geneticism schism fanaticism alcoholism AMERICANISM vampirism militarianism authenticism bohemianism militantism moralism fetishism OCCULTISM pessimism moralism ageism vegetarianism consumerism commercialism dogmatism ritualism

Y Y Y conformism Y Y Y
(it's FUN! Isn't it?!)

Y

Green Heart

2009-02-05T07:40:00.001-08:00

Y

Watch Out!
I sting!
I'm succulent!
And I need to keep you from eating me alive!
I'll poke ya with one of my thorns, I will!
Watch Out!

The Green Heart knows everything, because she came from the Earth and has risen up out of the Earth. She'll show you where to find the best plants and food; but she does not advocate eating animals. Animals are friends, that you hang out with! Not food!

Instead, if you can mange to get close to her, she will invite you into her organic way of being... Starting with things like how you walk and sleep. How to forage food and prepare it in nutritious ways - but especially how to grow your own.

She walks among the flowers and trees. Be gentle with her.

In human history, how did marriage evolve, and the subjugation of women?
- by Osho: Sermons in Stones, Chapter 13, a lecture from the early '70's

This is the compromise that human beings have made: to be secure about the future, to be certain about the tomorrows, to have a guarantee that the woman who loves you is going to love you forever, that it is not a temporary affair...

That's why religious people say that marriages are "made in heaven"... A strange kind of heaven, because if these marriages are made in heaven, then what can you make in hell? They don't show the signs, the fragrance, the freshness, the beauty of heaven. They are certainly disgusting, ugly... They show something of hell certainly. But man settled for marriage because that was the only way to have private property.

Animals don't have private property - they are all communists, and far better communists than have appeared in human history. They don't have any dictatorship of the proletariat and they have not lost their freedom, but they don't have any private property.

Man also lived for thousands of years without marriage, but those were the days when there was no private property. Those were the days of hunting; man was a hunter. And those people thousands of years ago had no cold-storage system, no technology - whatever food they got they had to finish as quickly as possible. They could only hope that tomorrow they will get some food again.

Because there was nothing to accumulate, there was no question of marriage. People lived in communes, tribes; people loved, people reproduced, but in the beginning there was no word for "father." The word "mother" is far more ancient and far more natural. You will be surprised to know that the word `uncle' is older than the word "father" - because all the people were the age of your father. You didn't know who your father was.

Men and women were mixing joyously – without any compulsion, without any legal bondage, out of their free will. If they wanted to meet and be together there was no question of domination. The children never knew who their father was, they knew only their mother. And they knew many men in the tribe; someone amongst those men must have been their father, hence they were all uncles.

As private property came into existence with cultivation.... With hunting, man could not survive long. People have destroyed complete species of animals. Hundreds of species which once used to dance and sing on this earth... Man has eaten them up. Something had to be done because hunting was not reliable. Today you may get food, tomorrow you may have to be hungry. And it was very arduous. The search for animals did not allow man to develop any of his other talents, his genius. But cultivation changed the whole life of man.

You must be reminded of the fact that cultivation is the discovery of women, not of men.

The woman was confined - she was not able to go hunting. Most of the time she was pregnant, she was weak, she was carrying another soul within her. She needed care, protection... So she was living in the house. She started making the living space more beautiful - and this you can see even today, after thousands of years.

If you enter into a bachelor's room you can immediately see that it is a bachelor's room. You may not be able to decide by seeing the bachelor whether he is bachelor or not, but his room certainly is a bachelor! The woman, her touch, is missing. The house of a bachelor is never a home, it is just a place where he sleeps. It is not something with which he feels a certain intimacy, a certain creative relationship.

The home, the village, the city and the whole civilization are because of the woman, because she was free from hunting and she had different values of the heart and of the mind. She was more aesthetic, more graceful, more earthly, not at all interested in hell and heaven and God and the devil and all that crap! No woman has written a single religious scripture. No woman has been a philosopher thinking about abstract, faraway things.

