Jesus, I am Your Child, Too

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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.

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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.

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Zen Heart

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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.

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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

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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!

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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?

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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.

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P.S. Ray, Happy Birthday!

Secret Desert Heart

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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.

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"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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Extra-Terrestrial Heart

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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...

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(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!) ; )

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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.

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"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.

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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

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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.

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Christ, Help Us Remember

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Christ, Help Us Remember

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


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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.

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

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

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