Woman's consciousness is interested only in the intimate surroundings - she would like a beautiful house, she would like a beautiful garden. She wants to create a small world of her own - cozy, comfortable. She imparts a certain quality to a dead house and it becomes a living home. It is a magical transformation.

Man continued to hunt, and the woman started looking around... The man had no time. He has always been busy without business, but the woman had all the time there is. The basic work of hunting was being done by the groups of men and the woman started looking around. She discovered cultivation because she saw wild fruits growing, she saw many other things growing and she also saw that every year the crop dies; the seeds fall back into the earth and when the rains come, again those seeds sprout in thousands of plants.

She started experimenting to find what was edible and what was not edible. Soon, as hunting was becoming more and more difficult, men had to agree with women: "We have to shift our whole economic focus. We have to go for cultivation, for fruits, for vegetables. And these are in our hands -- we can produce as much as we want, as we need it, and there is tremendous variety."

Slowly, slowly came the nomads, the wandering tribes, because hunters cannot stay in one place. They have to go on moving as the animals escape. Once hunting was dropped and cultivation became our very measure of survival a new thing also happened alongside.

There were people who were powerful people and there were people who were weak people. The people who were physically powerful managed to claim much ground as their property. They earned much... Slowly. Slowly the barter system started, because when you have too much of one crop, what are you going to do with it? You have to exchange it; then you can have many more things. Life became more complex, with more excitement.

But a problem was felt: after a person dies, who is going to inherit his property? Nobody wanted their property to be inherited by any XYZ. They wanted their property to belong to their own blood. It is out of economics, not out of the understanding of love that marriage came into existence. Its very birth was wrong, under the wrong stars.

And because man had to agree for marriage.... The woman was very willing for the simple reason that for thousands of years in the hunting period she was not financially a part of the society; man was all. Man continued his power, although the whole social structure changed. The hunter's nomadic life became a peaceful life in a village, but man's concern was about his property. He wanted a contract with the woman to be certain that the son she was giving birth to is not somebody else's, but his own. For this simple purpose all the woman's freedom had to be destroyed. She had to live almost like a prisoner, or worse.

Man agreed - under compulsion, he compromised. If the woman was losing a few things - her freedom of movement, her freedom in changing lovers - man was also ready to sacrifice his freedom. They would remain devoted to each other forever.

But it is against nature. Even if you want to do it nature is not going to support you. Nature is for freedom, not for any kind of bondage.

So new problems started arising. Men started finding prostitutes who were no-one's wives, or as it was phrased in India, the prostitute was the wife of the whole town: nagarvadhu. She belongs to anybody, she is a commodity; you have to pay and buy her time and her body. Because of marriage it was very difficult to find married women because then there were more complexities: they had their husbands.... Prostitutes were good.

And you will be surprised to know that in India every city had its topmost prostitute. She was the most beautiful girl born in that city. Because she was so beautiful it was not right to let her get married to one person, she had to be shared. She was so beautiful that if she got married there would be trouble, there would be problems -- people would go on falling in love with her. It was better to keep her free for anybody who would pay.

Marriage created suspicion. The husband was always suspicious about whether the child born to them was his own or not. And the problem is, the father had no way to determine that a child was his own. Only the mother knew. Because the father had no way of being certain, he created more and more walls around the woman – that was the only possibility, the only alternative -- to disconnect her from the larger humanity. Not to educate her, because education gives wings to people; thoughts make people capable of revolt, so no education for women. No religious education for women, because religion makes you saints, holy people and it has been a male-dominated society for centuries and man cannot conceive a woman to be higher and holier than himself.

Man has been cutting from the very roots any possibility of woman's growth. She is just a factory to manufacture children. She has not been accepted by any culture in the world as equal to man.

Jesus, I know I am perfect in Your eyes.

Teach me how to honor Earth
and inherit all the gifts we have here,
to continue to
learn, prosper and preserve new ways
of being Your faithful steward.
In your name, Jesus, I ask; Amen.

Y

Civil Servant's Heart

2009-02-05T07:01:00.000-08:00

Never be afraid
to show compassion over judgment...

Funny how this tattoo image looks more like something ancient, say, a Grecian Urn? I love the strength and power coming through it, emblazoned by the fiery yellow. This shows a person of intense willpower, a fighter. The sort of person who would wear this image is interested in social justice, exploring ways to help one's self or others fight for their rights at all costs.

The key of course, is about what's going on in the person's heart. If it is vice, chances are efforts will be sabotaged, or backfire. In this case, the person is pushing too hard by being mentally stubborn. So chances are, he or she is running on anger, panic, or defensiveness, and turning people off - shutting them down. People don't listen to panic and defense; they try to take action, or avoid you, instead.

There was a day you really hated someone; but in spite of that, they came through for you.

There was a day you felt betrayed by someone; but later they returned and helped.

There was a time you refused to cooperate, only afterwards realizing, you must change.

The heart is all about taking us out of our attitudes, into a higher vibration.

It's called Law of Attraction.

So, a responsible civil servant has an intimate need for understanding compassion. Judgment is a hard thing to cope with and work through. Sure, we need our private ways of using discretion to keep the nasties from hurting us; but we don't need to be jerks about it. Everyone has to do what they do to put the Scales of Justice back into balance; but if we are confused, lost, irrational, there are people out there to help us. Not everyone is an enemy. Who was the first person to judge? Or was it just a sense or a feeling we were given that blocked the way? Sometimes, when we are not getting compassion, we have to ask for it.

Dear God, show me the way
to replace my judgment with compassion,
starting with myself.
If I have been walking around in knee-jerk reactions,
easily taking offense to everything going on,
help me rise above the paranoia.
Keep me surrounded by Angels, Dear God,
until I get through this.
Please help to make this passage quick!
Amen.

The Verb 'to Love'

2009-02-03T00:07:00.001-08:00

The Verb ’to Love’
by Todd Rundgren

Some people tell me that love is a feeling,
Or a possession;
Somehow that seems so cold.
And when they say love is sweet,
Does it mean that you eat it?
Maybe you drink it?
Does it fill up an empty hole?

I’m lookin’ for a love and I may not find it.
You know it doesn’t mean a thing
Without some action behind it!

Please come home...
I can hear them calling
Please come home
Please don’t leave us all alone...
Your mama and your papa are crying all alone.
You better let it magnetize; learn to sacrifice,
’til we get the true version of - -
The meaning of the verb "to love".

What
does
it mean
to love?

And when somebody needs love,
Do they spend some money?
Say something funny,
Ask for some tenderness?
And when you wanna touch of love,
Do you lie on your back?
Stand on your head?
How do you feel it best?

I’m looking for a love with no strings attached,
To take me like I am - that’s the only catch!

Please come home...
I can hear them calling,
Please come home
Please don’t leave us all alone...
Your wife and your lover are crying all alone.
You better let it magnetize - learn to sacrifice...
’Til we learn the true version of

The meaning of the verb "to love".

Does it mean any more,
The more you talk about it?
Is it any more real
If you jump around and shout it?
I’m sick and tired of hearing
’bout everyone without it
and
Too much talkin’ sends me walkin’.
Night is falling and
everybody’s calling
for
love.

Everybody’s lookin’ for their one and only.
It’s only just a game ’cause they’re scared
to be lonely.

Please come home...
I can hear them calling,
Please come home
Please don’t leave us all alone...
Your brothers and your sisters are crying all alone.
You got let it magnetize, learn to sacrifice -
’til we get the true version of
The meaning
of the verb
"to love".

What
does
it mean
to love?

c)Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp; Humanoid Music

I am not an expert in boundaries. But I am a firm believer in learning when to turn the other cheek and walk away!

There are so many people who are going through life, not only wounded, but toxic. We all have our crosses to bear, don't we? And with some luck and a lot of work on ourselves, getting our hearts into a place of wanting to feel good, asking for balance and well-being, we have access to all kinds of tools and information to get us through. Ideally we should be able to reach a continuum in our lives where we can always feel good... Knowing that happiness is a choice. Let me tell you about it: this is what self-realization is all about.

In other words, we start to feel that we are walking in God's Light. (Because we feel good!)

So, many of you are asking, why is it that a happy, "nice", kind person attracts people who are hateful and mean-spirited?

How is it that someone who is so "nice", so kind, so thoughtful, can attract someone who gossips, slanders others and dumps all over them?

Here's my response... It's because they feel safe with us.

But be mindful that Jesus only helped those who came to Him and asked for help.

There are a lot of people out there who are actually crying for help, and don't know it. Never presume that you know what is best for another person; take your time.

It's one thing to accept people and love them unconditionally; it is quite other things to share in their guilt. This is why everyone needs to understand what healthy boundaries are.

I know people who truly suffer from some sort of "lack" in their minds... They use drugs and alcohol regularly; they get hooked-up into strange practices and beliefs about themselves and others; they make fetishes out of things, and out of themselves (I.E. some celebrities are known to do this); they define themselves through what they do, and not by watching their ways of being; they make overtures to control others because they are afraid of being abandoned, or they can't handle rejection in any form. Who doesn't struggle?

The challenge comes with a desire to grow... Because when people are bored, they start creating trouble for themselves and others.

This is a lot of what was going on around Jesus... In fact, He never offered to help anyone unless they first asked. Jesus understood the intrinsic nature of chaos, and what it could do to the spirit of mankind.

I've noticed a pattern in my own life, of being surrounded by people who need to confide and gossip about others. Sure, we are all human beings and we talk about other people because we want to understand what drives them, what hurts them. I think I am a safe person for people to confide in, simply because I don't go to their hang-outs. I want to shift some of this chaos out of my life.

I find, if I try to ascertain my own opinions directly about the person who is dishing dirt, I am often cut-off, or find myself in a situation where the speaker becomes contentious and judgmental of me. This is always shocking! But after 50 years of practice, I finally get it.

In the past, it has been their way of keeping me in my place (as a listener). So I have had to learn to walk away, stop participating - and even put my hand up in someone's face and tell them "Talk To the Hand"! Does it get any ruder than that?! It can, because I am a human being and I have my limitations, too.

No one should be chastising you about your life. We are all doing this walk on Planet Heart as free agents; whether we want to believe or accept that or not is inconsequential. If someone hurts you, it is only a side-effect of the real problems going on.

The fact is, when one person disrespects another person's space, time, privacy, background, history, story, religious or spiritual practices, that is not love. It's something else.

It is ultimately a show of disrespect because that person's soul process is not being honored. To recognize this, and to draw back on one's tendency to CONTROL another person is a healthy boundary. Also, seeing-through someone else who is trying to control us is important.

We need these boundaries in our private lives, but also at work, and in dating and in marriage. We need them in our friendships. We do not necessarily need to be spilling our guts to individuals we don't know. People take information and sometimes use it as ammunition. Many friendships have been hurt and ruined, because people cannot keep their mouths shut and their sex lives private, for example.

We have to watch our patterns with people... And know when to knock it off.

The best clue will be that it just doesn't feel good. It isn't fun anymore.

I have written in other areas of this blog where some people feel they need to have fun at another person's expense... Be very sober and careful when that happens. Anyone who behaves in hurtful ways like that is probably not a safe person to be hanging with.

We also do not need to know everything about someone in one night. It is better to allow a relationship to develop over increments and periods of time... (Rather than download on someone for two solid hours, for example; or sleep with them on the first date.)

If you want some real love in your life, take your time getting to know people. Watch the warning signals you get; make a personal note of the red-flags you get. Pay attention to people who are trying to communicate honestly with you; they are trying to tell you something! People give us signals all the time; but perhaps we are the toxic ones who are not paying attention until the situation gets ugly? Ask them more questions, if you need better understanding regarding what you sense or feel. Don't presume. Never presume! (Check out my Mr. Roger's sections.)

If you allow someone to download on you and not give you a breather, they will come back with more. So knowing your own limitations in this regard is also an important boundary. Know when to say "enough already" to someone who is trying to control you.

Don't be afraid to give someone the consequences of their actions!

"If that's your attitude or that's how you feel about things, this is how it's going to play out with me..."

It felt great to do this with my mother the other day... She is always bitching about her health. In conversations I have given her countless suggestions on how to feel better. I even began to help her work out a 90-day dietary plan - which she dismissed and put down.

So I said - "Gee, then I guess this gives us a good reason not to talk about how sick you are anymore!" I acted really happy about it!

She got upset about that.

"Well," I asked her, "why should we talk about it if you don't plan to make any changes in your life? And you expect your doctors to do all that for you?" Then she changed her tune.

You might need some time to step back and evaluate the pay-offs in the situation. This is why so many people get into relationships where they feel as if they are being used - they ARE being used! People use one another as vehicles to grow. This isn't exactly ethical, but if they can do it? They will.

We need to be able to say NO to certain situations when the time is right. Sometimes this begins privately, within our own awareness. But the bottom line is, if we let someone control us, we are just as guilty as they are. And we should ask for, and seek the genuine help we need from someone who can guide us to move forward. That's another healthy boundary.

It is not easy to be honest. Sometimes we can only be honest by walking away from someone... (Because maybe it is our body language they are trying to hook-into, anyway.)

When you feel good about being with someone, you won't be holding any resistance in any part of your body. If you feel that you have to posture yourself, your voice, your ways of being, if you can't be natural, getting out of the unnatural responses are going to take some honesty on your part.

Also, it can be hard if someone is in pain, for instance, yet you can see that they are actually enjoying their pain...? Choosing certain elements and volitions to keep themselves in the pain or situation of lack, you will at some point be required to ask yourself if you are being their enabler.

We cannot change other people. We can only change ourselves.

I once offered to pray for someone... And she reprimanded me for it, saying that she didn't want my prayers, because she felt my prayers would interfere with her spiritual practice.

It's okay. I am fully aware that I am here as an extension of Source Energy, burning through Karma... I learned that we don't have to put in a major petition to God on their behalf. We can light a candle for them.

fire dakini

I think this person was lucky to have me in her life for as long as she did.

She took me for granted. We thought we had an honest friendship, but we could never talk about our friendship or how it was playing out, honestly.

So I turn personalities like this over to Christ, and just send them white light.

Life is too short, ya know? We have better things to do with our time and energy on this earth walk; and Christ has shown us that through His teachings.

If someone is acting as if they must control you, somehow, in order to have a relationship with you? That relationship is not worth keeping.

People who give you freedom will also give you honesty.

This blog has a consistent theme... It's about coming out of slavery and into freedom.

We can change ourselves!

Starting with prayer and meditation, we can begin to refocus our intentions on things that support and empower us to be happier.

We can choose to reach for positive emotions, and use negative situations and people as pivotal points to choose something better.

We can choose to get ourselves free from worry.

We can focus on those things that we really want in our lives, and ask ourselves a lot of questions about WHY. This helps us to track our spiritual intentions.

We can get free of being compulsive, by choosing stillness, quiet and peace with God.

We can choose to participate in positive things because they inspire us...

Using these values helps the chaos in our lives to fall away.

We can learn to persist, rather than resist and keep ourselves locked in pain.

We can allow ourselves to go through a complete cycle of emotions, and persist in reaching for those feelings that help us to feel better.

We can learn to speak with one another more honestly and be heard.

These are ways of working through inner inspiration where we can watch for the manifestation of God's Love... The spirit is always there.

Soldier Heart, II

2009-02-02T23:38:00.000-08:00

I cannot find the word I want to use to describe this heart...

"Freedom comes with a price."

I just felt it was important. In my mind, this heart looks like more of a container, something you'd put medicine in. (What are those called?) I tried to work with the image and couldn't get it any bigger. (How sad is that?)

Well, I call it Soldier Heart II, because it looks like it's in shell-shock, and has gone through a total ream-job. Also, yes, it requires medication (via the crucifix on top). It has a story. I wonder if I'll ever know what it is?

Y

Y

The Passion of The Christ

My Kingdom is not of this world...

Love one another as I have loved you.

Y

The Passion of The Christ

This is my body, which is given-up for you.

This is my blood,
which is the new covenant,
given-up for you in the forgiveness of all sin.

Y

The Passion of The Christ

I Am the Way,

The Truth, and the Life.

Y

The Passion of The Christ

Children

Learn What They Live

If children live with criticism,
they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility,
they learn to fight.
If children live with ridicule,
they learn to be shy.
If children live with shame,
they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with tolerance,
they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement,
they learn confidence.
If children live with praise,
they learn to appreciate.
If children live with fairness,
they learn justice.
If children live with security,
they learn to have faith.
If children live with approval,
they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance,
they learn to find
love in the world.

Y

for Mel Gibson

Self-Contained Heart

2009-02-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

Y

Fun, huh? I love how this heart looks so timeless and perfect.

"The truth shall set you free."
- Jesus Christ

This image puts forth a balanced energy,
showing protective safeguards and healthy boundaries,
at the same time radiating a lot of love.
The heart is yin, the golden sun behind it is yang.
The thorns are neutralizers.
This is the image of a young adult heart
who has come into his or her own self.
It not only radiates faith, but self-trust and kindness.
At the same time, it is not leaking any energy;
it is cautious, aware, contained.

Y

"I will reveal all things, beloved,
so that through knowledge and understanding
you will become like Me.
I will reveal the hidden things to you.
Now, put forth your hands and hold on."

- Jesus, The Second Apocalypse of James

Here's a photo of my town, the city of Seattle...

Many of you reading this blog
are too young to remember or know about

The Battle In Seattle

November 30, 1999 -
December 2, 1999

It was the first national protest
organized by caring American citizens,
on the internet.

Organizers and citizens came together to protest
against the World Trade Order (WTO).
People intended for it to be a peaceful protest...

However Seattle city officials
were very concerned about the crowds of people showing up...

So the police force was called in
to watch against any disorder.

You see, President Clinton
and other important officials
from all over the world were coming to town!

There were diverse crowds
of every nationality and age!

People wanted to take a stand
against the exploitation of people in other countries,
the loss and outsourcing of our jobs,

the quality of our food,
water, and air...

All these concerns affect us directly
and were, and continue to be based in
corporate greed.

So the people came together,
standing in one voice
as the officials came into the airport
and through the gates of Seattle...

It was very cool,
how the people of Seattle created blockades,
so officials for the WTO
could not meet in their conference rooms
or gather at the Space Needle.

Instead, they were forced to face the people!

Of course, the cops didn't like that.

By late afternoon
the police were given permission to use
whatever tactics they thought necessary
to drive back the crowds.

Therefore, police began
to push the people
out of the way using tear-gas.

By the end of the night
police had pushed the people up the hill,
and into my neighborhood,
where my friends and neighbors
were tear-gassed, too!

The next morning,
some people began to riot
and the windows of many buildings owned by corporate companies were busted down.
Since no person was being physically hurt,
some thought about it and felt
creating material damages was okay.
Newspaper boxes were uprooted from the sidewalks and thrown into the glass!

Again, the peaceful protesters
returned to the streets, chanting:

THE PEOPLE
UNITED
WILL NEVER BE
DIVIDED!

They came again
to block the WTO organizers from gathering.

And again,

protesters were tear-gassed,
beaten with clubs, and driven by police
up to the hill where I live.

The protests went on in the streets
for a total of three days.

Y

This year will be the 10th Anniversary
of the Battle in Seattle.

Y

The citizens of Seattle were put on a nightly curfew:
we were told to be out of the streets by 7:00 p.m.,
or we would be tear-gassed.

Naturally, not everyone
was able to get out of the streets in time!

For three days and nights, all we could hear were helicopters...

On the third night, I rushed home from work.
I couldn't find anything on the local news
about how the night would go.

But I tuned-in to PBS and saw
there were police lined up

right in front of my apartment building.

Dozens of squads stood out in the street,
in lines outside my door,
poised in their "riot gear",
face shields down like Darth Vader.
They stood waiting for the downtown squads
to push the protesters up the hill one more time.

People I worked with got tear-gassed on their way home from teaching at night.

A friend who was tear-gassed had to sleep on my living room floor.

There was no way a lot of people could get home!

Reporters said
the protests weren't helping much
with the Christmas Shopping season.

By the time the protests were over,
some people went to jail...
Merchants boarded up their windows.

Which did not look very welcoming
uptown or downtown.

(No one was really in the mood to go shopping.)

Y

In fact, Seattle has never been the same.

We all know
knew this event
would slowly change the world.

Y

This is a story about greed.

http://www.zmedia.org/WTO/N30.htm

http://www.gapsucks.org/gwa/history/wto/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_in_Seattle

http://www.johncallan.com/Archive/PM/WTO--%20The%20Battle%20for%20Seattle.htm

http://www.spectacle.org/0100/main.html

http://archives.dailyuw.com/2000/120100/N2.WT.html

Y

Soldier Boy Heart

2009-02-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

Y

This is an outline for a tattoo, I thought was cool...

"Freedom is not free."

Well, okay, it makes me think of Solider Boy. I like the royal emblem going across the front, ready for anything you want on it. I like the freedom-wings. And how about it? The sword inducting the heart into service by its first little drop of blood.

I pray for our soldiers and the lives they are conducting, and for their rapid and safe return home. I find it strange to consider the idea that war is a business, that young men and women are sent into the battlefields not once, but several times. Let's hope we can bring our troops home soon.

Help us, God,
to move into the fields of compassion.
Give us opportunities
to create shifts and possibilities
for more compassion in the United States,
so we can bring our people home.
Help us to be safe keepers
of our brothers and sisters,
and harbor new ways
of making things whole
where souls have been broken.
In Your Name, Jesus, I ask.
Amen.

Y

New Army Suicides Match Civilian Levels

By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today
Published: February 06, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 6 -- The number of suicides among active-duty and reserve Army personnel continues to grow, according to statistics released by the Pentagon.

Last week, the Army announced that 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008. Both the absolute number and the rate -- 20.2 per 100,000 -- were the highest in decades.

For the first time since the Vietnam War, that rate matched the civilian level, after adjusting for age and sex, the Army's data showed.

The 2008 figures -- which already represent the fourth consecutive year of growth -- could go even higher after investigations are completed in 15 additional deaths.

And January figures suggest the rate is accelerating. The Army has confirmed seven suicides last month and is investigating 17 additional suspicious deaths.

The final count is expected to surpass the number of combat deaths in January, which reached 16 among all branches of the military.

Although officials said 15-month deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan play a role in the suicide increase, they do not appear to be the whole story. Only about a quarter of the suicides took place in the war zones.

The Army's vice chief of staff has promised "to move quickly to do everything we can to reverse the very disturbing number of suicides we have."

Last year, civilian mental health officials warned of a "gathering storm" of suicides among returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Several studies have indicated that fewer than half of active-duty soldiers and veterans with serious psychiatric conditions seek help from the military or the VA.

The Army itself has admitted that its culture tends to stigmatize personnel who seek mental health treatment.

Later this month, it will begin a month-long "stand-down" during which soldiers will receive training for peer-level recognition of behaviors that may lead to suicidal behavior, along with intervention at the buddy level.

It will be followed by a chain-teaching program focused on suicide prevention, scheduled to take place through mid-June.